Tied Up, Tied Down (Rough Riders #4)(43)

“At a party I met this older guy named Ted. He was a real laid-back kind of guy, which was very appealing to me. We’d been dating for a month when my dad was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. Doctors told us he had less than three months to live. I’d always dreamed of my dad walking me down the aisle, and I was about to lose the chance forever. When Ted suggested we get married right away, I agreed.” She laughed bitterly. “It was the only impulsive thing I’d ever done in my life.”


Had she loved Ted? It tied a knot in his gut to think she’d married for less than the total love and adoration she deserved.

“Turns out my dad had less time. He died three weeks after the wedding.”


“Sky. I’m sorry.”


She knocked back a mouthful of wine. “Anyway, my mother went into a deep depression and decided to ‘find herself’ at a monastery on some damn island.”


“You’re shittin’ me.”


“Nope.”


“People really do that?”


“My mom was a bit of a free-spirit, hippie type. She could do pretty much whatever struck her fancy because my father had left us well off.” Her troubled gaze met his. “Very well off. She vanished and I didn’t hear a word from her for two years.”


Kade cringed. He’d essentially done the same thing, disappeared without a word. No wonder Skylar had sported the attitude that he might not care about Eliza’s existence. Or that he intended to become a permanent part of her life.

“At the time, India was a drug addict and a drunk, in and out of rehab. I’d used my grief to bury myself in work and advanced to the level of vice president. Ted had a fairly low-stress job so he handled everything.”


“Everything?”


“Yes.” Skylar closed her eyes. “All the finances, all the household stuff. Some nights I’d come home from the office an emotional basket case and he took care of me too. I trusted him. I let him have total control of every single thing in my life.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “And he f*cked me over. Big time. I didn’t know he wasn’t who he said he was. Ted wasn’t a real estate developer as much as he was a con man.”


No wonder she’d freaked out so badly about him pretending to be Kane. No wonder she was taking her time on deciding whether she’d marry him.

“I also didn’t know he’d taken half of the inheritance from my father and squirreled it away somewhere. I didn’t know he’d helped himself to half my earnings over a two-year period. I only found out when he hit me with divorce papers. There were very little liquid assets, where we should’ve been drowning in them.

“California is a community property state, which entitled Ted to fifty percent of what I had. My house, my cars, my pension, my assets—assets that had dwindled to damn near nothing in the time we were married. Everything I’d worked for, all the money my dad left me…gone.”


“Oh baby, c’mere.” Kade put their wine glasses on the coffee table and enfolded her in his arms. She didn’t cry, this tough, independent woman who’d had every man in her life let her down. She just melted into him. That broke his damn heart. He didn’t speak, partially because he didn’t know what to say, but mostly because he now understood her need for absolute control.

“It was the most humiliating thing that’s ever happened to me. So yeah, I have some issues with trust.”


“I imagine so. Hell, I would too.”


An unwieldy pause lingered.

Finally, he said, “Can you tell me the rest of it?”


“When we were at the end of the divorce proceedings, my mother returned. I moved into her new place, which ended up being a good thing because not four months later she was diagnosed with uterine cancer.”


“Jesus. Are you serious?”


Sky nodded. “Sounds like a soap opera, doesn’t it? Of course, my mom had let her health insurance lapse while she was in seclusion, so all the payments to the hospital and doctors came out of her pocket. India actually cleaned up her act for a while and helped me care for Mom. My grandma, my mom’s mother, Elizabeth, came to help.”


A warm feeing unfurled in his chest. “Eliza was named after her, wasn’t she?”


“Yeah. She was a remarkable woman. It fascinated me she was part Cheyenne since my mother had never mentioned that part of our background. Grandma mixed up herb ointments for my mother that actually worked. When I asked her about them, she gave me the basics until she realized I had more than just a passing interest. We created batches of new soaps and lotions made from all-natural ingredients. I decided someday I would start my own company using her formulas. After she passed on and left us this land, I knew this was where I was supposed to be. Everything had come full circle.”


“Well, you’ve done her right proud, sweetheart.”


“You think so?”


“I know so. Know what else I know?”


“What?”


Kade brushed his mouth over her ear and was tremendously pleased when Sky trembled. “That Eliza has a long line of strong women behind her to look up to. She’s a lucky girl.”


“You’re so sweet, Kade, you’re going to make me cry and I swore I wouldn’t, not ever again. Not over him or what he did to me or anything from that awful part of my life.”