Kathy DeNosky - llegitimate Heirs 03 - Reunion of Revenge.pdf

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Reunion of Revenge
Kathy DeNosky
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Epilogue
From the desk of Emerald Larson, owner and CEO of Emerald, Inc.
To: My personal assistant, Luther Freemont
Re: My grandson Nick Daniels
My grandson, Nick, will be leaving at the end of the week to take over running the
Sugar Creek Cattle Company in Wyoming. Please be advised that he won‟t be
particularly happy when he discovers that his ranch foreman is the woman he was
to have married thirteen years ago. To ensure the success of my plan and to avoid
the fallout of his displeasure, I am instructing you to intercept all calls from him
until further notice.
As always I am relying on your complete discretion in this matter.
Emerald Larson
One
“D rop that roll of wire and back away from your truck.”
Nick Daniels took a deep breath and tried to ignore the jolt of awareness that shot
from the top of his head all the way to his feet. It had been thirteen long years since
he‟d heard that soft, feminine voice. But if he lived to be a hundred, he knew he‟d
recognize it anywhere, anytime. The melodic sound had haunted his dreams and
left his body aching with unfathomable need too many nights for him to ever
forget.
“I told you to put that down and step away from the truck.”
At the sound of a shotgun being pumped, Nick slowly lowered the coil of barbed
wire to the tailgate of his new truck and raised his gloved hands to show he was
complying with her command. Then, turning to face the reason he‟d
left Wyoming one step ahead of the law, he smiled sardonically. “It‟s been a long
time, Cheyenne.”
The widening of her eyes and the slight wavering of the double-barrel shotgun she
pointed at him were the only indications that she was the least bit surprised to see
him after all this time. “I don‟t know what you think you‟re doing out here, Nick
Daniels, but I‟d advise you to get in your truck and go back to wherever you came
from. Otherwise, I‟ll call the law.”
He took a deep breath as he stared at her. Damned if she wasn‟t more beautiful now
than she‟d been at sixteen. Her long brown hair, streaked with golden highlights,
complemented the healthy glow of her sun-kissed skin and her aqua-green eyes to
perfection.
His gaze drifted lower. Her pink tank top caressed her torso, fascinating the hell out
of him and giving him more than a fair idea about the size and shape of her breasts.
He swallowed hard as his gaze drifted even lower. She‟d always been a knockout in
a pair of jeans, but the well-worn denim hugged her hips and thighs like a second
skin and emphasized how long and shapely her legs were.
He diverted his gaze back to the gun in her hands. He‟d do well to forget how good
she looked after all this time and concentrate on the fact that she was ready to blow
his ass to kingdom come.
“Go ahead and call the sheriff. Last time I heard, it wasn‟t against the law for a man
to mend a fence on his own property.”
“It‟s not your land. It belongs to the Sugar Creek Cattle Company. And you‟re
trespassing.”
He shook his head as he took a step toward her. “No, I‟m not.”
“I swear I‟ll shoot you if you don‟t stop right there, Nick.”
“That wouldn‟t be very neighborly of you, sweetheart.”
“Don‟t call me that.” She released the safety on the shotgun when he moved
forward.
From the sharp edge he‟d heard in her voice, he knew he‟d hit a nerve. He inched a
little closer. “You used to like when I called you sweetheart.”
She shook her head. “That‟s past history. Now, get in your truck and disappear like
you did thirteen years ago.”
“Why would I want to do that? This is my home.” With the gun barrel still pointed
at the middle of his chest, he wisely chose not to point out that her father had been
behind his disappearing act back then, or that he was damned tired of a Holbrook
trying to run him off his own land. “If you‟ll remember, the Sugar Creek ranch has
been in my family for over a hundred and twenty-five years.”
“If you‟ll remember, you gave up the right to this land a long time ago.” Was that
bitterness he detected in her voice?
“That‟s where you‟re wrong, Cheyenne.” Easing forward a bit more, he was almost
close enough to reach the shotgun. “I still own this place, lock, stock…” He lunged
forward and, grabbing the shotgun, shoved it away with one hand at the same time
he reached out to wrap his arm around her waist. “…and barrel,” he finished,
pulling her to him.
“Turn me loose.” She pushed at his chest as she tried to wiggle from his grasp.
“Not until we get a few things straight.” The feel of her soft body squirming against
his was heaven and hell rolled into one shapely little five-foot-two-inch package.
He did his best to ignore it. “When you point a gun at a man, you‟d better be
prepared to use it, sweetheart.”
“I was.” She sounded breathless and if he didn‟t know better, he‟d swear he felt a
slight tremor pass through her.
Shaking his head as much in answer to her statement as in an attempt to clear his
mind, he whispered close to her ear, “You and I both know you could never shoot
me, Cheyenne.”
“Let me have my gun back…and I‟ll show you.” There was no doubt that she
shivered against him this time.
He couldn‟t resist teasing the side of her neck with his lips. “Not until you calm
down.”
Her labored breathing quickly reminded him of the changes in her body since the
last time he‟d held her. At sixteen, Cheyenne Holbrook had had a figure that sent
his hormones racing around like the steel bearings in a pinball machine. But that
had only been a hint of the woman she would become. Her breasts were fuller now
and her hips had a slight flare that promised to cradle a man and take him to
paradise when he sank himself deep inside her.
When his lower body tightened, he cursed himself as the biggest fool God ever
blessed with the breath of life. He wasn‟t an eighteen-year-old kid anymore. He
was a thirty-one-year-old man and should have mastered at least a modicum of
restraint.
“Turn me loose.”
When she pushed against him this time, he let her go, but held on to the gun. He
shook his head when she reached for it. “I‟ll hang on to this for a while longer.”
“Suit yourself.” She reached for the cell phone clipped to her belt. “It‟s not going to
stop me from calling Sheriff Turner and having you arrested for trespassing.”
“You do that.”
Her finger hovered over the phone‟s dial pad as she glanced up at him. “You aren‟t
worried about being arrested?”
“Why should I be? I own the Sugar Creek.” He shrugged as he placed the shotgun
on the tailgate of his truck, well out of her reach. “You, on the other hand, are on
my land.” He stopped short of adding that her father and the sheriff would have a
hell of a time getting him to leave again.
“I don‟t think so.” She impatiently brushed a silky strand of hair from her cheek as
she glared at him. “Emerald, Inc. is the corporation that bought your ranch after
you and your mother left.”
“The hell you say.” He removed his leather work gloves, then, tucking them into
the waistband of his jeans, he folded his arms across his chest. “And just how
would you know that?”
She looked hesitant a moment before taking a deep breath and defiantly looking
him square in the eye. “I‟m the foreman of the Sugar Creek Cattle Company. Don‟t
you think I‟d know who my employer is?”
Nick couldn‟t believe it. Cheyenne‟s father, the judge, had actually allowed his
precious daughter to work? And at a job where she might actually get her hands
dirty? Interesting.
It appeared that Emerald Larson had omitted a couple of important details when she
told him she was his grandmother and gave him back the ranch. She‟d explained
her reasoning behind having his mother sign documents stating that the identity of
his father would remain a secret until she deemed he was ready to learn the truth.
She‟d even solved the mystery of who had tipped his mother off about his
impending arrest the night they left Wyoming when she told him that she‟d had a
private investigator reporting his every move from the time he was born. But she
hadn‟t mentioned anything about Cheyenne Holbrook being the ranch foreman.
And as soon as he went back to the house, he was going to call Wichita and find
out what other surprises the old gal had in store for him.
“I know this is going to come as a shock to you, but I really am the owner of this
spread,” Nick said.

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