Finding Them [Riverbend, Texas Heat 6] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Marla Monroe

  “What are you going to do if I go to college?” her sister demanded.

  “When you go in a couple of months, I will hire someone to cook. We’re saving money with you doing the cooking.”

  “Sierra, why don’t we just sell the ranch? It’s draining everything out of you. None of us really care about it,” Sedona said.

  “If we sell the ranch, there won’t be enough money to assure that you and Beth can finish school. It brings in more than what we have in it right now.” She didn’t want to have this conversation with Sedona. It shaved a little too close to the truth for her comfort.

  “I didn’t realize we owed so much,” her sister said with a frown. “I thought after all of these years we’d nearly be clear of the mortgage.”

  Sierra sighed. “Dad was so upset over losing Mom that he pretty much let the ranch go for the two years he lived after Mom. By the time I realized how bad it was, we were in debt up to our ears. I had to arrange a second mortgage just to keep a roof over our heads. I’m sorry, but it will be at least five years before we can afford to sell.”

  Well, at least that much was true. She hated keeping things from her family, but Buddy wasn’t talking to her and Bethany was away doing her internship. Sedona was about to head off to school and didn’t need anything hanging over her head.

  “I didn’t realize…” she began.

  “You weren’t supposed to realize anything, Sedona. You were a child. I did what I thought was best at the time. I don’t know if there was another way out or not, but the ranch was all we had. It was home for us. I didn’t want to uproot the three of you and force you to live in a little apartment somewhere, because that would be all we could have afforded.” Sierra willed her sister to understand and let it go.

  “I’m so sorry, Sierra,” her sister said.

  “For what?”

  “For it all falling on you to handle and figure out. You were just a kid yourself. You shouldn’t have had to bear that burden alone.”

  “I wasn’t about to let anything separate us, honey. You were all the family I had left. I was being selfish in wanting to keep you with me. Maybe you would have had an easier life if I hadn’t insisted that I could handle it all, I don’t know. I worry about that a lot,” she admitted.

  “Well stop it. We would have been miserable if we’d been separated. You were our rock, and we held on to you with all our strength. Please sell the ranch the moment you can, Sis. I know Bethany and Buddy would agree,” Sedona said.

  “I’ll figure it out when that time comes. Don’t worry about it anymore. What about your application? Have you sent it off yet?” she asked, changing the subject.

  “Yeah. I sent it Saturday. Are you sure you don’t want me to sit out a semester and help?” she asked.

  “Dead certain. If you skip even one semester, that prolongs your time, and you are more likely not to go at all. Plus, you’d lose your scholarship. You are going to college this fall,” she said.

  “Okay. Do you want a sandwich? You just missed lunch.”

  “No thanks. I ate something while I was out.” She didn’t admit that it had been nearly four hours earlier. She just wasn’t hungry. Evidently tying herself to a monster for five years wasn’t good for her appetite.

  “Okay. If you change your mind, there’s leftover roast in the fridge. I’m going to be washing clothes.” Sedona walked out of the office, leaving Sierra alone to think.

  Thinking wasn’t a good idea for her though. Instead she picked up the envelope and shoved it back under the ledger in the drawer and leaned back in the chair. She needed to make the call to set up a meeting, but dreaded hearing the man’s whiney voice.

  “I’ll call tomorrow. One more day isn’t going to hurt. He’s just down the road in Riverbend.” She sighed and got up to clean up the evidence of her crying jag before heading out to work on the fences. There was always something to do on a ranch to take your mind off of everything.

  Too bad she couldn’t live out in the wide-open fields riding herd or repairing fences all the time. She might tire herself out enough to actually get some sleep at night instead of staring up at the ceiling wishing it would cave in on top of her.

  * * * *

  The ringing of the doorbell woke Rollan from his nap in front of the TV Wednesday evening. It took him a second to realize what he was hearing. The sound of Thorne’s boot stomping down the stairs said he’d heard it as well. Instead of getting up, he figured he’d let the other man answer the door while he got back to business. They’d been up at four that morning with a sick horse. He was just about ready to call it a night anyway and head to bed.

