The Cowboy's Stolen Bride

by Cora Seton

  “I don’t. I’m glad, actually. As long as you’re not having time alone with a bottle.”

  Liam fought down his anger. Noah’s accusation hit a little too close to the mark. “If you need help with chores, just say so.”

  “I need you back at the ranch, but not for chores. It’s Mom.”

  Liam sighed. “Thought you said you could handle her.”

  “Well, now she’s saying you secretly want to sell, too.”

  Liam bolted up, now fully awake. “What the hell?”

  “She says you wouldn’t run off like this if you loved the Flying W so much. I told her it was a one-time thing, and then you did it again.”

  “That’s ridiculous.”

  “I know, and I told her so, but she says of course I’d say that. That it’s only me who wants to stay, and I tell everyone else what to think because I’m the oldest.”

  Liam let out a bark of laughter. “Like I’d let you tell me what to think.” He cleared his throat. “No offense.”

  “None taken. Now get back here and say that to Mom.”

  When he hung up, Liam found Tory awake and getting dressed. “Trouble on the home front?” she asked.

  “Mom again,” Liam said. “I don’t know what we’re going to do about her. Why can’t she let us live in Chance Creek in peace?”

  “Maybe you can’t live here in peace. I’m not saying she’s right to try and force you to sell your ranch,” Tory was quick to add. “I keep thinking about Leslie and the hospital, though. When it closes, some people won’t have a choice about whether to stay.”

  “We’ll find a way,” Liam said fiercely. But he was thinking of Jed, who also needed regular medical care. As much of a pain as his great-uncle could be, Liam and his siblings would never abandon him. If he had to relocate to Billings or Bozeman, someone would have to move there to look after him, and the ranch was lacking hands as it was.

  “If you want to prove your mother wrong, I guess you’re going to have to save the hospital,” Tory said, yawning and stretching. “Which means saving the dialysis unit first.”

  Liam frowned, thinking of Jed and his obsession over the Founder’s Prize. “You’re right,” he said slowly. Tory blinked at him in surprise. “I’m going to save the dialysis unit,” he explained. “And my mother is going to help.”

  Tory’s phone buzzed as she digested what he’d said, and distracted, she took the call, even though it was from her mother.

  “Time for you to come home.”

  “Why?” Tory asked. She hadn’t spoken to Enid since their fight and braced for another lecture.

  “I’m serving brunch.”

  Since when was Enid domestic? Unbidden, a memory came to her. Family meals when she and her siblings were young had been boisterous—and happy—affairs.

  That was long ago, though.

  “Bring Liam. Hurry up so we’re not all waiting for you.”

  “Liam?”

  Liam looked up at her, and Tory shook her head. How did Enid know about Liam?

  “He needs to hear what I have to say, too.” Enid hung up.

  “What was that?” Liam asked.

  “Mom wants us to get home for brunch.”

  “Me, too?”

  Tory nodded. “We don’t have to go.”

  He considered her for a moment. “We should,” he said. “Maybe this will be a chance to sell your family on getting Thorn Hill certified, too.”

  “I wouldn’t count on it. Sounded like Mom has her own topic of conversation planned.” Tory hated to even speculate what that might be.

  “All the more reason we should be there.” Liam rose and started packing up their camping gear. “Our mothers are two of a kind, and you can’t let people like that get too far ahead of you. Whatever she’s got to say, let’s hear it and face it head on—together.”

  Chapter Seven

  Liam took a seat next to Tory at the Coopers’ breakfast table. Noah sat on his other side. Olivia, Maya and Lance took their seats, all of them looking like they’d like to be anywhere else. Liam was surprised when Steel dropped into a chair across the table. He hardly ever saw the man around and hadn’t expected him to show up for brunch.

  Thorn Hill was different from the Flying W in ways it took Liam a moment to grasp. Fewer photos on the walls, older fixtures and appliances, although the Flying W’s were hardly up-to-date, either, and an overall sense of benign neglect suffused the house. It wasn’t uninviting, but it suggested a family straining to keep up with their chores.

