Terms of a Texas Marriage

by Lauren Canan

  Alec grimaced. “Then you don’t know how much water damage there’s been?” Shea shook her head. “What about the foundation?”

  “What about it?”

  “How long since it’s been examined?” He looked at Shea’s blank expression. “Never mind. I think I can guess. There’s been virtually no protective maintenance. In two hundred years. Amazing. I intend to find out exactly what’s going on. I’m afraid the incident last night was only a hint of other problems.”

  Shea turned the bacon over in the pan and mentally crossed her fingers. If Alec found serious damage, she didn’t know where she would get the money for the repairs.

  When breakfast was over, Alec went to find Jason, impatient to get started. The two men took the soaked mattress downstairs, Alec still muttering about the roof as they went. Then he located a ladder, loaded two flashlights with fresh batteries and they were off. She knew Alec was more than qualified. Inspecting the house would be like child’s play to him.

  She called a local roofing company to come out and give an estimate on repairs. For the rest of the day, she stayed close to the house, finishing laundry, preparing a brisket and waiting for the arrival of the roofers.

  A few minutes before Shea was about to call Alec and Scotty in for supper, Alec came into the kitchen. He was covered in dirt and grime from his head to his feet. A scowl was firmly in place.

  “Give me a few minutes to get cleaned up,” he said and walked toward the stairs.

  A short time later, Alec reentered the kitchen.

  “So, how bad is the roof?”

  “It’s not good.”

  “It can be repaired where it fell in and—”

  “It’s not just the roof, Shea,” he cut in. “There’s major wood rot and termite damage everywhere. I found extensive destruction to most of the load-bearing walls on the first floor, and the foundation is crumbling. The house has already begun to shift. Its ability to remain standing for much longer is highly questionable.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “That aside, the wiring is sixty years old. The plumbing needs replacing, the gas line is highly suspect and I’d guess most of your heat during the winter flies out the old single-pane windows. Did you know several are cracked?”

  “So, what are you saying?” She wanted him to spell it out. “If...if it’s the cost, I could replace one thing at a time over the next few—”

  “Shea, the house isn’t safe.” His words caused a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. “We shouldn’t even be inside right now. It’s not safe for you—or any of us—to stay here. I don’t know how much clearer I can make it.”

  She’d known the old house was long past need of repairs, but because the money wasn’t there, she’d ignored the problems. Apparently, her father had done the same thing.

  “So...what are my options?”

  He shook his head. “The only option is tear it down and build a new one. But under the circumstances, that would be ridiculous.”

  Under the circumstances?

  Her mind whirled, not wanting to believe what that meant. Was this his way of telling her it was over? She’d thought they had found something special between them. They made love every night. She’d even begun to believe the marriage was real—or had a chance to become so. Had he been plotting all along? Looking for a bona fide reason to make her leave?

  Had he only been pretending he cared for her? If she’d been wrong to start trusting him...if he had only been using her while he waited for an opportunity that would allow him to reclaim the land, she didn’t know how she would ever deal with that. She felt her heart drop to her knees as that possibility threatened to knock her off her feet.

  She’d let herself believe he cared about her as well as the land. She’d let down her guard. Reality and disappointment hit with the force of a sledgehammer. With her pulse slamming through her veins, she removed the rolls from the oven, set the tray on top of the stove and stared at him. Suddenly it was overwhelming. The news about the house was bad enough. Her life was here, her past as well as her envisioned future rested on this small piece of earth. Everything she knew revolved around this ranch. She had nowhere else to go. Tears burned the backs of her eyes; her breath died in her throat.

  But to think she would lose Alec as well, that she’d merely been used to relieve his boredom, that she meant nothing to him. How was she ever going to come to terms with that?

  “Shea?”

  Covering her mouth with her hand to try to muffle a cry of despair, she ran from the room as the tears spilled over.

  Curling up on the end of the old bedraggled sofa in the den, she faced the worn recliner that sat in the corner of the room. Her father’s chair. She could visualize him kicked back, his feet resting on the stool as he read his afternoon paper. He was gone now. This house was the only connection she had to him and to her mother. Every room, every space under its roof carried precious memories. She could feel the love from the generations of family who had lived here before. Her dad’s boots still sat in a corner of the mudroom. Her grandmother’s handmade quilts were spread over the beds upstairs. It was as if the house gave her the strength to carry on alone. It was unthinkable that she had failed to protect it.

  “Shea?” Alec entered the room. He stood just inside the open doorway, his hands resting on his hips.

  She didn’t want to talk with him. She couldn’t. He might confirm that she was right in suspecting him.

  “In the morning, you need to pack some clothes. I’ll make arrangements for us to stay in a hotel in Dallas for a while.”

  “And then what?” She gazed at her hands clenched tightly in her lap. “What happens next, Alec?”

  “That’s something we need to talk about. But regardless of what you decide to do going forward, staying here is not an option.” He moved farther inside the room. “I’ll still keep the promise I made that day in Ben’s office. My original offer still stands. I’ll buy you out. You can go back to school, get your doctorate and become a veterinarian. Fulfill that dream. You don’t have to live here to do it. You need to be reasonable.”

