Colorado 01 The Gamble (54 page)

“So, our plans?” I went back to the earlier
topic.

“You and me go to the reading, before that
we find out when the insurance people are gonna come to take a look
at your car and then we go see Mindy.”

I hadn’t forgotten about Mindy but I also
hadn’t quite figured out my Save Mindy from Herself Strategy.
I
had
forgotten about the
car.

“Can we go to the reading?” Mom asked. “I’ve
never been to the reading of the will of a murdered man.” Her eyes
searched the ceiling without her tilting her head up then she
looked at us again and finished, “Or any man for that matter.”

Max and I looked at Mom but it was Steve who
spoke. “Nellie, you can’t just sit in at one of those things like
you’re goin’ to watch a play.”

“Why not?” Mom asked Steve. “I’ll be
quiet.”

“Like that’ll happen,” Steve muttered and
Mom gasped in affront.

Max chuckled.

“We’ll go out,” Steve said to Max. “Check
out that RV park and we’ll make dinner reservations for that
Rooster place you were tellin’ me about…” he paused and glanced at
me, “for just Nellie and me, leave you two be for awhile.”

“RV park?” Max asked.

“I’ll explain later,” I told him
quickly.

Mom spoke to me. “I want to know what
happens at the reading the minute you know.”

“Mom, it’s not exactly your business,” I
informed her.

“Sweetie, everything that has something to
do with you is my business,” Mom informed me.

“
Okay, agreed, but this has to do
with
Max.
”

“
And
Max
is
with
you
therefore it
has to do with
you
so I want to
know everything,
immediately
.”

“She’s got you there,” Max murmured and she
did which was exasperating.

“Where’s my granola?” I asked, craning my
neck and searching for signs of Trudy.

“Max, sweetie,” Mom called, but her head was
bent, she was digging in her purse, “give me your phone number.
Calling Nina is like calling England even when she’s here. I’ll
call you.”

“Don’t do it, Max,” I warned.

Max looked down at me, pressing his lips
together and when Mom pulled out her phone, he gave her his
number.

And, in case you haven’t got it
yet, I like him too,
Charlie said in my head.

I sat back in the booth defeated and Max’s
arm curled around my shoulders which made me feel not so
defeated.

“Nina,” Steve called, my eyes went to his
and his were warm but the only thing he said, and he said it
softly, was, “Doll,” and that one word made me feel even better
because I knew he’d make everything okay, even with Mom.

Softly back, I replied, “Love you,
Steve.”

Max’s arm curled me close to his side but I
only had eyes for Steve.

“Me too, darlin’,” Steve replied.

Mom pulled in an audibly shaky breath and
Trudy arrived with our breakfast.

* * * * *

“
Thank
God
you’re here!” Bitsy exclaimed on a whispered cry when Max
and I walked into what a brass plaque outside the door announced
was George Nielson, Attorney-at-Law’s offices.

She’d positioned herself at the door looking
like she was waiting for us and wheeled herself around before the
door fully closed behind us.

She only had eyes for me and at one glance
through the reception area I knew why.

Shauna Fontaine was sitting across the
reception area smiling like the cat who got her cream.

“Oh no,” I whispered.

“
What the fuck?” Max asked,
not
on a whisper, his eyes were on
Shauna and his face was hard.

“George says she’s mentioned in the will,”
Bitsy told us, still whispering urgently and she looked like she
was struggling with tears or anger or both. “He didn’t tell me
until I got here, he didn’t want me to be worried.”

“Fuckin’ Curt,” Max muttered under his
breath and I tore my gaze off Shauna and looked down at Bitsy.

“Just breathe deep,” I suggested because I
didn’t know what else to say.

“
I’d like to breathe
fire,
” Bitsy said back. “What was Curtis
thinking?”

“Curt didn’t think much and when he did it
was about himself,” Max told her bluntly and I nudged him with my
elbow which I think had more of an effect on my elbow than on Max
for he didn’t budge and his eyes remained in the unhappy scowl he
was directing to Bitsy.

Bitsy pressed her lips together, I didn’t
know if this was to bite back a retort or to hold back tears. Then
she looked to me.

