Seth had heard the stories. Newt Leland had indeed been known for his gambling problem. Newt used to say he’d had a bad run in a declining market that would eventually turn around for the better.
On his deathbed, when he should’ve been telling his daughter how much he loved her, Newt tried to teach Lindsey everything he knew about trading pork bellies. The real irony came a few months after her father’s death in 2011. That’s when the Chicago Mercantile Exchange delisted pork belly futures.
“Lindsey, how much do you owe?”
“Me?” She balked at that. “This was Daddy’s farm and even though he isn’t here anymore, it’s still his debt. I tried to work out a payment arrangement. All the stalls are leased and I’m field grazing horses, too. I’m even teaching riding lessons and…”
“I’d love to hear how you plan to turn this thing around, but I don’t think the sheriff and his boys will give us that luxury. Do you?”
“My debt, my business,” she snapped stubbornly. “I didn’t ask for your help, Seth.”
“I’m going out on a limb here and guessing that you don’t have time to keep your business to yourself. If you don’t pack up and leave, they’ll take you out of here kicking and screaming. Is that what you want?”
She shrugged. “I’m not leaving without a fight.”
“You’ll get one, Linds. You have to vacate the premises. You can stay at our place. We’ll go see Tom Leonard first thing Monday morning.” Leonard and Associates were the best attorneys in town. They had to be. In their part of the South, the cattlemen kept them in business. If it wasn’t one crooked deal, it was another.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Linds, you do not have a choice.”
She stomped her foot. “I talked to Farmer’s Lending. They promised we would work out a repayment plan. Then, they moved Bob Callaway to another branch. Last Friday I was told that he didn’t have the authority to work out payments with me. Low and behold, what happens?” Her lip quivered. “They show up here waving papers around, telling me it’s time to go. They act so casual about it.”
“How much, Lindsey?”
“Why does it matter?” She shook her head in disgust. “It’s not like you can buy the place. You’re sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.” She turned to leave.
He stopped her. Gripping her wrist, he held her arm close to his thigh. “You should’ve come to me. You could’ve talked to Beck.” Seth and his brother were willing to do whatever necessary to protect her and she damn well knew it.
She jerked her head and stared down at where he held her arm. “Tell me you aren’t trying to get fresh at a time like this.”
He scoffed. And maybe, just maybe, he would’ve let that slide, but then she yanked her arm free and blasted him with a round of insults. “You and your brother have always been so damned curious about what goes on over here. If you’d been the kind of neighbor that you should’ve been, maybe you would’ve offered Daddy a hand here and there.
“Maybe if he’d had a little company from the Stallard boys, he wouldn’t have hated working the fields. After Conrad died, he was lonely. He lost his only son. Was it too much to ask of you to be neighborly and offer an old man a little compassion?”
Before she continued grasping at straws, he picked her up and set her on the oblong freezer. Clearly surprised, the little minx opened her mouth to speak, but when nothing came out, she just stared at him, dumbstruck. And like most men with ulterior motives and a much more attractive agenda, Seth took hold of opportunity and made it count.
Chapter Two
The heavy breathing and smacking of lips resonated in her ears. Seth stepped between her parted legs, kissing her into a breathless state of unexpected arousal. The whole scene couldn’t have lasted more than thirty seconds, but when he stepped away from her with tousled hair and wide eyes, she couldn’t help but curse under her breath.
“Thanks. I needed one more thing to worry about.” She tried to jump down, but he placed his hands on her knees and by golly, he kissed her again.
In the past, they’d let too many chances slip away and she’d waved them off as if they were nothing. Why, pray tell, had he decided to savagely kiss her when a bunch of cops were within ear-bending distance?
When their kiss ended a second time, she brushed her lips with her fingertips. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
“Why not?” His lopsided smile left her with butterflies in her stomach. “If you ask me, I should’ve done that a long time ago.” He dragged his thumb across the swell of his lip. “Yeah, we should’ve had that one behind us ages ago.”
“Jerk,” she muttered, jumping off the freezer. He could play that I don’t remember card all he wanted, but they had their first moment ages ago. Unfortunately, she just barely remembered it.
“Linds, wait.” He stepped in front of her. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“No. You shouldn’t have. Then again, I shouldn’t have kissed you.” She opened the door and glared at the curious men staring back at her with smirks stamped on their faces. Over her shoulder, she quickly added, “But don’t worry, Seth. I’m not in the mistake-making business. It won’t happen again.”
Scanning her kitchen and the officers’ amused expressions, she felt the pang of reality nipping at her heels. They were there to remove her from her home. Everything her grandfather had worked for was now gone. Everything her father had cared about was seconds from being destroyed.
As her eyes flooded with tears again, she choked back the sorrow and pushed aside the rage. Her family’s history was there right along with her own childhood memories. The very few things that she remembered about her mother seemingly revolved around that big country kitchen. She could almost picture her mom now, waving around a wooden rolling pin and shouting, “No running in the house, kids!”
“Miss Leland, did you discuss options with your neighbor?” The sheriff removed his hat and rubbed his bald head.
