Canyon
Canyon
Brenda Jackson
Years ago, Canyon Westmoreland let misunderstandings come between him and Keisha Ashford.But when Keisha returns to town with a two-year-old son, it’s time to settle things once and for all.A blazing attraction still burns between them and, this time around, nothing will stop Canyon from claiming Keisha and his child!
From New York Times bestselling author Brenda Jackson comes a new trilogy starring three Westmorelands…
Years ago, Canyon Westmoreland let misunderstandings come between him and Keisha Ashford. But when Keisha returns to town with a two-year-old son, it’s time to settle things once and for all. A blazing attraction still burns between them, and this time around, nothing will stop Canyon from claiming what is his—his woman and his child!
Praise for New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Brenda Jackson
“Brenda Jackson writes romance that sizzles
and characters you fall in love with.”
—New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Lori Foster
“Jackson’s trademark ability to weave multiple
characters and side stories together makes shocking
truths all the more exciting.”
—Publishers Weekly
“There is no getting away from the sex appeal
and charm of Jackson’s Westmoreland family.”
—RT Book Reviews on Feeling the Heat
“Jackson’s characters are wonderful, strong, colorful
and hot enough to burn the pages.”
—RT Book Reviews on Westmoreland’s Way
“The kind of sizzling, heart-tugging story Brenda
Jackson is famous for.”
—RT Book Reviews on Spencer’s Forbidden Passion
“This is entertainment at its best.”
—RT Book Reviews on Star of His Heart
Dear Reader,
I love writing about those Westmorelands because they exemplify what a strong family is all about, mainly the sharing of love and support. For that reason, when I was given the chance to present them in a trilogy, I was excited and ready to dive into the lives of Zane, Canyon and Stern Westmoreland.
It is hard to believe that Canyon is my twenty-fifth Westmoreland novel. It seems like it was only yesterday when I introduced you to Delaney and her five brothers. I knew by the time I wrote Thorn’s story that I just had to tell you about their cousins that were spread out over Montana, Texas, California and Colorado.
It has been an adventure and I enjoyed sharing it with you. I’ve gotten your emails and snail mails letting me know how much you adore those Westmoreland men, and I appreciate hearing from you. Each Westmoreland—male or female—is unique, and the way love conquers their hearts is heartwarming, breathtaking and totally satisfying.
In this story, Canyon is in for a shocker when he discovers his former girlfriend’s closely guarded secret. And then he has to learn to forgive a woman who has a problem with forgiving herself.
I hope you enjoy this story about Canyon and Keisha Ashford.
Happy Reading!
Brenda Jackson
Canyon
Brenda Jackson
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
BRENDA JACKSON is a die “heart” romantic who married her childhood sweetheart and still proudly wears the “going steady” ring he gave her when she was fifteen. Because she believes in the power of love, Brenda’s stories always have happy endings. In her real-life love story, Brenda and her husband of more than forty years live in Jacksonville, Florida, and have two sons.
A New York Times bestselling author of more than seventy-five romance titles, Brenda is a recent retiree who now divides her time between family, writing and traveling with Gerald. You may write Brenda at PO Box 28267, Jacksonville, Florida 32226, USA , email her at writerbjackson@aol.com or visit her website at www.brendajackson.net.
To my husband, the love of my life and my best friend, Gerald Jackson, Sr.
To the members of the Brenda Jackson Support Team, this one is for you!
“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.”
—Proverbs 17:22
Contents
Chapter One (#ufeec18ff-7bad-5711-9d2f-299d5371784a)
Chapter Two (#u6b3bab33-c8ca-516d-9189-6a54266a959c)
Chapter Three (#u08e88fe5-4016-58ae-a916-d0348a650de3)
Chapter Four (#u0449fb61-ff26-57ca-ae04-0d6c90b3f3c9)
Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Excerpt (#litres_trial_promo)
One
Canyon Westmoreland was tempted to get out of the parked car and stretch his legs, but decided against it. The one thing he’d learned from watching cop shows was that when you were on a stakeout, you did nothing to give yourself away. You remained as inconspicuous as possible. And as far as he was concerned, he was on a stakeout, determined to find out once and for all why Keisha Ashford refused to give him the time of day.
He was very much aware that she hated his guts because she believed he had betrayed her with another woman. And he knew that assumption was the reason she’d left town three years ago, cutting all ties with him, and was also the reason why she felt that, upon returning to Denver, she had every right to act as if he didn’t exist.
However, he had put up with it long enough.
They were both corporate attorneys, a profession which had brought them together initially, and a profession that still placed them together on a number of occasions. Since she’d returned to Denver ten months ago, they’d sat across from each other at the negotiating table for more than one business deal. And it bothered him when she acted as if they didn’t share a past.
A number of times he had approached her about straightening things out between them, if for no other reason than so they could have closure, but she always turned him down.
Well, he’d had enough. He refused to allow another day to go by with her thinking he had betrayed her.
So here he was, parked outside the law firm where she worked. Canyon planned to follow her home and confront her. They would finally have that discussion she’d been refusing to give him.
His brothers Stern and Riley had warned him that she had the right to call the police if she felt harassed. But he hoped she wouldn’t feel that way. He wasn’t trying to harass her. He only wanted to talk to her.
He glanced at his watch. Since he wasn’t sure what time she got off work, he’d been parked here for more than an hour now, leaving early from his job at his family’s company—Blue Ridge Land Management—to make sure he didn’t miss her.
He’d moved to switch channels on the radio when his cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and frowned when he saw it was his brother. He clicked the phone on.
“What do you want, Stern?”
“Just calling to see if you’ve been arrested yet.”
Canyon rolled his eyes. “I won’t be getting arrested.”
“Don’t be too sure of that. No woman likes being stalked.”
Canyon’s hand tightened on the steering wheel. “I’m not stalking her.”
Stern chuckled. “So what do you call your plan of waiting in front of her office with the intention of following her home?”
Canyon adjusted his tall frame in the seat to find a more comfortable position. “I wouldn’t have to follow her if she’d told me where she lives.”
“There’s a chance the reason she didn’t tell you is because she doesn’t want you to know,” Stern said. “Her house is her territory, and you’re forcing yourself into her space. She might not like that.”
Canyon was about to tell his brother that at this point he couldn’t care less about what she liked when he saw Keisha and another woman walk out of the building together. They were conversing and smiling, headed to their cars. Both were nice-looking women, but his gaze was focused solely on Keisha. He thought the same thing now that he’d thought the first time he’d met her. She was an incredibly beautiful woman.
She still had creamy brown skin that highlighted dark brown eyes, a perky nose and high cheekbones. And she still wore her silky black hair straight and parted in the center. It brushed against her shoulders. Just looking at her full lips made him remember how they tasted, which in turn made him hungry for them. He wished he didn’t recall the many times he’d spent devouring her mouth.
But there was something different about her shapely body in that navy A-line skirt and pretty blue blouse. Was it his imagination, or did her hips really appear curvier and her breasts slightly larger than what he remembered?
Regardless of whether his memory was playing tricks on him or not, Keisha Ashford looked good.
He shifted in his seat again, thinking some things didn’t change, even his desire for a woman who couldn’t stand him.
But he had no problem remembering a time when she could stand him. Those had been the best times of his life. He’d never thought he would be ready to settle down with a woman before his thirty-fifth birthday, but he had fallen for Keisha quickly and had been ready to pop the question—before a lie had torn them apart.
He released a deep sigh as his gaze continued to soak her in, every single detail, especially those legs, which could wrap so firmly around a man’s waist—
“Canyon, are you still there?”
He blinked upon remembering he still had Stern on the phone. “Yes, I’m here. But I have to go. Keisha just walked out and I need to follow her.”
“Be careful, bro. It’s been a long time since a Westmoreland was put in jail. I’m sure you remember those days.”
He drew in a deep breath. How could he forget? There was only one Westmoreland with a jail record. As a teen, his baby brother Brisbane—known around Denver as Badass Bane—had gotten into enough trouble for all of them. Now Bane was serving his country as a kicking-the-enemy-ass navy SEAL.
“It won’t get that far, Stern. I’m no threat to Keisha. I just want to talk to her.”
“You weren’t a threat to her before, but that didn’t stop her from almost slapping a restraining order on you. Look, Canyon, it’s your business but—”
“I know, I know, Stern. You don’t want me to do anything to bring shame on the family.”
Keisha and the woman had parted ways, and Keisha was now walking alone toward her car. She still had that walk that he thought was as sexy as hell. Although she moved like a model, she had the look of a cool professional in her four-inch pumps with her briefcase in hand.
“Canyon!”
He jumped. “Look, Stern. I’ll call you later.”
Without giving his brother a chance to say anything else, Canyon clicked off the phone. He watched as Keisha sized up her surroundings before opening her car and getting inside. Although she had glanced in his direction she hadn’t seen him. He was parked behind a couple of cars.
He gave her time to start her car and pull out of her parking spot. Then, just as he was about to pull out of his own parking spot, a car darted out in front of him.
“What the hell,” Canyon muttered, hitting his brakes. “What damn fire is he rushing off to?”
Not wanting to lose Keisha, he pulled in behind the black sedan, keeping her vehicle within his vision. After tailing her for a few blocks, he became uneasy. It seemed the car in front of him—the black sedan—was tailing her, as well.
As an attorney, Canyon was aware there were times when clients of the opposing council didn’t like a court’s decision and wanted to make that dislike known. That could be what was happening here. He didn’t want to think of other possibilities, like a carjacking. They’d had a number of those lately around the city.
Canyon’s protective instincts kicked in when Keisha turned a corner to head away from town and the driver of the black sedan did, too. He couldn’t tell if the person driving the car in front of him was male or female because the windows were tinted. But he could make out the license plate number.
He pushed the phone button on his steering wheel. “Yes, Mr. Westmoreland, may I help you?”
“Yes, Samuel. Please connect me with Pete Higgins.”
Pete was best friends with his cousin Derringer and was a deputy with Denver’s police department.
“Please hold on for the connection.”
It didn’t take long for Pete to come on the line. “Deputy Higgins.”
“Pete. This is Canyon. I need you to check out a license plate number.”
“Why?”
Although Canyon knew Pete had every right to ask that question, he couldn’t keep his irritation from escalating. “A woman is being followed.”
“And you know this how?”
Canyon bit his lip to keep from cursing. His patience was stretched to the limit. “I know because I’m following her, as well.”
“Oh. And why are you following her?”
Canyon had always admired Pete’s easy, laid-back manner. Until now. “Now look, Pete.”
“No, you look, Canyon. No one should be following a woman, not you or anybody else. That’s harassment and I can bring you both in for stalking. What’s the license plate number?”
A mad-as-hell Canyon rattled off the number while wondering why Keisha hadn’t noticed she was being followed by not one, but two vehicles.
“Um, this is interesting,” Pete said.
“What?” Canyon asked, annoyed.
“That license plate was stolen.”
“Stolen?”
The driver in the sedan was smart enough not to follow behind Keisha too closely. But evidently he wasn’t smart enough to pick up on the fact that he or she was being followed by Canyon. Maybe the driver was so busy keeping up with Keisha that he hadn’t noticed what was going on behind him.
“Yes. According to our system, that license plate was reported stolen earlier today. Where are you?”
“Right now I’m going through the intersection of Firestone Road and Tinsel, and heading toward Purcell Park Road.”
“You’re way on the other side of town,” Pete noted.
“Yeah.” Canyon wondered if Keisha had deliberately chosen to live on the opposite side of Denver from where the Westmorelands lived.
“Is she driving a nice car?” Pete asked.
“Yes, looks like a pretty new Bimmer. Why?”
“I’m thinking that you might be looking at a possible carjacking. I’m on my way. Don’t do anything stupid until I get there.”
Canyon rolled his eyes. Did that mean he could do something stupid after Pete got there?
The thought of someone stalking Keisha angered him, and he quickly pushed to the back of his mind the thought that he was doing basically the same thing. The big difference was that Canyon didn’t intend to hurt one single hair on Keisha’s head. He couldn’t say the same for the bozo in front of him.
The last thing the other driver needed to know was where she lived. If she was heading home, he didn’t have time to wait for Pete. Pete’s office was on the other side of town. There was no telling how long it would take him to get here. At that moment, Canyon made a decision.
He would handle the situation himself.
* * *
Keisha swayed her body to the music blaring out of her car radio. She loved satellite stations with continuous commercial-free music, and she especially liked this channel, which played her favorite hits nonstop. And today she needed to hear them.
It had been one of those kinds of days.
It had started at ten, in court. She’d barely had time to grab lunch before rushing back to the courthouse for another case at one. Around three, she had returned to her office only to be pulled into a meeting she’d forgotten about. She was glad to have left work to start what would be a busy weekend.
Even knowing everything she had to do over the next two days did not dampen her mood. She’d won three cases this week, and she knew her bosses, Leonard Spivey and Adam Whitlock, were pleased.
Three years ago, Leonard hadn’t liked it when she’d given him only a week’s notice before leaving Denver and moving back home to Texas. But because she’d been one of the firm’s best attorneys, he’d been kind enough to give her a very good recommendation—and to welcome her back to the firm when she’d needed to return.
Sometimes things happened for a reason. When she’d moved to Texas, it hadn’t taken her long to land another job at a law firm in Austin. And had she not returned home, she probably would not have found out about her mother’s breast cancer scare.
Luckily, Keisha had been there for her mother during that difficult time. The two of them had always been close. Lynn Ashford was a strong and independent single parent. After the man who’d fathered Keisha denied she was his, Lynn had moved away from her hometown of Austin and settled with her daughter in Baton Rouge. Then, when Keisha’s grandfather had died when she was fifteen, she and her mother had returned to Austin to be there for Keisha’s grandmother.
There had been many hard times while growing up. To compensate, her mother had worked two jobs, leaving Keisha in the care of her grandmother. But seeing how hard her mother had worked without the help of a man had shown Keisha that if push came to shove, she could do the same.
Her heart ached when she thought about the man who had proved that fact to her.
Canyon Westmoreland.
She’d fallen in love with him the first day she’d laid eyes on him, but that love ended when she discovered he’d been unfaithful to her. She could tolerate a lot of things, but the one thing she wouldn’t tolerate was infidelity. Trust was paramount and a loss of it meant an end to everything...even a relationship that had held so much promise. Or she’d thought it’d had promise. Obviously she had been wrong.
Now, after three years, she was back in Denver. The scandal that had hit the law firm where she’d worked in Austin, and the firm’s eventual shutdown by the Texas Bar and the justice department, had made leaving a necessity. She’d known she would miss her mom, and that she was taking a chance with her decision to return to Denver, but Spivey and Whitlock was the one law office where she wouldn’t have to start at the bottom. She needed the money because she had more than herself to think about these days. However, to assure that she didn’t run into Canyon, other than for business, she’d deliberately moved clear on the other side of town from Westmoreland Country.
