Quick-Draw Cowboy. Joanna Wayne
she had slept with any man who’d supply her with drugs. And her sister had ignored both their mother’s tears and Dani’s constant pleading for Amber to go into rehab. Their mother had never fully recovered from the heartbreak.
Dani’s precious niece was all she had left of the sister who had meant the world to her. She wouldn’t turn her over to this irresponsible jerk even if he was her biological father.
Dani’s stomach retched. She had to deal with this. “What is it you want?”
“My share of the insurance settlement from the car manufacturer. The faulty air bag that led to my dear, sweet daughter losing her mother earned you a hefty payout.”
“I should have known it was greed that brought you here.”
“Don’t be so pious, Dani. This little business setup you have here didn’t come cheap. You didn’t pay for it with pocket change.”
“No, which is why I’m up to my eyeballs in debt.” Not that it was any of his business.
“Don’t try to pull one on over me. I’ve had all of that I’m putting up with. I know how much the payoff was. By my estimates, even after you paid for the bakery and the lawyers took their share, I figure you have at least a couple of million dollars left. I deserve all of that, but to show you what a nice man I am, I’ll settle for a mere million. In cash. In one week.”
“You...” Dani bit back the words she wanted to hurl at him. They wouldn’t phase a lowlife like him. Yet she could easily believe he would have gotten Amber pregnant and then abandoned her and the baby.
Amber had been a stunning beauty before her addiction took its toll, just as James Haggard said. She’d had long auburn hair that fell in loose curls about her shoulders, gorgeous amber-colored eyes, lush eyelashes and a dynamite body.
Amber had always been the pretty sister. Everyone had said it. The comments had cut Dani to the quick when they were growing up. That hadn’t changed the fact that she worshipped her older sister.
Now it was Constance who mattered more than anything.
“Even if you are Constance’s father—which I seriously doubt—you’re wrong about the insurance money. It’s all in a trust fund for Constance and can’t be touched until she turns twenty-one.”
“Yet you found a way to get your greedy little hands on it,” the man snarled. “And you can cut the pretense. We both know you have at least a copy of the birth certificate that lists me as the father.”
She shook her head. She’d had enough. “You’re wrong. Now get out. And stay away from here. If you show up again, I’ll call the sheriff and press harassment charges.”
He glared at her, his eyes dark and penetrating, and it was almost as if she could feel a bizarre mix of evil and madness fighting for his soul.
Chills ran up her spine, but she stood her ground. She pointed to the door. “Out. Now.”
“I’m leaving, but I’ll be back next week for the stacks. If you don’t have all the big ones, I’ll not only file for paternal custody, but have you prosecuted for stealing my daughter’s money. Is that what you want?”
“You won’t have a prayer of getting custody without proof of paternity. Bluffing won’t help you. DNA won’t lie for you.”
“DNA won’t have to lie. In the meantime, take care of my beloved daughter.” He smiled at his own sarcastic quip, turned and walked away.
Anger and dread left Dani shaking. This was blackmail, plain and simple. A scam. A bluff. James Haggard’s name was not on the birth certificate.
But what if a paternity test proved he was Constance’s father? Was there a judge alive who’d actually take a child who’d been through what Constance had suffered and rip her from this safe, secure life, where she was loved?
Would any judge grant custody to a man who’d abandoned his child and her addicted mother years before? Wouldn’t a judge realize that Haggard was in this strictly to find a way to get at Constance’s trust fund?
But then, crazier things happened in the court system every day.
“I’ve told you the insurance is in an untouchable trust and there’s no way I can come up with the amount of money you’re talking about.”
“Then I guess I’ll just have to do that myself—once I have custody of Constance.” He started to the door, then turned and pointed at her as if he was pulling a trigger. “Next Friday. Before noon.”
She waited until she heard the front door slam behind Haggard before she walked over and locked the door behind him.
She looked out the huge front window and stared at the dance of light and shadows beneath the antique streetlights. Winding Creek was the ideal, small Texas town. Friendly. Safe.
A place where Constance could heal from the ordeals she’d endured living with Amber and her addictions. A home where she felt protected and loved after years of neglect and frequent abandonment by her own mother. That had been the deciding factor in Dani’s going into debt to open her own bakery here.
James Haggard had shattered that illusion.
Dani went back to the kitchen to finish cleaning up. The cake she’d worked hours on meant nothing to her as Haggard’s vicious threats echoed through her mind.
She was not convinced he was Constance’s father, but she was certain he’d told the truth about at least one thing.
He would be back.
Ten o’clock on Saturday in downtown Winding Creek, Texas. Not just any Saturday. This was the date Riley Lawrence’s older brother, Pierce, was giving marriage a second chance. Sounded downright crazy to Riley. He’d never had the guts to tie the knot even once and didn’t plan to remedy that any time soon.
Riley figured it was too early for a beer even though he’d been driving since five that morning after a few hours of restless sleep. The motel bed had left a lot to be desired in the way of comfort.
Not that comfort mattered all that much to him. He’d slept under the stars many a night with no more than a rolled-up jacket for a pillow.
He turned onto Main Street. He’d expected at least a fleeting sensation that he was home again. Didn’t happen. The town looked almost exactly the same as when he’d lived here until just before his fifteenth birthday. It also looked completely different.
Perspective changed everything.
When he’d lived here, Winding Creek was all he really knew. Now he’d seen most of the country, at least the parts of it he was interested in seeing. Any place he hung his Stetson was home.
He should probably just keep driving and head straight to the Double K Ranch, but as eager as he was to see his brothers, he wasn’t quite ready to dive into wedding chaos. He definitely wasn’t eager to start hiding his doubts about Pierce’s decision to jump into the fire again.
He pulled his old black pickup truck into a parking spot, got out and stretched. The antique streetlights were familiar. So were the buildings. Even a few old hitching posts were still scattered along the curb.
The storefronts were a different story. The old Texaco station was now a sandwich shop. The barbershop where he’d gotten his hair cut as a kid was now a candle shop. Who’d have guessed you needed a separate shop to buy candles?
He glanced at the signs. An ice-cream parlor. A Christmas store. A toy shop. Even a jewelry store. Practically a shopping mecca compared to where he’d been living in Montana.
He caught a whiff of coffee and followed the scent to a bakery. Dani’s Delights. The cookies, scones and cupcakes displayed in the window looked incredible, but it was the