by Cat Schield
Thirteen
He was lying. Lark stared at Keaton in horror. The room around her grew fuzzy, but his face remained crystal clear. How had she been so stupid? She’d actually believed that he cared about her when all along he was manipulating her emotions so that she’d turn against her family.
One part of her brain reminded her that the discovery of the missing document had only recently happened and they’d been intimate for weeks. He knew she had no ability to sway her father. Skye was the sister who wrapped their father around her little finger.
“You don’t love me,” she said, the denial struggling to escape her tight throat. “We barely know each other. No one falls in love that fast.” But hadn’t she? Could she honestly deny that she loved him with her whole heart? “You just want me on your side against my father.”
“I want you by my side, but only because in the last few weeks you’ve become my world.”
He looked so earnest. Believable. “Then can’t you forget you found the bill of sale?” In her heart she knew it was unfair to ask him.
“I don’t want to lose you.” He closed his eyes and his face turned to granite. When he met her gaze once more, his expression was bleak. “But I can’t sacrifice my family’s future either.”
From the beginning Lark had dreaded this moment and now she knew she’d been right to worry. She wasn’t romantic and passionate like Skye, who’d willingly turned her back on her family and entrusted her whole world to the man she loved. “Then you must do what you believe is right.” Her whole body went cold. “And so must I.”
She backed away and fled to the nursery, confident he wouldn’t follow. Sensing her distress, Nicki had stuck to her like glue. The closed door and white noise player that helped Grace sleep drowned any sound of the front door opening and closing. Lark sat in the room’s rocking chair and absently stroked Nicki’s head until she’d recovered enough to process the last ten minutes.
Did she really believe that Keaton had used her? She rubbed her temples. Surely if he wanted a partner for sex, he could snap his fingers and have a dozen gorgeous women flock to him. He might have been oblivious of the stir he’d created among several of the women at the Richardsons’ party, but she hadn’t. But with her mother’s vile suspicions bolstering a lifetime of social awkwardness, Lark had fallen into a familiar mind-set.
But love? That seemed too far-fetched. Nor had he looked particularly happy to admit it. He’d chosen his family over her. The same way she’d chosen hers over him. They weren’t at all like Jake and Skye. Those two had given up everything they’d ever known to be together. Neither Keaton nor Lark was willing to make that sort of sacrifice. That proved, however much they cared about each other, it wasn’t truly love.
Calmer by the moment, Lark at last felt strong enough to stop reacting and move forward. She called her friend Julie and asked if she could watch Grace for a couple hours. Her parents needed to know what Keaton had found. It was important that they knew what was coming.
An hour later, she turned her car onto the long driveway that led to the Taylor ranch house. Leaving Nicki in the car, she approached the house. It wasn’t until she set her hand on the doorknob that she realized she’d been so consumed about talking to her parents that it hadn’t occurred to her to call and make sure they were home. To her relief, her father was in his favorite chair in the great room.
“Lark, what brings you here?” Her father set aside the file he’d been reading and gestured her into a nearby chair. “You’re upset. Nothing is wrong with Skye, is it?”
She’d called her parents yesterday with the news that Skye had awakened from her coma, and to her relief they’d rushed to the hospital. For a little while they’d been a family once again, maybe not a particularly happy one, but at least for the duration of the visit, their focus had been on Skye.
“No, nothing like that,” she assured him, sitting down on the edge of the chair. “It’s about the land that borders the Holt property.”
Tyrone’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Let me guess, that Holt boy has convinced you the land belongs to his family.”
Lark ignored the acid in his voice. “He found the bill of sale at the town hall that predates the one that entitles us to that land.”
“Oh, he just found it.” Her father eyed her in disgust. “You were always book smart and not very good with people.”
She couldn’t deny her lack of social skills, but she’d seen no evidence that any of the Holts lied or cheated. They’d been nothing but kind to her and considerate of Skye and Grace. Lark’s head spun. Or was that what she wanted to believe because she’d fallen in love with Keaton?
“Can’t you at least sit down and talk with Keaton? It would save both sides a huge legal battle.”
“A legal battle we are going to win.”
Although she’d known this would be her father’s answer, disappointment swept over Lark. In the back of her mind, she’d held on to the tiniest bit of hope that her father would be reasonable for once in his life.
“You don’t know that. What if the land isn’t ours? You’re going to waste money and time fighting a losing battle.”
“It’s Taylor land.”
His vehemence threw Lark back into her childhood. For a moment she wasn’t a twenty-seven-year-old woman, but a girl of eight watching from the front seat of a pickup as her father drove his fist into David Holt’s jaw. The blow had been followed up by another to his opponent’s stomach. It wasn’t the fight that had frightened her, but her father’s savage delight. It had taken three men to restrain him.
Suddenly Lark had heard enough. “I’m sick of this stupid feud,” she cried, pushing to her feet. “It’s a couple thousand acres of land. Fighting over it has done nothing but hurt people. It drove Skye away. She left because she fell in love with Jake and no one could accept it.”
