“So you’re a young rebel who wants to bring down the head lion. Why should I help you?”
“Because I can help you.”
“And how do you plan to do that?”
Bret laughed. “You can’t expect me to give away all my secrets.”
Sam slammed his fist down on the table. “I won’t have you trying to make Emily fall in love with you just so you can push your way into a job I can’t be sure you can handle.”
Bret sobered quickly, reined in his temper. “I’m not ready to get married, and I’m not in a position to marry in any case.”
“Your position wouldn’t matter if you married Emily.”
Bret could see that Sam wasn’t going to give in quickly, but he respected the older man for not accepting Bret’s word without any validation. “I’m not asking you to commit to anything now. I realize you don’t know anything about me, but you haven’t been able to convince Emily to go to Boston on your own, and you won’t be able to guide her after you’re gone. At some point, you’re going to have to trust someone.”
“And you think that person ought to be you?”
“As I see it, you have four choices—your brother, Uncle Silas, Joseph, or me. You have to decide which one you trust with your daughter’s future.”
“You think you’ve got me cornered, don’t you?”
“No.”
“Don’t lie to me, boy. You know I can’t stand my brother and don’t trust Silas or his boy.”
“You could ask my grandmother.”
“If she couldn’t stop her husband from disinheriting her own daughter, she couldn’t protect Emily.”
“You could hire someone.”
“And have him sell out to Silas.”
Bret had expected to have a difficult time convincing Sam to trust him, but he seemed to be gaining ground. It would probably be better if he kept quiet now, but there was one fact he felt he couldn’t withhold.
“This may not help my case,” Bret said, “but I feel I have to tell you I find your daughter very attractive.”
Sam grinned suddenly. “I’d think something was wrong with you if you didn’t.”
“What I’m trying to say is that although I am attracted to her, I have no intention of deepening our relationship beyond trying to gain her friendship and trust. That will be necessary if she’s to pay attention to any advice I might give her.”
“That’s obvious, so why are you telling me this?”
“Because you have to trust me. If anything changes, I’ll tell you.”
“Are you always so straightforward?”
He shrugged. “I try to be. The couple who adopted me insisted I never keep anything from them, even when I knew it was something they wouldn’t like and didn’t want to hear.”
Sam chuckled. “I can see why you and Silas don’t get along.”
“It has nothing to do with that. Silas just doesn’t think I’m good enough for him.”
“Then I know Silas better than you do.” Sam leaned back in his chair, subjected Bret to a look that was so long and hard, Bret had to check the impulse to squirm in his chair. “I’m going to have to trust you. First, because I don’t trust anybody by the name of Abbott or Abercrombie. Second, I don’t really have another choice. Third, I like the way you present yourself, no pretending you can pull off a miracle. But if you betray me, I’ll make you wish you’d never been born.”
Bret was sure his smile was ironic. “You’ll have to find a better threat than that. A small crowd of people have done that already, and I’m still here.”
A slow smile gradually lit Sam’s hazel eyes. “I like you, boy. I kinda wish you were interested in marrying Emily.”
“It wouldn’t do any good. She doesn’t think I’m quite as useless as she did three days ago, but her opinion hasn’t improved much.”
A door opened and closed upstairs. “Unless my ears deceive me,” Sam said, “that’s Emily come to carry me off to bed. We’ll talk again, but I accept your offer, on conditions.”
“What offer and what conditions?” Emily asked as she came into the dining room where they still occupied the same chairs they’d used during dinner. She had apparently changed into her bedclothes, because her body was engulfed in a housecoat with only her hands and head visible. Elsewhere she had disappeared in a cloud of pale blue material that billowed around her when she moved. The most striking change was her hair. She’d unpinned it and allowed it to fall on her shoulders, framing her face in a cascade of soft brown brightened by blond highlights. It made her look more feminine, much more vulnerable. Bret had to remind himself he was here to do a job, not get emotionally involved with Emily.
“It’s a secret,” Sam said to his daughter. “We men don’t tell women everything, you know.”
“You should,” Emily said. “That way we could keep you out of trouble.”
“I don’t want to be kept out of trouble. That’s half the fun in life.”
Bret wasn’t at all sure he could agree to that sentiment, but he could see how a man like Sam would feel that way. He was certain Emily felt the same. She might end up staying in Texas, unmarried, and running her ranch. But if she did marry, her husband was in for a bumpy ride.
“I know you and Bret have spent the last hour plotting against me.”
“It’s for your own good,” Sam said.
Emily took her father’s hand and helped him out of his chair. “Time for bed. You can dream about having a dutiful daughter who does everything you want.”
“Sounds very boring,” Sam said as he allowed Emily to lead him to his bedroom on the main floor. “I prefer a filly with spirit.”
“Tell Bret good night. It’s way past your bedtime.”
“Stay in bed late,” Sam warned Bret. “She’s got so much energy in the morning it makes me tired to be around her. We can see her at lunch after she’s had time to slow down.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Emily said. “He’d be in the saddle ahead of me if I’d let him.”
