Susan Mallery - Quinn's Woman

She braced herself for a verbal slam, but Quinn only smiled. Not a victorious smile, but one that said they’d shared something intimate.

No they hadn’t, she thought as she turned off the lantern and settled onto the tarp. They’d kissed. So what? People kissed all the time. It didn’t mean anything. It never had. She wouldn’t let it.

Quinn awakened sometime before dawn. He recognized the gray light outside the main flap of the large military-issue tent, then he stretched on the cot. The makeshift bed was a hell of a lot more comfortable than the tarp where he’d spent the first part of the night. Of course, then he’d had a sleeping companion. He’d traded the company of an intriguing and beautiful woman for comfort. Not much of a trade.

Memories of the previous evening made him smile. When D.J. woke up and saw he’d escaped, she was going to be spitting nails. Too bad he would miss the show. At least he knew she would come looking for him at camp, demanding to know how he’d done it. He’d made sure of that by leaving his cut ropes coiled up neatly beside her. The message was clear—he’d escaped and he’d had a knife that she’d missed. No way would she be able to resist a challenge like that.

Fifteen minutes later he was sipping coffee at one of the tables in the mess tent. He’d spread out the morning paper, but instead of reading, he was watching the main entrance, waiting for a tall, shapely brunette to burst inside and demand an explanation…not to mention retribution.

Instead he saw his brother stroll in. Gage looked around him, saw him and started across the dirt floor.

“You made it,” Gage said, and grinned.

Quinn rose and they shook hands, then embraced briefly. After slapping each other on the back and reassuring themselves that each had survived and was well since their last meeting, Quinn glanced at the man who had accompanied Gage.

His brother stepped back. “This is Travis Haynes. He’s the local sheriff here.”

Quinn shook hands with the man, then frowned when he realized there was something familiar about him. He was sure he and Travis Haynes had never met; Quinn didn’t forget faces. Yet there was something that teased at the back of his mind…almost a memory, but not quite.

Travis looked him over, then shook his head. “I’ll be damned,” he said, then motioned to the table. “We should probably sit down and talk this over.”

Curious but not concerned, Quinn settled back in his chair. Gage took a seat across from him with Travis sitting to his right. Gage rested his forearms on the table.

“You’re doing okay?” he asked Quinn.

Quinn sipped his coffee. “You have something to say, so say it.”

Gage nodded. “I just—”

Travis leaned forward. “I should go. After you two talk we can all get together.”

“No.” Gage shook his head. “Stay. This concerns you. Besides, if Quinn has some questions, you’re the best one to answer them.” He returned his attention to Quinn. “Sorry to be so mysterious. I didn’t want to tell you in a phone message or a letter. I appreciate you coming here.”

Quinn shrugged. His work kept him out of touch with his family for months at a time. Their only way to communicate was to leave a message at a special number and wait for him to get back to them. Sometimes he was able to respond in a few days, but most of time it was weeks or months. Gage had left his first message nearly two months ago. His second, requesting Quinn meet him in Glenwood, had been delivered just as Quinn had returned to the States.

“Have you talked to Mom?” Gage asked.

“A couple of days ago. She said everything was fine.” He frowned. Had she been hiding something? Was she sick?

Not surprisingly his brother knew what he was thinking.

“She’s okay,” Gage told him. “I wondered if she’d mentioned anything…” He leaned back in his chair. “This is harder than I thought.”

“Just spit it out.”

“Fair enough.” Gage stared at him. “Ralph Reynolds isn’t our biological father. He and Mom couldn’t have kids together. They both wanted them so she got pregnant by another guy. Someone she met in Dallas. His name is Earl Haynes. Travis here is one of his sons. Which makes him our half brother.” Gage grinned. “Actually, we have several. It seems there are a lot of Earl Haynes’s sons running around the world.”

Quinn heard the words, but at first they didn’t have any meaning. Ralph Reynolds not their biological father?

A half-dozen memories flashed through his mind—none of them pleasant. Of his father walking away, of his father telling him he would never be good enough, of his father making it clear over and over that Quinn could never measure up to Gage. Of his father…Not his father? Was it possible?

“I had a hard time with it, too,” Gage said quietly.

Quinn didn’t doubt that. Gage and the old man had been tight. Always. While Quinn couldn’t wait to get out of Possum Landing, Gage had stayed and made his life there. He’d been proud to be the fifth generation of Reynoldses in town. He’d become the damn sheriff.

“You’re sure?” he asked.

Gage nodded. “Mom told me. Back thirty-plus years ago, it was more difficult for infertile couples to get help. Plus our folks didn’t have money for expensive treatments. Dad was the one with the problem, not her. Dad—Ralph—came up with a plan for Mom to find someone who looked like him and get pregnant.”

Quinn stiffened. “That sounds barbaric, even for the old man.”

“She wasn’t happy,” Gage admitted. “Finally she agreed and headed up to Dallas. She met Earl Haynes. He was in town attending a convention.”

“And nine months later you came along?”

“Yeah.” Gage shook his head. “Ralph was happy with his new son, everyone assumed he was the father and things were fine.”

Until he’d come along, Quinn thought impassively. He’d long since become immune to dealing with the realities of not being wanted by the man he’d always thought of as his father.

“The following year she went back,” Gage continued. “She got pregnant with you. So we’re still brothers.”

None of this was sinking in, Quinn thought. Nor did it have to. He would deal with it all later. For now, he relaxed in his seat and grinned at Gage.

“Damn, and here I thought I was finally getting rid of you.”

His brother punched him in the arm. “No way. I’m still older, better looking and capable of kicking your butt anytime I want.”

The latter made Quinn laugh. “Yeah, right.” He turned his attention to Travis Haynes. “So you’re a sheriff, too?”

“Law enforcement runs in the family. I’m a sheriff. My brother Kyle is a deputy. Craig, the oldest of us four, works for the Fern Hill Police Department, and my half sister, Hannah, is a dispatcher. Jordan is the black sheep—he’s a firefighter.”

Gage looked at Quinn. “I’m a sheriff and you do your own personal version of keeping the world in line. How much of that was because of the gene pool?”

Quinn had his doubts. “I’m not a fan of destiny.”

“That’s because there are a few things you still don’t know.” Gage pushed Quinn’s coffee toward him. “Drink up. You’re going to need it.”

“Why?”

“It seems that Earl didn’t just stop at sleeping with our mother. He also—”

Gage was interrupted by a commotion at the door. Quinn turned around and saw D.J. burst into the tent. She glanced around until she saw him. When she did, her brown eyes narrowed and she stalked toward the table.

She was walking, breathing outrage. With her olive-and-khaki clothes, her long dark hair, and a rifle in one hand, she was a female warrior at her most appealing.