Free The Tycoon's Tots by Stella Bagwell Page A

keep her adequately housed, fed and clothed.”
    â€œWe think she was simply blackmailing Daddy, threatening to tell us about her and the twins if he didn’t pay. You can’t deny she had a drug problem. The doctor said it was the reason her heart stopped so suddenly.”
    Chloe was painting a picture of Belinda that was difficult for Wyatt to fathom and yet he had to face the fact that something had gone terribly wrong in his sister’s life. Why hadn’t he made a point to keep in touch with her? Why hadn’t he been around to see what was happening and stop it?
    â€œI had no idea Belinda had taken any sort of drugs until the doctors at the hospital explained her death to me. She’d had a slight heart murmur all her life and she’d been warned that alcohol or drugs would cause damage, so she knew the consequences. It all makes me wonder if she was slowly trying to kill herself. Especially if your father had rejected her.”
    For the first time since all of this had happened, Chloe forced herself to look at things from Belinda’s side. Had Tomas broken her heart and left her deserted with two little babies? No, she didn’t think so. Belinda herself had admitted that Tomas had wanted the children. And then there was all that money he’d sent her. That had to mean something.
    â€œI don’t know what she was thinking or what was onDaddy’s mind. We’ll probably never know. But one thing is for certain—their affair has left the Bar M drained.”
    He looked at her. “That’s all the more reason you should want the twins to live with me. Rather than here in poverty.”
    Her nostrils flaring, she shoved the canceled checks back in the drawer and closed it. “I hardly think we live in poverty,” she said tightly.
    â€œMaybe not. But you might be, soon.”
    She couldn’t believe his gall or his priorities. “And whose fault is that?” she countered hotly.
    So now they were finally getting to the point, he thought with angry disappointment. Up until now, Chloe had done a good job of putting on an air of family pride, but when it came right down to the gist of things, she was like all the rest.
    â€œI guess the next thing you’re going to say is that if I were a real man, I’d offer you financial help to raise the twins rather than take them with me?”
    Thinking it was high time to leave the room, she reached over and switched off the lamp. “I wouldn’t take a dime from you! And neither would the rest of my family! Your sister whammed us hard, but we will come back from it. And no thanks to you!”
    Chloe’s reaction to his question surprised him more than anything yet. In his life, money was always a bargaining chip. And because he had lots of it, he’d often been approached for loans and handouts. In his younger years, he’d been softhearted and allowed friends, many of them women, to use him for their financial gain.
    He supposed having money had caused him to become jaded about human nature. But he’d learned it was foolish to trust anyone. Especially beautiful women like Chloe.
    She brushed past him and headed toward the door. Wyatt quickly snagged a hold on her shoulder and spun herback to him. “Do you mean you’d have the twins suffer because of your pride?”
    She tried to jerk free of his grip, but he only tightened his hold. “Suffer?” she repeated inanely. “You think the twins would suffer living here?”
    He rolled his eyes. “Come on, Chloe. Look around you. This isolated ranch has nothing to offer them. I could afford to give them the best of care. Private schools, any college they chose. In Houston, I could open doors to successful careers for them. They would be exposed to fine art and culture. They’d know more about life than cows and horses and sagebrush and cactus.”
    This was the point where Chloe should have been exploding with