A Daring Proposal (16 page)

“Sorry,” Jed said as he wiped his eyes on his shirtsleeve.

“There
’s nothing to be sorry for, son. Losing a child is a terrible thing.”

“It seems a little late to grieve now.”

Dale sat back down. “How could you have grieved before if you didn’t know?”

Jed had to grin. His uncle was trying so hard to be supportive. “Anyway, that’s why Chaney can’t get beyond the past. In her mind, I abandoned her and our child. I guess she figured I wouldn’t have a hard time walking away again, so I would be the perfect man to temporarily marry.”

“And you agreed to this?”

“Not all of it,” Jed said, shaking his head. “I agreed to the temporary marriage in hopes it would help me win custody of Ash. I know, I know,” he said holding up his hand when Dale started to interrupt. “Something else I haven’t told you about, but that can wait until later
.

“Chaney didn’t tell me about the pregnancy part of Travis’ will. Actually, she still hasn’t. She just didn’t deny it when I confronted her earlier.” He slammed his hand on the blotter in frustration. “It’s killing me that she believes I would walk away from a child without a thought. How can she believe that knowing I lost my parents? She must think I’m a monster.”

Dale was silent again. Jed figured he was waiting for his crazy nephew to get his temper under control. When he felt calm enough to chance it, Jed glanced up. His uncle was considering him intently.

“She’s pregnant again?”

Jed nodded.

“Have you two talked about what happened before?”

This time Jed shook his head.

“What
the hell are you waiting for?”

“She wouldn’t believe me. It doesn’t matter anymore,” Jed answered as he straightened some papers and prepared to leave. “Now she thinks . . . never mind.”

“Thinks what?”

His uncle wasn’t going to make this easy. Then again, Jed couldn’t remember a single time in his life where things had been easy. “There have been some problems on the ranches.”

“Both ranches? The same problems?”

While he hadn’t wanted to tell Dale about the rustlers, it didn’t look like he had a choice in the matter
.

“Some,” Jed answered, stalling for a moment longer. He folded his hands on the desktop and prepared to explain what he’d found to Dale. “For one thing we seem to have rustlers taking from both ranches.”

“Rustlers?” Dale shouted as he jumped out of his seat. “Why didn’t you tell me? How long have you known? Damn it, boy this is my ranch!”

Jed stood as well. His hands planted firmly on the desk, he leaned toward his uncle. “This is why I didn’t tell you,” he said in a firm voice holding his uncle’s angry gaze. “I knew you would blow up and your blood pressure would skyrocket. Now sit down and listen or this conversation is over.” He didn’t relax a single muscle until Dale did as he asked.

“I knew something was wrong when I started entering figures into the computer programs I’ve loaded for you. The physical counts I had the men do, and what you had on paper didn’t jive. I learned the reason two weeks ago when Chaney ended up in the hospital.”

“What does her accident have to do with this?” Dale demanded.

“It wasn’t an accident. Chaney rode up on their operation before she knew what was going on. Being the act first think later woman she is, she didn’t hang back and gather information to give the authorities. She rode on in and tried to run them off. When they started shooting at her, she turned back.”

“You mean somebody tried to kill her?”

“I don’t know if they were trying to kill her or just scare her away. One of the shots grazed her horse and that’s how she got thrown.” Jed didn’t like the pallor that covered Dale’s face. Damn, he knew he shouldn’t have told him. He had to find a way to calm Dale down. He walked around the desk so he could be closer if something happened.

“Don’t worry,” he said, as he leaned nonchalantly against the front of the desk. “I contacted the sheriff as soon as I left Chaney that night. They’ve been checking things out but when nothing new happened they eased up. So, I rode out yesterday to check on things myself. I found fresh tracks and some clues that led me to the belief that someone on Chaney’s payroll is to blame.” He was thankful some of the color was coming back to Dale’s face as he talked. Maybe information was all his uncle needed. Jed could understand that. Not knowing what was going on could be damned upset
ting.

His uncle rubbed his chin for a moment before commenting on Jed’s information. “You told Chaney what you found.”

“Yep.”

“And she told you that you were wrong.”

“She told me that and more.” Jed said reliving every word of their discussion the night before. The realization that Chaney believed it possible he had something to do with the problems still caused him pain.

“I’m listening.”

Jed really didn’t want to go into it, but it seemed talking was calming Dale some, so he took a deep breath and dug in. “The problems at McBride’s Pride range from simple order discrepancies to payroll,” he said. “Between that and the rustling, we thought of one person that could be causing all this trouble.”

“That stupid foreman she had?”

Startled, Jed considered his uncle before replying. “You didn’t like her foreman?”

“I told McBride he was a fool for hiring the man, which of course only made him more determined to prove me wrong. I’m not surprised he was dipping into the till.”

“Yeah, that’s what I suggested, but Chaney said she talked to him and he had explanations for all her questions. She also said there were no more problems until . . .” Could he honestly tell his uncle that Chaney thought it was all Jed’s fault?

“Until?”

He reached back and rubbed his neck then forced himself to meet Dale’s gaze and answer him. “Until we got married.”

“Damn.”

“She thinks I’m to blame.”

“That’s foolishness.”

Jed felt somewhat mollified by Dale’s support. Still, what mattered was what Chaney thought, and she didn’t trust him. “So, like I said it doesn’t matter anymore. I’ll do what I can to make sure she’s safe but otherwise it’s a lost cause.”

Dale stood before Jed did. “I guess I was wrong,” he said as he turned and started walking to the door.

“Wrong about what?”

“I thought you loved that girl.”

“I do,” he said. The admission surprised Jed. Not that he hadn’t known it. He’d known since before Ash visited that his heart belonged to Chaney. What surprised him was admitting it out loud.