“She didn’t run away,” Tyrone said. “When I found out she’d been sleeping with that Holt boy, I threw her out.”
“What?” All this time Lark believed her parents had given Skye an ultimatum and that she’d chosen Jake. “She was your favorite. You loved her.”
“She betrayed us.” Her father rose.
Lark couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “She didn’t betray you.” Again her thoughts turned to Skye and what she must have gone through in those days after her relationship with Jake had been discovered. Lark would give anything to take back her unsupportive behavior and longed to ask her sister how she’d coped. “She fell in love.”
“Is that what you did? Your mother tells me you’re sleeping with the elder Holt boy.”
The change of topic caught Lark off guard. She should have come prepared to defend herself, but her emotions were too raw for clear thinking. “He’s not using me, if that’s what you think.”
“What I think is you didn’t have much experience with boys in high school. I’m guessing that continued in college. The Holts are liars and cheats. You should have known better than to let him trick you.”
“I haven’t.” But wasn’t that what she’d accused him of doing? Before she’d had dealings with them, Lark had always assumed there was something shifty about the Holts. She’d trusted her father’s judgment, but now that she’d gotten to know Keaton and his parents, she had a different perspective.
Her father turned fierce blue eyes on her. “He created a fake document that he’s going to use to cheat us out of our land.”
“Keaton wouldn’t do that.”
“Sure he would. He’s a Holt, isn’t he?”
“That’s ridiculous. Keaton is honest and honorable. He would never do something so underhanded.”
Where had this reasonableness been an hour ago when she was throwing accusations at Keaton? Maybe if she’d taken a moment to think it all through she wouldn’t have treated him so unfairly. Would he ever be able to forgive her?
“You are no different than your sister, siding with them against your own family.”
“I’m not
siding with anyone against you, but if he’s had the document authenticated, surely that means something went wrong a hundred years ago.”
“That’s impossible. It was lost years ago.”
“Lost?” At first Lark was too shocked to understand; then as her father’s meaning penetrated, she gasped. “The Holts have always claimed there was a bill of sale. You’ve always claimed there was no such document. Now you say it was lost. Which is it?”
Her father glared at her, but uncertainty flickered for a moment in his gaze. “The land is ours.”
“But did the Holts buy the land first?”
“There might have been a sale, but there was no official record.”
“Because proof of the sale wasn’t recorded.” Appalled, Lark saw that her father wasn’t as certain of his position as he’d been moments before. Her heart softened. Had he taken his aggressive stance against the Holts all these years because of fear? “The land does belong to the Holts.”
Any doubt she’d glimpsed in her father vanished at her words. He stalked to the door and opened it. “Get out of my house and don’t bother coming back until you change your tune.”
While father and daughter stared at each other, a large figure filled the open doorway.
“Lark?” It was Keaton. He gazed from her to her father, assessing the situation. “Is everything okay here?” He hadn’t entered the Taylor home, but looked prepared to do so on Lark’s word.
Her heart floundered in her chest. What was he doing here? The concern in his gaze sent regret and shame rushing through her. She’d been so wrong to accuse him of using her. She’d let fear and old prejudices guide her to make terrible assumptions.
“I came to tell my father about the bill of sale you found.” She began to edge toward the door, toward Keaton, giving her father a wide berth. “I asked him to sit down and discuss the situation rather than getting the courts involved.”
Keaton looked surprised. She tried to convey her apology without words, but he’d switched his attention to her father. “Tyrone.” Keaton pitched his voice in polite and moderate tones. “I want to work out something with the land that will benefit both our families.”
“It’s not your land.”
“I have a bill of sale that says it is.”
“It’s a fake.”
Lark could see her father’s conviction had flagged. Yet he was a stubborn, single-minded man who’d been fighting a battle against the Holts all his life. He’d never admit that what he knew as truth might be wrong.
“Father, please listen to what Keaton has to say.” As she spoke, she moved to stand beside Keaton. His solid strength comforted her, enabled her to feel safe for the first time since she’d entered her father’s home. “He’s fair and honest. You can trust him.”
Tyrone’s upper lip curled in derision. “So you’ve chosen. Very well. From here on out, you are no more my daughter than that sister of yours.”
“Father!” Lark took an involuntary step backward. The movement put her outside the house on the wide front porch. She bumped into Keaton and felt him grip her upper arms, steadying her. “You don’t mean that.”
“I do indeed. You’ve placed your loyalty with the Holts. I am finished with you.”
Her father closed the door with an emphatic finality, underscored by the sound of a dead bolt being thrown.
Conscious of Keaton’s worried expression, Lark descended the porch steps. Her emotions whirled and dipped like a carnival ride. She’d just been tossed out of the family. Had her father lost his mind? Was two thousand acres of land worth more than her and Skye?
“Lark, I’m so sorry,” Keaton said, catching her arm and turning her to face him. “I never meant for any of that to happen.”
Of course he hadn’t. That was the sort of man he was. He’d suggested working with her father to give him a lease on water rights from the disputed property. Lark knew her father would never have made a similar offer to Keaton.
“It’s okay.” She raised her hand and put it on his chest.
