The Judge
And
The Heiress
A Salvation Texas Novel
By
Cheryl Gorman
The Judge and The Heiress
FIRST EDITION
December 2013
Copyright © Cheryl Gorman
THE JUDGE AND THE HEIRESS © 2013 Cheryl Gorman. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed, transmitted or utilized other than the express purpose of reading by the reader in ANY FORM WHATSOEVER including any forms that may be invented in the future without prior written permission from the author. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this book in part or in whole is illegal and will be punished under the law. The characters and events depicted in this book are fictional and any similarity to any person
Cover Design by Kimberly Killion of Hot Damn Designs
Edited by Tina Eden
For Tina who always has my back. Without you this book would not have been possible.
My heartfelt thanks to all of my readers. God bless you all.
A very special thank you to Kim Killion.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The Judge
And
The Heiress
A Salvation Texas Novel
Chapter One
Shock zipped through Kinley Taylor’s body faster than she and her horse, Boogie Down could tear through a barrel racing course. What the hell?
Dreams of owning a ranch dried up and blew away like a tumble weed in a drought. She slowed her blue Silverado to a stop on the Texas dirt road, careful of the precious cargo she hauled and stopped.
A hot breeze swirled through the open truck windows and blew dust in her eyes. She cut the engine, jerked off her worn, black cowgirl hat and rubbed a palm over her sweat-dampened head. Her excitement at inheriting Laid Back Ranch keeled over and died under the ass-kicking disbelief.
Only this was no ranch. But it was definitely laid back.
She glanced in the review mirror at the blaze face and pair of dark brown eyes that peeped at her through the trailer’s front window. Her horse, who she affectionately called Bear, was the most cherished thing in her life. Everything else from her thong underwear to her grandmother’s old forty-five of Billie Holliday singing God Bless the Child was stuffed in a battered suitcase in the back seat along with two boxes of her barrel racing trophies and ribbons. The barrel racing saddle and matching bridle she’d won in her last championship sat on the passenger seat covered with a throw.
One day she was a champion barrel racer and the next a trailer park queen. A half-dozen degenerate trailers slumped into the dry soil. Llamas in various colors wandered among the mobile homes filling the air with an incessant humming noise. Clumps of pine trees shaded the trailers from the sun’s intense August rays. In front of a few trailers, small gardens had been picked out with brick edging and stones. Little pinwheels spun and faded garden flags barely moved in the scant breeze.
MADDIE FRANKLIN PROPRIETOR. The sign, by the front door of the closest trailer decorated with crudely drawn rainbows and llamas, featured a stick figure of a smiling woman waving with a cartoon balloon and the word WELCOME painted in red. A sprinkler twirled over a patch of grass and a couple of rose bushes struggled to survive amid dandelions and choking weeds.
So much for a cozy ranch house.
As soon as Kinley climbed from the truck, the droning, furry creatures flowed in her direction like cows through a chute until she was surrounded. She smiled at their curiosity and rubbed a hand over a long, fuzzy neck. One brown and white llama moved closer, lifted its front lip in a grotesque smile and blew grass-scented breath across her face.
“That’s Smiley,” a young female voice said from behind her. “His way of saying hello.”
Kinley turned and saw a girl of about sixteen with a long blonde braid draped over one shoulder, wearing a black t-shirt decorated with tiny white skulls, dusty red boots and jeans. “I’m Lilly. I’ve been hanging out with Maddie on the farm since I was ten. Fence is down again. I could use some help if you’re interested.”
“Sure, I’m Kinley by the way.”
The girl nodded. “I know. I recognized you from your pictures.”
Kinley shoved her hat on her head. “You follow barrel racing?”
Lilly started toward the paddock with the downed fence. “Not really,” she said over her shoulder. “Maddie kept a scrap book. She was real proud of you.”
Warmth spread through Kinley from the inside out. She had no idea that her Aunt Maddie had followed her career. For that matter she had no idea her aunt had even give her a second thought until a lawyer from Salvation, Texas called to tell her she had inherited this place. Kinley noticed a barn not too far from the collection of trailers. “I need to stable my horse and feed her. Is there a spare stall I can use?”
“Sure, there’s an empty stall next to Astrid, Maddie’s old mare. Maddie got a new horse a couple of weeks before she died. Her name is Midnight but I turned her out in the back paddock for some exercise. Her stall is at the end. I’ll be working on the fence.”
Kinley unlatched the trailer door, stepped inside next to Bear. “Hey, pretty girl.”
The horse turned her head and nickered. Kinley slipped on her halter and backed her from the trailer. Bear stepped out of the trailer with an ease of training and trust in her mistress. She had loaded and unloaded Bear from this trailer more times than she could count since she’d first started riding and competing. Together they made an unbeatable team.
Leading Bear to the barn she saw the silver line of a river in the distance with clumps of willows growing along its banks. She’d check it out once she got Bear settled. There were three stalls on one side and three on the other with an alleyway of dirt and scattered bits of straw. Maddie’s old gray stuck her head over the side of the stall door with her ears pricked and her eyes full of expectation. But her expression seemed to fall when she saw the visitor wasn’t her owner.
