Destined To Be A Dad (Welcome To Destiny Book 9) by Christyne Butler Page A

mastered the art of tweeting.
    “Or maybe not.” Bryant fumbled the crystal stopper but managed to get it back into the bottle. “You know Mom. Always looking for a reason to have the entire family together.”
    Liam shared a look with Nolan, who shook his head in reply, showing he was clueless.
    Something else was up. Bryant was never nervous.
    The man was a freak for numbers, with a laid-back personality that bordered on sedentary. Which was a good thing in his position as the company’s chief financial officer. Their folks had always said he was their lull in the storm after the havoc caused by their first four boys. Then, of course, Ric had come along and the family had been complete.
    “What’s bugging you?” Liam asked.
    “Nothing.” Bryant stared into the glass for a moment, and then set it down untouched. “How do you do it?”
    Confused, Liam glanced at Nolan, who again shook his head. “Do what?”
    Bryant turned to face him. “Like Nolan said earlier. How do you stay so effing calm when a daughter you’ve never met—never even knew about—suddenly shows up at your front door?”
    Surprised by his brother’s tone, Liam sat back in his chair. Was he pissed? No, Bryant sounded almost anxious.
    “Since nothing like this has ever happened to me before,” he finally said. “I’m not sure how I’m supposed to act.”
    “I guess being a father is going to come as easy to you as everything else.”
    Okay, that was a shot. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
    “Oh, come on. No matter what you’ve done—saddle bronc riding, school, running the family business...you never break a sweat.” Bryant leaned against the credenza, waving one hand at the bookcases on the opposite wall. The shelves groaned under the weight of ribbons, trophies and prized belt buckles the Murphy boys had earned over the years, the majority of them belonging to Liam. “You set your mind to accomplish something, and bam, you’re first in your class.”
    The sarcasm in his brother’s voice made Liam’s blood boil. He was proud of what he’d accomplished as a professional cowboy, but he could care less about the display. Their dad had put that together when this office used to be his, long before Liam had taken over as president and CEO, and it remained now as a showpiece for potential clients.
    Rising slowly to his feet, Liam noticed Nolan doing the same, but ignored him and turned his gaze on Bryant. “I sweated plenty, not to mention busted my ass, before I turned pro and every day after that when it came to riding.”
    “And in less than a year you were in the top five. Hell, the top two.”
    “Again, with plenty of blood, sweat and hard work.” Liam was at a loss as to where his brother’s resentment was coming from. He walked around the end of his desk, closing the distance between them. “You know that. You were there.”
    “Yeah, I was there at the University of Wyoming when you decided your rodeo career was over and college was the next step. Believe me, the campus wasn’t that big and you cast a long shadow. You still do, Mr. President.”
    Liam shook his head.
    It seemed that out of all of his brothers, Liam’s relationship with Bryant had always been the most antagonistic over the years, despite his easygoing nature with everyone else. Adam and Nolan were typical older brothers, bossy and caretakers at the same time. He and Devlin, being born only eleven months apart, should have been competitive as well; instead they’d grown up close, but independent of each other.
    Yeah, Liam had finally gone to college the same year as Bryant, but because he’d been twenty-one, he’d been allowed his own off-campus apartment. Liam had also carried a lot of anger over the twists and turns his life had taken at that point and had decided that it was best he lived alone, turning down his brother’s offer to be roommates.
    The two of them had graduated the same year and had come to work for the family