A Texas-Sized Secret (Texas Cattleman's Club: Blackmail 6)

“Too bad,” she said. “You need to.” Naomi shook her head and stared up into his eyes, willing him to see the truth. “I’m not going to pretend anymore. I love you. If you don’t believe me, I can’t do anything about that.

“But I knew you’d react this way, and that’s why I didn’t tell you. I thought I could wait, that you would eventually come to love me back.” She cupped his face in her palms and held on when he would have shaken her off. “I’m not so sure of that now, and you know what? I’m not going to wait for crumbs, Toby. I deserve more. We both do. I can’t be with someone who doesn’t trust me. Doesn’t believe in me. Doesn’t love me.”

Turning around, she walked to the door, hoping with every step that he would stop her. Ask her to stay. But it didn’t happen, and disappointment welled up inside her until it dripped from her eyes.

She paused briefly at the threshold to look back at him. So tall, so strong, so determined to cut himself off from love. Sadly, Naomi told herself she had nothing to gain by staying except more pain—and she’d had enough of that for one day.

“Congratulations, Toby,” she said sadly. “You found a way out of this marriage, and you convinced yourself it was my fault. A win-win for you, right? You’re using my stupid meeting with Gio as your excuse to not have to feel. It’s easier that way. If you hold yourself back, you don’t risk anything.”

“Why did you meet Gio, then?”

She smiled sadly. “You should have just asked me that first, Toby. You should have trusted me. Believed in me. But you didn’t. This marriage was a bargain. An act. But that’s not enough for me anymore. I want it all. Or I don’t want any of it. I deserve more. So does my baby.” She took a breath and let it out. “Toby, so do you.”

She didn’t wait for an answer. Instead, she walked out, grabbed her purse off the hall tree in the entryway, then left the ranch, closing the door quietly behind her.

Eleven

“She’s right, you know.”

Toby looked over at his sister as she gave one of his pregnant mares a checkup. “Figures you’d say that. You’re female.”

Scarlett bit back a smile. “True, females are far more logical than males, but even a man should be able to see the truth here. You’re just not letting yourself.”

Why the hell had he talked to Scarlett about this? Answer? He hadn’t slept, and he’d been on edge since the day before, when Naomi walked out, left him standing in his office, more alone than he’d ever been in his life. Temper still spiking, he’d roamed through his house like a ghost, haunting every room, seeing Naomi wherever he looked. Maybe she was the ghost, he corrected silently.

Either way, he felt like his head was going to explode with all the thoughts running through it. Then Scarlett had shown up, and he’d blurted it all out before he could stop himself. He and his sister had always been close. He’d expected some support. Instead, he was getting his ass kicked. Figuratively speaking.

Stubbornly, though, he reminded his sister, “She went into Houston to meet that sleaze Gio and didn’t bother to tell me.”

“Did you give her a chance to when you came home?” Scarlett asked. “Or did you just jump down her throat with accusations?”

He frowned and asked himself when Scarlett’s loyalties had shifted to Naomi. Female solidarity? Made a man feel like he was standing outside, pounding on a door for someone to notice him.

When he didn’t answer, Scarlett said, “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

“I saw the picture, Scarlett,” he argued, remembering that hard punch to the gut that had hit him when he first saw the photo Maverick had sent him.

“You saw exactly what that bastard Maverick wanted you to see,” she corrected.

He looked at her and waited, because he knew she wasn’t finished.

“Damn it, Toby, that guy’s been creating chaos all over Royal for months and you know it.” She smoothed her hands up and down the mare’s foreleg to make sure the strain she’d suffered a few days before was healing well. When Scarlett stood up again, she said, “You reacted just the way he wanted you to. My God, could you be any more predictable?”

That was irritating, so he didn’t address it. “Maverick’s been hitting people with truth, hasn’t he?”

“Uh-huh. The truth was, she met with Gio. She didn’t fling herself at him and run off to the closest hotel room. You’re the one who filled in that blank.”

He scowled at her, but she didn’t stop.

“And you know, Maverick hit Naomi with truth and you stood by her.” Tipping her head to one side, she stepped around the mare, running her hand across the animal’s back as she moved. “You think maybe Maverick might have been ticked that she didn’t fall apart? That her life wasn’t ruined by his vicious little attack? You think it bothered the hell out of him that you went riding to the rescue?”

He scrubbed one hand across his jaw. His brain started working even through the sleep-deprived fog, and he had to admit that she might have a point. “Maybe.”

“Uh-huh. And maybe he was mad enough to go after you this time? To get you to turn from Naomi so she could be as crushed as he’d planned in the first place?” She leaned her forearms on the stall’s half door and looked up at him. “And then you, being male and not exactly logical when it comes to the women in your life, react just like he wanted you to.”

Well, if any of that was true, it was damned annoying. Toby hated the thought that he’d done just what Maverick had wanted him to do. Hated being that predictable. He remembered the look in Naomi’s eyes and wondered if Scarlett was onto something. Had his sister instantly understood something that he’d been too blind to see? Then Scarlett started talking again, and he was feeling less magnanimous toward her.

“Naomi was right about you and Sasha.”