by Tina Leonard
“Oh, Cos, for heaven’s sake,” Danita said, pushing her husband out of the way. “You act like Alex is doing something you’ve never done.”
“Woman!” Cos roared, apparently not liking this aspect of his matrimonial laundry being aired.
“Go away,” she instructed him. “Alex, you’ve got the wrong bedroom.”
“This used to be hers,” he said, honestly confused.
“We switched because she needed more room. She’s downstairs in the back bedroom. I’m not authorizing you to upset her,” she said sternly. “Daphne needs some time to gather herself up. But if you’re on a romantic mission to deliver those flowers and nothing else, then you have my permission to do so.”
“Thank you, Danita.” He glanced cautiously over her shoulder at her husband, who obviously didn’t like those arrangements one bit.
“Put the ladder back against the tree,” she instructed.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And don’t stay long.”
“I won’t,” he agreed.
“She needs her sleep.”
“I agree,” he said hastily. He descended the ladder and snatched up the roses, which were slightly crumpled from the whole affair.
“And Alex?”
“Yes?”
“Happy anniversary.” The window shut with a squeal and a thump.
Alex carried the ladder to its former place, shaking his head. This was not the way he had envisioned spending his anniversary. He was lucky not to have been shot.
For that matter, he was lucky not to be signing divorce papers. He strode around to the side of the house Danita had mentioned and rapped softly on the window.
A second later, a light went on inside. Daphne appeared in the window like a graceful vision. She didn’t wear one of the pink foam things her mother had on—nor Cos’s angry frown. The window slid up. Alex’s blood raced as Daphne met his gaze. A thousand emotions passed between them, none slow enough that he could identify them.
All he knew was that Daphne took his breath away.
“Happy anniversary,” he said huskily.
“Same to you.” Her large green eyes held astonishment—and did he dare hope happiness?—at his arrival. He handed her the bouquet of red roses.
“Thank you,” she said, taking them care fully. “You had yellow roses put in my bedroom at your house. You’re spending an awful lot on flowers.”
“You’re worth it. And this time I wanted red. It’s supposed to express a certain emotion.” He told her with his eyes what that emotion was.
“I like red.” She put the roses on a table in her room and returned to the window. “How did you know I was here?”
“I—uh, your mother told me.”
“She did? I thought she was in bed.”
He winced. “Where are my daughters?”
Daphne pointed to the room across the hall. “Sleeping com fort ably in one of my brothers’ old rooms.” She hesitated, her eyes locking with his. “You’re welcome to visit the babies anytime you like.”
“I know that.” He was silent for a moment. “Daphne, you should have told me you were leaving.”
“I couldn’t. I mean, I think I would have, but you were busy at the time.” Un com fort able, she took a deep breath. “I was glad, to tell the truth. I knew you’d try to stop me, and I was determined to go.”
That hurt much more than falling off the ladder would have. Alex rubbed at a splinter he’d caught in his palm, a minor annoyance when real pain was in his heart. “Do you just need time?”
“I don’t know.” She rubbed her arms, shrugging. “I need to…sort things out.”
“How much time?” He didn’t think he could survive too many days without her.
“I don’t know. I just need it, Alex. So much in my life has changed.”
“Yeah,” he said wryly. “Mine, too.”
“I know.” She gave him a tiny grimace and a smile. “I’m the catalyst for most of them.”
He heard the under tone in her voice, a hint that she felt she was a negative catalyst. How could he explain to her that he needed her to fight with him against the real disastrous force that was tearing him apart—intruders fighting him for Green Forks? “I need you, Daph.”
“No, you don’t.” She smiled, but it was a sad lift to her lips. “I cost you what you had.”
Silence kept them apart as they stared at each other. He could never convince her that she wasn’t the reason he’d lost Green Forks. It was because of some stupid clause—and an unhappy aunt—he’d never known about. He couldn’t have changed any of the past even if he had known. No doubt his powerful father had done everything he could to get the situation fixed the way he wanted. It was irretrievable—mainly, apparently, because Alexander had tried to give a younger sister the shaft, and now it was payback time.
