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She had been devoted to J.D., had earned the family’s affections—as evidenced by the way Marlene reached out to take the woman’s hand—yet through it all had remained a bit of a mystery. Where was she from? Why had she taken a job working for a grumpy old man on a remote, if luxurious, ranch? And why the hell did he care?
“Colleen do something to you?”
He glanced at Dylan. “What?”
“Well, you’re staring at her hard enough to set her hair on fire. What’s up?”
Irritated to have been caught out, Sage muttered, “Shut up.”
“Ah. Good answer.” Dylan just smiled, shook his head and leaned forward to ask Chance something.
Sage let his gaze slide carefully back to Colleen. She bent her head to whisper something to Marlene, and he watched that long, silky braid slide across her shoulder, baring the nape of her neck. Soft blond curls brushed against her skin and he suddenly had the urge to touch her. To stroke that skin, to slide his fingers through her hair, to— He cut that thought off as fast as he could and scowled to himself.
The only possible reason she had for being here was if she was mentioned in J.D.’s will. Sure, J.D. had needed a nurse over his last few months, with his health failing, but such a beautiful one? Was that why she’d taken the job of caring for the old man? Had she been hoping for a nice payoff someday? Maybe he should spend a little time looking into Colleen Falkner, he thought. Do some checking. Make sure—
“You’re looking at her again,” Dylan pointed out.
Glaring at his brother and ignoring the smile on the man’s face, Sage grumbled, “Don’t you have something else to do?”
“Not at the moment.”
“Lucky me.”
“I just think it’s interesting how fascinated you seem to be by Colleen.”
“I’m not fascinated.” Much. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair and told himself to stop thinking about her. How could the woman have gotten to him so easily? Hell, he hadn’t even really talked to her.
“Not what it looks like from where I’m sitting.”
“Then maybe you should sit somewhere else.” He wasn’t fascinated. He was...interested. Attracted. There was a difference.
Dylan laughed shortly. True to form, Sage’s younger brother was almost impossible to insult. He was easygoing, charming and sometimes Sage thought his younger brother had gotten all the patience in the family. But he was also stubborn and once he got his teeth into something, he rarely let it go.
Like now, for example.
“She’s single,” Dylan said.
“Great.”
“I’m just sayin’,” his brother continued, “maybe you could leave your ranch once in a while. Have an actual date. Maybe with Colleen.”
Sage drew his head back and stared at his brother. “Are you running a dating service I don’t know about?”
“Fine,” Dylan muttered, sitting back in his chair. “Have it your way. Be a hermit. End up becoming the weird old guy who lives alone on an isolated ranch.”
“I’m not a hermit.”
“Yeah? When’s the last time you had a woman?”
Frowning, Sage said, “Not that it’s any of your business, but I get plenty of women.”
“One-night stands? Nice.”
Sage preferred one-night stands. He didn’t do commitment, and spending time with women who felt the same way avoided a lot of unnecessary hassle. If his brother wanted to look for more in his life, he was welcome to. As for Sage, he liked his life just the way it was. He came and went as he pleased. When he wanted a woman, he went and found one. When he wanted to be left the hell alone, he had that, too.
“Now that you mention it,” he said quietly, “I haven’t noticed you busy developing any serious relationships, either.”
Dylan shrugged, folded his arms across his chest and said, “We’re not talking about me.”
“Yeah, well, we’re done talking about me, too.”
Then the office door opened, and lawyer Walter Drake stepped inside and announced, “All here?” He swept the room with a sharp-eyed gaze and nodded to himself. “Good. Then we can get started.”
“I don’t know if I’m ready for this,” Dylan grumbled.
Sage was more than ready. He wanted this day done and finished so he could get back to his ranch.
After settling himself behind a wide oak desk, Walter, an older man who looked like the stereotypical image of an “old family retainer”—handsome, gray haired and impeccably dressed—picked up a stack of papers and straightened them unnecessarily. That shuffle of paper and the rattle of the window panes as a cold wind gusted against it were the only sounds in the room. It was as if everyone had taken a breath and held it.
Walter was clearly enjoying his moment in the spotlight. Every eye in the room was on him. Once again, his gaze moved over the people gathered there and when he finally came to Angelica, he gave her a sad, sympathetic smile before speaking to the room. “I know how hard this is on all of you, so I’ll be as brief as possible.”
Sage would be grateful.
“As you all know, J.D. and I knew each other for more than thirty years.” Walter paused, smiled to himself and added, “He was a stubborn man, but a proud one, and I want you all to know that he took great care with his will. He remade it just a few months ago because he wanted to be sure to do the right thing by all of you.”
Scraping one hand across his face, Sage shifted in the uncomfortable chair. He flicked a quick glance out the window and saw dark clouds rushing across the sky. April in Wyoming, he mused. It could be sunny in the morning and snowing by afternoon. And right now, it looked as though a storm was headed their way. Which only fed the urge to get back to his ranch before the bad weather hit.
