The Texan's Forbidden Fiancée

“You look beautiful,” he said.

“Thank you,” she replied quietly, but she didn’t look happy about his compliment.

“Shall we go?” he asked.

“This better be good.”

“I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t have to,” he said softly as she turned away to pick up a jacket. She scowled at him, so he knew she’d heard him. She punched in an alarm code and stepped outside, closing and locking the door behind her.

The driver stepped out of the black limo to hold the door for her. She climbed into the seat and watched as Jake sat beside her with space between them. He caught another drift of her perfume. It was not a scent he recognized, but it was enticing, filled with the smell of flowers and spice, and a hint of something more.

Jake had been amazed at how much he had thought about Madison all week. He had the detective’s information about her, but it had meant little until he was in her presence. He flicked a quick glance over her. She still had the best-looking legs of any woman he knew.

“So where do we get the plane?” she asked as the limo drove away from her house.

“At the Verity airport,” he said.

“Your plane or a charter?”

“It’s my private jet. We keep company jets in Dallas,” he answered as he shifted so he could face her. Her green eyes were on him, steady, veiled, hiding what she felt, but he could imagine her thoughts were as turbulent as his. “Your art career is going well, I’ve heard.”

“I’ve been happy with it.”

“I’m sure you have since that’s what you always really wanted,” he said, failing to keep a bitter note out of his voice. “I wouldn’t think you’d bury yourself out here on the ranch if you have a gallery in Dallas and one in Santa Fe.” He kept up conversation but all he wanted to do was look at her. Her green eyes had always captivated him, but now he noticed so much more—her flawless skin, her full lips that he wanted to kiss. He almost groaned as he made an effort to look away. “I’m surprised you like it out here.”

“I grew up here. I’m used to it,” she remarked, giving him a glance. She seemed more poised, controlled than she had before. “This way I can live in more than one place. I come out here to paint so I won’t be disturbed. In town there is something constantly going on or people dropping by. Mom and Dad gave the ranch to me three years ago. My brothers have their own places. I’m here in the fall until Christmas and I come back in May. The rest of the time I’m in New Mexico or sometimes in a condo in Dallas. Where are you most of the time—here on the ranch?”

“No. I’d prefer the ranch, but I’m based in Dallas, where the home office for the energy company is. I’m seldom here because of taking care of business. By the time I’m forty, I hope to retire and be a full-time rancher because that’s what I love.”

She nodded and became silent, looking out the limo windows. The airport was on the east side of Verity and they drove through the wide main street that had once been a dusty cattle trail before the town sprang up. They left the shops and stores, passing the oldest homes in the town, two blocks of wooden Victorian-style homes, some single story, some two or three stories tall, still occupied and taken care of with flowers and the oldest trees in Verity in the yards. Then they reached a tall Victorian house in a block by itself, the last before leaving Verity. She looked at the familiar sight, a wooden three-story surrounded by a three-foot wrought-iron fence and a front gate hanging on one hinge. Windows had been broken out. Weeds and high grass filled the yard, while the two tall oaks by the house were overgrown with vines. Without thinking she glanced at Jake.

“There’s the Wrenville house. Remember when you and Wyatt and two other football players went out at night to search through the house?” Madison asked.

“Like everyone else, we didn’t find anything and got chased out by the sheriff. I don’t think anyone today has much interest in the place.”

“You and I have ancestors that were killed there—both in love with Lavita Wrenville according to the legend. Her father drew his weapon and all three men were shot and killed, but it was never clear who shot the other,” she said. “Before she died, Lavita said that one of them lived long enough to tell her who shot who. According to legend, she wrote it down and hid it before she died. I wonder if we’ll find anything when 2015 occurs.”

“Your brother will know before anyone else. By 2015, there may not be many who care. According to the legend, the city can do what it wants with the house and property in 2015. I heard that’s why your brother is sheriff. So many people wanted him to run because he’s so honest and everyone trusts Wyatt. He’ll be sheriff when they can finally tear down the house and look for the letter,” Jake stated.

