Captive of the Cattle Baron (Selkirk Family Ranch Book 1)

by Irene Vartanoff

  “Addie. Addie.”

  Nothing could have lived through the inferno that destroyed the cabin so completely.

  No one could have lived. Addie. Addie.

  ***

  He’d shoved all the roof pieces aside. He hadn’t found Addie. He spent the next minutes frantically searching every piece that remained of the cabin all over again. Then under and behind every stick and bush immediately nearby. Only sheer luck had kept the cabin from starting a brush fire.

  Addie. Where was her body?

  Sheer luck.

  Finally, his head cleared a little. He noticed Jeep tracks. He’d been raised to notice tracks. He should have noticed that a Jeep had been there.

  On automatic, he remounted the four-wheeler and followed the tracks. His hands stung but he ignored them. The tracks led to the airstrip.

  Had Addie escaped? Had someone rescued her before the fire turned the cabin into a smoking ruin? He prayed.

  ***

  Tess found Baron hours later, sitting at his favorite thinking spot, a huge rock that overlooked their sprawling ranch land. He held his pistol between his knees.

  He roused himself. “Tell me she’s safe.”

  “Paula flew her to Jackson Hole last night.”

  He bowed his head, and told her about the cabin. “If she’d died because of my arrogant stupidity, I would have eaten this.” He indicated his gun.

  “Put your damn gun away,” Tess said. “Hasn’t our family suffered enough from violence?”

  He shoved his gun in the belt in the small of his back. “We’re a fine couple of losers, aren’t we?”

  She sat next to him on the rock, pushing him over with her hip. “I’ll stop drinking if you stop acting as if your every word is law.”

  He laughed, but there was no humor in the sound. “I don’t even know where to start.”

  “Start by apologizing.”

  “She’ll never forgive me.”

  Tess shrugged. “She might not. You still have another fifty or sixty years to live. You can keep trying. Or there will be other women.”

  “There’s no one like Addie,” he said. “She’s so amazing. She’s smart, and she’s beautiful, and she’s kind. You should see her coo at the horses. It’s as if she’s full of love and there’s always plenty to share.”

  “You wanted that.”

  “I knew from the moment I first saw her that she was mine.”

  “You did a lousy job convincing her.” Tess shook her head, clearly disgusted with him.

  “I wasted a lot of time accusing her of being a drug addict like Julie.”

  “You’re an idiot. She’s nothing like Julie,” Tess said.

  “Addie was right to leave me. I came too close to doing her violence.”

  She swatted his shoulder. “Did you hit her?”

  “No.”

  “Did you…rape her?”

  “No, of course not,” he said, indignation in his voice.

  “Were you planning to starve her into submission?”

  “No.”

  “Will you ever lock her up anywhere ever again?”

  He raised tortured eyes to his little sister, his sister whose own pain-filled eyes saw his wretchedness and somehow forgave his folly. “I thought she burned to death.”

  He lowered his head. He covered his eyes with his hand, and his shoulders shook. “I almost murdered the woman I love.” The agonized words were wrenched from him.

  Tess hugged him.

  Minutes went by. Finally, he took a deep breath. “I was an arrogant fool. My opinions, my needs were more important than anyone else’s. I couldn’t see the truth in her.”

  “My brother the tyrant,” she said.

  “Don’t make light of what I did.”

  “I’m not. If someday she lets you crawl to her and apologize, you’ll be lucky.” She stood. “Don’t expect more. She can find another man anytime she wants.”

  “I don’t deserve her, but no one will ever love her like I do.”

  “Fine, but you’ll have to love her from afar right now. She’s busy testifying in court.”

  “Today?” He looked up, a surprised expression on his face.

  “She’s been on TV all morning. I recorded the whole session. She looks fantastic.”

  He straightened. “I want to see her. I need to see her.”

  He stood, but she put a hand out. “Wait. First, let’s talk about how you and I are going to fix our family situation, so I can stop drinking and you won’t act like a Neanderthal anymore.”

