A Daring Proposal (15 page)

***

“We’ve got trouble.”

Burton cringed at the raspy voice on the line. “I don’t like the sound of that.”

“She’s pregnant.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yep, I just heard ’em talking. He accused her of gettin’ pregnant to keep her ranch and she didn’t deny it. We’re gonna have to come up with another way to get the ranch. You promised me you would get me this ranch.”

“Calm down, old man,” Burton said, refusing to call the man uncle. He wasn’t really his uncle, but he had conned the man in to believing it. “I’ll think of something. You just keep your eyes open and that phone with you.”

***

When Jed reached the barn, he called to Sterling, saddled him, mounted the horse easily, and rode out. He took no comfort in the fact that he was riding the horse Chaney insisted would let no one but her ride. He was too busy whipping himself for what he’d done before walking out of the house.

There wasn’t a single derogatory name he didn’t call himself. What had he been thinking to threaten Chaney and then kiss her? How was it possible that he still wanted, no, still loved a woman who thought so little of him?

He shook his head to rid it of the depressing thoughts. There was more than enough going on right now. Between rustlers, a custody case, his uncle’s health, Chaney’s health, and the baby’s health, his emotional well-being
was at the bottom of the list.

Jed checked on his uncle, grabbed a quick sandwich, then decided to ride the fence line and see if there were any new breaks. He had ordered the men to keep an eye out so it was probably an exercise in futility, but it would give him time to think
.

Chaney had been right about one thing. The horse definitely needed more exercise than the corral allowed. Jed now understood why she loved riding Sterling. She’d always loved speed. This horse in a full out run was the smoothest he had ever ridden. He would have to talk to her about buying him. There was no way he was letting her ride him again.

Two hours later Jed stopped and stared at the spot where he’d found Chaney two weeks ago. The memory of his fear and anger the moment he’d seen her tensed his body again. He doubted he would ever rid himself of that memory; the images were so vivid they blinded him to anything else. After a few minutes, he continued to ride closer to the fence. He was still distracted with the image of Chaney on the ground when he stopped to look at a patch of fencing that looked odd. It took a few seconds for what he was really seeing to register.

He had ridden the opposite fence line first thinking if the rustlers were dumb enough to strike again they wouldn’t do it in the same spot. When his eyes refocused in the present, he realized how wrong he’d been.

After leaving Chaney the night of her accident, Jed had contacted the sheriff’s office and reported Chaney’s comment about rustlers. They had come out together to look the area over. The sheriff had done plaster casts of the tire tracks, picked up shell casings, and had someone come out every day and check on things for the past week or so. When no new sightings were reported, no more cattle lost, no
accidents
, the close scrutiny had eased off.

Slowly Jed made his way to the place where the rustlers had cut the fence before. There were fresh tire tracks on Chaney’s side of the fence. He must have been too lost in thought when he rode that side to notice. Now, he dismounted and studied them as close
ly as he could from his side. They stopped before reaching the fence-line. On his side of the fence were deep grooves as if someone had dropped a ramp.
Which is exactly what someone would do if they were loading cattle onto a truck
. The problem was the fence was still in place.

As Jed examined the fence more thoroughly, he found it rigged so someone could easily take it down and put it back up. Rigged in such a way that a simple ride by would not sho
w the fence as being defective.

Not from this side anyway.

The thought came to him from out of nowhere, but once it took hold, he couldn’t shake it loose. Someone at Chaney’s ranch, or with access to it, was stealing from both her and his uncle.

Jed jumped back on his horse. He had to contact the sheriff’s office with the new information. No, first he had to call Martha and make sure she kept Chaney busy at the house until he could get there. Then he would call the sheriff’s office. Next, he would get someone to help him repair the fence and make plans to stake out the area. He wasn’t sure how fresh the tracks were, a day or three or four, so there was a possibility they would be back.

The hope that he could figure his personal life out on his afternoon ride died miserably as he made his way back to the house. Now, not only were there rustlers to be concerned about, in all likelihood, they had contacts on Chaney’s payroll. She wasn’t going to like it when he told her.

***

Chapter Ten

“What?” Chaney screeched.

Jed stood across the room from her. When he’d first come up to her bedroom Chaney had hoped they would find a way to work out their complex personal relationship. The second he opened his mouth she saw the futility of that hope.

“I said--”

“I heard what you said,” she told him. “How dare you accuse my hired hands of such a thing?”

“Evidence?”

“Don’t you patronize me, Jed Sampson. There is no evidence that you could provide to convince me someone on my payroll is on the take.”

“So if someone else provided the evidence, it would be acceptable?”

Damn him, Chaney fumed inside as she wondered why
it seemed he always caught every slip of her tongue. “I didn’t mean it that way.”

“I think you did.”

“Then why were you the one I called when I needed someone I could trust? Why have I trusted you to run the ranch these past weeks without interfering if I don’t trust you?”

Jed was leaning against the wall beside the closed door to her... their bedroom. He looked relaxed and nonplussed. The fact irritated Chaney, but didn’t fool her. The fact that he was talking to her at all about the ranch had to be aggravating him. He had made it clear she wasn’t to lift a finger and there would be hell to pay if she did. Chaney still hadn’t figured out why she’d gone along. Jed grinned and suddenly she understood. She went along in hopes of winning him back.

