This Love (Cowboys & Angels 6)

Paxton sighed and took a few steps closer. “Maebh called Amelia and Mom two days ago. She flew home early after talking to you. She was worried about how sick you were, so she hopped on a plane to come to you.”

“Must not have been that sick if he was able to fuck that whore,” Amelia stated.

“Amelia! That’s enough.” My mother’s voice was stern.

“What?” I asked. Who in the hell was Amelia talking about? I turned back to Paxton. “Why did she go back to Ireland? Is her father okay?”

Paxton looked exasperated and unsure of what to say. Amelia was beginning to lose some of her steam. She looked at me like I was a stupid bastard who wasn’t following along with the story.

“Cord, she sent you a text saying she was in town and on her way over. You texted her back and said you’d call her later, which she thought was a bit strange.”

Glancing down to my phone, I pulled up my text messages. I didn’t have any of those texts. The only text from Maebh was her telling me she was about to call me because her father’s party was boring as hell.

“The last text I have from Maebh was the night of her father’s party. That was the last time I remember talking to her.”

I glanced back to Paxton.

She dragged in a breath. “The only thing Maebh told me was that she walked in here, and Kylie was walking down from your room wearing nothing but your shirt. She said some things, and Maebh got upset and left. Once she got home, she realized she was jumping to conclusions and rushed back over here. When she walked back in and went up to your room, Kylie was…she was…”

My heart started pounding, I was having trouble breathing and it had nothing to do with being sick. “What! What in the fuck was she doing?”

“She was getting undressed and climbing into bed with you. Maebh left. She was beside herself and didn’t know what to do, so she went back to Ireland.”

Stumbling backwards, my mother grabbed me before I fell.

“What? What?” It was all I could say. “I wasn’t with Kylie! I don’t even remember her being here.”

“After I talked to Maebh, I called your mother and Amelia,” Paxton said. “We came right over because Marge was supposed to be with you that whole day, and Maebh had said she wasn’t there. Only Kylie was.”

All eyes went to my housekeeper.

Her hands covered her mouth quickly. “She told me it was okay if I ran an errand. She would make sure Cord didn’t wake up and need anything. I wasn’t even gone that long.”

My eyes widened in horror. What in the hell did Kylie do?

“Paxton, what in the hell did Kylie tell Maebh?”

“Something about you not being able to stay away from her, that y’all were fuck buddies, and that you couldn’t be tied down to one woman. That you’d gotten what you wanted from Maebh and you were bored now.”

The room spun.

“Cord, let’s get you to the sofa. It’s becoming hard to hold you up,” my mother stated.

Marge and Paxton helped my mother guide me to the sofa.

Standing straight, my mother smoothed out her blouse and took in a deep breath. “Let’s get this figured out.”

“I didn’t fucking sleep with Kylie. I didn’t even know she was here. I love Maebh. I couldn’t even stand on my own to go to the goddamn toilet. How would I have had the stamina to have sex with Kylie!”

“That’s enough!” my mother shouted. Turning to Marge, she asked, “Marge, tell us exactly what happened.”

She wrung her hands. “Kylie came to the door and I remembered that she and Cord had been good friends growing up. Said she had run into Trevor, and he mentioned Cord was really sick. She wanted to come see him. I told her he was pretty much passed out and very much out of it. Cord had been rattling some nonsense for the last hour in his sleep. His fever was still high, and I’m pretty sure it was causing him to have nightmares, maybe even delusions.”

I dropped my pounding head into my hands. All I wanted was to talk to Maebh. Tell her she had it all wrong.

“My husband called as I was talking to Kylie, and he asked me to pick up a prescription at the Oak Springs pharmacy. I told him it would have to wait until you got here, Melanie, because I couldn’t leave Cord. Kylie said that she was more than happy to stay and watch him. I can promise you right now, even if the boy wanted to have sex, he was so out of it he wouldn’t have been coherent enough to do it.”

“Oh no,” Paxton mumbled.

Amelia dropped down onto the large leather chair across from me. “That bitch,” she whispered, looking at me with apologetic eyes. “I’m sorry I accused you of cheating.”