Thorn's Challenge - Brenda Jackson [63]
Tara had decided to come outside and round up the brothers to tell them their parents were on Dare’s mobile phone and wanted to congratulate Thorn. She had stopped right before interrupting them, shocked at what she had overheard. There had been a bet between Thorn and his brothers that he would be able to get her in his bed? Today had meant nothing to him but winning a bet?
Backing up so they wouldn’t see her, she felt tears of humiliation stinging her eyes. She felt just as humiliated now as she had three years ago when Derrick had embarrassed her in front of a church filled with people. And it hurt worse than before because of the magnitude of love she felt for Thorn. Her love for Derrick had been a young girl’s love that had grown from an extended friendship between two families. But her love for Thorn was that of a woman, a woman who, it now seemed, had made a mistake, a big mistake for the second time in her life.
She quickly turned around and ran smack into Dare. He caught her by the arm to stop her from falling. He frowned when he saw the tears that filled her eyes. “Tara, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”
She swiped away the tears that she couldn’t stop. “No, I’m not okay, Dare, and I don’t appreciate your brothers making a bet on me that way. And you can tell Thorn that I hope never to see him again.” Without saying anything else she pulled away and went back inside.
After Storm’s statement, Thorn’s temper exploded and he looked at his brothers for the longest time without saying anything, fighting down the urge to walk across the space of the veranda that separated them and knock the hell out of each one of them.
“I think I need to set the record straight about something. My relationship with Tara had nothing to do with the bet the three of you made,” he said through gritted teeth, trying to hold his anger in check and remember the four of them shared the same parents.
“She means more to me than a chance to score after two years.” He sighed, not giving a royal damn what he was about to admit to his brothers. The way he felt, he would gladly shout it out to the world if he had to. “I love Tara. I love her with everything that’s inside of me, and it’s about time the three of you knew that.”
Stone’s shoulder was propped against the building and he wore a huge grin. “Oh, we know you love her, Thorn. We’ve known it for a while. Getting you to realize that you loved her was the kicker. The only reason we said what we did a few minutes ago was to get you pissed off enough to admit what Tara means to you.”
“And it might be too late,” Dare said, walking up to join the group. He wore an angry expression as he faced his brothers. “Your little playacting may have cost Thorn Tara’s love.”
Thorn frowned. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Dare shook his head, knowing all hell was about to break lose and that somehow he would have to find a way to contain Thorn’s fury. “Mom and Dad called and Tara volunteered to come get you guys. Evidently she overheard the first part of the conversation. When I saw her she was crying so hard she couldn’t see straight and bumped right into me when I came to find out what was taking all of you so long.”
Dare shook his head sadly. “She gave me a message to give you. She told me to tell you that she doesn’t want to see you again.”
Hearing enough, Thorn spun around, and, without giving his brothers another glance, he quickly went back into the building in search of Tara.
“She left, Thorn,” Shelly Westmoreland said, frowning at her brother-in-law. “She was crying and came back inside just long enough to get her purse. She left through that side door. Exactly what did you do to her?”
Thorn couldn’t wait to give Shelly an answer. More than likely Tara had returned to the hotel and he planned to be right on her heels. He had a lot of explaining to do and he also intended to tell her just what she meant to him.
When Thorn got to the hotel he saw that Tara had not been there, and he started to