by Kate Pearce
Rachel backed carefully out of her space. Whichever one it was, she was no longer going to sit back and take it.
* * *
“What the hell is going on?” Jackson stormed into the kitchen and loomed over Cauy. “I couldn’t help overhearing Rachel tearing you off a strip, and you just let her?”
“Yeah.” Cauy sank down onto the nearest chair. He wanted to crawl into bed and hide for a week to lick his wounds. “It’s none of your business.”
“Why didn’t you just tell her you have no intention of pursuing that case?” Jackson plonked himself down beside Cauy. “Have you got a death wish or something?”
Cauy fixed his brother with his hardest stare. “Can you just drop it?”
“No.” Jackson stared right back. “You love her. Why did you send her away?”
“I don’t . . .” Cauy couldn’t even finish the lie. “I can’t . . .”
“Can’t what? Be straight with her?” Jackson demanded. “Do you want me to go after her and tell her the truth?”
“Goddamn it, no!” Cauy was shouting now. “Why the hell do you think I sent her away in the first place?”
“I don’t know, Bro.” Jeez, now Jackson was bringing out the sarcasm. “Please enlighten me.”
“Rachel’s too young for me, and she needs her own life, not getting stuck with someone who’s had their life and just wants to stick around on a ranch and grow old.”
“You make it sound like you’re ninety!” Jackson wasn’t backing down. “What are you? Six years older than her? Seven? That’s nothing, Cauy.”
“She’s just gotten out of college. She has her whole life ahead of her,” Cauy insisted. “She doesn’t need to be stuck here with me.”
“Maybe she wants to be stuck with you. God knows why, but maybe she does!” Jackson shoved a hand through his hair. “So you let her think you’re a land-grabbing asshole to get rid of her? Jeez, Bro.”
“I did it for her,” Cauy growled. “It’s for the best.”
“Right.” Jackson stood and looked down at him. “Just for the record. You are an asshole, but not for the reasons you think. I’m going to set up the Christmas tree. I don’t need your help, okay? Just sit here and reflect on your stupendous stupidity in sending the woman who obviously loves you away!”
Jackson slammed the door as he left, making Cauy wince.
He’d done the right thing. Trying to explain everything wouldn’t have worked. Rachel would’ve refused to give up on him because that was fundamental to who she was. Her accusation about the lawsuit had offered him the perfect way to make her hate him and move on with her life without having to worry or feel responsible for him.
The fact that he needed her and wanted her was enough reason to send her away. She deserved to be put first for a change. Cauy buried his face in his hands and took several deep breaths. He’d survive. He’d done it before. He was doing this because he loved her, not because he didn’t. Why couldn’t Jackson see that?
The fact that it was tearing him apart didn’t matter either.
Rachel had to come first even if it left him in the dust.
* * *
Luckily, Jenna had been called out to attend to a horse with colic so Rachel only had to deal with Dave at the vet’s. As he was somewhat of a one-man show even though her heart was breaking, she only had to smile and nod along as he examined Grace and took the cast off her leg.
After insisting on paying the new bill and setting up a separate new account for Grace, Rachel headed home. She’d already decided she wouldn’t return the dog to Cauy. Having to see him again regularly—even if it was just to talk about the dog—would be too much to deal with right now.
When she reached the ranch, she sat down on the steps with Grace and introduced her to all the other dogs that milled around the ranch, and then took her inside. Billy was sitting at the kitchen table reading something on his laptop. He looked up when she came in, and smiled at the dog.
“Who’s this?”
“This is Grace.” Rachel didn’t have to make the dog go over to Billy. All animals loved him.
“Cauy’s dog?”
“Mine now—that is, if you and Ruth don’t mind keeping an eye on her after I’ve gone,” Rachel said as Billy ruffled Grace’s big ears.
“Does Cauy know about this?” Billy asked slowly.
“He’ll work it out.” Rachel filled the dog’s bowl with water and showed Grace where it was. “He’s not stupid.”
“What’s wrong?”