She knew the story of how Canyon’s parents, aunt and uncle had died in a plane crash, leaving fifteen orphans. Staying together hadn’t been easy, especially since several of the siblings and cousins had been under the age of sixteen. But together, the Westmoreland family had weathered hard times and was now enjoying the good times thanks to the success of the family’s land management firm, Blue Ridge.
Canyon’s parents had had seven sons: Dillon, Micah, Jason, Riley, Canyon, Stern and Brisbane. His aunt and uncle had had eight children: five boys—Ramsey, Zane, Derringer and the twins Aiden and Adrian; and three girls—Megan, Gemma and Bailey. From what Keisha knew, the majority of the Westmorelands were now college educated and successful in their own right, either working for the family firm or in their chosen profession. She’d met most of them when she had attended the annual Westmoreland Ball while she was dating Canyon. The ball was a huge event in the city and benefited a number of charities.
Her thoughts shifted back to one Westmoreland in particular. Canyon.
The Grand Canyon, as she would sometimes call him during more intimate moments.
The memories of those times hurt the most. She had loved him and had believed he loved her. She had opened her heart, and her home, to him. He had moved in with her after they’d dated for six months. She’d assumed their relationship was moving in the right direction. He had proved her wrong.
The blaring of a horn prompted her to glance in her rearview mirror. What in the world? she asked herself, frowning.
The drivers of the two cars behind her were engaging in some kind of road rage. It appeared that the driver of a burgundy car was trying to run the driver of a black sedan off the road.
Deciding the last thing she needed was to get involved in what was going on with those two drivers, she increased her speed and drove on ahead, leaving behind what she perceived as two hotheads vying to be king of the road.
Keisha checked the clock on the dashboard. She was eager to reach her destination and the person waiting for her there.
* * *
Canyon watched the black sedan speed off. Although he’d gotten pretty close to the car, the tinted windows had prevented him from determining if the driver had been a man or a woman, but he was leaning more toward a man.
He returned his attention to the road in time to see Keisha turn the corner a couple of blocks ahead. He continued to keep his distance, not wanting her to know she was being followed. It had been a long time since he’d been in this section of Denver, but because of the nature of his business, he knew about all the new development in the area. Several housing communities had been constructed, along with a number of shopping places and restaurants.
He watched Keisha put on her car’s right blinker to turn into what he at first thought was a doctor’s complex. Upon getting a better view of the huge sign out front, he saw it was Mary’s Little Lamb Day Care. He frowned. Why would she be stopping at a day care? Maybe she was doing one of her coworkers a favor by picking up their child, or she could have volunteered to babysit tonight for someone.
He slid into a parking spot and watched as she got out of her car and went inside, smiling. That probably meant she was ready for the weekend to begin. Hopefully, her good mood would continue when she saw that he’d followed her home. His focus stayed on her, concentrating on the sway of her hips with every step she took, until she was no longer in sight.
He was about to change stations on his radio when his cell phone rang. He hoped it wasn’t Stern again. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw it was his cousin Bailey, the youngest of the Westmoreland siblings and cousins living in Denver. Growing up, Bailey had been nearly as bad as Bane when it came to getting into trouble.
He clicked the phone on. “What’s up, Bay?”
“Zane’s back. He got in today.”
Canyon nodded. His cousin Zane had left town a good three weeks ago on what Canyon had assumed was a business trip, only to discover later that his cousin was running behind a woman he’d once had an affair with by the name of Channing Hastings. Rumor had it that Zane was returning home with a wedding band on his finger.
“He’s married?”
“Not yet. He and Channing are talking about a Christmas wedding.”
A Christmas wedding? It was hard to believe Zane, a die-hard bachelor, was thinking about settling down.
“Didn’t think I’d live to see the day.”
“Well, I’m glad he came to his senses.” Bailey paused and then said, “Don’t forget this is chow-down night.”
Every other Friday night, the Westmorelands got together at his brother Dillon’s place. The women would do the cooking and the men would arrive hungry. Afterward, the men took part in a poker game and the women did whatever they pleased.
“I might be a little late,” he said, since he wasn’t sure how his confrontation with Keisha would go. If she was babysitting somebody’s kid, he would follow her home just to see where she lived and then return at another time and try to talk to her. At some point, he needed to let her know about the person who’d been following her. It might be something she needed to check into, especially if it was related to a case she was working on.
“Why?”
He frowned at Bailey’s question. “Why what?”
“Why will you be late? Dillon mentioned you left work early today.”
For some reason Bailey assumed being the youngest automatically made her privy to everyone’s business. Instead of answering her, he tapped on the phone several times and then said, “Sounds like we have a bad connection, Bay. I’ll talk to you later.”
He clicked the phone off in time to see Keisha walk back out of the building. Studying her face he saw she was still smiling, which was a good sign. She was also chatting with the little boy whose hand she was holding—a boy who was probably around two years old.
Canyon studied the little boy’s features. “WTF,” he muttered under his breath. The kid could be a double for Denver, Dillon’s three-year-old son. In fact, if Canyon didn’t know for certain that Denver was at home with Dillon’s wife, Pam, he would think it was Denver’s hand that Keisha was holding. An uneasy feeling stirred his insides as he continued to study the little boy whose smile was just as big as Keisha’s.
Canyon took in a gasping breath. There was only one reason the little boy looked so much like a Westmoreland. Canyon gripped the steering wheel, certain steam was coming out of his ears and nose.
He didn’t remember easing his seat back, unbuckling his seat belt or opening the car door. Neither did he remember walking toward Keisha. However, he would always remember the look on her face when she stopped walking and glanced in his direction. What he saw in her features was surprise, guilt and remorse.
As he got closer he watched defensiveness followed by fierce protectiveness replace those other emotions. She stopped walking and pulled her son—the child he was certain was their son—closer to her side. “What are you doing here, Canyon?”
He came to a stop in front of her. His body was radiating anger from the inside out. His gaze left her face and looked down at the little boy who was clutching the hem of Keisha’s skirt and staring up at him with distrustful eyes that were almost identical to his mother’s.
Canyon shifted his gaze back up to meet Keisha’s eyes. In a voice shaking with fury, he asked, “Would you like to tell me why I didn’t know I had a son?”
Two
Keisha drew in a deep breath while thinking about what she would say, and from Canyon’s tone of voice she knew it better be good. She’d often wondered how he would react when he found out he had a son. Would he deny her child was his like her own father had done with her?
Instead of answering his question, she countered with one of her own. “Would it have mattered had you known?”
She saw surprise flash in his eyes just seconds before his lips formed a tight line. “Of course it would have mattered,” he said with affront. “Now tell me why I wasn’t told.”
Keisha could tell by the way her son held tight to her skirt that he sensed something was wrong, and she knew how anxious he got around strangers. Although she wished otherwise, the time had come for her and Canyon to talk. But not now and not here.
“I need to get Beau home and—”
“Beau?”
She lifted her chin. “Yes. My son’s name is Beau Ashford.”
The anger that flashed across his face was quick. And although he muttered the words, “Not for long,” under his breath, she heard them.
She slowly pulled in a deep breath and then carefully exhaled it. “Like I said, Canyon. I need to get Beau home to prepare dinner and then—”
“Fine,” he cut in before she finished. “Whatever you have planned for tonight, I’m included.”
Like hell he was. “Now look here, Canyon. I—”
She stopped talking when she saw Pauline Sampson, owner of the day care, approaching them. Pauline had been one of Keisha’s first clients when she’d begun practicing law five years ago. She was also a friend of Mr. Spivey’s wife, Joan. Pauline was smiling but Keisha saw deep concern in every curve of the woman’s lips. There was also a degree of curiosity in her eyes.
“Keisha, I happened to glance out my window and saw you were still here. I just wanted to make sure everything was okay,” Pauline said smoothly.
If everything wasn’t okay, Keisha had no intention of letting Pauline know. “Yes, everything is fine, Pauline.” She hadn’t planned on making introductions, and she was aware that Canyon knew it. She really wasn’t surprised when he took it upon himself to make the introductions himself.
Extending his hand out to Pauline, he said, “How are you, Pauline? I’m Canyon Westmoreland, Beau’s father.”
Keisha watched Pauline’s brow lift in surprise. “Westmoreland?”
Canyon flashed Pauline what Keisha knew to be his dashing smile, one known to win over jurors in the courtroom. “Yes, Westmoreland.”
She saw interest shine in Pauline’s eyes. “Are you related to Dillon Westmoreland?”
Canyon kept his smile in place. “Yes, Dillon is my oldest brother.”
Pauline’s smile widened. “Small world. I can definitely see the resemblance. Dillon and I went to high school together and serve on the boards of directors of several businesses in town.”
“Yes, it is a small world,” Canyon agreed, glancing at his watch. “If you don’t mind excusing us, Pauline, Keisha and I need to get Beau home for dinner.”
“Oh, not at all,” Pauline said, beaming. “I understand.” She then glanced up at Keisha. “Have a good weekend.”
Keisha doubted that would happen now. “You, too, Pauline.”
She knew not to waste time talking Canyon out of following her home. He wanted her to answer his question—not tomorrow or next week, but tonight.
When Pauline turned to go back inside, Keisha moved toward her car and gasped in surprise when Canyon reached down and picked up Beau. Keisha opened her mouth to warn him that Beau didn’t take well to strangers. She closed it when instead of screaming at the top of his lungs, Beau wrapped his arms around Canyon’s neck.
Canyon adjusted their son in his arms. “I’ll carry him to the car for you.”
She frowned. “He can walk.”
“I know he can, but I want to carry him. Humor me.”
Keisha didn’t want to humor him. She didn’t want to have anything to do with him. Father or no father, if Canyon thought he could bombard his way into her or Beau’s lives, he had another think coming. He’d made his choice three years ago.
She tried pushing her mother’s warning to the back of her mind. When Keisha had discovered her pregnancy and shared the news with her mother, Lynn had warned her not to assume Canyon would be like Kenneth Drew. Lynn believed every man had a right to know he’d fathered a child, which is why she had told Kenneth. Only after his decision not to accept Keisha as his child had Lynn ceased including Kenneth in her daughter’s life.
Lynn felt Keisha hadn’t given Canyon a chance to either accept or reject his child, and he should be given that choice. Keisha hadn’t felt that way. Knowing her father had rejected her had tormented her all through childhood and right into her adult life. It had been her decision to never let her son experience the grief of rejection.
When they reached her car, she opened the door to the backseat and moved aside to watch Canyon place Beau in his car seat. Then another surprise happened. Beau actually protested and tried reaching for Canyon to get back into his arms.
“It seems he likes you,” Keisha muttered, truly not happy with it at all.
Canyon glanced over his shoulder at her. “It’s a Westmoreland thing.”
Keisha didn’t say anything. If that was his way of letting her know his son should have been born with his name, he’d done so effectively.
“From now on, partner, I’ll never be too far away,” she heard him say to Beau and wondered if he realized he needed her permission for that to happen. When it came to her son, he would only have the rights she gave him.
As if Beau understood, he then spoke to Canyon for the first time. Pointing his finger at himself, he said, “Me Beau.” He then pointed at Canyon. “You?”
Canyon chuckled and Keisha knew he had deliberately said the next words loud enough for her to hear. “Dad.”
Beau repeated the word dad as if he needed to say it. “Dad.”
Canyon chuckled. “Yes, Dad.” He then closed the car door and turned to Keisha.
Ignoring the fierce frown on his face, she said, “You seem to be good with kids.”
He shrugged. “Dillon has a son named Denver who’s a little older than Beau, and I’m around him a lot. They favor.”
She lifted a brow. “Who?”
“Beau and Denver. Although Denver is a little taller, if you put them in a room together it might be hard to tell them apart.”
It was Keisha’s time to shrug. She would know her son anywhere. Besides, she couldn’t imagine the two kids looking that much alike. “Since you insist that we need to talk today, you can follow me home. But I don’t intend to break my routine with Beau because of you.”
“I don’t expect you to.”
She moved to walk around to the driver’s side of the car when he reached out and touched her. Immediately, heat raced up her spine and she was forced to remember the raw masculine energy Canyon possessed. She’d have thought that after three years she would be immune to him, but it seemed nothing had changed in the sexual-chemistry department.
“Keisha?”
With her pulse throbbing, she fought to regain her composure. She lifted her chin. “What?”
He met her gaze and held it. “Is there any reason someone would be following you?”
“What are you talking about?” Keisha asked, frowning.
Canyon shoved his hands into his pockets. “I started following you from your job, but I wasn’t the only one. A black sedan pulled out in front of me and whoever was behind the wheel followed you until a mile or so back. That’s when I tried getting the driver’s attention by driving close along the side of the car and forcing him or her to pull over. I don’t know if the driver was a man or a woman since the windows were tinted. Instead of pulling over, the car made a quick right turn at the next corner and kept going.”
Keisha remembered glancing in her rearview mirror and witnessing what she’d assumed were two drivers engaging in road rage. “You’re driving a burgundy car?”
“Yes.”
“I heard a horn blast and saw you trying to run that black car off the road. I figured it was nothing more than two drivers acting like fools.”
“It wasn’t. It was about me trying to find out why someone was following you. I even called the police to report it.”
“The police?”
“Yes. Just so happens that Pete Higgins is a deputy and a friend of Derringer’s. At the time, I only had a hunch you were being followed, so Pete checked it out as a favor. Then he got suspicious when he discovered the license plate had been reported as stolen. He’s since phoned back to say they’re still looking for the car.”
Although Keisha had only met Derringer Westmoreland once, during the Westmoreland Ball, she’d heard about him. Before marrying and settling down, he’d had a reputation of being quite the ladies’ man. In fact, a number of male Westmorelands had claimed that reputation.
“Well, I have no idea why anyone would be following me. Why were you following me?”
“Because on a number of occasions over the past ten months, I’ve approached you, wanting to talk and you refused to give me the time of day. Now I know why.”
Not wanting to get into it with Canyon about Beau now, because she was certain Pauline probably had her face glued to her office window, Keisha said, “We’ll talk later.”
“I’ll be right behind you.”
Canyon waited until Keisha had gotten into her car before crossing the parking lot to get into his. It was only when he had closed the door and snapped his seat belt that the impact of the past twenty minutes hit him hard.
He had a son. A son he hadn’t known about until today.
* * *
With her heart pounding furiously in her chest, Keisha pulled out of the day care’s parking lot. She thought about Canyon’s assertion that a car had been following her. That didn’t make sense. None of the cases she was working on were serious enough to warrant anyone wanting to harass her.
This was a new car she was driving, a very popular model. Perhaps the person had had carjacking in mind? Shivers raced through her at the thought.
When she came to a traffic light she glanced into the backseat to make sure Beau was okay. She couldn’t get over how easily he had accepted Canyon.
And just how easily Canyon had accepted him.
Canyon hadn’t demanded a DNA test for verification, instead he’d claimed that Beau favored Dillon’s son. Had that been the reason why his acceptance had come without any hassles? Well, there hadn’t been any hassles so far. They still had to talk, and someone who’d been as close to Canyon as she had been in the past knew that while he had a cool demeanor on the outside, he was simmering on the inside.
