A County Girl's Heart

by Dena Blake

  “When I read it, I found out all kinds of new things about you. Next time I see her, I’m gonna have to thank her.” Victoria pressed her lips together into a smile that sent a shiver through Kat.

  What kind of things is she talking about? Kat picked up the envelope, turned it over, and saw her name on it. That doesn’t mean anything. Victoria could’ve written that.

  Hesitating a moment, Kat tossed it onto the table, then reached down and continued lacing her boots. “Get out.”

  “Okay.” Victoria gave her a wink. “Don’t worry. I won’t hold it against you when you find out I’m right.” She pushed open the screen door and stepped out. “You know where I’m at.”

  “It’ll be a cold day when I ever set foot in your place again,” Kat said, and she meant it.

  “Winter’s comin’ sooner than you think.” Victoria gave her a wicked smile that made Kat’s stomach clench and let the door slap shut.

  “Oh boy.” Virgil frowned and rubbed his forehead. “Are you gonna open it?” Virgil pushed the envelope closer to Kat.

  “It’s not my business, Virgil.”

  “It damn sure is. It’s got your name on it.” Virgil picked it up and let the contents slide out into his hand. After reading the first page, he shook his head. He flipped through the rest of the documents before slipping them into the envelope and dropping it onto the kitchen table. He eyed it for a moment before he went back to making the coffee.

  Kat planted her hands firmly on her knees and stared at the envelope. “I told her how much trouble Maxwell’s been giving us. She probably just did some checking when she went to Austin yesterday.” She sucked in a deep breath and pressed her lips hard together.

  “Why don’t you just take a look and find out?” Virgil slid the envelope over to her.

  She picked it up and ran her finger under the flap. Still undecided, she let the documents slide slowly out into her hand. As she focused on the first few lines, all that registered in her mind were the words Montco Oil and stock transfer. She suddenly found it hard to breathe. She felt like someone had punched her in the chest. The documents weren’t about Victoria at all. They pertained to Montco Oil Incorporated.

  She read further. It appeared that Elizabeth was willing to sign over one third of her interest in the company to Kat, free and clear. The one catch was that she take an active position in the company and attend all board meetings in the future.

  She didn’t understand. These weren’t even copies. They were original documents. DJ had acted like she didn’t know her family. Why would she have them? She scanned each page from top to bottom as she flipped through the rest of the papers, and pain stabbed her heart. They were all about her. It was a well-composed dossier of her life, including everything from early childhood to the present.

  She felt the warmth of the tears streaming down her face as she continued to read. Her whole life story was right there in one neat little package. No wonder she was so attracted to DJ Callen. She had prepared herself well. She knew more than enough about Kat to seduce her.

  She scattered the documents across the table. “Damn her.”

  “I’m sorry, Kat.” Virgil stood in the doorway, concern clear in his eyes. She wished she could lose the last half decade of her life, fall into his protective arms, and let him comfort her as she had when she was younger, but she’d made this mess, and her pride wouldn’t let her.

  “I should’ve known better,” Kat said, storming past him. “Are all women like this?” she asked, without needing an answer.

  DJ Callen was no better than Victoria Maxwell. She might not be quite as transparent, but she was just the same. Kat had let her guard down and trusted her. Now she’d abused that trust.

  “Where are you going?” Virgil shouted after her.

  Kat threw the screen door open. “Out on the range. I have work to do,” she said and sprinted toward the stable.

  Chapter Sixteen

  When DJ arrived in Austin, she went straight to see Mark Hamilton to find out why he was calling Kat. The door to Mark’s office was open, and his assistant was away from her desk. She stepped into the office and found it empty, an opportunity DJ couldn’t pass up. She beelined it across the room to the cherrywood desk.

