Claiming His Secret Heir

“Good.” Maresa reached over to lay a comforting hand on her arm. Her fingernails were painted a soft shade of lilac and a pear-shaped diamond surrounded by a halo of smaller diamonds glinted in the lamplight. “The important thing to know is that you’re safe now and your husband loves you. I never saw a man so devastated as Damon when I met him last month—before you returned.”

“Really?” she blurted before realizing that might come across as strange. But Maresa’s words startled her, while also making her heart race. “I mean, I’m sure it was hard for him, but—”

Maresa leaned closer to lower her voice while Cameron and Damon looked over from across the room. “Honestly? I thought Damon looked haunted the first time I met him. He bears a resemblance to my husband, but there was a complete void in his eyes so different from how he looks now.” She grinned and straightened, her gaze seeking the two men for a moment. “It’s obvious he’s found his happiness again. I’m so glad for you both.”

Caroline’s heart squeezed around the words, and the idea of her husband being that hurt by her disappearance. Could Maresa have read him correctly? Caroline was unsettled by how desperately she wanted to believe Damon’s feelings ran that deep. Still…she didn’t know this woman well enough to show her insecurity about her husband’s affections.

“I forgot he came here then—right after he returned from his trip to Europe.” She knew that he’d been searching for her.

So even if Damon didn’t profess his love to her now, didn’t his actions during that horrible time prove that he loved her? Maybe she needed to dig deeper. To try harder to connect with him.

She’d just been so damn rattled by the way they’d laid silently together after making love.

Or what she’d thought had been making love.

With no promises of forever in her ear, no gentle words sweetly spoken, it didn’t feel the same as before.

“Cameron likes him,” Maresa confided. “And between you and me, I don’t think he was prepared to like any of his half brothers. But he came here tonight with Malcom’s power of attorney for the duration of the Transparent board meeting. They’re prepared to help Damon however they can.”

Caroline tensed at the mention of the meeting that was certain to be an ugly showdown between her dad and her husband. Two men she had once loved dearly. Now? She didn’t understand her father, and she feared that Damon no longer returned her love. Whatever Maresa thought she’d seen in him—a new happiness—wasn’t there as far as Caroline could tell.

“Malcolm won’t be there when the board convenes?” She understood that Cameron would have his grandfather’s authority, but she wondered if it would be as effective as having Malcolm McNeill there himself, an internationally recognized face of corporate success.

“You haven’t heard?” Maresa peered toward the men again before returning her attention to Caroline. “I’m sure Damon will tell you after we leave either way. But Malcolm is in Wyoming trying to make peace with the son who disowned him long ago.”

“Liam?” She had no idea there was a rift between Damon’s father and grandfather.

“No.” Maresa shook her head and took a small sip of her port. “The other son that he never speaks about. Donovan.”

Maresa filled her in on a few more details, but Caroline’s brain was stuck wondering if Damon had known about this hidden branch of the family. Had he withheld the news from her?

It was one thing to make excuses for his reticence concerning his love for her after the way this year had torn them apart. But would he purposely shut her out of his private life now?

Then again, perhaps he didn’t know about Malcolm’s other son, either. There was a chance he was only just learning about it from Cameron, the way she’d just learned from Maresa. Perhaps they’d speak about it tonight and her fears that they would never heal the rift between them would be for nothing. She was simply rattled and unsettled because she was beginning to think she’d lost her chance at love.

Doing her best to dial back into the conversation, Caroline learned that Malcolm’s ill health had made him decide to give the relationship with his estranged son one last try. Maresa assured her that Quinn, Cameron and Ian had all known about their uncle, but not one of them had ever met him since he’d been cut out of Malcolm’s life when their father was just a teen.

There were McNeills all over Wyoming, successful ranchers who led a much different lifestyle than the real estate moguls, their East Coast relatives. Even the business news media failed to recall Malcolm’s elder son when they wrote about him, a fact that explained why Caroline had never heard about those relations before.