Chapter Sixteen
Anna was in a bad mood when she returned from the perimeter. The fence had been broken yet again, and the cattle had decided to go for a wander. It had taken most of the day to get them all back. Her legs were sore from gripping the saddle, and her hands felt raw after holding the reins for hours.
She would be glad to lie down for a while. She was exhausted.
Her anger kept swirling around in her head. Her frustration might’ve been dealt with easily, herding the cows back to where they were supposed to be and fixing the fence, but her anger hadn’t abated. Not when it came to Travis.
She couldn’t believe she’d been so foolish.
She’d been so focused on getting her own problems sorted, they’d rushed into the marriage, Anna wanting her ranch more than anything else.
At the time, Travis had agreed to help. Now she wondered if he had an ulterior motive, planning to replace her with this mystery woman.
Travis could easily do that, and despite everything, Anna wouldn’t be able to fight back.
She wasn’t about to let that happen. She needed to talk to him.
To her surprise, when Anna finished sorting out her horse and giving it a brush down, she found Emily sitting on the porch. She had a cup of tea and a book, looking content in the afternoon sunshine. Emily looked up and smiled when she saw Anna approaching.
“Mrs. Mason has tea for you if you want some,” Emily said.
“I’ll have something later.” Anna tilted her head to one side. “I didn’t expect to see you here today.”
“I thought I’d come and see how you were doing.”
“You just wanted somewhere quiet to read your book, didn’t you?”
Emily smiled. “What can I say? This is a perfect place to read. You don’t mind, do you?”
“No, I don’t,” Anna sighed, settling into the chair beside her friend. “But I wish you’d let me know. Then I wouldn’t be so surprised.”
“You should know me by now. It happens whenever I get the feeling.”
Anna smiled. She had a feeling Emily was trying to avoid what she really wanted to do.
Much as she loved to read, she normally used it as a device to avoid doing what she’d been told to do, for work.
Either that, or she’d had an argument with her parents.
Emily would never admit it, though, remaining upbeat.
Despite someone who would take on other people’s problems, she wouldn’t share hers.
Anna wished she would. It would give her a distraction from her own issues.
“Anyway, where were you?” Emily put the book aside. “Mrs. Mason said the cattle had broken through the fence again.”
“You could say that. Someone’s deliberately hacking the fence to pieces.”
“Really?”
“I saw the damage myself. Someone is sabotaging my ranch.” Anna scowled. “Just what I need right now.”
Emily’s hand went to her throat, and she whimpered. “I… I’m sorry, Anna. That sounds horrible. Do you know who’s doing it?”
That was when Anna hesitated. She had a few ideas, but kept them to herself. Emily sat forward.
“You suspect someone, don’t you?”
“Not really.”
“Edwin does.”
Anna shook her head. “If he sabotaged the ranch, he would have to fix it afterward, and he’s incredibly lazy. I can’t see him doing that.” She paused. “I did consider Travis…”
“What?” Emily blinked. “You seriously think that Travis would do that?”
“Yes… no… I mean, I don’t know. Connor suspects that Travis might have something to do with it, but…”
“Connor has always been suspicious of strangers,” Emily snorted, rolling her eyes. “Don’t take what he says at face value. For all you know, it could be him, and he’s diverting suspicion.”
Anna shuddered. “Don’t make me feel worse than I already do, Emily.”
“I was just thinking out loud. I don’t want it to be Connor, either, but…”
“I’m sure we’ll find out who it is.” Anna didn’t want to think about her closest friend and longest employee doing something so despicable.
“Could we set up a night watch to catch them in the act?” Emily asked, brushing a strand of hair out of her face.
This was giving her a headache.
“Anna?”
She jumped. Travis was approaching her, carrying a steaming mug. He gave her a half-smile and held it out.
“Mrs. Mason saw you coming back. Thought you might like a coffee.”
Anna arched an eyebrow. “Does it have any brandy in it?”
His mouth curved, and Emily giggled.
“I’m afraid not,” Travis said. “You’ll have to make do.”
“Pity.” Anna took the mug, careful not to touch his hand. “But thank you, anyway.”
Something hung in the air for a moment, thick and heavy, pressing down on Anna’s shoulders. She sipped her coffee, trying to look anywhere but at Travis. Finally, Emily cleared her throat and stood up.
“I think I’ll just… go and see if Mrs. Mason needs help with anything. Yes, that’s it… I’ll do that.”
Emily’s cheeks flushed a bright pink as she went into the house. Travis gestured at the chair she’d just vacated.
“Mind if I sit down?”
Anna wanted him to leave her alone, but at the same time, she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
She nodded, staring out toward the paddock as Travis settled into the chair, the wicker creaking under his weight.
For a while, neither of them said anything.
Anna could feel Travis’s eyes on her, but she concentrated on the scene around her.
She should be trusting her husband. Despite how they met, they needed to trust each other.
“What’s on your mind?” Travis asked.
Anna debated what to say. She didn’t know how to start it off. How did you start accusing someone of sabotage without proof? The words tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop them, grasping onto something else.
“Who’s Peggy?”
Travis blinked.
“That’s… how do you know about Peggy?”
“Because I saw the letters from her to you.” Anna shot him a scowl. “Is she your lover? Because if she is, you’d better understand right now that she’s not getting anything from this ranch, and if you try to get rid of me, I’ll make sure you regret it.”
Now he looked startled, sitting back and staring at her like she’d gone mad.
“Why would I do that to you?” he demanded.
“I don’t know. Probably because this place is worth a lot, and you could find yourself set up for life.”
His eyes narrowed. “You’re going to accuse me of sabotaging the ranch now, are you?”