  She set her briefcase on the desk, sat down in the high-backed chair, and shuffled through the neatly stacked papers. Nothing here DJ hadn’t already seen. She opened the right-hand file drawer and thumbed through the file folders. Nothing that pertained to Kat or the Montgomery land. She yanked open the other drawer, but it seemed to hitch before sliding all the way out. DJ examined it before she slid the other one out again. The one on the left wasn’t as deep as the one on the right. She gave it another tug and it didn’t budge. She reached into the right-hand drawer and shoved all the files to the front. After feeling the back panel of the drawer, she knocked on the wood—solid. She did the same in the left-hand drawer, but the sound was hollow. She tried to pry it free with her fingers but couldn’t. She opened the middle drawer, searching for something to force the wood loose. Coming across a silver letter opener, she jammed it into the joint and pried the panel loose. Empty. Nothing in the six-inch space.

  “Damn!” DJ tossed the letter opener onto the desk. The man wasn’t stupid enough to keep anything in his office. DJ heard voices coming toward the office, so she quickly slammed the drawers shut and hurried to the wet bar embedded in the wall of every executive office in the building. She dropped a few ice cubes into a glass, reached into the compact refrigerator, and filled it with orange juice.

  “Good morning,” she said, surprising Mark as he came through the doorway.

  “Who let you in here?”

  “Door was open,” DJ said as she sipped her juice.

  Mark rounded his desk and sat looking at his files as though he could tell things were a little askew. It really didn’t matter. She was putting the man on notice today.

  “I received a call from Kathryn Jackson.” She swirled her glass, letting the ice clink against it. “She said you tried to contact her.”

  Mark picked up the letter opener and put it in his desk. “As a matter of fact, I did.”

  “What for?”

  Mark popped up out of his chair but remained behind the desk. “I’ve been researching the property you asked me about.”

  DJ kept her stare still and even. “I asked you about the property abutting hers.”

  Mark stared down at his desk, his confidence faltering. “I’m just trying to find some history on the whole area.”

  “What could you possibly find out from Kathryn?”

  Mark narrowed his eyes. “You said she thought that her grandparents owned it, right?”

  “Uh-huh.” DJ scanned the office, noting the lack of anything that might connect Mark to Rebecca. She relaxed, thinking perhaps it was a sign they weren’t as close as Elizabeth had thought. Then again, other than the framed law degree hanging on the wall, the room seemed to be void of any personal items.

  “I was trying to find out where she’d gotten that impression.” After straightening the pile of papers, Mark slapped them to the desk. “Then at least I’d have a place to start.”

  “Why didn’t you start with Rebecca?”

  “Rebecca has nothing to do with this.”

  “Actually, she does, and that’s why you couldn’t go to her.” DJ studied him for a minute before slapping her briefcase onto the desk. “If you had, she’d know what you’ve done.” She set her glass on the desk, took out a copy of the forged land deed from her briefcase, and floated it across to him.

  “That is your signature, isn’t it?” DJ could see the look of surprise on Mark’s face as he picked it up.

  “Where did you find this?” Mark’s voice was shaky and uneven.

  “That’s not important.”

  “It certainly is,” Mark said, clearly agitated. “I didn’t sign this.”

  DJ ignored his claims of innocence. “I think you did. How was Rebecca’s land deeded to
Victoria Maxwell?” She moved around the desk, prompting Mark to roll the high-back leather chair between them.

  “I don’t know. Maybe Rebecca didn’t want the land and sold it herself.” Mark kept a firm grip on the chair and pointed to the date on the document. “This happened long before I started seeing her.”

  DJ pointed to the scribbled line across the bottom. “That still doesn’t account for your signature.”

  “That’s not mine.”

  “Okay. Let’s say it’s not. Why would the county records show that Maxwell’s father originally owned the land?” DJ wasn’t going to let up. Mark had a hand in this. She just didn’t know exactly where.

  “I have no idea,” Mark said, keeping a tight grip on the chair.

  “All the documents filed at the county show that everything in that area is, and has been, owned by the Maxwell family for quite a long time.”

  Mark made a wide-eyed gesture at the pile of documents on the desk. “I’m aware of that.”

  “Someone has gone to a great deal of trouble to make these documents look authentic, and your signature is on all of them.”

