Beth jolted. She had been so focused on getting rid of Justin that she hadn’t noticed the man she loved walking up to them. Now he and Tony were standing side by side, and Cam’s gaze was fixed on Justin. No one else had really noticed anything going on because the noise level was loud enough to drown out anything.
All Beth could see was Cam. His dark eyes flashed with heat and banked fury, and she wished Justin McCoy to the other side of the planet. She laid one hand on his forearm and felt the tension in his body. “It’s okay, Cam. I’m fine. And Justin’s leaving.”
“Yeah, he is,” Cam said, staring at Justin with an angry glare before flicking a glance at Beth. “There’s a lot of things I’m willing to take, but this isn’t one of them.”
“What’re you talking about?” Beth moved closer to Cam.
He looked down at her again. “If you don’t want me, that’s fine. Your choice. But damned if I’ll watch you hook up with this son of a bitch.”
“Who’re you calling an SOB?” Justin demanded.
“Excuse me?” Beth said, outraged that he would think she’d be interested in Justin. If he’d seen the man drape his arm around her, hadn’t he also seen her trying to escape? “You just heard me tell him ‘no’ again.”
“You’re not saying it loud enough,” Cam argued.
“The only way I could be louder is with a microphone.”
“Stay out of this, Beth,” Justin said.
“Agreed,” Cam said, his gaze boring into Justin’s. “This is between me and you.” Cam kept his voice low enough that only their tight circle could hear him. “You think I’ll let you anywhere near Beth when we both know damn well what you did to Julie.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking a
bout.”
“What did he do?” Beth asked, shooting a wary look at Justin before turning her gaze back to Cam.
Cam speared Justin with a hot glare that should have set fire to what was left of his hair.
Speaking quietly to Beth, he said, “I promised Julie I’d never say a word about this. But she’s gone now and damned if I’m going to let him strut around here acting like he’s got nothing to be ashamed of.”
Justin’s cheeks flushed red and his eyes shifted from side to side as if looking for an escape. He didn’t find one.
Cam continued and Beth couldn’t tear her eyes from him.
“Justin seduced Julie. Set out to get her and he did. Got her pregnant and then tried to force her to marry him. He wanted into the Wheeler family,” Cam said, voice dark and low. “He wanted her money. Wanted a piece of the ranch, and he didn’t mind telling her any of it once he was sure she was going to have his baby.”
Justin puffed out his chest and lifted his chin. “That’s a lie.”
Beth didn’t think so. Glancing at the man now, she could see the truth etched into his hard features. She felt immediate sympathy for Julie. To have been used like that must have crushed her.
“It’s the absolute truth and you damn well know it,” Cam said.
“How could you do that to her? To anyone?” Beth asked.
Justin looked at her, and his mouth thinned into that straight, bitter line again.
“When she told Justin she was pregnant, he told her that she had to marry him.” Cam looked the man up and down dismissively. “He knew Burt would be furious so he figured he had Julie trapped.” Cam shot Beth a quick look. “But she wouldn’t go along with it. She was scared to tell her father the truth, so she came to me.”
Beth’s heart hurt. For Julie. For Cam. For all of them. Well, everyone but Justin. “God, Camden...”
Apparently, Justin saw that Beth believed every word. He knew now he didn’t have a shot with her, so he faced Cam angrily. “If you repeat any of that story, Guthrie...I’ll sue.”
Cam moved in on him. “You stay the hell away from Beth, I’ll keep quiet about all of this. But not for you,” Cam ground out. “For Julie. She doesn’t deserve to be gossiped about. You did enough damage to her life.”
“Julie was an idiot,” Justin said, dismissing the girl he’d used and ruined. “If she’d just married me like I’d planned, none of this would have happened.”
Beth sucked in a deep breath as Burt Wheeler stood up from a nearby chair. None of them had noticed him. But clearly he’d heard everything. Burt was trembling with barely controlled rage as he stalked directly to Justin.