“There are a lot of smaller provisions made to people J.D. thought well of over the years,” Walter was saying. “I won’t be reading them aloud today. Nor will I make mention of other estate business that will be handled separately.”
Sage frowned thoughtfully and shifted his gaze to Walter. Handled separately? Why? What was the lawyer trying to hide? For that matter, what had J.D. been trying to hide? He braced his elbows on his thighs and leaned forward, keeping his gaze fixed on Walter as if the man was about to saw a woman in half. Or pull a dove from a magic hat.
“That part of the will is, at this time, not to be shared with the family.”
“Why not?” Sage’s question shattered the stillness left in the wake of Walter’s startling statement.
The older man met Sage’s gaze squarely. “Those were J.D.’s wishes.”
“How do we know that?” An insulting question and he knew it, but Sage didn’t stop himself. He didn’t like secrets.
Dylan jammed his elbow into Sage’s side, but he didn’t so much as flinch. Just kept staring at the lawyer waiting for an answer.
“Because I tell you so,” Walter said, stiffening in insult.
“C’mon, Sage,” Dylan muttered. “Let it go for now.”
He didn’t want to, but he would. Only because Marlene had turned in her seat to give him a worried frown. Damned if he’d do anything to upset her any further than she already was. Nodding to the woman he thought of as a mother, he promised himself that he’d keep his silence for now, but that didn’t mean this was the end of it.
“Now,” Walter said firmly, “if that’s settled, I’d like to continue. After all, the heart and soul of the will is what we’re here to discuss today.” He paused only long enough to smooth one hand across his neatly trimmed silver beard. “I appreciate you all coming in on such short notice, and I promise to get through this as quickly as possible.”
Sage didn’t know if the man was deliberately trying to pump up the suspense in the room or if he was just a naturally dramatic lawyer. But either way, it was working. Everyone there shifted uncomfortably in their seats as Walter read aloud the strange, coma-inducing legal phrases leading up to the actual bequests. One or two of those phrases resonated with Sage.
Sound in mind and body. Well, in mind, anyway, Sage told himself. J.D. had been sick for a while, but the old man’s brain was as sharp the day he died as it was when he was nothing but a kid starting out. Which meant J.D. had had a reason for keeping these so-called secrets from the family even after his death. A flicker of anger bristled inside him, and Sage admitted silently that it sucked to be angry at a dead man, because you had no way of confronting him. J.D. was probably loving this, he thought. Even after he was gone, he was still running the show.
But as soon as he had the chance, Sage promised himself a long talk with J.D.’s lawyer.
“To my dear sister-in-law, Marlene...” Walter paused to smile at the woman in question. “I leave a ten-percent share in the Big Blue ranch along with ownership of the main ranch house for as long as she lives. I also leave her enough cash to maintain her lifestyle—” Walter broke off and added, “J.D. got tired of all the ‘legal speak,’ as he called it, and had me write the rest down just as he spoke it.” He took a breath and continued, “Marlene, I want you to have some fun. Get on out there and enjoy your life. You’re a good-looking woman and too damn young to fold up and die alone.”
Marlene sniffed, then laughed shortly and mopped at her tears. The rest of the room chuckled with her, and even Sage had to smile. He could hear the old man’s gruff voice as if he were there with them. J.D. and Marlene had been an unofficial couple for years. More than that though, Marlene had been a rock to three motherless young kids and to a man who had lost the love of his life.
“To Chance Lassiter, my nephew, I leave a sixty-percent share in Big Blue and enough cash to take some time and enjoy yourself a little.” Walter paused and added, “The cash amounts mentioned in the will are specific and will be discussed privately with each of you at a later date.”
Chance looked stunned and Sage was glad for him. The man loved that ranch and cared for it every bit as meticulously as J.D. had himself.
“You take care of Blue, Chance,” Walter kept reading, “and she’ll do the same for you.”
“To Colleen Falkner,” he went on and Sage shifted his gaze to the blonde. “I leave the sum of three million dollars.”
Colleen gasped and rocked back in her chair. Blue eyes wide, mouth open, she stared at Walter as if he had two heads. If she was acting then send her an Oscar fast, Sage thought dryly. She looked as genuinely surprised as he was. J.D. had left three million dollars to his nurse?
Walter kept reading. “Colleen, you’re a good girl and with this money, I want you to go on and chase your dream down. Don’t wait until it’s too late.”
“Oh, my—” She shook her head in disbelief, but Walter was moving on already and Sage braced himself for whatever came next.
“To my son Dylan Lassiter, I leave controlling interest in Lassiter Grill Group, and enough cash to tide you over while you take it to the top. Oh, and I’m giving you ten-percent share of the Big Blue, too. It’s your home, never forget that.”
Beside Sage, Dylan looked shell-shocked and he couldn’t blame him. Hell, the man was now the owner of one of the fastest-growing restaurant groups in the country. If that didn’t stop your heart a little, you weren’t human.
