LITMIR.BIZ

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from the fund will go to a number of western universities that offer agricultural and ranching studies.”

      “Who will be the executor of the trust?” Matt made no effort to hide the suspicion in his voice.

      “I will.”

      “And the sealed-bid auction? Will you handle that, as well?”

      “That’s correct.” Edward met Matt’s hard stare. “I know what you’re thinking—that’s a lot of power for one man. You’re right. Normally a board of trustees would oversee a fund of this size and handle the auction, as well. I tried to get your grandfather to set things up that way, but he wouldn’t hear of it. Seamus was a difficult man, as I’m sure you discovered.”

      “Say we comply with these conditions. What happens at the end of the year?” Zach asked.

      “At that time, if any of you wants out, you may sell your share of the ranch to one or more of the others, but no one else.”

      “I should have expected something like this,” Willa railed. “Seamus always was manipulative and controlling. I just never thought he’d go this far.” Seething, she paced to the window with quick, jerky steps, then made a frustrated sound and swung around. “This is intolerable!”

      Enraged almost beyond bearing, Willa turned the full force of her fury on the brothers, addressing them directly for the first time. “This is all your fault.”

      “Now wait just a darned minute,” Matt began, but Zach raised his hand and silenced him.

      He stared at Willa. His face was impassive but those eyes glittered in his tanned face like green ice. “Let’s get something straight right now, Ms. Simmons. Whatever devious reasons Seamus had for making us his heirs, my brothers and I did nothing to influence his decision. We came here last year for one purpose—to find our mother. Failing that, we were hoping to get some information about her. That’s all.”

      Willa’s chin came up at a challenging angle. “Not according to Seamus. He said you were three greedy opportunists, just like your father had been, and that you came here hoping to get your hands on this ranch. When you found out your scheme wasn’t going to work, you left in a huff.”

      “That’s not true.”

      “Oh, right. I’m supposed to believe you? I don’t think so.”

      “Believe whatever you want. It makes no difference to me. Nor does it change anything.”

      “It’s just not fair,” she raged. “Your entire lives you spent less than an hour with Seamus. I’ve lived here since I was seven years old.” She thumbed her chest. “I’m the one who worked this ranch every day for the past twenty years, not you three. I’m the one who was here for Seamus. When he got too old to ride a horse, I relayed his orders to the foreman and the men and worked right alongside them. I’m the one who put up with his bad temper and maliciousness. If you hadn’t shown up here, he would have left the ranch to me like he promised.”

      “Uh, Willie.” Edward’s expression was a mixture of pity and chagrin. “I’m afraid you’re wrong about that.”

      “What?” Willa stared at him with a blank look. “What do you mean?”

      “Before Seamus changed his will to include his grandsons, all he was going to leave you was a few thousand dollars. The only reason he gave you a share of the ranch in this will was to irritate them.”

      Willa swayed and gripped the back of a chair for support. She felt as though she’d been hit in the stomach with a battering ram. “But…but he always said I’d inherit the ranch someday. He said I deserved it because I was the only one who cared, the only one who’d stuck around. He promised! Why would he say that if he didn’t mean it?”

      “Probably to keep you here. You were a big help to him and he depended on you. As you said, he was good at manipulation. Once he was gone, though, you would no longer be needed.”

      Another wave of shock slammed into her, and her hold tightened on the chair back, whitening her knuckles. “You mean…are you saying that I would have had to leave the ranch?”

      “I’m afraid so,” Edward said gently. “The Rocking R would have been sold in a closed-bid auction, just as it will be if any of you refuses to abide by the conditions.”

      And she would have been left out in the cold.

      Willa closed her eyes. She knew that later, when the hurt was not so fresh, anger would resurface and come to her rescue, but at that moment all she wanted was to curl up in a tight ball and wail out her misery until she was nothing but a hollow shell.

      The pain was so great she forgot for a moment where she was, and with whom. Then she opened her eyes and cringed when her gaze fell on the brothers. The knowledge that she had meant so little to Seamus was devastating enough, but having that revealed in front of these men compounded her humiliation. They had the grace to avoid looking at her, but somehow that oblique act of compassion made her feel worse than if they’d gloated, as she had expected them to do.

      Gathering her tattered pride around her like a cloak, Willa lifted her chin, squared her shoulders and pulled herself up to her full five feet three inches. Ignoring the others, she turned to the attorney. “I’ll challenge the will. Other people heard Seamus promise me the ranch. Maria, for one.”

      “That’s your right, of course. But you should know it will be expensive and it could take years. In my opinion, in the end you’d lose. I’m telling you this as a friend, Willie, not as your stepfather’s attorney. Trust me, the will is air-tight.”

      “I see.” Her full mouth folded into a bitter line. “Then I guess I have no choice but to accept the conditions.”

      “Maybe you don’t have a choice, but we do,” Zach said.

      “Oh, please.” She shot him a look of patent disbelief. “Surely you don’t expect me to believe that you would actually turn down the bequest. Yeah, right.”

      “This may come as a shock to you, Ms. Simmons, but we had lives of our own prior to Seamus’s death.”

      “That’s right,” Matt snapped. “I say to hell with it. And Seamus. I’ll be damned if I’ll let that old tyrant dictate to me how and where I live my life.”

      “I agree,” J.T. chimed in.

      Zach nodded. “I’ll admit, that was my first knee-jerk reaction, as well.”

      “You fools!” Fear that she might actually lose all claim to the ranch wiped away every other consideration. “Do you city slickers have any idea what such a rash decision would cost all of us? What we’d be giving up? I don’t like what Seamus has done any better than you, but only an idiot would toss away a fortune of this size. Tell them, Edward.”

      The attorney rattled off the appraised value of the ranch and last year’s revenues.

      Matt let out a low whistle, but J.T. was more vocal.

      “Holy cow! This place is worth a freakin’ fortune!”

      “The Rocking R is one of the largest ranches in this part of the country, and our firm’s most important client.” Edward paused.

      “You have exactly two weeks from today, both to make up your minds and to do whatever you need to do and move in. Once you do that, the year begins.”

      “Mmm. Two weeks isn’t much time. We need to talk it over before we make a decision,” Zach said.

      “Of course. I understand.”

      “Well, I don’t,” Willa snapped. “What is the matter with you people? You can’t seriously be thinking of refusing? No one throws away a chance like this.”

      “Miss Simmons, if we do this, it’s going to change all of our lives. Yours included. The least we can do is talk it over calmly and take a vote. So why don’t you sit down.”

      “I

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