"But how—?"
Margo's smile quickly disappeared. "One only has to look at the boy to see the resemblance, both to you and to Wade." She tapped the thick document against her palm. "Others might be blind, but I never was," she said, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "I knew from the first time I saw him that he was yours, no matter what lies the McClouds spread to explain his existence."
Jesse hauled in a steadying breath. Lies, all of it, he told himself fiercely. Margo was making all this up. Mandy had never used him—she loved him, just as he loved her, and always had. "And what exactly do you think she's using me for this time?" he asked tersely.
Margo cocked her head to look at him in surprise. "Why, I'd think that is obvious. Mandy is and always will be a McCloud, and the McClouds have always hated the Barristers. To own the Circle Bar, to steal from right beneath the Barristers' very noses the land that they've worked for and struggled for all these years, would be, in their eyes, delivering the final comeuppance."
Margo looked down on Jesse, unable to hide her disgust. "You're just like your father. An easy mark for an ambitious woman. That McCloud girl kept you so busy panting after her that you didn't pay attention to business. That was a mistake, one that you'll pay for, and keep paying for, if you're not careful."
Jesse rose, unable to listen to any more. He snatched the contract from her hands and stuffed it into the rear pocket of his jeans. Then he turned and headed for the door.
"Where are you going?" Margo shrieked from behind him.
Jesse stopped, bracing his hands against the door frame to keep from crumpling to his knees. "I'm going to the Double-Cross and talk to Mandy."
"The Double-Cross!" Margo tossed back her head and laughed, the chilling sound echoing shrilly around the room. "Fitting name, wouldn't you say, considering their underhanded scheme to purchase the Circle Bar?"
Jesse sucked in a sharp breath, steeling himself against the doubts Margo had managed to fill his mind with. He needed to talk to Mandy, he told himself. He needed to hear from her own lips that everything Margo had revealed was lies. Pushing off the door frame, he stormed from Wade's office without looking back.
* * *
Eight
« ^ »
Mandy sat at her desk, her boots propped on its polished surface, the phone receiver tucked between shoulder and ear. "It's hard to believe, isn't it? After all these years…" Her voice drifted off, ending on a dreamy sigh.
"Take copious notes. Maybe our writers can use this in upcoming scripts."
Mandy chuckled at the derisive tone in Merideth's voice. "It does rather sound like a soap-opera plot, doesn't it?"
"I suppose, though I personally wouldn't want to star in it. I've had my fill of cowboys and rural America. Give me New York any day of the year."
Laughing, Mandy rocked her chair back and lowered her boots to the floor. "I'll remind you of that come January, when you're freezing your buns off and wading through a foot of snow."
"I'd much rather wade through snow than cow manure."
Mandy could almost see the imperious lift of Merideth's chin. Her sister had always hated the ranch, while Mandy and Sam had loved it. Just one of many differences between the sisters that made each unique. But in spite of their dissimilarities, their love for each other was solid. Each one of them would do anything to help the others, which made Mandy ask, "When are you coming home again for another visit?"
"Heavens!" Merideth exclaimed. "I was just there!"
"I know," Mandy replied, smiling self-consciously. "But I want you to meet Jesse."
"I've met Jesse," Merideth reminded her dryly.
"I know, but that was years ago. I want you to see him now. Get to know him."
"So that I can place my stamp of approval on him before my big sister marries him and rides off into the sunset to live happily ever after?"
Mandy rolled her eyes. "You're a brat, Merideth."
A sultry laugh flowed through the line to warm Mandy's ear and her heart. "Yeah, I know."
"You will come, won't you?"
"You know I will. Just as soon as I can arrange it. But I've got to run now. I've got this publicity thingy scheduled for three and I have to change into something sexy that screams wealth and success."
The breath Mandy had been holding bubbled out on a soft laugh at her sister's outrageousness. "Thanks, Merideth. I'll talk to you soon." She leaned forward to replace the receiver and heard the back door slam. "Jaime?" she called. "Is that you?" She rose, intending to send her son straight to the shower for a much-needed washing.
But she was surprised to hear Jesse's answering call. "No, it's me."
