Page 51 of Wyoming Tough

“Why do you think she lied in the first place?” Cane demanded. “Because Gelly said she did?”

“Let’s not bring Gelly into this,” Mallory said defensively. “I’m very fond of her.” He pushed his hands deeper into his pockets. “She’s having all sorts of financial problems because her father made bad investments.” He shrugged. “Maybe I should marry her….”

“I’m leaving the day she comes in the door,” Cane said harshly. “And Tank will go with me.”

“In a heartbeat,” Tank agreed. “We’ll take our share of the ranch profits with us,” he added in a cold tone. “You and Gelly try staying afloat financially with only a third of the land and cattle!”

“You wouldn’t do that,” Mallory returned, wounded.

“I’d do it in a heartbeat,” Tank assured him with flashing brown eyes.

“So would I,” Cane agreed. “I’m not living with Gelly.”

“What has she ever done to make you two so hostile?” Mallory exclaimed, exasperated.

Cane looked at Tank. “Blind as a bat.”

“And stubborn as a mule,” Tank agreed. “Can’t tell pyrite from gold.”

“Morie stole the egg,” Mallory roared. “She took it and hid it in her rucksack and was going to sell it!”

“Sure.” Cane took the fake egg in his hand and showed it to Tank. “And she replaced it with this one after we put it back in the cabinet,” he added with a droll look at his brother. “Of course, she was on her way home in a bus at the time. I guess it’s magic.”

Tank nodded. “And funny thing, the key reappeared in Mal’s coat pocket.”

“How convenient.”

“Gelly couldn’t have taken the egg,” Mallory said doggedly, answering a charge they hadn’t made verbally. “She hasn’t ever been alone in here!”

“We had a conference call from the state cattlemen’s association committee on grazing,” Cane reminded him. “All three of us went into the office to take it. Mavie was in the kitchen cooking dinner and Gelly was in here alone. As soon as we came back, she said she had an urgent matter to attend to in town.”

Mallory felt sick. “It couldn’t be her,” he protested, but it was a weak protest.

“If you believe her innocent, let’s prove it,” Cane said. “I know the best private detective in the business, Dane Lassiter from Houston. Let me have him do some investigating for us. If Gelly has nothing to hide, it will clear her.”

“And if not,” Tank put in, “it’s better to know now, especially if you’re bullheaded enough to try and marry her.”

“She loves me,” Mallory bit off. “She says she can’t live without me.” He averted his eyes. “She thinks I’m handsome.”

“Nobody thinks you’re handsome who isn’t lying,” Cane told him flatly. “Look in a mirror! But looks have nothing to do with character, and you’ve got plenty of that. Women don’t care about looks. They care about actions.”

Mallory glared at him.

“He’s right.” Tank clapped him on the back. “We love you. We won’t lie to you. But you might ask yourself why Gelly is. And why she keeps trying to get jobs for her friends and land for some stranger that she barely knows.”

Mallory was weakening. He’d been stubborn because he was guilt-ridden about the way he’d treated Morie. His brothers were right. Morie couldn’t have taken the egg. She left the ranch just minutes after it was found in her rucksack, and Mallory was certain that he’d held the real egg in his hands in the bunkhouse. He’d put it back in the display case himself, after Morie was gone. So the real one had to have been replaced after Morie’s departure…replaced with this cheap copy that would only have fooled someone from a distance. None of them had thought to look at it closely. There had been no reason to.

“Let me call Dane,” Cane coaxed. “If you’re right about Gelly, I’ll apologize.”

“So will I,” Tank agreed.

Mallory drew in a long breath. “Okay,” he said after a minute. His expression was grim. “Call him.”

THE ESTATE WAS BRILLIANTwith color and decoration, especially the huge stone patio where tables were going to be set up the following week for King’s gala production show. Ranchers were coming from all over the world to look at his prize cattle, which would be offered for sale at auction.

“Dad really does things on a big scale,” Morie mused as she and her mother went over the final plans with a staff of professionals who would complete the finishing touches and employ caterers for the occasion. It was much too large an endeavor for any one person, although Shelby kept a tight rein on the operation and dictated what she wanted done.

“Yes, he does,” Shelby said with a smile. “He’s very proud of his purebred herd.”

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