Page 67 of Texas-Sized Secrets

Kuhn slapped the phone from her hand and flung her against his desk.

Pain seared through her hip.

“You stupid bitch.” He paced away from her, running his fingers through his hair while he rolled the letter opener in the palm of his other hand. “This wouldn’t have happened if you’d just sold the ranch when your father passed. None of it!” He stopped and glared at her. “You should have sold.”

“I don’t sell out on my family.”

He marched across the floor and grabbed her shirt, holding her up until her feet dangled and she couldn’t breathe. “What’s that supposed to mean?” He stared into her face. “I didn’t divorce Patricia, she divorced me and took away my son. She was the one who left me.” He dropped his hold and stepped back, staring at his hands.

Mona gulped in a breath of air. “After you cheated on her?”

“We weren’t even married then.”

A knock sounded on the door and Nora Cleary stuck her head inside. “A couple deputies are in the lobby insisting on seeing you. What do you want me to tell them?”

Jeffrey Kuhn glared at Mona before he answered in an unsteady tone, “I’ll be right out.”

Miss Cleary closed the door.

“Go on.” Kuhn jerked his head toward the door.

“I’ll leave when you leave. I don’t trust you not to sneak out.”

“There are no windows that open in my office and you can wait outside the door if it makes you feel better. Is it too much to ask for a moment alone to call my lawyer?”

Mona’s eyes narrowed, but she’d gotten what she wanted. “You bet on the wrong horse, Mr. Kuhn. That land will remain in my family until I die.”

He stared up at her from his leather chair, his gaze vacant. “That might be sooner than you think.”

“Is that a threat?”

“Not from me. But there are other, less scrupulous people who would kill to get their hands on that land.”

“Who?”

“You think you have everything figured out…youguess. Now get out.”

The hard set to his chin convinced Mona she’d have more success pulling teeth from a Brahman bull. She’d be better off telling what she knew to the deputies. Mona left, closing the door behind her as Jeffrey Kuhn lifted the telephone.

She waited in the hallway outside his office to make sure he didn’t make a run for the back door. Not that she could do much to stop the big man. Her throat still hurt from his iron grip. But at least she could tell the cops which direction he went.

As she entered the lobby and spotted Deputy Phillips, a loud bang rattled the windows.

Instinct forced her to drop to the ground.

An alarm went off inside the bank and the deputies charged through the hall doorway.

Deputy Phillips bent down and touched her on the back. “Miss Grainger, are you all right?”

“I’m fine.”

“Can you move?” he asked.

“Yes, of course.” Her knees were shaking so badly, she didn’t really know if she could stand, but she made the effort.

The other deputy cupped her elbow and hurried her away from the doorway and out into the lobby. “Evacuate the bank. Now!”

Mona didn’t have to be told twice. She ran for the door and out into the hot light of day. Nora and the other clerk were the only employees in the lobby, and they stood outside on the sidewalk with Mona. “What do you suppose happened?” Nora asked, wringing her hands together. “Why hasn’t Mr. Kuhn come out yet?”

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