A Texan's Honor (37 page)

“Why would he do that?” Joseph asked.

“If you'll stop interrupting long enough for Mr. Nolan to read the will, you'll find out,” Bertie said.

Emily was in a state of shock. What changes could her father have made, and why hadn't he told her about them?

“Read the damned will, then, and get it over,” Joseph said ill-naturedly.

Bret glanced at Emily, seemed to take a deep breath, and began to read.

“ ‘When I made my will after my wife's death, I thought that would be the only will I'd ever have to make. Having only one child, it was a simple document. Everything would go to my daughter, Emily Abercrombie, without reservation. But the situation has altered, and I find myself compelled to make significant changes.' ”

“I don't understand,” Joseph said. “Why would he make significant changes without discussing it with me or my father?”

“I guess because it didn't concern you,” Bertie said.

Emily wished Bertie wasn't so eager to cut Joseph down, but he brought it on himself with his pompous self-importance.

“ ‘The voting rights to my shares in Abbott and Abercrombie go to Bret Nolan as long as he feels he needs them.' ”

“No!” Joseph's exclamation was practically a scream. “The voting rights have to go to my father.”

“Let him finish,” Hawk said.

“This is a mistake,” Joseph insisted. “Bret must have told Sam lies about my father. I won't let him get away with this.”

“Either shut up or I'll throw you out,” Hawk ordered.

“Be quiet, Joseph,” Emily said. “I knew about that.”

“But—”

Hawk grabbed Joseph by his collar and lifted him out of his seat. In an effortless display of strength, he hauled Joseph through the door Zeke held open and pushed him out of the room. “Now you can finish,” he said when he turned back to Bret.

The pounding on the door made that impossible until Zeke left the room. Joseph's protests easily penetrated
the walls before they gradually grew less distinct. Finally, they stopped altogether.

“Go on,” Bertie said to Bret, a definite twinkle in her eye.

“ ‘Bret Nolan and his brothers rendered me a significant service when they put an end to the rustling. In light of that I have asked Hawk and Zeke Maxwell to act as foremen until Bret and Emily can find someone for the job.

“ ‘I'm very unhappy that my daughter has insisted upon remaining in Texas. I have complete confidence in her ability to run the ranch. However, a single woman is not safe in Texas. In light of that, I'm giving Bret Nolan the administration of my daughter's estate until she marries or reaches the age of twenty-five, whichever comes first.

“ ‘For Bret's contribution, I will to him one half of the ranch with the exception of the ranch house and its contents. That and the other half of the land will remain the sole possession of my daughter.' ”

Emily couldn't breathe. Her brain was in such a whirl she couldn't think. “That can't be right,” she finally managed to say. “My father would never have made those changes without telling me. That can't be a true will.”

“Yes, it is,” Bret said. “I asked Zeke and Hawk to be here because they witnessed it. Here.” He held the document out to her. “Read it for yourself.”

Emily lurched to her feet and reached for the will. She read the short document twice, but the words never changed. She had no doubt it was genuine. The whole was written in her father's hand. The signature was his. Below, both Zeke and Hawk had signed and dated it. That had to have been what her father was doing when he spent so much time closeted with Zeke and Hawk the day before he died.

“Did you know about this?” she asked Bret.

“Not until just now when I read that second will.”

“But you were with him after Zeke and Hawk left. He must have said something to you.”

“He never said a word about the will.”

She turned to Hawk. “What did you say to him to make him change his mind?”

“I tried to talk him out of it, but he wouldn't listen,” Hawk said.

Joseph burst into the room. “What was in that will?” he asked. When Emily told him, he turned to Bret, pointed a finger at him, and shouted, “You always were a liar and a thief. Now you're trying to steal Emily's inheritance.”

“Want me to throw him out again?” Zeke had returned with Joseph and was eyeing him with a complete lack of friendliness.

“That's what everybody's going to think when they hear about this,” Bret said. “I own half the ranch, have control of Emily's inheritance, and my brothers are the foremen. That puts me in a position to rob her blind if I wanted.”

“Which is exactly what you intend to do,” Joseph shouted.

