by Diana Palmer
“Some of us make bigger mistakes than others,” Morie replied. “I’ll concede that I shouldn’t have applied for work without telling you the truth. But you should have given me the benefit of the doubt,” she added coldly.
“Under the circumstances, that didn’t seem possible.”
“Not with your girlfriend planting evidence right and left,” Morie replied curtly.
“Not my girlfriend,” Mallory said quietly. “Not anymore.” He looked right into Morie’s eyes as he said it, and her whole body tingled.
“I’m getting married,” Morie informed him with a tight smile. “So don’t look at me to replace her.”
“Fat chance,” Mallory said with a glance at a glowering Kingston Brannt. “I’ll be damned if I’ll marry into any family he belongs to.”
“That goes double for my daughter!” King snapped.
Mallory looked at Shelby and shook his head. “You must be one gutsy lady.”
“Because I married him?” Shelby managed a smile. “He’s not so bad, once you get to know him.”
“Which you won’t,” King muttered. “Aren’t you leaving?”
“I guess I am,” Mallory agreed. He glanced at Morie again with faint pride and obvious regret. “You wouldn’t like to hear my side of it?”
“Sure,” she replied. “Just like you wanted to hear my side of it.”
He glanced from one family member to another, turned and walked slowly away. Gelly grabbed his arm at the front door and started talking before they even got halfway out it. But Mallory wasn’t listening.
“WELL, I CAN SEE WHY YOU HAD to leave Wyoming,” Shelby said after the guests had gone home and they were sitting on Morie’s bed.
“He’s a pain,” Morie agreed. “But did you see the look on Gelly’s face when she realized who I was?” she mused. “It did my heart good.”
“She’s probably realized how much trouble she’s going to be in, as well,” Shelby replied. She studied her daughter’s face. “You really love that man, don’t you?”
Morie closed up like a sensitive plant at sundown. “I thought I did,” she replied. “But if he could take someone else’s word for my character, he doesn’t know me. He doesn’t want to know me. He’s happy living as a bachelor with his brothers.”
“I wonder.”
“I lived in dreams,” Morie said, fingering the expensive comforter. “I thought he was getting to know me and enjoying it, as I was. I thought he wanted me. All the time, he was just playing.”
“Why would he do that?” Shelby wondered aloud. “He doesn’t seem a frivolous man.”
Morie blinked. “He isn’t.”
“Perhaps he’s been hunted for his wealth, too.”
“He’s still being hunted for it, or didn’t you notice Gelly?” Morie laughed.
“A woman with an eye to the main chance, and quite cold-blooded, if you ask me,” Shelby agreed.
“Even his brothers suspected she was setting me up, but Mallory wouldn’t listen. He’s bullheaded to a fault!”
“Just like your father, dear.”
“I guess so.”
“You shouldn’t marry Daryl when you’re still in love with another man,” Shelby said abruptly. “It’s not fair to either of them.”
Morie didn’t answer. She was remembering the shock on Mallory’s face when he saw her in the beautiful gown, holding Daryl’s hand. It had been sweet vengeance. But it was a long step from that to forgiveness.
“How could I ever trust him again?” Morie wondered aloud. “Who’s to say that he wouldn’t do the same thing twice?”
Shelby kissed her cheek. “Love requires trust. Now I’m going to bed. We’ll talk some more tomorrow, okay? I’m very tired.”
“I know you are. Everything went perfectly. Well, except for Mallory walking in and spoiling the evening.”
“He held his own against your father, you know,” Shelby murmured drily. “That’s not easy. Most other men are terrified of him. Mallory wasn’t.”
Morie had noticed that. It made her proud. But she wasn’t going to say it.
“Sleep well,” she told her mother, and hugged her tight.
Shelby kissed her dark hair. “You, too, my darling. Good night.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“YOU CAN’T BELIEVE THEM!” Gelly exclaimed, almost hysterically. “She’s rich, so she can accuse me of things and I can’t defend myself!”