  “I–I didn’t know what else to do. Y–You said to come to you if we ever needed help.” That voice sounded real familiar. Rollan sat up and dropped his feet to the floor.

  Before he could stand up and go see who it was at the door, Sedona and Throne walked into the room. The tears in her eyes matched the ones he’d heard in her voice. It was obvious she was upset about something. His first thought was of Sierra. Had something happened to her? Rollan stood to question her, but Thorne beat him to it.

  “It’s okay, Sedona. You were right to come to us if you need help. Sit down and tell us what’s wrong.” Thorne sat next to her and took her hand in his.

  It drew Rollan’s eyes to the envelope in her hand. It looked a lot like the one they’d given Sierra on Saturday when they’d brought over their meal and the two awesome pies. Whatever had the young woman upset had to be inside that envelope. He wanted to tear it from her hands, rip it open, and see what had left Sierra pale and shaky and had Sedona crying and seeking the help of virtual strangers.

  “Sierra is the oldest in our family. There’s me then Bethany and then Buddy. She raised us after our mom died of cancer. Dad wasn’t of much use without Mom and died about two years later. She refused to let the state separate us. Instead, she filed for guardianship and kept us all together.” She drew in a deep breath. It was obvious that talking about it was hard for her to do with two men she didn’t know all that well.

  They listened as she told them how she’d given up everything to keep a roof over their head and food to eat. She explained that the ranch had been in bad shape and it was hard at first to find anyone willing to work for a young woman.

  Ten minutes later, Sierra’s love for her family proved to make her one of the most loyal people they’d ever met. Sedona was right. She’d given up everything to care for them and was still doing it. He still didn’t understand what had her so upset now. Where was she going with this and what did that damned envelope have to do with it?

  “So you see, she’s willing to do almost anything to take care of us,” she said. Fresh tears trailed down her cheeks to drop to her clenched hands still gripping the envelope.

  “It’s obvious she loves you all very much. I can’t imagine what it’s been like for her over the years. How can we help, Sedona?” Thorne asked in a soft voice.

  “That’s just it. I don’t know. I just know that I can’t let this happen and live with it the rest of my life.” She slowly held out the envelope to Thorne.

  Rollan watched as Thorne took it and opened it to pull out a sheaf of papers. At his frown, Rollan walked over to sit next to him on the couch to read along with him.

  It was obviously a contract of some type. He recognized the legalese that lawyers liked to use to confuse the hell out of the average guy. It took him a couple of paragraphs to really understand what he was reading. The more he read, the angrier and more horrified he got. By the time they’d reached the end where Sierra had signed and someone had notarized it, Rollan was shaking in anger.

  “What the fuck?” he yelled as he stood up and started pacing back and forth.

  “Where did you get this, Sedona?” Thorne asked, his quiet voice laced with fury.

  “She’d hidden it under the ranch’s ledgers in the desk. I knew something was wrong and noticed she was carrying that same envelope when she got back from wherev
er she went. As soon as she went out to work the fences, I searched the office until I found it.” She continued to clasp and unclasp her hands as she spoke. “When I first read it, I wasn’t sure what I was reading. The second time, it sank in what it was. Why would she do this?”

  “I don’t know for sure, but I think she’s trying to keep the bank from taking the ranch, Sedona. Do you have any idea how much you owe or if you’re behind on payments?” Rollan asked.

  The young woman shook her head. “I don’t know. Sierra takes care of the books. She told me today when I asked what was wrong that everything was fine. She said something about having to borrow money at some point to pay for repairs around the ranch, but I wasn’t paying that much attention. I was too busy trying to figure out if the envelope she’d been carrying was the one you had given her on Saturday.”

  “Do you have any idea how she feels about this Dexter person?” Rollan asked. Just the thought of her with anyone other than him or Thorne ate a small hole in his gut.

