Midnight Thunder(INCR) (10 page)

“Please don't.”

“Okay. So what about this deal with you being related to everybody in the known universe? You looked a little freaked by the news.”

“Wouldn't you be?”

“You bet I would. Since I ran away from home to escape my parents, if they or anyone related to them showed up, I'd shit a brick. But this isn't Rance Marlowe we're talking about. This is the good side of the family. I didn't have a good side. Everybody was rotten.”

“I've fantasized about tracking him down and beating him to a bloody pulp. He essentially killed my mother, even though he was long gone when she died.” Being at the hospital where she'd died, along with the news from Molly, had brought those thoughts back. Cade tried not to think about his father at all, but right now he couldn't help it.

“I don't blame you, but you'd be a young guy beating up on an old guy, and it would be your word against his that he deserved it. You could end up in jail and for what? You can't bring your mother back.”

“Justice.”

“From what you've told me, I'm thinking he has a miserable life if he's even still around. A hard drinker who likes picking fights could be dead by now.”

“I hope he is, the bastard. He made her feel like she wasn't good enough for her own family.”

Damon was quiet for a while. Finally he broke the silence. “Are you afraid that you're not good enough?”

The question arrowed into his gut. Damon always had been able to cut to the chase. “Yeah,” he said at last. “I am.”

 

9

O
NLY
C
ADE
SUSPECTED
that Lexi had bad news to report, and he seemed in no rush to delve into it yet. So she decided to let the matter rest for a while as they lounged around the kitchen table and enjoyed their reunion.

Damon and Finn had insisted that Cade had to fetch his cat, so Ringo lay purring happily in Cade's lap while the conversation grew louder and more animated. The four of them had shared some hilarious moments, and those memories were even funnier now.

Lexi had been acutely conscious of Cade's absence over the years, but until now she hadn't realized how much she'd missed watching him interact with Damon and Finn. They were great guys, and she admired all three of them for rising above less-than-ideal beginnings. Rosie and Herb had certainly helped them bounce back, but they'd had to do a lot of the character work on their own.

Not having Rosie and Herb at the table seemed strange, but after a comment or two about that, nobody brought it up again. Wishing they were there wouldn't make it so. Instead the guys talked about pranks they'd pulled on the younger boys that had come and gone—the ones they'd liked and the ones who had been a pain in the ass.

“We should get them all back here,” Damon said. “Even the PITAs. I know Rosie has contact information for every kid she took in. Wouldn't that be a kick?”

“Maybe not for Rosie and Herb,” Lexi said. “It would be a lot of work. And we can't expect them to do it, especially now.”

“So we'd hire people to help out.” Damon finished his beer and got up to take another out of the fridge. “Anyone else?”

“Hit me.” Finn grabbed a slice of the quickly disappearing pizza. “Are you saying you have money to throw into the pot, Harrison? Because I don't. My card is maxed out after paying for my plane ticket.”

“We could do the work,” Cade said. “I can handle a vacuum.” He winked at Lexi.

She ducked her head to hide her expression.
The rat.
She'd been focusing on the camaraderie, mostly. She'd chosen a seat across the table from him in hopes the distance would lessen his impact.

But that had given her a better view, and he was too damned good-looking to ignore. Plus his warm chuckle made her shiver, and, as he stroked the cat, she imagined him stroking her. When he laughed she remembered the moment she'd fallen for him at sixteen. As if she'd been struck by lightning, she'd never been the same. And she'd always love Cade.

“I can clean.” Damon glanced at Lexi. “Why're you studying the grain of the table, girl? Are you afraid we'll expect you to cook and clean because you're the female of the group?”

She glanced up and cleared her throat. “Nope. Herb and Rosie taught you guys well. You don't think like that.” A sip of beer and she was back in control of herself.

“Damn straight. You wouldn't have to do diddly-squat unless you want to.” Damon snapped his fingers. “I've got it! You can be our Reunion Queen. How's that? We'll get you a tiara.”

“Actually, I have one.”

“You do?” Cade smiled. “I did not know that.”

“You don't know everything about me.”
Whoops.
Probably shouldn't have said
that.
“I got it after you left,” she added quickly.

“Did somebody give it to you?” His question sounded casual, but obviously he wanted to know if a guy had.

“As a matter of fact, I bought it for myself. My friends and I decided we needed tiaras. We wear them sometimes when we meet for drinks.”