  Chapter 12

  The D.A. had the floor all morning, and his political hopes were obvious to everyone in the room. His case against Caz was ridiculously weak. A couple of times Addie had to remind the D.A. that Leslie broke into her house.

  “You say you didn’t invite Leslie Tone,” the D.A. purred.

  “That’s right. I did not.”

  “Then how was he shot in your so-called great room?” Somehow, the D.A. managed to put a sneer into his question.

  “He broke into my house through a bedroom window. Then he confronted Caz and me in the living room. Then he shot himself.”

  “So you say,” the D.A. sniffed.

  Addie turned to the judge. “Your honor, I have testified under oath. My home was broken into by a total stranger who shot himself in my presence, after threatening to shoot me and my friend.”

  The judge slanted a stern look at the D.A. “What’s your justification?”

  “Your honor, I am trying to show that the witness is not telling the whole truth about her relationship with the defendant and with Leslie Tone.”

  Marty shot up from his seat. “Your honor, I object.”

  “Objection sustained. Confine yourself to asking about facts, not making lurid speculations.”

  The D.A. kept trying. Every other sentence out of his mouth was a suggestive comment about her supposedly exciting love life with Caz.

  Caz’s attorney jumped up and objected every time. “You honor, Miss Jelleff is both the victim of a crime and a witness to a crime. She’s not a defendant. I object to counsel’s attempts to impugn her morals and behavior. His whole line of questioning is incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial.”

  “Now where have I heard that phrase before?” the judge asked, sarcasm in every word. “Sustained, Perry Mason.”

  Despite his best efforts, the D.A. could not get Addie to budge from her story that Leslie Tone was a stranger.

  “Yet Leslie Tone called the defendant and you by name. He claims he knows you,” the D.A. said, in an insinuating tone of voice.

  Addie didn’t allow herself to smile when she gave her answer. “He might have seen me as a child on a television show that millions of people watched. Recognizing my name from that show, or even my likeness, does not prove he knows me personally.”

  “Yet his car contained numerous photos of you.”

  “Many publicity photos of me from my acting days exist.”

  “Your honor,” Caz’s attorney objected. “Counsel keeps asking the same question. The witness has answered. May we move on?”

  “Objection sustained.” The judge directed the D.A. to stop dancing around the same question.

  The D.A. was determined to play to the media circus. He moved on to questions that presumed her nonexistent affair with Caz. The insinuations got nastier as the day wore on. Addie was still on the stand when they broke for lunch.

  Marty quickly went to her and unclipped her microphone. “You’re doing fine. Let’s get you some lunch to keep up your strength.”

  “I’m wrung out. Five minutes of testimony is turning into a whole day.” She kept her poker face although she wanted to shoot the D.A. a dirty look.

  “Maintain your calm demeanor, and we’ll get through this. You’re helping Caz tremendously.”

  “Nice of you to say so.”

  “Remember not to say anything outside this room, where you might be recorded by the scum that calls itself reporter
s.” When they reached the courtroom door, Marty said, “Don’t smile, but don’t frown, either.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “You’re expecting a lot. I hope it’s a good lunch.”

  “The best Jackson Hole has to offer,” he promised.

  The courtroom door opened and they hit a wall of excited reporters, all shouting at her at once. Addie mentally recited her horse whispering mantra, “The power is love.” She and the attorney moved steadily through the crowd with the help of the local police. Finally, they gained the sanctuary of a private room again.

  “That was worse than horrible,” she exclaimed. “I hate those cannibals who call themselves journalists. My next home will be in Antarctica.”

  Caz was in the room, pacing instead of eating. His obvious distress pulled Addie out of her own. She checked out the table laden with sandwiches and salads, and picked up a plate.

  “Caz, come and eat.”

  Caz sat down, and took a sandwich. “When will they get to me?”

  “Tomorrow or the next day,” the lawyer said.

