The Tycoon's Tots. Stella Bagwell
the law in the first place.”
Chloe’s jaw dropped. The man was obviously as crazy as his sister had been. “How could you possibly think such a thing? Your sister was a dangerous, unstable woman. I’m sorry if that pains you, but that’s the way it was.”
Tight-lipped, he said, “My sister would never have been prompted to do the things she did if your father hadn’t seduced her and ruined her life.”
Chloe had always been cursed with a quick temper. Growing up, she’d often been punished for her angry outbursts. Ladies don’t fight, her mother had gently scolded Chloe when she’d come home one afternoon from grammar school with a fat lip. It hadn’t made any difference to Lola when Chloe’d tried to explain she’d punched the playground bully in the face because he’d been calling her best friend ugly names.
According to Lola, little girls didn’t lose their tempers and they certainly didn’t resort to physical violence. It was a lesson from her mother that Chloe always remembered, but had never fully learned. She was too much like her father, she supposed. She couldn’t sit idly on her hands when an innocent person was being wronged.
Stepping from the stall, Chloe walked to within a step of Wyatt Sanders and looked him square in the eye. “I don’t know who did the seducing, my father or your sister. And I hardly imagine that you could know, either. But I do know your sister had no business becoming involved with a married man twice her age.”
There was some truth to what Chloe Murdock was saying, but Wyatt knew there were always two sides to every story. And he couldn’t believe Belinda had decided to walk down the wrong path all by herself.
“And your father had no business getting a woman half his age pregnant!”
“You’re damn right he didn’t,” Chloe hotly agreed. “My mother was an invalid at the time he was sleeping around with your sister! His behavior was lower than a snake’s belly, but that doesn’t change things. We could stand here all day flinging accusations at each other, but it wouldn’t bring my father or your sister back.”
A part of Wyatt admired this woman for her nononsense bluntness. He couldn’t stand people who philosophized a point to death and in the end wound up saying nothing. But in the matter of his sister, Wyatt couldn’t simply put it all behind him and say what’s done is done. Even though they hadn’t been particularly close, he’d loved Belinda. And he couldn’t help but feel guilty because he hadn’t been there for her when she’d needed him the most
He let out a long, heavy breath. “Actually, I didn’t come here to fling accusations. I would like to know exactly what happened between my sister and Mr. Murdock, but that can wait. My main concern now is my little niece and nephew.”
Chloe felt as if ice water had suddenly been dashed in her face. Adam and Anna, the twin babies that this man’s sister had left on the Bar M doorstep, were her half sister and brother. Chloe considered them her babies now and she’d already had a lawyer working on adoption proceedings. If Wyatt Sanders had any notion of trying to take them away from her, he might as well forget it here and now.
“There’s no need for you to be concerned. Adam and Anna are in perfect health and growing.”
“I understand you’ve had them here on the ranch ever since—”
Chloe couldn’t prevent a sneer from twisting her lips. “Your sister dumped them, you mean? Yes, the county judge granted me and my sisters temporary custody. Then later, when we learned they were really our half brother and sister we knew they actually belonged here anyway.”
His eyes remained on her face and Chloe got the. impression he was trying to gauge her or size her up in some way. She didn’t like the feeling at all.
“Then you think the twins belong here?”
“Of course. They’re Murdocks. This is the Murdock home.”
“You know for certain that your father sired them? Were DNA tests performed?”
Under different circumstances Chloe would have howled with laughter, but she could hardly find her sense of humor with Wyatt Sanders standing a few inches away looking as though he were ready to pounce at any given moment.
“Believe me, Mr. Sanders, there’s no need for tests to be done. For legal purposes I suppose we could have a test run to see if we truly are siblings. But once you see the twins, you’ll know that would be a waste of time and money.” She folded her arms across her breasts. “Besides, I’m going to adopt the babies. Maybe you should understand that right now.”
Chloe Murdock’s announcement stunned him. He’d been told by New Mexican authorities that Belinda’s children were under the care of the Murdock family, which consisted of three sisters. Chloe, the youngest, had direct charge over the twins. But none of the child welfare people had mentioned anything about her plans to adopt the children.
What did it all mean? Wyatt wondered. Was he going to have a fight on his hands?
“I had no idea you intended to adopt the babies,” he finally said.
“I’m not surprised. We weren’t even aware Belinda had a brother. As far as I know your sister never mentioned you. Not even when we talked to her in jail.”
Wyatt didn’t know if it was Chloe Murdock or what she was saying that was having such a strong effect on him. But suddenly his insides were shaking as if he’d just woken from a two-day drunk.
“You saw my sister while she was jailed?”
Chloe nodded. It wasn’t one of her more pleasant memories. But she and her sisters, Justine and Rose, had felt compelled to talk to the woman. She’d known things about their father that only she could tell them. And Belinda had told them some things in her own disturbed, fragmented way. Chloe had come away from the county jail feeling both saddened and sickened. From what she’d seen, Belinda Waller had once been a beautiful young woman, but drugs and alcohol had ruined her looks, her mind, and subsequently her very life. It was such a waste.
“How was she then? How long was that before she died?”
Chloe shrugged. “Two or three weeks probably. As far as how she was, I can’t really say. I didn’t know her beforehand.”
Wyatt felt weak and sick. And he wondered why he’d ever left Houston to come here. But of course, deep down he knew it was simply for the babies. He felt he owed Belinda that much.
Turning away from Chloe, Wyatt walked to the end of the long stable and stared out the open doorway at the mountain range rising directly behind the ranch.
It didn’t seem possible that his family was gone now. His mother had simply left. His father had been killed. And now Belinda was dead. The only close relatives Wyatt had left were the twins.
“Mr. Sanders? Are you all right?”
He turned slowly to see Chloe standing just behind him. She looked genuinely concerned for him, which was quite a switch from a few moments ago when he’d gotten the impression she wanted to wham the side of his head with her shovel.
“I was just thinking about Belinda,” he said, then with a sigh he swiped a hand through his coal black hair. “She was beautiful and outgoing. One of those bubbly kind of people who laughed a lot. She loved excitement and always liked to stay on the go.” His expression grim, he glanced away from her. “But her traveling days are all over now.”
Whatever Chloe felt about Belinda Waller, she harbored no malice toward this man. As far as she and her family knew, he had nothing to do with the damage his sister had done to their father and their ranch. It would serve no purpose to describe to him the pathetic creature she’d seen locked behind bars. He obviously didn’t know what his sister had become. And Chloe hardly wanted to be the one to tell him.
“Well, we might as well go up to the house so you can see the twins,” she said, while telling herself the sooner he saw the babies, the sooner he would leave the ranch. “Aunt Kitty is probably feeding