“I don’t know who they were more furious with, you or me. We were never that close, not the way you were with your parents, but what we put them through ruined any chance I had of a good relationship with them. They didn’t want to know me.”
Tyler didn’t point out that he’d put his own parents through the same thing. Nor did he tell her that there hadn’t been a single day when he’d had reason to doubt their love or support.
For the first time in his life he saw how lonely it must have been for Janet and he felt a flicker of pity. “Are you staying with them now?”
“I’m staying in the village. And that’s enough talking about old times. It’s the future I’m interested in. We’re both Jess’s parents, and I want to talk about her, so can I come in?”
Tyler hesitated. Like it or not, she was Jess’s mother. “If you upset her, I’ll make sure you don’t come near her again.”
“I didn’t see any of this macho, protective streak when I told you I was pregnant.” Janet walked past him into the house, glancing around her. “Nice. I remember when this place was a dump. You’ve developed style over the years.”
“I offered to marry you.”
“That would have turned one mistake into two. You’re not marriage material, Tyler.”
Tyler held his temper. “You said you wanted to talk about Jess.”
Janet wandered through to the living room and stared at the large Christmas tree. “I’ve never understood why anyone around here would want a tree in the house. This whole damn place is surrounded by trees, there’s no getting away from them. There were days growing up when I wouldn’t have cared if I’d never seen another tree in my life. How is Brenna? Jess says she’s living here now.” Her question caught him off guard.
He didn’t trust her. Janet didn’t make small talk, and she didn’t speak without a purpose.
“It’s a temporary arrangement.”
“Of course, because nothing in your life is permanent, is it? Still, she must think she’s died and gone to heaven. She has been in love with you since she was a little girl. Everyone knows that.” Janet strolled into the center of the room and stared out the window while Tyler tried to work out her real reason for being here.
“The place is busy. She needed a place to stay.”
“And there aren’t a hundred other options?” She turned. “Brenna Daniels wants O’Neil after her name. It’s what she’s always wanted. She spent all her time with the three of you—virtually lived around here. Your family all but adopted her.”
Tyler remembered what Jess had said about Janet being jealous of the O’Neils and wondered why he’d been so slow to see it himself.
“Her relationships are no concern of yours.”
“They might be, if they affect Jess. If Brenna is involved with you again then it proves she has no self-respect or backbone.” Her voice was venom, coated with a thin layer of sugar. “You already broke her heart once, and she’s standing there and letting you do it all over again.”
For safety’s sake, Tyler kept the sofa between him and Janet. “She has more backbone than you will ever have.”
Janet didn’t move. “If she’d had backbone, she would have seduced you herself when she was eighteen. She would have been the one walking into that barn naked, but she didn’t. Brenna Daniels doesn’t have the first clue about seducing a man.”
Tyler thought about the wisps of black and those long legs wrapped around his body. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”
“So you are sleeping with her.”
“Who I am sleeping with is none of your damn business.” He wondered why this conversation was all about Brenna when she’d said she wanted to talk about Jess.
“She is never going to keep a man like you satisfied.”
Anger burned through him. “Get the hell out of my house. If Jess wants to see you, I’ll let you know.”
“She’ll never hang on to you because she’s not prepared to fight. She should have slapped my face for taking what she wanted so badly, but she didn’t do that, either. She never said anything to me. Not one thing.”
“Because she’s gentle and kind.” He gripped the back of the sofa, sickness rising inside him because suddenly he saw the truth, and the truth was so ugly he could hardly bring himself to look at it. “That day in the barn—it was never about me, or you—it was about Brenna. You weren’t taking something you wanted. You were taking something she wanted.”
If he’d hoped for a denial, he was disappointed.
“You thought it was because you were irresistible? Sure, you’re hot in bed and nice to look at but like all the O’Neils, all you thought about was skiing, which is why Brenna fitted right in.”
“You were jealous.” How could he not have seen what was going on under his nose? “You did it to hurt her, because she was part of my family. She had something you didn’t. So you broke her heart.”