“Sorry, girl, I wish Maddie was here for you,” Kinley said to the mare. She settled Bear in the stall, gave her some hay and grain along with a fresh bucket of water. She murmured gentle words to Astrid. Her back was swayed and she was obviously feeling her age. Kinley gave her a pet and a kiss on her velvety, warm muzzle. In return the mare blew a rush of warm breath against her neck. Kinley felt her heart opening to the old girl even though she knew the mare was in her twilight years and her days were numbered. She’d end up crying her eyes out when the mare passed, but Kinley believed in taking risks not only on the rodeo circuit but with her heart. Without risks, no emotional connections could be made and without emotional connections life wasn’t worth spit. She’d learned that lesson the hard way.
Kinley found Lilly and together they lifted the section of downed fence.
Lilly picked up a red fence post pounder and placed the open end over a loose post. “Maddie talked about you constantly. Kinley this and Kinley that.” She grasped the handles on the pounder, lifted it a few inches then slammed it down. She repeated the process until the post didn’t wobble anymore. She heaved a breath, packed the dirt around the bottom of the post with her foot then glanced at K
inley. “You look just like her. The same red hair and green eyes. You’ve got her nose too.” Lilly moved to the other post and repeated the procedure with the post pounder. “She could have been your mother. She missed you like crazy. I caught her looking at your picture one day and there were tears in her eyes. I hated seeing Maddie upset. She sent letters but never got an answer. Why’d you stay away so long? Why didn’t you answer her letters?”
Surprise pushed Kinley back on her heels. “Aunt Maddie wrote me letters?”
Lilly cocked her head to the side, her blue eyes slightly wide. “Yeah, she wrote you once a week always hoping for an answer. You didn’t know?”
The hair stiffened on the nape of Kinley’s neck, her skin grew hot as mounting frustration morphed into anger. Her glove-covered hands tightened around the fence post. “No, I never got her letters.”
A frown creased Lilly’s brow. “I wonder why,” she murmured reaching for a reel of wire to repair a break in the fence.
Kinley’s pulse sped through her veins, her muscles quivered. She mashed her lips together in a thin line. “I know why.”
Lilly started bending a length of wire making a loop on one end and Kinley made a loop on the other. “What happened?”
A headache started at the base of Kinley’s neck. “My mother happened. We came here once to visit when I was eight but Aunt Maddie didn’t have the llamas then or the other trailers. She was living out here alone, kind of wild and free, waitressing in town.” She remembered her aunt’s tousled hair and her smile that could light up a dark room. “She made the best chocolate chip cookies I ever tasted.”
Lilly nodded. “I never left here without a handful.”
Kinley sighed. “Maddie was real nice to me and my mother couldn’t stand it. She accused her of coddling me and criticized her lifestyle as lazy and irresponsible. They had a major dustup. The next thing I knew I was in the back seat of our Buick looking at Maddie standing outside her trailer with one hand lifted in goodbye getting swallowed up by the rooster-tail of dust.” Her chest ached with regret for the relationship she could have had with her aunt. “That’s the last time I saw her.”
Together she and Lilly aligned the loops opposite each other with the straight length over the middle of the loop end and in a moment had formed a figure eight. Lilly connected the fence strainer and cut some of the wire to give them room to work. “I’m sorry.”
Kinley threaded an end of loose wire through a hole in the wire twist and began winding it around the existing fence wire. “It’s not your fault. My mother must have thrown away her letters.”
Lilly started tightening up the strainer with an adjustable wrench. “Maybe she still has them somewhere.”
Kinley pulled on the wire to test the tightness. “No, she passed a few years ago. I didn’t find any letters when I went through her things.”
Lilly snipped any wire ends sticking out on the joins so the llamas wouldn’t be harmed then shoved the wrench into her back pocket. She looked toward the road with the llamas running loose in every direction. She opened the gate and propped it open. “Come on, let’s round up those guys before they get overheated.”
Together they gathered up the humming Llamas and guided them back into their enclosure. The long-necked fur balls headed for a structure with three sides at the back of their paddock.
“That’s their barn,” Lilly informed her. “The front is open because they need to have as much freedom as possible. They don’t like being closed up and besides it protects them from the weather. There are some misting fans along the inside of the roof line that are on twenty-four seven during the late spring and summer because the biggest threat to a llama is heat stroke.”
Lilly closed the paddock gate and turned with worry etched on her young face and tension in her shoulders. “Well, I’ve got to get going but I’ll be back this evening to feed everyone.” She hesitated a moment staring at the ground before lifting her big blue eyes to Kinley. “I’d really like to stay on after you officially inherit this place, if that’s okay. Maddie meant a lot to me.”
Her aunt obviously placed a great deal of trust in Lilly and she’d confided in her. Kinley moved close to the girl and touched her arm. “Of course you can stay. I’m going to need all the help I can get.”
Lilly’s shoulders relaxed. Eyes shining she exhaled. “Thank you. I’ll see you later then.”