Keisha drew in a deep breath and exited onto the road that would take her home. Glancing in the rearview mirror her gaze met Canyon’s as he seemed to look right at her. Gee whiz, did he have to look at her like that? With an intensity that had her dragging in more than one shaky breath and a rush of heat flooding her stomach, making it quiver. She gripped the steering wheel and refocused on her driving.
Canyon had always been able to get to her. At that moment, she couldn’t help but remember the day nearly four years ago when they’d met...
“Excuse me. Is this seat taken?”
Keisha looked up from the papers she’d been reading. A shot of hard lust reverberated through her veins. Lordy. Standing in front of her had to be, without a doubt, a man who could get a “yes” out of a woman without even asking the first question.
He was tall, more than six feet, and she had to strain her neck to look up at him. He had smooth mahogany skin, dark eyes, a firm jaw and a too-delicious-looking pair of lips. Once she got past his facial features then she had to deal with his broad shoulders and a too-fine body in an immaculate business suit.
“So, is it?” he asked in a deep, sexy voice.
She self-consciously licked her lips. “Is what?”
“This seat taken? It seems to be the only one empty.”
She glanced around the courthouse’s lunchroom. He was telling the truth. “No, it’s not taken.”
“Mind if I join you?”
She had to bite her lips to keep from saying he could do anything he cared to do with her. Instead, she said, “No, I don’t mind.”
She watched as he pulled out a chair and settled his tall frame in the seat. She had to be in court in less than an hour. At any other time she would have been annoyed at being disturbed, but not this time. This man was worth the interruption.
Extending his hand out to her, he said, “I’m Canyon Westmoreland. And you are?”
“Keisha. Keisha Ashford.” She accepted his hand and wished she hadn’t. Her belly vibrated the moment they touched. And then, suddenly, it seemed the room quieted and they were the only two people in it. The only thing she heard was the sound of their breathing. The way he stared into her eyes made her breath catch. She felt the rush through her veins.
The sound of silverware hitting the floor made her blink, and she realized Canyon still had her hand. She tugged and he released it.
“So, Keisha Ashford, are you an attorney or a paralegal?”
She lifted a brow. “Does it matter?”
He shrugged broad shoulders. “Not with me. I’m sharing a table with a beautiful woman and I’m not complaining about anything.”
She chuckled, appreciating his compliment. “You sound easy.”
“Um, maybe.”
A smile spread across her lips. She liked him. She had checked out his ring finger. It was bare, with no indication that a ring had once been there. “I’m an attorney.”
“So am I,” he said smoothly.
“I can tell. You look the part,” she said.
He leaned over the table and she drew in his intoxicating male scent. “Let’s meet later so you can tell me what you mean by that.”
Oh, she thought. He was good. As smooth as silk. Any other time, and with anyone else, she would have brushed off what was definitely a flirtatious come-on. But not today. And, for some reason, not with Canyon Westmoreland.
Instead of agreeing to his suggestion, she said, “Canyon is an unusual name.”
“Not according to my parents,” he said, smiling. “I was conceived one night in the Grand Canyon, so they felt my name fit. I understand it was one hell of a night.”
She tilted her head. “Your parents told you that?”
“No, but I heard them share a private joke about it every once in a while. It brought them fond memories for years.”
“And what do they think now?”
She saw a flash of pain flare in his eyes. “I don’t know. My parents were killed in a plane crash a little over fifteen years ago.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said.
“Thanks. Now what about meeting me later for drinks? There’s a place not far from here. Woody’s.” He glanced at his watch. “Around five. Hopefully, if we win our individual cases, we will have reason to celebrate.”
She smiled. “That would be nice. I’ll be there.”
He tipped his head and the smile that spread across his lips was priceless...and sexy as hell. “Good. I’ll look forward to later, Keisha Ashford.”
She swallowed as his gaze raked over her in a way that had her skin scorching. At that moment she was drenched in full awareness of him and could only respond by saying truthfully, “So will I....”
“Mommy.”
Keisha’s thoughts returned to the present at the sound of her son’s voice. He had been busy playing with one of his toys while sitting in his car seat. Beau was just as high-spirited as any other two-year-old and typically never stopped talking except when shoving food into his mouth. But today things were different. She couldn’t help wondering if Canyon’s presence had something to do with it.
“Yes, Beau?”
“Dad gone?”
Was that disappointment she heard in his voice? Moving here from Texas had been hard for him. Her mother had become a regular fixture in his life and the first months away from his grandmother hadn’t been easy. Beau had made her fully aware what tantrums were about.
“He’s in the car behind us.”
She looked in the mirror and saw Beau trying to twist his body around in his car seat. “Why?”
She lifted a brow. “Why?”
“He not here. Our car?”
Keisha felt a headache coming on and knew after Canyon’s visit she would have to have a talk with her son. “Because he has his own car.”
“Go home with us?”
“Yes.” Too late she realized how that sounded and quickly moved to clear it up. “He has his own home. Not ours.”
“Not our house?”
“No, not our house.”
He didn’t say anything, but went back to playing with his toy. When they got home she would feed him dinner, give him a bath and then let him have a little playtime before putting him in bed. When it came to bedtime, she was lucky. Beau didn’t have the issues some other kids did with fighting sleep. He eagerly went to bed each night as if it was his God-given right to get eight hours or more of sleep.
She glanced back into her rearview mirror at the car still following closely behind her. Her gaze connected with Canyon’s once again.
She no longer loved him, she was sure of it. Her love hadn’t dissipated immediately but in slow degrees. And just to think—she had planned to tell him about her pregnancy when she had returned home early and found him with Bonita.
She broke eye contact to face the road ahead, which is what she’d been doing since that night. And she didn’t intend to look back again.
Moments later she was pulling into the driveway of the home she considered hers. The community was a new one, and most of the families were progressive couples or singles with small children. She’d already joined the homeowners association and knew several of her neighbors. It was a friendly neighborhood and she enjoyed living here.
She brought the car to a stop and then got out. She had moved around to the side of the car by the time Canyon got out of his. She glanced over at him and said, “I really wish you’d wait and talk to me at another time.”
“We don’t always get what we want, Keisha.”
Feeling frustrated and annoyed, she narrowed her eyes at him and opened the door to get Beau out of his seat.
“I’ll do that,” Canyon said.
She stepped aside to let him, not wanting to make a scene in front of Beau. However, the main thing she intended to do when they talked was to make it absolutely clear that while he might be Beau’s father, she would not allow him to bulldoze his way into their lives.
Pulling her keys from her purse, she moved up the walkway to her front door. Canyon followed with Beau in his arms. She was tempted to remind Canyon once again that Beau could walk, but decided to keep quiet for now.
The moment she opened the door, Keisha knew something was wrong. For starters, the chime from her security alarm didn’t sound. And when she took a step inside and glanced around, she gasped in horror.
Someone had broken into her home.
Three
Canyon quickly went into action and handed Beau to Keisha. “Take Beau and get back in the car.”
Already he was on the phone calling Pete. “This is Canyon. The woman who was being followed earlier today had her home broken into.”
“What’s the address? I’m still in the area. Don’t mess with anything.”
Canyon turned around, not surprised that Keisha hadn’t gone back to the car like he’d told her to do. “What’s the address?” He could tell from her dazed look that she was still in shock at what she’d found when she’d opened her door.
“Keisha?”
She looked at him. “Yes?”
“What’s this address?”
She rattled a number off to him which he gave to Pete.
“Home messy, Mommy.”
Their son’s words made Keisha suck in a deep breath and Canyon saw how Beau’s innocent words had crushed her. This was the home she had made for her and their son and someone had invaded her sanctuary. They had violated it.
“Come on, let’s step outside, Keisha. The police are on the way,” he said softly. When she opened her mouth to protest, he added, “We can’t touch anything until they get here.”
Keisha closed her mouth and drew in a deep breath, feeling the pain in her chest when she did so. Canyon, she knew, was intentionally blocking her view but she’d already seen her living room and could just imagine how the rest of her house looked. Had the intruder gone into her bedroom? Beau’s room? What had been stolen?
“Keisha?”
“Yes?” The single word had been hard to get past her lungs.
“Come on, let’s sit in the car.”
She hesitated but knew what he was suggesting was reasonable. There was nothing they could do until the police arrived and Beau could tell she was troubled. She didn’t want to upset him.
“Play, Mommy,” Beau said when they reached her car. She placed him back in his car seat and gave him his favorite toy. When she went around to get into her seat, she noticed Canyon talking on his cell phone. Was he talking to the police again?
* * *
“Yes, Keisha’s okay, Dil,” Canyon told his oldest brother. He’d given Dillon a quick rundown on what had transpired over the past hour, including the fact that he had a son.
“Everyone is here for dinner, so how do you want me to handle things?” Dillon asked. “I’m sure you’ll want to be the one to tell them about Beau.”
Canyon drew in a deep breath. “Yes, I want to be the one. Pete is on the way. When we finish here, Keisha and Beau are coming with me until we figure out who did this and why. I’m leaving my car here so I’ll need someone to pick it up and drive it to my place later.”
“I can do that. But will Keisha agree to go anywhere with you, Canyon?”
Canyon rubbed a frustrated hand down his face. He was more than certain she wouldn’t. At least not at first. Keisha had an independent streak that she’d inherited from the single mother who had raised her. He’d always admired her ability to stand her ground and not depend on anyone for anything. But in this case things were different. She didn’t have just herself to think about. She had their son.
Their son.
The thought sent an unexplainable thrill through his veins. “No, Dil, she’s not going to go along with it, at least not easily. But I’m convinced what happened to her house and that car following her today are connected. My only ace is that she has Beau to think about. If it was just her she would dig in her heels.”
At that moment three police cruisers pulled up and the one leading the pack was driven by Pete. “Pete’s here now, Dil. I’ll call you back later.”
* * *
Keisha stared at the policeman in confusion. “What do you mean I was targeted personally?”
Pete leaned against the kitchen counter as he stood beside Canyon. “You’ve verified that nothing of value was taken, not even that container filled with gold coins sitting in plain view on the dresser in your bedroom. My only conclusion is that the person who did this didn’t take anything because this is about you personally. It seems to be more or less a scare tactic.”
None of this made sense. She had been grateful that her next-door neighbors, a couple with a set of twins a few months older than Beau, had come over and offered to take him to their place, feed him dinner and keep him entertained while she handled the break-in.
With Canyon and Pete by her side, she had gone from room to room taking in the devastation. Her sofa and chairs had been turned over, pillow cushions thrown about along with her magazines. In her kitchen, the person had opened a canister and floured her counters to the point where it looked like snow in August. Not one bedroom had been left untouched...not even Beau’s room. Some of his favorite toys had been broken. And in her bedroom, in addition to her clothes, which had been pulled out of the drawers and strewn about, the intruder had left water running in the bathtub to flood the floors.
What Pete said was right. Nothing of value had been taken. Not the coin collection her mother had started for Beau, not the set of expensive purses in her closet or any of her big screen televisions. The only thing the person had done was trash every part of her home as if he’d been trying to make a statement. However, she was clueless as to what statement that could be.
“Think hard, Ms. Ashford. Are there any cases you’re working on that someone would want to scare you away from?” Pete asked.
For the life of her she couldn’t think of one case, past or present, where anyone could want to extract some kind of revenge. She had won all her cases lately, except for one, and none of the cases were such that either party would encounter any financial hardship.
“I honestly can’t think of any case like that, Deputy Higgins.”
Pete nodded and shoved his notepad into his pocket. “If you think of anything later, let me know. I’m turning this over to a detective who will contact you. There is also the issue of the car that was following you earlier today, the one Canyon reported.”
She’d almost forgotten about that.
“You think the two are related?” Canyon asked before she could.
“Right now, Canyon, I’m not discounting anything. By the time I reached the area where the car was supposed to be, you had taken matters into your own hands and run the guy off. I should have known it was too much to expect a Westmoreland to do what he was told.”
“Whatever,” Canyon said, shoving his hands into his pockets and then releasing a deep breath. “So what’s next?”
“We’re still looking for the vehicle. I’m going to pull the videos from the red-light cameras and traffic-surveillance cameras in the area. I hope they’ll reveal something. Although we already know the license plate was stolen and the car was a black Ford sedan, if we have a picture of the vehicle itself we can determine if there are any dents or scratches that might make the car stand out. If there are, then it will make locating the vehicle easier. I want to find the person who did this.”
“So do I.”
Keisha and Pete looked at Canyon. It wasn’t what he’d said, but how he’d said it, in a low, threatening tone. In a way, she wasn’t surprised by his reaction. She’d felt the intense anger radiating from Canyon as he’d gone from room to room with her. She’d felt the hostility even more when he’d seen the senseless destruction in her and Beau’s bedrooms.
Instead of either of them addressing what Canyon had said, Pete looked over at her. “I wouldn’t advise you to stay here tonight. Whoever did this was able to bypass your security system.”
“She won’t be staying here,” Canyon said before she could respond. “She’s coming with me and will be staying at my place for a while.”
“That’s a good idea,” Pete said as if that settled it.
It didn’t. “Whoa. Wait a minute. I won’t stay here, but I’m checking into a hotel,” Keisha said.
Canyon looked at her. “No, you’re not.”
She placed her hands on her hips, stiffened her spine and narrowed her eyes at him. “Yes, I am.”
“No, you’re not.”
Pete cleared his throat. “I’ll let you two hash out those details without me. But if you remember anything at all, Ms. Ashford, call the precinct. Detective Ervin Render will be handling your case.” Pete quickly left, as if he didn’t want to get in the line of fire.
Even before Pete had cleared the doorway that separated the kitchen from the dining room, Keisha turned back to Canyon. “Now, wait just a damn minute, Canyon Westmoreland. Why should I stay with you when I can stay at a hotel? Besides, what I do or where I go is none of your business, so back off.”
Hearing her sharp tone, any sane man would not have hesitated to do what she’d suggested. However, instead of backing off, Canyon took a step forward. The fierce expression on his face and the laser-sharp look in his eyes had her dropping her hands to her sides.
“Probably, if it was just you, I might back off, Keisha, since your decision about me three years ago proved just how little trust you have in me. You had the gall to believe I would admit to loving you and then sleep with another woman...in your bed.”
She tightened her hands into fists at her sides. “I know what I saw, Canyon.”
His eyes flared with anger. “And just what did you see? Did you see me screwing Bonita? Wrapped in her arms or she in mine? No. What you saw was me, naked except for the towel wrapped around my waist, stepping out of the bathroom from my shower to find Bonita lying in your bed.”
Keisha’s own anger escalated. “She was naked!”
“I saw that fact at the same time you did. I told you what happened. Bonita came by your place looking for you minutes after I got in from the gym. She was upset about some argument she’d had with her fiancé, Grant Palmer, and I offered her a drink to calm her down. She asked me to share it with her and I saw no reason not to. Afterward, she thanked me, said she needed to pull herself together and asked if she could stay for a few minutes because she was too upset to drive home. I told her yes, but that I needed to take a shower. I expected her to be gone when I got out of the bathroom, because she’d said she would be.”