Rachel sat at the table and let out a breath. “Why would you think something was wrong?”
“Because you’re my daughter and I’ve learned to read your face over the past few weeks, and you’re not happy. Did something happen with Cauy?”
Rachel was debating what to say when Chase came in and sat beside her. He pointed at the dog.
“Where did that come from?”
“It’s the dog Rachel and Cauy found at the feed store,” Billy said helpfully. “Rachel’s taking charge of her now.”
Chase frowned. “Did Cauy kick her out?”
“Me or the dog?” Rachel tried to make a joke, but didn’t think she’d quite pulled it off. “I bet he’ll miss Grace more than me.”
“What happened?” Chase turned the full power of his immense focus on her.
“I was just asking her the same thing,” Billy said.
“I went over to Cauy’s to pick up Grace and take her to the vet’s. While I was there I discovered that Cauy had set his lawyer to investigate what he described as an illegal land grab by the Morgan family almost a hundred years ago.”
“What?” Chase blinked at her.
“Apparently, the Lymond family claimed that about one eighth of our ranch, including the silver mine, belongs to them,” Rachel said. “And Cauy’s lawyer said that even if he can’t prove it, Cauy should take you to court to screw you out of a lot of money that you can well afford.”
“Wow. Weird that he hasn’t mentioned it.” Chase looked at Billy. “I thought you said he was all about putting the past behind us and moving on?”
“That’s what he said when I dropped him home the other night,” Billy confirmed. “I wonder what’s going on?”
“Maybe he just wants money and revenge for his father,” Rachel said darkly.
“Money?” Chase snorted. “He doesn’t exactly need any himself, you know. He owned an oil company in Texas that was just bought out by one of the big guys.”
“What?” Rachel sat up straight. “He said he worked as a laborer and then a roustabout!”
“He certainly started that way, but he made his money later.” Chase gave her an exasperated stare. “Don’t you google the guys you date? I thought everyone did that these days for safety reasons.”
“Usually I do, but”—Rachel was babbling now—“I wasn’t really officially going out with Cauy, so I didn’t. Are you sure he’s rich?”
Chase tapped away on his keyboard and turned the screen so she could see it. There was a picture of Cauy obviously taken before the accident, and a whole long biography about him and his oil companies.
“Holy cow, he’s almost as rich as you are!” Rachel breathed. “He said Lorelei got half of everything, and I was feeling sorry for him!”
“So he doesn’t need our money, which brings us back to the idea that he’s doing this to revenge a man who might not actually be his father anyway,” Chase pointed out with his usual calm logic. “I’m not buying it.”
“Neither am I,” Billy chimed in.
Rachel looked at them both and shook her head. “So where does that leave us?”
Billy glanced at Chase. “Are you quite certain Cauy admitted he was going to go through with this court case?”
Rachel ran the painful encounter back through her head. “He didn’t argue that he wasn’t. Probably because he knew he didn’t have a leg to stand on.”
“Then maybe he just said it to get rid of you?” Chase suggested.
&nb
sp; Billy cleared his throat and turned to Rachel, who was staring open-mouthed at Chase. “You’ll have to excuse your big brother. Sometimes he opens his mouth before he thinks things through and sticks his boot right in it.”
Chase looked startled. “Sorry, did that sound rude? It just seemed to be the most logical conclusion. I didn’t mean to imply—”
“There’s no need to apologize. You’re probably right.” Rachel groaned. “He could’ve just let me down easily.”
“Maybe he thought he did.” Chase nodded, and then scowled as Billy elbowed him in the ribs. “What?”
“Perhaps you should just shut up now and let me handle it?” Billy raised his eyebrows. “I’m sure January needs your help somewhere else.”
“She’d call me if she did.” Chase closed his laptop. “Okay, I can see I’m not wanted. Let me know if there’s anything further I can do to help Rachel, okay?”
“Help?” Billy shook his head as Chase left the kitchen. “With help like that who needs enemies?”
