When Passion Calls

He started to reach for Melanie's hand, to try to smooth the waters between them, but a familiar voice surfacing from the foyer made him turn with a start. Terrance had arrived, and by the sound of his voice he was disturbed by something. Melanie heard it, too.

"I don't need this," she said, sighing heavily. She looked up at Josh, anger flaring in her eyes. "First you, and now my brother? This should be a happy day for everyone. Shane has come home. Shane isn't dead! What is wrong with everyone?"

She brushed past Josh and hurried to the corridor. She stopped and placed her hands on her hips and looked arrows up at her brother as he returned just as angry a stare.

"Terrance, what are you doing here?" she asked, trying not to cause any more disturbance than her brother already had. Her gaze swept over his unshaven face, then stopped at his eyes. They were bloodshot and swollen from his frenzied drinking of the night before. "Or need I ask? You're angry because I managed to get Shane here to see his father before you had a chance to intervene, aren't you?"

Terrance clasped his fingers to her shoulders. "I'm angry because you don't listen to a damn thing I say anymore," he growled. "Melanie, when Pop died, it became my duty to look after you. Damn it, you're making that impossible. Do you know that when I woke up and found you gone this morning it scared the hell outta me? You're taking chances riding off without someone escorting you, even if it was to go to Shane Brennan."

"I don't need a bodyguard," Melanie said, jerking free from his grip. "And you know that you aren't as mad at me for having gone to Shane again as you are for my having brought him here to see his father." She looked at Josh, then back at Terrance. "You and Josh should have been born brothers instead of Josh and Shane. You both have identical hearts of stone."

"Melanie, now that's a terrible thing to say," Josh said, intervening. "I explained how all of this has caught me offguard. I just need time to get used to the idea of having a brother again. That's all."

"That shouldn't be so hard to do," Melanie said, turning to look toward the bedroom. "It's nothing less than a miracle that Shane is here. I'm so happy for your father and Shane, Josh. So happy."

Terrance turned cold inside, hearing how fondly Melanie talked of Shane, and recalling how Shane had kissed her, and how she had allowed it. If he didn't know better, he would think that Melanie was in love with Shane, and he with her. Terrance saw Shane as perhaps more of a threat to his security and his future than Melanie having received half the family inheritance.

Damn, if she married Shane, that Indian-lover would eventually manage to get everything! It wasn't the same as with Josh. If Melanie married Josh, Terrance knew Josh's weaknesses and how to prey on them.

He knew nothing about Shane except that he had been raised by Indians, and Indians were known for their cunning, shrewd ways.

Melanie turned to Josh and placed a hand on his arm. "Josh, please and try to be as happy as your father is over Shane's return," she pleaded softly. "It would mean so much to your father. And it would help Shane adjust to his new way of life. You do realize how hard all of this must be for him. He has never known anything but living in the wilderness. Now he will have everything, but I'm not so sure he can handle it. Will you help?"

Feeling trapped, not wanting to do anything to further stir Melanie's contempt, Josh nodded. "I'll try my damndest," he promised.

Melanie eased into his arms and hugged him. "That would make me so very happy, Josh," she murmured. "So very happy."

Josh viewed Terrance over Melanie's shoulder. Terrance was looking at him with fire in his eyes and it was not hard to understand why. Shane had interfered in his life, too; he was a brother whose sister was captivated by a man who was hardly more than a savage. Josh's insides rippled strangely when he realized that he had just found himself an ally in his plans to get rid of Shane. Terrance. Perhaps he was the solution.

Josh shrugged at Terrance and smiled awkwardly, then stepped away from Melanie as she eased from his arms.

"Come on, Josh," Melanie said, taking his hand, tugging on it. "It's time you joined your brother and father." She smiled warmly up at him. "Just imagine, Josh, a family is reunited after all those years. Isn't it just too wonderful?"

"Yes, wonderful," Josh said in a low rumble. He cast Terrance a glance over his shoulder as he walked alongside Melanie into the bedroom. His insides knotted as she led him to Shane's side and he looked down at his father, whose face was pink with color, whose eyes were bright with happiness. No one but Shane had been able to do this.

Jealousy raged through Josh, yet he had to pretend differentlyfor Melanie. At least for the moment, he had to behave as though he were happy to see his brother again.

Jared looked up at Josh and lifted a trembling

hand toward him. "Son, what do you think?" he said, wheezing. "Your brother is home." He looked from Shane to Josh and smiled. "By God, it's just like it was the day you were born. Hardly a thing about you is different. When you look at one another it's surely like lookin' into a mirror."

Shane turned slowly and faced Josh. He was quite aware of how his brother felt about his return and he understood. Shane was a sudden unwelcome intruder in his brother's life, just as Shane had been an intruder in Gray Falcon's life.

Was it never going to be different for him? Was he destined to always be the one that was not wanted? Would he have been better off that day if he had just been murdered alongside his beloved mother?

Melanie slipped a hand into Shane's and squeezed it affectionately. He looked down at her, moved by her gesture of sweetness, reminding him of what they had shared together. How could he ever again think that he was not wanted? It was in Melanie's eyes just how deeply she felt about him. It had been their destiny to meet. He had surely been directed back to his father to say a final goodbye and to meet the woman of his midnight dreams.

"Shane, tell Josh where you've been these past years," Jared said, his eyes growing haunted at the thought of Shane living with Indians. "Tell Josh about the chief who always knew where we lived but chose not to tell you."

Shane looked at Josh. He knew his brother did not care, but to please his father, he began the tale all over again, while Melanie looked up at him, devotion in her eyes.

A strange, sudden weakness, more overpowering than before, overcame Jared. He closed his eyes and gasped for breath, then coughed.

Panic rising inside Shane, he stopped talking and kneeled down on a knee beside his father's bed. "Father, what is it?" he asked, his voice trembling. He took his father's hand and held it, feeling the utter coldness of his skin. "Have I overtired you? Has this been too taxing for you?"

Jared forced his eyes open, yet found it hard to focus. He blinked his eyes nervously, then was able to make out Shane's face again. He smiled wanly. "I guess I am a mite tired," he said weakly. "Perhaps it would be best if you let me rest a spell. Come back and talk some more later. I love you, Shane. God, it's so good to have you home with me. Please don't ever leave again. Stay. Stay."

Shane slipped his father's hand beneath the warmth of the covers. "I love you, father," he said, finding the words strange as they breathed across his lips. He had never thought that he would have the opportunity to see his father again, much less to tell him that he loved him.