“You’ve convinced me. I’ll call the real estate company tomorrow.”
Quinn barely listened to the conversation. Instead, his gaze searched Lanie’s face. She was pale and appeared exhausted. And she was avoiding looking at him.
He stood and pulled out a chair. “We left your food in the oven. Why don’t you sit down and I’ll get it for you?”
She shook her head. “Thanks, but I’m not hungry. Where’s Zack?”
“Watching a cartoon video in the den.”
“I think I’ll go visit him for a while. It feels like I haven’t seen him in days.”
“Want to go for a walk later?”
She paused in the hall doorway. “I’m sorry, Quinn. I can’t. I have a phone call to make and then bills to pay so I can get them in the mail. It’s going to take most of the evening.”
“Who do you have to call this late?”
“Pete and Ollie Garner. They do all the cooking on the trail ride. They’ll start stocking the chuck wagon tomorrow and I need to go over the supply list with them tonight. So, I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Sure.” He waited until she was gone, then sat back down.
“What was that all about?” Duncan asked.
Quinn rubbed his eyes tiredly. “If I had to guess, I’d say she had another run-in with Harper today. You don’t know how badly I wish this was over with so life could be normal again. I hate to see her torn like she is now.”
Duncan toyed with his cup. “Have you told her about the trust fund yet?”
“No.”
“Are you going to?”
“Yes. As soon as it’s finalized. Probably this week.”
“How’s she going to take it?”
Quinn smiled grimly. “Knowing Lanie, she’ll be mad as a rattler with his tail caught between two rocks. But she’ll get used to the idea. Especially when she realizes it’s the only logical solution to my staying on the ranch. I’ll still have to go to Chicago occasionally, but most of what I’ll be doing can be taken care of from here.”
“What about Edward?”
His jaw tightened. “Edward can handle his own problems. The company is no longer one of them. As long as he leaves us alone, he can rot in hell for all I care.”
* * * * *
Lanie hung up the phone and nibbled her bottom lip as she stared at the large, bulky package on her desk. All during her conversation with Pete, the brown manila envelope had distracted her.
When he’d sent for his medical records she’d thought it was the only way to find out about what had happened to him. Now that she knew the truth, she was torn about reading the information. It felt too much like an invasion of Quinn’s privacy to look at them.
Not that she could wade through it in a few hours. From the size of the package it would take months to read it all. And even then, she doubted much of it would be understandable to anyone not in the medical field.
She reached out and touched it with one finger, tracing the return address of the hospital. No, she couldn’t do it. Not without making sure Quinn didn’t mind. He’d only sent for them to prove he couldn’t have signed the ranch over to her. Now that she knew he was telling the truth, she really didn’t need to see the records.
Pushing her chair back, she walked out of the office. The house was quiet, but a light still showed from the den. Duncan glanced up from the book he was holding when she paused in the door.
“Where’s Quinn?”
“He went to bed about ten minutes ago. Something wrong?” He carefully marked his place and closed the book.
After a brief hesitation she moved farther into the room and sat down across from him. “His medical records arrived.”
“You need someone to interpret them?”
“Probably, but I don’t want to open them unless I’m sure Quinn approves.”
“He knows they arrived. He’s the one who got them out of the mail and put them on your desk.”
Heat flushed her cheeks. “He doesn’t mind if I read them?”
“Not at all. I think he was happy you’re interested in knowing what he went through. It makes up a little for all the years he thought you didn’t care.”
“Not enough,” she said softly. “Nothing can ever make up for my not being there when he needed me so badly. I’m surprised he’ll even speak to me.”
“Quinn loves you. Don’t beat yourself up for something you couldn’t help.” He glanced down at his book before looking up to hold her gaze. “I admit, I didn’t like you much at first. I thought you were going to hurt him all over again and I wasn’t sure he could stand it. But just being here has changed Quinn. He’s more relaxed, happier. Stronger. I hope things work out for the two of you, but if you decide you can’t live with him, he’ll survive.”