“If you don't learn to talk without shouting, I
am
going to throw you out again,” Zeke said.

“He's just angry because he thinks Mr. Nolan beat him to stealing Emily's money,” Bertie said.

“My father is far too wealthy to consider such a paltry sum as what this ranch is worth.”

“I noticed you didn't say anything about your father having too much integrity or honor,” Bertie pointed out before turning to Jinx. “Come with me. There's things likely to be said here that won't be good for your ears.”

“How can words hurt my ears?” Jinx asked.

“If I have to take hold of one to drag you out of this room, you'll find out,” Bertie snapped.

“I don't think it's fair,” Jinx said as he headed for the door. “I'm always being bossed around.”

“Be glad somebody cares enough about you to bother.” Bertie didn't sound the least bit sympathetic.

“He bewitched your father,” Joseph said.

“I didn't ask for this responsibility, and I don't want it,” Bret said.

Emily swung her gaze to Hawk and Zeke, but they shrugged their shoulders. “We really did try to talk him out of it, but he was determined,” Zeke said.

“I warned you not to trust Bret,” Joseph said. “I warned you even before he got here.”

Joseph
had
warned her, but Bret wasn't anything like the man she'd expected. From the very first, he'd chipped away at her preconceived notions until it wasn't long before nothing of them remained. In their place was a man she'd fallen in love with, a man Bertie liked, a man her father apparently had trusted. A man Jinx adored.

“Mr. Abercrombie thought a long time before he made up his mind to change his will,” Hawk said. “He had to do some pretty sharp talking to convince Zeke and me to sign it.”

“What did he say?” Emily asked.

“It all boiled down to him thinking Bret was the man best able to see you and your interests protected,” Zeke said.

“Bret is no more than a fancy clerk,” Joseph said.

“There's more than one person ready to step in if he needs help,” Hawk said.

“Who? His pitiful family of orphans?” Joseph sneered.

“For a man nobody likes, you sure do have a mouth on you,” Zeke said. “You might consider keeping it shut.”

“Are you threatening me?” Joseph demanded.

“You're damned right,” Zeke shot back.

“You heard him,” Joseph said to Emily. “The three
of them are in league to cheat you. And they're willing to murder me to get away with it.”

“Don't be stupid,” Emily snapped at Joseph. “Nobody's going to murder you.”

“Don't go speaking for me,” Zeke said. “I've got nothing against spilling a little blood from time to time.”

Bret took Emily's hands, met her gaze squarely. “I didn't ask for this, and I don't want it. I'll find someone else to handle your inheritance, and I'll give you back my half of the ranch as soon as I can.”

“I don't think you ought to do that,” Hawk said.

“See, I told you they were trying to cheat you,” Joseph said, pointing to Hawk and Zeke. “You should never have trusted men like them.”

Everyone ignored Joseph.

“Why not?” Bret asked Hawk.

“Because it's what Mr. Abercrombie wanted, for one thing,” Zeke said. “He had a lot of good reasons. If he hadn't, we wouldn't have agreed to witness the will.”

Emily turned to Zeke, hopeful he could unravel this mystery for her. “What reasons?”

“Hawk already told you. He thinks Bret is the best man for the job.”

“But that doesn't explain why he'd give away half my ranch,” Emily said. “Did he tell you why?”

“He made us promise not to tell you,” Hawk said.

“Why?” Emily looked from Hawk to Zeke to Bret. “My father never kept things from me. Why would he tell you something he wouldn't tell me?”

“Because he thought it was best,” Hawk said.

Emily couldn't accept that. She liked Zeke and Hawk, and she loved Bret. He had said he would give her back his half of the ranch, but that wasn't what was bothering her. Why had it been given to him in
the first place? What had been said and done that she didn't know about?

As much as she wanted to trust Bret, everything pointed to him. The dramatic change in the will benefited him to the exclusion of anyone else. Even herself.

Bret's hold on her hands tightened. “You don't believe I did something to cause your father to change his will, do you?”

Emily couldn't answer. She didn't know what she believed.

