A small dark cloud hung over her good mood. It seemed unfair that she had moved so far, to accomplish so much, and yet still she was caught up in family politics, and a feud not of her making. It seemed she was being punished for the actions of a man she didn’t really know. Which only brought her guilt back to the forefront of her thoughts. The Williams family had helped Uncle Freddy when no one else had. She could understand how they might think they were entitled to the ranch. Although that wasn’t what Adam had implied. Lynn decided to keep an open mind, but there was no way she was going to be bullied into parting with her dreams; her parents had already tried that, and failed. Which meant Lynn was strong enough to withstand anything thrown at her by Adam’s family.
It was disappointing, though, to know she might be caught up in a perpetual feud that involved a man she could easily develop feelings for, beyond the lust she was experiencing for the big, handsome man in a cowboy hat. It went deeper than that. When Lynn decided to move to her uncle’s old ranch, despite opposition from her own family, she had always assumed that she would make friends, meet new people, and start a new life with people who didn’t try to press their own agenda. Ironically, the exact thing had happened. Without her lifting a hand, or saying a word.
While she packed all her cleaning gear away, stowing the bucket by the back door, and hanging the clothes out to dry on what was left of the clothesline—one more thing to her list of things that needed replacing—she tried not to let one nagging thought dampen her good mood.
As the sun began to sink behind the hills to the west and the air cooled to comfortable, Lynn came to the conclusion that right now, all everyone wanted from her was for her to give up the farm. Her family, the Williams family, everyone but Pete, who only wanted her to stay so that he could make some money off her. She struggled to fend off the thought that it would be easier to sell than fight a one-woman battle.
Especially since her arms ached, and her back was sore from all the cleaning.
“Get over yourself,” she said, going back inside. “You’ve been here a day. Wait until you meet people from town, then you’ll see not everyone is against you.”
As she climbed the stairs, heading for the sanctuary of the bathroom, and the hope that the hot water wouldn’t give out on her, she fought off the need to call her mom. A sob choked in her throat at the realization of where her sadness sprung from. Coming here had dented her relationship with her mom and dad, the two people she loved most in this world. As an only child they had lavished her with their attention, and now that attention had been ripped away, along with their support.
Watching the hot water fill the bathtub, wishing she had some nice-smelling bubble bath to add to it, Lynn mourned the loss of her relationship with her parents. Then she resolved to patch it back up. When the house was ready, she intended to invite them over, and let them see what she had achieved, and to show them that just because they had shut her out of their lives, she had not shut them out of hers.
“And if they say no...?” she asked herself. “Then I will know I’m on my own in this world.”
Apart from Adam, a niggling voice of betrayal whispered in her head.
“That remains to be seen,” Lynn answered herself.
Slipping into the hot water, she closed her eyes and let her mind go blank. She refused to think of the handsome rugged man who had offered to mend her faucet, and she didn’t mean Pete. However, he kept slipping back into her thoughts, unbidden, but not unwelcome. Although the attraction left Lynn scared. What if he let her down too? What if the sole reason for him coming here tonight was to make friends with her, and maybe more, with the intention of stealing the farm from her.
“Overdramatic much?”
One thing she did know, she had to stop talking to herself, or the whole world would soon think she was crazy.
Getting out of the bath, she dried herself, put on the best of what few clothes she had brought with her—a clean pair of jeans and a light summer sweater—and headed downstairs. She was going to enjoy herself, and forget about the past or the future: it was time to enjoy the now. Her long list of things to do could wait for one evening.
Chapter Six – Adam
The smell of lemon floor soap and the soft sound of Lynn cursing met him as he stood at the front door of Hawkins place. He smiled and held up his hand to knock, not a custom he was used to—when he used to visit old man Hawkins, he would walk in unannounced. The old fella was deaf; if Adam had waited for an answer, he’d have waited forever.
“Hi,” Lynn said, coming to the door, her cheeks tinged pink, making her look adorable. Not a word he’d have let her hear, he figured a woman like Lynn, trying to make her mark on the world, wouldn’t want to have that kind of a label. But to Adam, she was adorable all the same.
“Hi. I brought Chinese.” He held up the takeout and was rewarded with a smile.
“My favorite,” she said. “How did you know?”
“It’s my favorite too. So we’re meant for each other,” He gave her a lopsided grin, which wasn’t meant to be taken seriously, even if they were the most honest words he had ever spoken.
“I’ll get some cutlery,” Lynn said, glossing over his remarks, but leaving the door open for him to follow her in.
“It certainly smells fresher in here.” Adam looked around at the vastly improved state of the kitchen.
“It’s getting there. A lot of elbow grease and copious amounts of cleaning supplies, that is the secret,” Lynn said.
Adam’s face broke out in a grin. “Would that be a family secret?”
“A family secret, and a family feud. What an intriguing life you think I lead.” She looked over her shoulder at him. “I have a bottle of wine somewhere.”
“I was going to pick one up, but was scared you might think this was too … datelike,” Adam confessed.
“And we can’t have that, can we?” she teased.
