A Willing Wife

by Jackie Merritt

  “There’s not a reason in the world why you and I should be at each other’s throats,” she said, and slowly removed her long black coat. The black lace bra spilling her voluptuous bosom, the minuscule bikini panties, black garter belt and black hose definitely got his attention, she realized smugly, just as she’d planned. The anger remained in Clint’s blue eyes—a permanent condition that she’d come to accept—but now there was also a simmering appreciation of her perfect body. She let him take a good long look, then turned to the dresser where he had placed the bucket of ice and she had set the bottle of whiskey.

  Clint started walking toward her, and she laughed. “Before we get all hot and bothered, darling, let’s have a drink and do some talking.” She was already filling two of the disgusting plastic glasses provided by the motel with ice and whiskey. She handed him a glass and held up her own. “Cheers,” she said brightly.

  “Cheers, my hind leg,” Clint muttered, but he took a swallow of whiskey. Looking her straight in the eye, he said flatly, “I need some money.”

  “Well, darling, so do I! Why else would I be suing the pants off Ryan?”

  “You have money. You couldn’t be living at the Austin Arms if you didn’t.”

  Sophia sighed, looked in the mirror and pushed a curl of her strawberry blond hair back in place. “Credit cards, darling,” she murmured. “I’m living on credit cards.”

  “You can get cash with credit cards.”

  “Yes, but how much cash? Three hundred? Five? Good Lord, Clint, what’s a few hundred bucks? I tip my hair-dresser that much every week.” Sophia’s face and eyes suddenly became hard as granite. “If our plan to kidnap baby Bryan had worked, we would be sharing fifty-million right now. That’s the kind of cash I want, Clint, and by hook or by crook I’m going to get it.”

  “Yes, but am I?”

  Sophia’s hard expression changed to one of incredulity. It was a deliberate ploy; she was extremely proud of her acting ability. “Surely you haven’t been thinking that I would cheat you out of your share of whatever I get in the divorce! I thought you trusted me!”

  “Trust you? There’s nothing I would put past you, Sophia, not one damn thing.” Clint kept his gaze trained on her while taking another swallow of whiskey. “And let me tell you something that you really should pay attention to. The day you try cheating me out of anything will be the sorriest day of your life.”

  “Now you’re threatening me?” She spoke boldly, challengingly, but a chill went up her spine, nonetheless. One of the reasons she’d gotten involved with Clint in the first place was his aura of danger. It had turned her on, along with his good looks and the fact that he hated the Fortunes far more than she did, even though he worked at their ranch. More than once she had realized that Clint Lockhart would happily throttle the Fortunes one by one with his bare hands if he thought he could get away with it.

  The truth about Clint, Sophia had come to understand during their affair, was that he had despised the entire Fortune clan since early childhood, when serious financial problems had befallen his own father, and Kingston Fortune— Ryan’s father—had been the highest bidder on the Lockhart’s 100,000-acre ranch. Clint’s grudge against the Fortunes had become an obsession by the time he turned twelve, and then to add insult to injury, both of his sisters had married Fortune men. Janine, Ryan’s deceased first wife and Sophia’s predecessor, had been the sister that had gotten Clint a job on the ranch, and Sophia knew now that Clint had waited years and years to exact some kind of vengeance on the Fortunes for stealing the ranch he should have inherited.

  Sophia could still charm Clint into bed, and he was definitely a secret ally in her battle with Ryan over the enormous divorce settlement she felt she deserved, but that was the extent of their relationship. Truly, the subject of trust was laughable when applied to the two of them. She didn’t trust Clint as far as she could throw him, but she needed him—for the time being, at least.

  But threats aside, she couldn’t really believe that he would do her any physical harm. After all, they were cohorts, partners, and without her he would never get rich. Not that she intended to make Clint rich, but she had to keep him convinced of it until she actually got her hands on half of Ryan’s immense fortune. Clint was her pipeline to events at the ranch, her spy, and until the divorce proceedings finally shifted in her favor, she needed him.