  Liam knew what that was like.

  “All this time trying to guilt us into moving to New Mexico, and here Mom is playing the ranch mother as if she never left Chance Creek,” Tory muttered.

  Liam knew what she meant, although he thought Enid was doing more than playing once he took his first bite of the breakfast she’d laid out. Being a ranch mother must be a skill you never forgot, because despite her long absence, this food hit the spot.

  It wasn’t a very happy meal, however. No one except Enid knew her reasons for calling the gathering, and he sensed no one harbored any hope that her announcement would be a positive one.

  Enid sat at the head of the table, but she didn’t pick up her fork. Instead she waited until everyone focused on her.

  “What’s this about, Mom?” Olivia finally asked.

  “It’s come to my attention there have been some nasty rumors about me going around in my absence.”

  Tory made a sound between a snort and a laugh. If Enid noticed, she pretended not to. Liam set down his utensils. This wasn’t an auspicious beginning, and he wondered if he’d made a mistake telling Tory they should come.

  “I had no idea anybody thought I’d had an affair with William Turner.”

  Liam gave her credit for addressing the issue so baldly. Enid had guts, he decided, a little impressed despite himself. That didn’t make what she’d done any more forgivable, though.

  “Let me state very clearly that I have never, ever had an affair with William,” she said, looking from one of them to the next. “I can’t believe I even had to say that, but I won’t let such an utter lie go unanswered. I’ll be telling Mary the same thing, by the way,” she added.

  “My mother saw you in the barn. So did Stella,” Liam said.

  “They may have seen me in your barn, but they didn’t see me fooling around with your father. I can’t believe anyone would believe such trash.” Enid softened a little, and Liam thought he saw genuine regret in her face, which stifled the accusations building in his throat. “Noah, Liam, Maya, it’s killing me that you think I broke up your parents’ marriage. I didn’t. I swear on all that’s holy.”

  Liam didn’t know what to do. Beside him, Tory was stiff—with embarrassment, maybe. Noah looked thoughtful. Maya was biting her lip.

  “You all deserve to know what really happened,” Enid said. “Though when you do, you may wish I had kept it to myself. I never wanted anyone to get hurt, but everyone did anyway.”

  “Just say what you have to say,” Tory said. She didn’t seem inclined to believe her mother.

  Enid took a deep breath. “I did meet William at the Flying W that day, but like I said, I wasn’t there to sleep with him. I was there to confront him. You all know Dale never walked a straight and narrow path, but he’d managed to stay out of real trouble—mostly—until that summer. So when I stumbled on him and William together on the Ridley property, on the edge of a field of pot plants, I couldn’t believe it.”

  “Pot plants?” Maya repeated. “But—”

  “That’s right. Pot plants.”

  “We know about those,” Olivia broke in. “I saw that crop way back when.”

  “I’ll bet you don’t know as much as you think,” Enid said. “Let me have my say.” She took another deep breath. “I thought the same thing anyone would think—that it was Dale’s crop, and William had caught him at it. I thought I was going to witness my husband getting arrested. But I didn’t. Not then. Instead, I
overheard enough to realize William wasn’t taking Dale to task for growing the crop; he was helping Dale grow it.” When no one responded, she threw up her hands in defeat. “It was his idea,” she said. “He was leading Dale into waters so deep we’d never reach dry land again! I was furious!”

  It was a crazy story, and Liam opened his mouth to say so, but he couldn’t seem to form the words. In his mind, hunches, suspicions, and unexplained events were coming together with ominous clarity.

  “I slipped away without saying anything because I needed time to think it through. When I did, I realized that if I wanted to put a stop to it, I had to confront William. I did that as soon as I could,” Enid continued. “That’s why I was in the Flying W’s barn. I told him to stop whatever the heck he thought he was doing, or I’d call the authorities myself. He was a sheriff’s deputy, for goodness’ sake. I wondered if the whole department was crooked.”

  “What did William say?” Tory spoke up.