  “At the rate the D.A.’s going, it’ll be next week,” Addie said. “He repeats every question at least five different ways.”

  “You’ve answered them all the same, which is great. You’re doing fine,” said Marty.

  “Just think,” she said. “I could have stayed on the ranch as a prisoner of a man who despises actors.”

  That got Caz’s attention. “What was up with that? Your ranch manager said you were with some guy.”

  “Met him at your hotel. I was swept off my feet. He carried me to his ranch. Wouldn’t take no for an answer.” She made sure Caz saw the twinkle in her eyes as she finished her fanciful version of three emotional days. “He even introduced me to his sister.” She wiggled her eyebrows, as they both used to do when they were kids.

  Caz burst into laughter. The lawyer sent her a grateful look. Addie forgot her own woes and spent the rest of lunch teasing Caz.

  ***

  The afternoon in court was more of the same nastily phrased questions insinuating a lurid relationship between Addie and Caz. Also between Addie and the stalker, despite her repeated insistence that she’d never met him before he broke into her house.

  As she answered the same questions over and over, steadily and without looking annoyed, she thought about Baron’s stubborn way of leaping to unfounded conclusions about her and refusing to let them go. She’d been free to debate and argue with him, and sometimes it appeared she convinced him, but he always returned to his original conclusions about her. He wanted to believe she was weak, and he should make decisions on her behalf. The D.A. wanted to believe she was a Hollywood party girl despite a complete lack of evidence.

  Addie began to enjoy herself a little. She was a better trained actor than the D.A. She could repeat herself endlessly without getting worked up. She had the advantage over him, because she’d done take after take of the same lines of dialogue, day after day, week after week, year after year. She was a veteran of repetition.

  Finally, she wore him out. He couldn’t get a rise out of her, and she didn’t change her story. The jurors were bored. Even the judge was nodding off.

  “I’m through with this witness,” the D.A. said.

  The judge promptly banged his gavel and woke up the jurors. “Court is adjourned until tomorrow morning.”

  As the court sergeant-at-arms repeated the judge’s order, Addie stood up on rubbery legs. She’d been sitting for hours. Marty came over to her again to help her. After her microphone was unclipped, he whispered, “The jurors really like you. You’ve won them over by being a lady in the face of so many sleazy insinuations.”

  “I hope that will help Caz.”

  “I’m sure of it.”

  The legal team led her and Caz out of the building, making no public comments other than, “My client will soon be exonerated” to the encampment of photographers and reporters on the courthouse steps. The lawyers helped Caz and Addie into a waiting limo and they took off. Of course some reporters followed them, but the limo had special permission to enter the hotel garage directly, while other cars were kept back. They were met by the hotel manager and spirited up to Caz’s suite via the service elevator.

  Once they were in Caz’s suite, Addie said, “I’d like to go to my room and rest now.”

  “We’ve moved you into the second bedroom here, where you’ll be more protected,” Marty said. “Last night we could put you in a regular guest room because we had the element of surprise.”

  She nodded. “Okay.” She moved to the hall. “Which room is mine?”

  Caz showed her into a large, luxurious room decorated in cozy ski lodge style. He gave her a hug. “Thank you. Thank you so much for what you’re doing.”

  “Anytime.”

  After a reviving shower, Addie prowled her bedroom. She was a prisoner again. She couldn’t go anywhere. Her life was on hold. She could go out to the living room and listen to the lawyers strategizing, but she’d had enough for one day. Tomorrow morning they could feed her her lines so Caz’s team could make the most of her cross-examination.

  She lay down on the chaise positioned by a window and looked out at the beautiful scenery. The tall fir trees were a deep green, refreshing even in summer. In the winter, their color kept the landscape from looking barren and lifeless. She loved the drama of the mountains, the way they contrasted with the azure blue skies so typical here. Some of the mountains were snow-capped year round. What a beautiful place to live. A shame she’d have to sell up and leave. After this mockery of a trial, she’d never be left alone. From now on, she’d be a hunted local celebrity. Her past would define her future all over again.

