Distrust

by Lisa Jackson

  “Whatever is available.” Caleb leaned back and eyed the younger man. “And whatever the government allows us to use. They’re getting stickier all the time.”

  “No doubt about it. Used to be a time when you could use DDT or dioxin and no one cared,” Chase said evenly, his gaze flicking from the grazing mares to Caleb and back again.

  “Made ranchin’ a helluva lot easier,” Caleb agreed with a lazy smile.

  “Ever use the stuff?” Chase asked.

  “Sure. A lot. When it was legal. But that was a long time ago. Had to get rid of all of it.”

  “How’d you do that? Bury it?” Chase felt the tension in his muscles, but forced a calm expression, as if he were just making idle conversation.

  Caleb’s watery eyes narrowed but he shook his head. “Hell, no. Couldn’t. Afraid it might seep out into the ground; get into the grass and then the food chain. Nope. I turned all mine in to the agriculture department. And let me tell you, it’s been hell to keep the blackberries and tansy under control ever since.” He slapped the rail and straightened, changing the course of the conversation. “So, tell me, how’s it been goin’ around here? Everything on schedule?”

  “We’re a little behind,” Chase admitted, “but not much. Another couple of weeks and it’ll be over.”

  “So you got through to Dani Summers?”

  Chase grimaced. “No. I doubt if anyone can.”

  Laughing lewdly, Caleb agreed. “A regular spitfire, that woman.” His eyes gleamed. “Come on, boy, don’t tell me you haven’t noticed.”

  “I noticed. She was the lady with the gun aimed at my gut, remember.”

  “Just a little scare tactic.”

  “Well, it worked. She scared the hell right out of me!” Chase took a swallow of his beer and tried to appear anything but involved with Dani Summers. It was hard not to think of her sparkling green-gray eyes and her tawny sun-streaked hair falling to her waist.

  “Bah! You wouldn’t be a man if you weren’t interested in a piece like that.”

  Rage flooded Chase’s veins, and his blue eyes, when he turned them on Caleb, became ice cold. “Not my type.”

  “Not her husband’s, either, I’d guess,” Caleb drawled, noticing the muscle jump in Chase’s jaw. The kid was a cool one, Caleb thought as he watched Chase standing in front of him, leaning over the fence, nursing a bottle of beer, looking as if he couldn’t give one good goddamn about the conversation and yet listening to every detail. Caleb smiled to himself. Things were beginning to look up.

  “Why don’t you tell me about her old man,” Chase suggested.

  “Not much to tell. A bastard, the way I hear it. He sold his land to me and took off with the money and another woman, leaving Dani with a little kid and a sick mother.” Caleb ran his rough fingers along the top rail. “Like I said, that woman’s a helluva scrapper.” He paused. “Reminds me of your ma, when she was a girl.”

  Chase ignored the remark. He didn’t want to think about his mother and Caleb. Not now. “So you tried to get Dani Summers’s husband to talk her into selling her farm to you.”

  Caleb shrugged his wide shoulders. “Business is business. And she would’ve been better off selling. She could’ve bought a little house in town, put some money in the bank and been able to take care of her kid proper-like.”

  “She’s doing a good job with the kid.”

  “You met him?”

  Chase’s jaw thrust forward. “Once.”

  “A good kid?”

  “Yeah. I’d say so.”

  “Hard for a single woman to handle a boy that age.”

  “Like I said, she seems to be doin’ fine.” Chase finished his beer and straightened. “She also told me that she was ready to sell off a parcel to you once, but you reneged.”

  “Wasn’t enough land.”

  “But you’d agreed to it,” Chase pointed out.

  “Changed my mind,” Caleb said defensively. “Just like I intend to change hers.”

  “By any means possible?”

  “Within the law, boy,” Caleb said. “Any means within the law.” He eyed the empty brown bottle in Chase’s hand. “Now, how about you comin’ into the study and we’ll have ourselves a real drink while you tell me how Grizzly Creek is comin’ along? I plan to start building just as soon as all of the permits are approved and I want that creek stocked and proved viable by the time the brochures go into print next summer.”

