by Sara Orwig
“So you want to buy back part of your ranch. Why didn’t you discuss this with your brother?”
“My half brother never gave me the opportunity. It’s general knowledge in these parts that traditionally in the Santerre family, the oldest son inherits the ranch. They are raised to protect the ranch, maintain it, keep it in the family. Well, all of that instruction didn’t take with Will. He does as he pleases and he has no interest in cowboys, the country or ranch life.”
“He told me he didn’t,” Jake said, thinking about the closing that he hadn’t planned to attend and then did just to face Will when he bought out the Santerres. In spite of Will being happy over the sale, the buyout had been sweet revenge—a goal through generations of Bentons to see the last of the Santerres in the area. Jake’s attorneys had already informed him that Caitlin wasn’t included in the ranch inheritance. Also, she hadn’t lived at the ranch since she had graduated from college. He still had thought of her as a child, so he had dismissed her from mind.
“Why didn’t Will sell part of the ranch to you since you want it badly?”
“He didn’t bother to contact me, either about selling or to ask if I wanted to buy any part of it. Will and I aren’t close. He cares only about himself.”
“I’d agree with that,” Jake stated, remembering the antagonism he had felt toward Will at the closing. Each time he had looked into Will’s hazel eyes, he could see loathing mirrored there.
“If it were left up to Will,” Caitlin continued, “I would be excluded from the family. Our father felt the same.”
“If I remember correctly, your grandmother raised you. She was a Santerre, actually, your father’s mother.”
“Yes, but unlike him in so many ways. I loved her deeply and she was good to me. Because of her, I’m recognized as a Santerre by everyone except Will.”
Jake recalled lots of gossip regarding the Santerre family history—how Caitlin’s mother had been a maid for the Santerres, the brief affair…and the resulting baby. And how the baby had been unacknowledged and cut off by Titus Santerre, yet adopted and raised by her paternal grandmother. How Titus Santerre had remained married to Will’s mother until her death and did not remarry.
“Why do you want to buy any of the ranch back?” he asked. “You don’t live here any longer and you’re not a rancher.” His gaze drifted over her thick auburn hair that was pinned loosely on her head with a few escaping strands. Looking silky, her hair was another temptation, making him think of running his fingers through the soft strands.
“I adored my grandmother and I loved growing up in her house. The people who worked for her closely were included in her will. Our foreman, Kirby Lenox, Altheda Perkins, who was our cook and now also cleans, and Cecilia Mayes, Grandmother’s companion—they all stayed on. Kirby and two who work for him, still run the ranch. They care for the horses and the few cattle we have. Altheda maintains the house, cooking and overseeing the cleaning. Cecilia is elderly now. She devoted her life to Grandmother, first as her personal secretary and later as companion.
“I knew people were still staying there.”
“As owner, you could have evicted them.”
“I’m not in a rush. I figured they would leave before long. If they didn’t, then I planned to tell them they had to go. It is my property.”
“I love all of them because they were there when I grew up. I wanted to keep the house, barn and animals for them as long as they live. I wanted to be able to return occasionally to the ranch house—just as you must do here.”
Jake nodded. “Why didn’t you tell Will?”
She looked away but he had seen the coldness in her expression that came with his question. “I did tell Will. He just laughed at me and reminded me that my father barely acknowledged my existence so I had no say in what he did with the ranch. He said he would tell me if it looked as if I could come up with more money to buy it and make a better offer than anyone else who bid on it. When the time came, he didn’t. I knew nothing about the sale. He didn’t legally have to notify me because I had no more part of ownership of the ranch than a stranger.”
Jake felt no stir of sympathy for her. Even though she and Will were alienated, Jake couldn’t forget that they were both Santerres. The same blood ran in her veins as in Will’s.
“You know I can’t work up much sympathy for a Santerre,” Jake admitted, voicing his thoughts aloud. “Not even a beautiful one.”
One dark eyebrow arched as she gave him a level look. “You’re honest. I’m not asking you to like me or even see me again in your lifetime. I just want to buy the house and part of the land. Grandmother never owned it. There was a stipulation in my father’s will assuring her she could live there the rest of her life and then it would belong to Will. All I want is a small part.”
“What advantage for me would there be in doing any such thing?” he asked. “It would mean keeping a Santerre for a neighbor. You surely heard the family histories and know what kind of past we’ve had.”
“Oh, I’ve heard,” she replied lightly as if discussing the weather. “The first Benton killed the first Santerre over water. The river meanders and thus the argument continues about each family’s rights and boundary. Our great-great-grandfathers were political opponents. Your family supposedly burned down our barn in the early days, rustled cattle, stole our horses. The list is long.”
“You’ve left out the most recent episode that touched our lives, at least it affected mine. You may have been young enough to miss it. I’m thirty-four. You must be about twenty-two.”
Her eyes danced with amusement. “You’re a little off. If that were the case, when you were seventeen in high school, I would have been toddling off to kindergarten. No, I’m twenty-eight now.”
Smiling, he shrugged. “You were a little kid. You might as well have been five when I was seventeen. I paid no attention to you at that age.”
