Page 4 of The Texas Cowboy's Proposal

“She comes to my front door, pronounces that we have to get married, and then leaves again. Who does she think she is?”

“Whoa!” Jaxson sat up straighter in his chair, the smile leaving his face. “Just back up. I didn’t know we were movingthatfast. So you’ve known this woman how long? And she tells you that you have to marry her. How far along is she? Are you sure this baby is—?”

“Baby?! What the blazes are you talking about? I wouldn’t dare touch her in that way. Not that scheming, rich, spoiled...”

“Hold it.” Jaxson’s voice was firm, and his palm added to it. “There seems to be a few pieces missing here. Step one, who is the ‘she’ we are so all-fired angry about? And two, just how rich is this lady? That might be something to consider in all of this. And three, there is no baby, correct?”

Beau took a couple of long swigs of his own glass. He shook his head. “Try to keep up, big brother. First,sheis a little redheaded firebrand, last name of Burkitt.”

“Well, then, that explains a lot. But I wasn’t aware that the two of you were anyplace near speaking terms.”

“Neither was I. And I was very happy to stay in that blissful state of silence for the rest of my life. But she comes roaring onto our property,tellsme, mind you—no asking with please and thank you’s; nope, no manners needed—that her grandmother left some sort of diabolical will that says she has to marry or lose the ranch. And the best part is that her grandmother chose me—me!—as the unlucky candidate. Who does such ridiculous decrees in this century? Sarah Burkitt does not own me and never will.” And with that last bit of news, Beaudry sank back in his chair, eyes clinched shut, shoulders slumped.

Jaxson was silent for a moment, contemplation knitting his brow where his hat usually covered. “So Big Missy left Little Missy in a mess. Figures. She always had to leave a hurricane behind her wherever she went. I’ve heard rumors for the last few weeks that something hinky was happening with the will, but I never pay them no mind. Not until it becomes a truth. So why would she wantyou, of all people, to marry her youngest granddaughter?”

“How the hell am I supposed to know? I’d think you working for them would be enough to settle things, but no. She spouted something about the deal being sweet for me with fifty thousand acres free and clear and a boatload of cash to go through with it for just three years. Then I can have my freedom. All tied up with a pretty bow and the Burkitt lawyers. Then she orders me to be at the courthouse tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. for the wedding. She has lost her mind.”

Jaxson sat up straighter. His brain was clearly operating on all cylinders for a few long moments. “Well, don’t discount any mind loss on the other’s part. It is where yours—ours—is from this point onward that matters.”

When Jaxson got that certain “thinking” look in his eyes, it could bode well or not so well, but something was always about to happen.

“You do understand that there is not a snowball’s chance in Hades of me going anywhere near a preacher with that woman? Just because she is a Burkitt who likes to say, ‘Jump’ and others are crazy enough to say, ‘How high, Your Majesty?’ doesn’t mean I am one of them.”

“For fifty thousand acresfree and clearand the money to settle debts on our ranch for a long time to come, you better believe that we will sit still and consider all parts of this before you go off on your own high horse. For whatever reason, Sarah Burkitt had a plan. And we need to figure out what that was. In order to do that, we need more information. Which we probably would have if you hadn’t been your usual ‘act first and think next’ self and ordered Sammi Jo off the ranch without more facts.”

“You’re telling me you would have done any different?”

“I would have engaged my brain first, so yes, I would have done different. Now we are going to go over to Matt’s office and see what he might find out, lawyer to lawyer, on what this is all about. No matter what this turns out to be, it’s going to be with a good deal of legal advice on our side, not just the Burkitts’ legal team running roughshod over this. That is step one.” Jaxson took one last draining gulp from his glass and pushed out of his seat.

Beaudry followed in swift strides.