  She’d found respite in Jackson Hole for two years, but no more. For a day or two, she’d hoped she could find renewed peace with Baron Selkirk. Had she fallen in love with him? She feared she had, but whatever demons possessed him were beyond her vanquishing. He had to let go of Julie and her sad story. He had to look at Addie with trust in his heart. He had to stop trying to control her.

  Desire was so simple. Go with the impulses brought on by pheromones and opportunity. How easy it was to find sex, to enjoy sex. How empty. Love was so much more complicated. She preferred to save her affection for horses. They never lied. They never betrayed. Even the ones who’d been hurt, who distrusted people, could be brought around. She earned their trust by being consistent. They never turned on her. Horses distinguished between the humans who treated them badly and the ones who were kind to them. Why couldn’t Baron recognize that she was not his dead love, Julie? Perhaps it was ego on her part to have thought she could gentle Baron and earn his trust. That wretched scene at the cabin was proof she’d failed.

  He was so handsome, so sexy, so appealing. Every kiss, every touch had set her afire. Why couldn’t it have worked out? He’d seemed a decent man, a well-grounded man. But when he looked at her, he kept seeing another woman. He assumed Addie had the same personality traits and weak habits that had belonged to his lost Julie, so he wanted to boss Addie for her own good.

  Tess and Paula both said the bossiness was new. Before J.D.’s tragedy, before being forced to give up a career in geology to run the ranch, Baron supposedly had not been so absolutely determined to be obeyed. His history with Julie showed the truth of that, since he’d let her make her own choice to stay in Hollywood. If he’d been super bossy back then, he would have dragged her back home from that California den of iniquity and locked her in the cabin. But he hadn’t.

  Addie was at fault, too. She hadn’t been honest about who she was. How could he see Addie clearly if she didn’t tell him the truth about herself? She’d demanded his trust but she had never trusted him.

  Still, Baron’s reaction went over the top. He took her past as a personal affront, a personal betrayal. He’d accused her of lying to him. She had, by omission. Yet after hearing about Julie’s sad life in Hollywood, how could Addie casually say, “By the way, I was a child actor for seven
years in a popular sitcom. You may have heard of me.”

  She had never found the right moment for the revelation Baron would not want to hear. She’d been right to fear his reaction. When he was forced to learn about her past, he was outraged. Why outrage? Because in his domain, he was supposed to be the boss? Because what he imagined her past had been did not suit his idea of what his life should be? Or was it something darker, something to do with his desire to fully own his woman, to control her completely because she had no other life than through him?

  She shuddered. As attractive as a night of sex with a dominating man was, the thought of living with such a man turned her off. She didn’t want or need to live her life by someone else’s rules. She didn’t want a man to break her and own her. She wanted to give herself freely. She wanted a woman whisperer. Did such a man even exist?

  ***

  Addie and Caz spent the evening playing board games and watching a silly movie. They obeyed Marty’s injunction not to check out any trial reportage. He or his assistants came and went, providing food and clothing for the next day in court. To her surprise, she slept well that night, without tears.

  ***

  The second day of her testimony, Addie wore another lawyer-picked dress, this time a rich maroon color that complemented her light blonde hair. Under Marty’s skillful questioning, she spoke affectionately about her easy friendship with Caz.

  “Sometimes we go bowling. Or we take in a movie in an actual theater. Simple stuff.”

  “Why did the defendant come to Jackson Hole?”

  “I’d been living here for two years, loving it, and I wanted him to see the new life I’d made here.”

  “Was there any romantic element to his visit?”

  “No. We’re just friends with a shared childhood. Romance between us would feel icky.”

  The courtroom erupted in laughter. The judge banged his gavel. “Order.”

  The attorney continued his questioning. “Why aren’t you romantically involved with Caz Cassidy? He’s been called the sexiest man alive by celebrity magazines.”