A Wife for a Westmoreland - Brenda Jackson [41]
“But you’ve been pining away for Derringer for years anyway.”
“I haven’t been pining. Yes, I’ve loved him, but I knew he didn’t love me back and I accepted that. I was fine with it. I had a life. I didn’t expect him to phone or show up on my doorstep making booty calls.”
Chloe laughed. “He didn’t make a booty call exactly. He did take you out on a date.”
“But that’s beside the point.”
Chloe leaned forward, grinning. “And what is your point exactly? I warned you that once you had a piece of a Westmoreland you’d become addicted. Now you’ve had Derringer more than once, so watch out. Staying away from him is going to be easier said than done, Lucia.”
Lucia shook her head. “You just don’t understand, Chloe.”
Chloe smiled sadly. “You’re right, I don’t. I don’t understand how a woman who loves a man won’t go after him using whatever means it takes to get him. What are you afraid of?”
Lucia glanced over at Chloe. “Failing. Which will lead to heartbreak.” She drew in a deep breath. “I had a cousin who had a nervous breakdown over a man. She was twenty and her parents sent her all the way from Nashville to live with us for a while. She was simply pathetic. She would go to bed crying and wake up doing the same thing. It was so depressing. I hate to say this, but I couldn’t wait until she pulled herself together enough to leave.”
“How sad for her.”
“No, that’s the reality of things when you’re dealing with a man like Derringer.”
Chloe quirked a brow. “I still think you might be wrong about him.”
Lucia figured she couldn’t change the way her best friend thought; however, she intended to take all the precautions where Derringer was concerned. Now he saw her as a challenge because she was the woman not willing to give him the time of day anymore.
Some men didn’t take rejection well and she had a feeling that Derringer Westmoreland was one of them.
Nine
Jason snapped his fingers in front of Derringer’s face. “Hey, man, have you been listening to anything I’ve said?”
Derringer blinked, too ashamed to admit that he really hadn’t. The last thing he recalled hearing was something about old man Bostwick’s will being read that day. “Sort of,” he said, frowning. “You were talking about old man Bostwick’s will.”
Herman Bostwick owned the land that was adjacent to Jason’s. For years, Bostwick had promised Jason if he ever got the mind to sell, he would let Jason make him the first offer. The man died in his sleep and had been laid to rest a couple of days ago. It didn’t take much to detect from the look in Jason’s eyes that he wanted the land and Hercules, Bostwick’s prize stallion. A colt from Hercules would be a dream come true for any horse breeder.
“So who did he leave the land to?” Derringer asked. “I hope it didn’t go to his brother. Kenneth Bostwick is one mean son of a gun and will take us to the cleaners if we have to buy the land and Hercules from him.”
Jason shook his head and took a sip of his beer. “The old man left everything to his granddaughter. Got Kenneth kind of pissed off about it.”
Derringer lifted a brow. “His granddaughter? I didn’t know he had one.”
“It seems not too many people did. I understand that he and his son had a falling-out years ago, and when he left for college the son never returned to these parts. He married and settled down in the South. He had one child, a girl.”
Derringer nodded and took a sip of his own beer. “So this granddaughter got the land and Hercules?”
“Yes. The only good thing is that I heard she’s a prissy miss from Savannah who probably won’t be moving here permanently. More than likely she’ll be open to selling everything, and I want to be ready to buy when she does.”
Jason then slid down to sit on the steps across from him, and Derringer looked out across his land. It was late afternoon and he still couldn’t get out of his mind what had happened earlier that day with Lucia. If she thought he was done with her then she should think again.
He