“I think the reason they wanted an honest man is more because of the part of the legend that says Lavita died a very wealthy woman and her money is hidden somewhere in the house,” Madison remarked. “If Wyatt finds anything, he’ll turn it over to the city and make public which man shot the others.

“I’d like to hear what happened. Did the Milan shoot the other two? Did the Calhoun? Or did her father shoot both of the men who wanted to marry his daughter?” she said.

“Or,” Jake said, “they all could have fired their weapons at the same time and then fired again. It never was made public how many times each man was shot.”

“I’m surprised the townspeople didn’t insist,” Madison said.

“The Milans and the Calhouns were even more influential and powerful in those days than now,” Jake said. “If they didn’t want the killings made public, they wouldn’t have been. And Lavita could have been the one who kept it all secret. We’ll know someday. Twenty-fifteen approaches.”

She shivered. “I don’t know why you and Wyatt decided you wanted to search for an old letter about killings in another century or even for a mythical fortune.”

“We were kids,” he said. He smiled. “Your brother doesn’t scare easily. We were just curious and we both wanted new, fancy cars.”

She became silent again, not mentioning that she had been scared for both Jake and Wyatt that night. Looking at the house now, she wouldn’t want to hunt for an old letter or even a fortune in there.

“Jake, we’ll have a quick flight to Dallas. Why not talk about what you want on the plane? There’s no possible interruption there.”

“That sounds agreeable. The weather’s good and it should be a smooth flight.” The sun had reached the horizon when the plane lifted off the runway, but once they were airborne and headed east there was more light as they chased the sinking sun.

“Might as well enjoy happy hour while we fly. What would you like to drink? We stock a full bar.”

“Any chance of conjuring up a raspberry tea?” she asked.

He told the flight attendant what they wanted to drink and shortly, the man reappeared with a tall, chilled glass, which he offered to Madison, and a beer for Jake. When they were again alone, she sipped her drink and smiled. “You have the formula—this is delicious.”

“Glad you like it.”

Madison leaned back in her chair. “Let’s cut to the chase, Jake. There’s no need for polite chitchat—why do you want my land? For what possible reason would you expect me to invite you onto the ranch?”

Her eyes were wide, green and thickly lashed, and he was mesmerized. A streak of sunlight streamed through the window, bathing her cheek in golden light, highlighting her fully rosy mouth. He inhaled deeply and then realized she was waiting for him to answer her question.

“This goes back generations before Lavita Wrenville. This was the earliest Milans and Calhouns. You know there’s a legend of hidden treasure on your ranch.”

“That old tale went around the family before I was born,” she scoffed, sitting back and shaking her head. “All of us looked for it. I’ve heard men from a couple of past generations were supposed to have searched endlessly. No one has found anything and most of us came to the conclusion long ago that it was merely a myth.”

“Still, it persists though all the generations.”

“Just try to get a kid to stop looking. Tony and his friends have probably dug up a total of a dozen acres with all their hunting for gold. Look at you and Wyatt, hunting for Lavita Wrenville’s fortune, which might not ever have existed.”

“I can imagine. I’ve hunted with my brothers on my side of the boundary that divides our adjacent family ranches. Since part of the boundary line is the river, the boundary keeps changing slightly. Going back to my great-great-grandfather Henry Calhoun, there was a sketchy map. No one in our family ever had interest in sharing it with anyone in your family. I’m guessing that maybe in the early days one or more family members offered to make a deal and split, but your family member refused.”

She smiled and his heart turned over. Desire heightened and he suddenly wanted to see her laugh, to hold her, dance with her—to have the past vanish. That wasn’t going to happen.

“So you have a map.” She shook her head. “I didn’t think there was a shred of truth to the legend.”

“Occasionally, legends are built on something—maybe not always exactly the way it’s stated in the legend, but something caused the legend to spring up.”

“It’s hard to believe there is a treasure hidden on our ranch.”

