Excuse me? She’d spent as many hours on that ring as Connor had. Maybe more. Sage watched as Linc handed Lachlyn the ring and blinked back tears.
So this was sharing, she thought. Her home, her brothers, the memories of her father. Frankly, it sucked.
God, what a day. She’d had enough.
Sage yanked open the door and stepped into the dark, tossing a cool, general good-night over her shoulder. She’d barely made it to the wrought iron gate when she felt Tyce take her hand. She immediately jerked her hand away and shoved it into her coat pocket.
“I didn’t give her the ring, Sage.”
“You brought her into our life,” Sage whipped back. Direct hit, she realized, but she took no pleasure in the color draining from his face, the danger sparking in his eyes.
Tyce swallowed and looked away, and Sage knew that he was trying to control his temper. “I realize that this has been a tough day for you. It’s not easy having someone come into your life, your family, and turn it upside down.”
“This is all your fault,” Sage said, her temper roiling and boiling. “You sought me out years ago as a way to connect with my family—”
“I explained that,” Tyce said in a tight voice.
“Then you slept with me and bought millions of Ballantyne shares.”
“You slept with me too.”
Sage ignored him and dived deeper into her anger, knowing that she was lobbing accusations at his head when she most wanted to yell at him for not being able to give her what her brothers gave their wives.
Not that she could accept his love…
Sage knew that she was being irrational and that he was a handy target. It wasn’t fair or right but if she didn’t vent, she’d explode.
“Then you got me pregnant!” Sage shouted, her chest heaving.
“You forgot to blame me for poverty, climate change and the price of oil,” Tyce said, gripping her biceps. He pulled in a slug of cold air and when he spoke his voice was calm. “Connor conceived Lachlyn so blame him. We are equally responsible for the pregnancy. This is all new, Sage, and you’re scared. I get it. We’re all picking our way through a minefield right now but yelling at each other isn’t going to help.
“We’ve got to find a way to deal with this, with us, with the situation,” Tyce added.
Sage desperately wanted to allow her tears to fall, to place her head against his chest and weep, taking strength from his arms. She wanted to kiss him, allow him to sweep her away from the here and now, to take her someplace where she didn’t have to think of the baby, about the fact that she’d never have the emotional security that being in a committed relationship gave a person who was strong and brave enough to take that chance. She wasn’t strong and she wasn’t brave and she probably never would be.
“Just give Lachlyn a chance. Give this situation a chance. Let life unfold and trust that we’ll all find our way.”
Feeling sick and sad and still so very pissed off—anger was so much easier to deal with than fear—Sage lifted her chin and nailed Tyce with a sardonic look. “Get out of my head, Tyce. I never gave you permission to walk around in there. And keep your opinions about my family to yourself! You don’t know us and you don’t know what makes us tick. You don’t know jack about what having a real family means!”
Tyce jerked his head back, clearly shocked. She couldn’t blame him; she sounded like a bitch on steroids. Her words had been designed to hurt and so unnecessary. Sage closed her eyes and held up her hand. Before she could apologize, Tyce turned around and started walking away.
Crap. Sage reached out and grabbed his elbow and he stopped.
“Tyce—”
Tyce’s granite like expression killed the words in her throat. “I understand that you’ve had a rough day, Sage, but that doesn’t mean that I get to be your verbal punch bag. I lived with a mother who was far better at that than you are but, as an adult, I no longer have to take the hits.”
Dammit, she’d really angered him but, worse, she knew that she’d also hurt him. God, she felt ugly.
Tyce started to walk down the street, to the corner. “Where are you going?” Sage asked him.
“I’ll hail a cab on the corner.” He gestured to the cab that had pulled up next to them a few minutes before. “You take this one.” Tyce nodded to her arm. “Your arm is fine and you don’t need me hanging around all the time. We could probably both do with some space.”
Tyce opened the cab door and gestured her inside. “Go home, Sage. We’ll talk.” He pushed his hand into his hair, his face expressionless.