  “I said I’d be done within the month.”

  Caleb slapped him on the shoulder. “I know, I know. But I want to be sure that the trout survive and spawn, y’see. And we’re not done until Dani Summers comes around. You’ll have to work on her side of the fence as well.”

  “It won’t happen,” Chase said.

  “Sure it will. It just takes a little time.” Caleb had begun walking to the house. He was a big, lumbering figure who strode with the authority of one who knew that his commands would be obeyed without question.

  Chase gritted his teeth and followed, remembering the information he’d found in Caleb’s study. He hesitated but then took off after the old man. For the time being, at least, he’d have to listen to all of Caleb’s demands and pretend to follow them to a T. But just until he found out what made Caleb Johnson and Dani Summers tick.

  * * *

  Dani shoved the pickup into gear and waved at Cody, but he didn’t even notice. He and Shane were already playing catch with a basketball as they walked to the park to meet a few other friends for an impromptu game.

  “You’ll roast in this heat,” Dani had warned, but Cody had smiled and waved off her fears.

  “Better than playing in the snow and ice,” he’d said, laughing as he’d tossed the ball to Shane.

  “Okay. I’ll pick you up in the morning,” she’d said, but Shane’s mother had insisted that she would bring Cody home the following day.

  “So it looks like it’s just me and you, right?” Dani scratched Runt behind his ears as she drove away from the Donahue’s house.

  Runt whined and stuck his head out the window.

  “Benedict Arnold,” Dani said with a laugh as she scratched the dog’s back and drove through town to pick up groceries and supplies.

  Once the pickup was loaded, she drove out of town, intending to return home. But at the corner of her property she hesitated, and rather than turning toward her house, she stopped and let Runt out. Once the dog had run up the lane, she drove north to the next tree-lined road, the long gravel drive leading to Caleb Johnson’s farm house. She had business to settle with Johnson and there was no time like the present to take care of it.

  Her heart hammering nervously in her chest, she drove through the stately oaks and pines and parked her pickup between the barn and the house. With more determination than courage, she hopped out of the cab and strode around the house to pound on the front door.

  Within minutes the door swung inward and Jenna Peterson, Caleb’s cook and housekeeper, was standing in the expansive entry. She smiled at the sight of Dani.

  “Dani! This is a surprise.”

  “Hi, Jenna,” Dani greeted, trying to calm herself and be polite. “How’ve you been?”

  “Can’t complain. And yourself ?”

  “Good,” Dani said automatically.

  “And that boy of yours,” Jenna said, stepping away from the door. “He’s growin’ like a weed. The spittin’ image of his dad.”

  “You’ve seen Cody?”

  “School pictures, last year. My youngest grandson is in the same class. Come in, come in. Can I get you something? Iced tea?”

  Dani smiled at the older woman’s hospitality and felt a little foolish. “No, thanks. I’d just like to see Caleb for a couple of minutes. Is he in?”

  “You lucked out,” Jenna said with a grin. Dani doubted it. “Caleb’s in the study with Mr. McEnroe.”

  Dani’s stomach tightened, but she managed to hide her case of nerves. “Good. I may as well kill two birds with one stone.”
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  “Pardon?”

  “It’s nothing,” Dani said with a smile. “I’d just like to talk to Mr. McEnroe as well.”

  “Wonderful!” Jenna walked to the double doors off the foyer and knocked softly before entering and telling the men that Dani had arrived.

  “Always ready to have a neighborly chat,” Caleb said loudly. Dani inwardly cringed. “Send her in.”

  As Jenna opened the door, Dani walked through. She looked around the room and saw Chase standing near the window, a drink in his hand, his shoulder leaned against the frame. “Afternoon,” he drawled.

  “Chase,” she said. Her heart leaped at the sight of him, but her face was set with determination. Gritting her teeth but managing a slight nod in his direction, she finally turned her attention to Caleb.

  The older man was seated behind the desk, his glasses perched on the end of his nose, his eyes assessing her every move. He’d half-stood when she’d entered the room but now was sitting again.

