The Cattleman (Sons of Texas Book 2) (36 page)

His brother’s head lowered. After a pause, he said, “Yeah. Lost years.”

“I wasn’t criticizing. I guess we all have to find our own way of growing up. I admit I was a dumb kid when I married Lucianne. I just don’t want to be dumb adult now. So how about it? You know Mandy. Do you think I really need one of those prenuptial agreements?”

Drake’s mo
uth quirked. “We never know anybody as well as we think we do. And unfortunately, we can’t know what the future holds. A pre-nup is no big deal, really. It’s document based on mutual trust. It can never be perfect, but the most important part of it is, in the event of divorce, no one gets killed. A messy divorce and demands on the ranch could throw things into chaos for the whole family.

“
You have to work out the details between you. Negotiate, even. You’re talking about a partner for life and the mother of your children if you’re going to have any. Don’t forget that the way things are set up, if you do have kids, they become automatic heirs to the Double Bar L Cattle Company. If Mandy is the one you’ve chosen to be their mother, you have to approach it as if it’s going to last forever. But the agreement is to make life easier in case it doesn’t. For her and your kids as well as you. Just remember, after the smoke all clears, it’s a contract and any contract is only as good as the people who make it. Somebody can always find a reason to go to court.”

Pic shook his head, nervous again. “God, I just don’t know, Drake. How did everything get to be so damn complicated?”

Drake leaned forward, his forearms braced on his thighs. “Look, Pic. it’s not that complicated. It’s not like you’re asking a woman to cut off her arm. All you’re doing is asking her to respect what generations before us built. You can agree to give Mandy anything you want to out of your personal capital. But the corporation and the ranch have to be protected. It’s that simple.”

For the next half hour, they discussed the possibilities in a pre-nuptial agreement. “After you figured it out
with Shannon, how did you handle it?” Pic asked.

“I tried to be cool about it, but I was nervous as hell. I didn’t even bring it up until after
she said she would marry me. And I didn’t demand that she agree to it right away. Or at all. As it turned out, coming to an understanding about the family corporation was a non-issue. She has an innate sense of fairness.”

“So she signed an agreement like that, then?”

Drake’s shoulders lifted in a shrug. “Shannon’s a professional in a business where she’s seen the unexpected things that can happen when people divorce or die.” Smiling, he, too leaned forward. “The truth is, Little Brother, if we hadn’t been able to work it out and she hadn’t married me, I would’ve been an extremely unhappy guy. With the baby, both of our lives would’ve been a mess from now on. I would’ve insisted on being part of my kid’s life. Without a marriage license, we could’ve had all kinds of shitty problems. I know a few guys caught in that nightmare.”

Of all the things Pic and his brother had discussed over time, having kids wasn’t one of them. He, too, smiled. “I had no idea you felt that way about kids.”

“Neither did I. But when you’re suddenly faced with the fact that you’ve made one, things change somehow. I can’t explain it. This whole thing with Shannon and the baby has made me a different person. And I’m happy about it, by the way.”

“But how did you go about discussing it with her?”

“We went down to the coast, had dinner at a quiet restaurant. Over dessert, I handed her the agreement I had already signed. It showed her in writing what I had planned for our future and what I was willing to contribute. It was a generous blueprint. Apparently more than she expected.”

“You didn’t talk about the details?”

“Sure, we did. I even told her to take it to her lawyer.”

“Did she?”

“I don’t know. She’s never told me and I haven’t asked. I’d like to know, but I’ll never ask.”

Pic nodded. “Actually, Mandy’s got a lawyer. She had to hire somebody after her dad died to do the probate. I’m not sure, but I think she might have gone back to see him when she thought Mom really might cause her to lose her job.”

“She was thinking about suing? God, I would’ve hated if it that had happened.”

“You can’t blame her, Drake. But she’s getting over it. She didn’t get canned, so that fire has died down.”

“Thank God.”

“I just don’t know how I could ask Mandy to sign something like that. She’s my best friend. I’d trust her with my life. I don’t want her to think I care more about money than I do her.”

“Pic, Texas is a community property state. The way things are nowadays, it’s not logical that any of us—me, you, Kate or Troy—would not require a pre-marriage contract. The family’s holdings have to be protected.”

“Every time I think about talking to her about it, I get nervous.”