Bret remained at the table to finish his brandy. He could hear Emily and her father teasing each other, scolding, showing their love for each other. He found himself thinking of Jake and Isabelle. They teased and scolded each other from the time they got up until they went to bed, yet he’d never seen two people who were more devoted. They’d laid down rules for the orphans and made demands they expected them to fulfill, but no one ever doubted it was all done out of love.
Until he listened to Emily and her father, Bret had forgotten what it was like—and how much he missed such loving banter. Being part of the Maxwell clan had never been comfortable. There were too many strong-minded people who didn’t want to trust, didn’t want to belong, didn’t want to feel they owed anybody anything. Yet somehow Isabelle had woven a web of love around all of them that was stronger than their distrust, their suffering, even their fear—a web so strong they finally began to feel like a family.
That was what he saw in Sam and Emily, a father and daughter who were such close friends they sometimes could switch roles without destroying the fabric of their relationship. He had nothing like that in Boston, and he never would. For the first time, he asked himself if what he hoped to gain could possibly compensate for what he’d given up.
He didn’t like the answer.
Chapter Seven
“What were you and Bret plotting?” Emily asked when she’d finally settled her father in his enormous four-poster bed. “Don’t bother denying it. I can see the guilt in your eyes.”
Her father’s eyes twinkled. “I like that young man. I think you ought to listen to what he says.”
“I’m not sure we can trust him.”
“Why?”
Emily pulled a letter from her pocket. “This is from Joseph. He warned me Bret was sent here to bring me back to Boston, nothing more.”
“Has Bret implied he has something else in mind?”
“No, but Joseph said he might try to make me fall in love with him. He sai
d Bret has been trying to force his way into the family ever since he arrived in Boston.”
“Since the boy is Joseph’s cousin and Silas’s nephew, I shouldn’t think any forcing would be necessary.”
“Read it for yourself.” Emily held the letter out to her father, but he pushed it away.
“I distrust Joseph and his father only a little less than I distrust my brother. I agree we have to be cautious with Bret, but you can’t believe everything Joseph says. I hate to say this, but your twenty-five percent of Abbott and Abercrombie is probably more attractive to him than you are. And that doesn’t take into consideration the rest of your inheritance.”
Emily hated to think of herself as a commodity, but she’d been the only child of a wealthy man too long not to understand the importance of her inheritance to potential husbands. It was part of the reason she wanted to stay in Texas and run the ranch herself. It was part of the reason she tended to trust Joseph. He was already wealthy and socially prominent. He didn’t need her inheritance.
“My inheritance would be even more attractive to Bret,” she said.
“Probably, but he was spared the influence of the Abbotts for the first twenty-one years of his life. He might actually be a decent member of that snobbish family instead of rotten to the core like the others.”
“If you dislike them so much, why do you want me to go to them?”
Her father took her hand and squeezed it. She hated to see him look so weak and pale. He used to be a vibrant man who could work longer and harder than any other man on the place. He’d loved nothing better than to be in the saddle riding over his land. Now he leaned back against his pillows, exhausted from his evening with Bret.
“I don’t want to send you to them, but I haven’t made a very good job of my life. I have lots of enemies and no friends. I’m forced to fall back on family.”
“I’d rather fall back on Lonnie and the boys.”
Her father’s grip tightened, his eyes narrowed, and the stern look she remembered so well from past years rammed into her like a fist. “Are you thinking about marrying Lonnie after I’m dead?”
Angered, Emily pulled her hand from her father’s grasp and glared at him. “I would if I loved him.”
“Don’t get your back up.” He reached out and pulled her back down next to him. “I’m just worried about you.”
“Ida said Lonnie’s been in love with me for years.” She settled down on the bed again. “I didn’t mean to do anything to mislead him.”
“You haven’t done anything wrong, but we’ve got to put our heads together and figure out what’s best for you after I die.”
“Bret seems like a nice man, but we don’t know him.”
“After being with him for two whole days, you’ve gotten to know him better than I do.”
Emily sighed. “If it weren’t for Joseph’s letter, I’d be ready to trust him with just about anything. I know he’s kind, because he went out of his way to help an orphan boy in Fort Worth.”
He leaned away to peer at her. “You didn’t tell me about that.”
“I didn’t tell you Charlie’s boys took to him immediately, either. They swear he can judge the quality of a horse at a hundred paces. Charlie says Bret knows everything about ranches, and Ida says he’s probably as dangerous as he is handsome.”
Her father chuckled. “And what do you think?”
Emily didn’t know whether it was wise to tell her father what she thought, but they’d never kept secrets from each other. “I think he’s the most intriguing man I’ve ever met. Except for being out of sorts when he got off the train, he’s been kind, thoughtful, and courteous. He rides a horse like he was born on one, but he wears a suit and sits at a table like he was born and bred in Boston.”
Her father studied her closely. “Sounds to me like you’re in love with him.”
Emily laughed. “I could easily become infatuated with him, but there’s too much about him I don’t know. He seems very open and straightforward, but I get the feeling some very strong passions flow well below the surface, passions that are possibly more important than even he knows.”
