Idiot, he told himself again, silently this time, but no less fervently.
&
nbsp; “Maybe I shouldn’t have told you about it,” Annie murmured, reading the displeasure in his silence. “I just thought you’d want to know what they were saying…”
He shook his head. “As I’ve said, I’m used to it.”
“What, exactly, is it about the McBrides that people find so fascinating?” she asked curiously, shifting to face him as he drove.
Because of his limited peripheral vision, Trent didn’t risk looking away from the road, but he was aware of her eyes on him. He was also aware of how close she sat in his small-cab truck, so close it wouldn’t have taken much for him to reach out and touch her. His hand itched on the steering wheel, as if eager to do just that. He gripped the wheel more tightly.
“Damned if I know,” he said finally, forcing himself to concentrate on the conversation. “We’ve had our share of scandals through the years, I guess, but no more than any other large family, I’d imagine. It isn’t as if we’re rich or involved in organized crime. We’re just…well, ordinary. I don’t really see what makes them enjoy talking about us so much.”
“When did it begin? The gossip, I mean.”
“Years ago. First there was talk that my great-grandfather was a horse thief, a tale that’s grown even taller through retelling. Then came the big feud between the McBrides and the Jennings family—that started during my grandfather’s day and I don’t know if anyone still living even knows why. My uncle, Josiah, Jr., was a mean old cuss whose first wife died from what most people suspected was emotional neglect. His second wife was believed to have run off with a married man—a Jennings, no less. That man’s son was murdered a few years later, and my cousin Lucas, Josiah’s son by his first wife, was generally blamed for Roger’s death, though there was never enough evidence to arrest him.”
“I see.” Annie sounded a bit dazed.
Trent wondered grimly why he was telling her all this. Maybe he felt she ought to know what she was setting herself up for if she chose to further her friendship with the McBrides. With him.
Because he’d come too far to stop now, he went on. “Lucas left town for a while to get away from the accusations. After making a fortune in the computer industry in California, he came home a few years ago to visit his half sister, Emily. While he was here, he got involved with Roger Jennings’s sister, Rachel, and—”
“Wasn’t Roger Jennings the man Lucas was suspected of killing?” Annie asked, proving she’d somehow managed to follow his rather disjointed tale.
“Yeah. He didn’t do it, of course. Turned out Roger was killed by his uncle, Sam—the same guy who’d killed Josiah’s second wife and the man she was thought to have run off with, Sam’s brother Al.”
“Uh—?”
“Long story. Let’s just say that Lucas was fully cleared of any suspicion of murder. He married Rachel and they live in California. His younger half sister, Emily, is married to Chief Davenport. Have you met either of them yet?”
“No, not yet, but I’ve heard they’re very nice.”
Trent was fond of his cousin, and had a great deal of respect for the man she had married. “They are.”
“So that’s it? All the McBride scandals? It didn’t sound so—”
He cleared his throat, interrupting her. “There have been a few others. Uncle Jonas’s only child, Savannah, was the most popular girl in high school—cheerleader, beauty queen, all that. At sixteen, she ended up pregnant with twins. The father was a football hero who refused to take responsibility and chose to trash Savannah’s reputation instead. The ‘cool crowd’ turned on her, letting all the jealousy they’d been hiding come out. They were vicious to her. She and her mother left town rather than stay here and subject themselves to the talk. Jonas had been dead for several years by then and they were pretty much on their own.”
“Surely your cousin demanded a blood test. She deserved to get child support, if nothing else.”
Trent’s mouth twisted wryly. “If there’s one thing my family has always had too much of, it’s pride.”
“No. Really?”
Her tone made him glance at her with a grin. “Are you implying you’ve already noticed?”
“Let’s just say, I’m sure you got your share of that family trait. What happened to Savannah?”
“She told everyone she wouldn’t force any man to be a father to her children. She and her mother raised those kids for nearly fifteen years by themselves, until Savannah met and married Kit Pace.”
“Christopher Pace, the author and screenwriter. I’ve heard you have a family connection to him, but I wasn’t sure what it was.”
“Yeah. She caused a lot of talk again when she married him, because of his fame, but money carries influence around here. She’s been regarded much more kindly lately—except for those who are even more jealous now that she’s married to a successful author. Don’t ever mention her name to April Penny.” He knew April was one of Annie’s clients.
“Why not?”
“April’s brother, Vince, is the cowardly jerk who weaseled out of taking responsibility for Savannah’s twins. April was always jealous of Savannah in school, and now it galls her that Savannah’s doing so well while Vince is twice divorced, fifty pounds overweight, living in a trailer and selling used cars. He talks about his high-school football days as the high point of his life, and he still denies being the twins’ father, though everyone who matters knows he’s lying. Not that it’s important now—Michael and Miranda are crazy about Kit, who adopted them a year after he married Savannah.”