Chapter 2
2
B ree pulled onto the shoulder next to the gate leading down the drive to the Sturgess ranch. She checked the time for the umpteenth time. The lawyer meeting should be in full swing at this point. Arrive too early, and Kade might see her and slip out the back door.
Would he, though?
The man had no reason to be in the same room with Bree again. No desire to boot. Those were facts.
She exited the vehicle. Her thoughts became clearer when she walked.
Should she climb back in the driver’s seat, bang a U-turn, head home, and forget this whole thing?
Would Kade leave town the minute this meeting was over?
Odds were good that was exactly what he would do. He’d been honest with her about hating Saddle Junction and his family’s ranch. There wasn’t anything here for him, he’d said. If it weren’t for his sister, he wouldn’t come back ever again.
Those words stung even now.
Kade had asked her why she’d stayed. What did her answer matter at that point? It was clear to her that he hadn’t wanted anything more than a few days of great sex. Despite promising herself she could walk away from her childhood crush, she’d caved when he’d turned on the charm.
What could she say?
Loving Kade had been as easy as breathing air, but one weekend had changed her life forever. She glanced down at the basketball-sized bump that had become her belly. Was she ready to be a mom? Nope. Did she have a choice? Nope. This seemed like a good time to remind herself that she always met challenges head-on. And who was ever ready for the responsibility of a baby?
Exhaling a slow breath, she rubbed her bump. “Hey, kiddo. Are you ready to meet your daddy?”
“Calm down,” Chloe pleaded.
“I am calm,” Kade said.
Chloe’s fisted hand went to her hip. She’d walked all the way out to the barn with him. “Is that why your nostrils are flaring, and I can almost see steam coming out of your ears?”
“That’s an exaggeration.”
“Is it?” she asked.
Kade issued a sharp sigh. “Are you telling me that you’re not the least bit upset about someone walking into the house claiming to be an heir at the reading of Beaumont’s will?”
“I don’t know what to think,” she admitted. “Our father was a real—”
“Asshole,” he said, cutting in.
“I was going to say a piece of work, but your word is better,” she said.
“And more accurate,” he interjected.
Chloe took a lap around the small space. “He can’t mean what he said.”
“About becoming cozy with us?” Kade asked, but it was a rhetorical question. He grunted. “I think he means to cause all the pain and harm he can to this family.”
“Which is all the more reason for us to stay calm and focused,” she said.
His sister was right. Letting Beau get under Kade’s collar was a mistake. The man was likely to keep poking the tender spots. He sighed. “When did you get so grown up?”
“The day I became a mom.” She relaxed her hand and dropped it to her side. “Babies have a way of forcing maturity on a person.”
Kade smiled.
“Bad news always travels in threes,” she said. “Ever since hearing the news about Zeke, I’ve been waiting for a shoe to drop.”
“Forgive me, but I don’t consider Beaumont dying bad news.” It was true. Kade saw it as freedom.
Chloe shot a look that said she wasn’t talking about dear, old dad. “First Zeke. Now Beau. What’s next?”
“I still have a surveyor coming out to meet me,” he checked his watch, “in roughly forty-five minutes.”
“When did you have time to organize that?” Chloe asked with genuine surprise in her eyes.
“You can use the money, right?”
“I mean, yes, but I’m not going broke tomorrow thanks to the money you send.”
“Everyone will be on the same page about the sale,” he said. “Plus, I planned to talk to everyone before making any real moves. Setting up a surveyor can be done online, so that’s what I did while I waited for my flight. It took two seconds.”
“I guess you can get pretty much anything done in ten minutes or less using the internet,” Chloe said.
“Beau might complicate things.” Kade shoved his hands in his pockets. “He could block the sale for years. Tie up funds.”
“I’d be okay, Kade. Plus, we really don’t know how Conrad feels. He’s so quiet when we talk about the ranch.” Chloe shrugged before touching Kade on the arm. “And you can stop sending me your hard-earned money.”
“Making money is easy in the military,” he said.
Chloe stared at the boot on his right foot. “You call that an ‘easy’ way to earn a living?”
“That wasn’t supposed to happen.” His thoughts turned to Zeke. “If I hadn’t been distracted that day, then—”
“Don’t tell me you blame yourself for what happened?” Chloe interrupted. “Because I spoke to your superior officer, who said you earned a medal.”
Kade wasn’t having this conversation. “We better get back inside before all hell breaks loose.”
Chloe didn’t immediately move. She stood there, tapping her toe, looking like she was about to say something. She must’ve thought better of arguing or trying to force a talk that would be like pulling teeth out of him.
“Okay, fine,” she conceded. “But this isn’t over. You hear me?”