“Are you sure you’re not infatuated already?”
“No, but I’m captivated,” she teased. “By the time he leaves for Boston, I intend to know everything about him.”
“Be careful he doesn’t know everything about you as well.”
“I’m not worried about that. I have nothing to hide.”
But having said that, she realized it wasn’t quite the truth. She was hiding that she didn’t quite trust him. He was a handsome man who apparently had very few resources. What could be more to his advantage than to marry a wealthy woman who just happened to own a large portion of the company he worked for? In one fell swoop, he would gain financial security, influence in the company, and a secure place in his family. It would be difficult for an ambitious man not to consider such a plan, and she had no doubt that Bret Nolan was a very determined as well as an ambitious man.
“He told me he was an orphan on the streets for two years,” her father said.
“That’s all the more reason to wonder if I can trust him.”
“What would you do if you decided you could?”
“We’ll have to wait and see about that.”
But Emily already knew the answer. If she decided she could trust him, it would be nearly impossible not to fall in love with him.
Emily was shocked to find Bret in the kitchen drinking coffee when she came down the next morning. She was even more surprised to see Bertie talking to him like he was an old friend. Bertie didn’t encourage men to invade her kitchen.
“After your long ride, I thought you’d be sleeping late,” Emily said to Bret. “You didn’t have to get up.”
Bret stood and held her chair while she seated herself. Emily could tell from Bertie’s smile of approval their cook had already succumbed to Bret’s charm, something she would have never thought possible. She continued to underestimate this man.
“If I’d stayed in bed, it would have reinforced your opinion of me,” he said.
“And just what is my opinion of you?” She was curious to know what he thought, but she wondered if he would tell her the truth or try to get away with some clever answer that didn’t mean anything. “Got any fresh coffee left?” she asked Bertie. “Ida never could make it like yours.”
“I just finished making this for Mr. Nolan,” Bertie said as she took a cup and poured coffee from the pot on the stove.
Emily accepted the coffee and settled across the small kitchen table from Bret. “You should have had time to think up a good answer by now.”
“I won’t have no carrying on in my kitchen,” Bertie announced.
Emily laughed, but she felt slightly annoyed, too. “I was just asking for his opinion on me as a person, Bertie, not a declaration of love.”
Bertie didn’t back down. “Could be the same thing.”
“I’m sure it’s not.”
“It’s probably best if I save it for later,” Bret said with one of those smiles that thoroughly confused her. “It’ll give me time to perfect my answer.”
She felt certain he had a ready answer on the tip of his tongue, but she was perfectly happy to play his game. That implied he meant to spend at least part of the day with her. Though she didn’t want him or Bertie to know it, she was anxious to spend some time alone with him.
“What do you want for breakfast?” Bertie asked.
“A couple of eggs with—”
“I was asking our guest,” Bertie said. “He comes first.”
Bret tried, but he didn’t dip his head fast enough to hide his smile. As soon as she got him away from the house, Emily meant to ask him what he’d done to charm Bertie. Not even her father got that kind of treatment.
“I’ll have whatever Emily usually has,” Bret said.
Bertie gave Emily the evil eye. “You don’t have to be afraid of her. You can have whatever you want.”
/> There was no question about it now. His eyes positively danced with amusement. “I’m not afraid. I’ve got to talk her into doing something she’s dead set against, so I’m trying to get on her right side.”
Emily had never seen anything like it. He could tell a disagreeable truth and everybody loved him all the more for it.
“Ain’t nobody ever made her be sensible when she’s set her mind against it. Now what do you want to eat? I’m not sweating over this hot stove because I like it.”
“Would some eggs with ham and hot biscuits be too much to ask for?”
“Eating like that won’t put any meat on your bones. I got potatoes and gravy, some pork chops, canned peaches, and stewed tomatoes. The hands like to know they got something in their stomach.”
“I’ll eat whatever you fix,” Bret said.
“Now that’s a gentleman,” Bertie said to Emily. “You’d do good to listen to what he says.” Then she turned her back on the two of them and addressed herself to her cooking.
“Talk is cheap,” Emily said.
“Not around here,” Bertie muttered.
“You might as well stop trying to hide your grin,” Emily said to Bret, beginning to feel annoyed. “I know you’re laughing at me.”
“I wouldn’t be a gentleman if I didn’t try to hide it,” Bret said.
“I’m beginning to wonder if you’re a gentleman at all. You show up and suddenly everybody’s questioning everything I do.”
“We’ve always been questioning it,” Bertie said without turning around. “You just ain’t been listening.”
“I’m not listening to him either,” she said to Bertie’s broad back.
“I didn’t expect you to. Anyhow, I’m too old to start fainting.”
Emily considered going back to her room until Bertie called her for breakfast, but that would mean admitting defeat.
“What did you have in mind for me today?” Bret asked.
“I always work with my horses in the morning, but I thought I could show you some of the ranch this afternoon.”
“What are you doing with your horses? Maybe I could help.”
“I train horses to be cow ponies. Right now I’m teaching them to cut a cow from the herd.”
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