  “He said they couldn’t stop. Not yet. Not until the crop was in. He told me to wait a few more days. Can you believe it? A few more days! I was so angry—”

  Tory was nodding. “A few days after that, Dad was arrested. Mary was gone. And you took off, too, dragging us along—”

  “My dad was no criminal.” Everyone else went quiet when Noah spoke up. “I don’t care what you saw, or heard, or said. My dad wouldn’t be a part of all that.”

  “I saw the pot, though,” Olivia spoke up. “Remember? That’s why I rushed Maya back to Thorn Hill that day. We were playing on the Ridley property, and we nearly walked right into that crop. I saw what it was. I knew I had to get her out of there before she saw it. To distract her, I suggested we head back to Thorn Hill, and that’s when she spotted the hides hanging in our barn. The ones that weren’t supposed to be there.”

  The ones the sheriff used as an excuse to investigate Dale once Maya let slip what she’d seen later on. That was how Dale ended up in jail, Liam knew.

  “The next day I drove Mom to town,” Liam said slowly, admitting his part in all of it. “She told me she’d seen you and my dad in the barn. Then she left,” he added, nodding at Enid. “When I realized she was gone for good, I came back and told Maya your family had driven Mom away.”

  “Which was why I told the sheriff about the hides in your barn,” Maya said quietly. “I got Dale arrested. I’m so, so sorry about that.”

  “I’m the one who led the sheriff to my dad when he couldn’t find him,” Olivia told her. “That’s how he confirmed that Dale was running guns over the border into Canada. But why—why would William and Dad grow a pot crop together?”

  Liam scanned the table. It was obvious to him, even if it wasn’t to anyone else. “Money. It has to be about money. This isn’t the first time our families have hit hard times.”

  Steel looked up. Met his gaze. Liam couldn’t read the thoughts behind the man’s eyes. Was he wondering how much any of them knew about his own activities? Rumor had it Steel was just as apt as his father to skirt the law if it paid well enough.

  “What happened to the pot?” Tory asked suddenly.

  All eyes turned to Enid. “I don’t know. Like Tory said, I took off as soon as Dale was arrested. It was the last straw, and I let another man sweet-talk me into thinking things would be better with him. I didn’t talk to Dale again.”

  “A few days later, the crop was gone,” Olivia supplied. “I went back and checked. Someone harvested it.”

  “Not my dad,” Noah spoke up again. “I don’t care what you all think.”

  “My dad was already locked up,” Lance said. “It couldn’t have been him.”

  “Whoever harvested it must have sold it and taken the money,” Tory pointed out. “What did they do with it?”

  “I don’t know anything about that,” Enid said. “All I know is that I’m happy to have this chance to set the story straight. I didn’t cheat on Dale,” she said to her children. “And I didn’t cheat with William,” she said to Noah, Maya and Liam. “I don’t know what possessed William and Dale to break the law, but they’re both gone now. It’s time to put the past to bed.” She paused, as if expecting an argument, but everyone seemed as stunned as Liam was at the way she’d bulldozed their previous assessment of the situation.

  “By the way,” she added, “I have one more announcement. I’m thinking of staying in Chance Creek—for good. Now, dig in.”

  The rest of the meal passed in strained silence, and when Enid declared her intention to call Mary and confront her about the situation, Tory knew she wanted no part of that.

  “Let’s get out of here,” she murmured to Liam.

  He nodded, and she was grateful that when they excused themselves, no one stopped them, although Enid looked like she wanted to. Tory supposed she had to give her mother credit for clearing things up—a little. That didn’t mean she owed Enid moral support.

  She was surprised when Liam turned toward the Flying W, though. “I thought we’d take off again,” she told him.

  “Thought we’d get going on that paperwork,” he countered. “I’m running out of time. My meeting is Thursday.” He parked in front of the house and got out.

  “You want me to go in there?”

  “I just ate breakfast at your place.”

  She followed him inside reluctantly and stiffened when he headed for the stairs. “You’re crazy,” she told him.