“Let’s focus on getting this place sold.” That task would put enough on their plate.
A yellow tabby peered down at him from the beam above. Kade smiled. “Tabby is still kicking?”
“She must be on her eighth life at this point,” Chloe said with a smile.
“I thought Beaumont got rid of her years ago,” he said. They’d named her Tabby for lack of imagination on their part. Kade could have sworn Tabby smiled at him as she wagged her tail. He’d been the one to pull her from the creek where he’d found her wet and nearly drowned after Beaumont had tossed her into the rushing water.
“She’s alive, thanks to you,” Chloe said.
Too bad Zeke couldn’t say the same.
Kade’s smile faded as he stepped out of the barn and into the sunlight. He blinked as the bright sun practically scorched his eyes. His sister was right about one thing. Bad news traveled in threes. What the hell was going to happen next?
The walk back to the office was quiet. Kade opened the back door, letting his sister walk in first. He followed, closing the door behind them. Chloe gave him a look of solidarity before heading toward the hallway that led to Beaumont’s favorite room.
The low hum of chatter hit him the second he stepped onto the tile. He searched for the right way to come at this discussion about selling the ranch, in case he needed an angle. Then again, knowing Beaumont, he might’ve written an ironclad will that would make selling impossible.
Still, there had to be a loophole. A way to undo any damage Beaumont intended to inflict from the grave.
Guidry wiped sweat from his forehead with an embossed handkerchief. His gaze widened the second Kade entered the room. He did his best to slip in behind Chloe. “Once everyone is seated, we can proceed with the reading.”
Kade bit back the urge to ask if they should expect any more surprises. He sized Beau up out of the corner of his eye. There was something to being the oldest in Beaumont’s eyes. Was there any way Beau had been born first?
Guidry cleared his throat before picking up the thick envelope on top of Beaumont’s desk.
Here we go.
“I have a copy of the last will and testament to give to each of you along with a letter from your father,” Guidry stated.
Beaumont was no father. Hearing the word come out of Guidry’s mouth left a bitter taste in Kade’s. Besides, wasn’t this supposed to be a reading? Like now? “Maybe I misunderstood why we were made to drop everything and show up here at the same time.”
Guidry nodded. “Your copy of the will is for your records. I’ve been instructed to read a statement from your father.”
Kade shifted in his seat, uneasy at hearing the word father for the second time.
After everyone had their copy along with an envelope addressed to each one in Beaumont’s handwriting, Guidry continued. “It is my last wish for my children to take their rightful places at Sturgess Enterprises.”
Not happening, asshole.
“Anyone who refuses to obey these wishes condemns the others by causing everyone to forfeit their inheritance.”
Sonofabitch.
“Where would the money go instead?” Kade asked as grumbles sounded.
“To the Sturgess Foundation,” Guidry said.
“You mean to funnel money that continues to destroy parks in favor of development.” Kade used his fingers to put air quotes around the word development .
“Creating housing for the population boom has always been important to your father.” Guidry needed to stop throwing around the word father so freely. Beaumont had been a taskmaster, a manipulator, and an abuser, but he’d never been more than that to Kade. If he took a poll, he figured the others would have the same opinion. Though, no one had felt safe to speak those words out loud while Beaumont had been alive.
Beau leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms over his chest, and smirked. “Looks like we’ll be one big happy family after all.”
Kade wouldn’t cause Chloe and his brothers to lose out on their inheritance because of his own stubborn streak. He pulled out his cell phone and canceled the meeting with the surveyor. There had to be a way around this clause. Until then, he’d lay low on moving forward with the sale. The other call he’d made had been to accept a job in Alaska. He’d planned to leave the minute the boot came off. “Does it stipulate a timeframe?”
“All the details are in your copy of the will and specific instructions, along with a personal message, are in the envelope,” Guidry said, setting the paper down. The lawyer looked a little too comfortable behind Beaumont’s massive Brazilian Rosewood desk as he steepled his fingers. “Kade, as the eldest, has been given the honor of being named executor. However, I’ve been retained to stay on to ensure the spirit of your father’s wishes is carried out.”
Kade grunted. “First of all, you can refer to your client as Beaumont, Mr. Sturgess, or asshole, but you need to stop referring to the man as our father.” Kade couldn’t help himself. He’d been a teakettle about to boil over since stepping into the office. His question about who was the eldest had been answered without having to interact more than necessary with Beau, which was a bonus. “And second of all, don’t I have the power to decide who represents the family?”
Guidry looked momentarily thrown off, hurt even. “Wh-wh-why would you want to change representation? I’ve been with your f…”
Kade shot a go-to-hell look.
“ Mr. Sturgess for most of your life,” Guidry finished, flustered.