  “Well, Mrs. Summers,” he said, leaning back in his chair and observing her over the rim of his glasses. “Can I get you a drink?”

  “No thanks.”

  Caleb grinned. “I see. Business as usual. That’s what I admire about you, Dani, the way you always come straight to the point. Now, to what do we owe the honor?”

  Dani stood directly before Caleb’s desk. She couldn’t see Chase, but she could feel his eyes boring into her back. Without flinching, she held the older man’s gaze. “I just came to tell you that I don’t want any of your hands on my land. And that includes Mr. McEnroe.”

  “Has there been a problem?” Caleb asked, feigning concern.

  “On more than one occasion.”

  Caleb turned to Chase. “Nothing I heard about.”

  “You can cut the bull; Caleb. You know I was on Dani’s land,” Chase said before finishing his drink and setting it on the windowsill.

  “I hadn’t heard that she objected.”

  “Sure you did,” Chase said calmly.

  Dani took an uncertain step toward the desk, glanced at Chase, who seemed to be watching her with amusement, and poked a finger onto the polished wood. “Then let me make myself perfectly clear. I don’t want any of your associates near my land. As I told Mr. McEnroe, I’m willing to call the police, the FBI or the President—anyone I can to keep you off my place!” She was shaking with rage, but her eyes remained calm and fixed on Caleb Johnson.

  Caleb spread his hands over the desk and lifted his shoulders. “Don’t you think you’re being a little melodramatic, Dani? After all, we are neighbors. Just calm down and I’ll pour you a drink or a cup of tea. Jenna’s baked a fresh apple pie and if I do say so myself, it’s the best in the county.”

  “No thanks.” She turned on her heel, caught Chase’s eye and strode toward the door.

  “Dani—” Caleb’s voice accosted her.

  She turned slowly to face him.

  “Let’s not act like enemies, all right? You never know when you might need my help.”

  “Is that a threat?” she asked.

  “Of course not. Just some neighborly advice. And, as for your land, it might be simpler for all of us if you just sold out to me.”

  Chase straightened. “For how much, Caleb?” he asked cynically, eyeing the older man.

  “That’s between Dani and me.”

  “Is it?” Chase walked over to a filing cabinet, withdrew a file and tossed an appraisal of Dani’s land onto the desk. “Is that the figure you’re talking about?”

  Caleb’s countenance changed. His face whitened. “Not quite that much—”

  “I didn’t think so,” Chase muttered.

  “Just who the hell do you think you are, going through my files?”

  “Your partner,” Chase said flatly as he walked out of the room, taking hold of Dani’s arm and pulling her with him.

  “What was that all about?” she asked.

  “I did some digging today,” he said. “And I’m not talking about the creek. Seems that Caleb might just be interested in your land for more than the resort.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’ll tell you later,” Chase said, looking over his shoulder to see Caleb, still red-faced, sitting at his desk. “Now I think you’ve made your point; you’d better leave before all hell breaks loose.”

  “I’m not afraid of Johnson,” she said.

  “Then maybe you’d better be.” With a look of cold determination, Chase let go of her arm and inclined his head to her pickup. “Leave Johnson to me,” he suggested.

  “This isn’t your fight—”

  “Oh, but it is,” Chase disagreed with a cynical smile. “More than you can guess.”

  * * *

  Chase’s enigmatic words were still echoing in Dani’s ears when she finally got home. What was he doing, putting himself between Caleb and her? A thousand questions flitted through her mind as she put the groceries away and managed stacking the sack of grain in a corner of the barn. By the time she was done, she still had no answers but felt hot and gritty and in desperate need of a shower. She wiped the sweat from her forehead with her hand and felt the dirt streak her skin.

  “This is certainly no life for a prima donna,” she said to Runt as she headed inside.

  The sun seemed hotter than it had been before the other night’s rainshower. Though it was late in the afternoon, shimmering waves of heat distorted Dani’s view of her acreage. She shaded her eyes and looked northwest, over the fence, to the banks of the creek on Caleb’s side. There was no activity. All of the men seemed to have taken off early.

