Caitlyn’s Prize Read online

  “Go to hell.”

  He shrugged. “Thanks to you, I’ve been there, and I’m not planning a return trip.”

  “What do you want from me?”

  “Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”

  She swallowed. “Then this meeting is over.”

  “Not quite. I take it you are planning to operate High Five.”

  “You got it.”

  “Your sisters have to be informed of this development. Do you want to do the honors or should I?”

  “I will speak to my sisters. We do not need your interference.”

  “Fine.” He rested a forearm on the desk, his eyes holding hers. “Give it up, Caitlyn. You can’t win this. Even Dane knew that. Sell now and save yourself the aggravation.”

  “You are not God, Judd, and you can’t control people’s lives.”

  “Control?” His laugh bruised her senses. “I never said anything about control. I’m helping a friend. Out of respect for your father, I’ve agreed to this arrangement and I will not go back on my word.”

  Respect? He didn’t know the meaning of the word.

  “You’re a conniving bastard, Judd. I don’t know how you got my father to agree to this.”

  “Dane came looking for me, not the other way around.” He spoke calmly, but she couldn’t help but note the curl in his lip.

  “And you were there, eager to oblige.”

  He suddenly stood, and instinctively, she took a step backward. “I will own High Five and I will take great pleasure in taking it from you.”

  She held her head high. “I’ve often thought you were heartless, sort of like the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz, except he wanted a heart. You, Judd, are lost forever. May God have mercy on your conniving soul.”

  “I had a heart but you ripped it out by the roots.” The glimmer in his eyes was the only sign his emotions were involved. “This is reckoning day. I’m taking it all. It’s just a matter of time. I see it as sweet justice.”

  She walked out of the room with only her dignity, which didn’t feel like much. Stoically, she marched to the front door. On the silk Persian rug, she paused and wiped the crap from her boots.

  Now that was sweet justice.

  CHAPTER TWO

  “YOU CAN’T STOP WATCHING her, can you?”

  Judd tensed, but his eyes never left Caitlyn as she jumped into her truck and raced down the driveway, tires squealing. Fourteen years and she was still the same—breathtakingly beautiful with Hollywood curves, glossy black hair and a smooth olive complexion.

  But it was her forget-me-not-blue eyes that always got him. They reminded him of crystal marbles his grandfather had once given him: bright, shiny and irresistible. He still owned them, tucked away in a box somewhere, but he’d long ago found that Caitlyn wasn’t a thing to be possessed.

  He turned from the window to face his mother. “Did you need something?”

  Renee motioned over her shoulder. “I just saw Caitlyn leave.”

  “Yes.”

  “Then you told her?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why aren’t you smiling? Why aren’t you happy?”

  He blew out a breath. “I don’t really want to get into this.”

  “Well, sorry. I do.” His mother walked farther into the room, flaunting her usual you’d-better-listen stance. As a kid, he’d hated that tone in her voice. He wasn’t crazy about it now.

  “I’m not in the mood.”

  Renee placed her hands on her hips. In her late sixties, she was an active woman. After Judd’s dad’s death, shopping had become her favorite exercise and pastime. She never interfered in Judd’s life and he liked it that way.

  Of course, she’d never been a big part of his life. Judd had been five when she’d left Jack Calhoun and him. Judd then had the stepmother from hell.

  After that marriage fell apart, his parents had miraculously reconnected, remarrying when Judd was twelve. By then there was a gulf between him and his mother that couldn’t be bridged.

  “From the tires squealing on our driveway, I assume she didn’t receive the news well. But what woman would? You take her livelihood away from her and—”

  “I did not take it.” He tried to control his voice, but the words came out too loud. “Her father sold it.”

  “Why couldn’t you have worked out a loan so payments could have been made? That way Caitlyn would have had a fighting chance.”

  “Why should I care about giving that woman a fighting chance?”