  “Reasonable? Define reasonable. Is it unreasonable to want to stay in a place you love? A place you’ve based all your plans for a future around?”

  “Maybe it’s time for a change. Perhaps you should consider—”

  “No.” She shook her head defiantly. “No! Alec, you don’t understand. I’m telling you I will not let this house be destroyed. Where would I go?”

  “Anywhere you wanted.”

  “Here is where I want to be.” With you.

  Alec nodded, then shrugged. “Then you and your world will fall apart together. But I’ll have no part of it.”

  Obviously, she’d been wrong when she’d assumed he cared about his ancestors, those who had so loved this land. The day they’d roamed around the old homestead and he’d asked all the questions. He’d wanted to see where his great-great-grandfather had been laid to rest. He’d commented that the area, the old cabin, were incredible. He’d shown what had appeared to be genuine interest. Had it all been a ploy to make her think he cared?

  Had there ever been anything between them other than sex? She’d fallen in love with Alec, but he’d never said he felt the same. She swallowed hard as that realization hit.

  Total humiliation washed over her, followed by a heightened sense of anger at herself for being so stupid. So gullible. Alec didn’t love her. He never would. How could she have become so delusional as to believe a man like Alec Morreston would want any kind of permanent relationship with her?

  She stood to face him. “I will not leave this house. You think you’ve won, but you haven’t.”

  He reeled back as if she had slapped him. For a moment she thought she saw pain in his eyes, but it was gone so fast she knew she must have imagined it. The devil didn’t have feelings.
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  “Won? Is that what you think this is about? Winning?”

  She refused to answer. She knew what it was about and it wasn’t their relationship. There was no relationship. There never had been. She’d played into his hands. He knew it and now so did she.

  “If that’s what you think, there’s nothing more to say.”

  She walked to a nearby table, pulled a couple of tissues from the box. Wiping her eyes, she took a deep breath, struggling to control the pain running rampant through her body. She’d fallen in love with Alec, so much so she would have given him anything. But his only concern was getting her to vacate the property.

  Suddenly, he was in front of her, his hands clutching her upper arms. His face was set in stone, his eyes narrowed. She could clearly detect the underlying thread of exasperation bordering on fury. “You’re going to listen to me,” he told her. “Tomorrow, you are going to start packing your bags because we are leaving this place—all of us.”

  “I’m not going anywhere—”

  “And you’re going to face the reality that life as you’ve known it is over. It’s finished.”

  “No.” She struggled, but he easily held her.

  “Shea, stop! Listen to yourself. Take off the damn blinders and look at the truth that’s right in front of you.”

  All she saw standing in front of her was the man she’d fallen in love with. A man who didn’t love her, didn’t care about anything but making more money. A man who’d done whatever was required to regain the land. Her first impressions had been correct. He was ruthless. She’d just never imagined how truly merciless he could be.

  He turned and walked toward the door. “I had hoped that...” He shoved his hands into his jeans pockets and clenched his teeth. “I’m going to contact a building inspector. If you won’t believe me, you can hear it from him. And I’m going to call the county. This house needs to be condemned.”

  She winced.

  He paused at the door, his tawny eyes narrow and forbidding. “I’ll have my jet readied for takeoff by tomorrow. I’m taking Scott back to New York. I’d like you to come with us, but that’s your choice.”

  What would I do in New York?

  The man who stood before her was ruthless and determined, powerful and unyielding, with the money and the resources to back him up. How could she ever have been so foolish as to think she could challenge him and win? What had she been thinking to let down her guard and start caring for him? It was no longer an either-or situation; the goal of winning Alec and the land had become one in the same. With the old house condemned, Alec would be gone, as well.

  “I hate you for this.” Her voice was low and broken. She gripped the back of the sofa to remain standing. It was a poor attempt to place armor around her heart. The words, like a boomerang, came right back at her, cutting deeply.

  The hands of time stopped as they silently faced each other. Then Alec turned and walked out the door. She heard his footsteps going up the stairs and toward Scotty’s bedroom, leaving Shea in the center of a room spinning wildly out of control. The searing pain in her chest made her gasp for breath. But it hurt to breathe. This impossible situation had escalated into a nightmare of epic proportions and she was drowning, being pulled down into the center of a black hole from which she might never emerge. Alec was free to return to his own world. Old house condemned. Mission accomplished.

  * * *

  Early the next morning Alec left as he’d said he would, taking Scotty with him. Hearing the child’s cries of “but why, Daddy?” and his tearful pleading to please let him stay had almost been Shea’s undoing. She’d finally run out to the barn, unable to bear hearing his cries, unwilling to watch them walk out the door forever.

  When she eventually returned, the house was silent, as though it knew its time had come, awaiting annihilation like a condemned man awaiting his execution.

