Slow Ride Home (The Grady Legacy) (28 page)

“It’s not about legal obligations,” Ben answered, his confidence in his suggestion solidifying. “Gabe is Pop’s son, our half brother. It’s not like we’re breaking up the ranch, giving it over to someone who isn’t family so we’re fulfilling that part of Bull Grady’s legacy. And we can’t expect him to work here as an employee just because Pop couldn’t marry his mom.” What if Pop had known he’d gotten Denise pregnant? Would he have chosen her over his mom? Life would have been so different. Maybe he’d have ended up in juvie instead of Gabe, at least shuttled between two homes, forced to choose between them.

“Gabe loves this land as much as us. He’s worked almost half his life here. I say he deserves it.”

Jake’s leg danced a jig beneath the table. “The only problem is Gabe might not want to stick around once he learns that Gramps knew who he was all along and didn’t tell him.”

“Once he learns
Gramps
didn’t tell him?” Ben snapped. “You don’t think he’ll be pissed that
you
didn’t tell him, asshole? You were his best friend. He should have been able to count on you telling him the truth.” The same way you shouldn’t have lied to me.

“I told you. I promised Ma and Gram that...fuck it all. Okay, so you’re Mr. Perfect who would have done the right thing where I fucked it up. I get it.”

Allie placed her hands flat on the table and leaned between them. “We’re not going to get anywhere if you two are each other’s throats.”

Ben swallowed his need to get in Jake’s face. “You’re right.” He glared at his brother, letting him know they’d pick up the discussion again. Once Allie wasn’t in earshot.

Jake met his glare with one of his own. “So we offer to cut Gabe in for a third. What if he wants to sell his share?”

Ben wrestled with how Jake had omitted himself for a reason Gabe might walk away. Discovering his best friend had betrayed him was bad enough to make Ben walk away from Logan; when Gabe discovered his best friend and half brother had repeatedly lied to him for months? Yeah, there was a distinct possibility Gabe would hightail it off the ranch to the nearest lawyer. Not that Ben could blame him.

“Then we buy him out.” It would put them in debt that would choke a horse, but he’d find a way.

“Whether he takes your offer or doesn’t,” Allie picked up his thread. “You’ll have the comfort of knowing you’ve done the right thing.”

“So how do we do this?” Jake’s leg eased its shaking so Ben didn’t feel like the table was about to bounce across the kitchen anymore.

“My guess is we start off by talking to Randy. See if he can get all our ducks in a row before we talk to Gabe. Make sure everything’s legal.” Ben looked to Allie for confirmation.

“That’s a very good place to start.”

“What do we do about Ma? When do we tell her?” Jake asked.

“I think we probably should get Randy involved in that too. Not just as a lawyer but someone her age. Pop trusted him. She does too.”

Allie rested against him. “You’re a good man. I know a lot of people who would point to Ed’s will and say you’re a fool. That Gabe isn’t entitled to anything.”

Like his grandparents. “They aren’t me.”

“I know. That’s what makes you special.”

Where some of the women he’d dated seemed to suck energy from him, Ben drew strength from her. His breath seized when he realized she’d not have a reason to come back to the ranch after this. Who would have thought a little over a month ago Allie would walk into his life and turn it upside down?

Fear that he’d lose her again flooded him, made everything he’d felt the summer he’d lost her pale in comparison. Sure, they could email and talk on the phone or text, and she could drive out here on weekends, but how long before she got tired of the commute, or found some fancy businessman who could offer her more than being a farmer’s wife?

* * *

For the next two hours Allie made more notes, offered suggestions, and when things got tense mediated between them as Ben and Jake planned what needed to be done to include Gabe as their new partner, and member of their family.

“Anything else you think we need to cover, Allie?” Ben scrubbed his face in his hands.

She squinted at her notes, realizing the sun had set and the light in the room had gone dim. “I can’t think of anything else. But it’s not going to happen overnight. If anything else needs to be done, you can take care of it then.”

“I’m going to get going then.” Jake’s chair clattered across the tile floor as he stood. He stuck his thumbs in his belt loop, his shoulders hunched. “Are we going to be okay?”