“My son Sage Lassiter—”
Sage tensed for whatever was coming. He wouldn’t have put it past J.D. to take one last swipe at him from the grave. To remind him publicly of the distance that had grown between them over the years. Like oil and water, Sage thought, he and J.D. had just never managed to mix well together.
“Sage,” Walter read with a shake of his head, “you’re my son and I love you. We butted heads too many times to count, but make no mistake, you’re a Lassiter through and through. I’m leaving you twenty-five-percent interest in Lassiter Media, a ten-percent share in Big Blue—to remind you that’s always your home—and lastly some cash that you won’t want and don’t need.”
Surprised and touched, Sage snorted.
Walter continued word for word, “You’re building your ranch your own damn way, just like I did. I admire that. So take this cash and buy something for that ranch. Something that will always remind you that your father loved you. Whether we could get along together or not.”
Damn. The old man had surprised him one last time, was all Sage could think. His throat felt like a fist was squeezing, closing off his air. If he didn’t get out of here soon, he was going to make a damn fool of himself. How the hell did J.D. know how to touch him, even from beyond the grave? How had he scripted words in a will months ago that could reach out long after he was gone to do what he hadn’t been able to do in life?
“And lastly,” Walter was saying, “I come to my beloved daughter, Angelica Lassiter. You are my heart and soul and the light of my life.”
Sage glanced at his sister and saw her beautiful face crumple into tears again.
“And so,” Walter read, “I leave you, Angelica, a ten-percent share of Big Blue, just like your brothers, the Lassiter estate in Beverly Hills, California, enough cash for you to spoil yourself some and finally, a ten-percent share in Lassiter Media.”
“What?” Sage jumped to his feet, outraged, and Dylan was just a breath behind him. All of the warm feelings for his adoptive father vanished in a blink. How could he do that to Angelica? He’d groomed his daughter for years to take over the day-to-day operations of Lassiter Media, a conglomerate of radio, TV, newspapers and internet news outlets. Hell, she’d practically been running the damn thing on her own since J.D. got sick. And now he cut her out of the thing she loved?
“You can’t be serious,” Sage argued hotly, with a quick look at his sister’s shocked, ashen features. “She’s been running Lassiter Media for J.D. He left me more interest than Angie? That’s insane!”
“We’ll challenge the damn will,” Dylan was saying, moving toward his sister to lay one hand on her shoulder in a show of solidarity.
“Damn straight,” Sage agreed, glaring at the lawyer as if it were all his fault.
“There’s more,” Walter said, clearing his throat uncomfortably. “And I warn you, try to challenge this will and you might all be sorry—but more about that later. For now, voting control with forty-one-percent share of Lassiter Media, chairmanship and title of CEO, I leave to Evan McCain.”
“Evan?” Angelica pulled away from her fiancé even as he was rising to his feet, stunned speechless.
“What the hell is going on here, Walter?” Sage demanded, coming around the corner of the man’s desk to snatch up the will and read the terms himself.
“J.D. knew what he wanted to do and he did it,” the lawyer argued.
“Well, it won’t stand,” Marlene said.
“Damn right it won’t,” Dylan piped up, charging the desk and snatching the will from his brother’s grasp.
“It’s not right.” Chance came to his feet slowly, his calm, quiet voice nearly lost in the confusion.
“I can’t believe it,” Angelica murmured, looking at her fiancé as if she’d never seen him before.
“I swear I don’t know anything about this,” Evan said, taking a step toward her only to stop when she backed away from him.
“Well, somebody does, and I’m going to find out what’s going on,” Sage promised, then snapped his gaze to the door. Colleen Falkner was slipping out of the office like a damn ghost.
She’d gotten what she wanted, he told himself. He only wondered what she’d had to do for three million dollars. And he also had to ask himself if she’d known about J.D.’s plans. Had she been involved in his decision to rob Angelica of the very thing she cared most about?
Damned if he wouldn’t find out.
* * *
Colleen leaned back against the door briefly, closing her eyes and forcing herself to drag a deep breath into her lungs. Her heart was pounding so hard and so fast she felt dizzy.
She hadn’t expected anything like this.
Three million dollars?
Tears burned her eyes, but she frantically blinked them back. Now wasn’t the time to indulge in tears for the loss of her friend—or for thinking about the future he had just made possible.
Behind her, she heard muffled shouts through the closed door. Sage Lassiter’s voice was the most unmistakable. Though he didn’t have to shout to be heard. The cold steel in his deep voice was enough to get the attention of anyone in the room.
God knew, he’d had her attention.
She’d felt him watching her earlier. Had sneaked a peek or two over her shoulder at him in return. He made her nervous. Always had. Which was why any time he’d come to the Big Blue ranch to visit his father—which wasn’t often—Colleen had made herself scarce.
He was so...male.
Sage Lassiter was a force of nature. The kind of man women drooled over. And she was the kind of woman men like him never noticed. Well, not usually. He’d certainly noticed her today, though. And he hadn’t looked very happy about it.
Tossing a quick look at the closed door behind her, Colleen hurried down the long beige hallway toward the elevators. She wanted to be long gone before Sage left that room.
