The Cattleman (Sons of Texas Book 2) (10 page)

Mandy’s mouth fell open. “My Lord. I can’t believe they honestly think Troy set his sister’s barn on fire.
They’re practically joined at the hip.”

“I don’t think they really think it, either. I imagine they’re using Troy, trying to get to somebody else. Hopefully, it’ll blow over, but I’m gonna have to have another heart-to-heart with him. Something’s going on with him. I haven’t mentioned it to Drake, but Troy’s been a different guy lately. He’s got this maverick attitude. He says stuff like ‘I don’t belong here’ and ‘I’m not a part of all of this.’ All of a sudden, he’s got a burr under his saddle because Dad and Mom never adopted him.”

“He’s twenty-nine years old. What difference does it make at this point?”

“I know. And he’s always been included in everything.”

“Your mother treated him like her own kid. As mad as I’ve been at her, I have to respect her for that. I don’t know if I could’ve taken in the child of my husband’s mistress, even if he was an orphan.”

The story was old news. It had been hashed and rehashed, cussed and discussed by everybody in Treadwell County. Driving drunk, Troy’s mother had been killed in a grinding collision with an eighteen-wheeler. With no one but distant family who lived somewhere in Mexico, there had been no one to take in her eight-year-old child. He had been tagged an orphan and set to be placed in the foster system until Dad stepped in and confessed to being his father. Dad had even gone the DNA route to prove it to CPS.

Until then, no one knew Dad had been providing financial aid to Troy’s half-Hispanic mother for years and even spending time with Troy. He had brought Troy home to live at the Double-Barrel and according to those who had known Dad and Mom as a couple back then, nothing had ever been the same between them.

At the time, except for having a new brother in the house, Pic had paid little attention. He was thirteen. He was
nearly grown before it dawned on him that Troy’s mother had been pregnant at the same time Mom was pregnant with Kate and how crushing it must have been for his mother to learn that. But Mom had held her chin high and soldiered on. She had treated Troy no differently from the way she treated Pic and Drake. And the three natural Lockhart siblings treated him like a blood brother.

“I get the feeling that he’s distancing himself from us,” Pic said. “What I don’t know is why.” He stood and dropped his cell phone into his robe pocket. “I’ll run him down when I get back to the ranch. See if I can find out what’s going on.”

Mandy stood, too. “You finished the drawing?”

“Yep. It’s out in my truck. I picked it up from the frame shop in Stephenville yesterday. It turned out okay. That frame shop did a nice job, too. It’s wrapped up and sealed or I would’ve brought it in and shown it to you.” They started for the kitchen, holding hands.

“Betty sent a woman to the ranch?” Mandy asked.

Red alert
. Mandy was well aware of his mother’s penchant for choosing women for her sons. “Uh-huh. She’s a photographer. She wants to take pictures for a magazine article.”

“Ah. That sounds interesting. What kind of article?”

“I was already late getting away from the house, so I didn’t get the details.”

“How old is she?”

“Hell, I don’t know.”

“So she isn’t middle-aged.”

Uh-oh.
Mandy’s instincts were sharp as knives. He released her hand and looped his arm around her shoulders. “C’mon, Mandy. You know I don’t pay any attention to stuff like that. Or to Mom’s shenanigans.”

“Then what’s the big deal? How old is she?”

“I dunno. Our age, I guess.”

“Is she pretty?”

“I didn’t look that close.”

“So she’s about our age and she’s pretty. What does she look like?”

“I dunno. Black hair, brown eyes. Shorter than you—”

“So you didn’t look that close, but you can describe her in detail?”

“Now, Mandy. That doesn’t mean anything,” Pic said.

“
That isn’t entirely true. Your mother is up to something. After she got found out trying to get me fired, I thought she might back off.”

He stopped, turned her to face him and kissed her, then lifted his mouth from hers and placed his forehead against hers.

“I don’t know why she thinks I’m not good enough for you,” Mandy said.

“I think you’re good enough and that’s all that counts.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “Cute little nose,” he said, smiling.

“I wish you could come to town more often,” she said. “I can’t believe it’s been so long since you were here last.”

“I know, darling’. The more Dad piles on me, the more the ranch is taking my time. I always knew he was busy, but I never dreamed all that he dealt with every day. And until Drake took over the investments, Dad handled that on top of running the ranch.

“At least with him and Drake doing that part, I don’t have to. The damn paperwork is already eating me alive. Seems like we’re fighting something or somebody all the time. Remember last year when a damn van ran over that little herd of Double-Barrel cows that had gotten out of the fence? Those people filed a lawsuit, so I spent the last two weeks on the phone with the lawyer up in Fort Worth.”

“But you didn’t know the cows were out.”

“Doesn’t matter. Texas isn’t an open range state, so if your cows get out and cause a wreck, you’re screwed.”

They reached Mandy’s cheery kitchen
that was decorated with all kinds of rooster and chicken stuff. She pulled the pizza out of the freezer. “Pizza sounds better than cold chicken,” she said. “I’m going to add some extra cheese.”

While she readied it for the oven, Pic walked back to the living room and picked up the jeweler’s sack from the end table where he had left it. Returning to the kitchen, he handed it to her. “Here ya go. For my gal on her special day. Plan A was for us to take the plane and fly somewhere special. Some place up north where it’s cooler. But everything caught up with me and I couldn’t get it put together.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh, wow. A tiny sack from Melville’s.” She looked up at him with a twinkle in her eye. “I think I’ve seen one of these sacks before.”

For her birthday last year, he had bought her a pair of diamond earrings from the same store. To him, Melville’s was just another jewelry store, but it apparently had a reputation. He shrugged and smiled. “You’re worth it, Mandy. To me, you’re worth more than money can buy.”