“You’ve known her your whole life. You’ve been together more than two years this time around. You should be able to sit down and talk about your financial future. I know you’re not a big spender, but if you’ve got money, it’s a part of who you are.”

Dollar signs raced through Pic’s mind. Indeed, he had a few dollars that were his alone. On the surface, he thought money didn’t mean that much to him, but then, he had never lived without it. And after what he had already been through, being forced to sell land or cattle to settle a divorce wasn’t a pleasant picture. “Guess you can’t put it in a closet and pretend it doesn’t exist, can you?”

“Not if you’re a Lockhart. It’s part of the equation and no one who’s sane can be unconscious of it. Besides, Mandy already knows most of the family secrets. She knows Lucianne put a dent in your trust fund and she’s heard the family bitch about it. She’s a sensible and honest person. I’d bet she’d understand why you feel so anxious.”

“I dunno. Maybe. But it seems so cold.”

“I get that. But that’s life.”

Pic shook his head, nervous again. He glanced at his watch. It was after ten o’clock. “I better hit the road. Gotta get up early.” He got to his feet. “Thanks for taking the time for this talk. I know you’re busy.”

“You’re my little brother. I’m never too busy.”

They strolled to the front door where Shannon met them with Pic’s cap. Drake looped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to him. “Mandy will understand, Pic. I’m sure she trusts you as much as you trust her. A partner you can trust
is a joy in life. You should marry her and take her to the ranch to live. You’ll both be happier and your lives will be easier all around. And that’s my opinion.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m thinking about it. Did you decide to come down tomorrow?”

“Looks like we’re going to.” He looked down at his wife. She wrapped her arms around his middle and smiled up at him. Pic watched his big brother melt right before his eyes. “My beautiful spouse is pushing me into it,” he said. “But I’ll be fully armored.”

Chapter 22

On the way home, Mandy’s image and how he would approach her filled Pic’s thoughts. Drake had cleared some of the fog all right. A prenuptial agreement wasn’t romantic, but Pic’s logical mind knew it was necessary. After what had happened in his first go-round with matrimony, it made no sense that he would marry again without such an agreement, even to Mandy. She would understand. She was the most understanding person he had ever known.

On the other hand, she was a woman. Occasionally she fooled him and reacted to things in ways that surprised him, a thought that made him nervous again.

As the ranch’s gate neared, he thought
of bypassing it and driving on to Drinkwell, spending the night at Mandy’s house and talking it out with her. But when the gate came into sight, fatigue and the fact that he had to be up well before daylight influenced him more than his desire to drive another thirty-eight miles.

He glanced in the rearview mirror and saw headlights. So little traffic frequented the state highway to Drinkwell at eleven o’clock at night, he was sure Marcus or Chris was behind him. He signaled a right turn, turned in and picked his phone off his belt. In the summertime, Mandy stayed up late. He speed-dialed her number.

She answered after one burr. “Hi. This is me.”

“Hey, baby, did I wake you up?”

“I’m watching Jay Leno. It’s eleven o’clock. Why aren’t you in bed?”

“What time are you coming out tomorrow?”

“I hear noise. Are you driving?”

He chuckled. “Yeah. I’ve been up at Drake’s house. I had to talk over some things with him. It’s nice that he’s closer. So what time are you coming out tomorrow?”

“I don’t know exactly. Early.”

“Dad’s planning on getting up at three to start the pig. Johnnie Sue’s got help coming out real early, so the house is going to be too busy for us to sneak into my room.”

She laughed. “Good grief, Pic. Lately, we’ve been going without sex for weeks at a time. You don’t think we can last for one day?”

“Sure, we can. But I don’t want to. Roundup has already started. Soon as this picnic ends, I’ll be taking my trailer out
to set up a cow camp and God knows where I’ll be or how long I’ll be gone. It might be a long dry spell.”

“
You’re going out so soon? Will those security people be going with you?”

“I guess so. They’re hard to stop. I don’t think I need security people. I mean, I’ve gone out on roundup since I was a kid.”

“I know, Pic. But until now, no one was threatening everyone. And you’ll be all by yourself in isolated locations.”

He wasn’t afraid of isolated locations. Most places on the range, he could see ten miles in any direction and he would be well-armed. The fact was, he enjoyed the solitude. If he wasn’t too tired at night, he caught up on his reading. “Look,
just come out as early as you can, okay. I’ll be waiting for you in the office.”

