by Sara Orwig
“I can imagine. I’ve hunted with my brothers on my side of the boundary that divides our adjacent family ranches. Since part of the boundary line is the river, the boundary keeps changing slightly. Going back to my great-great-grandfather Henry Calhoun, there was a sketchy map. No one in our family ever had interest in sharing it with anyone in your family. I’m guessing that maybe in the early days one or more family members offered to make a deal and split, but your family member refused.”
She smiled and his heart turned over. Desire heightened and he suddenly wanted to see her laugh, to hold her, dance with her—to have the past vanish. That wasn’t going to happen.
“So you have a map.” She shook her head. “I didn’t think there was a shred of truth to the legend.”
“Occasionally, legends are built on something—maybe not always exactly the way it’s stated in the legend, but something caused the legend to spring up.”
“It’s hard to believe there is a treasure hidden on our ranch.”
“That’s not so far-fetched. There was a lot of lawlessness in the early days, train robberies, later bank robberies. People just hiding something. This is a vague, damn poor map and has never made any sense to anyone in my family. I don’t think it will to you, either, but you know your land better than any outsider.”
“All these years. Why would your family even have a map?”
His gaze ran over her features, her skin that looked soft, flawless. He wished she had worn her hair down.
“No one can answer that one. The map may be bogus, although it has been in the family for generations. I’d bet that someone or maybe several in my family have tried to sneak onto Milan land to find the treasure.”
“I’m sure you’re right there. Why wouldn’t they? These ranches are big with wide, open land. Someone could easily search without anyone knowing about it.” She sipped her tea and shook her head. “So there’s really a map. All these years, actually all my life, I’ve heard the legend and heard various relatives talk about searching for it, but by the time I was grown, I just figured it was a tall Texas tale with nothing to it.” She sat back, smiling at him. “So you want permission to come on our land to search for the treasure.”
“That’s not all.” As her big green eyes focused so intently on him, he forgot the map, the treasure and his whole purpose for the evening. He wanted to close the last bit of distance between them, place his hand behind her head, wind his fingers in her hair and pull her closer to kiss her.
“There’s more?” she asked, looking at him with curiosity in her expression.
Desire raged in him, blatant and hot, until he remembered their past and then anger returned, smothering his feelings for her. He inhaled deeply, looked away and focused on his purpose.
She leaned closer. “So what else is there, Jake? What else besides a map have you kept secret all of these years and never told me when we were so close?”
“At the time we were in high school, we talked about it. It was mysterious and exciting to speculate about the legend, even though neither one of us believed it. Of all the people in both families, you and I seemed the most willing to forget the feud.”
“Yes, and I know we both thought the idea of a hidden treasure was exciting. I’m surprised you didn’t tell me about the map then.”
“I didn’t know it then. There’s a rule in our family—no one gets told about the map, and sworn to keep it in the family, until he or she is twenty-one years old.”
She laughed, a soft sound that played havoc with his insides again and made him forget what he was after.
“That’s probably why your family has kept it secret all these years. Kids talk.”
“Probably,” he said, smiling at her. “When you heard the legend, did the version you heard mention a shoot-out?”
“Yes. I heard there were Milans and Calhouns who would discover each other searching for the treasure and the Milans would run the Calhouns off our land.”
“Did you ever hear if any were killed?”
“Yes, but truthfully, I was a kid and didn’t pay that much attention to talk about someone who had lived generations ahead of me and who I never knew.”
He sipped his beer before he continued. “According to the Calhoun version of the legend, wherever the treasure is buried, your ancestors and my ancestors had a gun battle. Two Calhouns were killed and three Milans. They’re buried in shallow graves where they had the gunfight. This goes back to the first generation of each family to settle here and it was before both families had their own cemeteries. Now we have our own burial ground and I imagine you do, too.”
“Yes, we do.”
“I want the bones of the Calhouns brought home. Hopefully, we’ll find the treasure, which is yours since it is on your land.”
“You want bones,” she said, frowning slightly. “You could search every day for the next ten years and never find graves or bones or treasure, if it even ever existed. I can’t imagine that’s what’s behind this dinner,” she said, beginning to sound angry.
“Just one more thing besides the bones. There’s supposed to be a deed one of our ancestors was carrying. It was a deed won in a poker game. According to the story my family tells, the deed gives the Calhouns rights to a large part of the McCracken place to the east of us all along the border of his ranch.”
“A deed to the McCracken land,” she said, staring at him while she seemed lost in thought. “If that exists, it’s worth more than any treasure you could possibly dig up.”
“Jeb McCracken is mean and ornery and has fought with every neighbor,” Jake replied.
“That includes my family. There are people in town he’s aggravated. He’s left unpaid accounts all over this county and he’s spent more than a few nights in jail for brawls on the weekend in town. No one would regret seeing you get a chunk of that property.” She stared at him with a speculative curiosity in her eyes. “My ancestors are supposed to have been in that gunfight, also. Suppose we find the deed with my ancestors. Are you still going to claim it?”