She rose to her tiptoes and kissed him. “You don’t have to buy me an expensive present to tell me that.”

She carried the sack to the table and sat down. He took a seat adjacent to her and braced his hand on her chair back, happy to see her happy. She opened the sack carefully and lifted out the small navy blue box. The word “Melville’s” was scrawled across the top.

“I think I’m going to like this,” she said, grinning.

She carefully opened the box and the gift he had chosen glittered up at her under the light that hung over the kitchen table—a small heart made of rubies, enclosed inside a diamond circle the size of a quarter and attached to a gold chain. Her palm went to her cheek. “Oh, my Lord, Pic.” She stared at the pendant a few seconds. “I hate sounding so dumb, but you shouldn’t have spent—”

“Now don’t say anything about what it cost.”

Mandy was frugal. She worried about spending
his money as much as she worried about spending her own.

“But, Pic—”

“Shh, Mandy. You know I can afford it. Besides, who else am I gonna give pretty things to? Ruby’s your birthstone, right?”

She carefully lifted the necklace out of the box. “Yes, but real ones cost
as much as diamonds.”

“I’m pretty sure those are real. If they’re not, I’ll take my shotgun to that jeweler.”

“Now you sound like your dad talking.” She leaned forward and kissed him, her eyes shiny with moisture. “It’s exquisite. Thank you so much.”

“Don’t cry now.”

She sniffed and shook her head. “I’m not.”

He got to his feet. “Let’s put it on you. See how it looks.”

She stood, too, and gave him her back for him to fasten the necklace around her neck. She turned back to face him, straightening the chain and touching the pendant with her fingertips. “Looks good with the robe, huh?”

He chuckled. “Looks okay.” He pushed the loose robe off her shoulders until her bare breasts showed. “Hm-hm. Looks good without the robe, too.”

Her eyes still damp, she laughed. “Something tells me you aren’t looking at the necklace.”

The sound of the oven timer interrupted. She gathered her robe around her, stepped out of his reach and dragged the pizza from the oven.

Chapter
7

Late Friday afternoon, in the quiet of her luxurious new home, Shannon Piper Lockhart finished up the tour she had just given her best friend Christa Johnson. In a whirlwind of events after she and Drake had married, he had bought the large home on Camden Lake that Jim King, her high school classmate, had built on speculation before the market collapsed. This was the first time Christa had visited.

“I’m so envious,” Christa said. “This is an amazing home.”

“I know,” Shannon replied. “Sometimes I feel like I’m living in someone else’s house.”

“Didn’t your office have it listed for half a million?”

“Hm. My
team tried to sell it for months and months, but there were simply no buyers. When the contract expired, Jim didn’t re-list, so I didn’t even know Drake was negotiating on it. I did know that Jim was facing foreclosure, so I’m sure Drake cut a heck of a deal.”

“He didn’t discuss it with you?”

“Nope. Total surprise.”

“No wonder you think you’re in someone else’s house.
It didn’t bother you that he just went out and bought a house without involving you?”

“Why should it? It’s a beautiful home. He knew I liked it.”

Christa gave an evil grin. “I could look up what he paid for it.”

Christa was a closing officer at Camden’s busiest title company, which gave her easy access to most of what went on in the real estate business in Camden County.

“Don’t do that,” Shannon said. “I don’t want to know. I would probably feel guilty about it.”

“No reason for
you
to feel guilty.”

“I know. But you know how I am.”

“I certainly do. You’re a worry-wart.”

They had reached the great room, its massive
rustic furniture accented with elaborate Southwest pieces . Christa ran her fingers along the back of a long sofa upholstered in tan distressed leather. “I didn’t know you were such a talented decorator.”

“Lord, I’m not. So much was going on with getting Drake moved from his condo in Fort Worth and me and Grammy Evelyn moved out of her house, there was no time to plan and decorate. Drake brought his professional decorator down from Fort Worth. She put the place together with almost no input from me or him either. I suppose she’s done
enough work for him that she knows what he likes. It’s so perfect, I’m almost afraid to touch anything. So far, you’re the only person I’ve shown it to.”

“Well, it’s gorgeous. Looks like something right out of a magazine. Kind of a cross between western and traditional. But if you had nothing to do with it, is it the real you? ”

Shannon laughed. “I don’t know what the real me is when it comes to a place to live. I’ve never owned a house or even much furniture.”

“Funny. I always thought you looked at home in all of that baroque fussiness in your grandmother’s house.”

“I loved Grammy Evelyn’s house, but that wasn’t the real me, either. Most of what was in it belonged to her.”

Christa shook her head. “I don’t know, Shannon. It seems weird living in a place you didn’t pick out, surrounded by trappings you didn’t choose.”

Shannon laughed. “Christa. You’re fretting over things that aren’t important, at least not to me. The house is beautiful and extremely comfortable. I don’t have to do anything but enjoy it. Not having to worry with it freed me to focus on my business. With the economy improving, housing sales are picking up again and my team is busy. If it keeps up, I’m going to be looking for new agents.”

“How are you going to have time for that with the baby coming?”

“I haven’t figured that out yet.”

“What about Colleen and Gavin?
I’ll bet Gavin had an envy orgasm when he saw this place.”

Shannon’s hypercritical sister and brown-nosing brother-in-law were the last people to whom she wanted to show off her new home. She had a long and bitter history of battling them. She laughed. “I haven’t invited them.”

“Gavin is such a jerk. I’m surprised he hasn’t invited himself.”

“Oh, he’s pushing. He calls me every other day and wants to get together for a barbecue. I’m not yet psyched up for Drake to meet them. I don’t know how he’ll take to Gavin. He isn’t fond of lawyers in the first place, especially second-rate ones. And he doesn’t have any in-laws in his family.”