Cowboy Casanova (Rough Riders #12)(155)

you. And if you can get the Wetzler place, or part of it, and be fair to Rielle, then

do it. Me’n Kade won’t begrudge you.”


“Well, it’s a moot point because Rielle has already sold it,” Colt said.


“What?” Ben, Dalton and Tell said at the same time.


“When did you hear this?”


“Just this mornin’ from Cord and Colby. We heard last week from someone at the bank

Rielle was behind on payments and about to be foreclosed on. So we stopped by to talk

to her. Pissed her off. I’ve never seen Rielle like that. Woman had a damn shotgun

pointed at us. Said she was tired of the McKay vultures pickin’ at her bones before

she was even dead. So we took that to mean you all knew about her situation, and made

an offer, which apparently wasn’t enough.”


“Yes it was!” Dalton protested. “We were just waitin’ for her to give us the go-

ahead.”


Colt shook his head. “She said she’d hadn’t seen money, and the time was closing in

on her. So she sold it to someone else.”


“Fuck.” Dalton turned his anger on Ben. “What the hell did you do? You assured us

you had it handled with Rielle.”


Ben threw up his hands. “I did.”


“Did you let her know we were serious? Or did you just mention it in passing?” Tell

demanded.


“I told her we’d make the payments to catch her up and then we’d discuss division of

property. She said she needed time to think it over. So I gave it to her.”


Dalton stepped forward and poked Ben in the chest. “It’s been three goddamn weeks,

Ben. This should’ve been wrapped up two weeks ago. What the hell have you been doin’

with your time? Goin’ to that bar in Gillette?”


He knocked Dalton’s hand away. “Back off. I didn’t have as much cash as I needed so

I had to get a loan for my portion and that took time.” Jesus, he hated to admit that.


“You should’ve been able to get a signature loan. We’ve been dealin’ with Settler’

s First for years.” Tell’s eyes turned accusatory. “Or are you in hock for something

we don’t know about and they wouldn’t give you the money?”


His cheeks burned, not from embarrassment, but from pure anger. “I didn’t go to

Settler’s First because it’s pretty f*ckin’ obvious that our cousins have someone

inside the bank feeding them confidential information. And you can be guaran-damn-teed

if I’d waltzed in there, asking for a loan for some land that would be comin’ up for

sale soon?” He jerked his thumb toward Colt. “They would’ve known about it and acted

on it. So I had to go to the new bank. And like I said, that took time.”


“Which is the one f*ckin’ thing we didn’t have. You should’ve come clean with us

about your money issues and we would’ve given Rielle a down payment, or good faith

payment, or something! Instead of givin’ her time to think us right outta that chunk

of land. Jesus. I don’t f*ckin’ believe this.”


“Me neither,” Tell said. “This is your fault.”


No one disputed Tell’s statement.