“That’s not so far-fetched. There was a lot of lawlessness in the early days, train robberies, later bank robberies. People just hiding something. This is a vague, damn poor map and has never made any sense to anyone in my family. I don’t think it will to you, either, but you know your land better than any outsider.”

“All these years. Why would your family even have a map?”

His gaze ran over her features, her skin that looked soft, flawless. He wished she had worn her hair down.

“No one can answer that one. The map may be bogus, although it has been in the family for generations. I’d bet that someone or maybe several in my family have tried to sneak onto Milan land to find the treasure.”

“I’m sure you’re right there. Why wouldn’t they? These ranches are big with wide, open land. Someone could easily search without anyone knowing about it.” She sipped her tea and shook her head. “So there’s really a map. All these years, actually all my life, I’ve heard the legend and heard various relatives talk about searching for it, but by the time I was grown, I just figured it was a tall Texas tale with nothing to it.” She sat back, smiling at him. “So you want permission to come on our land to search for the treasure.”

“That’s not all.” As her big green eyes focused so intently on him, he forgot the map, the treasure and his whole purpose for the evening. He wanted to close the last bit of distance between them, place his hand behind her head, wind his fingers in her hair and pull her closer to kiss her.

“There’s more?” she asked, looking at him with curiosity in her expression.

Desire raged in him, blatant and hot, until he remembered their past and then anger returned, smothering his feelings for her. He inhaled deeply, looked away and focused on his purpose.

She leaned closer. “So what else is there, Jake? What else besides a map have you kept secret all of these years and never told me when we were so close?”

“At the time we were in high school, we talked about it. It was mysterious and exciting to speculate about the legend, even though neither one of us believed it. Of all the people in both families, you and I seemed the most willing to forget the feud.”

“Yes, and I know we both thought the idea of a hidden treasure was exciting. I’m surprised you didn’t tell me about the map then.”

“I didn’t know it then. There’s a rule in our family—no one gets told about the map, and sworn to keep it in the family, until he or she is twenty-one years old.”

She laughed, a soft sound that played havoc with his insides again and made him forget what he was after.

“That’s probably why your family has kept it secret all these years. Kids talk.”

“Probably,” he said, smiling at her. “When you heard the legend, did the version you heard mention a shoot-out?”

“Yes. I heard there were Milans and Calhouns who would discover each other searching for the treasure and the Milans would run the Calhouns off our land.”

“Did you ever hear if any were killed?”

“Yes, but truthfully, I was a kid and didn’t pay that much attention to talk about someone who had lived generations ahead of me and who I never knew.”

He sipped his beer before he continued. “According to the Calhoun version of the legend, wherever the treasure is buried, your ancestors and my ancestors had a gun battle. Two Calhouns were killed and three Milans. They’re buried in shallow graves where they had the gunfight. This goes back to the first generation of each family to settle here and it was before both families had their own cemeteries. Now we have our own burial ground and I imagine you do, too.”

“Yes, we do.”

“I want the bones of the Calhouns brought home. Hopefully, we’ll find the treasure, which is yours since it is on your land.”

“You want bones,” she said, frowning slightly. “You could search every day for the next ten years and never find graves or bones or treasure, if it even ever existed. I can’t imagine that’s what’s behind this dinner,” she said, beginning to sound angry.

“Just one more thing besides the bones. There’s supposed to be a deed one of our ancestors was carrying. It was a deed won in a poker game. According to the story my family tells, the deed gives the Calhouns rights to a large part of the McCracken place to the east of us all along the border of his ranch.”

“A deed to the McCracken land,” she said, staring at him while she seemed lost in thought. “If that exists, it’s worth more than any treasure you could possibly dig up.”

“Jeb McCracken is mean and ornery and has fought with every neighbor,” Jake replied.

“That includes my family. There are people in town he’s aggravated. He’s left unpaid accounts all over this county and he’s spent more than a few nights in jail for brawls on the weekend in town. No one would regret seeing you get a chunk of that property.” She stared at him with a speculative curiosity in her eyes. “My ancestors are supposed to have been in that gunfight, also. Suppose we find the deed with my ancestors. Are you still going to claim it?”

