Taking Charge (Lone Star Burn #4)(64)
Like Michelle will, David thought but didn’t say. He measured men by what they did, not by what they said. Ron said he wanted his wife back. He said he’d do anything. Tia would be the first test of that. If Ron had no sympathy for an animal that had struck out at him through no fault of her own, then Michelle, his daughter, and his unborn child might be better off without him.
It wasn’t really a matter of Ron changing; it was a matter of him choosing.
David walked out of the room and went to sit on the steps of the bunkhouse.
Wyatt joined him. “I once had a dog my wife didn’t like in the house. He had that same sad expression on his face every evening when he knew he’d be sleeping outside.”
David shot Wyatt a glare, but it didn’t bother the older man at all. He could have told Wyatt to mind his own damn business, but Wyatt cared about Lucy, and David liked to think he cared about him, too. “She’s right to be mad at me. I lied to her. A couple weeks back, she received a nasty anonymous text. She asked me to stay out of it, and I promised her I would.”
Wyatt sat down beside David. “And you didn’t?”
“No, I didn’t. I went around asking questions, hoping I’d find out who’d sent that text. So far I have a whole lot of rumors and possibilities, but nothing worth lying to her about.”
Wyatt tipped his Stetson back and stared out into the distance. “I can’t say I support lying to anyone, but I know where your heart is. Lucy does, too. Or she will if you give her time. More important, what did you find out?”
David picked up a pebble from the step beside him and tossed it out onto the grass beside the porch. “This area is being assessed for potential oil pockets. That explains why York is trying to buy up property. I don’t fully understand how he expects to benefit from trying to drive Lucy away. Until she pays me back, I own the note on this property. Even if he drove me back to Fort Mavis and scared Lucy into leaving, he has to know that neither of us would ever sell to him.”
Wyatt rubbed his chin and made a face. “Son, you’re looking at this like a business deal, but my guess is that getting this land has become personal to York. He had everything he wanted before you came into the picture. He had Lucy, he had her land, and he had everyone so scared of him, they forgot they didn’t have to be. You took all that away from him. Since you’ve been here, he’s not as welcome in town as he used to be. People are starting to stand up to him. I hear rumblings of an investigation over some of the land sales. Families are saying they sold under duress, and they’re talking to lawyers about suing York to get their land back.”
“Good.”
“Maybe, but that’ll take a while to prove, and the law can be slow. Meanwhile, there’s a powerful man who feels like he’s under attack, and he blames you for his misfortune. This ain’t over yet.” He kicked off the dirt from the back of one of his boots by banging it on the step. “My son and grandbabies leave tomorrow for Dallas. I gave them what money I could. They’re renting out a house in the suburbs, and I suggested my wife go with them to set it up.”
David snapped his head around to face Wyatt. “You think it’ll get that bad?”
Wyatt pressed his lips together for a moment, then said, “When I see a tornado on the horizon, I send my family wherever they’ll be safe. I don’t care what I have to say to get them there. You need to get Lucy out of this town, David. I tried to talk to her about leaving, but she won’t go. I don’t know if we can protect her from what’s coming. If you’ve got one more lie left in you, son, I’d use it now.”
Wyatt stood, dusted off his jeans, and left without saying another word. David sat and continued to think long past when the sun went down. By morning, he knew what he had to do, and he hoped if Lucy ever found out, she’d forgive him.
Chapter Twenty
After a sleepless night, Lucy forced herself to shower and dress. She made herself breakfast, but didn’t eat it. While pouring her coffee, she spilled some and burned her hand. It wasn’t bad, but as she ran cold water over her hand, she shed a tear and tried to tell herself it was from the pain of the burn. But it wasn’t.
She’d spent the night asking herself the same questions again and again. Am I a fool for wanting to believe in a man who admits he lies to me? When will I learn that the only one I can trust is myself?
Wyatt thinks I should leave town. He says it’s not safe for me here.
In all my life, I have never doubted a word Wyatt has said, but isn’t being too trusting my problem? For all I know, Wyatt and David are plotting together on how they can take my ranch.
Lucy shut off the water, turned around to rest against the sink, and stared blindly down at the rose-colored skin of her burn. I feel paranoid.
But is it paranoia when people are actually confessing to misleading you?
Lucy took out the list of properties Ted had purchased. He’d been systematically buying up one specific area. Why? Lucy had searched online last night for all the land that had sold in the area in the last few years. If he was interested in increasing his grazing area, he’d missed prime opportunities to the south of him. Ted thinks something is here, maybe underground.
Does David know?
Wyatt?
If so, why won’t they tell me?
What kind of relationship could she have with David if he had no problem hiding something like that from her? Lucy thought about how kind David had been. How often he’d stepped forward to help her.