The tightness in his voice made Mandy's smile of greeting fade just a bit. It faded even more when he stepped into her office and she saw the angry scowl contorting his face. "Is something wrong?" she asked.
"Where's Jaime?"
"He's with Gabe. He was driving everybody crazy, waiting for you to return, so I sent him with Gabe to look for some lost calves." She took a step to round the desk, but stopped when Jesse jerked a wad of papers from his back pocket and threw them on the desk in front of her. Her gaze rose from the papers to his angry brown eyes. "Jesse, you're frightening me. What's wrong?"
He pointed a stiff finger at the offending document. "Do you know anything about this?"
Slowly, Mandy reached for the papers, wondering what in the world had come over Jesse. Sinking down onto her chair, she smoothed a palm across the creases, flattening the document on the top of her desk. The names Brickie & Stanton, Attorneys at Law, printed boldly across the top of the first page, fairly leaped from the paper to slap her. Her heart plummeted to her stomach, draining the blood from her face. "Oh, my God," she murmured.
"You know about this, then?"
The accusation in his voice frightened Mandy as much as the anger that she saw darkening his eyes when she found the courage to look up at him. "Yes."
Jesse's fist came down on the desk so hard the phone receiver rattled on its base. "Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you just ask me to sell you the Circle Bar? Why did you have to go behind my back?"
Mandy rose, realizing that Jesse considered this all some kind of devious plot against him personally. "I forgot."
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she realized how foolish and inadequate they sounded.
"Forgot!" Jesse echoed incredulously. "How in the hell does a woman forget that she's put millions of dollars on the line for the purchase of land?"
His rage brought Mandy's own temper bubbling to the surface. "It was easy," she returned furiously. "First you showed up with Jaime in tow, determined to claim him as your son. That was certainly distraction enough. My son's safety was a great deal more important to me than the purchase of any land. Then you were here every day, a constant reminder of everything I thought I'd lost. Then—" her voice broke and she had to stop and haul in a deep, steadying breath before she could go on. "Then we became lovers again. Whether you care to believe me or not, with all that going, on, the purchase of the Circle Bar was the last thing on my mind."
Jesse wanted to believe her. Needed to. But Margo had done an excellent job of clouding his judgment with all her allegations.
"You used me, didn't you?" he accused as he rounded the desk. "First to rebel against Lucas, then to distract me so that I wouldn't know that you were the one who wanted to purchase the Circle Bar."
With him so close, Mandy was forced to look up at him. "No," she whispered. "I never used you." She grabbed for his arms, sinking her fingers into the flesh there, hoping, needing to make him understand. "I love you, Jesse. I always have. I didn't want the Circle Bar for me. I wanted it for Jaime. I couldn't give him his father, but I wanted him to have a part of his heritage, something the circumstances of his birth denied him.
"I didn't even know Wade had left you the ranch," she rushed to explain. "I assumed Margo inherited everything. And I knew she would never sell the place to a McCloud. So I had
my lawyers form the corporation to conceal my identity from her."
The look he gave her was filled with contempt. "If that's the case, then why are the contracts made out to me as owner of the Circle Bar?"
"I knew nothing about the contract's existence until just now, when you tossed it on my desk."
Jesse's mouth curled in a sneer. "Yeah, right."
Her eyes widened. "It's true. I swear. My lawyer didn't tell me of the offer. There was no need to, since I gave him power of attorney to act on my behalf." She dug her nails deeper into his arms, desperate to make him understand. "I wouldn't ever do anything to hurt you, Jesse, or to deceive you. You've got to believe me."
Jesse felt her nails biting through his skin. But the pain was nothing compared to that which tore through his heart as he looked down into the face of the woman he loved, the woman he'd trusted.
Did he dare believe her? Oh, God, how he wanted to, but there was so much evidence stacked against her. He'd believed her once, believed her words of love, her pledge of a future with him.
I'm sorry, Jesse. I can't.
The despised memory of her last words to him on that night long ago returned to haunt him once again.
Grabbing her hands, he tore them from their hold on him. "I want my son, Mandy. And I want him now. He can have the Circle Bar, but it'll be me giving it to him. Jesse Barrister. Not a McCloud."
