Lace & Lassos (8 page)

“Nice to meet you, young lady,” Mr. Drake took off his glasses as he looked at Kaitlyn. “My assistant explained to me that there is an issue of ownership of the ranch you inherited from your father, George Barrett.”

“Yes.” Kaitlyn nodded. “My cousin claims that the house belongs to his father, John Barrett.”

 “I had my assistant pull the public record on the property in question.” Mr. Drake sighed as he put on his glasses and picked up a piece of paper. “This is a copy of the recorded documents I had her pull. I’m afraid that it does show the property is to go to John Barrett should George Barrett pass on.”

A cold chill passed through Kaitlyn and she shook her head. “Something’s wrong. I remember clearly when everything was divided up between my daddy and Uncle John when grandma passed on. They made a deal between themselves that the house and the ranch lands belonging to the Rocking B went to my daddy. Other ranchlands and a greater portion of cash went to Uncle John.”

“If they did sign an agreement dividing the property, it was never recorded.” Mr. Drake took off his glasses again and studied Kaitlyn. “If you can locate legal documentation that shows what you’re saying is true, then this problem will all go away.”

Kaitlyn bit the inside of her lip, trying to digest what the lawyer was saying.

“What is your Uncle John saying about this?” Mr. Drake asked.

“Nothing. He’s in a nursing home with dementia, I’m told.” She swallowed. “I don’t know where to start.”

Mr. Drake looked thoughtful. “Do you know who the attorney was who worked with your father in the past?”

“No.” Kaitlyn shook her head. “But if he used one, he would probably have that information in his files. Though it has been, it appears, almost twenty-five years.”

“Where are the other parcels that your uncle kept?” Drake asked as he brought out a large map. “Here are land plats of the area. Are you able to point out the parcels?”

Wayne pulled his chair closer to the desk and looked at the plat. “I believe that I can do so more easily than Kaitlyn can, sir.”

The attorney pushed the plat map across the desk for Wayne to study.

Drake spread his hands out in front of him as he looked at Kaitlyn. “Did your father have a safe?”

Kaitlyn frowned as she considered his question. “I didn’t run across one when I moved in and I don’t remember ever seeing one in the house over the years. That doesn’t mean there isn’t one, I suppose.”

“Yes,” the attorney said. “Search and maybe you’ll find what you’re looking for.”

Wayne pointed to the maps. “Kaitlyn’s uncle’s property includes this small tract of five acres where the ranch house is and it’s surrounded by the large tract.”

Drake looked over the map as he spoke to Kaitlyn. “So your daddy’s property and this property were not joined, is that correct?”

“That’s true.” She gave a nod. “There was a ranch in between the properties that my grandfather always wanted that he was never able to get, so they were not joined. When Daddy and my uncle made their deal, my uncle built a house on his property. He got the larger property from my dad—that was in part because my dad got the nice house.”

“Just a minute.” The attorney stood and began to walk out of the office. “I want my assistant to look up these parcels you pointed out.”

Wayne put his hand on Kaitlyn’s which were clenched in her lap. “It will all work out, Kait, honey.”

Kaitlyn was holding back tears and looking out the window, and she shook her head. “Nothing is going right. Nothing.”

The lawyer returned and seated himself. “She will have that record in a few minutes.” The lawyer studied Kaitlyn. “How much time before you are forced to move out?”

“Four more days.” She pushed hair out of her face. “Only four days to get my belongings out and find someplace else to live.”

“Don’t worry.” Wayne put his hand over hers. “You have options.”

She didn’t say anything. He was telling her without actually saying it that she could move in with him.

Moving in with Wayne wouldn’t be right for any number of reasons including her depression and her independence. When she’d left her ex, she’d promised herself she wouldn’t be financially or otherwise dependent on any man again. When she had inherited her father’s property, she knew it would be the right thing, to move back to the San Rafael Valley and take over the ranch.

But here she was, close to losing everything.

“Also, here is the will my father left.” Kaitlyn pulled the document out of her purse. “You can see where my daddy gave the house to me. Clearly, he thought the house was his.”

