LoversFeud (12 page)

It surprised her to learn the first Cadens to settle the Bar C had had two sons, Luke and the first Byron. Luke had been the older one, but he’d died young, while Byron had married a neighbor woman and consolidated her land with his. A quick look through the Caden family tree let her know that with every generation, the Bar C had grown larger when the current owner or heir—always a Byron, like Bye—had married the widow or daughter of a neighboring rancher.

It was odd, she thought as she was driving home later, that none of the Byron Cadens through the years had ever produced more than one son.
At least, they hadn’t produced more than one legitimate heir
, she amended, thinking of Jack Duval. Karen was more determined than ever to find out about her own family’s history when she drove by that old cabin. She had a feeling the place might give some hints as to the Oakleys who first came to these parts—and what had happened to make them pariahs to the Cadens and almost everybody else in the community. What she wasn’t looking forward to was chasing the varmints out of the tumble-down place where she imagined the first owner of the Rocking O might have lived.

* * * * *

After practically dragging his sister out of The Corral, Bye didn’t say a word to her until he pulled to a stop in front of their house. “You can’t just go running off and baiting guys so your bodyguards will feel like they have to step in and assault them.”

Deidre turned to Bye. “You don’t need to be a jerk. You should have let Travis and Frank tear Jack limb from limb. It would have served him right for letting me think he was interested in me.”

“I want you to promise me you won’t go anywhere with those two again. I don’t trust either of them, particularly Travis.” Bye intended to make sure the two cowhands knew Deidre was off limits with a degree of clarity they couldn’t possibly mistake, but it didn’t hurt to exact a promise from his little sister. Deidre had obviously taken the news about Jack harder than Bye had first thought. It didn’t help that her best friend—her only female friend, actually—had been their mom, and she was gone.

“No. I’m tired of being a goody two shoes. Mom’s gone and Daddy doesn’t care what I do. I’m going to get a membership at the Neon Lasso and see how many guys I can fuck. Don’t you try to stop me.”

“Deidre. You don’t mean that.”

She looked at him, her eyes flashing with defiance. “Tom St. George said he saw one of the Bar C’s Cessnas on the airstrip over there. I can’t imagine anybody but you with the balls to take one of the planes to go and play sex games.”

Shit. Normally Bye drove, because the club was hardly fifty miles away from home. The Bar C’s staff engineer must have happened in the place the one night he’d stopped by on the way back from picking up a part in Fort Worth. “Did you ever think I might have stopped by the club for a Coke?”

“Hardly.” Deidre’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “If you were there, you were fucking somebody. Why the hell shouldn’t I follow in your footsteps? I spent the first eighteen years of my life with you and Mom watching over me as though I were some fairy princess, and the next four practically locked up at that fancy girls’ school where the housemothers were almost as bad. I’m fucking through with being what everybody expects because I’m Byron Caden’s little girl, and I don’t care what you or he say. I won’t sic the boys on Jack again, but I’m glad I did. The bastard—” She laughed, a tightly wound sound that worried Bye more than he’d already been worried about her. “He is that, isn’t he? He deserved what he got. More.”

“Stop it. Nobody’s saying you have to sit up on some pedestal. Think, though. Mom would turn over in her grave if she knew you were talking this way. You may think Four doesn’t care, but I guarantee he’ll clamp down hard on you if you start actin’ like a slut. Not that I think women who play at the Neon Lasso are necessarily that, mind you. A lot of them play until they find one special lover and then play only with him. I just don’t want my little sister doing it.”

“Fuck you, Bye. You not only play at that sex club, you risk getting yourself tossed off the Bar C for screwing around with Karen Oakley, if what I’ve heard is true. You know damn well the Oakleys are all trash.”

How the hell did Deidre know about him and Karen, and how much did she know? He’d have to have more words than he’d already planned for her buddies Frank and Travis. “What makes you think I’m involved with Karen? By the way, she’s hardly trash. And she certainly wouldn’t start fights at The Corral by acting like a spoiled brat.”

“So you are fucking her. Admit it. Leave me the hell alone or I’ll tell Daddy.”

“I didn’t say I was. You shouldn’t be accusing people unless you’ve got proof. Look, honey, I just want you to find a good guy who’ll love you to pieces, and most of the good ones you’d see at the Neon Lasso have picked out their own private playmates. You won’t find a guy in the Bar C’s bunkhouse either, for that matter, at least not one who’s halfway good enough for you.”

