Free Texas Redeemed by Isla Bennet

then leave again, that will hurt her.”
    Peyton exhaled hard. He’d heard this speech too many
times in under twenty-four hours. First from his grandfather, then Valerie,
then in his own mind.
    “Mister Peyton, I know about your work, Doctors Without
Borders.” There was a plea and a warning in Jasper’s eyes. “Consider Lucy, yes,
but also consider your work and the consequences of forcing yourself to stay in
this town when you want to go. You’ll resent her. You’ll deny blaming her for
killing your independence until, inevitably, the truth crushes you and Lucy—and
Valerie, too.”
    “I haven’t signed up for another tour.” But he’d been
planning to even as he drove here from Baltimore. He hadn’t known about Lucy
and Anna then. He’d known only that his grandfather needed him here and that while
in Night Sky he wanted to sharpen his skills and practice medicine at Memorial.
The visiting surgeon position had no long-term commitments attached.
Commitment, the no-way-out kind, came with the whole fatherhood territory,
didn’t it?
    Already he was starting to feel the intangible pull in
different directions.
    The sound of a cane hitting hardwood alerted them that
Nathaniel was moving about somewhere down the hall. The fact that his
grandfather, who’d for over half a century stood tall and commanding, now used
a cane would take some getting used to. The thought brought a question to mind.
“Jasper, what’s with the fortress gate around this place?”
    “Mister Turner found it was the best way to keep unwanted
visitors off the estate.”
    Peyton stilled. “Meaning my mother.” At the butler’s
bleak nod, he changed the subject to lighten the atmosphere. “What’s Grandpa
got on the schedule for today?”
    “A video conference call with the CFO, then a magazine
interview in San Antonio on the new after-hours line.” Jasper paused as he
headed out of the study. “Mister Turner would encourage you to join him and
Rose.”
    “Can’t do that. I have a meeting at Memorial.” Peyton
studied the framed photograph of his father on his grandfather’s desk. Slender
with dark hair, gray eyes and a thin mustache, Anthony Turner had been a
high-roller—one who loved to have women in his bed but never in his heart. The
kind of man to find himself at the right hotel bar at the right time to be easy
pickings for a New York waitress who’d ended up the mother of his only child.
    Peyton didn’t belong in his father’s and grandfather’s
worlds any more than he belonged in the countries he’d toured on his mission
assignments. And that left him with the question that had gone unanswered for
thirty-four years: Where did he
belong?

    “D ON’T
DO IT .”
    Lucy jumped so quickly she thought she’d turn around and
see her skin left behind next to the row of lockers where she’d been hiding on
all fours, waiting for the sixth-period bell to ring. She jerked her head up to
find her best friend, Sarah Carew, hovering nearby.
    “Get down here,” Lucy hissed, her heart still tap dancing
in her chest from being spooked. Any second she could get caught and ratted out
by some kiss-ass student, and she’d have to sit through pre-algebra or be
rushed to the principal’s office to be lectured on the evils of disobedience by
authority figures who foolishly thought they could break her like a horse.
    Sarah squeezed into the tight space, also on her hands
and knees with her backpack tucked close. Her black shatter nail polish
contrasted with Lucy’s pale pink. “Are you insane? You’re gonna be so screwed if you get caught playing
hooky. Kiss the Halloween party at the orchard goodbye, for one thing.”
    “No one says ‘playing hooky’ anymore, Sarah.”
    “Then I’m bringing it back.”
    “And I don’t care about the party.”
    “Do you care about more detention or suspension or your
mom going berserk when she finds out what you’re doing?”
    Yes, yes, and yes.
But what I care about more is telling my