Drake took the pages and studied them.

“Also,” Kaitlyn continued, “in the will my father left all furniture and other effects in the home to me. My cousin, who’s challenging me on the property, believes that he’s entitled to my grandmother’s things that are in my father’s home.”

“There’s an easy answer to that,” Drake said. “The fact that the items were in your father’s possession tells the world that legally those things belong to you.”

After a few minutes, Drake’s assistant, a large woman in a black business skirt and animal print blouse, walked into the room. She handed some papers to the attorney.

“Thank you, Barbara,” Drake said.

Barbara turned and left the office as Drake studied the papers she’d handed to him. After a moment, he looked up and said, “It appears the change of ownership was made, as your uncle’s property is titled to him only. It will take some time to order a full title report and get the chain of title, but for whatever reason, it appears that your father’s tract was never recorded. You need to search and try to find any documents which might not have been recorded. Do you have the original will from your grandfather, leaving the land to both your uncle and your father?”

“I don’t know.” Kaitlyn frowned. “I’ll look through his papers. He had files that I will go through.”

“Yes,” Drake said, “You must do that. It might be your only chance at keeping your father’s property. There are some things we can do to go in and fight it, but without your uncle able to tell us anything and your father gone and no documents to the contrary, you will not be able to keep the property.”

Drake continued, “I would like to file an immediate injunction to delay the eviction. It will give you time to find papers if they are there, and if necessary it will give you time to move,” he said. “I know the right people and can get this done right away. I believe I will have an answer by Friday and I will try to get a hearing on this, which will allow you to live there until the matter is heard.” He shook his head. “Without further documentation, however, you really don’t have a chance. We can only try and delay the process.”

“I would like to do that,” Kaitlyn said.

“All right. This is the business side of it. I will need a retainer of two thousand today. My fees are $375 per hour,” Drake said. “I have an appointment that I must get to however, but if that works for you, I will have you sign some papers that Barbara will have for you in a few minutes.”

“Thank you, Mr. Drake. That sounds fine.” Kaitlyn pushed back her chair and stood. Both men stood with her. She held out her hand to the attorney and he took it. “I will look until I find whatever it is that proves the ranch belongs to me.”

She said the words as if positive she would find what she’d be looking for. Inside she wasn’t so positive at all.

After he shook hands with the lawyer again, Wayne stayed close to Kaitlyn as they walked out of the lawyer’s office and into the waiting room.

Once they had signed the necessary papers with Barbara, Wayne escorted Kaitlyn from the building. He kept his palm at her lower back as they walked out of the building and headed toward his truck, and then he helped her up before going to the driver’s side and climbing in.

“There has to be something.” Kaitlyn clenched her hand on her knee as he started the truck. “They wouldn’t have made that kind of deal without something in writing, would they?” She asked the question more to herself than Wayne.

She frowned then continued. “My daddy was a smart man. He wouldn’t have done anything based on a few words and a handshake, even with his brother. The fact that Uncle John’s parcel was transferred correctly, and that Daddy’s wasn’t, tell me it was a mistake. Uncle John would not have done anything devious.”

Wayne put the truck into gear and backed up. “Something doesn’t sound right.”

Kaitlyn pushed her hair out of her face with frustration. “I know what he told Mama and me, that everything was taken care of and the house was now his.”

“We’ll figure it all out.” Wayne spoke with reassurance that she found calming as he guided the truck out of the parking lot. “Are you up for eating out for lunch?”

“I want to get home and start looking for those papers.” Papers that might not exist but she prayed were there.

“You do need to eat,” Wayne pointed out.

She shrugged. “But at home I can grab a sandwich and work while I eat.”

Wayne shook his head. “I have the keys and I can hold you captive.”

She raised her brows. “Wayne—”

“That barbeque place is still there,” Wayne said. “Food is just as good.”

Her stomach growled in response and he grinned. “All right,” she said with a laugh. “As long as I can get a pulled pork sandwich.”

“With extra barbeque sauce, the way you like it,” he said.

She smiled. “Just the way I like it.”

