LITMIR.BIZ

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all right to make improvements to the property? The barn needs fixing and the fences are in terrible shape.”

      “I remind you, I have not reached a final decision. It is possible you could lose the ranch completely, Mrs. Stryker. Please remember that. But if you and Ms. Simpson agree to the improvement, and you accept there will be no compensation should you lose this proceeding, then go ahead. I will call the concerned parties back when I’m ready to rule. Brace yourself, people. It could be a while.”

      Heidi was still reeling from the sudden, if temporary, reprieve. She stood, as instructed, then swayed slightly, feeling as if she’d just avoided being smashed by a speeding train.

      “This is good, right?” she asked Trisha.

      “It’s better than Glen standing trial.” She smiled at the older man. “Not that I don’t adore you, hon, but your bony ass would so be going to prison. Two hundred and fifty grand is miles into felony territory.” She turned to Heidi. “Make it work with May. Figure out a compromise, be nice and, for heaven’s sake, start putting away money. If you can’t come up with a solution on your own, then showing you’ve made significant progress in paying back the money will help.”

      “Okay,” Heidi murmured, aware that Rafe continued to have a heated conversation with his lawyer. He shot several angry glances in her general direction. May, she decided, wasn’t going to be a problem. If only the same could said about her son.

      Trisha leaned close. “Remember what I told you yesterday,” she whispered. “Sex can fix a lot of sticky situations.”

      Heidi took in Rafe’s well-tailored suit and expensive shoes. Even if she ignored them, there was still the man himself. Everything about him screamed stubborn and arrogant. Sure he was handsome, and it would be easy to get lost in his dark eyes, but she had a feeling falling under his spell would be a lot like a rabbit getting mesmerized by a cobra. It all seemed like great fun until the fangs sank in.

      “Rafe Stryker isn’t the type to be seduced into anything.”

      “All men are the type. Trust me.”

      “Then I’m not the type,” Heidi admitted. “I wouldn’t know where to begin.”

      Sex wasn’t supposed to be about power; it was supposed to be about love. Or at least caring and attraction.

      “Just think about it,” Trisha advised her. “The right woman can bring down an empire.”

      Which sounded great, but wasn’t what Heidi was interested in doing. She only wanted to keep her grandfather out of jail while hanging on to her home and her goats. Modest dreams that wouldn’t impress anyone but were the world to her.

      Still, desperate times and all that. She looked at Rafe, taking in the broad shoulders and surprisingly sensual mouth. Could she do it? Could she seduce a man like him? Make him forget that he was supposed to destroy her?

      She imagined herself in something slinky, with heels, and her hair loose and curly, blowing back from the wind of an invisible fan. Like in the movies, she thought. Only instead of making a smooth entrance, she would probably get her feet tangled up in the hem of her outfit and sprawl face first onto the floor. Oh, yeah. Talk about impressive.

      The picture was so clear that she grinned, then happened to look toward the man in question. Only he didn’t look amused. There was determination in his dark gaze. A steely set to his body, which warned her that he wasn’t playing and if she really thought she could get between him and what he wanted, she was going to regret it. The room seemed to get a little chilly and she folded her arms across her chest.

      “Heidi?”

      May had approached. “I meant what I said,” the other woman told her. “About us working it out. I know Glen wasn’t trying to hurt me. He wanted to help a friend.”

      Heidi wondered if she had it in her to be as generous, were their situations reversed.

      “I appreciate that. He’s not a bad man. A little impulsive sometimes.”

      May smiled, her dark eyes bright with humor. “Sometimes an excellent quality.”

      “As long as you don’t need a lawyer at the end of the day.”

      “Exactly.”

      May was a pretty woman with lines around her eyes. She was about Heidi’s height, rounder and with quality clothes that flattered her curves. Heidi tugged at the sleeves of the only “nice” dress she owned. A sedate knee-length, three-quarter-sleeved navy knit that could be worn to business meetings or a funeral with equal ease. She’d found it in a thrift store in Albuquerque about five years ago, along with matching conservative pumps.

      “We’ll set up a meeting,” May said, pulling out her cell phone. “Let me get your number and I’ll be in touch.”

      * * *

      “THAT WAS NICE,” MAY SAID as Rafe escorted her to her hotel room.

      Nice? They’d spent the morning in front of a judge, who’d put their case on hold indefinitely. They were in limbo, neither winning nor losing. Rafe had been chastised for not reading a contract, which had been humiliating. All he wanted was to get out of Fool’s Gold and never come back. Nothing good ever happened here.

      He opened his mother’s suite door and followed her inside. As much as he wanted to drive back to San Francisco that second, he couldn’t. Not until he knew her plans.

      “You know nothing has been resolved,” he told his mother.

      She set down her purse on the table by the front door and led the way into the bright, well-decorated living room.

      “I know, and I’m fine with that. I thought the judge was very fair. I have so many plans for the ranch.”

      “You don’t own the ranch. Not yet.”

      “But the judge said I can make improvements if Heidi agrees.”

      “Wouldn’t it be better to wait until this is settled? We could go back to—”

      “I’m not leaving.” His mother sat on the sofa, her spine straight, her expression defiant. “This is where we were happy as a family. You saw the state of the house and the land. I want to fix it. Even if I don’t get to keep the ranch, I want to leave a part of myself there. I want it to be better for what I’ve done.”

      He dropped into the club chair on the other side of the large coffee table and held in a groan. “Which means what?”

      Determination softened as her gaze seemed to shift to something beyond him.

      “I want to make a home here. Oh, Rafe, we had so many wonderful years here in Fool’s Gold. I know money was tight and we didn’t always have the newest of everything, but we were a family.”

      He ignored the fact that his memories of the past and hers had very little in common. “Buying the ranch isn’t going to give you a do-over, Mom. Your children aren’t going to be small again.”

      “I know, but I’ve been dreaming about the Castle Ranch since we had to leave, all those years ago.” She shifted her gaze to him and tears filled her eyes. “I know things were difficult for you here. I let you take care of me and of everyone else. You were just a little boy and you never got a chance to be a child.”

      “I was fine. You were a great parent.”

      “I hope so, but I’m not blind to my faults. You worried for me and about me. Maybe that’s why you can’t be happy today.”

      He thought longingly of a good legal battle with another corporation, or winning a contract against impossible odds. All things he enjoyed. Nearly anything would be better than talking about his feelings with his mother.

      “I’m plenty happy.”

      “No, you’re not. All you do is work. You don’t have anyone in your life.”

      “I

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