Taking Charge

by Ruth Cardello

  “What are you saying, Wyatt? Do you know something?” Please say no.

  “Just rumors and rumblings, but where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire. You shouldn’t be out here alone. It’s not safe.”

  Lucy straightened her shoulders. “I’m never alone. There’s always someone working here.”

  “York’s men. If you and he aren’t getting married, why are his men still here?”

  A chill went down Lucy’s back. “Out of kindness?”

  Wyatt let out a guffaw. “Or he already considers it his.”

  “You don’t really believe that, do you?” Lucy hugged her arms across her waist.

  “I’ve got one question, Miss Lucy. Why do you want this ranch? Are you holding on to it for the right reasons?”

  Lucy stood and walked to the window. “My parents were married on this land. My family was born and have died here for generations.”

  “I’m not talking about your family, Miss Lucy. I’m talking about you. Before you go up against a man like Mr. York, you’d better be sure you want what you’re fighting for.”

  Lucy looked out the window of the living room. “I spent most of my life dreaming of life somewhere else, but that changed when I came home. Before my mother died, she told me the only real comfort she had was knowing I had returned home. She said she knew I would do whatever it took to keep the land in our family. I swore to her I would. My parents sacrificed so Steven and I could have this land. Their parents did the same before them. If I walk away from it, everything they gave up was for nothing.” Lucy was quiet a moment, then in almost a whisper she added, “I gave my word I’d keep it in the family. I’ve lost so much; if I lose this place, too, I feel like I might just lose myself. I’m not leaving, Wyatt. If Ted tries to take this land from me, he’ll have one hell of a fight on his hands.”

  Wyatt stood beside her. “Don’t know if you realize it or not, but you just sounded a lot like your daddy right then. He’s looking down, and he’s proud.”

  Lucy kept her eyes averted. “I’m not so sure of that, but I’m not beat yet. I’m starting a business online. If I do it right, I should be in a better financial place soon.”

  “What kind of business are you starting?”

  Lucy blushed and kept looking out the window. “Just selling knickknacks online. The company does well, and with my degree I’m hopeful I can, too.”

  “If it’s a business you think you need help running, I imagine I’ll soon be unemployed.”

  Lucy’s head snapped around. “I won’t tell anyone you were here.”

  “In a town this small, you won’t have to, Lucy. You know that. I don’t regret it, though. You needed to know.”

  “Oh, Wyatt. I wish I could afford to offer you a job right now.”

  Wyatt squinted while looking out the window. “If I take your herd to Abilene, you’ll have money you weren’t counting on.”

  Lucy chewed her bottom lip. Ted would probably fire Wyatt as soon as he heard Wyatt went behind his back to help her. She owed him whatever she could do, but she needed to be honest. “It won’t go far. And I don’t know how this business will do. I can let you have your old house, though. And you’re welcome to stay there as long as you need it. I hate asking you to settle for that little, but it’s all I can do right now.”

  Wyatt held out his work-roughened hand. “I’ll take it.”

  Lucy shook his hand. She would have hugged him if she were the hugging type just for giving her one moment when she didn’t feel completely alone. She gave him a small, grateful smile and walked with him to the door. “The house is unlocked. Move in when you want.”

  Wyatt nodded. “I’ll be back tomorrow with some men. Remember what I said. Be careful, Lucy.”

  After he’d gone, Lucy slumped against the door and covered her face with her hands. It had been hard enough to break off her engagement to Ted, but the idea that he might hurt her to get the property sent a shudder of fear through her. She pushed off the wall, went to her father’s gun cabinet, and unlocked it.

  She closed her eyes briefly and prayed she was doing the right thing. A sane person would leave. She took out her cell phone and considered calling Steven again. He hadn’t answered her in months. I’ll make things right, Steven. We haven’t failed yet.

  She took out a rifle and placed it behind the coatrack near the door, exactly where her father had always kept it. I don’t need a man to protect me.