•  •  •

It was some time after noon when they arrived back at the Rocking B Ranch. Kaitlyn hadn’t been eating a lot since her issues with depression started, so she’d surprised herself by eating a whole sandwich along with a good helping of baked beans and a nice-sized portion of coleslaw.

As they walked up the porch to her front door, she said, “You have a ranch to get back to. I’ve taken up enough of your time.”

“Hey.” He caught her hands in his and brought her close. “I have ranch hands who can handle the place when I’m gone.”

She gave him a smile. “It doesn’t look like I’m going to be able to get rid of you, so all right.”

“I’ve just got to arrange a few things,” Wayne said as he pulled his phone out of his holster. “I’ll be right there.”

When she let herself back into her house, it was cool and dark and she felt the depression on the edge of her mind. She could feel herself starting down the dark path as everything went through her mind.

I’m going to lose the house. I’m going to lose my home.

“No.” She shook her head. “I’m not going there. I am not going there.”

She pulled back the curtains and sunlight chased away the darkness in the corners of the room and in her mind.

When she looked out the window, she studied Wayne as he spoke on the phone. He had one hand braced on his truck, the other holding the phone. He had big hands, strong hands. She loved the way they felt on her body, the calluses rough against her soft skin. She had never forgotten how gentle they could be when he was making love to her, or how wildly erotic his touch was when he’d taken her hard and fast.

He was tanned from hours of working in the sun, the hair on his arms dark against his flesh. His shirtsleeves were rolled up and the muscles of his forearm flexed as he moved the phone away from his ear. He dialed another number then brought the phone to his ear once again.

He filled out his western shirt that showed the breadth of his shoulders and the way his torso tapered to his lean hips. He faced away from her and as her gaze traveled down his backside, she truly appreciated Wrangler jeans and the way they hugged a cowboy’s butt. His thighs were hard and muscular, his legs long, and she perused him all the way down to the toes of his cowboy boots.

She slowly looked over him as she brought her gaze back up. He turned and she couldn’t see his eyes that were shaded by his cowboy hat until he pushed up the brim and looked at her. Even as he spoke on the phone he gave her a slow and sexy grin.

Heat flushed her cheeks and she felt weak-kneed at the pure sexuality in his look. But she didn’t stop watching him until he snapped his phone shut. She left the window when he started toward the stairs, trying to decide where to start.

She put her hands on her hips as she looked around the living room. Unpacked boxes were still stacked in one part of the living room. When it was all said and done, would she be grateful that her cousin had packed so much of her grandmother’s things so that she didn’t have to?

The door creaked open and she looked over her shoulder to see Wayne closing the door behind him. She faced him as he took his cowboy hat off and set it aside. He approached her and he grasped her upper arms and brushed his lips over hers. He smelled of fresh air and sun-warmed flesh.

When he drew away she smiled up at him. “How about a glass of iced tea?”

“Would love some.” He followed her as she went into the kitchen and watched her fill two large glasses with ice. Then she retrieved a pitcher from the fridge and poured the tea into the glasses.

He took a tall glass from her when she offered it. “Thank you,” he said before taking a long drink.

“I need to change out of this skirt.” She set her own glass on the countertop after drinking from it. “And get to searching.”

He set his glass aside, brought her into his arms then kissed her. His breath was warm above her lips as he said, “Why don’t I help you get out of that skirt?”

Chapter 8

So much passion was in Wayne’s eyes that it made Kaitlyn dizzy with want and need. A thrill went through her belly and traveled straight between her thighs as he kissed her and pushed her up against the counter. She slid her arms around his neck and kissed him with just as much intensity as he was kissing her.

A sense of urgency seemed to race through both of them. He pushed her shirt up and she helped him pull it over her head and he threw it aside. She had no idea where the blouse landed. He unfastened her bra and freed her breasts before tossing the bra somewhere over his shoulder.

Cool air tightened her nipples and then his warm mouth covered one and he sucked. She gasped and leaned her head back as he captured her other nipple and lightly bit it before sucking it, too. He moved his mouth from one nipple to the other, driving her crazy with desire.