  “Let’s not threaten each other, darling,” she purred. “I’m not without contacts, as you well know, and if I believed you truly meant to harm me, you might have to start watching your own back.” She coyly flipped the collar on Clint’s shirt. “Now, let’s forget all that nonsense and do some serious talking. Tell me what’s going on at the ranch.” Sophia perched herself on the end of the bed, striking a pose in her costly, sexy underwear that any man would be hard-pressed to ignore.

  Clint never tried to tell himself that Sophia wasn’t the best lay he’d ever had, because she was. Trusting her was another matter, and more and more of late he found himself disliking her. Even though he wanted her right now, he didn’t like her. She was a snooty bitch and thought she ranked far above him, and no one was better than he was—no one! Someday Sophia just might find that out the hard way.

  Still, she was the road to riches beyond his wildest dreams, and the means to get back at the Fortunes, even if they never did learn of the behind-the-scenes role he had played in Sophia’s demands for half of Ryan’s wealth in their divorce. It would be enough that he knew it, Clint had decided when this thing with Sophia first started.

  Of course, that was before baby Bryan’s kidnapping—that Sophia and he had engineered together—and then the botched demand for ransom, which was strictly Sophia’s fault because she was the one who had hired the idiots who’d messed up the whole thing, and Clint resented her for it. In fact, he had a few things to tell her tonight about the baby that had been recovered in San Antonio, which was going to give him great pleasure.

  He sank to a chair and spoke sardonically. “Everything seems to be just hunky-dory at the ranch. Ryan wants to announce his and Lily’s engagement, and Lily’s daughter, Hannah, is champing at the bit to get their wedding plans off the ground. From the bits and pieces of gossip I’ve heard, Lily is the one who’s doing the procrastinating.”

  Sophia turned red with rage; she forgot all about her seductive pose on the bed and jumped up to pace the worn carpet. “God, how I hate them! Aren’t any of them still unstrung over the kidnapping?”

  “There was a lot of confusion when they discovered the baby they got back wasn’t Matthew’s kid.” Clint smiled maliciously over the news he had to impart next. He enjoyed making Sophia squirm and this bit of information should accomplish that quite nicely. “He’s a Fortune, though, ’cause he’s got the birthmark.”

  Sophia whirled. “The strange baby has the birthmark? Are you sure?”

  “It’s no secret. Everybody’s talking about it.”

  “Well, they’re damn good at talking,” Sophia fumed. “But are they doing anything?”

  “For one thing, they’ve got Sheriff Wyatt Grayhawk investigating the identity of the mystery baby.”

  “They do?” Sophia’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “Clint, we have to be especially careful. We probably shouldn’t meet at all for a while.”

  “Forget that notion!” Clint exclaimed heatedly. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

  “Oh, for heaven’s sake, would you stop being so damn paranoid? If we play our cards right, we’re each going to have more money than we could possibly spend in one lifetime.” She could see the rage building in Clint, and decided it was time to change tactics. “Do you have anything else to tell me about Ryan and his precious Lily?”

  “No, that’s all I know.”

  Sophia put on a sexy smile and crooked her finger. “Then come over here and show me again what a big man you are. Wait!” she cried when another idea struck her. “What if we caused a little trouble for precious Lily?”

 
“What kind of trouble?”

  “Oh, phone calls to Ryan’s private line in the middle of the night. Hanging up if Ryan answers instead of Lily, that sort of thing. I’m sure they’re sleeping together in Ryan’s suite. The right kind of harassment just might make Ryan think that his precious Lily isn’t a hundred percent on the up-and-up with him.” Sophia laughed snidely. “I’d love to see his face when that possibility occurs to him.”

  Clint thought it over. “How would harassing Lily make Ryan agree to the financial settlement you’ve asked for? Sophia, it appears to me that you’re looking for revenge because he finally kicked you out. Now, I really don’t care if you want to play a few silly games with your husband, but bear in mind that the only part of Ryan Fortune I want is his money.”

  “That’s all you ever think about—money, money, money!” she snapped.

  Clint got to his feet. “And I suppose you don’t?” he said icily.

