didn’t come here to fight with you,” he said, trying his best to hold onto his temper.
“After what your sister did to my family, I can’t believe you had the gall to come here at all.”
Wyatt didn’t know what had come over him. Any other time, he would have taken hold of her shoulder and physically made her turn and face him. Instead, he found himself staring, fascinated by her rounded behind as she bent over the shovel, the fluid movements of her body as she pitched another scoopful.
“Flinging accusations at each other isn’t going to get us anywhere,” he said.
“I can’t say I want to get anywhere with you,” she said with a strained grunt as she forced the shovel point down through the packed shavings.
“You’re not making this any easier for either of us.”
Anger surged through Chloe, but she tried to take it out on the shovel instead of him. “Believe me, Mr. Sanders, nothing has been easy since my father died. And as for anyone killing anybody, I’d say your sister was the major contributor to the heart attack that killed Tomas. She was blackmailing him, you know. Milking him of his money, and his self-respect. What kind of woman would do that?”
“I think—”
Before he could say more, Chloe flung the shovel to the ground and whirled on him. Her eyes were shooting sparks as hot as her auburn hair. “Tell me, Mr. Sanders, what sort of woman would leave two little helpless babies on a porch and never look back? She didn’t care if they lived or died, so don’t come here whining about the loss of your sister. You’ll not get sympathy from me or anyone else on this ranch!”
Since he’d learned of Belinda’s death, Wyatt had been full of outrage and pain. He hadn’t stopped to think the Murdock family might be feeling as injured as he.
“I’m not looking for sympathy. Especially from you. I’ll be the first to admit that Belinda had her problems. I didn’t know about the twins or anything. Not until—” he paused and drew in a heavy breath “—it was already too late. But whatever her faults, she didn’t deserve to die in a mental hospital for criminals!”
Chloe could see real grief on Wyatt Sanders’s face and it touched her in spite of who he was and all that Belinda had done to her family. “I didn’t want your sister to die. None of my family wanted any such thing to happen.”
“Maybe not. But your father was the reason she was in trouble with the law in the first place.”
Chloe’s jaw dropped. The man was obviously as crazy as his sister had been. “How could you possibly think such a thing? Your sister was a dangerous, unstable woman. I’m sorry if that pains you, but that’s the way it was.”
Tight-lipped, he said, “My sister would never have been prompted to do the things she did if your father hadn’t seduced her and ruined her life.”
Chloe had always been cursed with a quick temper. Growing up, she’d often been punished for her angry outbursts. Ladies don’t fight, her mother had gently scolded Chloe when she’d come home one afternoon from grammar school with a fat lip. It hadn’t made any difference to Lola when Chloe’d tried to explain she’d punched the playground bully in the face because he’d been calling her best friend ugly names.
According to Lola, little girls didn’t lose their tempers and they certainly didn’t resort to physical violence. It was a lesson from her mother that Chloe always remembered, but had never fully learned. She was too much like her father, she supposed. She couldn’t sit idly on her hands when an innocent person was being wronged.
Stepping from the stall, Chloe walked to within a step of Wyatt Sanders and looked him square in the eye. “I don’t know who did the seducing, my father or your sister. And I hardly imagine that you could know, either. But I do know your sister had no business becoming involved with a married man twice her age.”
There was some truth to what Chloe Murdock was saying, but Wyatt knew there were always two sides to every story. And he couldn’t believe Belinda had decided to walk down the wrong path all by herself.
“And your father had no business getting a woman half his age pregnant!”
“You’re damn right he didn’t,” Chloe hotly agreed. “My mother was an invalid at the time he was sleeping around with your sister! His behavior was lower than a snake’s belly, but that doesn’t change things. We could stand here all day flinging accusations at each other, but it wouldn’t bring my father or your sister back.”
A part of Wyatt admired this woman for her nononsense bluntness. He couldn’t stand people who philosophized a point to death and in the end wound up saying nothing. But in the matter of his sister, Wyatt couldn’t simply put it all behind him and say what’s done is done. Even though they hadn’t been particularly close, he’d loved Belinda. And he couldn’t help but feel guilty because he hadn’t been there for her when she’d needed him the most
He let out a long, heavy breath. “Actually, I didn’t come here to fling accusations. I would like to know exactly what happened between my sister and Mr. Murdock, but that can wait. My main concern now is my little niece and nephew.”
Chloe felt as if ice water had suddenly been dashed in her face. Adam and Anna, the twin babies that this man’s sister had left on the Bar M doorstep, were her half sister and brother. Chloe considered them her babies now and she’d already had a lawyer working on adoption proceedings. If Wyatt Sanders had any notion of trying to take them away from her, he might as well forget it here and now.
“There’s no need for you to be concerned. Adam and Anna are in perfect health and growing.”
“I understand you’ve had them here on the ranch ever since—”
Chloe couldn’t prevent a sneer from twisting her lips. “Your sister dumped them, you mean? Yes, the county judge granted me and my sisters temporary custody. Then later, when we learned they were really our half brother and sister we knew they actually belonged here anyway.”
His eyes remained on her face and Chloe got the. impression he was trying to gauge her or size her up in some way. She didn’t like the feeling at all.
“Then you think the twins belong here?”
“Of course. They’re Murdocks. This is the Murdock home.”
“You know for certain that your father sired them? Were DNA tests performed?”
Under different circumstances Chloe would have howled with laughter, but she could hardly find her sense of humor with Wyatt Sanders standing a few inches away looking as though he were ready to pounce at any given moment.
“Believe me, Mr. Sanders, there’s no need for tests to be done. For legal purposes I suppose we could have a test run to see if we truly are siblings. But once you see the twins, you’ll know that would be a waste of time and money.” She folded her arms across her breasts. “Besides, I’m going to adopt the babies. Maybe you should understand that right now.”
Chloe Murdock’s announcement stunned him. He’d been told by New Mexican authorities that Belinda’s children were under the care of the Murdock family, which consisted of three sisters. Chloe, the youngest, had direct charge over the twins. But none of the child welfare people had mentioned anything about her