He paused a moment and then added, “I had no idea she had stripped off her clothes and gotten into your bed until I walked out and saw you standing in the middle of the bedroom with an accusing look in your eyes. I told you the truth. But you didn’t believe me. You preferred believing the lie your friend Bonita told you instead.”
“Why would she lie about it? She was engaged to marry Grant.”
“Maybe that’s a question for you to figure out since Bonita isn’t around any longer to provide answers.”
His remark was a stark reminder that Bonita had been killed last year in an early-morning pileup on Interstate 70, an accident that had killed ten people.
“I’m not going to waste time discussing our dramatic past,” Canyon interrupted her thoughts to say. “What I am going to discuss is my son...a son I didn’t know I had, dammit. And if you want to go sleep in a hotel room tonight without all the facts about who’s trying to scare you enough to follow you home and then do this,” he said, gesturing to the mess in her kitchen, “then go right ahead. But my son won’t be going with you.”
“Who the hell do you think you are telling me where my son won’t be going?” she asked, taking a step closer and getting in his face.
“His father. And I think once you put your misplaced hatred for me aside, you’ll agree that both of you going to Westmoreland Country would be the best thing. Would you feel safe living here?”
She tempered her anger somewhat as she took in his words. “I said I would go to a hotel.”
“And what if the person finds out where you’re staying? You still don’t know why you’re being targeted. Hell, you don’t even know if it’s a man or a woman. I’d think you would care about Beau’s life even if you want to take chances with your own.”
Keisha nibbled her bottom lip. Was Canyon deliberately trying to put the fear of God in her? She drew in a deep breath and glanced around. All it took was one look at her kitchen and the memory of the condition of the other rooms in her house. Canyon was right. Until she found out who’d done this and who had been following her earlier that day, she needed to do everything she could to keep Beau safe. And he would be safe with Canyon.
But what about her? She knew Canyon would never hurt her physically, but what about emotionally? It seemed he was still proclaiming his innocence as if she was supposed to believe him. She knew what she’d seen that night.
Keisha remembered Bonita’s tearful admission that she and Canyon hadn’t meant to sleep together. It had just happened. Bonita had gone to Keisha’s place looking for her friend after a tiff she’d had with Grant, only to discover that Keisha hadn’t yet returned from her out-of-town trip.
Bonita had been upset and to calm her down Canyon had given her something to drink, which he’d shared with her. They’d both drunk themselves silly and the next thing Bonita knew they were having sex on the floor in the living room. Canyon had taken a shower afterward and had asked Bonita to wait for him in bed.
And that was when Keisha had returned unexpectedly to find Bonita naked in bed and Canyon walking out of the bathroom wearing a towel around his middle.
Oh, he had pretended to be just as shocked as she’d been to see a naked Bonita, but Keisha hadn’t bought his story then and she wasn’t buying it now. There had been two empty wineglasses and Bonita’s clothes had been thrown on the floor all over the place, corroborating Bonita’s story.
But what if there was a smidgen of truth in what he’d said just now? What if the scene had been cunningly crafted by Bonita?
“It’s getting late, Keisha, and we need to leave here,” Canyon said, interrupting her thoughts.
Keisha held his gaze. Could she and Canyon spend a single day under the same roof and be civil to each other? Tomorrow was Saturday, and she had scheduled appointments to take Beau to the barbershop, do laundry, buy groceries and get her car washed. Now she would need the entire weekend to arrange the cleanup of her place. Right now she felt violated, and her main concern was keeping her son safe.
“One night,” she heard herself saying. “I’ll agree to stay one night.” Then she thought about all that needed to be done here. “Maybe two.”
Canyon frowned in exasperation. “Fine, do your two nights, but the invitation is open for as long as you need it. There’s some nutcase out there and until Pete and that detective figure out what he has against you then I intend to keep you and Beau safe.”
She bit her tongue to keep from telling him that neither she nor Beau needed him because that would be a lie. At this moment, with so much uncertainty in her life, for the next day...or two...she and Beau did need him.
Four
“Make yourself at home.”
Keisha stepped over the threshold of Canyon’s house and thought he had to be kidding. This wasn’t a home, this was a friggin’ castle.
It had been dark when they’d arrived but she had seen the lighted marker that denoted Westmoreland Country. And she had seen another marker that said Canyon’s Bluff. Because it had been dark, she’d barely made out the massive structure until the car’s headlights had shined on it. She’d sat in the car for a full minute, amazed.
He had been in the process of having the plans drawn up for the house when she’d left town. She had heard the story about how, after his parents’ deaths, he and his brothers—upon reaching the age of twenty-five—inherited one hundred acres of land each...all except for Dillon. Since Dillon was the oldest, he had inherited the family home and the three hundred acres it sat on.
Canyon and several of his brothers had been perfectly content living in the main house with Dillon until Dillon had married. That was when all the brothers had decided to build their own places. Canyon hadn’t been in any hurry at first. When he’d moved from Dillon’s home, he and his brother Stern moved in with their brother Jason, who’d had plenty of room. Eventually, Canyon had moved in with her.
“So what do you think, Keisha?”
She glanced over at him. He was holding a sleeping Beau in his arms while standing in the middle of what she figured was his living room, although it was three times the size of hers. “Can I ask you something, Canyon?”
“What?”
“Why would a single man need such a large place?”
When he smiled she felt a stirring in her belly. “At the time, I didn’t think of needs, just wants. Four of my brothers and I were building our homes practically at the same time, and we all wanted something different and unique. You think this place is big, you ought to see Micah’s Manor, Derringer’s Dungeon, Riley’s Station, Stern’s Stronghold and Zane’s Hideout.”
She couldn’t help grinning. “I gather all of your places have unique names.”
“Yes. It was Bailey’s idea.”
“I think the names are cute,” she said, reaching for Beau.
“Whatever,” he said, handing their dozing son to her.
“Those were some pretty nice neighbors to take care of him like they did.”
Keisha agreed. “Yes, and I appreciate them.” Janice and Everett Miles were super. Not only had they fed Beau, but they’d given him a bath and put him in a pair of the twins’ pajamas. Now she held her sleeping child in her arms as she looked around a house that was too large for one person. And it was decorated for a king...and a queen. The furniture was expensive and the decor perfect.
“You must have paid a lot in decorating costs,” she said.
Canyon, who was moving around turning on lights, looked over his shoulder at her and chuckled. “I wish I could say my cousin Gemma came cheap but she didn’t. She made plenty of money off her brothers and cousins and wasn’t guilty about doing so.”
“She did a great job.”
“We got what we paid for. And if you ask me, we even paid for what we didn’t get. I think she deliberately overcharged us because she figured she could get away with it.”
Canyon’s gruffness wasn’t fooling Keisha one bit since she heard the fondness in his voice. That was one thing she’d always admired about him and his family—their closeness. He had told her all about his family, and it had been her choice not to get to know them better. While Canyon had been great company, and the sex had been off the charts, she hadn’t thought their relationship would last. Initially, she’d thought their physical relationship was all she’d wanted or needed.
But Canyon had had a way of growing on her, and it had seemed she had started growing on him, as well. Within six months, she had invited him to move in with her. While living together they’d gotten along fabulously and things had been going really well...until the night he’d betrayed her.
“My guest rooms are furnished but with no kiddie beds,” he said, interrupting her thoughts.
“No problem, he can sleep with me.”
Canyon nodded. “Okay. Right this way.”
There were two spiral staircases. He moved up one and she followed, thinking his house looked even more impressive when seen from the stairs. High ceilings, crown moldings, colorful walls, hardwood and tile floors as well as intricate lighting. Everything served the purpose of complimenting the grace and style of the house. Definitely not anything a man would have had a hand in.
“Unfortunately, my place isn’t childproof either.”
She didn’t say anything. It didn’t matter since she and Beau wouldn’t be staying here that long anyway. When they reached the next floor he moved into a hallway that seemed to branch out in three directions. Even this area was beautifully decorated and a huge light fixture hung from the ceiling.
He moved down a corridor containing three bedrooms. Opening the door to one of the rooms, he stood back for her to enter. This guest room, she thought, was simply stunning. There was no other word for it.
“This is the blue room,” he said.
She could see why. The walls were painted sky-blue with white billowy curtains around the windows. Plaid blue-and-white coverings were on the king-size bed. A white leather love seat was on one side of the room and two beautiful white ceramic lamps sat on nightstands on either side of the bed.
“It’s pretty,” she said.
“Thanks.”
She walked across the white marble tile to the bed, pushed back the covers and placed Beau in the center. She glanced down at their son who looked so peaceful while sleeping. Little did he know that his mother’s world had just gone topsy-turvy.
“I used to do that.”
She nearly jumped. She hadn’t known Canyon had followed her over to the bed. “What?”
“Sleep curled up with my face resting on my hands.”
She smiled. “And he makes those sounds in his sleep like you used to do.”
She watched Canyon’s brow rise. His eyes, normally so dark and intense, seemed even more so in the bedroom’s low light. “What sounds?”
Those sounds you used to make that turned me on whenever I woke up to hear them, she thought. Not a snore—more of a groan, as if you were having some hell of a dream.
“So, what sounds?” he asked again.
“Not important,” she said, rubbing the back of her neck. This was not how she’d planned to kick off her busy weekend. With everything she’d had planned to do Saturday and Sunday, tonight she’d hoped to curl up on her sofa with a bowl of popcorn and a movie after putting Beau to bed. Instead she was here, at the home of the one man she didn’t want to deal with again.
Yes, she’d run into him occasionally since returning to Denver. Her law firm represented several of his company’s clients, and she would admit that the first time they’d sat across from each other as opposing council in a legal proceeding had been difficult.
All she could think about that day, and the ones that followed, had been his betrayal. So when he’d approached her, asking if she would join him for dinner so they could talk through their issues, she had turned him down. After that it had seemed that the more she turned him down the more persistent he got. And to think he’d assumed he could follow her home to force a conversation with her!
But now she would admit she was glad he had been there when she’d walked into the house and found her home in shambles. His take-charge attitude had helped when she’d become too emotional to think straight.
“Do you think he will fall out of the bed?”
Keisha chuckled softly. “No. He’s out for the night. And he’s not a wanderer so don’t worry about him tumbling down the stairs during the night either.”
“Good, because if you’re up for it, we need to go downstairs and talk.”
She appreciated that he was giving her the option to say no. But she knew they needed to talk, and she wanted to get it over with. “Okay,” she said, turning around.
He was standing too close, and as she looked up into his face lust shot through her. She wasn’t surprised. Canyon had that effect on women. It had been that way for her the day they’d met in the courthouse lunchroom. And it had been that way a month later when she’d attended a meeting regarding a land dispute with his company. Every time Canyon glanced across the table at her she felt her insides sizzle.
“I’ll need to use the ladies’ room first,” she said, rubbing her hands down the sides of her skirt.
“Every bedroom has a private bath. I’ll see you downstairs in a few.” He then turned and walked out of the room, pulling the door closed behind him.
She let out a deep breath when she heard his footsteps move down the stairs. When she’d made the decision not to tell Canyon about Beau she had been pretty comfortable with it. But she had a feeling that when Canyon finished with her she was going to wish she had decided differently.
* * *
Canyon stood at the window in his living room and looked out. It was dark, but he didn’t need to see to know what was out there: the one hundred acres he had inherited.
From the time he’d been a kid, he’d known he wanted to claim this spot, the one with a perfect view of Whisper Creek Canyon. He didn’t have to be on Gemma’s Lake—the one named after his grandmother—or any of the other lakes and streams in Westmoreland Country. Nor did he have to be close to the valleys and meadows. This was where he wanted to be.
He recalled those times when he would go hunting with his father, uncle, brothers and cousins. They would ride their horses here on this land and then camp out near the canyon. When everyone would fall asleep he would stay awake, wide-eyed while he stared up at the stars. He was convinced only special stars shone on this spot. And they were his stars. Over the years, whenever he was bothered by anything, all he had to do was stare up at them to find the answers he needed.
It was here where he had escaped almost twenty years ago after finding out that his parents and uncle and aunt had died in a plane crash. And it was here where he’d come while in college when he’d made the decision to change his major from medicine to law.
He’d thought he had wanted to follow in his brother Micah’s footsteps and become a doctor, but after two years of medical school he’d known he had made a mistake. He’d been torn about what to do.
Dillon had sensed something was bothering him that week when he’d come home for spring break. And it had been Dillon who’d suggested Canyon take time away from school and come home to seek the answers he needed. So Canyon had taken a semester off.
For those four months, he had crashed with his brother Riley and had spent his days either helping Ramsey with the sheep or Zane, Derringer and Jason with the horses. Then, on the weekends, he’d camped out here, on this land.
When it was time for the next semester to start, he’d made his decision to switch from medical school to law school with his family’s blessings. Although his family got mad at each other sometimes, whenever it came to major issues they stuck together and supported each other.
He took another deep breath as he recalled another decision he had made here on this spot under the stars. It had been the decision to ask Keisha to marry him. One evening while she was out of town on business, he had come here. He’d already decided to build a house on this land and had been gathering ideas for what kind of home he wanted to build and exactly where he wanted the structure to face. Then, out of the clear blue sky, a voice inside his head had said, Keisha will be the woman to live here with you.
He really hadn’t been shocked or surprised by that revelation since he’d never had issues about falling in love like some of his cousins and brothers had. He didn’t have a fear of losing someone the same way he’d lost his folks. His only reason for taking his time about getting serious with a woman was that he enjoyed being single and hadn’t been ready to settle down. He’d figured that one day he would meet that special person, fall in love and marry. He was fine with that idea. He just hadn’t figured it would happen so soon.
He had taken a horse and ridden down into the canyon, camping out that night on this land. He’d looked up at the stars and within minutes he’d known.
He could hardly wait for Keisha to return. He hadn’t been expecting her for another two days. But she’d come home early, found Bonita in her bed and assumed the worst. And Bonita had intentionally led her to believe a lie.
That angered him more than anything else about the situation because the woman had never done anything to rectify the situation. Keisha had been her friend but Bonita had lied to her. Canyon never knew what the woman’s true motive had been.
Canyon’s thoughts returned to the present when he heard the sound of Keisha coming down the stairs. He turned around and moved toward her, pausing briefly to pick up the wineglass off the table where he’d placed it moments ago. “Here, I think you need this,” he said, handing the glass of wine to her.
She accepted it and took a sip. He could tell from the smile on her face that she appreciated the taste. “This is good. Where did you get it?”
“My cousin Spencer and his wife own a vineyard in California’s wine country. Russell Vineyard has been in Chardonnay’s family for years and—”
“Chardonnay?”
“Yes, that’s Spencer’s wife.”
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Brenda Jackson
Years ago, Canyon Westmoreland let misunderstandings come between him and Keisha Ashford.But when Keisha returns to town with a two-year-old son, it’s time to settle things once and for all.A blazing attraction still burns between them and, this time around, nothing will stop Canyon from claiming Keisha and his child!
