A Man to Call My Own

Chapter 46

KATHLEEN HAD ONLY BEEN joking, about having Albert Bridges's letter delivered to Amanda after she and Marian had left town. Their aunt wasn't the coward Albert had turned out to be. She sent over an invitation for the newly wedded couple to join them for dinner that night at Chad's house. Oddly, though, both declined.

Not so odd actually. Saturday night was the biggest night for business at the Not Here Saloon. And as it happened, Amanda was turning out to be the star attraction of the place, not in an entertainment capacity—well, that would depend how you looked at it. But just being her catty, sharp-tongued self, she'd been responsible for bigger than normal crowds all week. And just by doing what she was good at —insulting admirers in whom she wasn't interested.

Amazing as it seemed, apparently born-and-bred Texans found her insults amusing. It didn't hiatter that they knew she was a married woman now, men were still flocking to her, flirting with her, going out of their way to gain her attention, listening to her every word. And no one took offense when she cut some cowboy to the quick. The crowd would roar with laughter—even the men who were insulted took it as a compliment that she'd singled them out.

Amanda really had fit right in to this risque night life. And by all accounts, she was having fun being the belle of a saloon. Spencer would see it as a boon for business, so he wasn't complaining.

Marian marveled when she heard all this that night at dinner. Kathleen had made the rounds that afternoon to pick up the latest gossip, so she wasn't surprised that they were eating alone that night.

"It's not the sort of life I would have wanted for one of my nieces, but in Amanda's case, it seems to be just the sort of environment she can thrive in."

"Yes, but I wonder if that's occurred to her yet, or if she's still devoting her energies to going 'home,' " Marian replied.

Chad hadn't said much yet. Even the news about the lost inheritance hadn't raised his brow. Of course, their inheritance had nothing to do with him, now that Amanda couldn't be his. Not that he'd probably been interested in it to begin with, when he was heir to the biggest cattle spread in the area.

He did seem somewhat distracted that night. Still nursing a broken heart? Possibly. He'd get no sympathy from her. He certainly wasn't showing her any for her new loss.

"I'll go over to the saloon in the morning after church, before we head out," Kathleen said.

"They'll still be sleeping," Chad remarked.

"Then they'll just have to wake up," Kathleen replied. "I really hate being the bearer of bad news, but I don't exactly have a choice here."

"Want me to handle it?" Chad suggested.

Oh, sure, he was jumping at a chance to see Amanda again, Marian thought in disgust. Kathleen even gave his suggestion some thought, but then she shook her head.

"No, it's my responsibility." And then Kathleen grinned. "I'll just allow myself barely enough time to say what needs saying before I have to leave to get home by dark. Then I can avoid most of the tantrum."

As it happened, there was no tantrum. Amanda took the news as a joke at first. Granted, she was barely awake when she heard it. When Kathleen averred that it was true, she went into shock, barely said anything else.

Marian was skeptical about her sister's being in shock, when it was typical of Amanda simply to ignore things that she didn't like. It was a greater possibility that she simply refused to believe her inheritance was gone.

Kathleen left the letter with Spencer. It would be up to him to make his wife understand the consequences of it—if he cared to bother. Like Chad, he didn't particularly see it as a disaster, so he might not bother.

He must have explained the situation to Amanda, though, because he brought her out to the Twisting Barb the very next day. And tantrum didn't come close to describing Amanda's "enlightened" reaction.

Stuart and Chad were also there. Stuart had gotten a lot more friendly with Red during the barbecue and had stopped by that afternoon to let her know he was leaving on a trip to Chicago in a few days. Actually, he'd just stopped by for dinner, since he could have sent one of his men over with the message about his trip. Although he no longer escorted his cattle to Chicago, he did go there once a year to wine and dine the buyers. Chad had merely come along for the ride, Marian assumed.

But they were all on the porch enjoying the sunset that evening when Amanda and Spencer arrived right before dark. And Amanda was barely out of the carriage, Albert's letter twisted in her fist, before she was screeching at Kathleen, "This is a pack of lies!"