  “Because—” his mother lifted an eyebrow that said she knew him better than he thought “—in fourteen years I’ve lost track of the number of women you’ve gone through to forget Caitlyn. I thought Deanna was the one, but the next thing I knew you weren’t seeing her anymore.” Renee took a step closer. “You haven’t forgotten Caitlyn, so why not admit it and try to make this work?”

  “Mom, you know nothing about this. You have no idea how much money Dane owed.”

  “It couldn’t have been that much.”

  “Try six hundred fifty-two thousand dollars.”

  “Oh, my God!” Renee clutched her chest. “How could he gamble away that much money?”

  “It’s easy when you’re losing.”

  The lines on his mom’s forehead deepened. “Are the oil and gas royalties worth that much?”

  “Yes. In a few years I’ll recoup my investment. That is, if oil and gas prices don’t drop. It’s a gamble.”

  “So in a way you’re doing a nice thing?”

  He hooked his thumbs into his jeans pockets. “What?”

  “If you hadn’t paid off Dane’s gambling debts, those people would have come looking for Caitlyn, her sisters and Dorie.”

  He rocked back on his heels. “Yep.”

  “So you did a good thing?”

  “Ah, Mom. You have to see some good in me, don’t you?”

  “As a mother, I know there’s good in you.”

  “Not this time.” He walked to his desk with sure steps. “I was glad Dane asked for my help. As a neighbor, I would never have said no. As the man his daughter jilted, I was more than eager to oblige. I’m going to take Caitlyn down hard. She will beg me for mercy before this is over.”

  “Son, son.” Renee clicked her tongue. “It’s been fourteen years. Just let it go.”

  “I can’t.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “She destroyed everything I believed about relationships and trust. I’m thirty-six years old and should have a family. Caitlyn Belle will pay for what she did to me. And it’s only just starting.”

  “Why, son? Why do you need this revenge?”

  “I don’t have to justify my actions.”

  “You can’t even see the forest for the trees.”

  He frowned. “What does that mean?”

  “It means Caitlyn loved you, but you pushed too hard and so did Dane. She was nineteen years old and all she wanted was to finish college, to be young and have fun. But neither you nor Dane would listen to her wishes. Y’all had to control her every move, and look what happened. If you had given her the time she’d wanted, you’d be married today.”

  “Loved me?” His jaw clenched. “Why do women have to always drag out the L word? It was a business arrangement solely.”

  “A pity no one mentioned that to Caitlyn.”

  “She couldn’t handle it. She was weak.”

  Renee gave a laugh that grated on his nerves. “Weak? Caitlyn Belle? Oh, son, you’re in for a rude awakening.”

  “Mom, just drop it.”

  But his mother never listened to him. “You can’t see Caitlyn as a person. All you see is a woman who has to be controlled. You get that from Jack. But Caitlyn proved she can’t be controlled, not by you and not by her father.”

  His eyes narrowed. “This doesn’t concern you.”

  Renee waved a hand. “You sound just like your dad. He thought I needed to be told what to do. And I was to overlook his little infidelities. I couldn’t, so I walked away and lost my
son.”

  “I don’t want to go over this again.” Judd had heard the story so many times it was burned like a brand into his brain.

  “He said he wasn’t cheating on me with that bitch, Blanche, but he was lying. As soon as the divorce was final, he married her.”

  “You left a five-year-old kid behind.” Judd couldn’t keep the accusation out of his voice.

  She brushed back her blond hair, pain evident in her green eyes, pain he didn’t want to see. But it was hard to ignore. “I had no choice. I couldn’t continue to take that type of humiliation, but I never planned to lose my son. Jack had the money to make sure I stayed away from you.”

  “Mom, it’s over, and you and Dad had twenty years together before his death.”

  “Yes, and we learned from our mistakes. Jack didn’t cheat again. At least, not to my knowledge.” She gazed at Judd. “You were the casualty of our mistakes. Do you remember what you did when your father brought me back here?”

  He stared at the horse sculpture on his desk, not willing to speak.

  “You walked out of the room and wouldn’t say a word to me. That hurt. I cried and cried. Your father said you’d come around. It took a solid year before you accepted me back into your life.”