From New York Times bestselling author Brenda Jackson comes a new trilogy starring three Westmorelands…
Years ago, Canyon Westmoreland let misunderstandings come between him and Keisha Ashford. But when Keisha returns to town with a two-year-old son, it’s time to settle things once and for all. A blazing attraction still burns between them, and this time around, nothing will stop Canyon from claiming what is his—his woman and his child!
Praise for New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Brenda Jackson
“Brenda Jackson writes romance that sizzles
and characters you fall in love with.”
—New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Lori Foster
“Jackson’s trademark ability to weave multiple
characters and side stories together makes shocking
truths all the more exciting.”
—Publishers Weekly
“There is no getting away from the sex appeal
and charm of Jackson’s Westmoreland family.”
—RT Book Reviews on Feeling the Heat
“Jackson’s characters are wonderful, strong, colorful
and hot enough to burn the pages.”
—RT Book Reviews on Westmoreland’s Way
“The kind of sizzling, heart-tugging story Brenda
Jackson is famous for.”
—RT Book Reviews on Spencer’s Forbidden Passion
“This is entertainment at its best.”
—RT Book Reviews on Star of His Heart
Dear Reader,
I love writing about those Westmorelands because they exemplify what a strong family is all about, mainly the sharing of love and support. For that reason, when I was given the chance to present them in a trilogy, I was excited and ready to dive into the lives of Zane, Canyon and Stern Westmoreland.
It is hard to believe that Canyon is my twenty-fifth Westmoreland novel. It seems like it was only yesterday when I introduced you to Delaney and her five brothers. I knew by the time I wrote Thorn’s story that I just had to tell you about their cousins that were spread out over Montana, Texas, California and Colorado.
It has been an adventure and I enjoyed sharing it with you. I’ve gotten your emails and snail mails letting me know how much you adore those Westmoreland men, and I appreciate hearing from you. Each Westmoreland—male or female—is unique, and the way love conquers their hearts is heartwarming, breathtaking and totally satisfying.
In this story, Canyon is in for a shocker when he discovers his former girlfriend’s closely guarded secret. And then he has to learn to forgive a woman who has a problem with forgiving herself.
I hope you enjoy this story about Canyon and Keisha Ashford.
Happy Reading!
Brenda Jackson
Canyon
Brenda Jackson
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
BRENDA JACKSON is a die “heart” romantic who married her childhood sweetheart and still proudly wears the “going steady” ring he gave her when she was fifteen. Because she believes in the power of love, Brenda’s stories always have happy endings. In her real-life love story, Brenda and her husband of more than forty years live in Jacksonville, Florida, and have two sons.
A New York Times bestselling author of more than seventy-five romance titles, Brenda is a recent retiree who now divides her time between family, writing and traveling with Gerald. You may write Brenda at PO Box 28267, Jacksonville, Florida 32226, USA , email her at writerbjackson@aol.com or visit her website at www.brendajackson.net.
To my husband, the love of my life and my best friend, Gerald Jackson, Sr.
To the members of the Brenda Jackson Support Team, this one is for you!
“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.”
—Proverbs 17:22
Contents
Chapter One (#ufeec18ff-7bad-5711-9d2f-299d5371784a)
Chapter Two (#u6b3bab33-c8ca-516d-9189-6a54266a959c)
Chapter Three (#u08e88fe5-4016-58ae-a916-d0348a650de3)
Chapter Four (#u0449fb61-ff26-57ca-ae04-0d6c90b3f3c9)
Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Excerpt (#litres_trial_promo)
One
Canyon Westmoreland was tempted to get out of the parked car and stretch his legs, but decided against it. The one thing he’d learned from watching cop shows was that when you were on a stakeout, you did nothing to give yourself away. You remained as inconspicuous as possible. And as far as he was concerned, he was on a stakeout, determined to find out once and for all why Keisha Ashford refused to give him the time of day.
He was very much aware that she hated his guts because she believed he had betrayed her with another woman. And he knew that assumption was the reason she’d left town three years ago, cutting all ties with him, and was also the reason why she felt that, upon returning to Denver, she had every right to act as if he didn’t exist.
However, he had put up with it long enough.
They were both corporate attorneys, a profession which had brought them together initially, and a profession that still placed them together on a number of occasions. Since she’d returned to Denver ten months ago, they’d sat across from each other at the negotiating table for more than one business deal. And it bothered him when she acted as if they didn’t share a past.
A number of times he had approached her about straightening things out between them, if for no other reason than so they could have closure, but she always turned him down.
Well, he’d had enough. He refused to allow another day to go by with her thinking he had betrayed her.
So here he was, parked outside the law firm where she worked. Canyon planned to follow her home and confront her. They would finally have that discussion she’d been refusing to give him.
His brothers Stern and Riley had warned him that she had the right to call the police if she felt harassed. But he hoped she wouldn’t feel that way. He wasn’t trying to harass her. He only wanted to talk to her.
He glanced at his watch. Since he wasn’t sure what time she got off work, he’d been parked here for more than an hour now, leaving early from his job at his family’s company—Blue Ridge Land Management—to make sure he didn’t miss her.
He’d moved to switch channels on the radio when his cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and frowned when he saw it was his brother. He clicked the phone on.
“What do you want, Stern?”
“Just calling to see if you’ve been arrested yet.”
Canyon rolled his eyes. “I won’t be getting arrested.”
“Don’t be too sure of that. No woman likes being stalked.”
Canyon’s hand tightened on the steering wheel. “I’m not stalking her.”
Stern chuckled. “So what do you call your plan of waiting in front of her office with the intention of following her home?”
Canyon adjusted his tall frame in the seat to find a more comfortable position. “I wouldn’t have to follow her if she’d told me where she lives.”
“There’s a chance the reason she didn’t tell you is because she doesn’t want you to know,” Stern said. “Her house is her territory, and you’re forcing yourself into her space. She might not like that.”
Canyon was about to tell his brother that at this point he couldn’t care less about what she liked when he saw Keisha and another woman walk out of the building together. They were conversing and smiling, headed to their cars. Both were nice-looking women, but his gaze was focused solely on Keisha. He thought the same thing now that he’d thought the first time he’d met her. She was an incredibly beautiful woman.
She still had creamy brown skin that highlighted dark brown eyes, a perky nose and high cheekbones. And she still wore her silky black hair straight and parted in the center. It brushed against her shoulders. Just looking at her full lips made him remember how they tasted, which in turn made him hungry for them. He wished he didn’t recall the many times he’d spent devouring her mouth.
But there was something different about her shapely body in that navy A-line skirt and pretty blue blouse. Was it his imagination, or did her hips really appear curvier and her breasts slightly larger than what he remembered?
Regardless of whether his memory was playing tricks on him or not, Keisha Ashford looked good.
He shifted in his seat again, thinking some things didn’t change, even his desire for a woman who couldn’t stand him.
But he had no problem remembering a time when she could stand him. Those had been the best times of his life. He’d never thought he would be ready to settle down with a woman before his thirty-fifth birthday, but he had fallen for Keisha quickly and had been ready to pop the question—before a lie had torn them apart.
He released a deep sigh as his gaze continued to soak her in, every single detail, especially those legs, which could wrap so firmly around a man’s waist—
“Canyon, are you still there?”
He blinked upon remembering he still had Stern on the phone. “Yes, I’m here. But I have to go. Keisha just walked out and I need to follow her.”
“Be careful, bro. It’s been a long time since a Westmoreland was put in jail. I’m sure you remember those days.”
He drew in a deep breath. How could he forget? There was only one Westmoreland with a jail record. As a teen, his baby brother Brisbane—known around Denver as Badass Bane—had gotten into enough trouble for all of them. Now Bane was serving his country as a kicking-the-enemy-ass navy SEAL.
“It won’t get that far, Stern. I’m no threat to Keisha. I just want to talk to her.”
“You weren’t a threat to her before, but that didn’t stop her from almost slapping a restraining order on you. Look, Canyon, it’s your business but—”
“I know, I know, Stern. You don’t want me to do anything to bring shame on the family.”
Keisha and the woman had parted ways, and Keisha was now walking alone toward her car. She still had that walk that he thought was as sexy as hell. Although she moved like a model, she had the look of a cool professional in her four-inch pumps with her briefcase in hand.
“Canyon!”
He jumped. “Look, Stern. I’ll call you later.”
Without giving his brother a chance to say anything else, Canyon clicked off the phone. He watched as Keisha sized up her surroundings before opening her car and getting inside. Although she had glanced in his direction she hadn’t seen him. He was parked behind a couple of cars.
He gave her time to start her car and pull out of her parking spot. Then, just as he was about to pull out of his own parking spot, a car darted out in front of him.
“What the hell,” Canyon muttered, hitting his brakes. “What damn fire is he rushing off to?”
Not wanting to lose Keisha, he pulled in behind the black sedan, keeping her vehicle within his vision. After tailing her for a few blocks, he became uneasy. It seemed the car in front of him—the black sedan—was tailing her, as well.
As an attorney, Canyon was aware there were times when clients of the opposing council didn’t like a court’s decision and wanted to make that dislike known. That could be what was happening here. He didn’t want to think of other possibilities, like a carjacking. They’d had a number of those lately around the city.
Canyon’s protective instincts kicked in when Keisha turned a corner to head away from town and the driver of the black sedan did, too. He couldn’t tell if the person driving the car in front of him was male or female because the windows were tinted. But he could make out the license plate number.
He pushed the phone button on his steering wheel. “Yes, Mr. Westmoreland, may I help you?”
“Yes, Samuel. Please connect me with Pete Higgins.”
Pete was best friends with his cousin Derringer and was a deputy with Denver’s police department.
“Please hold on for the connection.”
It didn’t take long for Pete to come on the line. “Deputy Higgins.”
“Pete. This is Canyon. I need you to check out a license plate number.”
“Why?”
Although Canyon knew Pete had every right to ask that question, he couldn’t keep his irritation from escalating. “A woman is being followed.”
“And you know this how?”
Canyon bit his lip to keep from cursing. His patience was stretched to the limit. “I know because I’m following her, as well.”
“Oh. And why are you following her?”
Canyon had always admired Pete’s easy, laid-back manner. Until now. “Now look, Pete.”
“No, you look, Canyon. No one should be following a woman, not you or anybody else. That’s harassment and I can bring you both in for stalking. What’s the license plate number?”
A mad-as-hell Canyon rattled off the number while wondering why Keisha hadn’t noticed she was being followed by not one, but two vehicles.
“Um, this is interesting,” Pete said.
“What?” Canyon asked, annoyed.
“That license plate was stolen.”
“Stolen?”
The driver in the sedan was smart enough not to follow behind Keisha too closely. But evidently he wasn’t smart enough to pick up on the fact that he or she was being followed by Canyon. Maybe the driver was so busy keeping up with Keisha that he hadn’t noticed what was going on behind him.
“Yes. According to our system, that license plate was reported stolen earlier today. Where are you?”
“Right now I’m going through the intersection of Firestone Road and Tinsel, and heading toward Purcell Park Road.”
“You’re way on the other side of town,” Pete noted.
“Yeah.” Canyon wondered if Keisha had deliberately chosen to live on the opposite side of Denver from where the Westmorelands lived.
“Is she driving a nice car?” Pete asked.
“Yes, looks like a pretty new Bimmer. Why?”
“I’m thinking that you might be looking at a possible carjacking. I’m on my way. Don’t do anything stupid until I get there.”
Canyon rolled his eyes. Did that mean he could do something stupid after Pete got there?
The thought of someone stalking Keisha angered him, and he quickly pushed to the back of his mind the thought that he was doing basically the same thing. The big difference was that Canyon didn’t intend to hurt one single hair on Keisha’s head. He couldn’t say the same for the bozo in front of him.
The last thing the other driver needed to know was where she lived. If she was heading home, he didn’t have time to wait for Pete. Pete’s office was on the other side of town. There was no telling how long it would take him to get here. At that moment, Canyon made a decision.
He would handle the situation himself.
* * *
Keisha swayed her body to the music blaring out of her car radio. She loved satellite stations with continuous commercial-free music, and she especially liked this channel, which played her favorite hits nonstop. And today she needed to hear them.
It had been one of those kinds of days.
It had started at ten, in court. She’d barely had time to grab lunch before rushing back to the courthouse for another case at one. Around three, she had returned to her office only to be pulled into a meeting she’d forgotten about. She was glad to have left work to start what would be a busy weekend.
Even knowing everything she had to do over the next two days did not dampen her mood. She’d won three cases this week, and she knew her bosses, Leonard Spivey and Adam Whitlock, were pleased.
Three years ago, Leonard hadn’t liked it when she’d given him only a week’s notice before leaving Denver and moving back home to Texas. But because she’d been one of the firm’s best attorneys, he’d been kind enough to give her a very good recommendation—and to welcome her back to the firm when she’d needed to return.
Sometimes things happened for a reason. When she’d moved to Texas, it hadn’t taken her long to land another job at a law firm in Austin. And had she not returned home, she probably would not have found out about her mother’s breast cancer scare.
Luckily, Keisha had been there for her mother during that difficult time. The two of them had always been close. Lynn Ashford was a strong and independent single parent. After the man who’d fathered Keisha denied she was his, Lynn had moved away from her hometown of Austin and settled with her daughter in Baton Rouge. Then, when Keisha’s grandfather had died when she was fifteen, she and her mother had returned to Austin to be there for Keisha’s grandmother.
There had been many hard times while growing up. To compensate, her mother had worked two jobs, leaving Keisha in the care of her grandmother. But seeing how hard her mother had worked without the help of a man had shown Keisha that if push came to shove, she could do the same.
Her heart ached when she thought about the man who had proved that fact to her.
Canyon Westmoreland.
She’d fallen in love with him the first day she’d laid eyes on him, but that love ended when she discovered he’d been unfaithful to her. She could tolerate a lot of things, but the one thing she wouldn’t tolerate was infidelity. Trust was paramount and a loss of it meant an end to everything...even a relationship that had held so much promise. Or she’d thought it’d had promise. Obviously she had been wrong.
Now, after three years, she was back in Denver. The scandal that had hit the law firm where she’d worked in Austin, and the firm’s eventual shutdown by the Texas Bar and the justice department, had made leaving a necessity. She’d known she would miss her mom, and that she was taking a chance with her decision to return to Denver, but Spivey and Whitlock was the one law office where she wouldn’t have to start at the bottom. She needed the money because she had more than herself to think about these days. However, to assure that she didn’t run into Canyon, other than for business, she’d deliberately moved clear on the other side of town from Westmoreland Country.
She knew the story of how Canyon’s parents, aunt and uncle had died in a plane crash, leaving fifteen orphans. Staying together hadn’t been easy, especially since several of the siblings and cousins had been under the age of sixteen. But together, the Westmoreland family had weathered hard times and was now enjoying the good times thanks to the success of the family’s land management firm, Blue Ridge.