He avoided her eyes. “No. There are no strings attached to this meal. None whatsoever.”
“I’m not sure I believe you, Adam Williams,” Lynn retorted.
“And you would probably be right not to.” He sighed, and put the takeout down on the counter. He couldn’t deny the way he felt about her, and wanted to tell her exactly what she meant to him. Surely she would be flattered. Who wouldn’t want a glorified farmhand as their man?
Wait. He stood up straighter. From tomorrow, he was going to be heir to the Williams Homestead; he would have something real to offer her. When Jordan formally relinquished his rights to the Homestead, Adam was going to become one of the most eligible bachelors in the county.
His shoulders slumped forward, his thoughts deflating him. No matter which way he looked at the situation, it didn’t feel right.
“Hey, you OK?” Lynn placed the plates down on the counter next to the Chinese food.
“Yes. Sorry.”
“You want to talk about it?” she asked.
He chuckled. “You’ve just met me, you know we have a feud going, and you want to listen to my problems. You really are a good woman, Lynn.”
She blushed. “Come on. Let’s go sit outside. I’ve been cleaning this house all day. Once we’ve eaten, I thought you could walk me around my vast estate, and tell me what I need to know. I’m trusting you. So why not trust me? I promise, whatever you say, it stays between us.”
He shook his head. “You might regret wanting to know.”
She gave a short laugh. “You have not met my parents. I’m sure yours are much saner than mine. Your mom bakes a heavenly apple pie, she has to be a good woman. Which reminds me…” She turned and quickly crossed the kitchen, taking the pie in her hand, and the bottle of wine and glasses. “Can you manage the Chinese food?”
“I can.” He picked it up, and balanced the plates and the cutlery in his arms. “Let’s go.”
“I feel like a child about to have a picnic.”
“I have not been on a picnic for years,” he said, her sense of fun lifting h
is spirits. “You are waking up a part of me I had long let go dormant.”
“The fun part, right?” she asked, tilting her head at him. “Because I could do with some fun.”
“The fun part,” he agreed. “I’ve been so caught up with work, and who inherits what, I can’t remember the last time I had fun.”
“I would have thought a man like you would be out having lots of fun,” Lynn led him outside into the low evening sun.
Lynn had set down a picnic blanket for them to share in amongst the overgrown grass of the back lawn, and when they sat down, it gave a certain intimacy to their meal. The grass stalks, littered with wild flowers that had self-seeded year after year as Freddy Hawkins’s health had failed, were like a barrier to the outside world. Only the sky and bird song could intrude on their small oasis.
“What do you plan to do with the garden?” Adam asked, placing the takeout on the blanket. “Help yourself. There’s plenty.”
“Thanks.” She heaped rice onto her plate, and then added sweet and sour chicken. “I haven’t had a chance to look around too much. Not after the faucet incident this morning. It put me behind on my work.”
“But you got to meet Pete,” Adam’s jealousy evident in his voice.
Lynn’s only reaction was a quick glance, before she set her plate on her lap and said, “I’ve been trying to recall the visits I made to the ranch as a young girl. The one thing that sticks in my mind about visiting Uncle Freddy was this garden. He used to tend it so dutifully.”
“Dutifully.” Adam shoveled noodles into his mouth, enjoying himself immensely: good food, the outdoors, and his mate. What more could he ask for?
“Yes. The garden was his favorite part of the ranch. He planted it, and tended it. It was his love in a life that must have been isolated and lonely at times. He never married, not that I’m aware of.”
“No, he never married,” Adam told her. “Although there was a woman, she lived here for a time.”
“Oh, there was? So he did have a little romance in his life, perhaps.”
“There is nothing wrong with romance,” he said, sucking a noodle through his lips. She laughed. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. I like it. I like being here. It makes me feel free.” She tilted her head back and looked at the sky, and he longed to sidle alongside her and kiss her. “As long as I don’t let the guilt creep in.”
“It sounds as if we both have own family duties. You know, things that are expected of us,” Adam said.
“I shirked mine, at least that’s what my parents think,” she confessed. “But what about you?”
Adam sighed, and sat up, not wanting to think about his father, but with Jordan due tomorrow, it would be good to talk it over with someone not connected to the family. “My father has certain ideas, traditions, if you will, that he feels we need to uphold.”
“Like taking this farm back,” Lynn said.
“That is in his mind. But the more pressing issue is my older brother.”
“Oh, is he a black sheep?” Lynn asked with interest.
“No. The opposite. An army veteran.”
“Oh.”
“Growing up, it was always known that he would inherit everything. That’s how our family works.”
“Not exactly fair to the rest of you,” Lynn said.
“Yes. And no.” Adam cleared his first plateful of food and went back for more, noting that Lynn enjoyed her food too. He liked that in a woman. Ranch life was tough, and a good appetite would mean she was strong, and would breed good sons. He was sounding like his father.
“Explain,” she said.
“The ranch has been in my family for generations. My great-great-grandfather had five sons, and he figured the only way for the ranch not to be split up and sold off piece by piece was if the eldest son was the sole heir. The other sons had the right to always work and earn a wage, but not own the farm.”