“Then do something about it.”

It was Jed’s blood pressure that rose now. “What? She won’t let go of the past. She doesn’t trust me.”

Jed pushed away from the desk and walked back to the window.

“She doesn’t know the truth about the past, how can you expect her to trust you?”

“If she loved me she would know without me telling her.”

“Well, I’ll be damned.”

The disbelief in his uncle’s voice turned Jed around. “What?”

“I never would have believed you and Travis McBride were cut from the same mold.”

The thought had Jed’s hands fisting. There was no way he was anything like Travis McBride. “What the
hell is that supposed to mean?”

His uncle shook his head. “Pride. It’s blinding you the same way it did him,” Dale said as he
turned and walked to the door.

Jed stared at the closed door. His uncle didn’t understand. It wasn’t the same at all. McBride had insisted Chaney do things his way no matter what. All Jed wanted was her trust.

Even though as far as she knows you dumped her twelve years ago and only married her now because you need something. Why shouldn’t she trust you?

Jed scraped his hands over his face. When
had he become holier than thou?

He glanced out the window one more time. There were things he needed to do. Check with his foreman to see if anything had happened last night. Shower, change, sleep. All of that took a bac
kseat to what he decided to do.

If he wanted Chaney to believe him, she had to know the truth. There was only one person left that could tell her that.

“I’ll talk to you later,” he called to his uncle. The door slammed behind him as he rushed out of the house and jogged to the truck. A familiar truck sped by as Jed pulled onto the road. He was at the top of the rise before Chaney’s ranch when he realized why the truck was familiar.

The driver was Ch
aney’s ex-foreman, Dave Walker.

Jed made a U-turn that spewed gravel from the side of the road. His foot floored the accelerator. He would catch up to that man and make him confess to Chaney.

Walker had a head start. Jed’s truck didn’t catch up until they were to the town line. Both trucks slowed down. Jed followed Walker into the parking lot of the feed store and tack shop. He threw the truck in neutral, yanked on the emergency break, pulled out the keys and was out the door before Walker even turned off his engine.

“You good for nothing low life. Get out of that truck,” Jed yelled as he strode over to the other truck.

“Who the hell? Oh it’s you,” Walker said, opening his door and stepping down. “What do you want?”

Jed grabbed the man’s collar and pushed him back against the truck. “I should beat you to a pulp right here for trying to hurt my wife and steal her stock.” Walker tried to push Jed’s forearm from across his throat but Jed didn’t move an inch.

“Wh-what are you talkin’ about?” the man sputtered.

“Don’t play stupid. We all heard you threaten Chaney on our wedding night. Now cattle are missing and someone tried to kill her.” Walker stopped squirming and his eyes met Jed’s. It wasn’t the reaction Jed expected. “I think that someone is you,” he continued hoping to get a rise out of him so he could give him a belly full of knuckles.

Jed was disappointed.

Instead of a rise, Walker turned white and his eyes grew large. “M-m-me?”

“Yeah, you,” Jed replied applying a little extra pressure.

“Y-you’ve got me all wrong.”

“Oh really? Are you denying you threatened my wife? Told her she would pay for firing your sorry carcass?”

“No,” he said again pulling at Jed’s forearm that rested against his Adam’s apple. “I mean, yeah I said that but I was mad. She embarrassed me in front of everybody. I d-didn’t mean it.”

Jed eased off a bit. He didn’t let go just made it easier for Walker to talk. “What about all the problems with the ranch’s accounts and supplies? What about the cattle?”

“I don’t know,” Walker whined. Jed almost felt sorry for him. Then again, he had little patience for men that couldn’t back up what they said. He leaned closer again.

“Honest, when she asked me about them before, I told her the feed store had shorted our order. It was the truth.”

Jed doubted the man knew what truth really was, but he believed him. “Where were you two weeks ago?”

“At the Oakley place in the next county. Been working there the past month. Swear,” he said.

After a moment, Jed released him. He didn’t move away though. “What are you doing here now?”

“Boss had a special order in here,” Walker said nodding toward the tack shop. “Told me to come pick it up.”

Jed stared at him long and hard. He didn’t like it, but he believed him. “I’m going to check out your story. If I find out you’re lying, you won’t be able to hide. Got that?”

Walker sidled off nodding. Jed didn’t think he would have to worry about him. Bullies were like that. When someone finally stood up to them, they couldn’t run fast enough. That didn’t solve Jed’s problem though. It actually made it worse. If it wasn’t Walker after Chaney, Jed didn’t have a clue as to who it was. She was right. All her hired hands had been there for years and were hard working and loyal.

“Damn,” he said walking back to his truck. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Billy Bradley at the door to the feed store. Jed remembered the angry acceptance Billy had given at the Low Down.

Jed lifted his hand and called out, “Hey, Billy,” like they were old pals as he walked to the entrance. The speed with which he reached Billy’s side allowed Jed to notice a glint of anger in his eyes again, though he knew Billy wouldn’t do anything about it.

“Jed,” Billy said tipping his hat. “Heard you and Chaney got hitched. Pretty quick work, buddy.”

The last thing Jed wanted was to be Billy’s buddy, but he did want information. “Yeah, guess it was fate.”

“Good thing McBride’s dead.”

Jed found the comment odd. “Why would you say that?”

Billy walked a few steps away and bent to pick up a sack of feed. “Come on, Jed. Everybody knows old man McBride wouldn’t let you near Chaney.”

“Really,” Jed found the conversation suddenly interesting.

“Don’t get riled. McBride wanted someone to take over the ranch and let’s face it, you are not rancher material,” Billy said as he dropped the sack into a nearby truck bed. “Right after you took off he tried to hitch her up with--”