“He couldn’t have. My father was a gentle man. He wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
“How would you know?” Boone frowned. “He died before you could have been born, unless you’re a lot older than you look.”
“I’m twenty-nine, and he didn’t die until four years ago. Only I knew him as Edward Collins.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“You don’t have to. Your father’s lawyer sent me proof. My father didn’t kill anyone.”
He turned back to study the house. “This was the old Wheeler place, all right, but Dad bought it fair and square after old Rose died.”
“The letter said that Sam didn’t know until years later that my father was alive.”
Boone shook his head, his jaw working. “You can’t want to be here. You’re a city girl. And my dad had no use for the last one who came.”
“You say city girl like it’s some kind of curse word. What do you know about where I belong?”
He was right, though. She had driven halfway across the country and she still wasn’t sure if she was crazy to have done it. She had no life in Texas, no reason to stay.
But it was only temporary. She was beginning her life all over, and she desperately needed time to think, to plan. Sam Gallagher had provided the place, and it had seemed as good as any to someone who’d spent her life on the move. In the meantime, even in her worst-case scenario she’d learn something about her father’s past, have a month-long vacation and a nest egg with which to start again.
But she hadn’t counted on spending her vacation with a tall stranger who had shadows in his eyes. She looked back at him, seeing utter exhaustion in his unguarded gaze.
But not unguarded for long, not once he knew she was looking. “You can’t stay here.”
“I don’t have any choice.”
“You do. You can turn around and walk away. I’ll pay you whatever you think you’re owed.”
She couldn’t believe his nerve. Before she could think how to respond, another voice spoke up.
“None of this is her fault, Boone,” said a tiny, redheaded old woman Maddie hadn’t seen approaching. “Now stop yelling and come inside, both of you. Sounds like Sam’s put you both in a pretty pickle, and no amount of getting mad is going to get you out.”
She faced Maddie. “I’m Vondell Cartwright. I’ve been the housekeeper here since Moses was a pup. Don’t mind Boone. He needs to go soak his head—” She shot Boone a glare “—and then sleep for a week.”
“Did you know, Vondell?” Boone’s voice grated, his face harsh. “Why didn’t you say something to me?”
“You just got here. You’re exhausted. Besides, you know your daddy better than that. He never told anyone anything until he was ready. I knew he was spending a lot of time with his lawyer and that nice young private investigator Devlin Marlowe, but he didn’t see fit to confide in me about his plans. Just asked me to hang around because you might need me.”
She turned to Maddie. “I don’t expect that you’re used to this Texas heat. Come on inside and let me get you a glass of iced tea. We can talk there, instead of standing in the noonday heat like mad dogs and Englishmen. You comin’, Boone?” She turned away as if certain they’d follow.
Maddie shot a glance at Boone to see what he would do.
He stared at the house, then out over the pasture beyond it. Maddie thought then that there was something unutterably weary about him, something almost…lost. She had no idea what to say to him, given the shocks they’d both received. Her temper drained away.
“I’m not planning to stay for good, but I can’t leave yet. I have to stay for thirty days.”
Boone studied her then. “Why?”
“Your father asked me to stay here thirty days to decide if I want the place. If I don’t, then only you can buy me out. If I let you do it sooner, the lawyer said the Caswells would get the house.”
“Dalton’s stepfather was a Caswell.”
“And from what I’ve learned, Buster Caswell used his fists on my grandmother until she feared for her life. I don’t think you want them to get this place. I certainly don’t.”
“No one else is going to have this place, especially the Caswells. But you don’t know what you’re getting into. You’ll be stir-crazy in a week.”
“I’m a big girl. You let me worry about myself.”
Boone’s jaw pulsed. After a long silence, he nodded his head. “Fine, then. We’ll just have to make do until it’s over. I can stay out in the barn.”