You are so pitiful. The man regrets ever having laid eyes on you again, and you’re still dreaming of lifelong love. Give it a rest, Chaney. Face reality.

“Do you honestly think I didn’t know you were going in the office and checking out every entry I’ve made? That you grill Smitty on a daily basis as soon as I leave? Believe me; he takes great pride in letting me know how little you trust my judgment. Let’s not leave out the only reason you’re not out in the thick of things right now is because without that baby you carry you could lose your precious ranch.”

He really believed it, Chaney thought in amazement. Jed believes the ranch is more important to me than the life of my child. From the look in his eyes, she doubted she could change his mind.

“That’s not true,” was all she could say in her defense.

“Really?” Sarcasm dripped from the single word.

Chaney’s hands unconsciously covered her abdomen as she nodded. “Nothing is more important to me than this baby.” Once she’d spoken the words, Chaney knew they were true. She would give up everyth
ing she had to keep Jed’s baby.

“Good, because if you won’t listen to me, there’s a good chance you won’t have anything but that baby. Remember, she’s my baby, too. I won’t let you take her away from me.”

The way he’d given the baby a gender already, reminded Chaney just how important this was to Jed. The baby wasn’t an
it
to Jed, she was a part of him. The only way I’ll ever have a part of Jed now, she thought.

“Okay, I’ll listen,” she said and sat on the foot of the bed.

It didn’t take Jed long to explain his findings and actions to Chaney. Keeping her mouth shut for twenty minutes hadn’t been easy. Every time he told her what needed doing and who should do it, she wanted to scream, “It isn’t for you to say,” but she kept her comment to herself.

When he finished talking Chaney chewed on her lip a bit before saying anything. If ever there was a time that required her to choose her words carefully, it was now.

“I understand how you came to your conclusions,” she said. Jed’s posture tensed but Chaney continued. “You’re only seeing things from one angle, though.”

“What other angle is there, Chaney? Someone attacked my wife and tried to steal her property, what else am I supposed to see?”

Patience, Chaney. She tried to ignore the warmth his use of the words, my wife, caused inside her. They were discussing business. She had to start separating the two.

“You weren’t there the night I saw them.” Whoops, stupid argument Chaney, she thought when fire lit his eyes. “I know I was stupid to ride out on my own at night, but who could have imagined what happened?”

Jed didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. Chaney could easily read his opinion of her reasoning. This wasn’t going well. If she didn’t get her act together, Jed would stop listening and storm out.

“Try to forget about the accident for a moment,” she told him. “Let me explain what I saw.”

He still stood straight and tense, but he hadn’t left and he hadn’t argued, so Chaney took that to mean he would listen.

“You say the new tracks you found were on my side of the fence.” He nodded. “The truck was on Dale’s side last time.”

“When the sheriff and I looked over the area the tracks were on both sides. There were tracks like the truck was parked on Dale’s side, but the truck entered and exited from your side.”

“You didn’t tell me that before,” she said defensively.

“I didn’t want to upset you,” he said. “I heard you had a tough recovery last time you were thrown and I didn’t want that to happen this time.”

His eyes wouldn’t meet her gaze. Chaney had the feeling that he knew more about her accident twelve years ago than he was letting on. “Who have you been talking to?”

“No one. Don’t worry, you might have a low-down, thieving, rustler working for you, but you don’t have any loose tongues.”

Damn, I did it again
. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath Chaney tried to calm herself. When her eyes opened, Jed’s hand rested on the doorknob.
Think fast. He’s going to leave
.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s just a time I don’t like to think about. Being reminded of how stupid you are, isn’t exactly fun,” she added with the best smile she could muster.

“What does being thrown from a horse have to do with being stupid? It was an accident, they happen.”

Chaney shook her head trying to keep the memories of that time in the dark spot she’d assigned them. “Dad and I had been arguing. I called him a liar and stormed out of his office. I was bound and determined to make him pay for lying and for telling me I was too soft-hearted.”

She chanced a glance toward the door, unsure if Jed was still there the room was so quiet. He was there. His muscles were taught and his eyes hard as crystals.

Probably not a time he cares to remember either. Well, tough, it’s about time he knew how much he’d hurt her.

“I know better than to get on an unbroken horse when my attention is somewhere else, but my brain was on vacation that day I guess. Instead of proving to my father how tough I was, I broke my leg in two places, a couple of ribs and . . . got one helluva concussion,” she said staring at her hands clasped in her lap.

“But that wasn’t the worst of it,” she continued. “The worst part was admitting my father was right. You were gone and you weren’t coming back.” She said the last words in a hushed voice because it still hurt to remember. Then she remembered the strength that hurt had given her. It had put steel in her spine and determination in her heart and mind; she was never going to be hurt like that again.

