Using the Stone family name, Brandee then tracked down a birth certificate for their daughter Beverly. The Stones hadn’t settled near Royal but had ended up two counties over. But the state of Texas had a good database of births and deaths, and the town where they’d ended up had all their newspapers’ back issues online.
Jumping forward seventeen years, she began reading newspapers again for some notice of Beverly Stone’s marriage. She’d been debating giving up on the newspapers and driving to the courthouse when her gaze fell on the marriage announcement. Beverly had married Charles Delgado and after that Brandee’s search became a whole lot easier.
At last she was done. Spread across the table, in unforgiving black and white, was the undeniable proof that Shane Delgado was legally entitled to the land where Hope Springs Ranch stood. A lesser woman would have thrown herself a fine pity party. Brandee sat dry-eyed and stared at Shane’s birth certificate. It was the last piece of the puzzle.
In a far more solemn mood than when she’d arrived, Brandee exited the library. The setting sun cast a golden glow over the street. Her research had eaten up the entire day, and she felt more exhausted than if she’d rounded up and tagged a hundred cattle all on her own. She needed a hot bath to ease the tension in her shoulders and a large glass of wine to numb her emotions.
But most of all she wanted to stop thinking about Shane Delgado and his claim to her land for a short time. Unfortunately, once she’d settled into her bath, and as the wine started a warm buzz through her veins, that proved impossible. Dwelling on the man while lying naked in a tub full of bubbles was counterproductive. So was mulling over their breakfast conversation at the Royal Diner, but she couldn’t seem to shake the look in his eye as he’d talked about kissing her senseless.
She snorted. As if her current problems could be forgotten beneath the man’s chiseled lips and strong hands. She closed her eyes and relived the handshake. The contact had left her palm tingling for nearly a minute. As delightful as the sensation had been, what had disturbed her was how much she’d liked touching him. How she wouldn’t mind letting her hands wander all over his broad shoulders and tight abs.
With a groan Brandee opened her eyes and shook off her sensual daydreams. Even if Shane wasn’t at the center of her biggest nightmare, she couldn’t imagine either one of them letting go and connecting in any meaningful way.
But maybe she didn’t need meaningful. Maybe what she needed was to get swept up in desire and revel in being female. She’d deny it until she was hoarse, but it might be nice to let someone be in charge for a little while. And if that someone was Shane Delgado? At least she’d be in for an exhilarating ride.
The bathwater had cooled considerably while Brandee’s mind had wandered all over Shane’s impressive body. She came out of her musings to discover she’d lost an hour and emerged from her soaking tub with pruney fingers and toes.
While she was toweling off, her office phone began to ring. It was unusual to have anyone calling the ranch in the evening, but not unheard-of. After she’d dressed in an eyelet-trimmed camisole and shorts sleepwear set she’d designed, Brandee padded down the hall to her office, curled up in her desk chair and dialed into voice mail.
“I heard you’re looking for a couple horses for your summer camp.” The voice coming from the phone’s speaker belonged to Shane Delgado. “I found one that might work for you. Liam Wade has a champion reining horse that he had to retire from showing because of his bad hocks. He wants the horse to go to a good home and is interested in donating him to your cause.”
Brandee had a tight budget to complete all her projects and was doing a pretty good job sticking to it. When she’d first decided to start a camp, she’d done a few mini-events to see how things went. That was how she’d funded the meeting hall where she served meals and held classes during the day and where the kids could socialize in the evenings. Thanks to her successes, she’d forged ahead with her summer-camp idea. But that required building a bunkhouse that could sleep twelve.
With several minor issues leading to overages she’d hadn’t planned for, getting a high-quality, well-trained horse for free from Liam Wade would be awesome. She already had three other horses slated for the camp and hoped to have six altogether to start.
Brandee picked up the phone and dialed Shane back. Knees drawn up to her chest, she waited for him to answer and wondered what he’d expect in return for this favor.
After three rings Shane picked up. “I take it you’re interested in the horse.”
“Very.” Her toes curled over the edge of the leather cushion of her desk chair as his deep, rich voice filled her ear. “Thank you for putting this together.”
“My pleasure.”
“It was really nice of you.” Remembering that he had the power to destroy all she’d built didn’t stop her from feeling grateful. “I guess I owe you...” She grasped at the least problematic way she could pay him back.
“You don’t owe me a thing.”
Immediately Brandee went on alert. He hadn’t demanded dinner or sexual favors in exchange for his help. What was this new game he was playing? Her thoughts turned to the blackmailer Maverick. Once again she wondered whether Shane was involved, but quickly rejected the idea. If he had any clue she was squatting on land that belonged to his family, he would be up front about his intentions.
“Well, then,” she muttered awkwardly. “Thank you.”
“Happy to help.”
After hanging up, she spent a good ten minutes staring at the phone. Happy to help? That rang as false as his “you don’t owe me a thing.” What was he up
to? With no answers appearing on the horizon, Brandee returned to her bedroom and settled in to watch some TV, but nothing held her attention.
She headed into the kitchen for a cup of Sleepytime herbal tea, but after consuming it, she was more wide-awake than ever. So she started a load of laundry and killed another hour with some light housekeeping. As the sole occupant of the ranch house, Brandee only had her cook and cleaning woman, May, come in a couple times a week.
Standing in the middle of her living room, Brandee surveyed her home with a sense of near despair and cursed Maverick. If she found out who was behind the blackmail, she’d make sure they paid. In the meantime, she had to decide what to do. She sank down onto her couch and pulled a cotton throw around her shoulders.
Her choice was clear. She had to pay the fifty thousand dollars and resign from the Texas Cattleman’s Club. As much as it galled her to give in, she couldn’t risk losing her home. She pictured the smug satisfaction on the faces of the terrible trio and ground her teeth together.
And if Maverick wasn’t one or all of them?
What if she’d read the situation wrong and someone else was behind the extortion? She had no guarantee that if she met the demands that Maverick wouldn’t return to the well over and over. The idea of spending the rest of her life looking over her shoulder or paying one blackmail demand after another appalled Brandee. But what could she do?
Her thoughts turned to Shane once more. What if she could get him to give up his claim to the land? She considered what her father would think of the idea and shied away from the guilt that aroused. Buck Lawless had never cheated or scammed anyone and would be ashamed of his daughter for even considering it.