Ben grunted. “Yeah. I’ll make sure we keep the ranch going according to the legacy.”

“That’s not—” Jake stopped, frustration flickering across his eyes then disappearing. “Forget it. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Ben didn’t look up to watch his brother leave. Instead his head remained lowered as if all the world’s troubles balanced precariously on his shoulders.

Jake’s footsteps echoed across the porch then scuffed the gravel on the path. Still Ben stayed silent, waiting until Jake’s ATV roared off into the distance before he raised his head and met her gaze. “Could Gabe make us lose the ranch?”

“Can you come up with a third of the ranch’s worth if he wants to be bought out?” If Gabe got a lawyer with dollar signs in his eyes, who knew what they might try or how much they might demand. And potentially win. A very large sum if Gabe’s lawyer were really good. And given the amount of land and money at stake, he’d have very good lawyers lining up at his door seeking his retainer.

She sat in the chair and covered his hands with hers, rubbing her thumb over his. “Jake wasn’t asking about whether the ranch was going to be okay, you know.”

“I know.” A deep breath. “I can’t tell him things are going to be okay between us yet. Maybe one day but not right now.”

Thanks to Lewis, She knew how it felt to learn you’d been lied to for months by the people you should have been able to trust. But she’d been able to walk away and never have to see Lewis again while Ben would have to face Jake and his mother every single day. “I know it sounds trite, but give it time. It does help.”

His stomach rumbled, reminding them both neither had eaten. Trying to lighten his mood, Allie chatted about lighter topics while they made dinner, but got only grunts or single syllable answers in response so by the time they sat to eat, she fell silent.

His second roast beef sandwich raised to his mouth, Ben paused and stared at it for a moment before placing it back on the plate and pushing it away. Dark circles ringed his eyes and his exhaustion was palpable. “I’m not hungry.”

Allie put her own sandwich down and stroked his wrist. “Why don’t you go lie down? Call it an early night.”

Not that nine thirty was early considering he’d get up at 4:00 a.m.

He turned his hand over beneath hers, lacing their fingers and tightly squeezed them before meeting her gaze. “Stay with me?”

The bleakness in his eyes lanced Allie’s soul. “Of course I’ll stay.”

She stood, and waited as he pushed himself to a stand as well. God, he moved so slow, like he was hauling a thousand pound bull on his shoulders.

She took his hand again, and followed him upstairs, letting him set the pace. Good thing she’d already arranged her schedule so she could stay because there was no way she could have walked away from him tonight.

The need to take care of him, to comfort him, roused all her protective instincts. If she’d doubted she was falling for him before, she couldn’t deny it now. This man, this strong beautiful man, needed someone—her—to lean on. Heaven knew the rest of his family weren’t here for him.

Once they were in his bedroom, she tugged him to continue into the bathroom.

“Take your boots off.”

The effort it took for him to toe off his boots confirmed his exhaustion. She’d originally thought to have him shower. Instead she turned on the taps to the tub, and after testing the water temperature, turned to where Ben still silently stood.

She expected him to fight when she unbuttoned his fly and withdrew his shirt from his pants, but he just stood there, swaying, letting her undress him.

He gripped her hips and rested his forehead against hers, his breath caressing her skin. “Don’t leave.”

Did he really think she could walk away now? “I’m right here.”

Her palms brushed over his chest as she slipped his shirt over his shoulders, and as had become her habit, her right hand lingered on his tattoo. Had his grandfather objected to the permanent reminder of his grandson’s refusal to bow to his demands? Is that why Ben had gotten it? Had he enjoyed college? She didn’t need to ask if he’d done well—that had been evident in the gold honor stole he wore in his graduation photo hanging next to his diploma. Why hadn’t she asked anything about what he’d been doing before this?

Because you didn’t want to know.
You were trying to stop yourself from falling in love with him again.

His hands brushed hers aside when she reached for his fly. “You don’t have to baby me.”

“Shh,” she soothed. “Let me take care of you tonight.”

Despite the scowl creasing his face, he let her remove his pants, and briefs. His previously limp cock raised to half-mast when she lowered herself to her knees in front of him. “Lift your foot.”