“Sorry, I got us off track,” Chaney said. “Now, about the tracks and the rustlers, you were saying?” She saw the tensing of his jaw. For a moment, she thought he was going to try to defend himself, but the next he was in control again. Another piece of her heart died with that control. Oh, part of her had wanted to let him know how deeply he’d hurt her, but another part had hoped if they talked about it and faced it they would both be able to leave the past behind.
And possibly have a future?

“The rise is lower on your side, easier for a truck to maneuver. My guess is they got greedy that night and decided to take some of Dale’s cattle that happened to be close by.”

It was obvious business was all Jed was willing to deal with. Chaney stood and walked to the window to give herself time and close the steel mesh around her heart again. Time to return to the no-nonsense, untouchable, clear thinking businesswoman she’d become over the years.

There would be no more chinks in her armor. No more taking orders and letting someone else run the show. She’d allowed her heart control for a time while her brain took a vacation, but Chaney McBride was back, and business was her middle name.

“I still don’t accept the idea that it is anyone on my payroll,” she told him as she turned and faced him from across the room. “There is someone else that comes to mind.”

“Your foreman.”

“That would be the man. I found discrepancies in the records he kept before I fired him. Of course, he had explanations for everything when I confronted him.”

“Such as?”

Chaney ground her teeth together to keep from telling him it was none of his business. He was trying to help she reminded herself. “Such as, forgetting to put in an entry or not correcting one when the feed and grain shorted an order. All plausible explanations.”

“Not if it kept happening.”

“No, but it stopped after I talked to him. Until . . .” she let the sentence trail off. She did not want to say it.

“Until what, Chaney
?”

Chaney refocused on the present and found Jed inches from her. “Until we got married.”

***

“What are you doing here?” Dale asked.

“Working,” Jed answered, his gaze never left the computer screen.

“I can see that,” his uncle replied. “I meant what are you doing here at this hour?”

“It’s a ranch. We start early, remember?” Jed continued to stare at the computer. Not that what was in front of him held his interest; he wasn’t even sure what he was looking at. He’d turned it on two hours earlier and clicked on the first file name.

“We usually change clothes from one day to another, also,” Dale said.

Jed cursed his stupidity. He heard the leather crunch as his uncle sat down in the chair across from him.

“Talk,” Dale ordered.

Instead of acknowledging the demand, Jed closed the file on the computer and stood. “I need to go check on things out at the--”

“Sit down,” Dale said.

For a minute, Jed thought about ignoring him and walking out of the room. He already had enough guilt on his shoulders. He didn’t need causing his uncle another heart attack heaped on as well.

“Let’s just say I made a mistake and let it go at that,” he said trying, but unable to meet his uncle’s gaze.

“Let’s not.”

Jed stood again this time he stepped to the window. This part of his uncle’s house faced Chaney’s property. He leaned against the windowsill, pulled the curtain back, and stared in that direction. He decided it was time to come clean with his uncle. He should know that his worthless nephew had screwed up again.

“She can’t let go of the past.”

“If that’s true, she wouldn’t have married you.”

Jed almost laughed at the irony of that statement. He turned enough to cast a quick glance at his uncle. “She married me because of the past.”

“You’re not making sense, boy.”

Letting the curtain fall back into place, Jed turned and walked back to the desk. “Travis put some conditions on Chaney’s inheritance. She had to marry before her thirtieth birthday and get pregnant before her first anniversary or lose the ranch.”

Dale was silent. Jed understood. He hadn’t been able to fathom McBride’s reasoning either.

“That still doesn’t explain you saying she married you because of the past.”

Jed didn’t really want to have this conversation, but his uncle could be stubborn when he set his mind to something. He expelled a long br
eath then met his uncle’s gaze.

“By marrying me Chaney gets back at both her father and me. See, she chose the one person Travis would never have agreed to let her marry while he was alive.”

“I guess, but what does that have to do with getting back at you?”

Jed couldn’t continue to hold his uncle’s gaze while he answered that question. He looked toward the window and Chaney’s house instead. “Revenge pure and simple. She wanted to make me pay for having abandoned her twelve years ago.”

“You didn’t abandon anyone. The both of you were young and needed to do some growing up. I’m not saying what McBride did was right, but--”

“She was pregnant,” Jed interrupted.

Dale sat in silence. Jed finally worked up the courage to look at him across the desk.

“If you had told me I would have helped you.”

Jed shook his head. “I didn’t know. If I had Travis would have had to kill me to keep me away.” He took a deep breath before telling his uncle the rest. “She lost the baby.”

Pain pierced his heart every time he said it or thought about it. A brand
ing iron couldn’t hurt as much.

“I’m sorry, son.”

Jed hadn’t noticed that his uncle stood and walked around the desk until he felt Dale’s hand on his shoulder. The pressure was enough to push Jed over the edge. His shoulders shook with the grief he had been holding back since learning of Chaney’s first pregnancy.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d cried, probably his parents’ funeral. After that, Jed had learned to keep all his emotions locked away so no one else could see them. The closest he’d come to crying was getting drunk each year on the anniversary of the night he’d left Colorado. By the time he finished he felt like he’d shed a lifetime’s worth of tears. Dale stood with his strong hand on Jed’s shoulder the entire time.