  “She hates him. He’s always been a problem for her. He goes out of his way to taunt her and touches her every chance he gets. That’s why I know this is wrong. He’s holding something over her or she’d never agree to this. He’s making her his mistress, right?”

  “That’s what it amounts to,” Thorne agreed.

  “Why won’t she let me skip a semester in college and help at the ranch then go next year? I don’t have to even go to college. She didn’t get to,” she cried.

  “Easy, Sedona,” Thorne said, patting her back. “I agree with your sister on that. You have to go on and get your education. She doesn’t want you stuck in a situation like she’s in. Don’t throw away her hard work and sacrifice by not going to college. We’ll figure this out.”

  “How long will it be before she realizes you took this?” Rollan asked.

  “I–I don’t know. She was still out working the fences when I came over. Usually she doesn’t do any work in the office when she’s been working out on the ranch. She washes up, eats, and heads on to bed. She does the paperwork after early chores before lunch.”

  “Okay. You go on back home and try to avoid her so she won’t know you’re feeling guilty. We’ll keep the contract so she can’t do anything about it if she hasn’t yet. Since Dexter’s signature isn’t on it, I’d say she hasn’t,” Rollan said.

  “What are you going to do with it?” Sedona asked.

  “Nothing. We’re going to figure out something to get her out of this then confront her over it.” Thorne squeezed her hand. “If she finds it missing and asks you where it is, tell her you gave it to us. Don’t lie to her about it.”

  “I feel so guilty over taking it, but if I hadn’t, I’d have never even known what was going on,” the young woman said.

  “Don’t make yourself sick over this, honey. You did the right thing and you did it out of worry and love for your sister. We’ll take care of it from here on out.” Thorne smiled. “I promise it will work out.”

  “You need to get back home before it gets any later. I don’t like you being on the road at night,” Rollan said. “Come on. I’ll see you out.”

  He left Thorne reading over the contract while he escorted Sedona out to the truck and made sure she buckled up before driving off. Rollan stood there watching until her dust trail settled down again. He kept squeezing his hands into fists then releasing them in an effort to control the raging anger inside of him. He wanted to hunt this Dexter bastard down and strangle him with his own hands.

  They had to figure out how to get her out of that contract. Rollan stomped back into the house, still angry and worried, but in better control now. He found Thorne in the office sitting behind the desk with the computer on.

  “What are you doing?” Rollan asked.

  “Trying to figure out what the figures in the contract mean. It looks like loan information, but not exactly. Basically, she signed a contract to be this Dexter freak’s mistress for a period of five years from the date the contract is signed by both parties. At the end of that time, the ranch’s debts will be considered paid in full and she and her siblings will retain full ownership of everything. There could be no harm or injury or damage to the property before, during, or after the term is completed.” Thorne ran a hand over his head as his lips thinned into an angry line.

  “That’s just fucked up. Who does that?” Rollan asked. “He must be desperate to resort to blackmailing someone for sex.”

  “Yeah, that’s exactly what this is, but how can we stop it? I mean, we don’t really know how he’s holding this over her,” Thorne said.

  “Wait. That’s what those numbers are. Look.” Rollan sifted through the papers until he found the one with a series of numbers on it. “Grab our loan papers. I bet this first one is a loan number.”

  Thorne pulled one of the desk drawers out and pulled out a folder. He opened it up and found the number for their loan. They compared the two numbers and found that they were both the same length and both started with the numbers 256.

  “The next set of numbers is probably the total amount left in the loan and the next number is the amount of interest they are behind on,” Rollan pointed out.

  “That’s not near enough for them to call it in. Usually they give an owner three months of missed payments, then after the fourth month start proceedings to call in the loan. They’re only two months in arrears,” Thorne pointed out.

  “That’s sure what it looks like,” Rollan agreed.

  “What was it Sedona said about why she didn’t sell?”