“Interesting idea.” Cade seemed a little lost.

She'd bet it sounded odd to him that she'd put on a tiara and have drinks with her girlfriends. She wouldn't have dreamed of doing such a thing five years ago. But that was the point. She'd changed.

“Well, there you go.” Finn glanced from Cade to Lexi as if trying to figure out the subtext of their conversation.

She'd avoided discussing Cade during the drive to the ranch. Instead she'd encouraged Finn to talk about his business.

Damon set down his beer bottle. “So! Our Reunion Queen has a tiara and the three of us will cook and clean for the event. We have a plan, but we have to move on it immediately. I don't know about you, O'Roarke, but I can only stay a week.”

“Same here. But we can get the info from Rosie tomorrow. It might turn out that some of the guys live within driving distance.”

Lexi decided the time had come to face reality. “Before this idea gets any more solid, you all need to know something.”

Finn panicked. “Shit! Rosie's dying.”

“No, she's not! Settle down.” She hadn't thought about how scary heart attacks might be for Finn. “I'll bet this'll turn out to be a warning for her more than anything.
But
Rosie and Herb are in serious financial trouble. Enough so that they could lose the ranch.”

Shock registered on all three faces. Then Damon and Finn started cussing, just as Rosie had predicted they might.

But Cade sighed. “I was afraid of that when you said you had important news.” He looked across the table at her. “And you'd just had that heart-to-heart with Rosie.”

“I don't get it.” Damon sounded frustrated. “They were fine last time I asked, not that long ago. I don't see how it could end up this way in such a short time.”

“That's what I'm here to explain.” Lexi proceeded to repeat what Rosie had told her about the loan to Hector Williams followed by the discovery of the Ponzi scheme. The expressions around the table grew darker by the minute.

When she was finished, Cade was the first to lash out. “Who is the scumbag who cheated all those people? I want his name, damn it! And where he lives!” Startled, Ringo leaped down.

“Now you've done it,” Damon said. “You scared the cat.” He patted his thigh. “Come on over here, Ringo. I won't yell like that other guy.”

Tail in the air, Ringo bypassed Damon and joined Lexi.

Finn nodded approvingly. “Smart cat.” Then he glanced at Cade. “I understand where you're coming from, bro, but knowing that information won't help. That type protects themselves with crooked lawyers and soulless accountants. He probably lives on some private island in the Caribbean.”

Cade blew out a breath. “Yeah, I'm sure you're right.”

“I watched this play out with one of my grandfather's supposed investments.” Finn got up and went to the refrigerator. “Anybody need another beer?”

“Sure do.” Cade pushed aside his empty bottle.

Finn returned with two beers and handed one to Cade. “Eventually the bad guys go to jail, and maybe the people they swindled will get some of the money back, but not soon enough to do them any good. What I want to know is whether Hector Williams has assets he can sell.”

Lexi had wondered about that, too. “I didn't ask because it sounded as if she had no interest in trying to get the money from him. He's out of work and he has a family.”

Finn sat down again. “And I feel sorry for him, but if he has assets, he needs to liquidate them ASAP and pony up the cash. Rosie and Herb might not want to ask him to do that, but—”

“I will.” Damon took an angry pull from his beer. “I'd have no problem confronting him with the facts of life. He can't go merrily on while Rosie and Herb sink like a stone.”

“But they wouldn't be sinking if they had the retirement money. Williams isn't the true villain of this story,” Cade said. “Besides, if Rosie and Herb don't want to ask him to sell everything he owns so he can pay them back, then that's all there is to it. We have no right to interfere.”

“We certainly don't.” Lexi finished off her beer and immediately all three men asked if she needed another. “Thanks, but I'd better not. I'm driving.”

“You can stay over,” Finn said. “Herb and Rosie wouldn't care.”

“I know, but I planned all along to go back to my apartment tonight.”

Damon regarded her with a look that was hard to decipher. “You should stay. There are what, four spare bedrooms in this place?”

“What he said.” Finn pointed the neck of his bottle in her direction. “We have a lot more to discuss, and it'll go better if you have another beer. We need you to help us figure this out. And Ringo looks mighty comfortable. Stay over.”

It made sense. Rosie had asked her to keep these guys from hatching a dramatic plan that would bankrupt all of them. If she left too soon, they could still do that. Yet staying would have consequences when it came to the man sitting across the table from her.

