His By Any Means: The Black Sheep's Inheritance. Maureen Child

taking charge until the paramedics showed up.

      She had been devoted to J.D., had earned the family’s affections—as evidenced by the way Marlene reached out to take the woman’s hand—yet through it all had remained a bit of a mystery. Where was she from? Why had she taken a job working for a grumpy old man on a remote, if luxurious, ranch? And why the hell did he care?

      “Colleen do something to you?”

      He glanced at Dylan. “What?”

      “Well, you’re staring at her hard enough to set her hair on fire. What’s up?”

      Irritated to have been caught out, Sage muttered, “Shut up.”

      “Ah. Good answer.” Dylan just smiled, shook his head and leaned forward to ask Chance something.

      Sage let his gaze slide carefully back to Colleen. She bent her head to whisper something to Marlene, and he watched that long, silky braid slide across her shoulder, baring the nape of her neck. Soft blond curls brushed against her skin and he suddenly had the urge to touch her. To stroke that skin, to slide his fingers through her hair, to— He cut that thought off as fast as he could and scowled to himself.

      The only possible reason she had for being here was if she was mentioned in J.D.’s will. Sure, J.D. had needed a nurse over his last few months, with his health failing, but such a beautiful one? Was that why she’d taken the job of caring for the old man? Had she been hoping for a nice payoff someday? Maybe he should spend a little time looking into Colleen Falkner, he thought. Do some checking. Make sure—

      “You’re looking at her again,” Dylan pointed out.

      Glaring at his brother and ignoring the smile on the man’s face, Sage grumbled, “Don’t you have something else to do?”

      “Not at the moment.”

      “Lucky me.”

      “I just think it’s interesting how fascinated you seem to be by Colleen.”

      “I’m not fascinated.” Much. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair and told himself to stop thinking about her. How could the woman have gotten to him so easily? Hell, he hadn’t even really talked to her.

      “Not what it looks like from where I’m sitting.”

      “Then maybe you should sit somewhere else.” He wasn’t fascinated. He was...interested. Attracted. There was a difference.

      Dylan laughed shortly. True to form, Sage’s younger brother was almost impossible to insult. He was easygoing, charming and sometimes Sage thought his younger brother had gotten all the patience in the family. But he was also stubborn and once he got his teeth into something, he rarely let it go.

      Like now, for example.

      “She’s single,” Dylan said.

      “Great.”

      “I’m just sayin’,” his brother continued, “maybe you could leave your ranch once in a while. Have an actual date. Maybe with Colleen.”

      Sage drew his head back and stared at his brother. “Are you running a dating service I don’t know about?”

      “Fine,” Dylan muttered, sitting back in his chair. “Have it your way. Be a hermit. End up becoming the weird old guy who lives alone on an isolated ranch.”

      “I’m not a hermit.”

      “Yeah? When’s the last time you had a woman?”

      Frowning, Sage said, “Not that it’s any of your business, but I get plenty of women.”

      “One-night stands? Nice.”

      Sage preferred one-night stands. He didn’t do commitment, and spending time with women who felt the same way avoided a lot of unnecessary hassle. If his brother wanted to look for more in his life, he was welcome to. As for Sage, he liked his life just the way it was. He came and went as he pleased. When he wanted a woman, he went and found one. When he wanted to be left the hell alone, he had that, too.

      “Now that you mention it,” he said quietly, “I haven’t noticed you busy developing any serious relationships, either.”

      Dylan shrugged, folded his arms across his chest and said, “We’re not talking about me.”

      “Yeah, well, we’re done talking about me, too.”

      Then the office door opened, and lawyer Walter Drake stepped inside and announced, “All here?” He swept the room with a sharp-eyed gaze and nodded to himself. “Good. Then we can get started.”

      “I don’t know if I’m ready for this,” Dylan grumbled.

      Sage was more than ready. He wanted this day done and finished so he could get back to his ranch.

      After settling himself behind a wide oak desk, Walter, an older man who looked like the stereotypical image of an “old family retainer”—handsome, gray haired and impeccably dressed—picked up a stack of papers and straightened them unnecessarily. That shuffle of paper and the rattle of the window panes as a cold wind gusted against it were the only sounds in the room. It was as if everyone had taken a breath and held it.

      Walter was clearly enjoying his moment in the spotlight. Every eye in the room was on him. Once again, his gaze moved over the people gathered there and when he finally came to Angelica, he gave her a sad, sympathetic smile before speaking to the room. “I know how hard this is on all of you, so I’ll be as brief as possible.”

      Sage would be grateful.

      “As you all know, J.D. and I knew each other for more than thirty years.” Walter paused, smiled to himself and added, “He was a stubborn man, but a proud one, and I want you all to know that he took great care with his will. He remade it just a few months ago because he wanted to be sure to do the right thing by all of you.”

      Scraping one hand across his face, Sage shifted in the uncomfortable chair. He flicked a quick glance out the window and saw dark clouds rushing across the sky. April in Wyoming, he mused. It could be sunny in the morning and snowing by afternoon. And right now, it looked as though a storm was headed their way. Which only fed the urge to get back to his ranch before the bad weather hit.

      “There are a lot of smaller provisions made to people J.D. thought well of over the years,” Walter was saying. “I won’t be reading them aloud today. Nor will I make mention of other estate business that will be handled separately.”

      Sage frowned thoughtfully and shifted his gaze to Walter. Handled separately? Why? What was the lawyer trying to hide? For that matter, what had J.D. been trying to hide? He braced his elbows on his thighs and leaned forward, keeping his gaze fixed on Walter as if the man was about to saw a woman in half. Or pull a dove from a magic hat.

      “That part of the will is, at this time, not to be shared with the family.”

      “Why not?” Sage’s question shattered the stillness left in the wake of Walter’s startling statement.

      The older man met Sage’s gaze squarely. “Those were J.D.’s wishes.”

      “How do we know that?” An insulting question and he knew it, but Sage didn’t stop himself. He didn’t like secrets.

      Dylan jammed his elbow into Sage’s side, but he didn’t so much as flinch. Just kept staring at the lawyer waiting for an answer.

      “Because I tell you so,” Walter said, stiffening in insult.

      “C’mon, Sage,” Dylan muttered. “Let it go for now.”

      He didn’t want to, but he would. Only because Marlene had turned in her seat to give him a worried frown. Damned if he’d do anything to upset her any further than she already was. Nodding to the woman he thought of as a mother, he promised himself that he’d keep his silence for now, but that didn’t mean this was the end of it.

      “Now,” Walter