  Sophia saw him advancing on her, and from the flinty look in his eyes she wasn’t sure if he intended to kiss her or kill her. Laughing nervously, she quickly lay down on the bed and held up her arms.

  “Come on, lover, let’s forget everything else and have some fun,” she cooed.

  “I think the evening went well, don’t you?” Ryan said as he handed Lily a tulip glass of champagne. They were in Ryan’s bedroom suite, having a private little celebration of Lily’s birthday after the dinner party in Red Rock with her children.

  Lily looked down at her glass. “For the most part, yes,” she said quietly.

  She’d been unusually withdrawn during their drive back to the ranch, and now she seemed to be implying that all had not gone well tonight. Whatever it was that was still disturbing her had gone over Ryan’s head. He himself had enjoyed seeing Lily’s family; the food had been good; Cole, Hannah and Maria had presented birthday gifts to their mother; and Ryan had truly thought the evening had been a success. Apparently not.

  He sat next to her on the settee and took her free hand in his. “You’re worried about something. What is it, Lily?”

  She sighed. “I-It’s difficult to talk about.”

  Ryan pressed on. Lily worrying about anything unnerved him, and he was determined to get to the bottom of her concern. “You hadn’t seen Cole in some time. Did he alarm you in some way with a comment that I missed hearing?”

  “No, it’s not Cole.” Whenever Cole’s name came up while talking to Ryan, Lily felt as though a big hand was squeezing her heart. Ryan believed that all three of her children had the same father, Chester Cassidy, and it wasn’t true. Lily knew that she had to tell Ryan everything, but so far she had not been able to reveal the secret she had guarded for more than thirty-five years: Cameron, Ryan’s deceased brother, was Cole’s father. Oh, how would she ever explain what had happened with Cameron to Ryan without destroying him? And what if he stopped loving her because of it?

  Though guilt and fear had once again started eating her alive, Lily forced herself to go on with the conversation. “He’s doing very well with his law career in Denver. He looks wonderful, doesn’t he, so tall and handsome? I’m very proud of Cole. And I’m equally proud of Hannah. It—it’s Maria. Ryan, did you notice how she eluded every direct question that anyone asked her? Cole said he would like to visit her at her home while he was here, and she gave him a dozen different excuses why he couldn’t. I wonder if she’s ashamed of where she lives,” Lily mused, then added quickly, “I’m sure there is nothing wrong with the trailer she’s renting, but perhaps she thinks there is.”

  “Lily, I’ve told you several times that she’s welcome to move to the ranch. If she’s unhappy living in an out-of-the-way trailer park near Leather Bucket, then she should come and live with us.” Ryan adoringly twined a tendril of Lily’s glorious hair around his forefinger. “Lily, I would do as much for your children as I would for my own. You have to know that.”

  “I do, darling,” she said softly. “But I doubt if Maria would ever live in this house. Ryan, when I followed her to the ladies’ room tonight, she told me again that you would never marry me.”

  “After all that’s happened, she still believes that? How can she, Lily?”

  “She—she’s a strange girl, Ryan. She said she would only believe it when she saw it with her own eyes.” Lily sighed again. “How can she be so different from Cole and Hannah? I wonder how many mothers wonder that same thing about one of their children.”

  Lily went on. “Looking back, Maria was always different.” It flashed through Lily’s mind that she was again having secret thoughts about one of her children. Not that Maria’s irrational behavior and accusations through the years were anywhere near the monumental secret that Cole’s birth father was. Actually, Maria’s resentment of the Fortunes stemmed from her belief that one of the Fortune men had used her mother for sex, then had cast her aside when she’d become pregnant with Cole. Maria had come up with that scenario because Cole bore the Fortune birthmark, and when she had questioned her mother pointblank about it, Lily had eluded a direct answer. Her youthful past was, after all, Lily believed, none of Maria’s business.