“The only way I can see that you’ll ensure Green Forks stays yours, Alex,” Daphne said softly, “is for you to remarry.”
Chapter Twelve
“Remarry? I have no intention of divorcing, so why should we remarry?”
“So that you can have more children.” Daphne’s heart shattered even as she thought about Alex with another woman. “Even though Gloria is having her son first, you are still the rightful heir to Green Forks, so your son would be next in line. If you had one.”
“I don’t believe I’m hearing this!” Alex shouted. “Have you lost your mind? This is not some feudal land we’re talking about, a throne that belongs to a king! Henry the Eighth wed and did away with wives for the sake of gender, Daphne, but I’m just Alex Banning, married to Daphne Way and damn well going to stay that way!”
“Sh! You’re going to wake the babies!” she cautioned.
“Well, I’m sorry!” he said in a husky shout. “But that was the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. Why don’t you just set me up a guillotine on the back forty?”
“Oh, Alex, for heaven’s sake! I didn’t write the entailment clause. Your noble ancestors did!”
“Well, I’m just telling you that I’m not marrying anybody else. We had no sons. For a woman who believes in raising her children without regard to gender for any reason, you’re sure buying into that bum story.” He leaned on the windowsill, his frown deep in his forehead.
“What does that mean?”
“It means that for such a forward-thinking woman, you’re awfully impressed with the entailment clause. Heck, you’re ready to marry me off to another woman! And what happens if the second Mrs. Banning doesn’t produce? Am I stuck with her, or can I divorce her and marry again? An assembly-line approach to getting the correct blue-bound bundle of joy?”
“That’s not what I meant!” Daphne stiffened, hearing her reasoning on Alex’s lips sound silly. It had all made sense to her. Why did he have to be so stubborn? “I just feel bad that your cousin is having a son and I can’t give you one!”
He leaned back, sensing that they’d finally gotten to the source of some of Daphne’s un happiness. “Heck, Daph, if you ask me, I’d rather not have a son if it meant being married to Gloria. I mean, she looks like she’s hunting for golden eggs or some thing. Have you seen the way she slavers every time money is mentioned? It’s scary.” He ran a finger over her bottom lip, which she could feel quivering. “I’ve never felt like you were after my money the way she appears to be after Phillip’s.”
“No. It was your body I wanted.” She didn’t dare meet his eyes after saying that, but she had always been fiercely attracted to him.
“I know. So let me in this window.”
“I can’t.”
Silently, he cocked a sardonic brow at her as he traced her lips.
She pulled away. “All right. I won’t.”
He sighed deeply, allowing his hand to fall against the window sill. “I’ll be back tomorrow night.”
Her gaze was haunted when it finally rose to his. “I don’t want you to pursue me, Alex.” It hurt to say it, but there was so much he didn’t under stand!<
br />
“Okay.”
He didn’t sound very happy, but she didn’t think she’d ever heard Alex capitulate before.
“When can I see you again?”
“I don’t know.” This she truly wasn’t certain about. “But you can see the babies every day, if you want. Call Mom, and I’ll have her send the babies with you for a couple of hours. You can send them home when they need to nurse.”
He breathed deeply. “But no divorce papers.”
“No. I…couldn’t face that right now.”
He reached out and lightly stroked the side of her face. “Sleep tight, Daph.”
“I will. Good night.” She slid the window shut. The curtains fell, covering it.
Alex felt as though he’d just been locked inside a prison. Resisting the urge to bang on the window and beg her not to shut him out, Alex went and got in his Mercedes.
For now, he had to face Beatrice and her group alone. It wasn’t a prospect he looked forward to.
Unfortunately, as he pulled the Mercedes into the pebbled circular drive, he realized Gloria and Phillip were standing outside on the porch, as if they were waiting for someone.