They disconnected. For the rest of the trip to the house, his future occupied all of his thoughts. Marriage and a prenuptial agreement weren’t the only issues that nagged at him. Mandy living in the ranch house and all of the problems that could come from that still loomed in the front of his mind.

If Dad agreed to him and Mandy setting up housekeeping in the ranch house, since Mandy was female, would she, in essence, run the house? Would she even want to? Would she and Johnnie Sue have to figure out how to co-exist? Being occasional pals, as they were now, was different from the daily grind and whatever conflicts that might bring. But then, maybe that didn’t matter. Mandy would be the wife of the part-owner and general manager of the Double-Barrel Ranch. They could live anywhere she wanted to and the rest of the world would have to deal with it.

Mandy’s job, on the other hand, had no easy solution.
He was torn on that subject. Her career was important to her. She was dedicated to those kids. But it made no sense for her to continue working. He wouldn’t like her driving eighty miles a day to and from town. He already hated her traveling sometimes at night and on weekends to get to swimming tournaments. They had to talk about it.

Maybe they would have a chance tomorrow….

He drove off the driveway to the office and parked. As he slid out of his truck, Marcus pulled up beside him. “Everything all right, sir?”

“Sure thing. Did you follow me up to Camden?”

“Only part of the way. Your brother’s team picked you up just out of Camden.”

Pic
gave him a look. He hadn’t seen Marcus behind him on the way to Camden, but then he hadn’t looked. “I’m just going into the office here to put something away. Then I’m going to drive over to the garage, okay?”

“Of course, Mr. Lockhart.
Have a good evening.”

Pic unlocked the office door and made his way to his own office where he placed the swimming pool drawi
ng back in the cleaning supplies closet.

He sat down at his desk and prowled through files in the
locked bottom drawer until he found the report Drake had delivered to all of the family at the semi-annual family meeting back at the end of May. If he was going to talk to the family lawyers about a prenuptial agreement, he needed to know what he was talking about.

He studied the
report, taking in the long list of assets owned by the Double Bar L Cattle Company—Three Hundred Sixty-Seven sections of un-mortgaged land, thousands of head of cattle, more than a hundred head of horses. Numerous vehicles and pieces of mechanized equipment. Two dozen employee dwellings scattered over the ranch’s acres plus three guesthouses. A hundred twenty active oil wells. The entire Double-Barrel Ranch itself sat  on top of the Barnett shale gas discovery, with the Lockharts owning one hundred percent of the mineral rights. There were cotton farms and wind farms in West Texas, new oil wells being drilled on other land they owned in several West Texas counties. The value was inestimable.

Thanks to Dake, t
he family owned an impressive commercial real estate portfolio in Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin and Midland—shopping centers, apartment and office buildings, even a golf course north of Dallas that hosted a major golf tournament. In spite of the sluggish economy, the drought and the many other risks inherent in ranching, the outside assets had more than doubled since Drake had assumed management of the family’s investments. Big Brother seemed to be able to smell money.

Pic’s personal wealth had multiplied many times. He rarely had a reason to touch his personal money
. For years, it had been parked in mutual funds and with the stock market steadily climbing, it had multiplied. His trust fund, depleted by his divorce, was now worth several times what it had started out to be on the date of his birth. The Lockhart family and the Lockhart family members individually were filthy rich. Yeah, he could afford to get married, but how much of his personal wealth was he willing to risk?

The question was still dancing around in his head when he entered the quiet ranch house. No doubt his dad had already gone to bed and Johnnie Sue had gone to her suite. They would be getting up in a few hours to start the cooking. He had wanted to let his dad know that Drake and his wife were definitely coming tomorrow, but it would have to wait until tomorrow.

****

At the end of Jay Leno, Amanda went to bed, but not to sleep. Instead of sleeping, she stewed. The most critical decision of her entire life up to now waited for her. And she had never been more conflicted. She knew—had known for some time, really—that she couldn’t continue what she was doing with Pic. Still, she couldn’t walk away, even if doing so would be best for her. The last two years of her life had been invested with Pic and she loved him.

