Chapter 12
Lyric ran into the house. She slammed her back against the door and gasped for breath. She did NOT just kiss Mattox Farrell in the tack room.
She couldn't deny the evidence of her senses. Her head spun in dizzy excitement. His sheer size filled her awareness. His smoky presence intoxicated her beyond comprehension. He owned her and possessed her as Riskin never could.
He wiped Riskin right out of her mind and her life. Riskin no longer existed. Her whole self belonged to Mattox, forever. She would never love another man. She would never worship another man the way she worshiped him. So all that storybook stuff about finding your one true love turned out to be true after all.
In answer to her thoughts, Melody came downstairs with a bridal magazine under her arm. She raised her eyebrows at Lyric leaning against the door. “What's going on, Lyric?”
Lyric shook her head and raced past her. “Nothing's going on.”
Melody sat down on the couch. “Then you won't mind deciding on the color combination for the flower arrangements. I made dinner while you were out, so all the guys have to do is come inside and sit down and eat. We’ve got the rest of the afternoon to…”
Lyric called back over her shoulder, “I told you to make all the decisions. I'm going to see Papa now.”
“You can't do this!” Melody cried. “You can't leave everything to me. How am I supposed to…?”
Lyric answered her with the click of her father's door latch. She shut herself into the silent room and slipped over to the arm chair. She just got herself into a comfortable position when she noticed her father's open eyes looking at her. “Papa! You're awake!”
He grinned at her. “I wasn't asleep, sweetheart. I've been awake all day. I think tomorrow I'll get up and take a walk out to the front porch.”
Lyric threw herself across the bed and rested her head on her father's chest. She hugged him while he stroked her hair. “Oh, Papa, I've been so worried about you.”
He chuckled and pushed her back. “Come on and tell me all about it. Tell me everything that's happened around here since I've been gone. I want to know everything.”
Lyric resumed her chair. “Nothing's happened around here since you left, but everything's happened since you came back. I just don't know…” She stopped.
He studied her with his head on one side. “You just don't know what?”
She knit her fingers in her lap and shook her head. “I just don't know how to make head or tail of it all. It all seems too amazing to believe.”
His eyes sparkled the way she remembered. He could look right through her with those eyes. He hadn't looked at her like that since she was a little girl. His skin glowed with health. “You still haven't told me what's going on.”
She started talking faster, but she couldn't look at him. “Well, Riskin checked your bank records, and he said you hadn't been to the casino in four weeks, and you hadn't been to the liquor store in five weeks, and we thought something terrible must have happened to you—that is, until Mattox found you in the barn and brought you here. We all thought you were dead in a ditch somewhere, and we were all so happy you were alive and safe and right here on the Homestead. We've been going out of our minds with worry.”
“Is that all?” Rex snorted. “I'll bet Azer hasn't been out of his mind with worry. I'll bet he isn't happy I'm alive and safe and right here on the Homestead. Is he?”
Lyric shifted in her seat. “Well, you know how Azer is. He's more worried about the ranch than anything, and now…”
He waited, but she didn't finish. His eyes bored into her soul. He could uncover a secret like no one else. “You better go ahead and tell me what it is, sweetheart. I'm gonna find out one of these days, anyway, and you'll hurt yourself hiding it.”
She held back as long as she could, but she couldn't escape those eyes. “Oh, Papa!”
“If you can’t tell me, who can you tell?”
She hung her head. All of a sudden, she couldn’t keep it to herself anymore. She sat at her father’s side on the bed. “I’m sorry, Papa. I’m really, really sorry, but I just don’t think I can marry Riskin. I know I’m letting the ranch down and everything. I know everyone’s depending on me to bale the ranch out, but I just can’t go through with it. He’s a nice guy and I’ve cared about him all my life, but he’s not the right man for me. I know you’ll be disappointed and everything. Can you ever forgive me? Please just tell me you forgive me, please, Papa.”
She managed to steal a sidelong glance at his face and found him smiling at her. “Is that what this is all about? You don’t want to marry Riskin?”
She stared down at her hands and nodded.
He regarded her a long time in silence. He sat there so long without saying anything Lyric started to lose hope. He would never forgive her. He would cast her out of the tribe. She would wander Bruins’ Peak alone forever.
A lump stuck in her throat. She gathered her courage to leave the room when his voice touched her with loving care. “It’s Mattox, isn’t it?
Lyric’s eyes flew to his face and she gasped out loud. “Mattox! You know about Mattox?”