“Yes sir.”

“I mean it, Deidre. Stay away from trouble. Remember what Mom taught you.” He reached over and brushed a tear off her cheek. “I love you. All I want is for you to be happy.”

She looked up at him, sadness in her eyes. “I know you love me, Bye, and I love you. Just don’t try to dictate what I do with my life. There’s not much here for me now that Mom is gone. Maybe I’ll take up with Travis. He likes me well enough.” With that Deidre got out of Bye’s Porsche and went inside.

Chapter Eight

Bye had said he’d meet Karen at nine, but it was quarter after and he hadn’t shown up yet at the Neon Lasso. She was sitting at the bar with Cousin Buck, drinking bottled water and casually trying to find out what he knew about their mutual ancestors, when the Mexican ranch hand who’d brought her the line shack key walked in and handed her a folded note. “Señor Bye asked me to give you this,” Manuel said, lowering his head as though he was afraid somebody would see him here.

I won’t be making it tonight, baby. I’m sorry. Deidre disappeared an hour ago and everyone on the Bar C is out looking for her. Give me a rain check?

Karen looked at the reluctant messenger. “Tell señor Bye I’m disappointed and I hope everything works out okay. We’ll let him know if we see Miss Deidre.”

“
Sí
, I will tell him. I must go now.”

Once the guy left Buck laughed. “Your rich cowboy’s dissed you tonight, cousin. You don’t really believe he’s out looking for his prissy little sister, do you?”

“Yes, I do. Deidre was acting crazy in town this afternoon. I imagine she’s taking her mom’s death mighty hard.” Karen thought about telling Buck about Deidre’s cowboy bodyguards beating the hell out of Jack Duval before Bye had stopped the fight, but she figured that wasn’t something that needed gossiping about.

She looked around the playroom but didn’t see either of the Bar C cowhands who’d been involved in the fight—not that they were likely to be members here. Jack wasn’t here, either. She imagined him home nursing his cut lip and assorted bruises, too sore to even think about dominating anybody tonight. “You want to tell me more about your great-grandpa?”

Buck shook his head. I can’t figure why you give a damn about somebody who’s been dead for close to fifty years, but I’ll tell you what I remember my pa telling me. The first Slade Oakley was a crazy old coot, always stirrin’ up trouble and getting himself tossed in jail even more than your pa does now when he goes on a tear. My ol’ man told me he used to keep a still out in the woods on the Rockin’ O and make his own white lightning. Said that probably was what killed him, but I imagine it was more like old age, ’cause he was more than a hundred years old when he died.”

“He must have passed away when my pop was a kid.” Apparently most Oakleys married late and had their children even later.

“Yeah. My old man was at least twenty-five years older than your pa. Your grandpa was no spring chicken when Pa was born. The old guy buried five wives, but he didn’t have a kid who lived until he was nearly sixty. My grandma was wife number three. Yours was number four or five, I’m not sure which.”

So their ancestor had managed to kill off five women before he’d finally died when her father had been around eighteen. That hardly surprised Karen. After all, she’d grown up in the squalor and filth that was the Oakley homestead. She doubted her grandpa had placed any more importance on taking care of his family than Pop had, taking care of her after her mom had passed away.

“Not a very admirable guy, was he?” No wonder folks looked down on the whole family. That still didn’t explain the reason for the violent hatred the Oakley men had shown toward the Cadens, but it went a long way toward justifying the community’s disdain for all Oakleys.

The door sprang open and Bye strode in, his expression stormy—frightening. “She’s gone. You don’t happen to have her in one of those rooms upstairs, do you, Buck?”

Buck went for the pistol he kept behind the bar, but Karen stepped in front of Bye. “Deidre isn’t here, Bye. I’ve been here talking with Buck since before six o’clock, and she hasn’t been here. If you want, you can go upstairs and look for her.” She watched Bye’s fury turn to despair. “We can call you if she should come in later.”

“I’m sorry, Buck. It was just a wild guess. She told me she intended to come here.” His shoulders slumped uncharacteristically. “Her car is gone. I’m afraid she may have run off with one of the cowhands. The old man has already notified the Texas Rangers to be on the lookout for her car, and he’s questioning the guys in the bunkhouse to find out if anybody’s missing.”

