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He would never believe she wasn’t part of Jesse and Sunny’s scheme. There was no way Corbin would believe Liberty had kept it from her. That, and it wasn’t like Belle hadn’t tricked him before. It made sense she was tricking him again. Still, she wished he had given her the benefit of the doubt. Or at least given her an opportunity to tell her side of things. But she understood why he hadn’t. He only knew what he’d been taught—that people you loved couldn’t be trusted.
Not that he loved her.
But what if he did?
What if he was just dealing with his pain the same way Liberty was dealing with hers?
“I can’t believe I was so gullible!” Liberty brought her fist down on the table, causing all their coffee and tea mugs to jump. “I can’t believe I let love cloud my eyes from seeing what a stubborn, opinionated jackass Jesse is. He actually had the gall to defend Corbin after what he did, saying that he was like me and used anger to deal with his pain. I don’t use anger to deal with my pain!”
All the sisters glanced at each other as Liberty turned to Belle. “And I just want to say that you were right, Belly. I should never have agreed to marry a man I don’t even know. It’s a good thing I figured it out before it was too late and broke off the engagement.”
A few weeks ago, Belle would have been thrilled to hear those words. Now, they didn’t make her happy. Especially when she could read the heartbreak in her sister’s eyes. She completely understood how her sister felt. Her own heart felt like it had been trampled beneath the hoofs of a thousand head of cattle.
She took her sister’s hand and squeezed it. “You can’t break things off with Jesse, Libby. You love him and I know he loves you.”
“Wait a second.” Noelle jumped in. “I thought you wanted Liberty and Jesse to break up. Isn’t that why you called the last Secret Sisterhood meeting? To figure out how to keep Liberty from marrying Jesse?”
Hallie heaved an exasperated sigh. “Way to spill the beans, Elle.”
Liberty jerked her hand from Belle’s. “You called a meeting without me? And to break up my engagement?”
Belle nodded. “But now I see what a mistake it was. You love Jesse and you can’t let your anger and hurt ruin what you have. Yes, Jesse came up with a bad idea, but he was only trying to do what he thought was right. Which was convince his brother that ranching was harder than he thought and get our family’s ranch back. There was only one problem . . . Corbin really does want to be a rancher.”
Liberty stared at her. “What are you talking about, Belly? Has sex with Corbin screwed with your head? He doesn’t even know how to ride a horse.”
Noelle looked at Belle. “You had sex with Corbin? I don’t think sleeping with the enemy was what Mimi was talking about when she wanted us to befriend him.”
“I wasn’t following Mimi’s plan,” Belle said. “And Corbin is not the enemy.”
“He’s taking our family’s ranch, Belly. What would you call him?”
Belle didn’t hesitate to answer. “A man who has never had a place to call home.”
“I knew it!” Liberty threw up her hands. “You fell in love with him.”
All her sisters turned to her. There was nothing to do but speak the truth.
“Yes. I fell in love with Corbin. If anyone should understand that, Libby, you should. You didn’t want to fall in love, but you couldn’t stop it. I didn’t understand that a few weeks ago. I do now. You can’t choose who you fall in love with. It just happens.”
“Amen to that,” Sweetie said.
“Amen,” Cloe echoed.
“Amen,” Noelle chimed in. When everyone looked at her with surprise, she shrugged. “I haven’t had time to tell y’all that I’m in love with George.”
“George?” Sweetie said. “What happened to Luc?”
“Oh. That wasn’t love.” Noelle’s eyes got dreamy. “But what I feel for Georgie is the real thing.”
Hallie rolled her eyes. “Y’all have all lost your wits as far as I’m concerned. And I don’t care anymore who had sex with who or who y’all think you’ve fallen in love with. All I care about is the ranch. Are we going to be able to save it or not?”
A sadness filled Belle and it was hard to answer her sister. “The ranch is Corbin’s. I think we need to accept that and try to figure out where Daddy, Mama, and Mimi are going to live once they move out at the end of the month.”
“Once I get royalty money for my songs,” Sweetie said. “Decker and I want to build them a house right next to ours. Until then, they can live with me and Deck.”
“You don’t have the room, Sweetie,” Cloe said. “They can live here.”
Hallie shook her head. “Bad idea. I know you think Daddy and Sam have made up, but I think moving them in together is like putting two bulls in the same pen. I’d invite them to come live with me, but Mimi won’t be happy living in the city. Besides, there’s a good chance I might be jobless soon.”