The day was beyond hot with humidity dripping from the air. Filling her lungs with air was like breathing water as Kinley made her way to the barn. In the back of the structure was an area for storing hay and grain. A dusty saddle, bridle and collection of halters and lead lines hung from hooks on the west wall. In the opposite corner was a flat inner tube. A dip in that river was exactly what she needed after the three hour, hot, dusty, sweaty journey she’d undertaken today. Not to mention the dredging up of an old, unpleasant memory.
Kinley scrounged through a pile of spare saddle blankets and old grooming tools until she found a manual pump. In no time, she had the inner tube filled with air and ready for use.
She gave Bear a kiss on her nose, grabbed a tube of sunscreen from the glove box in her truck and headed for the river. When she reached the water, flowing slowly and easy, Kinley dropped the inner tube on the ground, stripped off her clothes without hesitation and draped everything over a bush. She stretched her arms over her head and reveled in the caress of the breeze and sunshine on her bare skin. Quickly, she slathered on some sunscreen and settled her hat on her head. After picking up the inner tube, she waded into the river. The cool water sent a shiver over her heated skin. Her feet sunk into the muddy bottom and plants rippled in the current brushing her calves and thighs.
She plopped into the rubber tube, her bottom half immersed in water, her legs and arms dangling over the sides. She leaned her head back, sighed and settled her hat over her face. With the birds trilling in the hot afternoon and the distant hum of the Llamas, Kinley closed her eyes and let her mind head south.
***
Linc McCord finished up repairs on the automatic watering pump system for the barn and walked to the stall housing his horse, Jax. The gelding, a golden palomino with the gentlest nature of any horse he’d ever owned nickered, his ears perked eager to swish his tail and frolic in the sun. “Ready for a little exercise, boy?” Linc gave him a quick brush, put on his favorite saddle and shortly they were headed south toward the back of the Rocking M ranch.
Linc rocked gently in the saddle to the rhythm of his horse’s gait and let his mind clear. The Salvation River flowed east to west across the property next to the Rocking M that belonged to the late Maddie Franklin and then across the Rocking M until it joined up with the Brazos. In the distance he saw a figure on an inner tube, bare legs and arms dangling, a hat over their face gently floating along the river. He halted Jax next to the water. The horse lowered his head for a drink.
As the person on the tube drifted closer, he saw ringlets, the color of new copper wire sprouting from beneath the black hat that covered their face. Sunlight blazed down on a pair of small but nice female breasts. As he sat his horse mesmerized by the sight before him, the tube caught on a limb that had fallen across the stream and stopped the sunbather from going further. She didn’t move. Not one twitch, just laid there in the sunlight oblivious to the world and the water flowing around her.
Linc cleared his throat. His horse nickered and stomped one foot. Nothing. Drunk and passed out no doubt. Irritation rose inside him. He hoped she hadn’t tossed her empties along the river banks or God forbid into the stream. Time to throw a lasso into her little afternoon party.
“Nice day for a swim, but you’re trespassing.”
***
At the sound of the deep male voice, Kinley’s eyes popped open. Quickly, she covered her bare breasts with her hat. She turned and saw a cowboy sitting on a horse washed in sunlight, the horse’s golden coat gleaming. The man was tall, broad shouldered but his dark brown hat shadowed his face. She couldn’t
see the color of his eyes or his hair or even his features. “Trespassing?”
“Yeah. You’re on Rocking M land.”
She glanced around and couldn’t see any landmarks from her aunt’s place like trailers or hear the humming sounds of the llamas. Kinley shaded her eyes with her hand and said, “Sorry, I must have drifted. The sun and the breeze felt so good on my bare skin I fell asleep. I’d drift back but the current flows east to west.” She smiled, but he didn’t smile back.
The cowboy pushed the brim of his hat upward with a knuckle and when the sunlight lit up his face she melted right there on the spot. The man was down to the ground handsome. Perfectly proportioned features, wide jaw, sensual lips. A lock of chestnut hair fell over his brow. She still couldn’t see the exact color of his eyes because he was squinting against the bright sunlight. “You’ve got two choices. You can swim back against the current or you can walk. Although I wouldn’t advise walking because there are laws against public nudity in this county.”
Of all the cowboys she’d come across during her barrel racing career this was the first stuffed shirt she’d ever met. Laughter bubbled up and she let it fly.
“What’s so funny?”
She heard the edge of annoyance in his voice which only made her laugh harder. “Are you the sheriff or something?”
“No, but—”
“Haven’t you ever been skinny dipping before?”
He straightened in the saddle, the leather creaking under his weight. “What did you do with the empty beer cans or wine bottles or whatever you’ve been drinking? If I find any of your empties floating in this stream or thrown on the river bank, you’ll be charged with littering as well as trespassing not to mention public indecency.”
Kinley shook her head. She’d never met anyone so uptight. “What makes you think I’ve been drinking?”
A corner of his mouth slid upward in a little smirk and her whole body tingled. “Because you’re buck-ass naked floating in a river in broad daylight. That’s not something a woman would do unless she was intoxicated or high on drugs.” He tilted his head to the side. “Are you? High on drugs, I mean?”
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