  “Something about only getting enough out after the loan was paid off to pay for one or two semesters of their living expenses,” Rollan said.

  “So what if she sold it and the person she sold it to let her keep working it so she could continue to pay their living expenses while they are in college?” Thorne asked.

  Rollan smiled at his partner. “That’s a damn good idea.”

  “Only I don’t think she’ll go for it. She’s too proud.” Thorne sighed.

  He was right. Sierra wouldn’t do that since it would be like charity to her and she was too proud to accept it. They had to come up with another way. They already considered her theirs. There was no way they would allow her to go through with the damn stupid contract. Dexter wasn’t about to touch their woman.

  Rollan stood up straight. “I’ll go make some coffee. This is going to take a while to sort out.”

  “We’re in agreement though. She’s ours. No matter what,” Thorne said, watching him like a hawk.

  Rollan knew he’d been reluctant at first, but now he saw how right Thorne had been to insist that they needed to go after her before someone else snapped her up out from under them. He couldn’t stand the idea of anyone touching her, much less an obvious creep like this Dexter asshole.

  “Oh, yeah. She’s ours, and we’re going to make sure that dick doesn’t ever get a chance to be near her again.

  Before he finished with the man, he would know that you don’t fuck with them and you sure as hell didn’t fuck with who they considered to be theirs. Sierra and her family were theirs to protect, and that’s exactly what they planned to do.

  Chapter Eight

  Sierra searched the desk drawer in a panic. She’d put it there the day before. She was certain she had. Frantically, she pulled the ledger out and flipped through the pages to be sure it hadn’t gotten stuck between a page when she’d slipped it beneath the book.

  Nothing. Not a damn thing.

  She ran her hands all over the bottom of the drawer, but it was empty of anything other than a stray paper clip. Where was it? How had it disappeared? No one would have wanted it. Had Dexter hired someone to break in and take it? How had they known where she’d hidden it? Had they been watching her? She turned to look at the window. It was covered with blinds and they weren’t open. She tried to remember if they’d been open the day before, but wasn’t sure.

  Then it dawned on her. Sedona had taken it. She’d see
n her with it and hadn’t forgotten it when Sierra had thought she would. The little sneak had slipped into the office and taken it while she’d been out working the fences. Why had she done it? Did she understand what it said enough to know what Sierra was planning to do? Shame and worry washed through her like slushy ice water. The fact that her baby sister might even now know that she was whoring herself out in order to keep the ranch made her sick inside.

  Sierra closed her eyes and buried her face in her hands as she tried to calm down and think. Where would she have put the damn papers? Had she already destroyed them? Fear replaced the worry as it occurred to her that she might have gone to town to confront Dexter over the mess. What would he do if Sedona did that?

  I’ve got to get those papers back. If she’s destroyed them, we’re screwed.

  Normally her sister would be making lunch for the crew now. She would wait until after the lunch meal was served then pounce on her to find out what she’d done with the paperwork. First though, she needed to make sure her little sister was still in the house.

  With that thought uppermost in her mind, Sierra walked out of the office and started to the kitchen. To her surprise, her sister stood at the stove stirring something. Relief that she hadn’t gone to see Dexter had her knees nearly buckling beneath her. Sedona didn’t appear to have heard her walk in, so she backed out as quietly as possible and tiptoed to the living room where she could slip out the front door. Once outside, Sierra breathed a sigh of relief and headed for the barn. She needed to think before she confronted her little sister.

  Once inside the barn, Sierra grabbed a curry comb and stomped back to the last stall where Diablo was kept. His shiny silver coat with blue dapples on his hindquarters shined when he was properly brushed, and Sierra was the only one who could get close to the crazy animal.

  After nearly an hour of combing, the dinner bell rang. She continued brushing out Diablo’s legs, making sure the slightly longer, bushy hair at the ankle area gleamed and shimmered with each movement. While she was out there, she made sure all the water buckets had fresh water then shut off the lights and closed up the building.