Page 39 of River Legacy
“You let me worry about that,” the eldest Stafford said as he handed him his drink and took a seat at the other end of the couch. The one thing CJ Stafford wasn’t short of was arrogance, Wendell thought. Not that it was a bad thing, he told himself.
CJ took a sip of his drink, then looked down the length of the couch at him with those ice-cold green eyes. “How badly do you want the Stafford Ranch?”
Chapter Thirteen
Claude turned up the radio, wanting to drown out the dire thoughts circulating in his head. He knew that he’d crossed a line. He told himself he didn’t care. All he could think about was getting off the Stafford Ranch, getting out of Montana and especially handing over Wen’s daughter and telling them both what he thought of them.
Victoria would tell her father what he’d done, making it look as if she’d been in on it and ruining her chances with Ryder. But Claude was tired of playing games with these two. He was going to walk away from the job. Wen wouldn’t sue him—unless he wanted some of the crooked things the man had done to come out.
Who was he kidding? Wen was vindictive enough that he’d sue no matter what. All Claude could do was wash his hands of this entire mess—once Wen flew him back to Dallas in the private jet. It would probably be the last private plane he’d ever get to fly in. No one would hire him after this.
He shoved that thought away. A man could take only so much, he told himself. All he wanted to do was to drop the princess off at the hotel and head forthe airport. After she talked to her father, he figured Wen would be happy to fly him back to Dallas to be rid of him.
Victoria reached over and snapped off the radio. “You realize that he’s going to make your life miserable, don’t you?”
He snapped the radio back on and turned the volume up even louder.
She turned it off again, keeping her hand on the knob, daring him to touch it. To touch her.
“I know enough about you and your father to make both of your lives miserable, princess.”
She laughed. “Try that on my father and he’ll bury you.”
“I don’t think so. He might not care about things coming out on him, but you... He won’t want the mud to get splashed on his precious daughter.”
Victoria looked around as if searching for something to hit him with. Like father like daughter, he thought. He couldn’t get this over with soon enough.
As they neared the town of Powder Crossing, Victoria was heartsick. For a while, she’d felt like one of the Stafford family. She’d liked that feeling, getting to see Tilly’s baby, meeting the rest of his family, even Ryder’s mother. It even helped to realize Charlotte Stafford was a lot like her father, as ridiculous as that sounded. What she hated most was that now they would all believe that she’d come here at her father’s bequest in an attempt to steal their ranch.
How could she leave with them believing that? She couldn’t, she thought as she reached in the back for the wrap she’d tossed back there when she’d gotten in the vehicle. It was the same one she’d worn over her dress the night she and Ryder had left the hotel for the ranch. She’d been so angry with Claude that she’d wanted to strangle him with it and had been afraid she would unless it was out of her reach.
But as she picked it up now, she spotted her purse on the back seat. Unsnapping her seat belt, she got on her hands and knees and reached in the back to snatch it up too.
“Why didn’t you tell me you had my bag?” she demanded as she turned back around and refastened her seat belt. Opening her purse, she checked to make sure her phone was inside, along with her money and credit cards, and looked up to see that they were driving through Powder Crossing, and would be out of town soon.
“Let me out!” she demanded, startling Claude. He kept driving.“Let me out now!”He gave her a smirk.
Pulling out her phone, she called her father. “Maybe you’d like your boss to tell you to stop this damned car.”
“Hang up,” Claude bellowed. “Hang up!”
“Daddy? It’s Victoria.”
Claude made a swipe at the phone as if to knock it out of her hand, but she ducked away, avoiding his hand.
Turning away from him, she cried, “Claude has kidnapped me! He’s going to kill me. Help! No, stop!”
Claude threw on the brakes. She would have gone through the windshield if she hadn’t buckled her seat belt again. “Get out!” His voice sounded raw with emotion. She had the feeling that he was getting close to the end of his rope with her and her father. Who could blame him?
She grabbed her door handle and practically threw herself out.
“Victoria!” She could hear her father still on the phone as Claude peeled out, burning rubber as he sped away.
“You shouldn’t have sent Claude after me,” she said into the phone. “Now I’m going to see that you never get the Stafford Ranch.” She disconnected and dropped her phone back in her handbag.
As she looked around town, her anger slowly evaporated. Now what? she thought. Seeing the Open sign at the café in the distance, she began to walk. With each step, she promised herself she would do exactly what she’d told her father she would on the phone. She knew he had a plan to get the ranch—other than her marrying into the Stafford family—and that was what worried her. Her secret weapon was that she knew how her father operated, so maybe that would help.
Also, she thought that maybe Wendell Forester loved his daughter enough not to break her heart.On that thought, she had her doubts, but she could hope, couldn’t she?
