Page 56 of River Legacy
Vicky drew back. “But I thought you said she loved the ranch?”
“She loves Holden McKenna more, and now she’s marrying him. Yet I still can’t believe she would do this to Brand and me, let alone my sisters.”
“She’s protecting Brand and the rest of you,” Vicky said. “We all think CJ put him in the hospital and almost burned down your sister’s house. Your mother must believe the same thing. Maybe she loves all of you more than the ranch.”
He knew she could be right.Of courseCJ was behind the shooting and the fire. Their mother would know that. It was CJ’s plan, probably had been the reason he’d tricked her into letting him out of prison. She had wanted to believe that he could change because she had.
“Charlotte Stafford, at least the one I grew up with, would never have let CJ get away with this. Never. It’s just not like her to cave like this. CJ conned her or blackmailed her or threatened the family. It’s the only thing that makes sense. If I could get my hands on my brother, I would—” His cell phone rang. Sure enough, it was his mother. “I need to take this.”
Ryder stepped away a few feet as he tried to rein in his temper. He wanted to yell at her, to blame her for CJ, to let out his grief at what she’d donein a burst of angry words. “Mother,” he said as he answered the phone.
“I’m sorry. I did what I had to do,” she said, sounding like the woman he knew.
“He blackmailed you. You need to go to the law, and he needs to go prison.”
“That won’t help anything,” she said quickly. “I need you to keep the rest of the family from going after him. You all need to let me handle this. He has an alibi for the shooting as well as the fire. He can get to us from prison and will.”
Ryder didn’t know what to say. “He’s that dangerous? And yet you want to leave him out on the street to do even more damage? If this is your way of handling things... Mother, you can’t believe that he won’t—”
“I know. It isn’t what I wanted, but in this case I had no choice. I made a mistake when it comes to CJ. I owe you all an apology for that. But right now, he is more dangerous than he’s ever been. I need you all to stay clear of him.”
“You know he sold it to Forester?”
“I assumed that was his plan. That means he has the money. I’m hoping he leaves the area, the state, the country like he said he would.”
Ryder began to laugh. “You believed him?”
“No. But please, let me handle it. I’m depending on you to keep everyone calm until this is over.”
“It’s already over, as far as the ranch goes.”
“Don’t worry about the animals,” she said as if she hadn’t heard him. “Holden will see that they allget moved over to his ranch. As for CJ, we both know it won’t be over until he’s gone—and not just out of the country.”
He disconnected and turned to look at Vicky. “I don’t know what is going to happen now, but it probably isn’t going to be good. This isn’t your fight. There is no reason for you stay.”
“There’s one reason,” she said as she took a step toward him. She stopped a few inches from him. He could see the question burning in her gaze. “Are you sure you want me to leave?”
He wanted to say the words that would let her go. He couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t want to leave. The one constant he’d had in his life was the ranch, and now it was gone. The only thing he knew was ranching. His mother had put aside money for each of them since they were born from the ranch proceeds, so he had money. But not enough to buy his own ranch. How could he ask her to stay when he didn’t even know what he was going to do or where he was going to live?
She touched his cheek, her gaze holding his. “The only way I’m leaving is if you tell me you don’t want me here.”
He swallowed around the lump in his throat. “That’s not going to happen,” he said as he reached over to cup her shoulders and pull her to him. “I just don’t understand why you’d want to stay.”
Vicky looked up at him. “Don’t you?” She leaned in to kiss him.
Dragging her closer, he deepened the kiss, wantingto do more than that. As he drew back, he realized where they were: in downtown Powder Crossing. Not that there was much traffic this time of day or most times of the day, but his family was already the talk of the town. He didn’t need to add to it.
“How much time do we have to get off the ranch?” he asked, thinking about the animals more than their personal belongings.
Victoria pulled out her phone and called her father.
“Victoria.” He sounded surprised that she’d called him back.
“How long do we have before you take possession of the ranch?” she asked.
“We?Surely you aren’t going to stay around Powder Crossing. I would think you’ve had enough of Montana and cowboys. You can fly back with Claude. He’ll be returning to Dallas probably tomorrow. Once you’re on the plane, I’ll reinstate your allowance and reactivate your credit cards.”
“How long before you take possession of the ranch?”