“Mmm, I’ll have to remedy that. I have no intention of letting you continue to ignore me,” she drawled, making his heart skip because she was flirting with him.
“Maybe I’ll have to reassess my attitude toward Santerres,” he said.
“You might be surprised by what you’d find,” she rejoined, slanting him a coy smile that made his pulse jump.
“You should make me forget you’re related to Will. As far as our family is concerned, Will caused my sister Brittany’s death.”
“When the District Attorney pressed charges and Will was brought to trial, he was found innocent. The car wreck was ruled an accident. Will has been cleared of that charge,” Caitlin stated matter-of-factly.
“I’ll never feel he was innocent,” Jake replied. “Will testified that Brittany tried to run him off the road. But she was in love with him. Will is the one who ran her off the road.”
“The jury found Will innocent. Will and I barely speak. He’ll probably cease to do so now that our father is gone. Although, my success in my profession has given Will a grudging mellowing toward me. Not enough to inform me of his decision to sell the ranch, much less of the agreement to sell it to you.”
“Will is rotten,” Jake said, thinking more about Caitlin’s silky auburn hair and huge eyes, still amazed to learn her identity.
“Please think about this. I want to save the house and people’s livelihoods that you’ll take away. I love them and they’re older now. I feel responsible for their well-being because they’ve devoted their lives to my grandmother and to me.”
“Noble, but they also got paid to do so and probably a damned good salary.”
“Sure, but it went beyond that. That house holds happy memories. Please rethink my request to buy before you answer hastily.”
He smiled at her as he sat in silence and studied her. “All right, I’ll think about it, but I doubt if I’ll change my mind.”
“If so, your decision has to be spite.” Her expression didn’t change. Green eyes observed him coolly. “You have one of the largest ranches in the state as it is and now
you’ve bought up neighboring ranches as well as ours. I urge you to have an open mind when you give this thought.”
“It isn’t spite. At least not toward you. It’s vengeful where Will is concerned. I was delighted to buy him out. Even happier to tear down Will’s home place, turning it into rubble that will be cleared. Eventually, in its place will be mesquite, cactus and bare ground.”
Lightning crackled and popped while thunder made the windows rattle. Rain began to drum against the house.
Jake’s mind raced as his gaze roamed over her again. Her beauty pulled on his senses and there was an unmistakable physical attraction, but he didn’t care to pursue it. She was a Santerre and he wasn’t selling land back to her. She should have talked to Will immediately after their father’s death about her wishes to keep their grandmother’s property. He glanced beyond her through the French doors at the downpour, listening to the loud hiss of rain.
He glanced at his watch; it was almost six o’clock. He wanted her to stay for dinner when common sense said to get rid of her. Tell her no, get her out of his life and keep the property. She would give up and go on with her life if she learned there was no hope of regaining her childhood home.
But, traitorous or not, he was enjoying the sight of her too much. “You might as well stay for dinner. You can’t ride home in this and I don’t care to get out in it right now. It’s a gully washer and you know as well as I do how fast creeks and streams here will flood, so just stay. I can take you home later and you can get your horse when it’s convenient.”
She gave him another of her long, assessing looks and he couldn’t guess what ran through her thoughts. “Very well, thank you.”
He nodded. “This place is stocked. All the staff is gone, Their work is minimal since I’m here so little. I give them notice when I want them. My cook lives here on the ranch, and the other house staff live in town. Since you’re here, I’ll ask Fred to come in the morning. He lives on the ranch, so it’s easy for him to do so. Dinner will be what I can rustle up.”
“That’s fine. You can keep it simple.”
“Want a drink? Wine, soft drink, mixed drink, beer?”
“A glass of water would be great,” she said.
“Let’s go to the family room. It’s more comfortable.”
“Fine, lead the way,” she said, standing in a fluid motion.
She was tall, although a good six inches shorter than he was. They walked into an adjoining room twice the size of the study with windows and French doors with another, more panoramic view of the storm. French doors also opened onto the porch and the covered patio. She crossed to the windows to look out while he built a fire in a stone fireplace. He went to the bar to get her water and get himself a cold beer.
“We can sit outside and watch the storm if you prefer, although it may be chilly. I can build a fire and I’ll cook out there.”
“I have a jacket.”
“And I don’t get cold,” he said. They walked out to the patio with its comfortable furniture, stainless-steel equipment and a state-of-the-art cooker.
“Even though there are no walls, you have what amounts to another few rooms out here,” she remarked, glancing around at a living area, a kitchen area and the cabana and pool.
“It’s livable. A fire will make it more so.” He built a fire in a fireplace and then sat facing her near the blazing orange flames.
Handing her drink to her, he brushed her hand lightly. The physical contact, while so slight, burned. Soft warm skin. A startling awareness increased his desire.
She smiled at him. “Thank you. We’re having quite a storm. There won’t be any going home the way I came. As you said, this kind of downpour gets the river spilling out of its banks.”
She slanted him a look that was hot. He wondered if it was deliberate. Maybe he shouldn’t be so hasty in getting rid of her after dinner.
While he had no intention of selling any part of the Santerre ranch back to her, how far would she go to try to convince him to do so?