  The merriment and laughter of Scotty’s voice no longer echoed through the halls. But Alec’s absence was the hardest to bear. She didn’t cry because she couldn’t. The numbness wouldn’t let her.

  Finally, on the third day, she saddled one of the horses. All her life, she’d found solace in the land. It had been a refuge where she could work through problems that seemed far greater than she could possibly contend with alone. Other than her dad dying, losing her home was the greatest hardship she’d ever faced. And the loss of the man she loved, however convoluted that might have been, was earth shattering.

  She swung her leg over the saddle, gathered the reins and urged the mare toward the piney woods and the old homestead beyond. She knew going there would renew the memories of the last time she’d been there—with Alec.

  The gentle, even stride of the mare was soothing as she carried Shea through the trees and over the meadows. The call of a red-tailed hawk as it circled overhead seemed to mock the fact she was alone. After dismounting, Shea walked to the sacred ground where five generations of her ancestors lay in eternal sleep. Stopping in front of the grave of William Morreston, she wished she could ask him so many questions.

  Eventually, she made her way to the old homestead. As she looked at the burned-out hull, she could visualize Alec’s face, hear his laugh and feel his arms around her. As the sun set on the horizon, Shea curled up on the edge of the old floorboards a mere foot from the spot where they had made love, and succumbed to the pain shredding her heart into tiny pieces. Unable to hold back her misery any longer, the heartache broke through any lingering restraints and sobs of loss ran rampant through her body.

  Twelve

  It had been almost a week since Alec had left the Bar H to take Scotty back to New York. Now, en route back to Dallas, he still didn’t know what he could say to make Shea understand her safety was his primary concern.

  He’d known he needed to get Scotty to a neutral setting. The child didn’t need to witness the argument that was sure to take place when Alec went back to the ranch and her hardheaded resistance collided with his single-minded determination that she leave there before she was injured. Or worse.

  The onboard office was furnished with the latest computers and advanced communication technology, enabling him to conduct business from anywhere in the world. Anything and everything needed to handle virtually any crisis was at his fingertips.

  Except the one named Shea Hardin-Morreston.

  His fingers drummed impatiently on the desktop as he gazed out the small window at the darkening sky. He was used to long flights, usually working his way from destination to destination, continent to continent. It helped to pass the time. But on this flight, he was incapable of concentrating on anything except Shea and that damned old house.

  Shea’s refusal to accept the reality of the situation and see the futility of what she wanted made no sense. It was not just the issue of the house. This was about the safety of a woman he’d come to care about very much. She’d opened a door to a place he’d long forgotten, reminding him of the things he’d loved as a boy. A feeling of peace had surrounded him at the ranch, encouraging him to set aside the abstract world to which he’d become accustomed. It had been a free fall out of the rat race into a new reality of home and heart; he had taken a step back to the things and the people that mattered. And he wanted Shea to be part of his new reality. He’d not imagined it without her. But if she didn’t care enough to trust him...if she wasn’t willing to let go of the past and take a chance on a future with him, then both of them would lose.

  Suddenly, visions of his first wife clouded Alec’s mind. Sondra had also wanted it all. The big house, the expensive cars had never been enough. She’d continued the affairs, the parties, the drugs, even after she’d learned she was pregnant, because that had been what had suited her. She’d pushed aside her own safety and the safety of their innocent child for her own selfish wants. And Shea was doing the same thing.

  Shea’s d
rug was the ranch. It was as addictive to her as drugs had been to Sondra. Shea was attempting to make him conform, get him to spend millions to put the house back in working order, and then... He didn’t want to speculate on what she would do then.

  God, he wanted to be wrong about Shea. His feelings for her ran deep. He’d actually let himself envision a future together and he’d never thought he would feel that way about any woman again.

  Surely, by now Shea must have accepted the truth that the house wasn’t safe. But still, he had to acknowledge it was her home. It was the only one she’d ever known. As she’d said when he issued the ultimatum to get out of that building, the ranch was her life. It defined who she was. At least in her mind. To Alec, she was so much more.

  Hopefully the time he’d been away had given Shea a chance to calm down, to realize that things had to change. Even so, convincing her to leave her home would take every amount of skill he possessed. She had to understand he wasn’t forcing her out because of that damned contract. It was for her safety. It was because he cared. He didn’t have a clue how it had happened, but he could no longer deny that truth. He was in love with Shea Hardin.

  The issue of the land remained a black cloud over both their heads. It continued to drive a wedge between them and that had to end. If he had to choose between giving up the entire project and losing Shea, the project was history. He’d never thought a woman like Shea existed, let alone that he would find her. She had taken away all the suspicions and internal rage that had burned a hole in his soul for five long years, and opened his heart to the possibility of a future of happiness. She’d made him whole again. He was not about to lose her. Not over this land. Not over anything.

  He glanced again at his watch. Ten minutes later than the last time he’d looked. Still half an hour out from Dallas-Fort Worth. He wanted to pace, needed some way to let off the tension churning in his gut. He’d never felt this uneasy, never sensed the need to hurry as he did now.