He gave her a faint smile. “Not if their name is on the deed or it’s in a bony skeleton hand.”

She had to smile then and he felt another punch to his insides. Her smiles and her laughter had always been his undoing. He ached to reach out and touch her.

“I have no intention of searching long. I want you to look at the map I have and see if you can recognize anything. You probably have aerial photos of your land, all sorts of photos. If anything seems likely, then I’d like a chance to see if the deed exists, see if a treasure is buried with them and get my ancestors’ bones to take back for a proper burial. I have time in my life for that now and it would please my grandfather.”

She laughed softly, shaking her head. “You don’t seem the type for this. Why do I feel as if I better look at this from all angles, that you’re up to something—like surveying my land to drill for oil or gas?”

“All I want is what belongs to the Calhouns—namely my ancestors’ bones and the deed to the McCracken land if that exists. I’m not going to do any surveying, I promise you.”

“According to the old legend, the treasure is what caused the feud in the first place. Your great-great-great-grandfather and my great-great-great-grandfather came out here after the Civil War. What I’ve always heard is they found gold in a deserted house in Tennessee during the war. Later, my relative stole away your relative’s fiancée right before the wedding and that’s when the feud started. Then they fought over the gold and the woman they both loved, but a Milan killed a Calhoun, so the Calhouns rode in at night a week later and burned down a house, killed a Milan and carried off the woman in question, adding to the anger between the two families. The fight has continued until present day. I guess we have a truce of sorts now.”

“That matches what I’ve always heard about the beginning of the feud,” he said. “That and when they fought, there were several Milans and several Calhoun brothers, plus an uncle.”

She shifted, recrossed her legs, distracting him totally. She sat quietly, so he remained quiet, letting her think about what he had said. She turned to the window and his gaze traveled slowly over her. She was twisted slightly in her seat, the neckline of the blue dress gaping a fraction, revealing the full rise of her breasts, her skin pale and creamy. The temperature in the plane jumped and he wiped his brow as images of long ago tormented him. Her waist was as tiny as ever. How well he could remember the feel of her in his hands. He had to stop thinking about the past, had to avoid erotic memories that set his heart racing.

Jake remembered her dad and that last night before he was going to elope with her, and the tantalizing memories vanished, replaced by anger, dulled by the passage of years, but still there.

She turned back while he was still looking at her neckline. She shifted slightly. “Jake, I have to think about this. We’ll be in Dallas before long, so we might as well go to dinner. I’ll consider your request and by this time tomorrow, I’ll give you an answer.”

“That’s great, Madison,” he said, feeling a stab of satisfaction. He was certain she wanted to discuss his proposal with her brothers. He hoped not her father.

Their pilot announced they were approaching Dallas and as they lost altitude, the sun was low on the horizon. By the time they were in the limo on the way to the restaurant, darkness had set in.

In a short time they were seated in a darkened corner table in a small private room. Lights were low, music from the piano player in another room was muted.

“So you got a private room for us. I didn’t know there was any such thing for just two people. I’m impressed.”

“That’s one reason I like this place. There are only three of these rooms.” He paused when their waiter arrived to take drink orders.

“Little chance of interruptions here by people who know either of us,” she said as soon as they were alone again.

“That’s right. You can barely see your hand before your face, much less who else is in the restaurant. Do you still like fried chicken better than anything else?” he asked, looking at a menu. He glanced up at her.

“No, like so many other things, my tastes have changed. I see lobster on the menu—that’s what I’ll have.”

“Excellent choice. I’ll have the steak,” he said, watching her while she had her head bent slightly over her menu. The candle flickering in the center of the table highlighted her shiny brown hair and rosy cheeks. Again, he wished she had worn her hair down the way he liked it best. He should forget what he liked best about her and leave anything personal a closed subject.

In minutes the waiter returned. He uncorked a bottle of white wine, gave it to Jake to taste and then poured two glasses after Jake’s approval.