Canyon’s parents had had seven sons: Dillon, Micah, Jason, Riley, Canyon, Stern and Brisbane. His aunt and uncle had had eight children: five boys—Ramsey, Zane, Derringer and the twins Aiden and Adrian; and three girls—Megan, Gemma and Bailey. From what Keisha knew, the majority of the Westmorelands were now college educated and successful in their own right, either working for the family firm or in their chosen profession. She’d met most of them when she had attended the annual Westmoreland Ball while she was dating Canyon. The ball was a huge event in the city and benefited a number of charities.
Her thoughts shifted back to one Westmoreland in particular. Canyon.
The Grand Canyon, as she would sometimes call him during more intimate moments.
The memories of those times hurt the most. She had loved him and had believed he loved her. She had opened her heart, and her home, to him. He had moved in with her after they’d dated for six months. She’d assumed their relationship was moving in the right direction. He had proved her wrong.
The blaring of a horn prompted her to glance in her rearview mirror. What in the world? she asked herself, frowning.
The drivers of the two cars behind her were engaging in some kind of road rage. It appeared that the driver of a burgundy car was trying to run the driver of a black sedan off the road.
Deciding the last thing she needed was to get involved in what was going on with those two drivers, she increased her speed and drove on ahead, leaving behind what she perceived as two hotheads vying to be king of the road.
Keisha checked the clock on the dashboard. She was eager to reach her destination and the person waiting for her there.
* * *
Canyon watched the black sedan speed off. Although he’d gotten pretty close to the car, the tinted windows had prevented him from determining if the driver had been a man or a woman, but he was leaning more toward a man.
He returned his attention to the road in time to see Keisha turn the corner a couple of blocks ahead. He continued to keep his distance, not wanting her to know she was being followed. It had been a long time since he’d been in this section of Denver, but because of the nature of his business, he knew about all the new development in the area. Several housing communities had been constructed, along with a number of shopping places and restaurants.
He watched Keisha put on her car’s right blinker to turn into what he at first thought was a doctor’s complex. Upon getting a better view of the huge sign out front, he saw it was Mary’s Little Lamb Day Care. He frowned. Why would she be stopping at a day care? Maybe she was doing one of her coworkers a favor by picking up their child, or she could have volunteered to babysit tonight for someone.
He slid into a parking spot and watched as she got out of her car and went inside, smiling. That probably meant she was ready for the weekend to begin. Hopefully, her good mood would continue when she saw that he’d followed her home. His focus stayed on her, concentrating on the sway of her hips with every step she took, until she was no longer in sight.
He was about to change stations on his radio when his cell phone rang. He hoped it wasn’t Stern again. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw it was his cousin Bailey, the youngest of the Westmoreland siblings and cousins living in Denver. Growing up, Bailey had been nearly as bad as Bane when it came to getting into trouble.
He clicked the phone on. “What’s up, Bay?”
“Zane’s back. He got in today.”
Canyon nodded. His cousin Zane had left town a good three weeks ago on what Canyon had assumed was a business trip, only to discover later that his cousin was running behind a woman he’d once had an affair with by the name of Channing Hastings. Rumor had it that Zane was returning home with a wedding band on his finger.
“He’s married?”
“Not yet. He and Channing are talking about a Christmas wedding.”
A Christmas wedding? It was hard to believe Zane, a die-hard bachelor, was thinking about settling down.
“Didn’t think I’d live to see the day.”
“Well, I’m glad he came to his senses.” Bailey paused and then said, “Don’t forget this is chow-down night.”
Every other Friday night, the Westmorelands got together at his brother Dillon’s place. The women would do the cooking and the men would arrive hungry. Afterward, the men took part in a poker game and the women did whatever they pleased.
“I might be a little late,” he said, since he wasn’t sure how his confrontation with Keisha would go. If she was babysitting somebody’s kid, he would follow her home just to see where she lived and then return at another time and try to talk to her. At some point, he needed to let her know about the person who’d been following her. It might be something she needed to check into, especially if it was related to a case she was working on.
“Why?”
He frowned at Bailey’s question. “Why what?”
“Why will you be late? Dillon mentioned you left work early today.”
For some reason Bailey assumed being the youngest automatically made her privy to everyone’s business. Instead of answering her, he tapped on the phone several times and then said, “Sounds like we have a bad connection, Bay. I’ll talk to you later.”
He clicked the phone off in time to see Keisha walk back out of the building. Studying her face he saw she was still smiling, which was a good sign. She was also chatting with the little boy whose hand she was holding—a boy who was probably around two years old.
Canyon studied the little boy’s features. “WTF,” he muttered under his breath. The kid could be a double for Denver, Dillon’s three-year-old son. In fact, if Canyon didn’t know for certain that Denver was at home with Dillon’s wife, Pam, he would think it was Denver’s hand that Keisha was holding. An uneasy feeling stirred his insides as he continued to study the little boy whose smile was just as big as Keisha’s.
Canyon took in a gasping breath. There was only one reason the little boy looked so much like a Westmoreland. Canyon gripped the steering wheel, certain steam was coming out of his ears and nose.
He didn’t remember easing his seat back, unbuckling his seat belt or opening the car door. Neither did he remember walking toward Keisha. However, he would always remember the look on her face when she stopped walking and glanced in his direction. What he saw in her features was surprise, guilt and remorse.
As he got closer he watched defensiveness followed by fierce protectiveness replace those other emotions. She stopped walking and pulled her son—the child he was certain was their son—closer to her side. “What are you doing here, Canyon?”
He came to a stop in front of her. His body was radiating anger from the inside out. His gaze left her face and looked down at the little boy who was clutching the hem of Keisha’s skirt and staring up at him with distrustful eyes that were almost identical to his mother’s.
Canyon shifted his gaze back up to meet Keisha’s eyes. In a voice shaking with fury, he asked, “Would you like to tell me why I didn’t know I had a son?”
Two
Keisha drew in a deep breath while thinking about what she would say, and from Canyon’s tone of voice she knew it better be good. She’d often wondered how he would react when he found out he had a son. Would he deny her child was his like her own father had done with her?
Instead of answering his question, she countered with one of her own. “Would it have mattered had you known?”
She saw surprise flash in his eyes just seconds before his lips formed a tight line. “Of course it would have mattered,” he said with affront. “Now tell me why I wasn’t told.”
Keisha could tell by the way her son held tight to her skirt that he sensed something was wrong, and she knew how anxious he got around strangers. Although she wished otherwise, the time had come for her and Canyon to talk. But not now and not here.
“I need to get Beau home and—”
“Beau?”
She lifted her chin. “Yes. My son’s name is Beau Ashford.”
The anger that flashed across his face was quick. And although he muttered the words, “Not for long,” under his breath, she heard them.
She slowly pulled in a deep breath and then carefully exhaled it. “Like I said, Canyon. I need to get Beau home to prepare dinner and then—”
“Fine,” he cut in before she finished. “Whatever you have planned for tonight, I’m included.”
Like hell he was. “Now look here, Canyon. I—”
She stopped talking when she saw Pauline Sampson, owner of the day care, approaching them. Pauline had been one of Keisha’s first clients when she’d begun practicing law five years ago. She was also a friend of Mr. Spivey’s wife, Joan. Pauline was smiling but Keisha saw deep concern in every curve of the woman’s lips. There was also a degree of curiosity in her eyes.
“Keisha, I happened to glance out my window and saw you were still here. I just wanted to make sure everything was okay,” Pauline said smoothly.
If everything wasn’t okay, Keisha had no intention of letting Pauline know. “Yes, everything is fine, Pauline.” She hadn’t planned on making introductions, and she was aware that Canyon knew it. She really wasn’t surprised when he took it upon himself to make the introductions himself.
Extending his hand out to Pauline, he said, “How are you, Pauline? I’m Canyon Westmoreland, Beau’s father.”
Keisha watched Pauline’s brow lift in surprise. “Westmoreland?”
Canyon flashed Pauline what Keisha knew to be his dashing smile, one known to win over jurors in the courtroom. “Yes, Westmoreland.”
She saw interest shine in Pauline’s eyes. “Are you related to Dillon Westmoreland?”
Canyon kept his smile in place. “Yes, Dillon is my oldest brother.”
Pauline’s smile widened. “Small world. I can definitely see the resemblance. Dillon and I went to high school together and serve on the boards of directors of several businesses in town.”
“Yes, it is a small world,” Canyon agreed, glancing at his watch. “If you don’t mind excusing us, Pauline, Keisha and I need to get Beau home for dinner.”
“Oh, not at all,” Pauline said, beaming. “I understand.” She then glanced up at Keisha. “Have a good weekend.”
Keisha doubted that would happen now. “You, too, Pauline.”
She knew not to waste time talking Canyon out of following her home. He wanted her to answer his question—not tomorrow or next week, but tonight.
When Pauline turned to go back inside, Keisha moved toward her car and gasped in surprise when Canyon reached down and picked up Beau. Keisha opened her mouth to warn him that Beau didn’t take well to strangers. She closed it when instead of screaming at the top of his lungs, Beau wrapped his arms around Canyon’s neck.
Canyon adjusted their son in his arms. “I’ll carry him to the car for you.”
She frowned. “He can walk.”
“I know he can, but I want to carry him. Humor me.”
Keisha didn’t want to humor him. She didn’t want to have anything to do with him. Father or no father, if Canyon thought he could bombard his way into her or Beau’s lives, he had another think coming. He’d made his choice three years ago.
She tried pushing her mother’s warning to the back of her mind. When Keisha had discovered her pregnancy and shared the news with her mother, Lynn had warned her not to assume Canyon would be like Kenneth Drew. Lynn believed every man had a right to know he’d fathered a child, which is why she had told Kenneth. Only after his decision not to accept Keisha as his child had Lynn ceased including Kenneth in her daughter’s life.
Lynn felt Keisha hadn’t given Canyon a chance to either accept or reject his child, and he should be given that choice. Keisha hadn’t felt that way. Knowing her father had rejected her had tormented her all through childhood and right into her adult life. It had been her decision to never let her son experience the grief of rejection.
When they reached her car, she opened the door to the backseat and moved aside to watch Canyon place Beau in his car seat. Then another surprise happened. Beau actually protested and tried reaching for Canyon to get back into his arms.
“It seems he likes you,” Keisha muttered, truly not happy with it at all.
Canyon glanced over his shoulder at her. “It’s a Westmoreland thing.”
Keisha didn’t say anything. If that was his way of letting her know his son should have been born with his name, he’d done so effectively.
“From now on, partner, I’ll never be too far away,” she heard him say to Beau and wondered if he realized he needed her permission for that to happen. When it came to her son, he would only have the rights she gave him.
As if Beau understood, he then spoke to Canyon for the first time. Pointing his finger at himself, he said, “Me Beau.” He then pointed at Canyon. “You?”
Canyon chuckled and Keisha knew he had deliberately said the next words loud enough for her to hear. “Dad.”
Beau repeated the word dad as if he needed to say it. “Dad.”
Canyon chuckled. “Yes, Dad.” He then closed the car door and turned to Keisha.
Ignoring the fierce frown on his face, she said, “You seem to be good with kids.”
He shrugged. “Dillon has a son named Denver who’s a little older than Beau, and I’m around him a lot. They favor.”
She lifted a brow. “Who?”
“Beau and Denver. Although Denver is a little taller, if you put them in a room together it might be hard to tell them apart.”
It was Keisha’s time to shrug. She would know her son anywhere. Besides, she couldn’t imagine the two kids looking that much alike. “Since you insist that we need to talk today, you can follow me home. But I don’t intend to break my routine with Beau because of you.”
“I don’t expect you to.”
She moved to walk around to the driver’s side of the car when he reached out and touched her. Immediately, heat raced up her spine and she was forced to remember the raw masculine energy Canyon possessed. She’d have thought that after three years she would be immune to him, but it seemed nothing had changed in the sexual-chemistry department.
“Keisha?”
With her pulse throbbing, she fought to regain her composure. She lifted her chin. “What?”
He met her gaze and held it. “Is there any reason someone would be following you?”
“What are you talking about?” Keisha asked, frowning.
Canyon shoved his hands into his pockets. “I started following you from your job, but I wasn’t the only one. A black sedan pulled out in front of me and whoever was behind the wheel followed you until a mile or so back. That’s when I tried getting the driver’s attention by driving close along the side of the car and forcing him or her to pull over. I don’t know if the driver was a man or a woman since the windows were tinted. Instead of pulling over, the car made a quick right turn at the next corner and kept going.”
Keisha remembered glancing in her rearview mirror and witnessing what she’d assumed were two drivers engaging in road rage. “You’re driving a burgundy car?”
“Yes.”
“I heard a horn blast and saw you trying to run that black car off the road. I figured it was nothing more than two drivers acting like fools.”
“It wasn’t. It was about me trying to find out why someone was following you. I even called the police to report it.”
“The police?”
“Yes. Just so happens that Pete Higgins is a deputy and a friend of Derringer’s. At the time, I only had a hunch you were being followed, so Pete checked it out as a favor. Then he got suspicious when he discovered the license plate had been reported as stolen. He’s since phoned back to say they’re still looking for the car.”
Although Keisha had only met Derringer Westmoreland once, during the Westmoreland Ball, she’d heard about him. Before marrying and settling down, he’d had a reputation of being quite the ladies’ man. In fact, a number of male Westmorelands had claimed that reputation.
“Well, I have no idea why anyone would be following me. Why were you following me?”
“Because on a number of occasions over the past ten months, I’ve approached you, wanting to talk and you refused to give me the time of day. Now I know why.”
Not wanting to get into it with Canyon about Beau now, because she was certain Pauline probably had her face glued to her office window, Keisha said, “We’ll talk later.”
“I’ll be right behind you.”
Canyon waited until Keisha had gotten into her car before crossing the parking lot to get into his. It was only when he had closed the door and snapped his seat belt that the impact of the past twenty minutes hit him hard.
He had a son. A son he hadn’t known about until today.
* * *
With her heart pounding furiously in her chest, Keisha pulled out of the day care’s parking lot. She thought about Canyon’s assertion that a car had been following her. That didn’t make sense. None of the cases she was working on were serious enough to warrant anyone wanting to harass her.
This was a new car she was driving, a very popular model. Perhaps the person had had carjacking in mind? Shivers raced through her at the thought.
When she came to a traffic light she glanced into the backseat to make sure Beau was okay. She couldn’t get over how easily he had accepted Canyon.
And just how easily Canyon had accepted him.
Canyon hadn’t demanded a DNA test for verification, instead he’d claimed that Beau favored Dillon’s son. Had that been the reason why his acceptance had come without any hassles? Well, there hadn’t been any hassles so far. They still had to talk, and someone who’d been as close to Canyon as she had been in the past knew that while he had a cool demeanor on the outside, he was simmering on the inside.
Keisha drew in a deep breath and exited onto the road that would take her home. Glancing in the rearview mirror her gaze met Canyon’s as he seemed to look right at her. Gee whiz, did he have to look at her like that? With an intensity that had her dragging in more than one shaky breath and a rush of heat flooding her stomach, making it quiver. She gripped the steering wheel and refocused on her driving.
