The Rivals Read Free Page A

eighteen. North had given her a refuge at his ranch in Jackson Hole, in an old cabin that was a legacy from their departed mother, a place that must have been used by settlers in bygone days. That was where Clay Blackthorne had found her when he’d finally come looking.
    He hadn’t come right away. In fact, not long after the fateful day she’d sent him away, he’d gotten engaged. Libby had died inside, wishing she could be the one that he was marrying. She’d felt torn when she’d learned that Clay hadn’t gotten married after all, because his fiancée had been murdered a week before the wedding.
    Libby hadn’t been able to keep from indulging in the fantasy that Clay would come looking for her someday. That they would marry and raise their daughter together.
    It had never happened.
    In the end, Clay had come, all right—to seek out his four-year-old daughter. That first visit had been awkward. Amazing how cordial two people could be for the sake of a child. Amazing how well she’d been able to hide her aching heart.
    Clay had never publicly acknowledged Kate. A bastard daughter sired on a sixteen-year-old mother wouldn’t have been good for a politician’s career. And Clay’s family had great plans for him.
    No, that wasn’t fair. Clay hadn’t wanted Kate to be forced into the spotlight. But with a grandfather like King Grayhawk, the spotlight had been unavoidable. And devastating for a vulnerable child.
    The Grayhawks might be Jackson Hole royalty, but King had made a lot of enemies over the years. There were plenty who snickered when his eldest daughter had become an unwed mother. They were quick to brand King’s granddaughter with the label of bastard—behind her back. No one would have dared to say such a thing to her face, fearing King’s swift and certain retribution.
    Nevertheless, Kate had been aware of the slights, the sniggers, the whispers behind her back.
    Which was why Libby had spent every penny she’d earned, and money loaned to her by North, to send her daughter to a boarding school in Virginia, where Kate could make friends who didn’t know about her birth or her family.
    King had offered Libby money for Kate’s support, but Libby had known better than to take it. With such webs were sticky familial traps laid. And Libby had told Clay, when he offered, that if he wanted to give Kate money, he should put it in trust for her until her twenty-first birthday.
    Libby had been proud of managing on her own, and Kate had never wanted for anything. Except a full-time father.
    Over the years, Clay had spent his holidays vacationing in Jackson, as did many other politicians, and found time to spend with Kate. But Libby had borne her daughter’s tears each time Clay left. And it had broken her heart.
    After Clay married Giselle Montrose, the daughter of the American ambassador to France, he’d spent even less time in Jackson. But he and his wife had never had children, and Giselle had died a year ago of cancer.
    Clay was on his own again.
    So was she. Libby had tried marriage, and when it hadn’t worked out, had gone so far as to get engaged to another man. She’d backed out three weeks before the wedding, realizing that she didn’t love her fiancé enough to marry him. She was no more able than her father to find someone to measure up to her first love.
    Libby had resigned herself to being alone. That was better than repeating her father’s mistake and kept her from putting any more men through what her stepmothers had endured. It wasn’t fair to them or to her or to her daughter.
    Libby forced herself not to yearn for what she could never have. Clay had loved her once upon a time, and she’d betrayed that love. She wasn’t going to get a second chance to make things right. Blackthornes weren’t any more forgiving than they were merciful.
    Kate had remained the center of Libby’s life