  I don’t need anyone at all.

  Her phone rang just then, and Lucy’s hands shook so much, she almost dropped it. She checked the screen and didn’t know what to say when she saw who the caller was.

  David Harmon.

  He’d told himself he wouldn’t call her. He’d reminded himself that he barely knew her, and he wasn’t the kind of man who chased a woman. But he kept remembering what Sarah had said, “How sad would it be if your pride kept you from calling her, and you lost her again?”

  Lucy answered, and for a moment he was tongue-tied like some fool teenager trying to talk to his first crush. He cleared his throat. “Lucy, it’s David.”

  When she finally answered, her voice was soft and hesitant. “I know. Caller ID.”

  He plowed forward. “How are you?”

  She let out a shaky breath, then said, “Good. Everything is good. I have to go, David. Thanks for calling.”

  “Don’t hang up. There’s something I need to say.”

  “Oh my God, is it Sarah? Tell me she’s okay. I don’t know what I’d do if she isn’t.”

  “Sarah’s fine. Everyone here is fine.” Shit. I’m fucking this up.

  “Oh, good.” Her relief sounded profound, and he felt like an ass for worrying her. For a moment, she sounded as if she were laughing and crying at the same time. “Sorry. I had a rough morning. I’m still a little all over the place.”

  David’s gut twisted, and he pulled his truck over to the side of the road. “Is there anything I can do?”

  “No,” she answered sadly. “I can handle this on my own.”

  “You don’t have to. You have people in Fort Mavis who care about you.” Me, for example.

  “I appreciate your concern, David, but it’s not necessary. What was it you called to say?”

  That no matter how hard I try, I can’t forget you? You’re all I think about before I go to bed at night, and I wake up wanting you. That I haven’t been with a woman since I met you because none of them have your smile, your laugh, that perfectly rounded ass of yours. David rubbed a hand over his eyes and shook his head. “I want to see you.”

  “You can’t come here, David. Not now.”

  “Sarah told me you broke off your engagement. Did you?”

  “Yes, but it doesn’t change anything.”

  “I’d say it changes everything.”

  “I wish I could explain, but I can’t, David. It’s complicated.”

  “So let’s uncomplicate things. I haven’t slept right since I saw you again. I can’t stop thinking about how much I want to taste those sweet lips of yours. Tell me you feel the same.”

  Lucy’s voice shook with emotion as if she were on the verge of breaking into tears. “How I feel doesn’t matter right now. I can’t risk making the situation here worse. I’m sorry.”

  Fuck. What am I thinking blurting it all out like that? I’ve been spending too much time with Sarah. “What situation? Talk to me, Lucy.” His heart was thudding heavily in his chest. He knew then that whatever was wrong, he’d move heaven and earth to fix it.

  “David, do yourself a favor and forget you met me. I’m not in a good place right now. Not in my head. Not in my life. Don’t come here. It wouldn’t be safe for you.” She hung up without saying another word.

  David sat in his truck, staring at the long empty road ahead of him. Not safe? What the hell is she dealing with up there? The idea of her being afraid of anyone or anything filled him with a protective fury that overrode his normally calm nature.

  He called Tony an
d pulled back onto the road. “Hey, I’m heading out of town. Lucas can cover for me as far as working with the horses. Ask Sarah to cancel my Thursday lessons.”

  “How long will you be gone?” Tony asked in his usual gruff tone.

  “As long as it takes.”

  “Where’re you going?”

  Tony’s question surprised David. In the many years they’d known each other, they’d deliberately stayed out of each other’s business. Tony’s curiosity was a testament to how much Sarah had changed him. “Up to Mavis.”

  “’Bout time.”

  David couldn’t argue that point. “Has Sarah mentioned any kind of trouble?”

  “You mean besides Lucy calling off her engagement?”

  “Yes. Is she behind with the bank again?”

  “Not that I know of. Why?”

