Taking Charge (Lone Star Burn #4)(14)

It would be so easy to leave.

Admit that I don’t belong here.

But who will I be then?

How far is that from becoming like Steven or my mother?

Lucy shook her head and said, “By tomorrow I’ll be able to pay you most of what I owe you. I should have the rest within six months. I’m sorry, but my answer is no.”

The calm man of a moment before fell away like a disguise, and his expression twisted in anger. “We could have done this amicably, but you’re dead set to make it ugly. If you don’t give that land to me, everything that happens after I walk out of here is on your head. You don’t want to cross me.”

“I’m not afraid of you, and you’re not getting my land. Now kindly get out of my house.”

Ted firmly placed his hat back on his head. “Oh, I will, but do you know how many of the men out there work for me? All of them. That is, they used to. I wonder how good you’ll feel about sitting in your house while you watch them lose theirs.”

“You wouldn’t do that.”

“Consider it done—unless you’ve changed your mind. No? You’ve never been very bright, Lucy. I wonder how you’ll leave here when you lose—like your brother or like your mother?”

Lucy gasped at the ugliness of his words.

“I’ve heard enough,” a male voice said in a deadly tone.

Lucy swung around. David.

He was standing in the doorway beside Wyatt. They both looked angry to the point of violence.

“Who are you?” Ted demanded.

“Someone who can buy and sell your pathetic ass ten times over.” David took out a checkbook. “How much does she owe you? I know all about the contract she signed with you. I’m prepared to pay you what she owes right now. Then I’ll give you exactly two minutes to get your sorry self and your men off this property.”

“Or you’ll do what?” Ted snarled.

Lucy stood in paralyzed silence as the scene unfolded. She kept shaking her head, but none of the men in the room were paying attention to her. No. No. No.

This isn’t right.

If David pays off Ted, how has anything changed?

What have I proved about myself?

All I will have done is lose again.



David handed his phone to Wyatt. “I’ve never cared much for technology, but every phone now records video. Funny thing about the Internet. Once things get on there, they’re impossible to make disappear. I started recording as soon as we walked in and guessed where this was headed. The way I see it, the next part of the video can either include you graciously accepting a check from me to cover what Lucy owes, or it can be what justifies the beating I give you when you refuse. Your choice.”

“Two hundred fifty thousand,” Ted said, as if that would change David’s mind.

David wrote out a check and threw it at him. “Take it and get the hell out of here. Now.”

Ted looked from Lucy to David. He wanted to say something else, that much was obvious, but he glanced over at Wyatt, who was still filming, and pocketed the check. With a smile at the camera, he said, “I have my money, and I didn’t marry a cheating whore. In the end, I did win.”

In a flash, David closed the short distance between them and punched him full in the face. Ted fell to the floor, then scrambled back to his feet and wiped blood from his nose. “I don’t know who you are, but you’ll regret this.”

David shot Wyatt a signal to stop filming. Then he said, “Rule one of battle. Know your enemy and what they’re capable of. If I see you around Lucy again, I will kill you with my bare hands, and there isn’t a court in Texas that’ll convict me. Think about that when you consider tangling with me.”

“Fuck you. You can have her.” Ted stormed out, and the room fell silent.

David turned to Lucy and walked over to ask her if she was okay.

All the emotion that had been building in Lucy burst forth, and she slapped him.

David’s head snapped back, then he rubbed his cheek and shook his head in confusion. “What the hell was that for?”

Fighting back angry tears, Lucy said, “You had no right.”

He was still puffed up with adrenaline and too much testosterone. “He was threatening you.”

A part of Lucy acknowledged that, but fury was whipping through her. She hated herself for believing Ted again, even for a moment. She couldn’t understand why she’d simply stood there letting them discuss her fate as if she were no more capable of thinking for herself than the steers outside.

Instead of feeling freed from her debt, she felt like she’d been bought. Again. This time by a man who was looking so proud of himself, she wanted to smack him again. Even harder than before because part of her loved how he’d jumped to her defense. Maybe kick him once or twice for how gorgeous he looked as he did it, how she’d found herself both excited and furious with him at the same time.

I should have yelled for them to stop.

I should have told David to keep his money.

No wonder men keep taking over my life—I let them.

That ends now.

“I told you not to come.” Everything she should have told Ted she now said to David. “I don’t want your money. I don’t want to owe anyone anything. By tomorrow night you’ll have a check for most of it. I don’t know how, but I’ll pay you back the rest. Every last penny.”