Unbridled and Unbranded (19 page)

Too often a spouse had too much influence and say over the other’s life, regardless of what they promised before the deals were inked. She had her own plans, thank you very much. Money made people crazy. She wanted no part of that trust if she had to do something in order to get it.

Although it wasn’t a stretch to believe her father might have mentioned this information to Drew before he died, she was surprised he hadn’t brought it up sooner. Her father didn’t approve of some things Drew did, but he certainly remained in contact with him years ago.

Callie had loved her grandmother, but didn’t agree with the conditions set forth in her trust. She also didn’t care to earn her way by inheriting it. Each time Callie bemoaned her situation and needed money for the ranch, Landon would trot out her grandmother’s trust as a reminder of things she wasn’t planning on doing. Not before she turned thirty-two, or maybe not ever.

For a brief insane moment, she’d even considered asking Bo to marry her before she left. But her damn pride wouldn’t let her do it. She refused to use Bo or Rafe that way.

Callie came to her senses and dropped out of the foolish reverie to an expressive-faced Drew. A longtime rival with information he’d certainly obtained unethically, who wanted to solve all her problems by marrying her and letting her go overseas. What a nice guy. Whatever.

“No. I’m not going to marry you.” Callie slipped past him.

He grabbed her arm before she could get all the way past. “Callie, be reasonable. You can take the money. I just want the land.”

Callie laughed with absolutely no mirth in her tone. “No, Drew. You want the water.”

He ducked his head once. “Yes. That’s true. Water would also be very helpful for my situation.”

“Because you overused yours.”

“Also true.” He looked a bit uncomfortable.

Callie shook her head and stepped away from his grasp. “Sorry, Drew, I’m not going to marry you for any reason.” Her mind went back to the look on Bo’s face right before she stormed out of the restaurant. She was a fool for leaving him there. “I’m seeing someone.”

“Bo Parker?” Drew grunted. “Thought you just had a dustup with him and broke it off.” His lips shaped into a smarmy smile. Just exactly what Callie expected from him. He didn’t care about helping her, he was desperate to solve his own problems even at her expense.

“How could you possibly know that? It only happened twenty minutes ago.”

The smile faded. “Well, I mean...” He trailed off and looked uncertain for a second. Then he recovered. “Hell, I figured after he put the notice in the paper to buy your land you’d end it all. I know you want to sell to out-of-town buyers to keep me from getting your precious land.” And all of a sudden his tone changed from contrite to confrontational in the space of one second.

Callie clenched her jaw. “And how did you know about the out-of-town buyers?”

Drew shrugged, but the smug, satisfied look on his face made her temper rise quickly.

She was a fool. Drew had done all of this to make Bo look bad. She’d left the love of her life standing alone at the restaurant and run away. She acted like a petulant child who refused to eat her vegetables and threw a tantrum in order to get her way. She was suddenly ashamed of herself. Of course, Bo hadn’t done anything to thwart her plans. He loved her. She knew that. She wouldn’t rest tonight until he accepted her apology.

“Get off my property, Drew.”

“What if I don’t?” He took a step closer. Callie backed up a step. A sudden stirring of panic lit her insides. She was alone. Why had she left Bo in town? So very foolish of her.

Chapter Twelve

Bo made it to Main Street in time to see Callie’s old Jeep drive toward her home. He heaved a sigh and wondered how long before she’d speak to him again.

Before her taillights were completely out of sight, Bo saw another familiar vehicle follow her out of town. Was that Drew Kincaid in the monster-size truck?

He got an uneasy feeling and decided to follow Callie home. Two steps later he encountered Everett in line at the local movie house.

“What the hell, Everett?” Bo nudged his shoulder. Everett spun around with a frown until he saw Bo’s face.

“Bo.” Everett’s sheepish look didn’t endear him to Bo. “Whatever do you mean?” He was lying.

“I never spoke to you at the bank. Why did you lie to Callie?”

“It was just a joke, Bo. No hard feelings.”

“Callie didn’t think it was a joke.”

He put his hands up. “Don’t worry, I’ll call her on Monday and straighten it out. Okay?”

“Who put you up to it? Was it Drew Kincaid?”

“Of course not.” Everett’s face went suddenly blank. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Bo remembered the huge truck following Callie home and decided he’d take the chance on her current wrath and head that way just to ensure she was safe.

Drew’s property
was
south of Callie’s on the same road. It was possible nothing was going on, but a little voice inside his head told him he should not only check on her safety, but he should also make sure she knew he hadn’t betrayed her by going behind her back to purchase her land. She might not even want to see him. But he’d ensure she knew at least that one piece of information before the night was over.

If everything was okay at her place, he’d head home.

Bo found himself speeding to Callie’s property. He almost missed the turn into her place. He dialed her number again, but it went straight to voicemail.

As he drove up to her house, Bo saw Drew advancing on Callie. She was slowly backing up with each step Drew took.

When she turned and saw his vehicle, the look of relief on her face made him glad he’d followed.