“I will give back my half of the ranch. It would be impossible for me to run it from Boston.”

“You don't need to be here,” Joseph said. “You've already made sure your
brothers
are in control.”

Even after swearing he loved her, after having made love to her, Bret didn't love her enough to stay in Texas. He figured he could handle her financial affairs from Boston, and his brothers would run the ranch.

“I don't know what I think, and I don't know what I want to do,” Emily said, addressing all four men. “This has come as a complete shock.”

“I can tell you exactly—” Joseph began.

“You
won't
tell me exactly what to do,” Emily nearly shouted. “
Nobody
is going to tell me what to do.” She had to get away. She had to get her feelings under control so she could think clearly. The man she loved didn't want to marry her, and her father hadn't trusted her. The two most important men in her life had let her down, and she had to figure out what she was going to do about it. She wanted to talk to Bertie, but Bertie thought Bret was perfect. “I'm going to visit Ida for a couple of days,” she announced. “I'm not running away,” she said when Bret started to speak. “I just need some time to think, and I need it without you being so close.”

“I'll go with you,” Joseph said.

“I'm going alone.” She turned to Hawk and Zeke. “I've got to try to figure out what Dad was thinking.” She turned back to Bret. “I don't understand. I thought you loved me.”

“I do love you.”

“Then why are you leaving?”

“I told you why. But I thought of a way to—”

“I don't want to hear it,” she said, stopping him. She pulled her hands from his grasp. “I'll leave as soon as I can pack a few things and saddle my horse.”

“You have to go after her,” Hawk said to Bret as Emily was leaving the room.

“No. If she can't find a reason to trust me by herself, nothing I say will make any difference.”

“She'll never trust any of you again if I have anything to say about it,” Joseph said.

“Leave her alone,” Bret said.

“You can't tell me what to do,” Joseph spat at him. “I'm not a clerk.”

“If we tie you to a fence post, nobody will have to tell you anything,” Hawk said.

“Right now she's more hurt about her father doing this without telling her than she is about anything else,” Bret said.

“You're a fool if you think she's more worried about that than about the money,” Joseph said.

“I think I just may have been a fool,” Bret said, “but it has nothing to do with money.”

“Amen,” Hawk and Zeke said together.

Two hours in the saddle under the hot summer sun had done a lot to take the steam out of Emily's anger, but it hadn't altered any of the facts. Bret didn't love her, and somehow he'd been responsible for her father changing his will. How could she work with the man she loved, knowing he didn't love her? It didn't
matter that he'd be a thousand miles away. She'd have to communicate with him about how to handle her inheritance. They would have to develop a plan for the management of the ranch. He would insist upon taking her to Galveston. He would be woven into the very fabric of her life.

Maybe he thought
she
didn't love
him
. She'd refused to go to Boston with him before he'd refused to stay in Texas for her. It probably didn't matter that she thought he had more reason to move to Texas than she did to move to Boston. It was all a matter of perspective. They each saw their position as unalterable.

Emily glanced over her shoulder. She knew someone was following her, and she was certain neither Bret nor his brothers would let Joseph out of their sight. Bret distrusted him. Hawk and Zeke distrusted
and
disliked him.

At first, she'd thought Bret was trying to catch up with her, but after a while she realized he was only following. Knowing he was trying to make sure she reached Ida's safely made it hard to stay angry at him, but she had some serious issues to face, some hard decisions to make. What she decided in the next few days would determine the course of the rest of her life. She couldn't afford to let her decisions be clouded by sentiment or anger.

The landscape didn't offer much to distract her. The various kinds of grama grass, along with buffalo and Indian grass, were tall and green from the spring rains, but they would turn yellow during the course of the summer. She passed fat, healthy cows grazing in grass up to their bellies, their calves either hidden by the tall grass or struggling to fight their way through. As the day progressed, it would become so hot the cows would seek shade in the scattered stands of oak or the willows and cottonwoods found along a water course.
She'd only seen one white-tailed deer, but several small herds of pronghorn antelope had eyed her uneasily as she rode past. Most ranchers wanted to get rid of them because they competed with the cows for grass.