Millionaire on Her Doorstep by Stella Bagwell

the ground as fast as they can.”
    â€œHmm. I have to admit you’re right. Most of them don’t have outside interests. As for me, I like the business and I want to do well in it. But I guess I have too much of my father in me to be just an oilman.”
    She glanced curiously up at him. “What do you mean? Your father is an oilman.”
    Smiling, he shook his head, then with a nudge against her back, guided her over to a flat boulder. Maureen took a seat on one end and waited for him to join her.
    After he’d stretched his long legs out in front of him and lifted his hat to run a hand over his hair, he said, “I guess this will probably surprise you, though it’s not really a secret Wyatt is not my real father.”
    Maureen’s brows shot up, but Adam tugged the brim of his hat back down on his forehead before she could say anything.
    â€œWhat I mean,” Adam went on, “is that he’s not
the man who sired me. Wyatt is actually my uncle and Chloe my half sister.”
    She let out a soft gasp. “Your half sister? And uncle? I don’t understand!”
    He shrugged. “I didn’t expect you to. It’s all rather complicated.”
    Maureen gently placed her hand on his thigh. “If you’d rather not tell me, I’ll understand.”
    He gave her a sidelong glance and could see in her eyes that she did understand and wouldn’t think less of him if he changed the subject completely. Just knowing she felt that way drew him to her in a way he’d never expected.
    â€œIt’s all right I don’t mind talking about it. I’m certainly not ashamed of my heritage. In fact, my birth father is somewhat of a legend in this area. He bought this land more than sixty years ago and built the Bar M virtually by himself. From what my mom and aunts, or maybe I should say my half sisters tell me, Tomas Murdock was a hardworking, boisterous man who liked to drink and gamble. He loved horses even more. On or off the racetrack. When his wife’s health failed, he became involved with another woman, Wyatt’s sister, Belinda. The two of them had a secret affair and as a result Anna and I were born.”
    â€œSo what happened to your birth parents?” Maureen had to ask. “Where are they now?”
    His features were suddenly clouded with regret. “I’m sorry to say they’re both dead. Shortly after Anna and I were born, Tomas suffered a fatal heart attack. He was only in his mid-fifties, but from what I’ve been told, they’d been hard-lived years.”
    Fascinated, Maureen urged him to go on. “And
Belinda? She must have been much younger if she was able to bear children.”
    Adam nodded. “Close to twenty-five years younger. But she had emotional problems, and they were compounded when she believed Tomas had deserted her and the two babies.”
    â€œHad he deserted her and you children?” Maureen asked, surprised at how much she truly wanted to know about this man.
    â€œWe don’t believe so. My sisters discovered many canceled checks he’d been sending to Belinda. She was living in Las Cruces at the time, and we suppose when the checks and Tomas quit coming to her, she snapped. She left Anna and me in a laundry basket on the front porch of the ranch house.”
    Maureen’s head swung slowly from side to side as she tried to digest all that he’d told her. It was all so difficult to imagine that this strong, confident, sexy man beside her had come into the world under such circumstances. She’d figured his life had been charmed from the moment he’d drawn his first breath.
    â€œOh, my, Adam. I can’t...I just find this so hard to believe.”
    â€œWell, believe it. She did. Justine found us, and for a good while, none of them even knew we were Murdocks, too.”
    Incredulous, Maureen stared at him. “You mean Belinda disappeared? She didn’t let anyone know