“I know he was trying.” Rachel rested her chin on her hand and sighed heavily. “I don’t think there is anything left for you to say, is there? Cauy Lymond wanted me to think the worst of him, and he accomplished his goal.”
“Yeah, he did.” Billy hesitated. “The real question you have to ask yourself, Rachel, is why?”
Chapter Twenty-One
“Where’s Grace?” Jackson came into the kitchen where Cauy was sitting at the table and looked around. “She didn’t get out, did she?”
“Rachel hasn’t brought her back.” Cauy pretended to focus on reading his mail.
“You let her kidnap our dog?”
“She’s not our dog. Rachel took Grace to the vet to get the cast removed,” Cauy explained. “She found the dog. I was just doing her a favor looking after it.”
“So Grace won’t be coming back?” Jackson frowned. “I bought her a Christmas present.”
“Then you can go over to Morgan Ranch and give it to her, it’s not exactly far.”
Jackson came to sit next to Cauy. “You do know we’ve been invited for Christmas dinner?”
“I wouldn’t count on it.” Cauy pushed his coffee to one side. He’d drunk way too much and had a headache. He still hadn’t reconciled what he’d said to Rachel with how his heart was currently feeling. It felt wrong, like he’d completely misread everything. “Rachel’s probably told them what a bastard I am, and they’ll close ranks to defend her.”
“And you already know what I think of that stupid strategy,” Jackson muttered. “Maybe I’ll go and leave you here to stew in your self-righteous juices.”
“Nice image,” Cauy said as he rose to his feet. “Let’s just hope the Morgans don’t leave us a dozen horses to take care of by ourselves as well.”
“If they do, it’ll totally be your fault.” Jackson looked up at him. “Can I borrow some of your tools to get into that old filing cabinet?”
“Sure, help yourself.” Cauy stretched and checked the time. “I’ve got to see to our horses anyway so I’ll come out with you.”
It seemed weird walking anywhere now without Grace padding along beside him. He’d kind of hoped Rachel would bring the dog back but hadn’t been surprised when she’d chosen not to. He’d cut her off and set her free, so why did it still feel as if he’d cut out his own heart as well?
“Cauy, are you coming?” Jackson shouted at him from the newly roofed feed store.
“I’ll just get my tools.”
It took them a while to figure out how to get into the rusted drawers, but they eventually worked it out, prying the top one open and dumping the whole thing on the newly laid cement floor.
“Eew.” Jackson wrinkled his nose. “It smells like booze.”
“That’s because someone was stashing their whisky in there.” Cauy bent down and fished out two empty bottles. “There’s another one here that’s on its side with the lid not properly closed. It’s leaked all over the rest of the stuff.”
“Any gold?” Jackson asked hopefully.
“In a silver mine?” Cauy crouched beside the drawer and stirred the rest of the contents with his gloved finger. “Looks like old accounts books to me.”
“What date?”
“Early twentieth century, I think.” Cauy used the light on his new phone to illuminate the gloom. “Not sure I want to lean in too close in case I catch something.”
“I’ll check them out later,” Jackson said. “Let’s get the second drawer open.”
Cauy helped Jackson lower it to the floor. It was heavier than the last one, but there only appeared to be one item inside. It was a large metal box with a key sticking out of it.
“Wow,” Jackson said. “Treasure!” He patted the table. “Bring it up here into the light.”
“Knowing our luck it will be lumps of coal,” Cauy muttered as he heaved the heavy rust-encrusted box onto the table. Jackson had to use the pliers to persuade the bent key to turn in the lock, but he managed it eventually.
“Whoa,” Jackson breathed. “That’s where Dad was keeping his money.”
Cauy stared at what appeared to be gold coins. “You’re kidding me. What idiot puts their money into fake gold coins?”
Jackson was examining them. “I don’t think they’re fake, Cauy. You remember how Dad was always going on about those old coins his father handed down to him? He must have decided to carry on the collection.”
“So you think they’re worth some money?” Cauy asked dubiously.