“I see the point of that. I wonder what would have happened if the firstborn was a daughter,” Lynn asked.
“It’s never happened. The Williamses have always had sons.” Adam shrugged. “It’s in the genes.”
“Maybe your genes need some freshening up.”
“Maybe they do,” he said with a grin. “But the fact remains, all boys. So my great-grandfather inherited the ranch, and it caused some unrest within the family. My great-grandfather took it upon himself to be a little more generous to his youngest son, and gave him a small claim of his own.”
“I’m liking him already,” Lynn said, placing her plate down on the blanket and settling down to lie on her side, her chin on her hand.
“You should, because he was the one who built this ranch.”
“So this belonged to your great-uncle?” she asked with a frown.
“Yes. My grandfather inherited the Homestead, and his brother got a small ranch, so he had something of his own. Only there was still unrest. It seemed his brother didn’t want the rancher’s life. And so he gambled it away, lost it to your Uncle Freddy.”
“Oh!” Lynn took a big breath of air. “Now I see where the feud started. Your grandfather thought Uncle Freddy hustled the farm off your family.”
“Exactly. My grandfather could not see how much his brother wanted to leave Black Bear Ford. He wasn’t allowed to sell, and so he gambled; if he had won, he would have had a ticket out of here, he’d have taken his winnings and left anyway, he’d have just walked away from the farm. Your Uncle Freddy wanted a farm, but didn’t have enough money, but he did have enough to tempt my great-uncle. They both gambled everything they had, winner takes all. There might have been liquor involved, but both men stood by the result.”
“What happened to him? When he lost the farm.”
Adam shook his head. “He argued with his brother, a terrible argument, and then he left, he disappeared. It’s the great family mystery.”
“No one knew if he was dead or alive?” Lynn asked.
“No. My father tried to find him when his dad got sick; he wanted them to be reunited. But it never happened.”
“That’s so sad.” Lynn fell silent. From the comments she had made earlier, he assumed there were some difficulties with her own family. And they might also revolve around the farm. Any other man might delve into those problems and use them to his advantage, use them to make her sell. Ranching had taught him one thing: the right leverage, in the right place, could move a boulder of incredible weight without breaking a sweat.
But Adam was not his father, and he had no intention of causing pain to Lynn. She was his to cherish. He would go against all his father’s schemes and plans if he had to, rather than using Lynn’s position with her family to his advantage.
As she gazed out over the fields, the sun shining around her like a halo, he promised he would never let property get between him and his mate, or him and his family. When Jordan arrived tomorrow, Adam was going to lay down his plans, and hope his brothers were of the same mind.
United, they could stand against their father. Divided… Well, if they divided, Adam might be asking Lynn for a place to stay sooner than he’d expected.
Chapter Seven – Lynn
Talk of Adam’s father and grandfather reminded her of her own parents. She loved them. That was true and always would be, and as soon as she could, as soon as she felt confident they would see what she was trying to achieve, Lynn was going to ask them to come over and stay for a night or two. It was time they all acted like adults and learned that they all wanted different things out of life, but that did not mean they could not be happy, and be a family.
“Tell me where your brother fits into all of this? You said he didn’t want the farm. So that makes you the sole heir? Your brothers get cut out?” Lynn asked.
“Yes. He went away to join the army. Jon and Sam, my younger brothers and I, stayed here and worked hard. With no regrets. We love the place, and we were raised knowing it would go to Jordan.”
“And now things have changed? For you?” Lynn aske
d. Other people’s families, especially where siblings were involved, had always fascinated her.
Growing up, any visits to her friends’ houses were a great joy. Not because she didn’t like her home life; before they moved into a hotel, her parents had been great, if a little pushy. But other people’s houses opened a window into sibling rivalries and sibling relationships. It was like watching real-life TV. They talked, they gossiped, they fought, over everything from toys to food, to who got the TV remote. Lynn loved it.
“Yes. And it’s not sitting right with me.” He got up. “Shall we walk?”
“Sure.” He held his hand out to her and she took it, the sensation of belonging flooding her veins as his large hand folded around hers and he pulled her to her feet. It took her a moment to get her balance. There was something about the nearness of Adam that made her knees go weak, and her breathing quicken. “Thanks.”
“My pleasure.” He looked at the picnic blanket, trying to avoid her gaze. If Lynn didn’t know better, she would believe she was making his big ol’ cowboy go weak at the knees too. Coughing to clear his throat, he said, “Let’s walk off some of this food.”
“That sounds like a plan.” Then she did something daring, but which made Adam’s breath catch in his throat. Lynn reached out for his hand and, without a word, took it. “Lead the way.”
“I’m sure it hasn’t changed that much since you were here last,” Adam said.
“Yes and no. Everything is overgrown.” She leaned on his shoulder, wanting to feel him, solid, a thing of substance. “I wish I’d come back here when Uncle Freddy was alive. I could have helped him. Could have kept the place together.”
“You were busy with your own life,” Adam told her. “Don’t live with regrets. Your uncle was happy for the most part.”
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