Reunion of Revenge. Kathie DeNosky

didn’t ring true about the whole situation. Either the judge had been an extremely poor planner or his thirst for money and power had finally backfired on him. Nick suspected it was the latter that had finally brought the man down.

      She walked back over and sank into the chair. “After Daddy had the stroke and couldn’t work, there wasn’t enough money to keep up the premiums on the insurance and he’d withdrawn everything in his pension fund to invest in the stocks.”

      Nick would have thought the judge had more sense than to deplete every resource he had. But then, greed could do that. And if there was ever a more greedy, power-mad human being than Bertram Holbrook, Nick had never met him.

      “You didn’t know any of this?”

      “No.” She rubbed her forehead with a trembling hand. “Daddy never discussed finances with me. He always told me that I’d never have to worry about those things.”

      Nick would bet every dime he had that finances weren’t the only things the man had kept her in the dark about. “I’m sure it all came as quite a shock when you found out.”

      She nodded. “I had no idea what we were going to do. Fortunately Emerald, Inc. contacted me about buying the Flying H right after I came to the conclusion there was no alternative but for us to file for bankruptcy.” Her cheeks colored a deep rose. “Then, when it became clear there wasn’t enough money from the sale of the ranch to pay off Daddy’s medical and rehabilitation bills, Mr. Freemont told me the corporation would pay off the rest of our creditors, allow us to stay in our home and pay me a modest salary if I signed a ten-year contract to be the ranch foreman of the newly formed Sugar Creek Cattle Company. At the end of that time, our debts will be considered paid in full and I’ll be free to renegotiate my contract or move on.”

      If Nick had thought things were strange before, they’d just taken a turn toward bizarre. But the more he thought about it, the more it sounded like Emerald had learned of the Holbrook’s money problems and, in the bargain, seized the opportunity to mete out a bit of revenge for the judge’s treatment of him and his mother all those years ago.

      Unfortunately it wasn’t Bertram Holbrook who was having to pay the price for Emerald’s retaliatory actions. Cheyenne was the one who’d practically sold herself into servitude to bail the old man out of his financial woes. And it didn’t sit well with Nick one damned bit that his indominable grandmother had obviously been taking advantage of Cheyenne.

      “Do you mind if I keep this for a couple of days to look over?” he asked, picking up the contract. If there was a way to get them both out of this mess, he intended to find it. “I need to figure out if you owe me or Emerald, Inc.”

      She shrugged one slender shoulder as she rose to her feet. “You might as well, since it appears that I work for you now, instead of Emerald, Inc.”

      “Where are you going?”

      From the look on her face, she couldn’t wait to end their meeting. “Unless you have something more you want to discuss, I’ve got work to do.”

      He did, but first he wanted to talk to Emerald. “I’ll go over this and see what the exact wording is, then we’ll discuss it tomorrow afternoon while we inspect the herds.”

      “Can’t you do that on your own?” She sounded close to going into a panic at the thought of spending time with him.

      Nick smiled. “I could, but it’s standard practice for the foreman to show the new owner around. Besides, I’m sure I’ll have a few questions about the way you’ve been running the operation.”

      Clearly unhappy, she hesitated a moment before she nodded. “Fine.” Walking to the door, she turned back. “I’ll be here tomorrow after lunch. Be ready.”

      “I’ll have the horses saddled.”

      “The truck would be faster.”

      “I’d rather ride.”

      She glared at him for several long seconds before she finally nodded. “All right…boss.” Then, opening the door, she walked out into the hall and slammed it shut behind her.

      Once he was alone, Nick inhaled deeply. He hadn’t drawn a decent breath since Cheyenne had walked into the room. He wouldn’t have believed it was possible, but she was even prettier today than she’d been yesterday. Her turquoise T-shirt had brought out the blue-green of her eyes and the sun shining through the window behind her when she’d turned to face him had accentuated the golden highlights in her long brown hair.

      His temperature soared at the mental image and shaking his head at his own foolishness, he did his best to ignore the tightening in his groin. But then, it had always been that way with Cheyenne. From the first moment he saw her at the homecoming dance his senior year, he hadn’t been able to think of anything but making her his wife and living out the rest of his days trying to prove himself worthy of her.

      Thinking back on that summer after his high school graduation, he still couldn’t get over how naive they’d been. He and Cheyenne had gone steady throughout his senior year, even though her father had forbidden her to have anything to do with Nick. Neither of them had understood the judge’s intense dislike of Nick, but they’d managed to sneak around to see each other at school functions and met in town every Saturday afternoon to hug and kiss their way through a double-feature matinee at the movie theater. And despite Bertram Holbrook’s concentrated efforts to keep them from seeing each other, by the end of the summer they’d fallen in love and were desperate to be together.

      Nick couldn’t remember which one of them had hatched up the plan to run away and get married. Truth to tell, it really didn’t matter. It was what they’d both wanted and they’d heard that for a couple of hundred bucks the clerk over in the next county would issue a marriage license to anyone, whether they were of legal age or not. So he’d worked at the feed store on weekends and saved every dime he could until he had enough to make Cheyenne his bride.

      Then, one hot night in late August, he’d picked her up at the house of one of her friends and they’d driven across the county line to get married. But just before they were pronounced husband and wife, the judge and his cohort, Sheriff Turner, had shown up to stop the ceremony.

      Nick rubbed the tension gathering at the back of his neck. Until yesterday afternoon, his last remembrance of Cheyenne had been watching her sob uncontrollably as her father led her away from the little church to his car.

      But things had a way of working out for the best. Marrying his high school sweetheart had been the lofty illusion of an eighteen-year-old boy with more hormones than good sense. He was a grown man now and no matter how alluring he found Cheyenne, there was no danger of falling under her spell a second time.

      Besides, after discovering that his father was an irresponsible player who had thought nothing of walking out on not one, but three women he’d impregnated, who was to say that Nick hadn’t inherited the same “love ’em and leave ’em” gene? After all, he was the one who’d lost interest in every relationship he’d had since leaving Wyoming.

      Picking up the contract, he scanned the contents of the document a little closer. There had to be a clause concerning termination of the agreement—a way to free them from having to work together.

      His frown turned to a deep scowl when he found it. In the event that Cheyenne quit or her position as foreman was terminated for any reason, the balance of the money immediately became due and payable to Emerald, Inc. No exceptions.

      He should have known Emerald would cover all the bases. She hadn’t gained the reputation of being an invincible force in the boardroom or become one of the richest, most successful businesswomen in America by accident.

      As he dialed his grandmother’s private number, he took a deep breath to control his anger. Although he no longer had feelings for Cheyenne, he didn’t like the idea of Emerald taking advantage of her or circumstances that were beyond her control.

      Instead of Emerald, Luther Freemont answered. “I’m sorry, Mr. Daniels. Your grandmother