His hands closed on her waist …

… and she couldn’t move.

The moment she pressed against him she was lost. She wanted Jake’s kiss despite the anger that flared up at reminders of the past. At that moment she couldn’t move away if her life depended on it.

“Damn, Madison,” he whispered, right before his mouth came down on hers.

She kissed him back as if she’d been waiting for this moment since the night he’d walked out. Her flesh ached for his touch. The anger, the pain and the memories were replaced by desire … until she realized what she was doing.

She broke away, gasping for breath. “I never meant for that to happen.”

She was torn between wanting him and hating her loss of control. She’d thought she was over wanting him, beyond responding to him.

With one kiss he’d shattered that illusion.

* * *

The Texan’s Forbidden Fiancée

is part of the Lone Star Legends series from USA TODAY bestselling author Sara Orwig.

The Texan’s Forbidden Fiancée
Sara Orwig

www.millsandboon.co.uk

SARA ORWIG lives in Oklahoma. She has a patient husband who will take her on research trips anywhere, from big cities to old forts. She is an avid collector of Western history books. With a master’s degree in English, Sara has written historical romance, mainstream fiction and contemporary romance. Books are beloved treasures that take Sara to magical worlds, and she loves both reading and writing them.

With thanks to Stacy Boyd,

Allison Carroll and Maureen Walters.

And with love to David and all my family.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Epilogue

Extract

One

In the small town of Verity, Texas, when the door to the Texas United Western Bank opened, Jake Calhoun’s breath whooshed out as if a fist slammed into his gut. Through the years he had imagined this moment, yet he had thought it would never take place. Now every vivid detail became etched in his memory.

Across the street Madison Milan stepped into the September morning sunlight and glanced around. Sunshine glinted on her thick brown hair that was pulled back and tied with a red scarf. Dressed in jeans, a red shirt showing beneath her open denim jacket, with loafers on her feet, she answered a greeting of someone who passed her.

The shock of finally seeing her rocked him. She was not a figment of his imagination. She was real, alive and only two hundred yards away. Anger surged in his bloodstream, swiftly replaced by desire, intense, hot and startling. Gone was the momentary jolt of finally facing her, replaced by scalding memories. How could he feel desire? The hurt had been so deep, and so long ago.

The memories bombarded him, quick and relentless. She was the most fun female in the junior class, the prettiest football queen ever and had the best-looking legs of any Verity High cheerleader. But now that girl was gone. In her place stood a beautiful woman. Everyone who passed her on the street acknowledged her and she responded with a smile; some stopped to talk. He wondered if she had such a constant stream of people greeting her every time she came to town. Right now a tall, thin cowboy took his turn chatting with her and she smiled up at him.

Jake’s emotions warred over the conflicts that rocked him. On the one hand, he wanted to take her family ranch from her and destroy her. After all, she was a Milan, as deceptive, deceitful and out for Calhoun blood as any other Milan in her family. At the same time, she was beautiful, sexy and the most desirable woman he had ever known.

She had been only a girl when he had gotten the closest to her. They had met in high school and the attraction had been hot and instant. He’d been the quarterback of the football team and she’d been a cheerleader.

His unwanted longing grew stronger, stirred by memories that made him weak in the knees. Memories of her soft lips and hot kisses, her silky hair that hung to her waist then, her laughter and boundless energy, her soft curves against him when they danced. The lightning flashes of memory continued to pound him: how they each fought the attraction because of the feud that raged between their families; their first kiss; the first time they made love—the first for her ever. The recollections were so vivid they seemed recent instead of thirteen years ago. She had married the year she had graduated from college and the union had lasted two months. Since that time she had remained single—he knew that much about her—and it was long enough ago to be significant now.

She was probably as competitive in business now as she had been years ago in sports.

He brought himself back to the problem at hand. He wanted to talk to her, but he hadn’t figured on a steady stream of locals who paused to chat with her.

From the background information his staff had put together he knew she usually drove a white four-door pickup to town. He’d spotted it two blocks farther west down Main Street in front of the grocery, and now he wondered if he should wait at the truck for her.

When she turned to walk in that direction, he crossed the street, lengthened his stride until he was half a block behind her. She entered the hardware store and he followed her inside. In minutes he found her in front of the paint section. As he approached her, his pulse quickened.