He braced a hand on the wall and lifted the foot she tapped in a show of obedience she’d never seen from him before. A glance up showed he’d closed his eyes.

Bless his heart, he must be beyond exhausted if he wasn’t even making a comment about her face being inches away from his cock. His clothes removed, Allie led him to the bath and pressed the button to turn on the jets. The low rumble of the engine vibrated against her knee as she braced herself to help him in. “In you go.”

“You’re babying me again,” he grumbled. But he stepped into the bath, then frowned. He cranked up the hot water before sitting down with a groan, resting his head on the back of the tub.

She scrunched his clothes into the laundry hamper and turned to make sure he was okay, only to find him watching her through the slit of one eye.

“Aren’t you getting in too?”

“Not tonight.” He needed time alone, to sort out everything that had happened today. She leaned over the edge of the bath and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

Before she could rise, he cupped the back of her head and brought her down for another kiss, a soft fleeting gesture. “Thank you.”

The love filling his eyes and heartfelt gratitude in his tone had her blinking hard. “I’ll be back in a few minutes to check on you, okay?” She hurried from the bathroom before she completely lost it. Gulping for breath, she leaned against the wall. Looked like she’d already boarded the fallen-in-love train.

* * *

His muscles screaming, Ben stretched out in the tub and lowered himself until his face was the only part of his body not underwater. The jets weren’t quite positioned right for this angle, but they helped ease some of the throbbing pain. Too bad they couldn’t get rid of the misery of finding out both his mother and Jake had been lying to him all these months.

What the hell had possessed Ma to destroy Pop’s legal will? Why hadn’t Jake told him what Ma had done? Let him help protect her?

What would he have done if he’d known? If he’d been in Jake’s place?

He scrubbed his hands over his face, ignoring how the water pooled in the hollows of his eyes. Would he have done anything different than Jake? Other than bring his brother into his confidence?

Hell if he knew.

Thank God for Allie. His plea for her to stay with him had popped out of his mouth without thinking, and once said, he was certain she’d run for the hills. Given her history with his family, and the current mess, it had surprised the bejesus out of him that she’d agreed to give their relationship a chance. At least something in his life was going right.

He let the thrum of the jets’ motor and the whisper of bubbles popping on his skin lull the questions from him.

He had no idea how long had passed when cool air brushed his cheeks. He opened his eyes to find Allie sitting on the side of the tub. She’d changed from her business suit and now wore one of his T-shirts and nothing else from the way it clung to her curves. Her eyes were soft—sympathetic, damn it. Her mouth opened as if she were talking, but he couldn’t hear what she was saying over the noise of the jets.

“Hang on. Let me sit up.”

She waited as he shook his head to clear the water from his ears. “Are you okay? You’ve been in here so long I was afraid you might have drowned.”

“I’m fine.” He might have been better if she’d climbed into the tub with him, but then again, she’d have probably wanted to talk about his feelings the way all the women he knew always did. Right now his feelings were the last thing up for discussion.

She swirled her fingers in the wake of one of the jets, her gaze drifting to his groin. Huh. Guess there was one part of him that wasn’t exhausted to the bone.

He popped the plug with his toe to drain the water. “Hand me a towel, would you?”

Instead of handing it to him, she held it open. “Step out and I’ll dry you off.”

The moment both feet were planted on the bathmat, she stepped closer, the scent of fresh well water and Allie’s shampoo, mixing with the lingering steam from the tub. He opened his mouth to complain about her babying him again then closed it the moment the towel touched his chest. Holy moly, when she rubbed the rough terry over his chest, over his nipples, his legs went pliant as putty.

The musky fragrance of her arousal tinged the air with each movement, the gold in her eyes turning liquid with each pat. Damn, his legs could barely support him, and he was weaving like a damned drunkard, but he couldn’t resist cupping her breasts. Her breathing matched each soft, slow pass of his thumb lighting brushing over her nipples.

Her lids were heavy when they lifted to meet his gaze. She shook her head slowly and pressed her hand over his. “No. Tonight’s going to be all about you.”

“But looking after you is what...” gets me off. Okay that wouldn’t come out right. “I like seeing you...” get off. Not right either.