Marian couldn't help but sigh. She wondered if anyone would notice if she just slipped away, grabbed an early dinner, and retired for the night. She really didn't want to have to listen to her sister's enraged disbelief. Of course, she'd probably have to close all the windows in her room to avoid hearing it. Amanda could get that loud.

Kathleen tried to inject a note of calm. "Sit down, Amanda. We understand your disbelief. I found it incredible myself, that Mortimer could make so many bad decisions, one on top of another."

"Then you should have known better than to accept this rubbish without—"

"Proof?" Kathleen interrupted, still trying for calm. "You're holding the proof. A full accounting was included, or did you neglect to read it?"

Amanda snorted. "You mean this forged account? You aren't listening, Aunt Kathleen. I'm not here because I refuse to believe what this letter implies. I'm here because I know this isn't true. My God, do you think Papa never talked to me? I'm the one he shared all of his successes with, whether I cared to hear them or not."

"Perhaps, but did he ever share his failures?" Kathleen replied. "Or did he keep those to himself, too ashamed of them to let anyone know?"

"You still aren't listening," Amanda insisted. "His businesses were booming. They paid for themselves. There were no hidden costs to drain his wealth."

"Too many improvements can overextend anyone. He did too much in too short a time."

"No—he—didn't!" Amanda exclaimed. "That's where your misconception lies. If you knew him like you think you do, you'd know he was too satisfied with his profits to waste them on improving the working conditions of his employees. But of course you hadn't seen him in years, so how would you know?" Amanda ended with a sneer.

"I was making reference to the facts given," Kathleen replied stiffly.

"I'm giving you the facts. If his employees didn't like where they worked, they could go work somewhere else. I've heard him say that hundreds of times. Even Marian has heard him say that. And why not, when he had people lined up to work for him because he paid so well, not because he supplied ideal working conditions. He opened only one new shoe store in the last several years, and that was only because a new cobbler had moved in on the other side of town, and Papa wasn't about to let him steal any of his longtime customers. And even that store was thriving."

Kathleen must have finally experienced some doubt, because she turned to Marian for confirmation. Marian hated agreeing with her sister about anything, but in this case she was forced to nod.

"Its true he said that a lot," she remarked. "He did pay his employees extremely well, and because of that, he really didn't care if they complained that his stores were old and drafty. His philosophy was that people would always need new shoes, no matter where they had to go to buy them. I don't recall him improving any of his existing stores either, not that I would have noticed, since I didn't get to that part of town often."

"I did," Amanda added. "And they were just the same as always."

"There were still new property purchases that didn't turn out as he expected," Kathleen pointed out. "And he borrowed heavily to compensate."

"Why would he have borrowed money? He had more than seven hundred thousand dollars sitting in the bank. But if you are referring to the property listed in this accounting"—Amanda raised the letter in her fist for emphasis—"I happen to know at least one of these, the Owl Roost Hotel, Papa didn't buy at all. He was going to. And Albert would have known that. He was his lawyer after all. But someone else put in a higher offer on diat hotel, and Papa wasn't willing to top it. It was in a town that didn't get a lot of visitors, and while it was a good deal at the original price, it wasn't at the higher price. Papa didn't buy property to speculate—"

"She's right," Marian cut in with a gasp as the memory stirred. "I remember that incident now. Papa laughed about it at the dinner table, that someone was trying to ride on his coattails to success, but they were only cutting their own throat by overpaying instead of finding good deals. It apparently wasn't the first time an anonymous buyer went after one of the properties he was interested in. A few months later he was patting himself on the back because the foolish buyer was still at it, and Papa had started showing interest in properties he knew weren't good deals, just to help the person dig his own grave. Papa could be vindictive like that, as long as it didn't put a dent in his own pocket."

Kathleen was staring at her incredulously. She was rather incredulous herself as all the implications sank in. Amanda gave them both a triumphant look.

Of course, that wasn't enough for Amanda. She just had to say, "I told you so," too.