  “I don’t like what you’re implying.” Still keeping his distance, Mark moved around to the front of his desk. “I think it’s time you left, Ms. Callahan.”

  “I don’t really care what you don’t like.” DJ reached for the copy of the deed on the desk and slid it into her briefcase. “You leave Kathryn Jackson alone.”

  “Is that some kind of a threat?”

  DJ’s narrowed her eyes as she moved closer. Mark didn’t flinch this time.

  “Threat. Warning. Advice. Take it whichever way you want. Just stay away from her.” She took her case from the desk and headed out the door.

  * * *

  Elizabeth’s private nurse was in the room checking her blood pressure when DJ arrived at the Belmont estate.

  “Is everything all right?” DJ asked the nurse as she entered.

  The nurse smiled. “Everything’s fine. Just checking vitals.”

  “Back so soon?” Elizabeth said in her usual sweet manner.

  She waited for the nurse to finish up and leave the room. “We need to talk.”

  Elizabeth pointed to the chair next to the bed. “Come. Sit down.”

  DJ remained standing as she glided a hand across her stiff, spiked hair and felt it tickle her palm. “I can’t help you anymore, Elizabeth. If you want Kathryn involved in Montco Oil, you’re going to have to find some other way to convince her.”

  “Having a sudden attack of conscience?”

  “I guess I am.”

  “What about your family and their farm? Have you lost all loyalty to them?”

  A wave of guilt filled her. “I’ll have to find another way to resolve that issue. Kat loves the life she’s built for herself at the ranch, and I’m not going to help you take it away.” DJ knew that once Kat discovered her original motive for coming to the ranch, she’d never forgive her. In any case, DJ couldn’t deceive her any longer, not even to save the farm.

  “Even if you can’t share it with her?” Elizabeth’s voice softened. She must have caught the uncertainty in DJ’s eyes. “You’re in love with her.”

  A shot of heat flashed through DJ. Could she be right? Was she in love with Kat? After only a few days? She shook her head. “No. That’s not possible.” It certainly couldn’t be her moral sense making her second-guess the task. DJ had always led Elizabeth to believe she was a woman who lived life without regret. She’d never revealed any of the torment from her past that she kept locked inside.

  “You may not realize it yet, but I can see that you are.”

  “But Rebecca—”

  “You and Rebecca have put on quite a show to make me think you’re involved, but we both know that’s not true.”

  “You sent me out there, knowing full well she’d intrigue me.” DJ’s voice rose, and she tried to suppress her anger. “That was your plan all along, wasn’t it?”

  “Of course,” Elizabeth said matter-of-factly, obviously indifferent to any consequences she might have created. “I sent someone I knew could bring her to Austin.”

  DJ shook her head. “Don’t count on that, Elizabeth.”

  “Would that be so bad, Danica? Sporting Kathryn on your arm at all those boring society parties?” Persuasion rang clearly in Elizabeth’s voice.

  “She wouldn’t be happy here.” DJ shrugged as she turned toward the door. “You’d know that if you’d ever taken the time to visit her.”

  “Are you sure about that? Not even with you?” Elizabeth’s voice rose sharply.

  “I’d rather let her go than bring her here to be a pawn in your games.” DJ didn’t look back as she closed the door behind her.

  * * *

  After clearing the gates, DJ sped down the road past the cabins to Kat’s house. She glanced at her watch and saw it was already close to six o’clock. Virgil met her at the door and handed her the duffel bag she’d brought, the manila envelope containing her initial research on Kat and Montco Oil sticking out of the top. Her world spun as panic rushed her, and she grabbed the porch railing for balance.

  “She doesn’t want to see you,” Virgil said firmly. “And I can’t say I blame her.”

  DJ took the envelope from the top of her bag. “Did she read these?”

  “Yep. Every one of them.”

  “Damn,” DJ said, jamming it into the bag. “Where is she?”

  Virgil narrowed his eyes. “I think you should just leave her alone.”