  “Something is bothering her, and I intend to find out what it is.”

  “You could ask her,” Tony suggested dryly. In any other situation, David would have appreciated Tony’s new, less abrasive sense of humor.

  “I did. She wouldn’t tell me.”

  “One might take that as a sign of it not being your business.”

  “She sounded scared. I don’t know what’s going on up there, but something’s not right.”

  “You want company for the trip?”

  “I don’t believe so, but I’ll call you if I need you to come with a shovel.”

  Tony laughed even though they both knew David was only half kidding. “Don’t go doing anything that gets me in trouble with Dean again. He says he’s finally enjoying being a sheriff.”

  David chuckled at that. “So I shouldn’t ask your brother to bring the lime?”

  “Oh, he’d bring it; he’d just grumble about it so long you’d wish you brought it yourself. He takes the law real serious lately. If he was here, he’d be lecturing us on talking about this on the phone.”

  “Nothing wrong with discussing gardening.”

  Tony laughed again, but when he spoke, his tone was serious. “I’ll ask Sarah if she knows anything more than she’s said, and I’ll call you if I hear anything.”

  “Sounds good. It’s a day’s drive, so I won’t see Lucy until tomorrow.”

  “Does she know you’re coming?”

  “No. She told me it wouldn’t be safe for me if I went there.”

  Tony didn’t ask him if that’s when he’d decided to go.

  They both knew it was.

  Chapter Three

  The next day, Lucy took an extra-long shower in an attempt to wake herself up after a long sleepless night. No matter how she tried, she couldn’t stop going over her conversation with David. Fate had a cruel sense of humor. David was coming back into her life, and she still couldn’t do anything about it. If Ted really was dangerous, flaunting another man in front of him would send him over the edge.

  Lucy dried her hair and tied it back in a loose ponytail. She donned her jeans and picked a T-shirt out of her closet without much care. Wyatt would be there soon to load up the herd. She didn’t know how Ted’s men would react when they realized what was going on, but they had no right to stop her. It was her herd, her ranch. There would be no reason for any of them to be on her property after that day. She’d considered telling Ted her plans, but she didn’t know what she’d do if he tried to stop her.

  She’d found and read over the contract she signed with him. It was just as Wyatt had said. A man in love wouldn’t have added that clause, nor would he have swooped in while she was still reeling from her brother leaving. He probably thought she would be an easy mark.

  Ted had been right about one thing. She didn’t have a lot of friends in Mavis, and the ones she’d grown up with hadn’t seen much of her since her return. My fault, not theirs. When I left, I wanted to leave all this behind, and when I returned, I wasn’t anyone I thought they’d want to be around. I’m done beating myself up over things I have no control over. I’m putting my energy into changing what I can—and that starts with me.

  I’m taking charge.

  One step at a time. Sell the herd. Pay Ted as much as I can afford. Lay low and get the website up and running so I can pay him the rest.

  Save the ranch.

  Call Steven and tell him he can come home. Make him see that I understand why he left.

  I’ll have plenty of time later for hometown friends.

  For now, I need to stick to the plan.

  Lucy stepped out onto the large porch that wrapped around her house. Two of Ted’s men were finishing feeding the cattle as if nothing had changed. They didn’t so much as look up in greeting, even though she was pretty sure they’d seen her. Another person might have stormed over and ordered them off her land, even used her shotgun to make her demand heard, but Lucy was determined to win this time. What she lacked in physical strength, she would make up for in intelligence. She’d thought through every action she was about to take, weighed the possible consequences of each, and had carefully chosen her best path.

  And it was working. Even if Ted’s men had heard she was considering selling her herd, they didn’t seem to believe it. By the time the call had come in that the local buyer was no longer interested in purchasing her herd, Lucy had already lined up a sale in Abilene via Wyatt. She had no proof, but she didn’t doubt for a second that Ted had been involved in the first deal falling through. He thinks I’m gullible, easily manipulated, and why shouldn’t he? I trusted him when he swooped in and offered to help like some hero in a romance novel. But I see him for who he is now. He wants me to fail, expects me to. His underestimation of her intelligence and determination was something she could use.