As soon as they were alone, Jake raised his glass. “Here’s to finding the treasure.”

With a faint smile, she touched his glass with hers and heard the faint clink of crystal before she sipped. “That’s a safe, innocuous toast,” she said.

He smiled in turn. “I thought so.”

“I’m still thinking about your request.”

“If I’m successful, you’ll get your treasure, I will find a deed and get the bones of my ancestors for a proper burial. We both win.”

She tilted her head to study him, sipping her wine while she sat staring. “Why do I feel there is more to your request than you’re telling me? I find it a little difficult to trust you. You better not have manufactured this map yourself.”

He held on to his temper. “My dad took the map to someone in Chicago who could tell him the approximate age. It dates back to the mid-nineteenth century. That’s good enough for me. I’ll give you a copy of the letter and you can contact the people in Chicago yourself.”

“I’d like to see the original map. Will it disintegrate if it is handled?”

“Not if it’s handled carefully and you don’t intend to pass it all around. But you don’t get it until we have a deal.”

“You don’t trust me,” she said, bitterness filling her voice and anger flashing in her eyes, for an instant igniting his own fury, which he banked immediately.

“Should I?” he asked, trying to curb his feelings and get back to amicable dealings with her.

“Of course. You did at one time,” she reminded him sharply. Looking away, she took deep breaths. Spots of red were high on her cheeks. She sipped her wine and gradually her breathing went back to normal before she faced him again.

He’d give her time to think it all over; he just hoped the flare of animosity hadn’t killed the deal. Again, he had a flash of guilt for what he had kept from her. But then he thought about her father and stopped worrying about the secret he harbored.

* * *

Madison ate in silence while she mulled over his proposition, studying it from every angle because she didn’t trust him. She suspected he wanted badly to drill on her land and she wondered how much of wanting his ancestors’ remains was because he wanted to lease part of her ranch. Why hadn’t this come up years earlier or with some other Calhoun? And a deed and map? She had never heard of either one. Were they both hoaxes so he could get on her ranch? She wondered what was behind Jake’s request. She couldn’t keep from feeling that it was something to do with wanting to drill on their property.

What did she have to lose? That’s what she couldn’t figure. So he saw her land up close—she was certain he’d seen aerial photos because they were in the county records and on the internet. If he found the treasure, he had said she could have it. He simply wanted his relatives’ remains and the deed if there was one. While part of any ranch around here, including the McCracken place, would be a real asset, he would have to fight McCracken to get it.

She couldn’t believe a deed and his ancestors’ remains could be all there was to his request.

She glanced at him to find him watching her. His thickly lashed midnight eyes were seductive, mesmerizing. And guileless. He looked honest, trustworthy, open—all good qualities, yet she couldn’t believe the proposition was simply what he was telling her and nothing more.

Caught in his steady gaze, she forgot the legend, the treasure and the proposition. Instead she remembered Jake’s eyes filled with passion, a silent emphasis to what he did with his hands and his body. She had loved him deeply.

Instantly she broke off that train of thought and tried to think about her schedule tomorrow, his proposition, anything to escape memories that twisted a knife in her heart.

No matter how she turned his request in her mind, she couldn’t think how there could be an underlying motive and anything else for him to gain without her knowledge if she said okay to him.

“If I say okay to your proposal,” she asked him, “what are you going to do? Go out there with your shovel and start digging around?”

“Of course not,” he replied, smiling, his smile giving her heart a squeeze. He was so incredibly handsome and appealing and a smile made him doubly so. “I’ll get a crew from my ranch hands—not too many—about five. I want you to study the map and see if you can narrow down the location. There is no earthly way I can. You know your land, and if you don’t, one of your brothers should.”

“I’m no geologist. Suppose I can’t tell anything?”

“Then you and I will work on it together, but I’ll bet you’ll look at the map and come up with some possibilities for the area.”

She thought about what he was telling her as she put down her fork, her appetite suddenly gone. She wondered what she could do to make sure she didn’t get cheated.