“I’m just glad you’re here. You can sit in,
listen to the will. I’ll make George let you look at it after. If
he gives Shauna anything, or… everything…” she swallowed then went
on, “you can help me fight it.”

“Bitsy –”

“Just listen in, okay? I already told George
you’ll be here. He says there’s no reason to be worried but I want
you in there, okay?”

I looked up at Max who was looking down at
me. He nodded so I pulled in a deep breath and looked back to
Bitsy.

“Okay,” I told her.

“Thanks, Nina,” Bitsy whispered then she
took in a deep breath too, turned her chair around and wheeled into
the room.

Max and I followed.

“Max,” Shauna greeted him, her voice a
contented purr then she looked at me and her eyes grew cold.
“Nina.”

“She bitch from hell,” I replied, Bitsy’s
head shot around and she looked at me with wide eyes, her fear had
disappeared, delighted astonishment in its place while Max grunted
his amusement. I heard a few twitters from the others occupying the
room but Shauna glared ice daggers at me.

A tall mountain man-esque person, “esque”
because he was wearing a suit but this barely concealed the
mountain man within, with black hair cut super short even though
there wasn’t much of it to cover his scalp walked out of his
office.

“Bitsy,” he said looking at her then he
looked at Max. “Max.” His eyes scanned the room as he nodded to the
others assembled of which there weren’t many, another mountain man,
an older lady and gentleman and me. However they slid right past
Shauna without acknowledging her and then he announced, “Let’s get
this done so you can all get on with your days.” Then he turned and
walked back into the office.

We all followed.

“My next holiday is going to be to a nunnery
in the depths of the highlands of Scotland. Maybe on an island,” I
muttered to Max and he grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze but I
looked up at him to see he entered the room smiling.

Someone had pulled in a number of chairs and
we all sat, Max and me on a couch in the back of the room. Bitsy
was up close and she turned to look at us, I gave her a nod, she
nodded back and looked back at George.

George seated himself behind his big,
lawyer’s desk, a desk nearly every lawyer except those who didn’t
happen to be partners in massive law firms seemed to have. Mountain
man under his suit or not, George took his business seriously and
he wanted those sitting across from him to take him seriously doing
it.

I was wondering how much a desk like that
cost when he began.

“Strangely enough, Curtis changed his will
about a week before he passed,” George announced and I watched
Bitsy stiffen and Shauna smile.

She’d told him she was pregnant around that
time, I decided, and I got tense right along with Bitsy and Max who
shifted at my side to drape his arm along the back of the
couch.

I dropped my hand to his knee and
squeezed.

“We’ll just get started,” George said and
then he started and when he did I listened closely.

Listening, I heard there didn’t seem to be
anything Bitsy had to worry about. Curtis had bequeathed her his
business, his money, the land he owned except for some generous
bequests he left to his mother and father (the older lady and
gentleman in the reception area) and a stretch of land he gave
Trevor, a business colleague whose name I knew because Kami brought
it up so often. There were a few personal items he also gave his
Mom and Dad. The will wasn’t very long but it was
straightforward.

“To Holden Maxwell,” George read and I sat
up straighter as Max’s arm moved from the back of the couch to my
shoulders. “I leave the acreage…” George went on but Max went
completely still by my side and everyone gasped and turned to stare
at Max as George read out the situation of the acreage he left Max,
fifteen acres in all apparently.

When he was done giving the estate
description, George’s eyes left the papers in his hand and they
locked on Max as he said straight to Max instead of reading the
words from the page, “Max, you win, buddy.”

Bitsy emitted a little, choked sob and
Curtis’s mother bit her lip but I moved my gaze through them to
stare at Max’s profile seeing his face still hard, his jaw tight,
his gaze riveted to George.

George’s eyes moved back to the paper and
quickly, but his lips twitched as he did it, he finished, “And
finally, to Shauna Fontaine, I leave the knowledge that, when I
started it with her I got a vasectomy.”

I felt my eyes grow so wide I feared they’d
pop out of my head. I also tried and failed to stop a startled
giggle from escaping my lips and my gaze flew to Shauna who had
gone pale but that didn’t stop her from looking murderous.

