Chapter 5
Cal was still in the post-coital haze, and he wasn’t ready to hear that she was married or had a steady boyfriend or anything else. Why couldn’t they enjoy this moment?
“My grandparents once owned the Sweet B Ranch, and I want it back,” she said.
His heart skipped a beat, and he gazed at Lillian knowing this could be a real problem. “That’s why your name sounds familiar.”
“Yes,” she said. “My grandmother had two husbands, Kenneth Everitt and Paul Bradley. Paul’s family was the one who passed the ranch on to him. We lived there until I was eight.”
“My grandfather, Ronald Thomas, is the one who gave me the ranch,” Cal said. “He’s in a nursing home now, paralyzed from the waist down from a horse accident.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said. “This morning, I spent time at the courthouse researching the sale of the property. There was no money exchanged, only a signed deed.”
His grandfather had always been secretive about how he obtained the ranch. Cal knew the land had not been handed down to him. In fact, he’d never known his grandmother. And he hadn’t known Cal until he was nine. Now there was someone trying to lay claim to the land and he had no idea how his grandfather had gotten the acreage.
“Do you know anything about how your grandfather took the ranch from my grandfather?”
Cal had nothing to hide. He knew nothing.
“No. I didn’t grow up here. CPS dropped me off when I was nine,” he said, not wanting to talk about what he’d endured before then.
“Could I speak to your grandfather? Ask him how he obtained the ranch and if he knows anything about my grandfather Paul. I want to find him and talk to him. Ask him what happened.”
Cal gazed at her in confusion. Why hadn’t her own family told her what happened?
“Why haven’t you asked your grandmother?”
“I have. She won’t talk about it. She told me to give it up. That we would never live here again,” she said, her sapphire eyes filled with tears. “I just want answers. I loved living here on the ranch, and it’s like part of my childhood was stolen from me.”
He was all too familiar with that feeling.
What did he do now? He understood why she was here, besides the wedding, and the thought of someone taking away the Sweet B filled him with rage. And yet, this woman was the best thing to walk into his life in ages. Not since Emily had he felt the urge to consider marriage again.
Already, he could feel his heart wanting to connect with hers, but now this. How could he ever let go of the one place he’d been happy? But she had experienced the same thing.
With a sigh, he glanced at Nathan watching the two of them closely. What did he do now?
They both wanted the same thing. They both wanted the Sweet B.
“I’m not giving up my ranch for you. Not unless you prove that my grandfather did something wrong and somehow took it from yours. That’s the only way I’ll ever give it up. And even then, it’d be the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
Nathan sighed. “Cal, why don’t you speak to your grandfather and see what he’ll tell you? Maybe even consider letting him talk to Lillian. I’ll help Lillian find her grandfather Paul. Maybe he’s still somewhere around here and can give us answers.”
Always the lawyer. The peacemaker, the let’s get the facts before we jump to any conclusions.
“It’s too late today to speak to him. I’ll do it tomorrow while you and Lillian search for Paul Bradley,” he said, knowing that now he needed to know the truth.
No matter what happened, he had to know if his grandfather, his mentor, his idol, the man who saved him from foster homes, had done something wrong.
“After this, do you still want me to stay at the ranch?”
He thought about it for a moment. If she were at the Sweet B, he could keep an eye on her and learn what she knew before she took action. If she were staying in a hotel, he wouldn’t get to experience the sweetest pussy he’d had in years.
“Yes,” he said, gazing down at her. “No matter what we learn, I’m still attracted to you. I’m not saying this is going to be easy. In fact, it’s going to be damn hard, and I’ll fight you every step of the way. But there is something I’m enjoying between us.”
She nodded. “If I were in your position, I’d feel the same. The Sweet B was the only place where I felt safe. I felt love and joy, and my family was so happy there until we had to leave. I want to give that to them again.”
It was strange how they both had found happiness at the ranch while they were children. It was strange how he felt like their stories must be similar, yet his story started before he arrived at Sweet B, and hers was after she left the ranch.
“Have you ever gone through your uncle’s papers?” Nathan asked.
“Oh yes,” he said, remembering all the documentation the nursing home needed before they would allow him to stay.
The records had been haphazard at best.
Now he wondered if there was anything in the safe he’d not seen that could explain what happened. There had to be a logical reason as to why Mr. Bradley gave his grandfather the ranch.
There just had to be.
Nathan gazed at him, and he could see the concern in his friend’s eyes. But he also knew that no matter what, Nathan would be on his side helping him fight to keep the ranch.
“So what do we do now?”
Concern filled Cal, but he was adept at hiding his feelings. When he was a child, he’d learned that was the best solution. Don’t let them know what they’d done to you and how it affected you. Keep all emotions hidden. Make your pain invisible.
And so he did.
“Let’s grab a bite to eat, check Lillian out of the hotel, and then go back to the ranch and fuck all night,” he said, gazing down at her. “Butt plug number two should be inserted, and I can’t gaze at your ass without taking your sweet pussy.”
A smile flitted across her face.
“You’re not mad at me?”
Hide your emotions.
“No,” he said. “If I were in your place, I’d do the same. I’d want to know what happened that made us move.”
She gazed at him, looking questionable. “I’m not certain I believe you. Some people can hide their anger very well. But realize I would never do this unless I thought something unscrupulous happened.”
At least there was that, but that didn’t make him feel much better.
“Hopefully, tomorrow, we’ll learn the truth,” he said. “And then we can put this behind us.”
She nodded.
Nathan stood and began to dress as did she and Cal.
“By the way, thank you for leaving that old swing up,” she said. “That was my favorite spot on the ranch.”
Maybe the way to deal with this situation was to make her feel like time had moved on. “How would you like to go riding in the morning? I could show you the ranch and let you see how much it’s changed.”
A gentle reminder that things were not the same. That her time had passed.
“I would love that,” she said, turning and smiling at him. Then, he would speak to his grandfather afterward.
And the old man had better give him some good information that he could use against her. Because she was a lawyer and knew how to file a solid motion.
Nathan handed Lillian her blouse.
“This was why you came to see me this afternoon,” he said. “Not because you wanted to be with us again.”
“Both,” she said. “But I also feared how you would accept the news that I was doing research into how the Sweet B was given to a man who was not a family member, without him paying a dime.”
She’d mentioned at the wedding that they shared something in common, and she wanted it back. All along, she’d meant the Sweet B Ranch. And he’d been a fool not to recognize her and find out what she wanted.
Now he knew. But there would be one hell of a fight before she got what she wanted.