Pulled away from the past, she quickly grabbed a set of keys from a hook next to the door. Vaguely aware of those watching her, she made a mental list of what she needed in order to survive the next few days.
“Miss Leland?” Sheriff Ray flashed his crooked smile. “Did Seth help you come up with a solution?”
“Miss Leland will be staying with me. Monday, she’ll speak with her attorney.” Seth’s black eyes shimmered like coal when he closed the distance between himself and the sheriff. “So you know, Sheriff, my brother and I will take turns camping out at the property line. If you or any of your deputies so much as try to trespass, I’ll call in favors all over the state and I will have my proof when I go to the proper authorities.”
Lindsey shuddered at the sound of his voice. Lindsey, like most of the townspeople in their small rural area, didn’t trust law enforcement. They were often on the take when they should’ve been upholding the law. They looked the other way when they should’ve been paying attention. Their rats or informants had often ended up dead. Meth labs scattered the county and everyone knew about them, including Sheriff Ray and his men. If rumors were true, they also took a cut of all marijuana trade, which explained why the rats often ended up dead or missing.
These guys weren’t just crooked. They were dirty cops with bloody hands.
“What exactly are you implying, Seth?” Sheriff Ray’s nostrils pulsed. “As long as Lindsey leaves, there’s no reason for us to come back out here tonight. Save yourself the trouble and get some rest, bud.”
“You and I both know that some of your men have furnished their homes with stolen goods,” Seth said. “Around these parts, cattle rustling doesn’t always make the news, but it’s newsworthy all the same. Her fields and barns are loaded. They’ll stay that way.
“Farmers, even though we aren’t the preferred race around here, stick together. You know how that works. We swap information and look out for each other when it counts. Nothing around here goes un
noticed. Fact is, no one has challenged you because in this part of the country, we all take care of our own anyway. We have to. Don’t we, Sheriff?”
“I’ll see you behind bars before I’ll let you insult me.”
“Be careful when you pick a fight with another bully, Sheriff Ray. I grew up with a silver spoon in my mouth but took my beatings like every other cowboy around here, and when it’s time to get in the hog pen and throw slop all over the damn place, I play as dirty as the next guy. You ought to know as much.”
“What are you trying to say here, Seth?”
He chuckled. Clearly Seth didn’t mind to taunt law enforcement. “Beck and I have been saving years of documented proof to support all sorts of findings. If you come back to Lindsey’s house or show your face in her barns while this thing is being sorted out, you will answer to me.”
“Now that’s a threat,” he said, turning to his deputies. “Boys, you know what to do.”
Feet shuffled as the dutiful soldiers went at Seth with clear intentions. They were planning to arrest him. Lindsey’s throat constricted. She felt as if she couldn’t breathe. “Seth, damn it!”
Why hadn’t he just stayed out of this?
Deputy Bright yanked his handcuffs from his side. “Behind your back, Seth.”
“Sure thing, Bright.” He held his head high and stared down the bridge of his nose, peering at the sheriff like he held the house of cards. “Oh and Sheriff, I’m actually glad we have the opportunity to let one another know which side we’re on now. See, I met someone you know the other day. Pretty woman by the name of Mary Alice? Mary makes the best apple moonshine. You know her?”
Lindsey thinned her lips and tried not to laugh. All things considered, there wasn’t anything at all to laugh about—except Mary Alice and the moonshine bit. She and the sheriff had a little cottage set up on the outskirts of town. Rumors ran like fast moving rapids, but supposedly the sheriff’s wife had yet to hear them.
“Don’t threaten me, boy,” Sheriff Ray said, his face turning blue.
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Seth said. “But Beck? There’s your problem. See, when my brother finds out I’m behind bars, we’ll all have a package full of eight-by-ten worries.” He clucked. “Mary Alice—now, she’s a looker. I’ll give you that. Anyway, we have a good shot of her sipping moonshine on her front porch. She was seated on a swing next to a man we both know well.
“Speaking of which, how do you think your wife will react when she sees that picture of the two of you? Best I can recall, your hands were in inappropriate places, too.” He shook his head and clucked. “It would be a real shame for those images to surface, particularly now that your wife and Mary Alice are in the family way.”
The sheriff balled his fist and swung his arm back. “Why you sorry son of a bitch.”
Seth never flinched. “You’ve got no idea what I’m capable of.” His eyes flickered with cool confidence. “Now arrest me, throw that punch, or move the hell on.” No one tried to arrest Seth then. Instead, they stood there dumbfounded.
“What’s it gonna be, Sheriff?”
He sneered. “Another time, Seth.”
“I’ll look forward to it.” After a few quiet moments, Seth tapped the paperwork on the kitchen counter. “Lindsey, grab what you need for a few days and make sure you collect anything of value.”
Lindsey grabbed the gate keys from a nearby drawer and tossed them on the breakfast table. “These are to the barn and stables.”
As Lindsey gathered items from the mudroom, the sheriff and his boys traipsed around the kitchen impatiently.