  He doesn’t think I have any fight left in me.

  But I do.

  A huge red truck drove up the long driveway, pulling a long stock trailer. Several more followed behind. They began unloading horses and ATVs almost immediately. Wyatt was barking out orders for the men to put up the temporary chutes that would funnel the herd into the trailers. Lucy squared her shoulders and walked across the dirt driveway to greet Wyatt.

  She laid her hand on his forearm. “I don’t know how I’ll ever thank you enough for this, Wyatt. Tell the men I should have the money from the sale by tomorrow.”

  Wyatt nodded and adjusted his Stetson. “You don’t have to thank a man for doing the right thing, Miss Lucy, and you don’t have to pay them. Your daddy was a fine man, and he did a lot of good in this community. This is what grows from planting those kinds of seeds.”

  Lucy blinked back tears. “I haven’t done much to deserve this.”

  Wyatt gave her shoulder a pat. “You’ve got time, Miss Lucy. You’ve got time.”

  One of Ted’s men stood in the path of one of Wyatt’s while the other was on his phone. Wyatt said, “Looks like I might have to explain to some men that they don’t work here anymore.”

  Lucy turned and squared her shoulders. “I’ll do it.”

  Wyatt stepped in front of her. “Some matters are best handled between men.”

  Lucy’s chin rose. “Wyatt, I appreciate everything you’re doing, but this is my ranch, and I need to start acting like it is.”

  Wyatt moved back to let her pass. “I don’t like this one bit, but go on.”

  Lucy was on her way to do just that when a big red pickup pulled up the driveway and all attention turned to it. Ted.

  Breathe. This is actually a good thing. He would have never tried to take the land from my father. It’s time for him to see he is wasting his time trying to take it from me.

  Ted headed right for Lucy. The expression on his face was sad, as if he were indeed a jilted suitor. “Can we speak—privately?”

  Lucy looked around at the concerned faces on the men who had stalled their work as they waited for instructions. She nodded. She still had to return Ted’s engagement ring, so was that what he was waiting for before admitting it was over between them? She’d spent the last few days vilifying him in her head, but he had saved her ranch when she
would have lost it. He could have kept his men at her ranch because he knew she couldn’t pay anyone yet. Yes, he’d been harsh when she’d called off their engagement, but he’d been understandably upset. Had it been that male Texan pride that made him lash out at her? She’d been busy chasing her dreams when she was younger and hadn’t put aside much time for boyfriends. Sure, her college boyfriend had been all about having sex with her, but Ted was older. Had she confused respect for her with a lack of passion?

  And the first sale falling through? It might have been a coincidence.

  Which doesn’t mean I want to marry him, but I don’t have to hate him, either. They walked into her home, past the shotgun concealed near the door, and Lucy thought, Or fear him.

  Please let me be right this time.

  Lucy picked up a small box she’d placed in the hallway days ago. She held it out to Ted, but he didn’t make a move to accept it. “I’ve been meaning to give this back to you,” she said softly.

  Ted folded his arms across his chest. “I hoped you would have come to your senses by now. You don’t want to end our engagement.”

  Lucy took a fortifying breath. Give me the words to do this in a firm but kind way. “I wish that was true, Ted. You don’t know how much I do, but I can’t marry you.”

  “I love you.”

  Lucy’s hand tightened on the jewelry box. “You don’t. You might think you do right now, but someday, when you meet the right person, you’ll see that what you felt for me wasn’t real.”

  His expression cooled. “Your mind is set?”

  She nodded.

  He took the ring box and pocketed it. “Give me the east side of your property, the five hundred acres in the valley, and I’ll consider your debt to me paid in full.”