Lanie leaned back in the chair. “You think I’m going to choose Jared, don’t you?”
“Are you?”
“No.” She stared into the empty fireplace. “If nothing else, Quinn has made me realize that I never loved Jared the way I should have. Marrying him would be the biggest mistake of my life. But that doesn’t mean I’ve decided to stay with Quinn, Duncan. Not unless I can be absolutely sure he won’t leave us again.”
“He won’t.”
She gave him a wry smile. “There was a time when I trusted Quinn with my life. It never occurred to me that a day might come when he wouldn’t be there. But that day came, Duncan, and if it happened once, it can happen again. Especially with Edward in the picture. For Zack’s sake and my own, I have to be sure of him before I make any promises.”
“Your marriage was that bad?”
“It was wonderful. For a while, anyway. Until Edward started calling every day, pushing Quinn’s buttons. Each time, Quinn would get a little tenser. He’d stay silent for hours on end. I could see it happening, but I didn’t know how to stop it. Then he started dropping comments about the benefits of living in Chicago.”
She took a deep breath. “I finally confronted him, reminded him that we’d agreed to make the ranch our home. That’s when the fights started. He said I was being unreasonable, that I’d fit in with his high society friends just fine. It was a lie, though, and we both knew it. I’m not cut out to wear fancy clothes, or sit around a country club sipping tea all day. Ranching is all I know, all I’ve ever wanted to do. I could have given in, moved for his sake, but it would have killed our marriage as surely as Edward did.”
Duncan nodded. “He’s changed, Lanie. Nearly dying can do that to you. Edward doesn’t have the power over him he had before.”
“I’ll have to see it for myself before I trust him again.”
“You will. Have you told Harper you aren’t marrying him?”
“No, he’s gone for a week. I’ll tell him when he gets back Sunday. In the meantime, I’d appreciate it if you don’t say anything to Quinn. Jared deserves to hear it first.”
“You got it.”
She stood. “Thank you for listening, Duncan. I can see why Quinn thinks so highly of you. I’m glad you’re going to be staying in Watson.”
“So am I. And I hope we can be friends, too.”
“I’d like that very much.” She smiled at him. “Goodnight, Duncan.”
“Goodnight.” He picked up his abandoned book and opened it.
Lanie made her way down the hall, and quietly up the stairs. For a moment, she stopped outside Quinn’s room and lifted her hand to the door. “I hope Duncan is right and this time you stay,” she whispered.
Instead of going to her own bedroom, she crossed to Zack’s and eased the door open to slip inside. A small nightlight cast a dim glow over the room, and its light picked out a tall figure standing by Zack’s bed. Startled, her hand flew to her mouth.
“It’s me,” Quinn’s voice came out of the shadows.
“What’s wrong?” She moved quickly to his side, her eyes straining to pick out Zack from among the blankets.
“Nothing.” He slipped an arm around her waist. “I w
as watching him sleep. Sometimes it’s hard for me to believe he really exists. I have to keep checking to make sure I didn’t dream him.”
“I still feel the same way, myself,” she whispered, leaning her head against his shoulder. “I suppose we always will.”
“Do you think we’ll be sneaking into his room, checking on him, when he’s twenty?”
She let out a soft chuckle. “Probably, but we can’t let him know it. He’d be humiliated.”
“It’s strange. I never really thought about having kids, except in an abstract sort way. I had no idea I’d feel so much. Now I’d like a whole house full.”
“Let’s not get carried away,” she murmured wryly. “One or two more would be plenty.”
His head turned in her direction, and even in the weak light she could feel his gaze on her. “That sounds promising. I guess I could settle for two more. As long as it’s with you.”
She stepped away from him, but took his hand. “Come on. Let’s get out of here before we wake him up.”