Sheriff Ray said, “If anybody else had been standing here listening to all those bogus accusations, they would’ve hauled your ass in.”
“Funny thing about the truth. When it’s clear-cut and set in stone, no one challenges it. You know better than to threaten me, Sheriff. Your boys do, too. My guess is, they don’t want their significant others to know what they do out at Mary Alice’s place. She has a lot of friends in and out of there, you know.”
“You’ll get yours,” the sheriff said. “You have no idea who you’re up against.”
Small towns were all the same. Those toting handcuffs and pistols often thought they were untouchable. Sheriff Ray probably believed as much. Folks like Ray never saw their opponent as such until they were sinking that proverbial ship and drowning.
Seth peered around the mudroom door and shot Lindsey a wink. “You about ready, hon?”
“Give me a minute,” she said, grabbing a few items out of the dryer and throwing her wet garments in a plastic bag.
“You tell your brother if that day comes and I arrest you, he’ll be well advised to stay away.” The dumbass was still pitching threats.
Seth closed the distance between himself and the sheriff. “That day better not come, Sheriff. See, when I don’t trust someone in this town, I spend years collecting the kind of information that will potentially ruin them on the chance that they ever make a mistake and come after me or someone I care about.”
“Paranoid fuck, aren’t ’cha?”
Seth cracked his knuckles and took a deep breath. “No, I’m just not an enemy that crooked bastards like you need. You’ve gone after every reputable farmer in this town and I was always one step behind you, collecting information.
“If you’d been honest or perhaps just shown a smidgen of integrity, then maybe someone like me wouldn’t have been able to gain the one-up on you. Instead, you took pleasure in bringing others pain. You’ve been called the sheriff who spares no one, the one who shows no mercy. Your actions, Sheriff, have been unforgivable, so with that said, understand this—I will show no mercy if you pursue someone I care about without just cause.” He turned to Lindsey. “Get packed, sugar. And don’t you worry your pretty little head. You’ll be back home before that milk in your fridge spoils.”
Chapter Three
While he was waiting for Lindsey, Seth fed the horses and watered the stock. Right as he finished up, Beck called. “Talk to me, little brother.”
“It’s bad.”
“We knew it would be,” Beck said. “What’d ya know?”
“She didn’t have a choice. She had to leave. There’s a provision in the paperwork which states that she has permission to feed and water her animals, but she has to move them within thirty days.”
“We have room at our place,” Beck said.
“No. She’s been boarding show horses. We could take three or four of them, but she’ll have to find a place for the rest.”
“Damn,” Beck said. “Was her barn full?”
“Yep.”
“That’s a hell of an income,” Beck said.
“Apparently she owes a lot more than what she’s dragging in. What do you know about Bob Callaway from down at Farmer’s Lending?”
Beck scoffed. “I know he isn’t there anymore.”
“Lindsey told me. Anything else?”
“He hangs out at our favorite local bar.”
“So he’s still in town?” Seth asked.
“Far as I know. I’ll stop by there on the way in. From what I hear, he’s tight with Bonzo Maldeni.”
“Bonzo has friends in all the right places. Doesn’t he?”
“It’s starting to look that way,” Beck said. “Listen, I’ll grab a few tents on the way in, too. We’ll need to cover her property tonight. If the local boys know it’s deserted, they’ll be knocking out windows and looting anything that’s not tied down.”
“Already told the sheriff we’d have hands on deck and all eyes on the property.”
“Damn it, Seth. You always show your hand.”
“Hey, listen, like you I would’ve loved to have caught them in the act. Thing is, I didn’t want Lindsey to worry about someone going through her things. There’s nothing worse than knowing that someone has ransacked your place and prowled through your personal belongings.”
“True,” Beck said. “Anything else I should know?”
&nbs
p; Seth sniffed. Beck would probably curse him up one side and down the other, but he needed to know what Seth had said. “I spilled the beans on Mary Alice.”
“You did what?” Beck’s voice resonated in Seth’s ears. “What the hell were you thinking?”
“Never hurts to let someone know what you’re capable of when it might save the person you most want to protect.”
“Why hell, why didn’t you just tell him that we had e-mails from his IP number and recorded phone calls?”
“I thought about it,” Seth said. “I told him enough to keep him in line.”
“No, you told him enough to make him paranoid. He’ll have it in for you now.”
Seth laughed. “And with what I have on him? Ask me if I care.”
“Seth, put aside your arrogance and think about Lindsey here. If you piss the sheriff off, he won’t take it out on us. He’ll go after her.”
“And if he does, I’ll go after his family—and his mistress.”
“Remind me to never piss you off.”
“I learned from the best, brother.” A beat later, he added, “If you’re stopping by Maldeni’s place, have a chat with the man himself. Even the deputies had heard about that little problem we’d discussed.”
“About Lindsey’s possible employment?”
“That’s the one.”
“It will be a cold day in hell before she works for Maldeni.”
“My thoughts exactly, but here’s the thing—Maldeni is in bed with the guys at Farmer’s Lending and Shanks Statham, that Florida developer, is cozy with him too.”
Tap That (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 2