Canyon had always been able to get to her. At that moment, she couldn’t help but remember the day nearly four years ago when they’d met...
“Excuse me. Is this seat taken?”
Keisha looked up from the papers she’d been reading. A shot of hard lust reverberated through her veins. Lordy. Standing in front of her had to be, without a doubt, a man who could get a “yes” out of a woman without even asking the first question.
He was tall, more than six feet, and she had to strain her neck to look up at him. He had smooth mahogany skin, dark eyes, a firm jaw and a too-delicious-looking pair of lips. Once she got past his facial features then she had to deal with his broad shoulders and a too-fine body in an immaculate business suit.
“So, is it?” he asked in a deep, sexy voice.
She self-consciously licked her lips. “Is what?”
“This seat taken? It seems to be the only one empty.”
She glanced around the courthouse’s lunchroom. He was telling the truth. “No, it’s not taken.”
“Mind if I join you?”
She had to bite her lips to keep from saying he could do anything he cared to do with her. Instead, she said, “No, I don’t mind.”
She watched as he pulled out a chair and settled his tall frame in the seat. She had to be in court in less than an hour. At any other time she would have been annoyed at being disturbed, but not this time. This man was worth the interruption.
Extending his hand out to her, he said, “I’m Canyon Westmoreland. And you are?”
“Keisha. Keisha Ashford.” She accepted his hand and wished she hadn’t. Her belly vibrated the moment they touched. And then, suddenly, it seemed the room quieted and they were the only two people in it. The only thing she heard was the sound of their breathing. The way he stared into her eyes made her breath catch. She felt the rush through her veins.
The sound of silverware hitting the floor made her blink, and she realized Canyon still had her hand. She tugged and he released it.
“So, Keisha Ashford, are you an attorney or a paralegal?”
She lifted a brow. “Does it matter?”
He shrugged broad shoulders. “Not with me. I’m sharing a table with a beautiful woman and I’m not complaining about anything.”
She chuckled, appreciating his compliment. “You sound easy.”
“Um, maybe.”
A smile spread across her lips. She liked him. She had checked out his ring finger. It was bare, with no indication that a ring had once been there. “I’m an attorney.”
“So am I,” he said smoothly.
“I can tell. You look the part,” she said.
He leaned over the table and she drew in his intoxicating male scent. “Let’s meet later so you can tell me what you mean by that.”
Oh, she thought. He was good. As smooth as silk. Any other time, and with anyone else, she would have brushed off what was definitely a flirtatious come-on. But not today. And, for some reason, not with Canyon Westmoreland.
Instead of agreeing to his suggestion, she said, “Canyon is an unusual name.”
“Not according to my parents,” he said, smiling. “I was conceived one night in the Grand Canyon, so they felt my name fit. I understand it was one hell of a night.”
She tilted her head. “Your parents told you that?”
“No, but I heard them share a private joke about it every once in a while. It brought them fond memories for years.”
“And what do they think now?”
She saw a flash of pain flare in his eyes. “I don’t know. My parents were killed in a plane crash a little over fifteen years ago.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said.
“Thanks. Now what about meeting me later for drinks? There’s a place not far from here. Woody’s.” He glanced at his watch. “Around five. Hopefully, if we win our individual cases, we will have reason to celebrate.”
She smiled. “That would be nice. I’ll be there.”
He tipped his head and the smile that spread across his lips was priceless...and sexy as hell. “Good. I’ll look forward to later, Keisha Ashford.”
She swallowed as his gaze raked over her in a way that had her skin scorching. At that moment she was drenched in full awareness of him and could only respond by saying truthfully, “So will I....”
“Mommy.”
Keisha’s thoughts returned to the present at the sound of her son’s voice. He had been busy playing with one of his toys while sitting in his car seat. Beau was just as high-spirited as any other two-year-old and typically never stopped talking except when shoving food into his mouth. But today things were different. She couldn’t help wondering if Canyon’s presence had something to do with it.
“Yes, Beau?”
“Dad gone?”
Was that disappointment she heard in his voice? Moving here from Texas had been hard for him. Her mother had become a regular fixture in his life and the first months away from his grandmother hadn’t been easy. Beau had made her fully aware what tantrums were about.
“He’s in the car behind us.”
She looked in the mirror and saw Beau trying to twist his body around in his car seat. “Why?”
She lifted a brow. “Why?”
“He not here. Our car?”
Keisha felt a headache coming on and knew after Canyon’s visit she would have to have a talk with her son. “Because he has his own car.”
“Go home with us?”
“Yes.” Too late she realized how that sounded and quickly moved to clear it up. “He has his own home. Not ours.”
“Not our house?”
“No, not our house.”
He didn’t say anything, but went back to playing with his toy. When they got home she would feed him dinner, give him a bath and then let him have a little playtime before putting him in bed. When it came to bedtime, she was lucky. Beau didn’t have the issues some other kids did with fighting sleep. He eagerly went to bed each night as if it was his God-given right to get eight hours or more of sleep.
She glanced back into her rearview mirror at the car still following closely behind her. Her gaze connected with Canyon’s once again.
She no longer loved him, she was sure of it. Her love hadn’t dissipated immediately but in slow degrees. And just to think—she had planned to tell him about her pregnancy when she had returned home early and found him with Bonita.
She broke eye contact to face the road ahead, which is what she’d been doing since that night. And she didn’t intend to look back again.
Moments later she was pulling into the driveway of the home she considered hers. The community was a new one, and most of the families were progressive couples or singles with small children. She’d already joined the homeowners association and knew several of her neighbors. It was a friendly neighborhood and she enjoyed living here.
She brought the car to a stop and then got out. She had moved around to the side of the car by the time Canyon got out of his. She glanced over at him and said, “I really wish you’d wait and talk to me at another time.”
“We don’t always get what we want, Keisha.”
Feeling frustrated and annoyed, she narrowed her eyes at him and opened the door to get Beau out of his seat.
“I’ll do that,” Canyon said.
She stepped aside to let him, not wanting to make a scene in front of Beau. However, the main thing she intended to do when they talked was to make it absolutely clear that while he might be Beau’s father, she would not allow him to bulldoze his way into their lives.
Pulling her keys from her purse, she moved up the walkway to her front door. Canyon followed with Beau in his arms. She was tempted to remind Canyon once again that Beau could walk, but decided to keep quiet for now.
The moment she opened the door, Keisha knew something was wrong. For starters, the chime from her security alarm didn’t sound. And when she took a step inside and glanced around, she gasped in horror.
Someone had broken into her home.
Three
Canyon quickly went into action and handed Beau to Keisha. “Take Beau and get back in the car.”
Already he was on the phone calling Pete. “This is Canyon. The woman who was being followed earlier today had her home broken into.”
“What’s the address? I’m still in the area. Don’t mess with anything.”
Canyon turned around, not surprised that Keisha hadn’t gone back to the car like he’d told her to do. “What’s the address?” He could tell from her dazed look that she was still in shock at what she’d found when she’d opened her door.
“Keisha?”
She looked at him. “Yes?”
“What’s this address?”
She rattled a number off to him which he gave to Pete.
“Home messy, Mommy.”
Their son’s words made Keisha suck in a deep breath and Canyon saw how Beau’s innocent words had crushed her. This was the home she had made for her and their son and someone had invaded her sanctuary. They had violated it.
“Come on, let’s step outside, Keisha. The police are on the way,” he said softly. When she opened her mouth to protest, he added, “We can’t touch anything until they get here.”
Keisha closed her mouth and drew in a deep breath, feeling the pain in her chest when she did so. Canyon, she knew, was intentionally blocking her view but she’d already seen her living room and could just imagine how the rest of her house looked. Had the intruder gone into her bedroom? Beau’s room? What had been stolen?
“Keisha?”
“Yes?” The single word had been hard to get past her lungs.
“Come on, let’s sit in the car.”
She hesitated but knew what he was suggesting was reasonable. There was nothing they could do until the police arrived and Beau could tell she was troubled. She didn’t want to upset him.
“Play, Mommy,” Beau said when they reached her car. She placed him back in his car seat and gave him his favorite toy. When she went around to get into her seat, she noticed Canyon talking on his cell phone. Was he talking to the police again?
* * *
“Yes, Keisha’s okay, Dil,” Canyon told his oldest brother. He’d given Dillon a quick rundown on what had transpired over the past hour, including the fact that he had a son.
“Everyone is here for dinner, so how do you want me to handle things?” Dillon asked. “I’m sure you’ll want to be the one to tell them about Beau.”
Canyon drew in a deep breath. “Yes, I want to be the one. Pete is on the way. When we finish here, Keisha and Beau are coming with me until we figure out who did this and why. I’m leaving my car here so I’ll need someone to pick it up and drive it to my place later.”
“I can do that. But will Keisha agree to go anywhere with you, Canyon?”
Canyon rubbed a frustrated hand down his face. He was more than certain she wouldn’t. At least not at first. Keisha had an independent streak that she’d inherited from the single mother who had raised her. He’d always admired her ability to stand her ground and not depend on anyone for anything. But in this case things were different. She didn’t have just herself to think about. She had their son.
Their son.
The thought sent an unexplainable thrill through his veins. “No, Dil, she’s not going to go along with it, at least not easily. But I’m convinced what happened to her house and that car following her today are connected. My only ace is that she has Beau to think about. If it was just her she would dig in her heels.”
At that moment three police cruisers pulled up and the one leading the pack was driven by Pete. “Pete’s here now, Dil. I’ll call you back later.”
* * *
Keisha stared at the policeman in confusion. “What do you mean I was targeted personally?”
Pete leaned against the kitchen counter as he stood beside Canyon. “You’ve verified that nothing of value was taken, not even that container filled with gold coins sitting in plain view on the dresser in your bedroom. My only conclusion is that the person who did this didn’t take anything because this is about you personally. It seems to be more or less a scare tactic.”
None of this made sense. She had been grateful that her next-door neighbors, a couple with a set of twins a few months older than Beau, had come over and offered to take him to their place, feed him dinner and keep him entertained while she handled the break-in.
With Canyon and Pete by her side, she had gone from room to room taking in the devastation. Her sofa and chairs had been turned over, pillow cushions thrown about along with her magazines. In her kitchen, the person had opened a canister and floured her counters to the point where it looked like snow in August. Not one bedroom had been left untouched...not even Beau’s room. Some of his favorite toys had been broken. And in her bedroom, in addition to her clothes, which had been pulled out of the drawers and strewn about, the intruder had left water running in the bathtub to flood the floors.
What Pete said was right. Nothing of value had been taken. Not the coin collection her mother had started for Beau, not the set of expensive purses in her closet or any of her big screen televisions. The only thing the person had done was trash every part of her home as if he’d been trying to make a statement. However, she was clueless as to what statement that could be.
“Think hard, Ms. Ashford. Are there any cases you’re working on that someone would want to scare you away from?” Pete asked.
For the life of her she couldn’t think of one case, past or present, where anyone could want to extract some kind of revenge. She had won all her cases lately, except for one, and none of the cases were such that either party would encounter any financial hardship.
“I honestly can’t think of any case like that, Deputy Higgins.”
Pete nodded and shoved his notepad into his pocket. “If you think of anything later, let me know. I’m turning this over to a detective who will contact you. There is also the issue of the car that was following you earlier today, the one Canyon reported.”
She’d almost forgotten about that.
“You think the two are related?” Canyon asked before she could.
“Right now, Canyon, I’m not discounting anything. By the time I reached the area where the car was supposed to be, you had taken matters into your own hands and run the guy off. I should have known it was too much to expect a Westmoreland to do what he was told.”
“Whatever,” Canyon said, shoving his hands into his pockets and then releasing a deep breath. “So what’s next?”
“We’re still looking for the vehicle. I’m going to pull the videos from the red-light cameras and traffic-surveillance cameras in the area. I hope they’ll reveal something. Although we already know the license plate was stolen and the car was a black Ford sedan, if we have a picture of the vehicle itself we can determine if there are any dents or scratches that might make the car stand out. If there are, then it will make locating the vehicle easier. I want to find the person who did this.”
“So do I.”
Keisha and Pete looked at Canyon. It wasn’t what he’d said, but how he’d said it, in a low, threatening tone. In a way, she wasn’t surprised by his reaction. She’d felt the intense anger radiating from Canyon as he’d gone from room to room with her. She’d felt the hostility even more when he’d seen the senseless destruction in her and Beau’s bedrooms.
Instead of either of them addressing what Canyon had said, Pete looked over at her. “I wouldn’t advise you to stay here tonight. Whoever did this was able to bypass your security system.”
“She won’t be staying here,” Canyon said before she could respond. “She’s coming with me and will be staying at my place for a while.”
“That’s a good idea,” Pete said as if that settled it.
It didn’t. “Whoa. Wait a minute. I won’t stay here, but I’m checking into a hotel,” Keisha said.
Canyon looked at her. “No, you’re not.”
She placed her hands on her hips, stiffened her spine and narrowed her eyes at him. “Yes, I am.”
“No, you’re not.”
Pete cleared his throat. “I’ll let you two hash out those details without me. But if you remember anything at all, Ms. Ashford, call the precinct. Detective Ervin Render will be handling your case.” Pete quickly left, as if he didn’t want to get in the line of fire.
Even before Pete had cleared the doorway that separated the kitchen from the dining room, Keisha turned back to Canyon. “Now, wait just a damn minute, Canyon Westmoreland. Why should I stay with you when I can stay at a hotel? Besides, what I do or where I go is none of your business, so back off.”
Hearing her sharp tone, any sane man would not have hesitated to do what she’d suggested. However, instead of backing off, Canyon took a step forward. The fierce expression on his face and the laser-sharp look in his eyes had her dropping her hands to her sides.
“Probably, if it was just you, I might back off, Keisha, since your decision about me three years ago proved just how little trust you have in me. You had the gall to believe I would admit to loving you and then sleep with another woman...in your bed.”
She tightened her hands into fists at her sides. “I know what I saw, Canyon.”
His eyes flared with anger. “And just what did you see? Did you see me screwing Bonita? Wrapped in her arms or she in mine? No. What you saw was me, naked except for the towel wrapped around my waist, stepping out of the bathroom from my shower to find Bonita lying in your bed.”
Keisha’s own anger escalated. “She was naked!”
“I saw that fact at the same time you did. I told you what happened. Bonita came by your place looking for you minutes after I got in from the gym. She was upset about some argument she’d had with her fiancé, Grant Palmer, and I offered her a drink to calm her down. She asked me to share it with her and I saw no reason not to. Afterward, she thanked me, said she needed to pull herself together and asked if she could stay for a few minutes because she was too upset to drive home. I told her yes, but that I needed to take a shower. I expected her to be gone when I got out of the bathroom, because she’d said she would be.”