He gave her a faint smile. “Not if their name is on the deed or it’s in a bony skeleton hand.”
She had to smile then and he felt another punch to his insides. Her smiles and her laughter had always been his undoing. He ached to reach out and touch her.
“I have no intention of searching long. I want you to look at the map I have and see if you can recognize anything. You probably have aerial photos of your land, all sorts of photos. If anything seems likely, then I’d like a chance to see if the deed exists, see if a treasure is buried with them and get my ancestors’ bones to take back for a proper burial. I have time in my life for that now and it would please my grandfather.”
She laughed softly, shaking her head. “You don’t seem the type for this. Why do I feel as if I better look at this from all angles, that you’re up to something—like surveying my land to drill for oil or gas?”
“All I want is what belongs to the Calhouns—namely my ancestors’ bones and the deed to the McCracken land if that exists. I’m not going to do any surveying, I promise you.”
“According to the old legend, the treasure is what caused the feud in the first place. Your great-great-great-grandfather and my great-great-great-grandfather came out here after the Civil War. What I’ve always heard is they found gold in a deserted house in Tennessee during the war. Later, my relative stole away your relative’s fiancée right before the wedding and that’s when the feud started. Then they fought over the gold and the woman they both loved, but a Milan killed a Calhoun, so the Calhouns rode in at night a week later and burned down a house, killed a Milan and carried off the woman in question, adding to the anger between the two families. The fight has continued until present day. I guess we have a truce of sorts now.”
“That matches what I’ve always heard about the beginnin
g of the feud,” he said. “That and when they fought, there were several Milans and several Calhoun brothers, plus an uncle.”
She shifted, recrossed her legs, distracting him totally. She sat quietly, so he remained quiet, letting her think about what he had said. She turned to the window and his gaze traveled slowly over her. She was twisted slightly in her seat, the neckline of the blue dress gaping a fraction, revealing the full rise of her breasts, her skin pale and creamy. The temperature in the plane jumped and he wiped his brow as images of long ago tormented him. Her waist was as tiny as ever. How well he could remember the feel of her in his hands. He had to stop thinking about the past, had to avoid erotic memories that set his heart racing.
Jake remembered her dad and that last night before he was going to elope with her, and the tantalizing memories vanished, replaced by anger, dulled by the passage of years, but still there.
She turned back while he was still looking at her neckline. She shifted slightly. “Jake, I have to think about this. We’ll be in Dallas before long, so we might as well go to dinner. I’ll consider your request and by this time tomorrow, I’ll give you an answer.”
“That’s great, Madison,” he said, feeling a stab of satisfaction. He was certain she wanted to discuss his proposal with her brothers. He hoped not her father.
Their pilot announced they were approaching Dallas and as they lost altitude, the sun was low on the horizon. By the time they were in the limo on the way to the restaurant, darkness had set in.
In a short time they were seated in a darkened corner table in a small private room. Lights were low, music from the piano player in another room was muted.
“So you got a private room for us. I didn’t know there was any such thing for just two people. I’m impressed.”
“That’s one reason I like this place. There are only three of these rooms.” He paused when their waiter arrived to take drink orders.
“Little chance of interruptions here by people who know either of us,” she said as soon as they were alone again.
“That’s right. You can barely see your hand before your face, much less who else is in the restaurant. Do you still like fried chicken better than anything else?” he asked, looking at a menu. He glanced up at her.
“No, like so many other things, my tastes have changed. I see lobster on the menu—that’s what I’ll have.”
“Excellent choice. I’ll have the steak,” he said, watching her while she had her head bent slightly over her menu. The candle flickering in the center of the table highlighted her shiny brown hair and rosy cheeks. Again, he wished she had worn her hair down the way he liked it best. He should forget what he liked best about her and leave anything personal a closed subject.
In minutes the waiter returned. He uncorked a bottle of white wine, gave it to Jake to taste and then poured two glasses after Jake’s approval.
As soon as they were alone, Jake raised his glass. “Here’s to finding the treasure.”
With a faint smile, she touched his glass with hers and heard the faint clink of crystal before she sipped. “That’s a safe, innocuous toast,” she said.
He smiled in turn. “I thought so.”
“I’m still thinking about your request.”
“If I’m successful, you’ll get your treasure, I will find a deed and get the bones of my ancestors for a proper burial. We both win.”
She tilted her head to study him, sipping her wine while she sat staring. “Why do I feel there is more to your request than you’re telling me? I find it a little difficult to trust you. You better not have manufactured this map yourself.”
He held on to his temper. “My dad took the map to someone in Chicago who could tell him the approximate age. It dates back to the mid-nineteenth century. That’s good enough for me. I’ll give you a copy of the letter and you can contact the people in Chicago yourself.”