“I’ve known about Mattox for a long time. A man like Mattox can’t keep his light hidden under a bushel basket forever. Azer and Riskin and the rest of you might not have seen it, but I did.”
“How did you know? How did you find out?”
“He came to me when he first showed up here. I suppose it must have been about five months ago. I just got back from my last tear. Maybe he thought I was too drunk to understand what he was talking about. He asked me about the old pedigree line. He asked me a lot of very pointed questions about the work I did to develop the herd.”
“Did you tell him?”
Rex nodded. “I did my best to preserve the illusion I was drunk out of my mind, but I told him what he wanted to know. He didn’t ask me anything about you kids or the running of the ranch or anything really useful like that. He only asked me about the old genetics. He asked me about Pompey and some of the crosses I created. He asked me about individual cows and their progeny.”
“What happened? What did he say when you told him?”
“Nothing. He disappeared. I started thinking, and I came to the conclusion he was putting the puzzle pieces together. He wanted to get his hands on the old genetics I developed. I figured he was laying the stepping stones to develop his own pedigree or bring mine back—one or the other.”
Lyric shook her head, but she couldn’t answer. So her father knew all along what Mattox had planned. He went along with it and gave Mattox crucial information to build his new breeding line. How serendipitous, that these two men—these two Alphas, these giants among Bruins—should find each other against all odds.
Lyric took her father’s hand. “Are you sure you weren’t drunk when it happened? Are you sure you didn’t just imagine that conversation?”
He laid his other hand over hers. “Think about it, Sweetie. I haven’t had a drink in four weeks, and the liquor I bought before that I tipped down the motel sink. I’ve been sobering up for three months. I just….”
Lyric cut him off with a broken cry. “You what? Why didn’t you tell us? Don’t you know what this means to us?”
He stared down at their clasped hands with misty eyes. “I couldn’t tell you. Azer hates me with a passion, and I don’t blame him. I couldn’t come crawling to you and beg you to forgive and forget all the things I’d done. It was easier to pretend things were the same. I know what it means to you. Believe me, but you don’t know what it means to me. Facing you and Azer and Melody without a skinful of booze under my belt is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
She clutched his hands to her heart. “Don’t ever leave again, Papa. Don’t tear this family apart. Let us take you back in. Let us love you. That’s all we ever wanted.”
“I know, baby.” His voice choked in his throat. “It’s just so hard to face every day without your Mama. You don’t know how hard it is.”
“I understand now, Papa,” Lyric replied. “I understand better than you know. I’m in love with Mattox Farrell, Papa. I feel that way about him. I would rather die than face the world without him. I just don’t know how to break the news to Riskin.”
He folded her into his arms and held her to his heart. “I’m happy for you. I’m so happy you found a man who deserves you. Riskin is a nice boy, but he’ll never be the man Mattox is. He’ll never lead this family the way Mattox can.”
She peered into his damp eyes. “You don’t mind, Papa? You don’t mind a stranger taking over our tribe? He’s a Farrell.”
“And Riskin is a Dodd. You can’t exactly marry another Mackenzie.”
“I was thinking about Azer. He’s supposed to take over as Alpha after you.”
Rex shook his head. “The strongest Bruin takes over as Alpha, and that’s not Azer. If he was strong enough to take over as Alpha, he wouldn’t need Riskin around to back him up all the time.”
“Every Alpha needs a second to back him up. Every Alpha on this mountain has a brother or some relative as his right-hand man. So, Azer has Riskin.”
“Azer will never be Alpha. If I had to guess, I would say Mattox has already shown Azer his stripes. Azer will bow to Mattox’s authority. I only wish I could say the same for Riskin.”
“So what should I tell him?”
“If you really find it so hard to tell him, don’t say anything. Let Mattox deliver that message. Mattox will put Riskin in his place, if he hasn’t done it already. Riskin will learn the truth, and he’ll disappear out of your life. Mattox will take over, and you’ll marry him.”
“And you don’t mind if I do?”
He petted her cheek. “Honey, I want you to. I couldn’t be happier for you.”
She let her head fall on his chest. “Oh, Papa! Thank you!”
He stroked her hair. “You better get up. It’s long past dark, and I hear voices out in the kitchen. It sounds like dinner’s on the table.”
“Why don’t you come out and join us? You’re strong enough.”
“Not yet. Soon, but not yet. You go ahead, and take my blessing with you.”