Outside her room she stopped and faced him. Abruptly, she reached a decision as she studied his face. She’d stopped lying to herself. Maybe it was time she stopped lying to him.
“I’m not going to ask you in tonight, Quinn. I still need some time to think about all this. It feels like everything is hitting me at once. But there is one thing I need to tell you.”
“What?” His amber eyes studied her warily.
She lifted her hand and cupped his cheek. “I love you. I don’t think I ever stopped.”
He inhaled sharply, then pulled her into his arms. “God, I’ve waited so long to hear you say that. I love you, Lanie. I’ll go to my grave loving you.” His mouth covered hers.
Chapter Eighteen
It was nearly June, Lanie mused, carrying her second cup of coffee to the office. The nights were warming up nicely, and the weather reports for this weekend were perfect. Her guests would get their money’s worth.
Putting her cup on the desk, she sat down and picked up her list of things to finish before the trail ride. Pete and Ollie were ready. They would leave with the chuck wagon tomorrow and get the camp set up. The next day, Friday, the guests would arrive and the groups would head out at ninety-minute intervals. She would lead the first group, Sherry the last.
No rides were scheduled the day before a campout, so she made a note to send Cody and the others out tomorrow to round up the cows and get them settled down. As summer wore on, the animals became so used to the campouts that they rarely strayed too far from the area. But this early in the spring, with new calves at their sides, they could be almost anywhere on the twelve-hundred-acre ranch.
Her gaze wandered to the desk Quinn had set up across the room, and she smiled. Things had been different since she’d told him she loved him. They both seemed more relaxed, laughing and teasing each other.
He looked so good she had to stifle a sigh each time he walked into a room. Not once since he’d been back had he worn a suit. He was dressed this morning in faded jeans, boots and a black T-shirt that hugged his body snugly. His hair had grown a little too, making the white streak at his temple even more visible. She hadn’t been able to take her eyes off him until he’d vanished inside the old bunkhouse with Duncan.
It was getting harder and harder to keep him out of her bed. Not because he was pushing her, but because she wanted him there. She wanted the freedom to touch him, make love with him, and wake up in his arms every morning.
The problem was, her conscience wouldn’t let her. Not until she’d had a chance to talk with Jared, to tell him it was over. Only then would she feel free to be Quinn’s wife again on every level.
Sunday wasn’t that far off, and she wavered between anticipation and dread. The only solution was to stop thinking about it. With everything she had to do between now and then, it shouldn’t be too hard to keep her thoughts off the confrontation with Jared. It was more difficult to keep her mind off Quinn when she saw him every day, when he looked so damn sexy.
She shook her head in disgust. Her libido seemed to be running in high gear these days. All she wanted to think about was getting Quinn back into bed.
Forcing her mind off her husband, she turned back to the list. The camping gear and sleeping bags had all been cleaned and aired, and were ready to go in the second wagon first thing in the morning. The couple who had won the drawing she’d held during Frontier Days had been notified and were ecstatic over the chance to go on the trail ride.
Everything was shaping up nicely, but she still needed to call Mrs. James at the travel agency’s branch office and make sure there had been no last-minute cancellations. Just as she reached for the phone, it rang, and her brow furrowed in annoyance at the interruption.
“Hello?”
“You think you’ve won, don’t you, girl?”
The voice was raspy, and sounded older than she remembered, but she recognized it immediately. Her body stiffened and her grip on the receiver tightened.
“Hello, Edward. Quinn isn’t here. If you want to browbeat him, you’ll have to call back later.”
“It’s you I called to talk with.”
Her chin lifted, squared. “Too bad. I don’t want to hear anything you’ve got to say.”
“What has he promised you? That he’ll stay in Wyoming and never leave? He’s lying to you, girl, and it’s time you found out the truth.”
“Oh, right, Edward.” Sarcasm laced her tone. “And you’ve always been so honest with me. Do you really think I’m going to believe anything you say?”
“Has he told you he owns controlling interest in the company now?”