He glanced at Gelly in the seat of the corporate jet beside him. “Weren’t you just on the other end of that argument?”
She glowered at him. “She stole the egg. I know she did. You saw it in her bag!”
“I did, didn’t I?” He was still kicking himself mentally for believing Morie guilty in the first place.
“I did not plant it there. I swear!”
“They’ve hired a private detective. So have my brothers. The same detective—how’s that for a coincidence?” he murmured.
She shifted in her seat. This was getting too close for comfort. She couldn’t endure a thorough background check. “I’ll sue for invasion of privacy!”
“Gelly, the detective is investigating the theft of a priceless jeweled egg,” he reminded her. “How does that involve your privacy?”
She cleared her throat. “I’m sorry.” She forced a smile. “I wasn’t thinking clearly. I’m very upset. Her father is obnoxious!”
“He loves her. He’s very protective. I’d be that way about my own kids.”
She snuggled up to him. “Wouldn’t you like to have a family? I would. We could get married right away.”
“We could. But we aren’t going to.”
“But you like me, don’t you?”
He looked down into eyes like cash registers, as cold as ice, and realized that he’d never seen Gelly as she really was until now. It had taken a near tragedy to open his eyes to her real nature.
“You really want to be rich, don’t you?”
She gaped at him. “Who doesn’t?”
“There are things more important than money.”
She laughed coldly. “Of course there are, if you’ve got it.”
“I want to hear more about that friend of yours, Cardman,” he said suddenly.
She looked around restlessly. “He’s just someone I know. He’s down on his luck.”
“Would it be because of the lawsuits?”
She cleared her throat. “I think I’ll try to have a little nap,” she said with a practiced smile. “I’ve had a very upsetting evening. You don’t mind?”
“I don’t mind.”
She curled up in her seat and pillowed her head on her arm. Mallory got up and went to sit in the front seat, where he had access to a laptop. He opened it and started doing some digging of his own.
WHEN HE GOT HOME, his brothers were both in the living room, having coffee and watching the news before bedtime.
They stared at him curiously. “You’re back early,” Tank said. “I thought the plan was to fly back in tomorrow.”
“There was an unexpected surprise.”
They both raised eyebrows.
Mallory stuck both hands in the pockets of his dress slacks and glared at them. “Kingston Brannt has a daughter.”
“Oh?” Cane mused with a wicked smile.
“Does he, now?” Tank added. “And you noticed her?”
“It was hard not to,” Mallory snapped. “She worked for us for several weeks.”
There were shocked faces all around.
“Morie?” Cane asked. “She’s the daughter of that Brannt?”
“Told you the name wasn’t a coincidence, didn’t I?” Tank mused. “She had quality and breeding.”
“What the hell was she doing working for wages?” Cane wanted to know.
“She got tired of men wanting to marry her for her money,” Mallory said tersely.
“I can understand that,” Tank agreed.
“So she found a man who was loaded and now she’s engaged to him,” Mallory contin
ued in a dull tone. “He’s a pretty boy. His father’s in the Fortune 500. No gold digging there. And her father likes him.”
It was the emphasis on the last word that caught their attention.
“King doesn’t like you, I’m assuming,” Cane mused.
“Fat chance. I accused his daughter of theft and fired her,” Mallory said heavily. He took off his jacket, loosened his tie and dropped down into his recliner. “I must have been blind, to think she’d steal from us.”
“You had Gelly helping you think it,” Cane said sourly.
“Gelly was half-hysterical when we left,” Mal-lory confided. “Morie’s father hired a private detective.” He glanced at Cane. “The same one you hired, Dane Lassiter. When he mentioned that, Gelly almost fainted. And there’s something else. That friend of hers, Cardman, who wanted to buy our scrubland, he’s in the oil business. He does the fracturing process with injection wells to extract oil. He’s being sued in several states for sloppy work that resulted in groundwater contamination.”
“I seem to recall that you were in favor of selling him that land,” Tank commented to Mallory.
“Go ahead, rub it in. I’ve been a complete idiot,” Mallory grumbled. “No need to feel shy about commenting.”