  Back then he couldn’t understand how a mother could leave her only child. He still didn’t, but she was his mom….

  “Sometimes I don’t think you’ve ever forgiven me, or that you can forgive anyone. That’s my fault and—”

  “This trip down memory lane is over. I’m going to check on the cowboys.”

  “Dear son, listen to me. I was weak, but Caitlyn Belle is not. She will come back fighting. I’ve known her all her life and she will not bow easily. Be careful you’re not the one who ends up begging.”

  “Mom…”

  “I’ve said enough.” She raised a hand. “I’m not arguing with you. I came to tell you that if you don’t get rid of Brenda Sue, I’m going to strangle her.”

  “Just don’t listen to her.”

  “Not listen to her? I’d have to be stone deaf not to. Her voice rivals nails on a chalkboard. The woman never shuts up.”

  “I’ll handle it.”

  “If you don’t, I’m buying a gun.”

  “Okay, okay.” He strolled from the room, headed for the back door and freedom from his mother’s words.

  And freedom from the shattered look in Caitlyn’s blue forget-me-not eyes.

  CAITLYN SLAMMED ON HER brakes at the barn, causing dust to blanket the truck. Unheeding, she jumped out and ran for the corral, whistling sharply.

  Whiskey Red, a prize thoroughbred, her father’s last gift to her, trotted into the open corral. Cait hurried into the barn and Red followed. Within minutes, she had her saddled.

  Cooper Yates and Rufus Johns, her only cowhands, came out of the tack room. “Hey, Cait, what are you doing?” Coop asked. “We just checked the herd.”

  She swung into the saddle. “I’ll catch you later.” Kneeing Red, she bolted for fresh air.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?” Coop shouted after her.

  She didn’t pause. Red’s hooves kicked up dirt as they picked up speed, moving faster and faster. If she was lucky, maybe she could outrun the pain in her chest.

  Thirty minutes later, she lay in the green grass along Crooked Creek, her body soaked with sweat, her heart bounding off the walls of her lungs.

  She sucked in a much needed breath and stared up at the bright May sky. The temperature was in the upper eighties, a perfect day.

  A squeak of a laugh left her throat. Perfect? Far from it.

  Your father sold me your oil and gas royalties.

  Now what should she do?

  I’m taking it all. It’s just a matter of time.

  Not as long as she had breath in her body.

  She sat up and stared at the plum trees growing close to the creek, dried dewberry vines nestled beneath them. She and her sisters often got sick from eating too many sweet plums in the summer, and they’d gotten drunk a time or two sneaking Etta’s dewberry wine.

  Memories. High Five. A piece of her childhood.

  Her life.

  It seemed as if her father had reached out from the grave to try and still control her. He’d never understood her need to be a person in her own right and not a trophy on some man’s arm.

  The fight for independence probably began when she was small. Her great-grandfather, Elias Cotton, had had three daughters, and it was a woeful happenstance that God had given him daughters instead of sons to carry on the tradition of High Five.

  Dorothea, Caitlyn’s grandmother, had married Bartholomew Belle. Bart eventually bought out the sisters, and he and Dorie had run the ranch. After several miscarriages, they were blessed with a boy, Dane. All was aligned in the heavens. At last there was a son.

  But once again fate struck. Dane had the misfortune to produce daughters. It wasn’t for lack of trying. Dane and Meredith, Caitlyn’s mother, had been high school sweethearts. They broke up when Dane went off to college. Years later they met again and married, but it wasn’t meant to be. Meredith died giving birth to Caitlyn.

  He didn’t grieve for long. Six months later he’d married Audrey, but again the marriage didn’t last. Audrey was very religious and didn’t take to Dane’s gambling trips to Vegas and Atlantic City, or to his weekly poker games with his buddies. A year later she moved out with her newborn daughter, Madison.