“It’s already dark out because of the storm,” he said. “We have plenty of room,” he added in a husky voice. “You can stay all night.”
Two
“A Santerre staying overnight with a Benton. It’s a shocking invitation that would turn our relatives topsy-turvy if they had known.”
“Scared to stay with a Benton?”
“Not remotely. I look forward to it,” she said, smiling at him. “It’s just that never in my wildest imaginings would I have guessed I would be here overnight. One Santerre is definitely shocked.”
“This is a stormy night, so better to stay inside.”
“Good. Staying longer will give me more time to try to talk you into selling. You don’t live here year round, why would you want so much more land? I know you’ve bought the ranch to the east of this one in addition to buying ours.”
“The first and foremost reason is oil,” he answered. “My brother thinks there may be oil in this general area. You have to know that he’s already drilling to the west of your grandmother’s house.”
“I see the activity with the trucks coming and going all hours. A rig is up now. From the upstairs floors we can see the work. They have fenced off the area so the cattle won’t roam there. I don’t think you’ll find any oil. My dad went through this at one time.”
“Gabe thinks there may be oil on your ranch, or on the old Patterson place. That’s why I wanted the land to the east, partially why I wanted your home place. Mostly I wanted to buy out Will and see the last of the Santerres in Nealey County. The people who worked for your grandmother are not Santerres. They would eventually have to go, but I haven’t been in a rush to run them off.”
“I have never done anything to hurt you or your family,” she stated quietly, but he saw the flare of fire in her eyes indicating animosity was not his alone.
“No, you haven’t. Admit it, though, you don’t like me or any other Benton.”
She glanced away. “I was raised to feel that way. I’m sure both families are at fault.” Her attention returned to him. “Your dislike hinges primarily on your sister and Will, even though Will was found innocent.”
Jake hoped he hid the sudden clenching of his insides as the old anger stirred again. She had touched a nerve. “I’ll always feel my sister’s death was due to Will.”
“Even though a jury found him innocent?” Caitlin asked. “From what Will said, your sister was the one at fault.”
“My sister had the poor judgment to fall in love with your half brother,” Jake said, thinking Caitlin should have left the topic alone because she stirred memories of the most abhorrent event in his life. It was the ultimate culmination of his hatred of Will. “Brittany didn’t live to tell her side of the story.”
“At the trial Will testified that they had a fight and she drove off in a rage. He said he was afraid she would have a wreck and he followed her. He tried to get in front of her car so he could slow her down. He testified that when he tried to pass her, she sideswiped his car. She lost control and crashed.”
“I’ll always think Will sideswiped her car. Will was the one who wanted her out of his life. She wanted him to marry her.”
“That never came out in the trial, although it was common talk. Will admitted to Grandmother that Brittany wanted him to marry her.”
“You know a lot about it.”
“I was there, even if I was younger than you.”
“She was pregnant with Will’s baby,” Jake said, feeling the dull hurt that came when he thought about Brittany’s crash. “Brittany told me. She was in love with him, too. I’m convinced Will ran her off the road and she crashed,” Jake said, hurt growing with each word. He hated having painful memories dredged up again.
Caitlin gasped. “I always figured talk of pregnancy was just a rumor. It was never brought up at the trial.”
“My mother didn’t know about it. My dad didn’t want it brought out at the trial and your family sure as hell didn’t,” J
ake said. “I will always blame Will. I don’t believe he told the truth about that night, but no one will ever know because only two people were present. At the time of the trial, one of them was dead,” Jake stated, bitterness filling him as he sank into dark memories of a painful time. “We better get off this subject if you want to have a civil conversation with me.”
Jake gazed into fiery green eyes. Caitlin made no effort to hide her anger. He could feel the waves of antagonism that revealed her flirting was simply a means to try to get what she wanted from him.
“So that’s why you hate Will so much,” she said.
“Will and I have competed in school in sports and in the classroom. I was captain of the football team when he wanted to be. We both were on the baseball team. I had more home runs than Will. He had more stolen bases. I was my class president and the next year he was his class president. We were both on the debate team. Will and I have had plenty of our own battles. I never put Will in the hospital or vice versa.”
“You broke his nose. Actually, I wasn’t too sorry when I heard that. I thought a good punch was well deserved.”
“It definitely was,” he said lightly. “It was the loss of Brittany that tops my list of complaints against Will. I loved my sister and I hated to see her go out with Will. Brittany and I fought constantly over that. When she could, she hid her relationship with Will from our dad. I should have told him, but I don’t think it would have helped. She was eighteen, a senior. Will was eighteen by then. I was still seventeen. She would have done what she wanted. I don’t think anyone could have stopped her. Not even that fatal night.”
“As a Benton, you’ll always think Will was guilty.”
“Yes. While you’ll always think he’s innocent. We’re at an impasse on the issue and it makes even a business deal between us an emotional event that can’t be looked at in a purely impartial way.”
“Will’s no angel and we’ve never gotten along. Grandmother sat him down and made him tell her what happened. He swore that was the truth and I don’t think even Will could have lied to her. She could be a formidable woman. More intimidating than my father.”
