Heartless Rebel by Lynn Raye Harris

house and family away.
Daddy had walked out, and nothing was ever the same again.
                 How
could he have done it? How could he have lied for so long and left them once
the truth was out? He’d chosen his other family over them, and she could never
forgive him for it. She hadn’t spoken a word to him in almost six years. Didn’t
expect she ever would again.
                 She
stole another glance at Jack. Was he trustworthy? Or was he the sort of man who
could turn his back on everything and everyone he’d known? She just didn’t know
if she could ever trust any man again. Daddy, James, Bobby—they’d all promised
her things, and they’d all broken those promises. Jack would break his
promises, too, if she were to allow him into her life any more deeply than he
already was.
                 “What
are you thinking?” he asked, turning his head to look down into her eyes.
                 She
shrugged. “I was just thinking about how wonderful it is to be here, to see
things I’ve only ever read about.”
                 One
dark eyebrow arched. “Is that all?”
                 “Have
you ever been married?” she blurted, surprising herself as much as him. Now
where had that come from?
                 “No.”
His voice grew chilly when he said it, as if in warning. Careful where you tread, little girl .
                 “Why
not?” She wanted to know. She wasn’t sure what knowing the answer would tell
her about him, but maybe it would tell her something.
                 “Why
the questions, Cara?”
                 “I’m
trying to get to know you. You’re rich, successful, and it seems as if you
would have been married with a family by now.”
                 His
nostrils flared as he turned his head to look out over the dark water. “I guess
I didn’t want the responsibility.”
                 Of
all the answers he could have given, that was somehow the worst. He didn’t want
the responsibility. Because being a rich playboy was easier. He didn’t need to
care about anyone but himself. He could change women the way he changed
clothes. He could drive fancy cars, stay out all night and get beaten up trying
to rescue damsels in distress—even if the damsel preferred to rescue herself.
He wasn’t the kind of man who would ever be happy tied down. He was exactly as
she’d thought: unreliable for more than the moment, however long the moment
lasted.
                 “What
about you, Cara? Have you ever been married?”
                 The
question startled her, probably because she hadn’t expected him to turn it back
on her. But she could answer honestly. “No, not yet.”
                 “Never
been close?”
                 She
shook her head. “There’s been no one that important.”
                 “That
surprises me,” he said. “What about the boyfriend you went to Vegas with? He
must have been important if you were willing to leave home for him.”
                 “Maybe
I thought so at first,” she said, staring out over the dark water. “But I
realized he wasn’t.”
                 “When
he ran off with the showgirl?”
                 “No,
when I realized he was just an excuse.”
                 “An
excuse?”
                 How
could she tell him how desperately she’d wanted to escape Louisiana without it
sounding bad? Without it sounding like she’d abandoned her family because she felt
hemmed in by responsibility?
                 Did
it even matter? Why did she care what he thought? She hadn’t abandoned them at
all. She’d actually made things better by going somewhere that she could make
more money. Because she had, her family was doing better than ever. They were
no longer desperate to make ends meet.
                 “He
was the