Nadine stuck her head out of the RV. “Well, you better believe it, Cassie. They got a call from Chance’s office, least ways that’s what the producer feller told me. Your story is all over the news. Here and nationally. All the networks picked it up. Considering Cyrus Barron owns the newspapers around here and a bunch of TV and radio stations, just how else do you think the national folks tumbled to this little shindig?”
Cass leaned back in the chair and swiveled her head just far enough to keep track of Chance. He’d walked back to his pickup truck and leaned against the front fender talking to another man just as tall, dark and handsome. Had to be one of his brothers but for her life, she didn’t know which one.
“Why would he do that?”
“He loves you.”
“He’s in love.”
Boots said it first, but Nadine’s assertion echoed a half beat later. No. Nonononono no! This wasn’t happening. Chance Barron didn’t love her. He couldn’t. He just wanted the ranch so his father could erase all memory of Ben Morgan from the face of the earth.
Cass had finally finagled the full story out of Boots—how Cyrus had pursued her mom but she’d married her dad instead. She couldn’t fathom why a man as rich and powerful as the senior Barron carried such a long-standing grudge. Three hard days in the saddle had rubbed the furious off her temper, though she remained miffed at the old man for not telling her Chance’s real identity.
Boots’s revelation over Chance’s feelings left her own unsteady. When she realized her hand was still curled around the shotgun, she carefully placed it back on the ice chest.
“No. I can’t deal with this. Not now. I have five hundred head of cattle to get to market. And one more day to get it done.”
“We’ve made good distance, Cass. We only have about five miles to go.”
She closed her eyes and laid her head back against the chair. “It might as well be a thousand, Uncle Boots. We hit the county line tomorrow. You know Cyrus Barron will have every deputy in Oklahoma County lined up to keep us out. Even though I managed to get the permits from Oklahoma County, I don’t believe for a second they’ll be worth the paper they’re printed on. Even if the sheriff and his deputies don’t stop us, there’ll be the whole Oklahoma City Police Department waiting at the city limits. The Barrons always get their way.”
“You forget, hon. The media will be there, too. Sheriff Wallace is up for reelection. You’re a huge story.” Hands on her ample hips, Nadine climbed down the steps and stopped right in front of Cass. “You’re the underdog. The pretty little girl takin’ on the big bads with a ragtag group of volunteers. From the information the national outlets are reporting? You can bet someone on the inside spilled the beans. Mr. Chance Barron, in fact.”
Cass shook her head, unable to believe Chance would stand up to his father. “What’s in it for him?”
Nadine chuckled. “A pretty little blonde who hog-tied his heart.”
“No. There’s something more. He doesn’t love me. If he loved me, he wouldn’t have lied. And he damn sure wouldn’t have betrayed me like he did.”
The rumbling bass thrum of a diesel engine caught her attention. Chance and the man he was with had climbed into the pickup. She watched as Chance carefully backed the truck onto the road and headed east. The bright lights of Oklahoma City shone like jewels scattered on a pair of faded jeans.
Yeah. He loved her all right. He’d tucked his tail between his legs and slunk off like the dirty dog he was.