It felt as though her heart was suddenly lodged in her throat. “You’re lying.”
“It’s easy enough to check. His takeover has been in all the Chicago newspapers. Now where do you suppose he’ll have to live while he’s running the company?”
Her stomach churned and she was desperately afraid she was going to be sick. “I don’t believe you. Why wouldn’t he have told me?”
Edward gave a raspy laugh followed by a deep cough. “Because he didn’t want you to know the truth, girl. Our lawyers told him you could wind up with half the company if you claimed he’d abandoned you, that he needed to establish residency before continuing with the divorce or a custody fight. He even went so far as to put all his assets in a trust fund for the boy so you couldn’t touch them. Ask him. Let’s see if he denies it.”
“Goodbye, Edward.” She dropped the phone into its cradle then stared at it, her body chilled. It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be. Edward had simply switched tactics. Quinn couldn’t have made love to her like he had if he planned on betraying her.
But it hadn’t felt like a lie.
She took a deep, shaky breath, then stood. No, she’d learned her lesson with Edward. She wasn’t going to believe him this time. Not without proof.
The trip to Quinn’s desk was the longest of her life, each step taking all her energy. Sweat beaded her forehead and coated the palms of her hands when she reached her goal.
The computer sat by itself to the left. The fax machine was on a separate table to the right. In the middle lay several stacks of neatly sorted papers.
Slowly she picked up the first stack and thumbed through it, her gaze scanning each page. There were production schedules for drugs with long names, reports from research and development, a thick sheaf of forms that had been filled out for the FDA, and a cost projection on yet another drug.
None of it made much sense to her. She only knew it wasn’t what she was looking for. Without trying to be neat, she put the first stack down and picked up the second.
The top sheet was an e-mail printout, and she sank into the chair as she read it. According to his stockbroker, as of last Friday evening Quinn owned fifty-four percent of McAllister Pharmaceuticals. Edward had told the truth. And if he’d told the truth about this, what about the rest of it?
Bone deep pain surged through her along with a simmer
ing anger. Yanking the first e-mail off, she wadded it into a ball and tossed it to the floor.
She wasn’t even surprised to discover the next item was a thick legal document. The rest of the papers slid off her lap unnoticed as she read every word. It didn’t take a lawyer to see what Quinn had done. It was spelled out clearly. All of his assets, including the company stock, were tied up in this trust fund. It left him virtually penniless.
Of course, as executor of the fund, and acting president of the company until Zack turned twenty-five, Quinn would draw a large salary. And there was still the ranch. He could make a small fortune by selling it, she thought bitterly.
How could she have believed him? Hadn’t he proved she couldn’t trust him five years ago? It felt as though her whole world had crumbled around her, the acrid dust of pain filling the air.
Well, he wasn’t going to destroy her this time. She had a son to protect. The anger that had simmered became a boiling cauldron, threatening to scald any it touched. She’d be damned if she let him do to Zack what Edward had done to him.
Adrenaline propelled her out of the chair, the papers still clutched in her hand. Martha said something to her as she went through the kitchen, but the words didn’t register on her consciousness.
The trip across the yard to the bunkhouse was made in a red haze of fury. She yanked the door open so hard it slammed against the wall, leaving a dent where the knob hit.
Inside, both men jumped at the loud bang, turning quickly to face her. Quinn dropped the weights he was holding and took a step in her direction.
“Lanie? What’s wrong?”
“You bastard.” She ground the words out through tightly clenched teeth. “You’ve been lying to me since the day you got here. And the pathetic thing is, I almost bought it. Was three months what your lawyers thought it would take to prove you didn’t abandon me, Quinn?”
“What are you talking about?”
“This so-called trial marriage of yours. Are you going to deny your lawyers told you I could win half the company in a divorce settlement because you abandoned me? Or that I couldn’t touch anything you owned if you tied it up in a trust fund for Zack?”