“Anybody can be fooled by a woman,” Cane said sourly.
“Except me,” Tank said with a grin.
Nobody said anything. It wasn’t true. He used to have a fail-safe radar when it came to women. In fact, he’d been the first to suspect that Gelly wasn’t what she seemed to be. But his own track record was blemished since his last failed romance.
“What about Morie?” Cane asked.
“What about her?” Mallory returned belligerently.
“Don’t try to fool us…we’re your family,” Tank replied. “It was obvious that you felt something for her, even if you were fighting it tooth and nail.”
Mallory’s dark eyes grew narrow. “Maybe I did. But I’m not marrying into any family that belongs to King Brannt!”
“Ooooh,” Tank murmured drily. “Venomous.”
“Absolutely,” Cane agreed.
“He’s bullheaded, uncompromising, acid-tongued, confrontational, bad-tempered and he has the parlor manners of a rabid moose!”
“So you liked him, then,” Cane replied, nodding and smiling.
“I’ve never seen a rabid moose,” Tank commented.
“I’ll fly you to Texas. You can see for yourself,” Mallory muttered.
“To give the man credit, it would be offensive to have his only daughter charged with theft. And from what I’ve heard, nobody has a temper the equal of King Brannt’s.”
“I gather that you didn’t get to meet Cort at the party?” Cane mused.
Mallory frowned. “Who’s Cort?”
“Her older brother. If you think King’s got a temper, you ain’t seen nothing yet,” Cane drawled. “A cattleman made a nasty remark about his conservation practices that he didn’t like and he put the man through an antique screen in a restaurant. Police came, arrests were made. Cort just laughed. The cattleman was selling supposedly purebred cattle with bloodlines that were, shall we say, not of the purest. Cort exposed him at the hearing. The charges were dropped, very quickly, and the cattleman did a disappearing act. I hear they’re still looking for him.”
“Any cattleman worth his salt can spot a good bull by conformation alone,” Tank scoffed.
“Yes, well, the cattleman was selling his stock to a newcomer from back east who’d just bought a ranch and was buying bulls for his new herd,” he replied. “He was furious when he found out what he’d lost.”
“God help us,” Tank exclaimed. “So the perp skipped and left his pigeon holding the bag. Tragic.”
“Perp? You still talk like a lawman,” Cane remarked.
Tank shrugged. It was painful to remember how he’d been shot up during the border incident. But it was getting easier to live with.
“Sorry,” Cane said gently. “I wasn’t trying to bring back bad memories. I forget sometimes.”
Tank smiled. “Me, too. No problem.”
Mallory was listening, but not commenting. He was seeing Morie in her beautiful gown, her black hair upswept, her creamy shoulders on view. He was seeing that handsome yahoo holding her waist and feeling the anger rise in him at the sight. She’d been his, if he’d wanted her. He’d kissed her, held her, touched her. She was innocent. Was she still? Or had she gone rushing into that playboy’s bed, full of grief and anguish at Mallory’s rejection and distrust?
“Damned pretty boy,” Mallory muttered to himself.
“Excuse me?” Cane replied.
“Morie’s fiancé,” he said coldly.
“I’m sure that she only likes him because he’s handsome,” Tank said with a wry glance at his brother.
“You can talk,” Mallory said irritably. “Both of you got the looks in the family. I favor our grandfather, God help me. He looked like his face caught fire and somebody put it out with an ax.”
They both practically rolled on the floor laughing.
“Well, we’re still stuck with lawsuits drifting in,” Mallory said heavily. “Brannt’s going to sue us for defamation of character.”
“He won’t,” Cane replied easily. “Morie won’t let him. She’s got a heart.”
“A big one,” Tank agreed. “She’s as innocent as Joe Bascomb.”
Cane was silent. Mallory stared at him pointedly. “You’re loyal to your friends. It’s one of your finest traits. But Joe beat his father’s mule senseless and almost killed it. Have you forgotten that?”