Of the many things she wanted, one thing she did not want was to appear to be trying to use her new-found opportunity to bludgeon him into a commitment. Perhaps she shouldn’t even tell him about her meeting with Eric Frazier until after she had made a firm decision about
taking the job. If she decided to make the move, she would simply tell Pic she was leaving. Moving on to greener pastures. Cut and dried. No room for discussion or argument. That would be the easiest for both of them.

Nor would she confront him during an event that meant as much to him and his dad as their annual Fourth of July picnic did. She owed them both that much respect. After all, Bill Junior treated her like family.

But as soon as the picnic was behind them and before Pic went out to set up his cow camp, she would tell him what she had to consider. Eric Frazier had given her two weeks to give him an answer.

She finally dropped off to sleep, but she awoke at 4:00 a.m. She had already been awake most of the night, so she might as well get up.

What to do? What to do? How to tell Pic?

She put coffee on to brew, then walked back to the bathroom and turned on the shower. Pic’s phone call last night had made the plan for the early morning
plain. After her shower, she put on sexy pink underwear as if everything in her life were the same and a new development hadn’t cropped up. She donned a lightweight cotton prairie skirt and a T-shirt, telling herself the clothing would be cool in the hundred-degree heat and she was not wearing it because it was easy to get out of. But as she told herself that, she was stuffing an extra pair of panties into the zippered compartment in her purse. In a moment of passion, Pic had been known to rip her panties off her and she had been known to help him.

Back in the kitchen, she leaned her backside against the kitchen counter sipping coffee and continuing to think about sex with Pic in his Double-Barrel office. Any other time, she would be up for it. They had done it before on the huge leather sofa in his office, even
once in his desk chair. But this morning, she was too distracted. Sex, even fantastic sex, was the last thing on her mind. Overnight, her life had changed. In some ways, as extreme as it seemed, she had even changed as a person. This morning could be the last time she would be with Pic.

Without warning, an emotion akin to grief grabbed her
and a knot formed in her throat.
Oh, dear God.
A squeak blurted from her chest and her hand flew to her mouth. She didn’t want to leave him. Where would she ever find another man she didn’t compare to him?

She
tried to swallow the emotion, but almost broke down. She put down her mug and filled a glass with water, quickly drank it down. But the knot stayed.

Be strong, Amanda
, a voice in her head told her.
Taking that job in Odessa is the best thing for your future.

That voice was right. She could stay here in Drinkwell
, earn a paycheck that amounted to not much more than minimum wage and on her dying day, be no closer to having a home and family than she was right now and have a pittance saved for the day she would end her career. She couldn’t let her feelings for Pic keep her from doing what was best for her in the long run. She dabbed at her eyes with the dishtowel.

Don’t cry
, Amanda, that practical voice told her.
You’re lucky to have an offer that will take you in a new direction.

She
pulled herself together and left her home at 5:15 a.m. She drove slowly through Drinkwell, taking in the dark old buildings. The town looked as it had looked for years, but she saw it in a new light. Half the stores were vacant, their display windows painted black. Some were boarded up. For a long time the town had been kept alive by the Lockhart and McMillan families. The Lockharts continued to lend support when they could, but more and more they patronized businesses in Stephenville. The McMillans had leased out their place to an investor and the new manager, who had no kids in the Drinkwell schools, did business in Fort Worth. The town lost population every year. The school had nowhere to go but downhill.

Leaving this town is the right decision, Amanda.

By the time she reached the end of Main Street, a pair of headlights was behind her. Which one was following her this morning—Chris or Marcus? One good thing about moving to Odessa was she would be disconnected from the Lockharts and would not be followed around by dark cars. She sighed, pulled onto the state highway and headed for the Double-Barrel.

Forty minutes later, the night view of the
Double-Barrel ranch house came into sight—distant lonely lights surrounded by nothing but black night. An outpost on the vast prairie. On a similar night, Pic had once said,
What do you suppose it was like to be out here like this knowing you were the only person in hundreds of miles in any direction?

Ah, Pic. Her nineteenth century man who loved the old west.

The whole place was lit up like a circus and not for the picnic. The enhanced lighting was a security measure the Lockharts had installed after Kate’s barn had burned. Some of her horses that had been moved from her place to the Double-Barrel were still here. A few of them were boarding at her neighbor Will Harrington’s place and the Lockharts had outfitted his barn with security lighting and alarms, equipment he probably couldn’t have afforded on his own. Just as that Jordan Palmer person had said, Kate’s insurance company, so far, had refused to pay her claim, so Bill Junior had encouraged her not to invest in a new barn.

