Outlaw Marriage. Laurie Paige

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СКАЧАТЬ of the Baxter ranch and her father’s obsession—

      Biting back the rest of the disloyal thought, she rubbed her temples where a headache pinged insistently. She removed the folder from her briefcase and again studied the facts in minute detail. Yes, they definitely had a case.

      She wondered if she could get the venue changed to Great Falls or Billings. She would have to show a higher court that the local judge could be prejudiced in favor of the Kincaids. If she lost, though, the case would go that much harder for her side.

      Before she could think this through, the door opened. Only her father would dare intrude without an announcement. She looked up and met his eyes.

      “Good afternoon, Father.”

      “What’s this I hear about you having lunch with the Kincaid grandson?”

      Her father refused to recognize any of the bastard grandsons, so for him there was only one—Collin, the legal heir to Garrett Kincaid’s holdings.

      “I thought I told you I had a meeting with Collin today.” She knew she had. She was also pretty sure she knew who had mentioned the luncheon to her dad. Kurt Peters curried her father’s favor in every way he could.

      “What did he say?”

      She considered how much to tell him, not just the facts, but the nuances of the meeting. “They’re tired of wrangling over the land. They’ll ask the trustees to sell us the remainder of the Baxter land for the price they offered it to Garrett Kincaid.”

      Her father’s face darkened dangerously. “They’ll sell all the Baxter land to me.”

      “Jackson Hawk is representing the reservation. Collin said their plans are too far along to stop. I’ve spoken with Hawk prior to this. The tribal elders refuse to give up the land and will press their own suit if need be.”

      “Have they started building?” he demanded.

      “I don’t know. Legally, it doesn’t matter to our case. By buying land without a clear title, they aren’t entitled to any special consideration. However, their suit will complicate things for us.”

      Her father sat on the corner of her desk, another perk only he was allowed. “Those blasted Indians. We need to check on what they’re doing. I have to fly to New York tomorrow on that bank merger since I’m on the board of directors. You’ll have to go out there.”

      Surprised at this announcement, she said, “Collin invited me to spend the weekend at the Kincaid place. He thought I should look the Baxter land over. That sounds like a case of ‘Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly,’ doesn’t it?” She smiled in ironic amusement.

      Instead of seeing the humor in the idea of her being at the Kincaid compound, surrounded by their opponents and those loyal to them, her father slapped his hand on his thigh and chortled.

      “Good,” he said. “Perfect. When do you go?”

      Her jaw nearly sagged at his elation. “I turned him down. Why would I fall in with his plans?”

      “Why? To see what’s going on. You can check on the reservation doings at the same time since the land adjoins the Kincaid place.” He gave her a derisive glare. “Where’s your head, girl? You might be able to come up with something we’ve overlooked or know nothing about. We need to know any weakness in their case or if they have any surprises up their sleeves.”

      “We’ve already gone into disclosure,” she reminded him.

      “I’m not talking about legal stuff,” he interrupted, silencing her in his usual impatient manner. “We need to look for chinks in the family armor. Or among the ranch hands. Not everyone out there thinks the Kincaids are God’s gift to Montana. Someone working on the ranch might have information we can use.”

      She remained silent, every instinct within her advising that this was the wrong thing to do.

      “Call the grandson and tell him you accept.”

      She stood. Her manner cool and at odds with the way she felt inside, she said, “I’ll consider it.”

      His eyebrows shot up. She’d never used that particular tone with him. She didn’t know why she felt so defensive.

      For once he seemed at a loss for words. “Well, then, good.” He glanced at his watch. “I’ve got to go to a meeting on the new mall in five minutes. Blasted construction boss is a crook, if you ask me. I’ll see you Monday when I get back from New York. No, Tuesday here at the office.”

      “All right.”

      She remained standing behind her desk after he’d gone. She doubted he heard her agreement. It would never occur to him that she wouldn’t be there or that she might have other things to do. For the briefest second, resentment stormed through her, causing a lump to form in her throat.

      The telephone rang, diverting her from the strange tempest of emotion. She cleared her throat and answered. For the rest of the afternoon, she was too busy to think. At six, she went to her apartment in one of the elite Baxter Development complexes. A common-interest development or C.I.D., as it was called in the industry, it was inhabited by professional couples or those wealthy enough to afford a second home.

      The mountains around Whitehorn were scenic and the fact that the town was close to Yellowstone was an added attraction for those with children. The county was becoming increasingly popular with families from metropolitan areas.

      Her father had seen the opportunities long ago. The fact that the local people hadn’t certainly wasn’t his fault. Pulling on her bathing suit, she wondered why she sometimes felt a twinge of guilt as the company bought up mismanaged ranches and turned them into thriving strip malls, condos, golf courses and nature trails for the aging baby boomers. The mismanagement wasn’t her father’s fault.

      Swimming one hundred laps of the Olympic-size indoor pool, she dreaded the thought of calling Collin and accepting his offer. It felt like a concession on her part, which could be interpreted as a sign of weakness from their side. Neither did she like the idea of being a spy sent into the enemy camp by her father.

      She sighed shakily. She felt she no longer knew the man she’d adored as a child. They were becoming more and more estranged. It bothered her.

      From what she had seen of Collin and his grandfather, they were very close-knit. For a second, something like envy washed through her. She discarded the notion and put her efforts into propelling herself through the water that was almost as warm as a bathtub.

      At the end of an hour, feeling neither refreshed nor any happier, she returned to her place. The silence seemed to mock her as she showered and dressed in silk pajamas, then ate a salad for dinner.

      She wondered how many of the grandsons and their various families were at the Kincaid spread and imagined them crowded around a long table, laughing while Collin told them about the meeting.

      Collin returned to the dining room and the lunch he’d left to answer a summons to the phone. “Will wonders never cease?” he said to his grandfather, the seventy-three-year-old patriarch of the Elk Springs branch of the Kincaids. “Yesterday Hope Baxter refused to accept an invitation to come out and look the ranch over. Today she calls and says she will.”

      Garrett СКАЧАТЬ