  Dane met Julia, Skylar’s mother, in Vegas, and felt he’d finally met the woman for him. Julia was from a Kentucky horse family, so it had to be a match made in heaven. It wasn’t. Although Julia knew Dane’s bad habits, she didn’t enjoy living with them on a daily basis. After two years, she’d packed her things, including her baby daughter, and left.

  Three wives. Two divorces. And three daughters, all with different mothers. After the third wife, Dane gave up and accepted his fate. Without sons, High Five was doomed.

  Cait had heard that all her life and didn’t understand it. She’d told her father many times that she could run High Five as well as any man. That always brought on a sermon about how a woman’s place was in the home, producing heirs.

  That stung like a rope burn. But nothing had ever changed her father’s thinking.

  Then she’d fallen hard for Judd, to the point that all she could see was his dark eyes, all she could feel was excitement when he looked at her. He was three years older, more experienced and more man than she’d ever met before.

  Judd was popular in school, but he never glanced her way. Then one summer Renee threw a party and the Belle daughters were invited. Judd asked her to dance and Caitlyn thought she was in heaven.

  After that, they met often, and before long heated kisses were taking her places she’d never been before. She was so in love that she never questioned Judd’s love or his attention.

  He had a power about him that frightened and attracted her at the same time. When she was around him she couldn’t think. All she could do was feel.

  And that caused her to fall right into her father’s plan. Marrying Judd would unite two powerful ranching families, and High Five would continue to prosper.

  Cait was prepared to fulfill her duty. She loved Judd and wanted to spend her life with him. Her first year in college was fun, but nothing was more exciting than rushing home to spend a weekend in his arms. It was bliss. It was perfect.

  Then Dane had said there was no need for her to return to school in the fall, that doing so would be a waste of money. She needed to focus on Judd, a home and babies. They’d had words, and she’d run to Judd, wanting him to take her side.

  But he hadn’t. He didn’t understand her viewpoint. Why wouldn’t she want to think about a home for them and babies? he’d practically shouted. That’s what a married woman should want.

  In that instant Cait saw her future. She would be like his mother, Renee, ruled by her domineering husband. She would decorate his home, serve his dinner guests, warm his bed and produce child
ren. As Judd’s trophy wife, she would want for nothing. Except being treated as an equal.

  Caitlyn made the toughest decision of her life in a heartbeat. Taking off her engagement ring, she’d said, “I can’t marry you. I can’t marry a man who doesn’t respect me as a woman.”

  She waited for the magic words, his profession of love and respect, but they never came. He slipped her beautiful ring into his jeans pocket and walked out of the room. Her heart broke, but she held it all inside.

  Her father wouldn’t speak to her for six months. Judd spoke to her for the first time today. But she’d gotten that education and she’d traveled. In the end, it brought her home to High Five.

  Her grandfather had passed on and Gran had grown older. Cait was needed at home. Her father was gambling heavily and the ranch was neglected and in disrepair.

  Cait had a degree in agriculture management and worked her butt off to keep High Five afloat, but her father’s debts were slowly taking them under.

  Then they got the news: Dane had lung cancer and was given mere weeks to live. Cait was blindsided by grief, love and anger. Through it all she was determined to prove to him she could be the son he’d always wanted.

  Sadly, he never saw her as a competent woman and rancher—only a beautiful daughter who needed a husband.

  Lying in the grass, remembering, Caitlyn glanced toward the sky. “You never gave me a chance. And now…”

  Tears stung the back of her eyes, but she refused to shed a single one. No one was taking High Five, especially not Judd.

  Reaching for Red’s reins, she stood. In a flash, she was headed back to the ranch. She had to call her sisters. Maybe together they could save their home.

  But the ranch wasn’t Madison’s or Skylar’s home. They’d been raised by their mothers, and spent only summers and a week at Christmas here. Cait had always looked forward to those times. Back then money hadn’t been a problem and their father had spoiled them terribly, giving them anything they’d wanted. But their best times had been just being together as sisters, racing their horses and exploring all the special places on the High Five ranch. It was always sad when the others left to return home for school in the fall.