* * *

Madison Milan selected tubes of paint for her next art project, searching for the perfect shade of burnt umber. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone moving along the aisle toward her. When she saw who it was, she froze. Her heart missed a beat and then thudded. Anger swept over her, an intense, scorching fury that shocked her because she had convinced herself she had gotten over the past. This was the drawback about moving to the ranch after her parents gave it to her. She had come every fall and late spring for the past three years, being careful to avoid Verity as much as possible just to avoid running into Jake. This was the moment she had hoped would never happen. At the same time, an unwanted streak of desire heightened her fury. She didn’t want to feel desire when she encountered Jake Calhoun.

He had grown taller. His shoulders appeared broader. He had filled out and he was even more handsome. He wasn’t the nineteen-year-old boy she remembered.

How had he found her? She hadn’t noticed him on the street. Or was this coincidence? She didn’t think it was.

He stopped only feet away and she hoped he couldn’t hear her pounding heart.

“‘Hello’ seems a little ridiculous,” he said, his voice deeper than she recalled.

“‘Goodbye’ is sufficient. I don’t care to talk to you or anyone from your company about drilling on Milan land. I don’t care to talk to any Calhoun. End of discussion.”

She started to turn away and he placed his fingers lightly on her forearm. It was a feather touch, barely discernible, certainly not actually detaining her, but she stopped instantly and a current sizzled from that faint contact. She stood immobile, bound by a nonexistent hold and intense dark brown eyes.

“It isn’t about drilling.”

“You’re not dredging up the past, are you? I definitely don’t want to hear about that.”

“No, I’m not,” he said, suddenly looking hard, angry and withdrawn. A muscle worked in his jaw. His reaction startled her because she was the injured party, not Jake. Why was he angry? Instantly she blocked the question. She didn’t want to know what he thought or felt about that time in their lives. She tried to focus and pay attention as he continued.

“This isn’t the place to talk, but...it’s about a shoot-out between our families long ago on your land and the old legend of buried treasure. I think you’ll be interested, so at least listen and don’t miss out on something we both might want.”

Surprised, skeptical, she suspected he was fabricating a tale about the ancient incident as an excuse to talk to her and to get on her land. It would be another deceptive Calhoun trick to steal something from a Milan. Their families had been feuding since their first respective ancestors had settled here in the days after the Civil War. She didn’t figure the feud would end with them.

“I don’t believe you and I don’t trust you,” she said, barely able to speak above a whisper and sounding unconvincing even to herself. How could he turn her to mush by his mere presence and one look from his dark eyes?

“Madison, at least listen and then make your decision. This is important. Let’s meet where we won’t be constantly interrupted. Come to dinner at my ranch. Or let me take you to Dallas to dinner. Whatever you want. Just somewhere quiet and private and on neutral ground. This concerns your family, too.”

“Hi, Jake,” a female voice behind him said as if giving emphasis to his request. He turned slightly and faced another local.

“Hi, Becky,” he said, greeting a friend he had known since sixth grade.

Becky Worthington smiled broadly, looking back and forth between them and then focusing on Jake and stepping closer to him. “Nice to see you. You don’t come into town often, do you?”

“No, I’m rarely at the ranch because I’m in Dallas a lot of the time and traveling some of the time.”

“You should come to town and see people once in a while. Stop in and say hey. I still work at TBC bank, which, of course, I think is the best bank in town,” she said, giggling.

“I’ll try,” Jake stated.

Becky looked back and forth between them. “I didn’t mean to interrupt,” she said and disappeared around the corner of the aisle from the direction she had come.

When she was out of earshot, Madison resumed their conversation. “An evening out with you? I don’t really think so. Everything has been said between us that can be said.”

“Far, far from it. You should hear me out. You’ll be surprised, Madison. If you’re not, tell me and I’ll stop talking and go.”

She could feel the clash of wills as she shook her head. “Whatever ploy this is, I’m sure a Calhoun itching to drill on Milan land is behind it.”

“I want that, too, but it has nothing to do with this. I’m after something else and I think you’ll be interested to know about this, too.”

“If that’s the case, tell me now.”

He shook his head. “This is not the place. We were just interrupted, and we will be again. And anyone standing in the next aisle can overhear us. I don’t want that and I don’t think you will, either. Just go to dinner with me. It’s not that big a deal. I can take you home whenever you want.”

“Eating out around here won’t be one degree better than talking here.”

“We won’t eat in Verity. We’ll fly to Dallas and get a private corner. We won’t see people we know. We won’t be overheard. I’ll bring you home whenever you say. Just trust me, you will not regret listening to me.”