“Exactly my point,” Kade stated. “It’s time for fresh blood around here. If we’re going to do this together, we need to put our handpicked resources into place.” It was also the best way to use the ranch profits to pay for a change in representation. To his knowledge, none of his siblings had taken a dime from their father. Nor had Beaumont offered to help, which was the reason Kade had gone into the military, Chloe had worked in a bar at night as a waitress, and the others had jobs from the age of eighteen. Beaumont had believed college a waste of time, so he’d been clear from day one—earn a scholarship or pay your own way.
Kade hadn’t been the bookish type, so the military had been his best option.
“The will does allow for changes as long as the vote is unanimous,” Guidry said. “I’d caution you to read through your copy and your letter before making any decisions.”
A loophole? Hot damn. It appeared Kade had found a way to get rid of Guidry. He glanced around the room. His gaze landed on Beau; the smug look on his face said he wouldn’t cooperate.
Kade needed to play his cards right. “Good idea about breaking off to read the will.” He could use some of his savings to hire a lawyer to review the will to see how ironclad the rest of it was. If he’d found one loophole, there had to be others. Kade glanced around the room. “Does anyone else have a comment or question?”
Heads shook. All except one. Beau sat there looking like the cat who’d caught the bird. Maybe the apple hadn’t fallen far from the tree when it came to Kade’s half-sibling. Didn’t those last two words leave a bad taste in his mouth?
Could there be others? Would they climb out of the woodwork now that Beaumont was gone? There could be any number of heirs.
Kade shut those thoughts down for now. DNA tests could prove paternity, and there was enough money from the ranch to go around if financial reports could be believed. Kade needed to dig deeper into the finances. He had a few weeks before he needed to report to duty in Alaska. Working a rig sounded hella good right now when compared to sitting behind a desk scouring numbers.
“This meeting is concluded,” Guidry said. He stood and collected the folder on top of the desk.
“Do you mind leaving your copy here?” Kade said to the lawyer as the others filed out. His siblings couldn’t get out of the office fast enough, and he didn’t blame them. Since the financials were most likely on Beaumont’s computer, Kade might stick around for a little while at least.
The dark cloud hanging overhead feeling that Chloe had mentioned rang true. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but his sister was right. Bad news traveled in threes.
The knock at the front door barely registered as Guidry excused himself, taking the file with him.
The hair on the back of Kade’s neck stood up when he heard a familiar voice in the entryway. A knot formed in his chest. This day just got a whole helluva lot worse.
Kade was met at the office door by a very pregnant Bree. He forced his gaze away from her belly, a belly that somehow made her even more beautiful. It might be the glow. He’d heard about pregnancy glows before. The dark circles cradling red, puffy eyes said she was in mourning.
He sucked in a deep breath. “I’m sorry about—”
“From what I hear, you almost died, too,” Bree cut him off. She exhaled, which did little to calm her pounding pulse. The base of her neck gave her away; she was nervous to be here. Did she have something to say to him? Did she want to give him a piece of her mind?
“It should have been me,” he said. “And then your family would still be intact.”
An expression crossed her features that he couldn’t quite read. A second later, it was gone.
“About that…” she started.
Kade readied himself for the anger and accusations that were sure to come. He was Zeke’s best friend. Kade should have protected the man who was about to become a father. Kade had no ties, no reason to live other than a nephew who was too young to remember Kade. Chloe would have been distraught, as would his siblings, but Kade hadn’t had anyone else depending on him.
Bree placed her hand on top of the baby bump. Did she realize she’d made the protective move? Or was it sheer motherly instinct?
“Zeke was my best friend,” she said. Her gaze fixed on a spot over Kade’s left shoulder as though the right words could be found there.
Zeke was more than that. Kade probably shouldn’t point out the fact right now.
“He was there for me, stepping up in a way I never could’ve expected,” she said.
“Because he loves you.” Loved, he should say. It was impossible to think of Zeke in the past tense despite the knowledge he was gone. “That’s a good foundation for—”
Bree put a hand up, stopping him midsentence. “I’m not saying this right, so I’ll just spit it out.” She blew out a breath. “I am absolutely broken, devastated by the loss of Zeke. But he wasn’t the father of my child like everyone believed.”
Kade’s hands fisted as anger roared through him at the thought she’d cheated on Zeke. At least he would never know because it would have broken his heart. “Then, who?” Anger laced the accusation.
Bree blinked a couple of times like she couldn’t believe what she’d just heard. “ You , Kade. You’re the baby’s father.”
A whoosh sounded in his ears, blocking out all background noise. A mix of emotions slammed into him as the knot in his gut tightened. All he could say in response was, “I need fresh air.”