I looked toward Bitsy when I noticed her
turning in her chair and the minute she caught my eye I saw she was
struggling with hilarity.

“Welp, that’s it,” George stated, “except
he’s left two personal letters, one to you, Bitsy.” His eyes moved
to us at the back of the room and he called, “And one to you,
Max.”

“Shit,” Max muttered and I looked up at
him.

I’d failed to look to see if he thought
Curtis’s mention to Shauna was as funny as Bitsy and I did. But
looking at him then I noticed he didn’t seem to think one thing was
funny.

Max stood and I did it with him as the
others also moved to their feet. Without looking at anyone or
saying a word, Shauna left the room as the rest shuffled around
murmuring to each other.

Trevor approached Max after he squeezed
Bitsy’s hand.

“Don’t start,” Max warned when Trevor opened
his mouth to speak.

“Max, come on, you know, now especially, we
could use you.”

Max didn’t respond and Trevor looked to
me.

“You Nina?” he asked.

“Yes,” I replied.

“I’m Trevor,” he told me.

“Yes,” I smiled at him, “I did hear your
name read in the will.”

He smiled back but my smile died when he
spoke. “Rumor has it you caught the uncatchable.” He jerked his
head to Max, I was startled by his words and didn’t have the chance
to recover when he went on. “Talk to his stubborn ass. Get him to
see sense.”

“Um…” I began, my muscles growing tight.

“Trevor, shut it,” Max growled.

“Curt’s gone, Max, someone’s gotta step into
his shoes,” Trevor told him.

“That’d be you,” Max returned.

“Ain’t me and we both know it,” Trevor
replied, leaned closer and said low, “Now, you’d be doin’ it for
Bitsy.” Max made no response, his face was stony and Trevor
regarded him for several seconds before he finished. “’Spect, you
think on that awhile, I’ll see you at the office.” He nodded to me,
mumbled a, “Pleasure to meet you,” and walked away.

I turned to Max and asked, “Darling, are you
okay?”

Max looked down at me and said, “Gave me the
acreage around my land.”

“Sorry?”

“That fifteen acres? It’s acres he bought up
for what he was plannin’ for my land. That’s what he gave me.”

I leaned into him and put my hand on his
bicep as I whispered, “Oh my.”

A muscle leaped in Max’s jaw, he bent closer
to me and whispered back, “Ain’t what you think, babe, the
inheritance tax on that land’s gonna be crippling.”

My hand flexed on his bicep as my heart
squeezed and I breathed, “Max.”

“
I pay it, it’ll cut deep and it’ll be hard
for me to keep all of it. Means I’ll have to sell it. I’ll make a
whack on it but whoever I sell it to isn’t gonna keep it clean.
They’ll build. Means I’ll have condos or houses or somethin’
restin’ at the edge of my land. Land that’s been unspoiled for…
fuckin’…
ever
.”

“Darling,” I whispered.

“And it’s the land that butts the edge of
the bluff.”

My fingers spasmed on his bicep, my stomach
dropped in an unpleasant way and I stared at him.

Then I got closer and said, “Max, you can’t
sell it.”

“
He fucked me, babe. He said I won but that
was his sick joke. He fucked me. Instead of givin’ that land to
Trev or Bitsy, who’d have to do somethin’ with it themselves which
wouldn’t be on me, he gave it to me knowin’ I’d have to sell,
knowin’ he’d be makin’
me
ruin
my mountain, destroy my bluff. When if I stayed with him years ago,
I’d have my land, that land and I’d be in a position to afford to
keep both just like it is.”

I felt my heart begin to race as that red
started seeping over my eyes. I didn’t even know him, but I hated
Curtis Dodd.

“You can’t sell,” I declared.

“Got no choice, Duchess.”

“I’ll help you.”

Max’s already stony face turned to
granite.

Then he growled, “Not gonna happen.”

“Max –”

His eyes moved over my shoulder and he
clipped, “Later.”

“Max,” Bitsy said, wheeling up to us with
George at her side, she was beaming. “Curt finally did it. Healed
the breach.” She was apparently unaware of the catastrophe that had
been perpetrated in this room. “It sucks, he did it after dyin’,
but at least he did it.”