“Yeah, I’ll check them out on the Internet, okay?” Jackson grinned at him. “We’re rich! Well, I am. You are anyway.”
“Any money we recover from them should go straight back into the ranch,” Cauy stated. “We need stock, and—”
“Don’t be such a tightwad.” Jackson held up his hand. “I’m not planning a gambling trip to Vegas or anything. Just let me just enjoy the moment, okay?”
“Sorry, my sense of humor’s not working too well these days.” Cauy stepped back.
“And whose fault is that?” Jackson picked up the metal box and started back toward the house. “I’ll clean them up and get back to you as soon as possible.”
“Great.” Cauy turned to the barn, the smell of rust clinging to him. Whatever happened with the coins he’d make sure Jackson got half the profits. He’d start on the horses. It would give him something to do and stop him worrying about how Rachel was doing.
About three horses in, Cauy heard a truck pull into the yard and poked his head out into the frosty air to see Roy and some of the Morgan Ranch hands coming toward the barn.
“Evening, Cauy!” Roy came straight for him, an elderly man by his side. “Have you got a moment?”
“Sure.” Cauy braced himself as he showed Roy and the stranger into the newly reorganized tack room, which was slightly warmer than the open-ended barn. The guy looked a little long in the tooth to be a new ranch hand. “How can I help you?”
Roy pointed at the man next to him who on closer inspection looked vaguely familiar. “This here is Shep Gardin. He used to work on our ranch, and now he has his own place about a mile up the road next to the Turners.”
Cauy tipped his hat to the elderly man, who was regarding him intently. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.”
Shep turned to Roy. “He could be.”
“You think?” Roy grinned, displaying the gap in his teeth. “I thought so as soon as I saw him. He’s like Anita, but he definitely doesn’t have her coloring.”
Cauy patiently waited them out until Shep turned to him.
“My son Benjamin.”
“Yes?” Cauy asked cautiously.
“He worked at the Morgan Ranch with me. Went to school with your mother, and was walking out with her.”
Cauy glanced at Roy. “As in going out with her?”
Shep nodded vigorously. “Very sweet on her. She was a lovely girl. We approved.”
“I think Ben might have been your father, Cauy,” Roy said
. “You have a look of him. It took me a while to work it out, and then I asked Shep what he thought, and found out he’d also been wondering. He saw you in Doc Mendez’s waiting room a couple of times, and once at the veterinaries’.”
Cauy focused on Shep. “What happened to Ben?”
A quiver of emotion rushed over the old man’s face. His kind brown eyes were the same color as Cauy’s. “Tractor and trailer rolled over on him when he was seventeen. He died instantly.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.” Cauy said the words automatically.
If Shep was correct, it might explain why his mother had seen no alternative than to marry someone else to give her child a name.
“We can do that fancy DNA testing if you want,” Shep said gruffly. “But you do have a look of my boy.”
“I’d be happy to do that as long as my mother doesn’t object,” Cauy said. He held out his hand. “It’s good to meet you regardless, sir.”
Shep’s shy smile reminded Cauy of his own before the accident. “That would be wonderful, son. You’ll have to come and meet my Marjory. She’d be thrilled.”
“Now, don’t rush the boy,” Roy admonished his friend. “He’s got a lot to think about already.”
Shep nodded and stepped back. “Thanks for introducing us, Roy. Now, seeing as I’m here, let me help out with the horses.”
* * *
Rachel whistled to Grace and came out of the barn. It was still early in the morning, and the sun had managed to climb over the Sierras without adding any warmth to the valley. She wasn’t sleeping well and had woken up when it was still dark, and decided to spend an hour mucking out the horses. Grace had enjoyed chasing the barn cats and hanging out with the other dogs. She’d spent most of the night whining, which hadn’t helped Rachel sleep any better. She’d been that way ever since Rachel had brought her home three days ago. At some point in the night Rachel had felt like joining in....
“Grace!” Rachel called out again, and the dog finally emerged from the barn, ears flapping as she galloped toward Rachel.