“Joe said it was his dad,” Tank replied tautly.
“There were witnesses, Tank,” Mallory said gently. “His mother was taken to the emergency room around the same time with a fractured arm. The talk was that she tried to stop Joe from beating the mule and he hit her with the tire iron.”
“She said she fell,” Tank replied doggedly.
“You don’t want to hear these things, but you already know that Joe got out of the army on a mental,” Cane reminded him. “He attacked two men in his barracks for making fun of him because he couldn’t spell. Put one of them in the hospital.”
“That might all be true, but he could still be innocent of deliberately causing the death of the man who was beating Laura Teasley.”
“I know,” Cane said. “But there’s a pattern of violent behavior going back a long way. It came out at the trial. Besides that, Laura testified that Joe already had a grudge against the victim for a blacksmithing job he did and wasn’t paid for.”
“We were talking about the Brannts,” Tank said, changing the subject abruptly. “And we still have the problem of who took that egg.”
“The only people who had access to this room were Mavie—and we know she didn’t do it—and us. And Gelly,” Cane added quietly.
“That’s not quite true, is it, Tank?” Mallory asked suddenly, and with a pointed stare.
Tank glared at him. “Joe was only in here once, just before he was arrested,” he said.
“Tank, he came on the place without even being noticed when he approached Morie at the line cabin,” Mallory reminded him. “He’s a woodsman. He can get into and out of anything. He’s a locksmith, in addition to being a blacksmith. He can open locks.”
“Isn’t it enough that he’s being accused of a murder he didn’t commit? Do we have to start accusing him of theft, as well?” Tank exclaimed, exasperated. He got up. “I’m going to bed. Arguing gets us nowhere.”
“Me, too,” Cane agreed. He got to his feet. “Dane Lassiter has one of his best detectives up here poking around. He’ll dig up something. I’m sure of it.”
“Most of it will probably concern Gelly, I’m afraid,” Tank said with a worried look at Mallory. “I hope you aren’t more involved with her than you seem to be.”
“I’m not,” Mallory said heavily. “She was just somebody to take around places.”
“You’d better hope she do
esn’t come up with a better accusation than the ones she made against Morie and our former cowhand,” Cane told him.
“Like what?” Mallory asked, stunned.
“Maybe she’ll turn up pregnant,” Cane said.
Mallory’s dark eyes twinkled. “Not by me,” he said. “I’m not that careless.”
“She could lie.”
“Bloodwork would exonerate me,” Mallory said easily. “I was never intimate with her in the first place.”
“Good thing,” Tank said.
“Yes,” Cane agreed.
Mallory didn’t mention that there had been a close call once, just once, after Morie left and he was depressed enough to need comforting. But he hadn’t crossed the line with Gelly. So even if she made the charge, he’d be able to refute it. He did worry, though, that she might try to trap him. She wanted money and now she was desperate. He wondered if she might have taken that priceless egg. She did have the opportunity and the motive. It would have to wait for the private detective to iron it out, he supposed.
He went up to bed, his mind still full of Morie’s real identity and the picture that he’d carry forever in his heart, of her in that white gown, looking as elegant as a princess and quite at home among the wealthiest cattlemen in the world.
A FEW DAYS LATER, A TALL, dark man with long black hair and pale gray eyes, wearing a suit, knocked at the front door.
Mavie let him in and called Mallory, who was the only brother in the house at the moment.
“Ty Harding.” The man introduced himself and shook hands with Mallory. “I work for Dane Lassiter, out of Houston.”
“Come in,” Mallory invited. “Mavie, coffee?”
“Coming right up,” she said, casting a last, smiling glance at the handsome newcomer. Not only was he handsome, he had the physique of a movie star, tall and muscular without being overtly so.
Harding sat down across from Mallory. “I’ve finished the investigation.”
“Then you know who took the egg?” Mallory asked at once.
He nodded grimly. “It was sold to a fence in Denver through a third party for ten thousand dollars.”
Mallory gaped at him. “It’s worth ten times that!”