Jaime ducked from the open doorway of his mother's office and pressed his back against the wall, swallowing hard.
My son? Was that what Jesse had called him?
He swallowed again, listening to the raised voices still coming from inside the office.
"I'm his father," he heard Jesse roar. "And I have every right to claim him as my own, and nothing you do or say will stop me this time from telling him the truth."
Jesse was his father?
Tears spurted to his eyes. But he couldn't be! Jaime cried silently. His father was dead. His mother had told him so herself, and his mother never lied.
Pushing himself from the wall, Jaime ran for his room, his exit, as well as his arrival, hidden from those in the office by the hallway's thick carpet.
Once inside the sanctuary of his room, he closed the door and pressed his back against it.
No! He can't be. He's not my father!
Angrily, he pushed from the door and crossed to stand in front of his dresser. He leaned close, staring hard at his reflection in the mirror, taking in each feature of his face. The cleft in his chin, the color of his skin. Even the cowlick in the middle of his forehead that refused to stay down no matter how much mousse he slathered on it. He took each feature and mentally matched it to those on Jesse's face.
Dragging in a deep breath, he took a disbelieving step back, staring at what he now recognized as the truth.
Jaime McCloud was Jesse Barrister's son.
"Mandy!" Sam slammed the back door and took two steps into the kitchen before she stopped, grimacing. Glancing down at her mud-caked boots, she muttered a guilty "oops" then toed off first one boot, then the other. "Mandy!" she called again, kicking her boots in the general direction of the door. "Is anybody home?"
"I'm back here," came Mandy's muffled reply.
Grabbing a banana from the bowl of fruit on the kitchen counter, Sam headed for the office, peeling it. "Hey, I thought it was your turn to cook supper," she complained as she made the turn into the office. "I'm starving."
Mandy lifted her head from the desk, revealing red-rimmed eyes and tearstained cheeks. Sam's hand froze with the banana halfway to her mouth. "What's wrong?" she asked as she dropped the banana to the floor and ran to drop down at Mandy's side. "Has something happened to Jaime?"
Mandy shook her head, pressing a palm against her fevered brow. "No. I-it's Jesse. H-he—" Fresh sobs erupted and she dragged her hand down her face to clamp it over her mouth.
"Mandy!" Sam exclaimed in frustration. "Tell me what's happened!"
"J-Jesse found out about m-my offer to buy the Circle B-Bar," she stammered tearfully.
Sam sank from her squatting position to her knees. "Oh, my gosh. I forgot all about that," she murmured.
"So d-did I," Mandy sobbed brokenly. "Not that Jesse b-believes me. He's f-furious. He thinks I was u-using him so that the McClouds could g-gain control of the Circle Bar."
Sam's eyes bugged wide. "He what?"
Mandy swiped a hand beneath her eyes. "I know. It s-sounds crazy, but that's w-what he believes."
Sam pushed to her feet, her cheeks flushed with anger. "Where is he? I'll set him straight."
"I don't know. He left in a rage." She dragged her sleeve beneath her nose. "But he'll be back. He swore that he's going to tell Jaime that he's his father whether I agree with him or not."
Sam firmed her lips. "Well, he'll have to get through me first."
Mandy rose, catching Sam's sleeve between her fingertips. "No, Sam. I think he's right. It's time Jaime knew the truth."
After washing her face, Mandy went to the kitchen to start dinner. Needing the sense of normalcy, leaning heavily on it, she peeled potatoes at the sink, trying not to think of Jesse and the accusations he'd hurled at her. Through the kitchen window she caught a glimpse of Gabe, climbing into his truck.
Where is he off to? she wondered, then froze. Jaime! He was supposed to be with Gabe! Dropping the paring knife and the potato to the sink, she ran for the back door, palming the screen open.
"Gabe!" she called. "Gabe! Wait up!"
Gabe slowed his truck, coming to a stop. Leaning across the seat, he ducked his head to peer at her through the open window on the passenger side. "Whatcha need, Mandy?"
Reaching the truck, Mandy closed her hands over the window brace. "Where's Jaime?" she asked breathlessly.
