Anne McAllister - Blood Brothers

Claire’s eyes blazed. “Well, I’ll be all right. I’m strong, I can cope with anything. And I don’t want you to marry me as an act of charity.”

“I didn’t mean-”

“Drifting all over Montana, as you put it, will be a great life. I’ll be me, what I really am, not pretending to be Lady Randall Stanton.” She saw his white face and added more gently, “That’s something I never could be, Randall. I couldn’t do all that fancy stuff, knowing what to call folk and where to sit them-”

“Rubbish!” he said furiously. “You can learn all that, it’s just a veneer and it doesn’t matter. What matters is loving someone and being at one with them-knowing they value the same things you do-like us.”

“Do you?” she asked wistfully. “You’ve been here six weeks. Maybe you’ve just lost your way. When you get back to England you’ll find it again.” She touched his hand for a brief moment. “I think you should go home soon, Randall. It’s been lovely, but we’re just too different.”

“We’re not different at all. We were born and raised thousands of miles apart, but inside, we’re the same. Can’t you understand that?”

Dumbly she shook her head.

His heart was too heavy to speak again and they returned in silence. Claire wondered if Randall was angry, but he was past that. He was brooding over his appalling picture of her life to come, moving on from one place to another, rootless, lonely, never quite belonging anywhere. While the man who loved her pined uselessly on the other side of the Atlantic.

As soon as he got back to the ranch he put through another call to Gabe.

“Hell, Randall? Haven’t you got anything better to do than call me up? What’s wrong now? Is my best bull dead?”

“Your bull’s fine. I’m not. It’s Claire. I’m in love with her.”

“Oh, boy!”

“I thought I could make her forget all about you. Hell, that shouldn’t have been difficult.” He heard Gabe’s appreciative chuckle down the line. “But I can’t.”

“You mean you offered her the Stanton land and titles and she turned them down?”

“That’s right. She turned them down. And me.”

“Well, she always was prickly as a thorn bush.”

“She damned well is not!” Randall said furiously. “That’s just an act she put on for you, and if you’d ever bothered to look at her properly you’d know that she’s sweet and vulnerable, and full of stubborn pride so she hates people to know how easily she’s hurt and-”

“Whoa. Hold on there.” Gabe whistled through his teeth. “You’ve really got it bad, haven’t you?”

“Yes, I’ve got it bad,” Randall said heavily. “This is one time the Stanton lands and titles are no use to me at all.”

“Wait,” Gabe said quickly. “I’m thinking.”

In his mind’s eye he was seeing two young boys, pricking their fingers, letting the blood mingle, and swearing eternal brotherhood.

From the ends of the earth to save each other! Which one of them had said that? Did it matter?

A glimpse of Freddie moving about the house reminded him just how much he owed his cousin. By sending him here, where he would meet the perfect woman, he’d saved Gabe from a life growing increasingly empty. With hindsight, he could see that.

Now it was time for Randall’s blood brother to save him in return.

“Don’t move,” he said urgently, “Stay right where you are.”

When he’d put the phone down he reached for Freddie. “Fred, how’d you like to go to Montana a little bit sooner than scheduled?”

“How soon?”

“Now.”

Waiting for Gabe at Bozeman Airport, Randall wondered how he’d let himself be persuaded to stay over. He should have been on the next flight back to England by now. But, as Gabe said, it would have looked rude if he’d vanished before the happy couple arrived. He had a feeling that Gabe was manipulating him, but he couldn’t work out how.

As soon as he saw them he knew that Gabe was subtly different. Some of his brashness had gone and he radiated fulfillment and content. Beside him, Freddie was brimming with happiness.

And the kids, Charlie and Emma! All over Gabe, acting like he was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Randall kissed Freddie on the cheek and congratulated her. “Of course I shall expect you to go back and work out three months’ notice,” he said, straight-faced.

“Go jump in the lake,” Gabe told him amiably, and everyone laughed.

But Randall had a strange ache in his heart as he watched them, so happy together. It seemed this kind of happiness was to be denied him.

Somehow they all squeezed into the sedan. On the way back to the ranch Gabe sat with his arm about Freddie, who watched, enthralled, as the scenery unfolded. Here and there the snow was beginning to fade, offering the first hint of spring and new life.

A new life for all of them, Randall thought, listening to the children’s excited exclamations, and the contented murmurs of the lovers.

But not for him.

Claire came out of the house as soon as she heard them. Gabe was coming home with his future wife. This was the moment she’d waited for, dreaded, for years.

She saw Gabe get out and reach inside to give his hand to Freddie, saw the tender way he looked at her, and waited for the surge of pain.

There was nothing.

The pain came when she saw Gabe and Randall standing together. Now she could see that their likeness was superficial. Susan had been right of course. Randall was far the handsomer of the two. Plus he had a gleam in his eye that could turn her insides to water, and a touch that could make her forget everything in the world.

She realized that Gabe was striding toward her, arms wide in greeting. She returned his hug, glad to see her brother again.

Supper was a big bash, with everyone there to meet Freddie and the children. Claire showed her around the house. She found she liked her a lot.

Nevertheless, Claire knew she would have to move on soon. She couldn’t live in this house with Gabe, who would remind her constantly of Randall.

She went to bed early, leaving the rest of them talking downstairs. They wouldn’t miss her, she thought. She didn’t see Randall’s eyes follow her until she was out of sight.

The next morning his bags were packed and he was all ready to go. But there was one last thing to do. He went to the study and lifted the phone.

“Randall, m’boy,” Earl’s voice boomed along the lines from England, “nice to hear from you. Gabe says you’re coming home.”

“That’s right. Today.”

“It’ll be grand to have you back. Gabe’s done a fine job in Devon, and it’s given me some ideas for the next paper I’m going to take over-”

“Earl, listen to me,” Randall interrupted him firmly. “I’m returning to England, not to the firm. Publishing just isn’t in my blood, but the land is. I know that now. I’m leaving the firm and going back to the farm I rent from you. I’m going to be a hands-on farmer, and make the place the best in the country.”

Earl snorted indignantly. “And I suppose you’ve got designs on the Abbey, eh? Want to be ‘hands on’ there too?”

“The Abbey belongs to you.”

“No, no, a man should do a job properly if he’s going to do it at all. You’ve got a contract with the firm. I could keep you there another six months. My condition for releasing you is that you take over the running of the Abbey. I’ll leave everything in your hands. Never liked country life myself, but you prefer it, don’t you?”

“I always did.”

He could have cheered at the way Earl had come up trumps. He was going back to his roots, the place he belonged. Only one thing was wrong. He’d found the perfect wife, both for himself and the way he wanted to live. But he wasn’t perfect for her.