He immediately covered her hand with his. “No, it’s not. Your father just disowned you.”
“Really...?”
To Lark’s amazement she felt lighter, less encumbered, than she’d ever known. Was this what Skye had felt when she left town with Jake? Had she felt free to do and be whatever she wanted without the weight of their parents’ expectations and disapproval dragging her down?
Lark sucked in a huge breath, and the fresh air infused her with glee. At last she was free to love the man standing before her without agonizing over what would happen when her parents found out and how angry they’d be. She was her own person. The only person she had to worry about disappointing was herself. And she would be terribly unhappy with herself if she pushed Keaton away again.
“It’s okay.” She beamed at him. “I’m okay.”
* * *
Unsure if Lark was suffering from hysteria or shock, Keaton scrutinized her closely. “I don’t understand. Aren’t you upset?”
“I might be later, but for now all I feel is relief.”
When he’d left her house he went straight to his parents and told them about the bill of sale and Lark’s reaction to the news of its reappearance. He’d been certain that he’d lost her and determined to do whatever he could to win her back. He’d offer to split the land. Even compensate the Taylors for their loss. But he couldn’t do any of that without his parents’ approval.
He’d never expected to turn up at the Taylor Ranch in time to hear her side with him against her father. She’d chosen him over her family.
“Relief?” he asked. “Why?”
To his delight, she lifted up on tiptoe and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Because I love you and I don’t care who knows it.” She planted a hard kiss on his lips and pulled back to grin at him, her smile one of wild, unfettered joy.
His arms went around her and pulled her tight. She loved him. Hearing her say those words made him happier than he’d ever been. “You chose me over your parents.”
“I was stupid not to do so a long time ago. You are the most caring, intelligent, sexiest man on the planet, and until today I hadn’t fully appreciated how lost I would be without you.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that, because this afternoon I was terrified I’d lost you. In fact, after our fight, I realized what needed to happen and went back to the house looking for you. Julie told me you were here and I came to lend you my support.”
“Of course you did.” Her eyes were bright and trusting. “Thank you.”
“Let’s get out of here,” Keaton suggested, all too aware that her father could be loading a shotgun at this very moment with the idea of running him off Taylor land. “I have something I want to talk to you about. Follow me in your car.”
She looked puzzled by his request but nodded. Halfway down the Taylors’ driveway, around a curve and out of sight of the house, Keaton turned onto a little-used track that wound past the tree farm and entered the land that had been in dispute for so many generations. He was sure Lark had an idea where he was heading, and when he at last stopped the truck and got out to meet her, he could see she was smiling.
“The swimming hole I used to come to in the summer,” she said, her eyebrows raised. “Where you used to spy on me.”
Keaton took her hand and led her down the path to the water’s edge, the Aussie frolicking around them. “I was old enough to know better,” he admitted, watching Nicki chase a rabbit that was darting for cover. “But I couldn’t bring myself to stop. It was the only time I’d ever seen you truly happy.” He cast a sideways glance in her direction. “And then there was how you looked in that bikini.”
“It was one of Skye’s old ones. We weren’t exactly the same size, so it didn’t fit all that well.”
In fact, it had been incredibly indecent on her lush curves. And she hadn’t cared in the least. Keaton had loved every second she’d spent near or in the water. Her laughter had been infe
ctious. Her sexy strut along the beach, laughably awkward and all the more delicious for its unconventional style, had sent his hormones into a tailspin.
“You were gorgeous in it.” His voice had lowered into a husky murmur. “Any chance it’s languishing in a drawer somewhere?”
Lark laughed. “Not likely.”
“Pity.” He pulled her along the edge of the water. The ten-acre lake wasn’t the largest on the property, and the Taylors didn’t use it to irrigate the tree farm. But it sat exactly in the middle of the two thousand acres that had been in dispute. “But I didn’t bring you here to reminisce,” he explained, looping his arm around her. “I’ve decided this land needs to be claimed by both our families, so I intend to build a house here.”
She surveyed the lake. “It’ll be a fantastic spot. But won’t that mean the ranch house will be empty a lot of the time now that your parents have bought property in Alabama?”
“I think a married man ought to have his own house, don’t you?”
“Sure.” She drew the word out. “Your wife would want the freedom to decorate and run her own household.” She peered at him from beneath her lashes, her expression leaning toward somber. “And it’s about time you thought about settling down. You’re not getting any younger.”
“You sound like my mother,” he groused, but a smile lurked in his tone.
“But you said the land should be claimed by both our families, so what else did you have in mind? Some sort of compound where I live on the opposite side of the lake? And maybe Jake and Skye would consider a vacation home here.”
“I’m not really sure that would work for me,” Keaton said, pulling her close. “You’d be a little too far away for my taste.”
Her eyes widened with pleasure. “You want to live together?”
“That’s been working out pretty well this last month.”
Her brow furrowed as she considered his proposition. “I’ve really enjoyed spending time with you, so I say let’s do it.”
“You’ve enjoyed spending time with me?” he echoed. “Ten minutes ago you claimed you loved me.”