Gabe frowned. "I thought he was at the house with you."
"No!" Mandy cried. "He was with you, looking for the lost calves."
"Yeah, but we've been back over an hour. Sent him to the house soon as we returned, just like you told me.
"But he didn't come back!" Mandy wailed.
"Are you sure?"
"Of course I am! I—" Then she stopped, her face going pale. "Stay right here," she ordered Gabe. "I'll be right back."
Jerking the screen door open again, she ran through the house, yelling Jaime's name. She flew past her office and came to a stop at the door to Jaime's room. Pressing a hand against her heart, praying that she'd find Jaime fast asleep on his bed, she opened the door, swung it wide. The bed was empty, as was the room. With her legs trembling, Mandy stepped inside.
The backpack that always hung on the end post of his bed was gone. Quickly, Mandy whirled—and bumped into Sam.
Sam caught her sister's arms, holding her in place, recognizing the fear in Mandy's eyes. "What's wrong?"
Mandy twisted from her arms. "Jaime's gone!" she cried, rushing past her.
"Gone?" Sam chased her down the hall. "Gone where?"
"I don't know," Mandy yelled as she shoved the screen open.
She ran for Gabe's truck. "He's not in the house," she gasped, fear tightening her chest. "Check the barn. See if his horse is there, then report back to me."
"Where could he've gone?" Gabe asked, concern deepening the creases at the corners of his eyes.
Mandy pushed away from the truck. "I don't know. But I'm calling Jesse."
Turning, she ran for the house again. Sam waited for her in the kitchen. "Would you please tell me what's going on?"
Mandy brushed past her and grabbed for the phone. She quickly punched in numbers, then raked her fingers through her hair, pulling painfully at the roots as she listened to first one frustrating ring, then another, and yet another. Slamming down the receiver, breaking the connection, she immediately grabbed it back up and punched in another series of numbers. She waited, holding her breath.
"Margo Barrister speaking."
Mandy's skin crawled at the sound of the woman's cool southern drawl, remembering another time she'd been forced
to call Margo Barrister, looking for Jesse. "This is Mandy McCloud. I need to speak to Jesse."
"I'm sorry, he isn't here."
"Do you know when he'll return or how I can reach him?"
"Unfortunately, I don't. He was here less than an hour ago and packed his things and left without sharing his plans with me."
Icy dread filled Mandy's veins. Had Jesse disappeared again, taking Jaime with him? "Thank you," she murmured and replaced the receiver.
"Would you please tell me what's going on?" Sam demanded angrily.
"Jesse's gone, too. Margo said he packed his things and left less than an hour ago."
Sam's eyes widened. "You don't think—"
Mandy dug her fingers through her hair, trying to hold on to reason. "I don't know what to think," she murmured miserably.
The back door opened and Mandy jerked her head up just as Gabe stepped inside.
"His horse is gone," he said, scraping off his hat. "The sorrel mare. Not the paint Jesse gave him."
Mandy's breath whooshed out of her in relief. If his horse was gone, that meant that more than likely Jaime was on his own and not with Jesse. But why? she wondered frantically. Why would he run away? Was it possible that he had overheard her and Jesse's argument in the office?
The very idea had her knees weakening. It doesn't matter, she told herself firmly. The important thing was to find him. "Saddle my horse, Gabe. I'm going after him."
Gabe's forehead plowed into a frown. "It's gonna be dark soon. Why don't you stay here and let the boys and me search for him?"
Mandy lifted her chin, meeting his worried look with one of defiance. "No. He's my son. I'm going, too." Quickly she sketched out a plan. "Tell the men to mount up and y'all search the hills that lie between the Double-Cross and the Carters' ranch. I'll take the section that leads to the Circle Bar."
Gabe ducked his head, hiding his disapproval of her going out on her own. "Your horse'll be ready when you are." Turning, he clamped his battered hat on his head and disappeared through the back door.
"I'm going with you."
Mandy wagged her head. "No, Sam. Stay here. He might come home and I need you to be here for him."
THE RANCHER'S SPITTIN' IMAGE Page 13