They stared at him as he got out of the car. Alex eyed them over the car roof and realized they were waiting for him.
“Do you have a second, Alex?” Phillip asked as Alex strode by with a brisk nod. “Gloria and I would like to talk to you.”
“I’m very busy,” Alex rejoined. “What’s the topic?”
Golden-haired Phillip glanced at his wife. “We know Mother’s making things difficult for you.”
Alex shrugged. “I’ve had bigger battles to fight.” It was true. Losing his wife was one.
“We just want you to know we don’t exactly think it’s fair that she’s acting this way.”
Alex stared at him. What kind of son sneaked around behind his mother’s back to make confessions like that? “Is there a reason you’re trying to get on my good side?”
“Maybe.” Phillip flicked a glance over his shoulder, as if Beatrice might appear there any moment. “Mother’s damn determined to take over this ranch and run it her way. I person ally don’t think she’s got the experience.”
“And I do.”
“Of course.” Phillip appeared astonished that he would suggest otherwise.
“And you want to make sure the cash cow doesn’t get run into the ground?” Alex narrowed his gaze on his long-lost cousin.
Phillip looked away for a moment before shrugging. “If you must put it that way, yes. Mother has no head for finances. Nor do I.”
“What do you have the head for, Phillip?” Alex couldn’t help asking.
Phillip glanced at Gloria as if she might know. Gloria shrugged, obviously not about to suggest anything he might be good at. A two-headed monster, Alex decided, with little brain between them.
“What do you want me to do about your mother? Can’t you stand up to her yourself?” Phillip apparently lacked gut as well as brain.
“It’s best not to,” Phillip conceded. “But Alex, we feel caught in between on this deal. Gloria and I, well, we’re on Mother’s side, of course, but…but she’s decided to buy ten thousand head of cattle from one of your neighbors.”
“Ten thousand?” Alex repeated. His mouth fell open. “From who, may I ask?”
“Some man down south. He had an oil well he wanted to sell her, too. Mother said that if your father could buy and sell cows and make a fortune at it, she could, too.”
Alex was stunned. There was no way Green Forks was equipped to handle that kind of additional load. Unfortunately, his hands were tied for the moment. “I don’t know where she’s going to put them all,” he muttered.
Gloria and Phillip glanced at each other. “What do you mean?”
He realized they had no idea how much grazing cattle needed to do in order to be healthy. “Never mind. That’s your side of the family tree at work. If that’s how she wants to spend her money, that’s her business.” Brushing past them, he went inside.
Aunt Beatrice met him in the foyer, giving him a cool glance from under her tall hairdo. “Your father’s servants are lazy,” she pronounced.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Your father’s servants are lazy,” she repeated with gusto. “They do very little that I ask, and begrudgingly.”
He found that very hard to believe of Sinclair and Nelly. Two harder-working people he had never met. “They’re not servants, actually. As you might have noticed from the bequest in my father’s will, he wanted them to live here as long as they wanted. They’re family, as far as we’re concerned.”
“Maybe to you.” She sniffed. “But to me they’re extra mouths to feed.”
He stiffened. “I’ll pay their salaries and expenses out of my own funds.”
“Fine. I’ll find it necessary to hire my own servants, then.”
“Do as you like. Please excuse me.” He turned and walked away from her.
“Of course, as I expect you’ll be finding other housing in the near future, I can assume they’ll be going with you.”
Slowly, he turned on his heel, amazed by the change in subjects. “Nelly and Sinclair are to live here as long as they like, no matter what you sue me for.”
“That silly bequest of your father’s has no impact on how I run this ranch,” she snapped, “particularly if they’re on your payroll.”
“As I don’t see myself leaving my home, Beatrice, I find this whole conversation point less.” Impatiently, he left the hallway. The woman was manipulative to the bone. No doubt she had alienated the very people who could have eased her transition to the ranch. Nelly and Sinclair knew more about running Green Forks than he did.
They met him in the hallway to his father’s quarters.
