The Black Sheep's Inheritance(2)

"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 said firmly, "if that's settled, I'd like to continue.  After all, the heart and soul of the will is what we're here to discuss  today." He paused only long enough to smooth one hand across his neatly  trimmed silver beard. "I appreciate you all coming in on such short  notice, and I promise to get through this as quickly as possible."

Sage didn't know if the man was deliberately trying to pump up the  suspense in the room or if he was just a naturally dramatic lawyer. But  either way, it was working. Everyone there shifted uncomfortably in  their seats as Walter read aloud the strange, coma-inducing legal  phrases leading up to the actual bequests. One or two of those phrases  resonated with Sage.

Sound in mind and body. Well, in mind, anyway, Sage told himself. J.D.  had been sick for a while, but the old man's brain was as sharp the day  he died as it was when he was nothing but a kid starting out. Which  meant J.D. had had a reason for keeping these so-called secrets from the  family even after his death. A flicker of anger bristled inside him,  and Sage admitted silently that it sucked to be angry at a dead man,  because you had no way of confronting him. J.D. was probably loving  this, he thought. Even after he was gone, he was still running the show.

But as soon as he had the chance, Sage promised himself a long talk with J.D.'s lawyer.

"To my dear sister-in-law, Marlene..." Walter paused to smile at the  woman in question. "I leave a ten-percent share in the Big Blue ranch  along with ownership of the main ranch house for as long as she lives. I  also leave her enough cash to maintain her lifestyle-" Walter broke off  and added, "J.D. got tired of all the 'legal speak,' as he called it,  and had me write the rest down just as he spoke it." He took a breath  and continued, "Marlene, I want you to have some fun. Get on out there  and enjoy your life. You're a good-looking woman and too damn young to  fold up and die alone."

Marlene sniffed, then laughed shortly and mopped at her tears. The rest  of the room chuckled with her, and even Sage had to smile. He could  hear the old man's gruff voice as if he were there with them. J.D. and  Marlene had been an unofficial couple for years. More than that though,  Marlene had been a rock to three motherless young kids and to a man who  had lost the love of his life.

"To Chance Lassiter, my nephew, I leave a sixty-percent share in Big  Blue and enough cash to take some time and enjoy yourself a little."  Walter paused and added, "The cash amounts mentioned in the will are  specific and will be discussed privately with each of you at a later  date."

Chance looked stunned and Sage was glad for him. The man loved that  ranch and cared for it every bit as meticulously as J.D. had himself.

"You take care of Blue, Chance," Walter kept reading, "and she'll do the same for you."