  “Relax. I’m not trying to seduce you. I set up a folding table in my bedroom. It’s a hell of a lot more comfortable than my office in the barn. A lot less smelly, too. Come on.”

  Liam’s room turned out to be large, fairly neat and very masculine, with a deep-blue bedspread on his bed, framed black-and-white photographs on the walls and a view of the back pastures and outbuildings from the windows.

  He scooped some clothes off the end of the bed and pitched them into a laundry basket in the corner, straightened some of the papers piled on the makeshift desk and waved her into the sole chair. “I’ll be right back.”

  He brought in a second chair, locked the door behind him, and together they went through the proposal page by page, which documented all the practices the Flying W was adhering to and the plans they meant to enact. This was to set a baseline for the ranch’s operation.

  Tory found he had done good work so far on his own, but her legal mind immediately spotted passages that needed to be clarified or written more formally. If Liam misrepresented what he’d be able to deliver, even accidentally, he could be in trouble.

  Meanwhile, she started to get a sense for the work her own family would need to do to get their certification if they decided to pursue it. If they started now, they could have it well in the works by the time she graduated.

  She might not be around to see the benefits of their labor, but at least she could give something back in return for living at Thorn Hill for free while she went to college.

  Raised voices interrupted them some minutes later.

  “What’s that?” Tory asked.

  “I think your mom made good on her promise to set mine straight,” Liam said grimly. “I thought she meant to do that over the phone.”

  “Me, too.”

  “Guess we better go see what’s going on.”

  “You know, I’ve had about enough of your family,” Mary was saying to Enid when they made their way down the stairs and peered into the living room, where the two women faced off. “Say whatever you want, but I know a lie when I hear one.”

  “For God’s sake, Mary, I didn’t sleep with William. Not since high school, anyway, thanks to your interference.”

  “It wasn’t hard to get him to leave you. You never were William’s type. You know that as well as I do.”

  Tory held her breath. Her mother had been with William Turner in high school? She’d never guessed. Liam’s expression said it was news to him, too.

  And what had Mary done to break them up?

  “You think you were his type?” Enid asked her. “You
hated Chance Creek, and you knew William intended to stay here. You know what I think? I think you stole him for spite—because you couldn’t stand to see me happy when you weren’t!”

  “You obviously weren’t serious about him. You ended up with Dale right quick.”

  “I was serious about William,” Enid said quietly. “He was my first real boyfriend, and I loved him, but you’re right. When it became clear you’d poisoned him against me, I moved on and found another man to love. I hope you’re happy with how it all turned out.”

  “You slept with William to get back at me, is that it?”

  “I didn’t sleep with him,” Enid repeated.

  “Don’t think I’m fool enough to believe you. William wouldn’t have helped Dale break the law.”

  “Why? Because Turners can’t be criminals? You’re the one trying to steal your children’s inheritance right out from under them! Did you know I’m a lawyer now? No, you didn’t see that coming, did you?” Enid sounded downright gleeful. “I’ll tell you what—I’ll give those kids of yours free legal advice for how to fend off an attack on their rights as heirs. You and William already had a cash agreement, didn’t you? I’m sure there’s paperwork documenting the deal. You can’t come back for the rest now.”

  “Try that, and I’ll tell the sheriffs what you said about the pot crop. I’ll tell them you admit Dale was involved—that he was selling drugs. I’ll go to the newspapers. I’ll drag your name through the mud.”

  “You think my husband’s name can get dragged any further through the mud than it already has been? Dale is dead, Mary. So is William. I’m here because I care about the living—your children and mine,” Enid said. “I didn’t come here to hurt you. I’m telling you your husband never betrayed you. Can’t you be happy about that?”

  Tory and Liam flattened themselves against the wall, but that didn’t stop Enid from seeing them when she came into the hall.

  “Come on. Let’s go home, Tory,” Enid said, continuing to the front door. “Liam, you should go to your mother.”

  “Maybe I should stay.” Tory traded a helpless glance with Liam.