She looked over and found him watching her with amusement. He'd love to have her stay. If she did, sure as the world he'd cook up some scheme so they could be alone. If she were honest with herself, that's what she wanted. “Okay, I'll stay. And I'll have another beer.”

Cade smiled. “I'll get it.” When he brought her the beer, Ringo gazed up at him with an extremely self-satisfied expression. Cade leaned down and scratched behind the cat's ears. “Traitor.”

“He just recognizes a good thing when he sees it,” Damon said.

Lexi wouldn't be surprised if Damon had intended that to be a dig at Cade for walking away from her five years ago. At the time he'd told her point-blank that Cade was a damned fool.

Cade didn't linger beside her, and she was grateful for that. Being close to him and knowing what likely would happen later made her heart hammer. She waited until her hands stopped trembling before she picked up the beer. The cold bottle felt great. She wanted to hold it against her cheek, but that would be a little obvious.

She had a hunch Damon might know something about what had happened this morning. Finn was apparently clueless, but Cade had picked up Damon shortly after that last hot kiss this morning. Damon and Cade always had been closer to each other than to Finn. She could picture Cade confiding in Damon and asking him to keep his mouth shut.

“So where are we with this?” Damon glanced around the table. “There's a good chance Rosie and Herb won't allow us to lean on the borrower, and the retirement money won't suddenly reappear, so short of robbing a bank, how can we bail them out?”

Finn started peeling the label from his bottle. “I could sell my business.”

“No, you couldn't.” She was touched by how quickly Finn offered up the only thing he had. Rosie had been so right about that. “Rosie and Herb would have a fit.”

“As well they should,” Damon said. “I, on the other hand, could turn on the afterburners and get my current project finished and sold ahead of schedule. If I jump into another one and do that in record time, too, I could end up with a chunk of money to donate to the cause. I can probably get another credit card to tide me over.”

“Rosie wouldn't like that any better. You need that income to keep your business going.” Lexi was so glad she was here to keep the guys from doing anything heroic but stupid.

“All I have is Hematite.” Cade hesitated. “He's not worth a whole lot now because he's never been ridden.” He squared his shoulders. “But I could train him and then sell him. He's a fine-looking horse.”

Her heart ached to hear him offer the gelding he'd rescued and paid for with his savings. “That can't happen, either. Rosie warned me that you'd all react like this, and she'll be furious if any of you sacrifice to that extent. I'm sure she means it, too. There has to be another way.”

Cade's chin jutted. “One thing's for sure. They're not selling the ranch.”

“But what if they want to?” Lexi had to put it out there, even if they didn't care to hear it. “What if they're tired of maintaining this big old place and it would be a relief to sell it? Because of the second mortgage they took out, they wouldn't get the full value, but they'd get enough to buy a little house in town.”

Three pairs of eyes gazed at her in disbelief.

“Look, you have to put aside what you want, which is to keep this ranch as is so you can make nostalgic visits, and think about what they want. And FYI, none of you have been making very many visits.”

Damon let out a breath. “You've got me there, sunshine. I kept meaning to come over more often, but life got in the way.”

“Yeah, me, too.” Finn's expression was bleak. “When I moved to Seattle, I told myself I'd come back a couple of times a year. I was lucky if I made it once a year.”

“Obviously I didn't make it back at all.” Cade glanced at Lexi. “I sincerely regret it, too.”

“My point is that while it sounds nice and cozy to keep the ranch going, is it fair to expect them to do it so those of you who stayed here have the comfort of knowing it's the way you remembered?”

“No,” Cade said. “You're right. And if they want to sell, they should. But this sounds like they have no choice. I want them to have a choice.”

“Well said.” Damon raised his bottle in Cade's direction. “So if we can come up with a way to raise the money without endangering our own futures, then that gives them the choice. If they don't want to take it, that's up to them.”

Lexi glanced at Finn. “You didn't have much money when you moved to Seattle. I never thought to ask how you got the capital for that business. I doubt a bank would have loaned it to you.”

“They wouldn't have. I used a crowdfunding campaign.”

They all stared at him and then looked at each other.

Cade began to grin. “Is everyone else thinking what I'm thinking?”

“It could be exactly what we need,” Damon said. “I can't believe I didn't think of that. Damn it, this could work!”

“Not so fast,” Finn said. “You can't just set up an account and ask for money. It needs to be a project with mass appeal. Nobody but the kids who stayed at Thunder Mountain will care whether the Padgetts sell the ranch.”