Cord settled the child he was pretty damn sure was his son more firmly on his lap.
âIs he mine?â He was pleased his voice remained calm and sounded reasonable. Inside he was a seething cauldron of anger.
CJ stopped squirming, as if he sensed something momentous about to happen. His eyes jittered between his mum and Cord.
âI â¦â Jolie looked away. âCord ⦠you donât understand.â
âNo. I guess I donât. Since you didnât give me a chance. Or explain. But you didnât answer my question. He is mine, isnât he?â
Anger swirled, cramping his gut. His eyes stayed fixed on Jolie, and even though they burned, he didnât blink. How could she do this to him? Did she hate him that damned much?
When heâd caught her crying over him in the hospital, heâd hoped for a second chance, but sheâd obviously wiped the slate clean and eradicated him completely. His heart turned to granite when he realized what Jolie had doneâand had done deliberately. If he said a word, his face would crack, shattering just like his heart was doing. But he had to know.
âWere you ever going to tell me?â
* * *
The Cowgirlâs Little Secret
is part of the Red Dirt Royalty series:
These Oklahoma millionaires work hard and play harder.
SILVER JAMES likes walks on the wild side, and coffee. Okay. She loves coffee. Warning: her muse, Iffy, runs with scissors. A cowgirl at heart, sheâs also been an army officerâs wife and mum and has worked in the legal field, fire service and law enforcement. Now retired from the real world, she lives in Oklahoma and spends her days writing with the assistance of her two Newfoundland dogs, the cat who rules them all and the myriad characters living in her imagination. She loves interacting with readers on her blog, Twitter and Facebook. Find her at www.silverjames.com.
One
Cordell Barron was always in controlâof his life, Barron Oil and Gas Exploration, everything that made up his world. Except for now. At the moment, Cordâs world was crashing down around his ears and his life seemed to be spinning out of control.
He stared at his hands, curled so tightly around the steering wheel that his knuckles were white. Jolie is home. Stay away from her. The words, spoken just over a month ago by her father, were seared into Cordâs memory. Like the woman.
Jolene Davis. Juliet to his Romeoâright down to their feuding families. Cord had walked away from her, not once but twice, if their hookup for âold timeâs sakeâ five years ago counted. Technically, sheâd walked away the second timeâbefore he could. Turnabout was fair play and all that crap. That was what heâd told himself at the time. He hadnât wanted to admit how much it hurtâwaking up hungover to find her gone, the sheets still smelling of her sweet mimosa scent. Even now, all these years later, he hated spring when the mimosa trees bloomed.
Jerking his thoughts back to the present, he stared out the windshield of his crew-cab pickup. His fingers drummed a nervous tattoo on the console. He should call his brother Cash. Technically, they were half brothers, but Cord was head of Barron Security. He could find out everything about Jolie in an hour. Her phone number. Where she lived. Worked. Boyfriendâs name. His heart thudded at the thought she might have oneâor worse, a husband. He pounded the heel of his fist on the console, making his phone jump onto the passenger seat. Cord had no right to dictate anything about Jolieâs life, but the thought of her in another manâs arms, accepting his kisses, sharing his bed...
What was wrong with him? He was supposedly the easygoing Barron, the good ole boy comedian. He didnât get angry. He didnât slam his fist into inanimate objectsâespecially when it would hurt like hell. Except when Jolie was around. He was always off balance where she was concerned, like a pinball game with lights flashing and bells clanging as a huge TILT strobed in front of his eyes. Yeah, that definitely summed up their relationship. Theyâd been headed for a big, fat game over from the moment he first laid eyes on her.
The tune of âTake This Job and Shove Itâ rang out from his phone, sending him scrambling to retrieve it. He unclenched his fist and answered with a terse âWhat?â
âHey, cuz, catch you at a bad time?â
Cord clamped down on his emotions, shifting into business mode to talk to his cousin Cooper Tate, operations manager of BarEx, the Barronsâ energy company. âFunny, Coop.â