“I’d like to see the original map. Will it disintegrate if it is handled?”
“Not if it’s handled carefully and you don’t intend to pass it all around. But you don’t get it until we have a deal.”
“You don’t trust me,” she said, bitterness filling her voice and anger flashing in her eyes, for an instant igniting his own fury, which he banked immediately.
“Should I?” he asked, trying to curb his feelings and get back to amicable dealings with her.
“Of course. You did at one time,” she reminded him sharply. Looking away, she took deep breaths. Spots of red were high on her cheeks. She sipped her wine and gradually her breathing went back to normal before she faced him again.
He’d give her time to think it all over; he just hoped the flare of animosity hadn’t killed the deal. Again, he had a flash of guilt for what he had kept from her. But then he thought about her father and stopped worrying about the secret he harbored.
* * *
Madison ate in silence while she mulled over his proposition, studying it from every angle because she didn’t trust him. She suspected he wanted badly to drill on her land and she wondered how much of wanting his ancestors’ remains was because he wanted to lease part of her ranch. Why hadn’t this come up years earlier or with some other Calhoun? And a deed and map? She had never heard of either one. Were they both hoaxes so he could get on her ranch? She wondered what was behind Jake’s request. She couldn’t keep from feeling that it was something to do with wanting to drill on their property.
What did she have to lose? That’s what she couldn’t figure. So he saw her land up close—she was certain he’d seen aerial photos because they were in the county records and on the internet. If he found the treasure, he had said she could have it. He simply wanted his relatives’ remains and the deed if there was one. While part of any ranch around here, including the McCracken place, would be a real asset, he would have to fight McCracken to get it.
She couldn’t believe a deed and his ancestors’ remains could be all there was to his request.
She glanced at him to find him watching her. His thickly lashed midnight eyes were seductive, mesmerizing. And guileless. He looked honest, trustworthy, open—all good qualities, yet she couldn’t believe the proposition was simply what he was telling her and nothing more.
Caught in his steady gaze, she forgot the legend, the treasure and the proposition. Instead she remembered Jake’s eyes filled with passion, a silent emphasis to what he did with his hands and his body. She had loved him deeply.
Instantly she broke off that train of thought and tried to think about her schedule tomorrow, his proposition, anything to escape memories that twisted a knife in her heart.
No matter how she turned his request in her mind, she couldn’t think how there could be an underlying motive and anything else for him to gain without her knowledge if she said okay to him.
“If I say okay to your proposal,” she asked him, “what are you going to do? Go out there with your shovel and start digging around?”
“Of course not,” he replied, smiling, his smile giving her heart a squeeze. He was so incredibly handsome and appealing and a smile made him doubly so. “I’ll get a crew from my ranch hands—not too many—about five. I want you to study the map and see if you can narrow down the location. There is no earthly way I can. You know your land, and if you don’t, one of your brothers should.”
“I’m no geologist. Suppose I can’t tell anything?”
“Then you and I will work on it together, but I’ll bet you’ll look at the map and come up with some possibilities for the area.”
She thought about what he was telling her as she put down her fork, her appetite suddenly gone. She wondered what she could do to make sure she didn’t get cheated.
“You didn’t eat much,” he observed a few moments later.
“It was delicious, but I don’t eat much most of the time and I’ve been busy thinkin
g about your proposition.”
“Take all the time you need. You don’t have to give me an answer tomorrow night for that matter. I can wait. Want to go dance?”
“No, thanks,” she replied, smiling at him. “This is sort of a business dinner and I have no interest in dancing. Too much on my mind. I’d step on you,” she added, broadening her smile.
“I wouldn’t mind, but we can sit out the dancing.” He leaned forward, reaching across the table to take her hand. The instant her fingers touched his warm ones, she couldn’t get her breath. The air around her heated and her body tingled. That slight contact sizzled from her head to her toes and then settled low in the center of her being, a hot torment that made her ache to be in his arms and brought back memories of Jake holding her close, kissing her passionately, making torrid love to her that drove her wild.
“Truce?” he asked and she barely heard what he said as she stared at him. Something flickered in the depths of his eyes and for one brief instant, his fingers tightened around hers and his thumb ran over the back of her hand.
“You always did have the smoothest skin ever,” he whispered, his voice husky, a thick whisper, while his eyes blazed with such hot desire that she felt as if she would melt. At the same time, she wanted him to pull her toward him, to take her on his lap while he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her senseless. Closing her eyes momentarily, she tried to stop thinking about the past with him, the love she had thought they had shared. Love that he had smashed the way someone would break a crystal goblet by throwing it down.
She yanked her hand free and looked away, gasping for breath and hating that she had lost control so obviously that he could not avoid knowing exactly what she was feeling and thinking. He could see how much he could still affect her and she hated it.
“I guess we have a truce,” he said. His voice was raspy and she realized she still had an effect on him, too, giving her both satisfaction and annoyance.