was aggrieved by Angela’s lack of trust. He cared for her deeply. More so than he’d cared for any woman since cancer had taken away his wife Elinah thirteen years ago.
He’d met Elinah, his second wife, during a project in Kenya. And she’d been the love of his life. He was grateful for the years he’d had with Elinah. They’d had his middle child, Annabel, and adopted a second daughter, Maya. And they’d been incredibly happy together for a little more than a decade.
But then his world had been shattered.
Ryder had doubted he’d ever find love like that again. How could anyone even come close to what he’d felt for his late wife?
But then he’d gotten to know Angela Perry as they kept running into each other at various events related to bringing the Texas Cattleman’s Club to Houston. And for the first time, he felt hopeful that finding love again was possible.
They’d both been smitten enough to pursue the relationship, despite their last names being like oil and water.
She was the daughter of his enemy. A man who’d wronged him at every turn for more than twenty-five years. By all accounts, he should have distrusted her, too.
But Angela was nothing like Sterling Perry. And though her stunning beauty and generous spirit sometimes reminded him of Tamara, she was very much her own woman.
A woman he’d suspected he was falling for. But her inability to trust him changed everything. What would happen when the next gossipmonger questioned their relationship? Then there was the reality that Sterling would constantly be in her ear, whispering innuendos and half-truths. Trying to turn her against him. Would Ryder have to dance on hot coals to prove himself every time the wind blew with some new accusation?
“You’re right.” Angela lowered her voice as she placed her soft, warm hands on his and met his gaze. “You’re a good, honest man, Ryder. I should’ve accepted your word, but—”
“But the great Sterling Perry believed the rumor, so you felt it must’ve been true.” His tone was mocking. Something he hadn’t intended.
Angela sighed heavily. “Look, I know you don’t like him, but he’s my father. Given the history between you two—”
A bitter laugh erupted from Ryder involuntarily as he recalled the ugly history between them. Angela’s grandfather, Harrington York, had been fond of him. Upon his death, York bequeathed a prime parcel of land to Ryder that turned out to be oil rich.
Inheriting that land had changed the course of his life. He’d gone from a modest ranch hand to the wealthy owner of an extremely profitable oil company. But Sterling, insistent that he should’ve inherited the land and jealous of the friendship Ryder had with Tamara, had tried to dispute the will.
It’d been nearly three decades since he’d inherited that land from Harrington York. And yet, Sterling still pulled every dirty trick he could to interfere with the success of Ryder’s company and to muddy his reputation.
“I don’t blame you for thinking the worst of him,” Angela continued, bringing Ryder back to the moment. “But I know my father. He’d never knowingly confirm an awful rumor like this unless he was convinced you were Roarke’s biological father.”
“I told him, time and again, just like I told you...nothing happened between me and Tamara. Not ever.” He slid his hands from beneath hers and rapped the table emphatically with his index finger. “I respected your mother. And though I didn’t like the man she chose to marry, I respected their marriage.”
“I know, and I’m so sorry I didn’t believe you.” She clasped her hands atop the table. After a few moments of silence, her eyes met his again. “So where does this leave us?”
“I don’t know.” It pained him to say those words and to see the sadness it brought to her eyes. But he would always tell her the truth. “I need some time to figure that out.”
“I understand.” Her gaze didn’t meet his as she fidgeted with the rings on her fingers. “I realize how angry you must be with me.”
“I’m not angry,” Ryder corrected her with a shrug. “I’m just very...disappointed. But maybe this was the dose of reality we needed.”
Her big blue eyes widened with panic. “Are you saying—”
“I’m saying that I need time to think about the reality of our situation, and I think you do, too.” He leaned across the table and kissed her cheek, then left the coffee shop.
Maybe lightning really did only strike once. And he should be content with his memories of the past.
But as he walked away, all he could think of was how much he looked forward to speaking with Angela at the end of each day. How much he enjoyed her sharp wit, carefree humor and easy laugh. How much he wanted to be with only one woman. The one he had just walked away from.
* * *
Annabel paced the floor of her bedroom. Buoyed by Frankie’s positive reaction to her plans for Fairy Godmother, she was finally ready to tell her father about the purchase.
Unlike her former fiancé, Mason, neither she nor her older brother, Xander, worked for Currin Oil. Xander worked the land and cared for the animals on Currin Ranch. Under her brother’s guidance, the ranch had become increasingly profitable. She’d stumbled into a career as a vlogger while she was in college.
Despite her father’s wish that she, her brother and sister work for Currin Oil, he’d come to respect Xander’s career choice. But her family still didn’t consider what she did to be a viable career.
Why couldn’t they respect that she, too, had chosen the path that was right for her?
There was a knock at her door. Her father. She’d told him she needed to speak to him.
“Hey, Dad.” Annabel opened her bedroom door and waved him in, a bright smile on her face.
He forced a smile, but looked sullen.
“Is everything okay, Dad?” She joined him in the little seating alcove near the window.
Her father sighed heavily, then brought her up to speed on the accusation Sterling Perry had made that he was the biological father of the man’s youngest child. A son.
“Roarke Perry,” she repeated the name. It seemed vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t place him.
“I wanted you to hear about it from me and to assure you it isn’t true. We even took a paternity test.” He extended an envelope to her.
“I don’t need that.” She moved to sit beside him on the sofa. “If you say it isn’t true, I believe you. Period.”
He draped an arm over her shoulder and planted a kiss on her head. “It means a lot that you’re willing to take me at my word, no questions asked.”
“I assume that means Angela didn’t.”
He sighed, but didn’t answer.
“I know that must’ve crushed your ego a bit, but from her perspective... God, the mere possibility of it being true must’ve been terrifying. Especially when