Debating what to do, she stared at him. There was no way a Milan could trust a Calhoun—that had been proven to her in a devastating way. She couldn’t imagine one thing he could want except to make a pitch to let him drill on her land and she was not going to do that no matter what he said or offered. She couldn’t think of another reason he’d want to talk to her. Yet, surely he knew better than to tell her he had another reason and then talk about leasing land. Dinner would be over before it started. But she had to admit she was intrigued. What did he know that she didn’t that concerned her ranch?

“All right, Jake. This better be good.”

“Spending an evening with me is that bad?” he asked without a change of expression, reinforcing her opinion that he could be highly deceptive.

“I’m equally shocked you want to spend any time with me.”

“This will be good, Madison. I’ll come by to get you a little before seven Sunday night. Thanks. Absolutely no talk about drilling. I promise.”

“I know how much your promise is worth,” she couldn’t keep from saying. She saw the flicker in his eyes and saw that hardness return to his expression, puzzling her. She turned her back on him and walked away, aiming to complete her purchases and get away from him.

She had intended to get two small brushes, but she wanted out of the store away from Jake more than she wanted the brushes. She had tried to put him and the past out of her thoughts, to stop remembering or hurting. She wished she could have faced him without any reaction instead of this heart-pounding longing. She wished the memories hadn’t tumbled back into her thoughts as clearly as if they had parted months ago rather than over a decade ago. Instead, seeing him caused all the old pain and anger to return, as well as the intense physical reaction. He was still the best-looking man she knew. In spite of her hurt and fury, he still set her heart racing.

Suddenly she wanted to go back and cancel the evening with him. Her art career had succeeded beyond all her hopes and expectations. She was constantly busy with what she loved to do. She had remained single because there had been so little time for her personal life and her brief marriage had been disastrous from the first moment. Jake, she knew, was still single, which didn’t surprise her. He wasn’t the marrying type.

She didn’t want to spend a whole evening feeling the way she did now—hurting, drowning in memories of a wedding day that never happened. Memories tore at her heart and fueled an ever-simmering rage when she thought about him. She didn’t trust him in the slightest. For a little over one year in her life she had gone against all her family’s warnings about the unscrupulous Calhouns and she had trusted Jake. Because of that mistake, he had broken her heart. One thing was certain—no matter what excuses Jake presented, she would never let him drill on Milan land.

She hurried out of the store, striding quickly to her truck, planning to forgo her grocery shopping. She wanted to go home to the Double M Ranch, away from town and any chance of encountering him again. She had been careful, coming to town only once a month, usually getting someone else to pick up groceries and supplies. She would go back to that routine. How she wished she could just as easily obliterate all memories of Jake Calhoun.

Instead, the memories poured over her in a deluge. Growing up, because of the century-and-a-half-old family feud, she never spoke to any Calhouns, but she had been aware of Jake from her first year in high school. They were three years apart in age, but two years in school because she had been tutored at home on the ranch when she was little and when she had started school they’d placed her in the fourth grade instead of the third.

Her first close encounter with Jake had been at a school party in the gym to get everyone acquainted. For one of the dances they had two large circles of kids—boys in the outside ring, girls on the inside. They walked in a circle to a drumbeat until the band began to play, then the boy and girl facing each other danced until the music stopped and everybody resumed walking in a circle to get a new partner.

When the music started, she had been facing Jake. “No. Not a Calhoun,” she had said loudly enough for him and everyone around her to hear. She had stepped close to the boy next to him, leaving Jake to the girl next to her. Everyone knew about the feud, and besides, the girl had been a friend and hadn’t cared because Jake Calhoun was older, on the football team, well-known and popular.

The next time he passed her at school he walked up close and said, “Thanks for changing partners so I didn’t have to.” Madison had just continued on her way, wondering if he really would have grabbed a different girl in front of all the other kids. The rest of her freshman year she had never spoken to him again and he didn’t speak to her, but she noticed him and he always glanced at her. She had thought it was a pity he was a Calhoun because he was the best-looking boy in the high school.

In her sophomore year, she became a cheerleader. At a game, Jake had come out and was headed to the bench on the sidelines where she had been standing.

“Hi, snooty Miss Milan,” he said quietly without even looking at her as he passed her.

She had turned to look at him. “Hi, yourself, wicked Mr. Calhoun,” she said, and to her surprise, he grinned. He had gone on to the bench, but the next Monday at school as she moved between classes, her path was blocked. “Hi, again,” he said. “Scared to speak to me at school where one of your brothers will see you?”

“I’m not scared of my brothers. I just don’t particularly want to speak to a Calhoun. You’ve got brothers in school, too.”

“What about your parents?”

“My parents will never know. Dad’s busy with his work and Mom has a social life.”

