Tempted by the Texan

He nodded but didn’t take his eyes off Mariah sitting on the window seat across the room. She looked tired, and he figured she hadn’t been sleeping any better the past few nights than he had. But it was the sadness in her eyes that just about tore him apart. He was the cause of her unhappiness and he could have kicked himself for being such a stubborn jackass.

“I’m sure the two of you have a lot to talk about,” Bria said, stepping out into the hall. “If you need anything, I’ll be downstairs with Sam.”

Jaron barely noticed when his sister-in-law closed the door with a quiet click. All of his attention was focused on the beautiful woman staring at him from across the room. She looked miserable. Knowing he was the cause made him feel lower than the stuff he scraped off his boots after a trip through the barnyard.

“What do you want, Jaron?” she asked, her soft voice quieter than usual.

“I’ve come to take you home, where you belong,” he said, crossing the distance between them to sit down beside her.

She shook her head. “The Wild Maverick is your home. Not mine.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, darlin’,” he said, shaking his head. “Without you there with me, it’s just a house.”

To his surprise, she got up from the window seat and turned to face him. “You made it perfectly clear the other night that I’m not with you. If I was, you wouldn’t have told me to mind my own business.”

He shook his head. “I didn’t say that. I told you it wasn’t your concern.”

“That’s just a matter of semantics, and you know it,” she retorted.

She was getting angry. Good. He’d rather have her tear into him like a cougar with a sore paw than see her looking so dejected.

“You’re right,” he admitted, feeling about as guilty as a man possibly could. “I’m sorry, darlin’.”

“You’re sorry? That’s all you can say?” She was gaining a full head of steam, and he didn’t think he’d ever seen her look more beautiful. “You were clearly upset by that phone call about your father, which, by the way, you already knew about because Reverend Perkins called you.” She looked at him accusingly. “You blamed me for the man explaining why he was trying to get in touch with you. That was unfair and we both know it.”

That was exactly what he’d done, and he couldn’t blame her for being furious with him. “That was wrong, and I can’t tell you how much I regret reacting like that,” he said honestly. “It wasn’t your fault and I had no right to blame you for it.”

“At least we agree on that,” she said, nodding.

“Darlin’, I’ve got some things to tell you that I think might help you understand why I acted the way I did,” he said, deciding there was no easy way to explain how screwed up his life had been up to that point.

She wrapped her arms around herself protectively and he hated that she felt so wary with him. Unfortunately, her caution was no less than he deserved. He’d been a complete ass about the matter.

“Please sit down and listen to what I have to say, Mariah,” he requested.

After years of trying to keep his past concealed, revealing what he’d gone through wasn’t going to be easy for him. But there were things she needed to know if there was any chance of them having a future together.

Instead of sitting beside him on the window seat, she lowered herself to the side of the bed, facing him. “Okay, I’m listening.”

He took a deep breath. “You were right about my father causing the scars on my back. He had a violent temper and I was a convenient outlet for his anger.” He shrugged. “It didn’t matter if I had done something or not—I was there and too young to fight back.”

“I’m so sorry,” she said, her eyes filled with sympathy. “No child deserves that kind of treatment.”

He shook his head. “I’m not telling you any of this because I want you to feel sorry for me. I want you to understand why I’ve spent my life trying to hide it.”

“Continue,” she said, nodding.

“I think I told you I lost my mom.”

She nodded. “You said you were six when she died and that you didn’t know what happened.”

“What I said was one day she was gone and I knew I’d never see her again. I never said I didn’t know what happened to her.” He stared down at the toes of his boots for a moment before he looked up to see Mariah watching him. “My mom didn’t die of natural causes. The bastard she was married to killed her.”