Bo slammed on his brakes next to Drew’s monster truck, smashed the shifter into park, and opened his door wide.

Once he stabilized, Callie was headed for him before he even got clear of his door. He shut his driver’s side door and only took two steps. Then Callie crashed into him, pushing him off-balance for a minute. She wrapped arms and legs around his body in a flash, then buried her face in his shoulder.

Before he could say a word, she started murmuring apologies in his ear as she kissed his neck. Bo wrapped his arms more firmly around Callie and leaned his butt against the front fender of his truck.

Drew looked angry, but didn’t approach.

“What are you doing here, Drew?” Bo asked. Callie rested her head against his shoulder, but didn’t relax her grip anywhere else.

“Callie invited me out here. She and I were just having a chat,” he remarked casually. “Truth is, I didn’t expect to see you tonight, Bo.”

“Surprise.”

“I’m so glad you’re here,” Callie whispered. “I’m so sorry for what happened in town.”

Bo kissed her forehead. “Not your fault. Something else is going on.”

Drew called out. “Callie and I were just discussing her property.”

Callie’s head came up off of his shoulder. “The discussion is over. I won’t sell you my property. I don’t want to marry you for my trust money. And it will be a cold day in hell before I let you take a single drop of my water.”

Behind him, Bo heard the distant sound of another vehicle coming up fast on Callie’s property. He hoped it wasn’t more of Drew’s friends. He’d had about all he could stomach of the good ol’ boy network tonight, with Everett.

“Time for you to go, Drew.” Bo eased Callie’s legs off of his. She released the Titan grip she had on his thighs and slid down to stand next to him. She kept her arms securely around his waist.

Callie turned her head as another Jeep rounded the road by the barn and entered the expanse in front of Callie’s house.

Bo was grateful to see Clay and Rafe both hop out of the vehicle.

“What’s up?” Rafe asked as he and Clay walked up to stand in front of Drew. The two of them created a human shield. Callie visibly relaxed the minute they joined them.

“Drew was just leaving,” Bo said. “He’s decided to take no for an answer.”

Kincaid frowned. His hands fisted at his sides, but he didn’t move from the spot he’d been in when Bo arrived.

“I’ll come back when you don’t have so much company, Callie. I want you to think about my proposal.”

“Are you deaf as well as stupid?” Callie released Bo and walked over to stand next to Clay. “There is nothing for you here. I won’t agree to any of your ridiculous requests.”

“Don’t be so hasty. We can help each other. I’ll even give back a few of your ranch hands.”

Clay huffed. “If you don’t get off of her property, then you get to deal with me.”

Rafe took a step closer as well. “And me. I’d love nothing better than to kick your ass all the way back to your property line, Kincaid.”

Callie said to Drew, “As you can see. I have new people helping me. You can keep all my old ranch hands. I won’t be needing them.”

“This isn’t over, Callie.”

Clay moved across the stone path leading to the well-worn, wooden porch steps, across the hard-packed dirt, and situated himself right in front of Drew.

“It is over for you. Get going or I tell the local public what you did to your property and why you need Callie’s water supply so bad.”

“What did he do?” Callie asked.

Drew puffed up his chest, but deflated when Clay brought his phone out. “He used all of his fresh water in a process to gather natural gas to sell off from his land. But the procedure wasn’t done correctly. Basically, it’s fucked up, and now his entire water supply is poisoned with the chemicals to extract the gas. On top of that, he failed to call the proper authorities both before and after the water table was polluted.”

Drew took a threatening step in Clay’s direction. “How the fuck do you know that?”

Clay seemingly ignored his aggressive posturing. He turned to face Callie. “He desperately needs to divert your water down to his land in order to cover up what he’s already fucked all up before calling the EPA.”

“Son of a bitch.” Drew fisted his hands. “He’s lying.”

“I doubt it,” Callie said.

Clay laughed. “I have the proof in all the purchases you’ve made the last month to build a water carrier system to divert water from her land to yours.”

Bo said, “I know you’ve tried to undermine me with lies. Callie isn’t falling for it.”

“That’s right. I’m not.”

Drew huffed. “You’re going to believe a man who put an ad in the paper saying he’s declared a plan to buy your land?”

Bo spoke up for himself. “I had a nice chat with Everett and he told me everything.”

Kincaid screwed up his face in anger. “That son of a bitch. I told him to keep his mouth shut.”

“I want you gone, Drew.” Callie crossed her arms. “Stay away from me and my ranch.”

His sudden grin took Bo off guard. “Well, it won’t be yours come Monday, if you don’t pay the back taxes on the land.”

“Are you drunk? I don’t owe any back taxes on my land. Landon was able to divert it until next year due to hardship. Not that it’s any of your business.”

Drew laughed. “Oh no. Sorry. They didn’t approve your application, Callie. Didn’t the tax assessor’s office send out any warnings to you over the past several weeks? Oh, that’s too bad. Maybe the last three notices got lost in the mail. You owe a cool seventy-five thousand, plus a hefty penalty.”