  So what was Chase doing? she thought idly and then frowned when she remembered the confrontation with Caleb. She went inside and stayed under the cool shower longer than she needed. After washing her hair and wrapping it in a threadbare towel, she slipped into a cool summer sundress and went downstairs to make a pitcher of lemonade.

  “It’s too bad Cody isn’t here to share this with me,” she said to the dog who perked up his ears, cocked his head and resumed whining at the door. “For Pete’s sake, Runt, stop moping will ya? You’re giving me a case of the blues.”

  After making the lemonade and watching the slices of lemon swirl in the glass pitcher, Dani poured herself a tall glass, pressed it against her forehead and closed her eyes. Already she was beginning to sweat.

  She combed her hair and sat on the back porch sipping the cool liquid and thinking of Chase. She couldn’t forget nearly making love to him at the creek, or the way he’d come to her defense at Caleb’s house. But he’d said he was Johnson’s partner, not hers. His loyalty was with Caleb Johnson—or was it? And what had he hoped to accomplish by taking soil and water samples from her land? Evidence, he’d said. But evidence against whom?

  “Stop it,” she said when the questions got too confusing. With a sigh, she tried to concentrate on a mystery novel she’d been reading long before Chase had stormed into her life, but the pages didn’t hold her interest and it was hard to see in the gathering twilight.

  Disgusted with herself, she tossed the book aside, continued rocking in the chair and watched a vibrant sunset as the sun settled behind the Rocky Mountains and the sky turned from vivid magenta to dark purple.

  She wiped the perspiration from her neck and throat with a handkerchief and turned, gazing over the darkened fields to the north, to Caleb Johnson’s property, to Chase...

  Chapter Six

  Chase walked briskly around the stable yard, as if with each stride he could shake the rage that burned in his gut. He felt as if he were on a tightwire and that no matter which way he turned, he was going to fall off into the black abyss of the future.

  With an explicit oath, he headed back to the house—to face his partner. Partner. The word stuck in his throat. He’d been a fool to accept Caleb’s money in the first place and now he wondered just what his partner’s intentions were.

  Walking through the open door and into Caleb’s study, he wasn’t surprised to
find the old man still sitting behind his desk, his face ruddy with alcohol, his blue eyes small and hard. A near empty bottle of Scotch sat on the corner of his desk and the glass he sipped from was full.

  “Looks like I can’t trust anything you say,” Caleb growled in disgust. He took a long swallow of Scotch. Some of his anger had cooled, but his fertile mind was working fast. His fingers twitched nervously around his glass. “Just what the hell right do you have to snoop in my files?”

  “As much right as you have to try and swindle Dani out of her land.”

  “Swindle?” Caleb sneered. “I just wanted a fair price.”

  “Do you call a hundred thousand under market fair?”

  “That land’s worthless.”

  “Not to you—or her.” Chase’s eyes cut through Caleb’s anger. “She seems to think you’ve tried to sabotage her.”

  Caleb had the audacity to grin, as if Chase’s anger amused him. “Sabotage? Don’t tell me you believe her.”

  “I don’t know what to believe.”

  “Sabotage,” Caleb snorted again, his lips twisting sarcastically. “Sounds like somethin’ she’d say. I know she’s had a run of bad luck, but I don’t see how she can blame me.”

  Chase ran his fingers through his hair, stretched his tense shoulders and sighed. “I’d just like to know where you get off trying to buy off everyone who gets in your way!”

  “Business is business,” Caleb retorted, refilling his glass. “Maybe someday you’ll learn.” He pointed a condemning finger at the younger man. “And you’d better hope it’s soon, before a traitor like Eric Conway tries to steal all of your business again. He almost did it once before and I might not be around to bail you out again.”

  Chase didn’t flinch even though the thought of Eric Conway’s betrayal still bothered him. “I didn’t ask for your help.”

  “But you certainly took it, didn’t you? And now you’ve got to help me get the Hawthorne place.”

  “I don’t see how that’s possible.”

  “Convince Dani. There must be a way to get to her.”

  “Forget it.” Chase reached onto the windowsill and grabbed his hat. With a grimace, he forced the old felt Stetson onto his head.