Page 39 of Alaskan Blackout
Her gaze darted to her brother, who had strode toward the prop plane to talk with the pilot. Once she was sure Clay was out of earshot, she shifted her full attention to Quinton.
“The inheritance.” She spoke with more bitterness than she’d known was inside her. But then, she’d absorbed a lot of Clayton’s frustrations with his father over the years. Maybe she just was also scared of the changes the Kingsley legacy would mean for him. “You want him to go with you to Montana, don’t you?”
That would mean she wasn’t just losing Quinton. She would lose her stepbrother too. Suddenly the life she’d built for herself in Alaska that had been so fulfilling just a month ago, now loomed lonely in front of her.
Quinton frowned, finally rubbing a hand along his jaw where Clay had hit him. “I’d like him to, yes, but he doesn’thaveto go anywhere. Either way, I need to tell him face-to-face what is his by right.”
A multimillion-dollar share of a cattle ranch thousands of miles away. Would Clayton’s resentment of the Kingsleys prevent him from accepting the legacy he deserved? Her conscience shouted that she couldn’t allow her own interests to sway him in any way. After everything Clay had done for her, she was duty bound to encourage him to accept his birthright.
“In that case, I’ll leave you to it.” She moved to return to the RV so she could retrieve her jacket. A walk in the cold air would be welcome about now. Maybe the near-freezing temperature would chill some of the raw hurt she felt over this unhappy meeting with Quinton.
“McKenna, wait.” He touched her elbow briefly. Then, seeming to think the better of it, he snatched his hand back. “Are you feeling well? You’re not too tired from the trip?”
The obvious concern in his eyes made her heart hurt more. He was a good man, and he would make a good father to their child.
She only wished she hadn’t alienated him so completely with her trust issues.
“I’m doing well,” she assured him, her hand gravitating to her abdomen as she looked up into the honey-brown eyes of the man she’d come to know so well these last weeks. “I hope you understand why I had to come here ahead of you. It was important to me to be the one to tell him.”
Without her permission, her fingers gravitated toward the dark red mark on Quinton’s jaw. She stroked the stubbled skin gently before realizing she’d lost that right.
Quinton didn’t move as she pulled away.
When he spoke again, he said only, “We’ll talk more afterward.”
She didn’t bother telling him how much it would mean to her for them to reconcile. She’d lost any power to influence him when she’d accused him of hacking her computer. Instead, she used all her willpower to keep from touching him again. To keep from thinking about what they’d lost.
Withdrawing to retrieve her jacket, she left the two most important men in her life alone to sort out their rift.
“Can we talk rationally now?” Quinton reached Clay’s side where his brother walked near the edge of a bright blue glacier lake. “Because you already got your one free swing at me.”
Clayton had stalked away from the RV after speaking to the bush pilot for a while. Now, his half brother stopped and faced the water, his arms folded across his chest. Quinton joined him, and together they watched while McKenna followed the shoreline in the opposite direction, her auburn hair easy to track in the treeless tundra.
Between them, he could see a few caribou lying in the grass, but nothing that would give her any trouble.
“We can speak now,” Clayton affirmed, tearing his green eyes from his stepsister to glare over at Quinton. “I already gave you the punch you deserved.”
“Glad we got it out of the way,” Quinton admitted, working his jaw back and forth to make sure the hinges were working properly.
“You were lucky it wasn’t my right hand.” Clay reached down for a handful of rocks and used his right arm to send one skipping into the lake.
A musk ox rose from a spot in the long grasses downstream, then lumbered closer to the water, not paying them any attention.
“Don’t I know it,” Quinton agreed, recalling scraps from their younger years.
Clay remained quiet a moment before he asked in a low voice, “So did you seduce my sister to find me?”
Fury shot through him. All of his hopes for a rational conversation died.
“You bastard.” He got in Clay’s face, his fist clenching. “Even if I was that much of a degenerate, how dare you think for a second that McKenna would sell you out.”
“You sure about that?” Clay prodded, his eyes narrowing while Quinton seethed.
He paced away from his brother, angry huffs of his breath streaming from his mouth in the cold air. He jammed his fists in his pockets before pivoting to face him again.
“Are you kidding me right now? Do you have any idea how defensive she is of you? How protective?” The vein in his temple throbbed. He could feel his frustration beating there along with his pulse. But he wasn’t done yet. “Your property was her main concern during the blackout. Clay’s boat. Clay’s house. Clay’s bar. She would have gotten swept off in a cyclone herself before she let something happen to anything of yours.”
“I see.” Clayton nodded, his face impassive as he chucked another stone into Galbraith Lake. The guy had been a reserved loner for as long as Quinton could remember, rarely letting his guard down during the weeks he’d spent at Kingsland when they’d been kids. But this was taking reserve to new, infuriating levels.