  Sighing quietly, Lily went on, speaking of Maria. “She hated school and wouldn’t go to college. She was forever being rude to Cole and Hannah, and to me, of course. But even knowing her as I do—or did… Ryan, I realized tonight that I hardly know her at all anymore, but there was something unusual…” Lily paused to think a moment. “I don’t quite know how to describe the feelings I had tonight about Maria, but I sensed that something was terribly wrong. Ryan, I— I fear that she’s in some kind of trouble. Serious trouble.”

  “Did you suggest such a thing when you were talking to her in the ladies’ room?”

  “No, she was so busy lambasting me because I’m stupid enough to believe in you that I hardly got to say a word.”

  “She treated me respectfully,” Ryan reminded.

  “To your face, yes. She knows I would not sit still if she ever did anything else. I don’t believe that she wants a complete break with her family. She would not have come to dinner with us if that was her goal. But she’s so…so secretive. Yes, that’s the right word. She seems to be guarding a secret.”

  “Well, maybe she has a right, Lily. It’s possible that she’s met a man that she isn’t yet ready to present to the family. It could be something as simple as that making her seem secretive. Perhaps you’re overly concerned about something that doesn’t amount to a hill of beans.”

  “Perhaps,” Lily murmured. “I truly hope that’s all there is to it.”

  Ryan smiled. “We’ve been serious long enough. It’s time I gave you my birthday present.”

  “Darling, your dinner party was present enough!” Lily exclaimed in protest.

  But Ryan merely smiled again, got up, walked to a dresser and returned to the settee with a small, beautifully wrapped package. Seated again, he placed the package on Lily’s lap. “Open it, my love. I’ve looked forward to this moment all evening.”

  When the gift was unwrapped, Lily gasped. “Oh, Ryan, you shouldn’t have!”

  Ryan took the emerald-and-diamond necklace from the jeweler’s box and put it around her neck. Then he sat back and looked at her. “It’s perfect on you. I knew it would be.”

  Lily touched the stones in the necklace. “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, but it must have cost a king’s ransom. Ryan, where and when would I wear a necklace like this?”

  He drew her into his arms and lovingly kissed her forehead. “How about on our wedding day?”

  Tears crept into the corners of Lily’s eyes. With all the trouble that Sophia was causing, would there really be a wedding day for Ryan and her? Lily hid her face in his shirt so he wouldn’t see her teary eyes, and whispered, because she knew it was what he wanted to hear, “Yes, my darling. I’ll wear it on our wedding day.”

  After a moment she added, “But I’d like you to keep it in your safe until then.”

  There was a lot of clean
up to be done in the wake of the storm, and Dallas rode his horse from one group of men to another, overseeing the work being done. The ranch’s running creeks were the most serious problem, because the heavy rainfall had washed debris into them from higher elevations.

  Coming up on a group of men shoveling and forking tree limbs out of one creek, Dallas saw Ruben. Dismounting, Dallas motioned Ruben over. “I just wanted to say again how sorry I am about your mare, Ruben,” Dallas said.

  “We both know these things happen, Dallas.”

  “Yes, we do, but knowing just how tough ranching can be at times doesn’t make a man feel any better about putting down an animal he values. Uh, Ruben, how is Maggie doing? She took losing that mare pretty hard.”

  “She’s still blaming herself. I told her it wasn’t her fault, but it’s like she isn’t hearing me.” Ruben took off his hat and wiped his perspiring forehead with his handkerchief. “Maybe if she heard it from someone else. Maybe if you talked to her,” Ruben said. “Would you mind?”

  Dallas looked off at the other men. Maggie had asked him to leave her be. More than asked—begged! He’d been steering clear of the Perez home to give her all the space she’d said she needed, even though he thought her request was a lot of damn foolishness. Maybe he didn’t always handle problems in the best way himself, but he knew one thing for sure: ignoring a problem never made it go away.

  The trouble with that particular axiom, of course, was that he really didn’t know with any degree of certainty what Maggie’s problem was. Obviously it had to do with him, but was that because he was a Fortune or simply because he was a man she hadn’t been able to resist? That very question had been part of their argument in the cabin, but Dallas still didn’t know what to believe.