He paused a moment and then added, “I had no idea she had stripped off her clothes and gotten into your bed until I walked out and saw you standing in the middle of the bedroom with an accusing look in your eyes. I told you the truth. But you didn’t believe me. You preferred believing the lie your friend Bonita told you instead.”
“Why would she lie about it? She was engaged to marry Grant.”
“Maybe that’s a question for you to figure out since Bonita isn’t around any longer to provide answers.”
His remark was a stark reminder that Bonita had been killed last year in an early-morning pileup on Interstate 70, an accident that had killed ten people.
“I’m not going to waste time discussing our dramatic past,” Canyon interrupted her thoughts to say. “What I am going to discuss is my son...a son I didn’t know I had, dammit. And if you want to go sleep in a hotel room tonight without all the facts about who’s trying to scare you enough to follow you home and then do this,” he said, gesturing to the mess in her kitchen, “then go right ahead. But my son won’t be going with you.”
“Who the hell do you think you are telling me where my son won’t be going?” she asked, taking a step closer and getting in his face.
“His father. And I think once you put your misplaced hatred for me aside, you’ll agree that both of you going to Westmoreland Country would be the best thing. Would you feel safe living here?”
She tempered her anger somewhat as she took in his words. “I said I would go to a hotel.”
“And what if the person finds out where you’re staying? You still don’t know why you’re being targeted. Hell, you don’t even know if it’s a man or a woman. I’d think you would care about Beau’s life even if you want to take chances with your own.”
Keisha nibbled her bottom lip. Was Canyon deliberately trying to put the fear of God in her? She drew in a deep breath and glanced around. All it took was one look at her kitchen and the memory of the condition of the other rooms in her house. Canyon was right. Until she found out who’d done this and who had been following her earlier that day, she needed to do everything she could to keep Beau safe. And he would be safe with Canyon.
But what about her? She knew Canyon would never hurt her physically, but what about emotionally? It seemed he was still proclaiming his innocence as if she was supposed to believe him. She knew what she’d seen that night.
Keisha remembered Bonita’s tearful admission that she and Canyon hadn’t meant to sleep together. It had just happened. Bonita had gone to Keisha’s place looking for her friend after a tiff she’d had with Grant, only to discover that Keisha hadn’t yet returned from her out-of-town trip.
Bonita had been upset and to calm her down Canyon had given her something to drink, which he’d shared with her. They’d both drunk themselves silly and the next thing Bonita knew they were having sex on the floor in the living room. Canyon had taken a shower afterward and had asked Bonita to wait for him in bed.
And that was when Keisha had returned unexpectedly to find Bonita naked in bed and Canyon walking out of the bathroom wearing a towel around his middle.
Oh, he had pretended to be just as shocked as she’d been to see a naked Bonita, but Keisha hadn’t bought his story then and she wasn’t buying it now. There had been two empty wineglasses and Bonita’s clothes had been thrown on the floor all over the place, corroborating Bonita’s story.
But what if there was a smidgen of truth in what he’d said just now? What if the scene had been cunningly crafted by Bonita?
“It’s getting late, Keisha, and we need to leave here,” Canyon said, interrupting her thoughts.
Keisha held his gaze. Could she and Canyon spend a single day under the same roof and be civil to each other? Tomorrow was Saturday, and she had scheduled appointments to take Beau to the barbershop, do laundry, buy groceries and get her car washed. Now she would need the entire weekend to arrange the cleanup of her place. Right now she felt violated, and her main concern was keeping her son safe.
“One night,” she heard herself saying. “I’ll agree to stay one night.” Then she thought about all that needed to be done here. “Maybe two.”
Canyon frowned in exasperation. “Fine, do your two nights, but the invitation is open for as long as you need it. There’s some nutcase out there and until Pete and that detective figure out what he has against you then I intend to keep you and Beau safe.”
She bit her tongue to keep from telling him that neither she nor Beau needed him because that would be a lie. At this moment, with so much uncertainty in her life, for the next day...or two...she and Beau did need him.
Four
“Make yourself at home.”
Keisha stepped over the threshold of Canyon’s house and thought he had to be kidding. This wasn’t a home, this was a friggin’ castle.
It had been dark when they’d arrived but she had seen the lighted marker that denoted Westmoreland Country. And she had seen another marker that said Canyon’s Bluff. Because it had been dark, she’d barely made out the massive structure until the car’s headlights had shined on it. She’d sat in the car for a full minute, amazed.
He had been in the process of having the plans drawn up for the house when she’d left town. She had heard the story about how, after his parents’ deaths, he and his brothers—upon reaching the age of twenty-five—inherited one hundred acres of land each...all except for Dillon. Since Dillon was the oldest, he had inherited the family home and the three hundred acres it sat on.
Canyon and several of his brothers had been perfectly content living in the main house with Dillon until Dillon had married. That was when all the brothers had decided to build their own places. Canyon hadn’t been in any hurry at first. When he’d moved from Dillon’s home, he and his brother Stern moved in with their brother Jason, who’d had plenty of room. Eventually, Canyon had moved in with her.
“So what do you think, Keisha?”
She glanced over at him. He was holding a sleeping Beau in his arms while standing in the middle of what she figured was his living room, although it was three times the size of hers. “Can I ask you something, Canyon?”
“What?”
“Why would a single man need such a large place?”
When he smiled she felt a stirring in her belly. “At the time, I didn’t think of needs, just wants. Four of my brothers and I were building our homes practically at the same time, and we all wanted something different and unique. You think this place is big, you ought to see Micah’s Manor, Derringer’s Dungeon, Riley’s Station, Stern’s Stronghold and Zane’s Hideout.”
She couldn’t help grinning. “I gather all of your places have unique names.”
“Yes. It was Bailey’s idea.”
“I think the names are cute,” she said, reaching for Beau.
“Whatever,” he said, handing their dozing son to her.
“Those were some pretty nice neighbors to take care of him like they did.”
Keisha agreed. “Yes, and I appreciate them.” Janice and Everett Miles were super. Not only had they fed Beau, but they’d given him a bath and put him in a pair of the twins’ pajamas. Now she held her sleeping child in her arms as she looked around a house that was too large for one person. And it was decorated for a king...and a queen. The furniture was expensive and the decor perfect.
“You must have paid a lot in decorating costs,” she said.
Canyon, who was moving around turning on lights, looked over his shoulder at her and chuckled. “I wish I could say my cousin Gemma came cheap but she didn’t. She made plenty of money off her brothers and cousins and wasn’t guilty about doing so.”
“She did a great job.”
“We got what we paid for. And if you ask me, we even paid for what we didn’t get. I think she deliberately overcharged us because she figured she could get away with it.”
Canyon’s gruffness wasn’t fooling Keisha one bit since she heard the fondness in his voice. That was one thing she’d always admired about him and his family—their closeness. He had told her all about his family, and it had been her choice not to get to know them better. While Canyon had been great company, and the sex had been off the charts, she hadn’t thought their relationship would last. Initially, she’d thought their physical relationship was all she’d wanted or needed.
But Canyon had had a way of growing on her, and it had seemed she had started growing on him, as well. Within six months, she had invited him to move in with her. While living together they’d gotten along fabulously and things had been going really well...until the night he’d betrayed her.
“My guest rooms are furnished but with no kiddie beds,” he said, interrupting her thoughts.
“No problem, he can sleep with me.”
Canyon nodded. “Okay. Right this way.”
There were two spiral staircases. He moved up one and she followed, thinking his house looked even more impressive when seen from the stairs. High ceilings, crown moldings, colorful walls, hardwood and tile floors as well as intricate lighting. Everything served the purpose of complimenting the grace and style of the house. Definitely not anything a man would have had a hand in.
“Unfortunately, my place isn’t childproof either.”
She didn’t say anything. It didn’t matter since she and Beau wouldn’t be staying here that long anyway. When they reached the next floor he moved into a hallway that seemed to branch out in three directions. Even this area was beautifully decorated and a huge light fixture hung from the ceiling.
He moved down a corridor containing three bedrooms. Opening the door to one of the rooms, he stood back for her to enter. This guest room, she thought, was simply stunning. There was no other word for it.
“This is the blue room,” he said.
She could see why. The walls were painted sky-blue with white billowy curtains around the windows. Plaid blue-and-white coverings were on the king-size bed. A white leather love seat was on one side of the room and two beautiful white ceramic lamps sat on nightstands on either side of the bed.
“It’s pretty,” she said.
“Thanks.”
She walked across the white marble tile to the bed, pushed back the covers and placed Beau in the center. She glanced down at their son who looked so peaceful while sleeping. Little did he know that his mother’s world had just gone topsy-turvy.
“I used to do that.”
She nearly jumped. She hadn’t known Canyon had followed her over to the bed. “What?”
“Sleep curled up with my face resting on my hands.”
She smiled. “And he makes those sounds in his sleep like you used to do.”
She watched Canyon’s brow rise. His eyes, normally so dark and intense, seemed even more so in the bedroom’s low light. “What sounds?”
Those sounds you used to make that turned me on whenever I woke up to hear them, she thought. Not a snore—more of a groan, as if you were having some hell of a dream.
“So, what sounds?” he asked again.
“Not important,” she said, rubbing the back of her neck. This was not how she’d planned to kick off her busy weekend. With everything she’d had planned to do Saturday and Sunday, tonight she’d hoped to curl up on her sofa with a bowl of popcorn and a movie after putting Beau to bed. Instead she was here, at the home of the one man she didn’t want to deal with again.
Yes, she’d run into him occasionally since returning to Denver. Her law firm represented several of his company’s clients, and she would admit that the first time they’d sat across from each other as opposing council in a legal proceeding had been difficult.
All she could think about that day, and the ones that followed, had been his betrayal. So when he’d approached her, asking if she would join him for dinner so they could talk through their issues, she had turned him down. After that it had seemed that the more she turned him down the more persistent he got. And to think he’d assumed he could follow her home to force a conversation with her!
But now she would admit she was glad he had been there when she’d walked into the house and found her home in shambles. His take-charge attitude had helped when she’d become too emotional to think straight.
“Do you think he will fall out of the bed?”
Keisha chuckled softly. “No. He’s out for the night. And he’s not a wanderer so don’t worry about him tumbling down the stairs during the night either.”
“Good, because if you’re up for it, we need to go downstairs and talk.”
She appreciated that he was giving her the option to say no. But she knew they needed to talk, and she wanted to get it over with. “Okay,” she said, turning around.
He was standing too close, and as she looked up into his face lust shot through her. She wasn’t surprised. Canyon had that effect on women. It had been that way for her the day they’d met in the courthouse lunchroom. And it had been that way a month later when she’d attended a meeting regarding a land dispute with his company. Every time Canyon glanced across the table at her she felt her insides sizzle.
“I’ll need to use the ladies’ room first,” she said, rubbing her hands down the sides of her skirt.
“Every bedroom has a private bath. I’ll see you downstairs in a few.” He then turned and walked out of the room, pulling the door closed behind him.
She let out a deep breath when she heard his footsteps move down the stairs. When she’d made the decision not to tell Canyon about Beau she had been pretty comfortable with it. But she had a feeling that when Canyon finished with her she was going to wish she had decided differently.
* * *
Canyon stood at the window in his living room and looked out. It was dark, but he didn’t need to see to know what was out there: the one hundred acres he had inherited.
From the time he’d been a kid, he’d known he wanted to claim this spot, the one with a perfect view of Whisper Creek Canyon. He didn’t have to be on Gemma’s Lake—the one named after his grandmother—or any of the other lakes and streams in Westmoreland Country. Nor did he have to be close to the valleys and meadows. This was where he wanted to be.
He recalled those times when he would go hunting with his father, uncle, brothers and cousins. They would ride their horses here on this land and then camp out near the canyon. When everyone would fall asleep he would stay awake, wide-eyed while he stared up at the stars. He was convinced only special stars shone on this spot. And they were his stars. Over the years, whenever he was bothered by anything, all he had to do was stare up at them to find the answers he needed.
It was here where he had escaped almost twenty years ago after finding out that his parents and uncle and aunt had died in a plane crash. And it was here where he’d come while in college when he’d made the decision to change his major from medicine to law.
He’d thought he had wanted to follow in his brother Micah’s footsteps and become a doctor, but after two years of medical school he’d known he had made a mistake. He’d been torn about what to do.
Dillon had sensed something was bothering him that week when he’d come home for spring break. And it had been Dillon who’d suggested Canyon take time away from school and come home to seek the answers he needed. So Canyon had taken a semester off.
For those four months, he had crashed with his brother Riley and had spent his days either helping Ramsey with the sheep or Zane, Derringer and Jason with the horses. Then, on the weekends, he’d camped out here, on this land.
When it was time for the next semester to start, he’d made his decision to switch from medical school to law school with his family’s blessings. Although his family got mad at each other sometimes, whenever it came to major issues they stuck together and supported each other.
He took another deep breath as he recalled another decision he had made here on this spot under the stars. It had been the decision to ask Keisha to marry him. One evening while she was out of town on business, he had come here. He’d already decided to build a house on this land and had been gathering ideas for what kind of home he wanted to build and exactly where he wanted the structure to face. Then, out of the clear blue sky, a voice inside his head had said, Keisha will be the woman to live here with you.
He really hadn’t been shocked or surprised by that revelation since he’d never had issues about falling in love like some of his cousins and brothers had. He didn’t have a fear of losing someone the same way he’d lost his folks. His only reason for taking his time about getting serious with a woman was that he enjoyed being single and hadn’t been ready to settle down. He’d figured that one day he would meet that special person, fall in love and marry. He was fine with that idea. He just hadn’t figured it would happen so soon.
He had taken a horse and ridden down into the canyon, camping out that night on this land. He’d looked up at the stars and within minutes he’d known.
He could hardly wait for Keisha to return. He hadn’t been expecting her for another two days. But she’d come home early, found Bonita in her bed and assumed the worst. And Bonita had intentionally led her to believe a lie.
That angered him more than anything else about the situation because the woman had never done anything to rectify the situation. Keisha had been her friend but Bonita had lied to her. Canyon never knew what the woman’s true motive had been.
Canyon’s thoughts returned to the present when he heard the sound of Keisha coming down the stairs. He turned around and moved toward her, pausing briefly to pick up the wineglass off the table where he’d placed it moments ago. “Here, I think you need this,” he said, handing the glass of wine to her.
She accepted it and took a sip. He could tell from the smile on her face that she appreciated the taste. “This is good. Where did you get it?”
“My cousin Spencer and his wife own a vineyard in California’s wine country. Russell Vineyard has been in Chardonnay’s family for years and—”
“Chardonnay?”
“Yes, that’s Spencer’s wife.”
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Brenda Jackson
Тип: электронная книга
Жанр: Современные любовные романы
Язык: на английском языке
Издательство: HarperCollins
Дата публикации: 16.04.2024
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О книге: Years ago, Canyon Westmoreland let misunderstandings come between him and Keisha Ashford.But when Keisha returns to town with a two-year-old son, it’s time to settle things once and for all.A blazing attraction still burns between them and, this time around, nothing will stop Canyon from claiming Keisha and his child!