  “Please, Virgil?” DJ’s voice deflated. “I need to explain this to her.” Forgiveness was a long shot. She hadn’t been honest with either of them.

  Virgil eyed her for a minute as he twisted one end of his mustache. “She’s out on the ranch somewhere. I’d check that tree by the river first.”

  “Thanks.” DJ turned and headed for the farm truck.

  “You’ll make it there faster if you take a horse,” Virgil shouted after her.

  She nodded and veered off toward the stable.

  * * *

  Pain shot through DJ’s fist as she smashed it against the walnut tree. She’d been certain Kat would be here. She walked over and plunged her hand into the river, soothing it in the icy-cold water. After wrapping it in a handkerchief, she dropped down by the tree and shook her head. Her stomach rolled as the mixed bag of emotions assaulted her. She was thoroughly disgusted with herself for being such a fraud. Kat had been truthful with her from the very start, and she’d deceived her in an unforgivable way. DJ had experienced deceit herself and knew how hurtful it was.

  As a young girl, DJ had spent most of her free time at the small rodeo arena in her hometown, practicing, making sure her timing was perfect enough to compete on the professional rodeo circuit. Becoming a rodeo star was her dream, a dream that someone she loved dearly had shattered. DJ would never forget that day her father made her leave the farm and forced her to take a path she didn’t particularly want to travel. She’d given up her rodeo dreams to go to college, then to law school to help support her family, only to lose her father years later before she could find it in herself to forgive him.

  She didn’t blame him anymore. Her father had only wanted a more secure future for her. He might have been right, but it took DJ a long time to forgive him. He had purposely broken DJ’s spirit with good intentions. DJ had never realized how hard it must have been for him until now. She’d let Elizabeth seduce her with the promise to save her family’s farm from foreclosure. She’d had good intentions as well, but DJ had betrayed Kat in the process.

  Her mind strayed to thoughts of the night before, thoughts of making love to Kat and of Kat making love to her. Waking in the morning with Kat’s body molded to hers. She was in love with Kat. Sadness filled her at the thought of never holding her in her arms again. She hauled herself to her feet and searched the hillside, hoping to catch a glimpse of Kat. When she didn’t show herself, DJ climbed on her horse and rode farther down the trail.


  After searching the trails endlessly, DJ returned to the stable and settled the horse into her stall before walking over to Kat’s house.

  Virgil sat on the front porch, slowly teetering back and forth while he sipped on a beer. “No luck, huh?”

  DJ flopped down into the chair next to Virgil. “She hasn’t come in yet?”

  “Give her some time. She’ll talk to you when she’s ready.” Virgil’s protective manner had softened measurably from their last conversation. “You gonna explain any of this to me?”

  She was legally bound not to disclose her conversations with Elizabeth Belmont, but DJ seemed to have found an ally in Virgil. Holding back now would be a mistake, but confiding in Virgil could jeopardize any promise of redemption that Kat might offer in the future.

  DJ blew out a short breath. “It’s complicated.”

  Virgil nodded. “Most everything is when it comes to the Belmonts.”

  DJ shook her head and said, “I’ve never had this much trouble dealing with a woman before in my life.”

  Virgil chuckled. “Kat’s not just any woman.”

  “You’re right about that.” DJ tugged her lip up to the side.

  “You want a beer?” Virgil asked, drinking down the last of the one he’d been holding.

  “No thanks. I need to take a shower and clean up.” DJ picked up her bag and went down the steps. “You didn’t change the lock on my room, did you?”

  “Not yet.”

  “When she gets here, tell her I’ll be in the bar,” DJ shouted, walking across the grounds to her cabin.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Kat watched from the barn as DJ sat on the porch talking to Virgil. She grabbed hold of the wood as the raw pain spiked. Her heart physically ached. She waited and watched as DJ walked across the grounds to her cabin. Kat didn’t want to…couldn’t see her right now. Her head was too scattered, and her heart might never forgive her. Once DJ was out of sight, she came out of the barn, dashed around the corral to the back of the house, and snuck in through the screen door.