*

“Just when Ithought this was going to be one of those long, hot summers where I needed to spend more time down in the Caribbean at my little beach shack, here come the Hawkes boys into my office and blow that idea out of the water.” Matthew “Matt” Mateo was an attorney and rancher by trade, a former local football star beside both the Hawkes boys in high school, and the county’s number one marital catch among the ladies, if gossip was to be believed around the courthouse square and local watering holes.

His brown leather chair creaked as he adjusted his seating and removed the hand-tooled Tony Lamas from their perch on the corner of his desk back to the floor before he rested his arms on top of his desk and eyed them.

“I had heard that Big Missy’s will is going to be a barn burner of a read once it’s public fodder. Her attorneys are keeping it close to their vests right now. But I can certainly give them a call and see what is what in all of this romantic mystery, as your legal adviser. Particularly since the lady in question has already set the wedding date and time.”

“There’s nothing romantic about any of it. If anything, it’s a sick joke. The idea that Sarah Burkitt can control anything to do with my life, much less anyone else’s, stopped when she was buried. But someone forgot to tellherthat.” Beaudry’s level of calm was still a mite high in comparison to his brother’s.

“We appreciate you taking this on, Matt. There’s not a lot of time, judging by the 4:00 p.m. deadline tomorrow. And this could also prove to have some sort of impact on our present ranch if someone comes along and buys up the Aces High and does things to change agreements we have in place for water rights and rights-of-way to property. Not to mention how it might impact my employment as the head foreman. There are many things to think about.” Jaxson was the pragmatic one of the family.

Beaudry shook his head. “Deadlines can come and go. Does anyone remember that I have a daughter to raise? What abouther? She’s already dealing with one absent mother in her life. I guess a kid wouldn’t figure into a Burkitt’s thinking. Just excess baggage. How would you explain that a woman she just laid eyes on today is going to be her new mom tomorrow? But don’t get attached because it’s only for three years, then she’ll be gone too.”

Matt stood, sincere concern in his gaze. “No one is about to forget Lacy in any of this. I intend to find out all I can and then get back to you. Trust me to do that. Nothing can be decided until you have more facts. So you get back to your work and let me do mine. That’s the game plan for now.”

*

“Ironclad. That isn’tthe word I wanted to hear used with this mess.” A few more expletives flew alongside the pitchfork as it sailed across the empty stall and landed with a loud thud against the far wall. Jaxson and Matt should be grateful they stood outside the work area where they had found a sweat-drenched Beaudry, sans shirt, pushing himself to the limit with every energy-expending job he could find as he waited for the news. “This is sure as hell not the news I had hoped to hear from your mouth after you contacted the Burkitt attorneys. So that’s it? But the bottom line is, I can refuse and be done with all of this, right? And Samantha Jo Burkitt can just fly off this land in her little jet and never darken my doorstep again?”

“Sure, that can happen.” It was Jaxson who spoke up. “There’d be no more Burkitts on this land. I’d be at the mercy of whatever conglomerate anted up the few hundred million. Rumor has it the highest bidder interested is a group of Greeks wanting a place to play cowboy on weekend jaunts and empty the oil wells at the same time. Then they’ll leave it high and dry to blow away in the spring storms. Not on my watch. Samuel Burkitt trusted me to keep watch over the Aces High. I won’t stick around to watch it wither and die like so many other of the great ranches have done in this state, mostly due to the cold greed of those wanting a fast buck and no sweat as collateral. I had that job offer last year from that spread up in Canada. I’ll give them a call. And you can manage our land here just as you’ve been doing. Nothing will need to change.”

Beaudry didn’t care for the way his gut felt as his brother’s words fell like stones in the heavy air of the barn.Nothing will change. Right.Everything had changed in the blink of an eye.

“You hate the cold. The first six-foot snow and you’ll be done.”

Neither Matt nor his brother had a comeback for him. The silence was deafening and more telling than the unspoken words. Beaudry reached for his shirt laying over the stall gate. He shrugged it on and began to slowly button it. A long breath laced with something akin to defeat escaped him.

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