Getting closer to the gate, the knot in her throat moved to her stomach and squeezed. What
had she been thinking agreeing to meet Pic for sex in his office? Could she have sex with him in
any
location knowing that she could soon be leaving him?

She
made the left turn off the highway and rumbled across the cattle guard at 6:00 a.m, not yet daylight. A black SUV was parked behind the rock stanchion, so well hidden she almost missed it. It didn’t move and the SUV behind her pulled up beside it.

Two miles later, the house came into view—a one-story limestone rock structure sprawling over the top of a rise that overlooked a deep canyon carved out by the Brazos River. Huge old trees shaded it. Manicured landscaping surrounded it. It had an atmosphere of “home.”

She loved it so much. She had been a teenager when she had first been to the ranch. For Pic to invite her to attend a family gathering had been one of her biggest thrills. She had often dreamed of living here. Years gone by and various conflicts with Betty Lockhart had turned that dream into a nightmare.

Still, she liked the ranch house’s story. To her, the way it looked now was how it had always looked, but she knew it had started out as a small house with two bedrooms and a bath. Every generation who had lived in it had added on to it—a room or rooms, a porch, a bathroom or something until it looked like a hodgepodge of boxes shoved together. When Pic and his siblings were kids and after Bill Senior had passed, Bill Junior and Betty had modernized it from foundation to roof to accommodate a family of seven. Betty had gone to night school and gotten a degree in home design and decorating. In the Lockhart home, she had an unlimited budget.

She had turned five of its seven bedrooms into small suites, each with its own bath and small sitting room. Then later, when Pic and his siblings became teenagers, each having his own vehicle, Bill Junior had a huge garage and a mini-gym built.

This might be the last time she would ever see it. Tears welled in her eyes, but she dashed them away with the back of her hand.

She veered off the driveway and drove to the office. Pic’s big gray pickup was parked in front. At the far end of the parking area sat a black SUV.
Oh hell.
These security guys weren’t fools. Whoever was in that SUV would know what she and Pic were up to.

Still, she parked beside Pic’s pickup. Before she could get out of her car, he came outside. He looked good enough to have for breakfast. He had on his usual summer dress—tight jeans, a torso-hugging T-shirt—turquoise blue today—and cowboy boots. Some men might wear shorts of some kind on a hundred-degree day, but not Pic Lockhart. Unless they were at the lake, she had never kn
own him to go without long pants and his legs were snow-white. Getting a tan meant nothing to him.

A familiar quickening tingled between her legs. Lord, just watching him turned her into a sex fiend. Any goofy thoughts she had of not having sex with him this morning scattered like a flock of birds.

She buzzed down her window.

“Hey,” he said, leaning down and smiling. “Are you lost, little girl?” He
poked his head through the window opening and kissed her, filling her car with the scent of his shampoo and body wash and minty toothpaste.

“Hey, yourself,” she said, pulling back and looking into his eyes. Even in the dim light, she saw he had nothing on his mind but sex.
He was so unabashedly male. The idea of being desired by him was breathtaking.

He opened her car, grasped her arm and urged her out of the car, steered her toward the office’s front door.

“There’s someone parked over there,” she said, tilting her head toward the SUV.

“That’s Marcus. He keeps telling me to look at him like a piece of furniture, so that’s what we’re doing.”

“But Pic, he isn’t stupid. It embarrasses me having those guys know what we’re doing all the time.”

“Shh. Furniture, remember?”

Inside the building, the only light in the foyer was what spilled from his office. He kicked the front door shut and locked it. Then he turned back to her and hauled her against him, gripped her bottom with both hands and lifted her. She wrapped her arms and legs around his lean waist and looked into his eyes. “Good morning,” she said softly.

“Good morning, my pretty lady,” he said just as softly.
“I thought about you all night.”

T
hey kissed as if they hadn’t had blistering sex only a few days ago—nibbling, biting, suckling her lips. He carried her into the office. “I’m already hard as a fence post.”

Typically, that kind of talk would have her blood simmering in her veins and she would already feel wet and slick. This morning, her body betrayed her. Her heart wasn’t in it.