“I…”
“I’m an outsider, and you don’t know anything about me, so it’s a natural assumption, isn’t it?” He looked away. “It wouldn’t matter if I told you the truth; you wouldn’t believe me.”
Anna put her coffee mug on the ground and leaned forward, giving him her full attention.
“Try me,” she challenged. “You haven’t told me anything that can be substantiated about yourself. I barely know who you are. Somehow, you’ve managed to avoid anything personal, so how am I supposed to know if I can trust you?”
They glared at each other. Then Travis looked away, staring at his hands with a heavy sigh.
“I suppose I should’ve told you about my life. I just… it’s been difficult to open up when I’ve lost people I care about and been hurt in the past.”
“How do you mean?”
“To start with, Peggy is my cousin.” His mouth twisted as he fought back a smile. “Although she’ll find it amusing that you thought the two of us were lovers.”
Anna stared at him.
“Peggy is your cousin?”
“On my mother’s side. She’s practically my only relative now. My parents… they died when I was a child. I don’t have anyone else except her.”
Anna let this sink in. Was Peggy his cousin? How had she not noticed that? She felt her face getting hot as she blushed, embarrassed by her assumption. She resisted the urge to bury her face in her hands.
“Oh,” she murmured.
“Did you think I was going to marry you and have someone else ready to take over, and that I would leave my letters carelessly where you could find them?”
“Well…”
Travis made a non-committal noise and shook his head.
“If I were going to write to a secret lover, I would like to think I’d be more sneaky than that. I wouldn’t leave them where you would find them.”
“You did manage to lock the desk,” Anna countered.
“Because I wanted to. I have a right to privacy, don’t I?”
She wanted to argue further, but she knew he was right.
He did deserve that. And he’d told her about Peggy, which was making her feel embarrassed for jumping to conclusions.
She’d accused him of having an affair, and there was no need to.
The guilt was swirling around in her chest. Travis gave her a thin smile. How had things grown so difficult?
“I can see why you think I was hiding secrets, given I haven’t shared much.”
“You told me about being a lumberjack, but that’s about it.”
He sighed and rubbed his eyes. “That’s true. I loved the job, and I had a family who looked after me. They were the parents I needed. And I met someone I thought I would have a future with.”
Anna frowned.
“What do you mean?”
He hesitated. He couldn’t talk, then stopped suddenly, leaving it feeling like a riddle. He took a deep breath.
“I was in love. Her name is Clara. She was my employer’s daughter. And we… we were in love. At least I thought we were.”
“I see,” Anna said, her stomach twisting. Did she want to hear this?
“I wanted to marry her, and I went to her father to get his blessing. But he was furious. He didn’t want his daughter to marry one of his employees.
He also had someone in line to marry Clara.
Someone who was rich and could give her the life she deserved.
I thought Clara would stand up for us and marry me, but she agreed to marry her father’s choice and threw me aside. ”
Shadows passed across his face, and Anna could see the pain. She wanted to reach out and touch him, to give him some comfort, but she stopped herself. It felt like she was frozen, listening to Travis opening up to her. She didn’t want to break that tenuous line between them.
“I tried to speak to her again before her wedding, urging her to come away with me. I knew she loved me.”
From the way he was speaking, Travis didn’t seem to be talking to her anymore.
“And she said that it was for the best, and I should go. She didn’t cry or plead for me to stay. She didn’t even say she loved me. She was cool, almost cold. That broke my heart more than anything, knowing that she’d thrown me away.”
“I’m sorry,” Anna whispered.
He jerked as if he’d forgotten that she was there, and shifted in his seat.
“I couldn’t stay. Her father fired me, so I didn’t have a job. I’d see her around town after her wedding. I couldn’t stay and go through that humiliation over and over.”
“So, when you saw my advert in the newspaper, you decided to make the most of an opportunity to leave.”
He nodded.
“I could start again, away from where I grew up. I didn’t mean to use you or anything…”
“You and I were using each other for different reasons,” Anna reminded him. “I needed a husband, and you needed a reason to leave. We both behaved selfishly.”
“Yours was for a good reason. I’m merely running away from what happened to me.” He shook his head and glowered at the ground. “It’s not something I want people to know.”
He rubbed his hands over his face.
“I hope I can trust you not to say anything to anyone about this, Anna. I don’t want people to know my business.”
“You don’t have to worry about that with me.” She managed a smile at him. “I am glad you’ve told me, though. I know I wouldn’t be able to do the same with you.”
He looked up, and Anna found herself rooted to her chair by his eyes. They were just beautiful, and she couldn’t stop herself from falling into them. She couldn’t understand why Clara would throw Travis aside the way she did.
What was she doing? Travis was not a possession. He was a person, and she didn’t have the right to talk like that about him. She pushed the thought from her mind.
“There was something I wanted to talk to you about,” Travis said, his soft tone making Anna jump. “Peggy wrote to me. She wants to come and stay for a while. Just to make sure I’m all right. If you don’t want her to stay here, I can get her…”
“Of course she’s staying!” Anna said adamantly. “If she’s your family, she should be treated as such.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. And I think it will do you some good to have her close by for a while. When you have no family apart from her, and you’re far away from her…”
He stared at her for a moment as if he couldn’t quite make her out.
“Thank you, Anna. I really appreciate it.”
Anna wanted to say something, but it felt like her tongue had gotten stuck to the roof of her mouth. Clearing her throat, she grabbed her coffee cup and took a sip. She really needed to get her focus back, or she was going to start behaving more like a fool than she already was.
But she couldn’t deny that there was a huge weight off her shoulders now. She felt better, and that was enough to lift her spirits.