Karen had no doubt there would be hell to pay if Byron Caden caught any of his employees playing around with his only daughter. Then she remembered the fight this afternoon. “Bye, could she possibly be with Jack Duval? He hasn’t been here tonight, and he usually comes in every night unless he has to be in court early the next day.”

“Jack would be the last guy Deidre would go to. At least I think so. I’ll go check with him, though.”

Karen turned to Buck. “I’ll go with Bye. He’ll bring me back here to get my car.”

“It’s your funeral if Slade finds out you’re with her,” Buck told Bye. “Good luck finding Deidre. If she comes here I’ll give Karen a call.”

* * * * *

A half hour later, Karen and Bye left a sleepy Jack. Bye believed him when he said he hadn’t seen Deidre since he’d been forcibly tossed out of The Corral earlier. They drove through town, looking for Deidre’s red Miata or any other sign of her.

“I’m calling home. Maybe Four has found out where she’s gone.”

Karen pressed her hand against his thigh. “Good idea. I’ll keep quiet.”

“Dad, any clues as to where she may have gone?”

Four sounded distraught. “I think she may have taken one of the ranch hands with her. You remember the big guy, Travis? He’s not in the bunkhouse and most of his gear is gone.”

“Fuck.” Not three hours ago Bye had warned that son of a bitch to stay away from Deidre. “Is Frank there? He and Travis hung around together. They were the guys who took Deidre in to The Corral this afternoon.”

“Frank is here. I’ve got Diego working on him now, persuading him it’s in his best interest to tell me anything he knows. Where have you looked?”

Persuading? Bye almost laughed at the understatement. He knew all about the burly Bar C foreman’s preferred means of persuasion. Frank would be minced up like chopped liver if he didn’t spill whatever he knew, maybe even if he did. “I’ve been to The Corral and the Neon Lasso. I’ve driven all over Caden, which doesn’t cover a lot of territory. I even stopped and made sure she hadn’t gone to Jack—your other son if you recall. Deidre was pretty pissed at him for not letting her know they couldn’t ever get together, as soon as he’d found out.” Bye didn’t mention the fight. There was no need to get Four any more agitated than he already was. “Do you want me to see if I can catch Deidre?”

“I would if I had any idea where she might be headed. I called Cathy in Houston, and she’ll let me know if Deidre gets in touch with her. Damn it, it isn’t as though we have a huge family. She has to contact somebody. Come on home.”

Home was the last place Bye wanted to go. “I think I’ll drop in again at the Neon Lasso. This has been a hell of a day. I need to unwind.” It wasn’t sex he needed as much as more time with Karen at his side, understanding and sharing his fears for Deidre. “Call me if you get any information and want me to go chase after my sister. I’m afraid for her if she’s with Travis. I’ve always thought the guy was edgy as hell.”

“Go ahead and blame me for taking him on. I’m already blaming myself. It’s not easy to hire good help these days. When I find the bastard, though, he’s going to wish he was never born. Go on, unwind a little. I’ll see you when you get home.” Bye could imagine his father’s fists clenched, his face red with rage. Four sounded as stressed as Bye had ever heard him.

He looked over at Karen after shutting off the phone. “How’d you like to go to the line shack instead of the Neon Lasso? I’m not in a mood to play, and I doubt you are, either.” He hesitated, willing to give her the chance to refuse. When she nodded, he turned and headed onto a private road on the Bar C that led to the rustic cabin where she’d comforted him twice before.

* * * * *

A bright, full moon reflected off Bye’s silver Porsche as he helped Karen out of the car in front of the line shack and fit the key into the door. “Somebody’s likely to see your car here,” she said, a little unnerved by his casual attitude toward the possibility of them getting caught.

He bent and silenced her with a long, hard kiss. “Don’t worry. I’m not. Deidre is the one everybody on the Bar C will be trying to find tonight, and they’ve already combed over every inch of the ranch. Thank you for keeping me halfway sane while we were driving around, looking for her.”

“I was glad to go with you.” That was an understatement. Karen loved being with Bye, even though every time they were together they risked fueling the feud. That reminded her she wanted to ask him if he had any idea how the Cadens and Oakleys had managed to become mortal enemies. “Before you got to the Neon Lasso tonight, I was talking with Buck about the feud. He doesn’t seem to know anything about it, beyond the fact that our mutual grandfather was a drunk who made white lightning and hated everybody named Caden.”