Debra Webb - In His Touch Box Set (Here To Stay, Up Close, Tempting Trace, Basic Instincts) Read Online Free PDF Page B

impossible task.
    “I’m sorry, Paige. I thought you liked this place, otherwise I wouldn’t have suggested it.” Silas looked from the virtually untouched dinner to her. He leaned back in the wide bench seat of their booth and studied her more closely.
    “This place is fine, Silas.” She shrugged and forced a small smile. “I’m just a little distracted.”
    “I can remember Robert having to come here and pick you up a couple of times when you stayed out past curfew.”
    Paige grinned in spite of herself. “I remember that all too well.” She surveyed their smoke-filled surroundings. Dim lights, music, and great food. Bubba’s had been her favorite haunt in Trinity as a teenager. A kind of diner-dancehall combination. Though Bubba served alcohol, he kept a handle on any sign of trouble. Paige had seen the big, burly man toss more than one excited cowboy out on his ear. What the place lacked in class it more than made up for in atmosphere and hospitality. A flashy old jukebox pouring out honkytonk country music completed the picture.
    “Have you told him yet?”
    “What?” Paige jerked her gaze to the sixtyish man seated across from her.
    “As Robert’s attorney, I’m privy to his deepest, darkest secrets.” Silas smiled a kind, reassuring smile. “He had Jesse included in his will immediately after the child’s birth.”
    Paige set her fork down. “No. I haven’t told him yet.”
    Silas drew in a heavy breath, his expression suddenly grim. “Robert told me about the other thing as well.”
    “Oh.” It was the only thing she knew to say.
    “I’m as sorry as I can be, Paige,” he said, his words steeped in remorse.
    “I know.” She forced herself to meet his gaze.
    “Robert said that a recurrence is unlikely.”
    Paige nodded. “The surgery pretty much eliminated that possibility.” She swallowed tightly.
    Silas clutched her hand in his. “You can’t have anymore children, but you do have Jesse.”
    “I know.”
    “Telling Nathan the truth is the right thing to do,” he urged.
    Paige cleared her throat. “Well, cancer certainly forces you to take a look at the bigger picture. I realized that with Mom gone, I was all Jesse had.” She blinked back the tears. “What would have happened to him if...” She took a moment to pull herself together. “At this point, I don’t want my father near Jesse. And Robert refuses to agree to be Jesse’s guardian in the event something happens to me, unless I tell Nathan the truth.”
    “Why haven’t you told him?” Wise gray eyes settled on hers.
    “It’s not so simple, Silas.” Paige focused her attention back on the salad for which she had no appetite. “Nathan’s angry and bitter.” She massaged at the dull ache settling in her temples. “I think he hates me now.”
    Silas shook his head. “Elliott sure did a number on the two of you.”
    “I know my father is a prejudiced, self-centered man, but this situation is not entirely his fault.” Paige had never told anyone what a fool she had been and just how badly Nathan had hurt her. “Nathan married someone else, remember?”
    “Only after you left him behind,” Silas reminded gently.
    “I did what I had to do.”
    “Are you sure about that?”
    “I don’t want to talk about this anymore now, please.”
    “You’ve been tugged in two directions all your life, Paige. Your daddy pulling you one way and Nathan pulling you the other.” He squeezed her trembling fingers. “In the end, who really won?”
    Moisture gathered in her eyes. No one , she wanted to say, but didn’t. Trinity and Memphis had been like two separate worlds. Each beckoning Paige to leave the other behind, but ultimately her father had prevailed.
    “Nathan lost you and so did your daddy.”
    Silas was right. Paige hadn’t spoken to her father in almost a year when she had gotten sick. Elliott Weston refused to fully accept the grandson sired by the likes of Nathan Blackrope. Her father was even angrier that