“Sir—”
Alex held up his hand. “I know. She’s driving you nuts.”
Sinclair’s face held relief. “In a word, sir.”
“Pay her no mind. You’re on my personal payroll. You don’t work for anyone but me.”
“Oh, thank you,” Nelly and Sinclair said.
“We’ve got to find a way to dislodge that canker from our back sides,” he murmured. “Do you know she has bought ten thousand head of cattle?”
“They’re being delivered in two weeks,” Nelly informed him. “I’ve been listening to her conversations. ‘Course, it’s not difficult to do. She yells everything.”
Alex looked out the window over the grounds of Green Forks. “How can that happen so quickly? It’s a hell of a lot of cattle to haul.”
“The man she bought them from was des per ate. I heard her ask how des per ate.” Nelly didn’t look too shamed by her eaves drop ping. “She bought them at below-market price.”
“I hope she hired lots of cowboys,” Alex stated. “The ones we have aren’t going to be able to handle the extra load.”
“I hope so, too,” Sinclair agreed. “Nelly and I aren’t cut out for chasing stock. Your aunt already tried to get us to help the auction man inventory stuff and tag it, but we declined to do so. Suffice to say, she’s rather put out with us.”
“Auction man?” Alex stared at Sinclair.
“Yes.” Sinclair and Nelly nodded unhappily. His trusted butler wrung his hands with worry. “I really don’t know how to tell you this, Alex, but that aunt of yours said she is going to have herself ‘one hell of a garage sale.’”
TWO WEEKS LATER, Daphne drove down the farm road slowly in her Suburban, the babies tucked neatly into their car seats and Danita beside her. They had very much enjoyed the drive to the quaint town square, but now they were tuckered out. Daphne had bought a new pantsuit she thought looked nice on her, the brown and bronze colors flattering. Unable to resist, she decided to drive past the Banning mansion rather than take the long way around. If she ran into Alex, she would wave and drive on with the excuse that the babies needed to get home to their cribs. He had come by regularly in the past two weeks, but she had managed to keep their v
isits very low-key, claiming tiredness. She was tired, but more than that, she was trying to give Alex time to see that her way was the only way he could gain control of the ranch. After Beatrice’s huge purchase, she knew Phillip and Gloria were right. Beatrice didn’t have the first idea about running a ranch. The woman could end up costing Alex his home. Daphne couldn’t bear the thought of that.
There were so many cars and stock haulers lining the road Daphne began gagging on the dust suddenly filtering in the air-conditioning vents. She drove slowly in order not to get backed into by a truck.
Daphne gasped. The scene in the pasture closest to the house stopped her completely. Steers ran every where, snorting their confusion. Like magnets meeting their polar opposites, they shied away from any moving thing, including the few hapless men trying to keep order. She had never seen so much cattle in one place. They had run down one long fence that separated paddocks, milling and bawling their unhappiness. In one area, a bull was trying desperately to mate with a recalcitrant female.
“Oh, my stars,” Daphne whispered. “I can’t believe my eyes.” The babies slept quietly in the middle bench seat of the Chevy, completely uncaring of the disaster at their father’s home. The ground itself looked like it had been ripped up by a furious Mother Nature.
On the walk at the top of the house, Beatrice stood watching the melee. Her arms folded across her chest, she looked pleased with the disorder, as if she were in control of everything.
Guilt tore at Daphne. She moved the Suburban forward care fully so she wouldn’t accidentally hit anybody—or anything—in the crush. To her astonishment, a huge bill board had been erected at the side of the road.
Estate Auction, the sign boasted. It gave the date, one week away, when the auction would be held. A gaudy red-painted arrow pointed to the mansion. All it needed was flashing neon lights to be any more tacky.
“Oh, no,” she murmured.
“Oh, no, is right,” Danita agreed. “I never saw the like.”
Her heart sinking, Daphne moved past the sign and the trucks and cars, hurrying home as fast as she could. She and Danita unloaded the babies, carrying them inside one by one.