Caitlyn's Prize. Linda Warren

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СКАЧАТЬ heard that all her life and didn’t understand it. She’d told her father many times that she could run High Five as well as any man. That always brought on a sermon about how a woman’s place was in the home, producing heirs.

      That stung like a rope burn. But nothing had ever changed her father’s thinking.

      Then she’d fallen hard for Judd, to the point that all she could see was his dark eyes, all she could feel was excitement when he looked at her. He was three years older, more experienced and more man than she’d ever met before.

      Judd was popular in school, but he never glanced her way. Then one summer Renee threw a party and the Belle daughters were invited. Judd asked her to dance and Caitlyn thought she was in heaven.

      After that, they met often, and before long heated kisses were taking her places she’d never been before. She was so in love that she never questioned Judd’s love or his attention.

      He had a power about him that frightened and attracted her at the same time. When she was around him she couldn’t think. All she could do was feel.

      And that caused her to fall right into her father’s plan. Marrying Judd would unite two powerful ranching families, and High Five would continue to prosper.

      Cait was prepared to fulfill her duty. She loved Judd and wanted to spend her life with him. Her first year in college was fun, but nothing was more exciting than rushing home to spend a weekend in his arms. It was bliss. It was perfect.

      Then Dane had said there was no need for her to return to school in the fall, that doing so would be a waste of money. She needed to focus on Judd, a home and babies. They’d had words, and she’d run to Judd, wanting him to take her side.

      But he hadn’t. He didn’t understand her viewpoint. Why wouldn’t she want to think about a home for them and babies? he’d practically shouted. That’s what a married woman should want.

      In that instant Cait saw her future. She would be like his mother, Renee, ruled by her domineering husband. She would decorate his home, serve his dinner guests, warm his bed and produce children. As Judd’s trophy wife, she would want for nothing. Except being treated as an equal.

      Caitlyn made the toughest decision of her life in a heartbeat. Taking off her engagement ring, she’d said, “I can’t marry you. I can’t marry a man who doesn’t respect me as a woman.”

      She waited for the magic words, his profession of love and respect, but they never came. He slipped her beautiful ring into his jeans pocket and walked out of the room. Her heart broke, but she held it all inside.

      Her father wouldn’t speak to her for six months. Judd spoke to her for the first time today. But she’d gotten that education and she’d traveled. In the end, it brought her home to High Five.

      Her grandfather had passed on and Gran had grown older. Cait was needed at home. Her father was gambling heavily and the ranch was neglected and in disrepair.

      Cait had a degree in agriculture management and worked her butt off to keep High Five afloat, but her father’s debts were slowly taking them under.

      Then they got the news: Dane had lung cancer and was given mere weeks to live. Cait was blindsided by grief, love and anger. Through it all she was determined to prove to him she could be the son he’d always wanted.

      Sadly, he never saw her as a competent woman and rancher—only a beautiful daughter who needed a husband.

      Lying in the grass, remembering, Caitlyn glanced toward the sky. “You never gave me a chance. And now…”

      Tears stung the back of her eyes, but she refused to shed a single one. No one was taking High Five, especially not Judd.

      Reaching for Red’s reins, she stood. In a flash, she was headed back to the ranch. She had to call her sisters. Maybe together they could save their home.

      But the ranch wasn’t Madison’s or Skylar’s home. They’d been raised by their mothers, and spent only summers and a week at Christmas here. Cait had always looked forward to those times. Back then money hadn’t been a problem and their father had spoiled them terribly, giving them anything they’d wanted. But their best times had been just being together as sisters, racing their horses and exploring all the special places on the High Five ranch. It was always sad when the others left to return home for school in the fall.

      For Caitlyn, the ranch had always been her home.

      And always would be.

      She glanced east to the Southern Cross.

      Cait knew she had a fight on her hands, the biggest one of her life. There was no room for error, no room for losing.

      And no room for feminine emotion.

      CHAPTER THREE

      CAITLYN RODE INTO the barn, feeling more determined than ever. Judd Calhoun would not take everything she loved.

      As she unsaddled Red, it crossed her mind that she had once loved Judd. And if a psychologist chiseled through the stubborn layers of pride encased around her heart, a flicker of love might still be there. But Judd had just killed whatever remaining emotion she had ever felt for him. Guilt, her constant companion for years, had just vanished.

      Now she was fighting mad.

      “Hey, where did you take off to?” Cooper asked, walking into the barn, with Rufus a step behind him.

      Her cowhands were outcasts, both of them ex-cons who worked cheap. She trusted them with her life.

      Cooper Yates was bad to the bone—that’s what people in High Cotton said about him. He’d had a nightmarish childhood, with a father who beat him regularly. In his teens he’d been in and out of juvenile hall.

      Coop had been a year ahead of her in school and she’d always liked him. They were friends, sharing a love of horses.

      After high school, Coop worked on several horse farms, determined to stay out of trouble. But trouble always seemed to follow him. When he’d hired on at an operation in Weatherford, Texas, several thoroughbred horses died unexpectedly. An investigation determined that the pesticide mixed with the feed to kill weevils had been incorrectly applied.

      The owner pointed the finger at Coop. They’d gotten into a fight and the owner had filed charges. Cooper was arrested, tried and convicted. He’d spent six months in a Huntsville prison.

      When Caitlyn heard the news, she was convinced Coop was innocent. There was nothing he didn’t know about horses or their feed. She’d been proved right. The cover-up soon unraveled. The owner had mixed the feed and had used Coop as a scapegoat. Her friend was released, but the damage had been done. No one would hire him.

      Caitlyn had urged her father to take a chance on Coop. He’d been working on High Five for three years now.

      Rufus, the husband of Etta, their housekeeper, was now in his seventies. Years ago he’d been in a bar with friends when he saw a guy slap his girlfriend and slam her against the wall. Rufus pulled him off her and the man took a swing at him. Rufus ducked and managed to swing back, hard. The man went down and out—for good. His head hit a table and that was it.

      Rufus had been СКАЧАТЬ