A Man to Call My Own

Chapter 47

EVERYONE WAS FULL OF suggestions that night at dinner—everyone who wasn't directly involved. Even Stuart got into the discussion and was heard to remark on the side to his son that he hadn't had so much fun in years.

The cattle baron was all for rounding up a posse and lynching the shyster lawyer, as he was already referring to Albert Bridges. Of course, with Albert living on the East Coast, that would be a bit far to drag a posse. And besides, though there was no doubt in any of their minds now that Albert had stolen the inheritance from the girls, it had to be proven to the authorities before anything could be done about it.

The forged accounting wouldn't do it. Albert could claim he hadn't sent it or the letter. And the properties might not even have been sold. He could be taking his time about that to get the best prices.

Obviously, he must have hoped his letter would be the end of it. He'd made sure the girls were far from home first, using the excuse that he hadn't had the guts to tell them in person. And with them both thinking they were now destitute, he probably figured they wouldn't be able to return to Haverhill to find out what he'd done. Or he could have sold everything and run off with the money. He could be out of the country already for all they knew.

And that was the bottom line. They wouldn't know, not without hiring detectives—or investigating themselves. And Amanda wasn't about to leave her inheritance in the hands of detectives.

"How soon can we leave?" Amanda asked her aunt.

"We?" Kathleen replied. "Shouldn't you be asking your husband that?"

Amanda waved a hand dismissively. "He's not going, has no interest at all in helping me."

Several pairs of eyes turned toward Spencer, but he just shrugged indifferently, and said, "I keep telling her that she doesn't need that money now. But she thinks it will give her the means to get rid of me."

Amanda actually blushed. Marian found that more interesting than Spencer's lack of desire to travel back East. Did Amanda just not want everyone to know that she still wanted out of her marriage? That didn't sound like something that would make Amanda blush, unless it wasn't really true. If it was true, she wouldn't care who knew. But if it was something she'd only said to Spencer, and hadn't really meant it, she wouldn't have wanted it brought to light.

Amanda said a lot of things without really meaning them. It was one of her tools for manipulating people. There could be more than a few reasons why she'd want Spencer to think she wasn't pleased with their marriage. The obvious one being that she wasn't pleased with it. The less obvious one could be because he wasn't showing signs of liking it. She could also be trying to force him to make a firm declaration of his feelings. His apparent indifference toward her was probably annoying the hell out of Amanda.

Surprisingly, it was Stuart who spoke up, reminding them, "Whether she needs her inheritance or not, the shyster shouldn't be allowed to get away with the theft. That's no different than handing over your reins to a horse thief and telling him, I didn't like that horse anyway, so you're welcome to him."

"I'm in agreement with that," Kathleen put in next. "It's not so much the money involved as it is the audacity of this lawyer fellow. He pulled his deception on me, and I admit I fell for it. He was probably thinking the girls wouldn't make head nor tails of that accounting he sent, young as they are. The entire thing was for me, to fool me into believing it. And it infuriates me that it worked so easily. I had no doubts at all."

"It ain't your fault, Red," Stuart mumbled. "It looked all legal-like, and you haven't seen your brother in years, to know any better."

"Then you'll come with us, Aunt Kathleen?" Amanda asked again.

"Oh, yes, I wouldn't miss it,"

"But what about your responsibilities here?" Marian questioned, not wanting her aunt to suffer another setback on their account.

"Lonny's capable of running the ranch for me for a few months, thanks to Chad's teaching him," Kathleen replied, then she chuckled at Chad. "No, I wasn't going to ask you to take over here again till I get back."

"I can even pay for the trip," Amanda added, bringing all eyes back to her. "Well, don't look so surprised. I will be getting my inheritance back."

"I thought you lost all your travel money in a train robbery on the way here," Stuart remarked, then chuckled. "Stage lines don't sell tickets on promises, they want cash up front."

"I know that," Amanda huffed. "I got all my money back when that Leroy fellow brought those train robbers in. They hadn't spent any of their loot yet. They'd just been lying low, as the sheriff put it, and Leroy brought the money in with the robbers rather than keeping it for himself."

"Leroy might be a mean old cuss, but he's honest," Stuart put in.

"He got a nice little reward for his efforts, and I got my money returned to me," Amanda continued. "All because of one of my sister's silly paintings—well, this one wasn't so silly, actually."

Every eye turned toward Marian, which accounted for the bright color rushing up her cheeks. "It was Aunt Kathleen's idea," she explained.

"And a good one." Kathleen nodded with a grin. "But then Marian has an amazing talent for painting, and just from memory. Absolutely remarkable."

The blush got worse, especially when Chad said, "Anything on hand we can see?"

"No," Marian mumbled, causing him to frown.

But Amanda had lost her audience and wanted it back. "So it's settled then?" she said to Kathleen. "You'll accompany us so I don't need my husband along?"

Kathleen coughed over the slur intended for Spencer, but she replied, "Yes, I'll start packing tonight. We can head back to town in the morning with you."

Apparently, Spencer wasn't going to ignore the slur, and decided to be ornery in pointing out, "I believe you need my permission before you go anywhere, wife."

"Like hell—!" Amanda started to snarl.

"Now, now," Stuart cut in to prevent the rant. "There are still some things about this whole mess that bother me, with everything that's been mentioned."

"Like what?" Kathleen asked.

"This whole scheme was a really bold thing for a lawyer to do."

"Or desperate," Chad suggested.

"That's what I was thinking," Stuart said. "Makes me wonder if Bridges wasn't the anonymous buyer their pa kept running into. If he was, and he'd have the information firsthand, of which properties their pa was after, Bridges could have ended up going broke in his scheme to get rich quick. So I have to ask, was your pa's death merely convenient for him? How did he die?"

He was looking at Marian for an answer, and she was afraid she knew what he was getting at. "He fell off a train on his way home."

"Fell? Or maybe he was pushed ..."

With Amanda blanching upon hearing that speculation, Spencer lost his indifference, and said quickly, "All right, we'll leave tomorrow, Mandy."

"Now hold on," Stuart said, having gained the response he'd prodded for. "The stage doesn't leave for another two days, unless you plan to ride your carriage out of town, so you all might as well travel with me. I keep a private train car in Kansas for my trips north. Unless you think going by ship would be quicker."

"Sea travel doesn't agree with me," Spencer replied. "As I found to my misery when my pa sent me back East. So we'll be glad to take you up on that offer." That quickly it was decided they'd all be traveling to Haverhill together. Well, Stuart would probably go no farther than Chicago. And Chad wasn't going at all. He had no reason to, no reason at all.

Marian was already feeling his absence.