“I know your dad is a Dallas judge. Does he commute?”

“No, he and Mom live in Dallas during the week. My brothers and I didn’t want to leave Verity High so our grandparents are living at the ranch with us.”

“So we can’t be together in Dallas or out here. Okay, after school, meet me by the Dumpsters. I’ll pick you up and we’ll go to Lubbock and get ice cream, if you’re not scared to risk it.”

“Why would I want to go out with a Calhoun?”

“Same reason I want to go out with one particular Milan. Scared?”

“No, I’m not scared of you. What about football practice?”

“I’ll tell Coach I’ve got an appointment in Lubbock. Maybe I will have one if you’ll say yes.”

She still remembered the thrill over the prospect of going with him. For one moment she thought of all the warnings to stay away from the Calhouns and never trust one. As she looked into his dark brown eyes fringed with thick black lashes, she took a deep breath.

“I’ll meet you,” she said and from that encounter on, she thought he was the most exciting boy she had ever met. They worked out an arrangement with their two best friends. Her parents thought she was dating Steve Reynolds, someone they had no objection to. Jake’s parents thought he was dating Marilee Wilson. He would pick up Marilee, and Steve would pick her up. Then they’d meet and trade places. She would spend the evening with Jake while Marilee and Steve did the same. At the end of the evening, they would meet, trade places and go home.

Their secret dates ended when her brother Tony saw her in Lubbock with Jake. She still recalled how horrified she had been when they fought, leaving Tony with a bloody nose and Jake with a black eye and a bruised cheek. The fight that followed at home with her brother had not been physical, but just as painful, as they didn’t speak to each other for weeks. Tony informed the other brothers. Each brother had reacted in a way typical of his personality—Wyatt talked to her seriously in his quiet manner, warning her never to trust a Calhoun because she would get hurt. In hindsight, she should have listened. Nick laid out a grim scenario that she had dismissed as his gloomy dislike of the Calhouns.

She’d disregarded her brothers’ warnings. The year she’d dated Jake had been the best one of her life. The man could dance, and they’d had such fun. And he could kiss. With Jake, she had made love for the first time.

While they dated Jake made plans to attend Mississippi State after high school graduation. She could not stop recalling the day they planned to elope. She had dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, the same as every other Saturday in her life, but she’d already had a bag packed. It held a knee-length white silk dress, veil and matching pumps, and a lace nightgown that she could recall with total clarity. Later, after her family had gone, she had deliberately taken them to the patio and burned them in a metal wastebasket, standing by with a hose in case the fire got out of hand. She could still recall standing there and crying. Jake had just disappeared out of her life without a word to her. The next morning she had driven to Rocky Creek, stepped out of the car and thrown her one-carat engagement ring into the creek. She never saw Jake Calhoun again.

Shaking off the painful memories of the past, Madison tried to focus on the chore for the day—the latest painting that she had been commissioned to do for a Dallas oil magnate’s office. But she couldn’t stop thinking of Jake.

Work on the painting went slowly that week, and she found her thoughts constantly looking ahead to Sunday and their dinner date. Curiosity about why he wanted to talk to her nagged at her. He had to have a good reason. She knew it wasn’t a ploy to get with her. And she most definitely didn’t want to get with him.

A little before seven on Sunday night she waited in the library of the ranch, which gave a view of the drive to the front. She wore a dark blue dress with a deep V neckline. The dress was straight, clinging to her figure, the narrow skirt ending above her knees. With her hair pinned up on her head, she hoped to look remote, cool, self-possessed. She was still amazed she was going to dinner with Jake. And then she watched him step out of the limo and head for the house. At the sight of Jake, her heartbeat pounded.

She was going out with him again.

Two

The sun was on the horizon when Jake stood at her front door and listened to chimes. He had rarely set foot on this ranch because they would not run the risk when they had been dating in high school. Even when her parents were away, her siblings were around, or the ranch hands, who would have reported back to her dad.

He and Madison had had secret meetings occasionally on the boundaries of their ranches, but those were rare.

He looked at the house as if seeing it for the first time. The Milan family home was different from most ranch homes in the area. The stately Georgian with white Corinthian columns looked like it belonged in the Deep South. Two giant oaks framed the house but outside the fenced, watered yard were smaller, less majestic mesquite trees and cacti. The fine home stood on a working ranch that had prize-winning cattle and probably lucrative oil and gas reserves in the ground.

He stepped up to the door and took a deep breath. An evening with Madison. He couldn’t believe this was actually happening. He still expected her to try to back out, but he knew once they were on their way, she would be committed. Frowning, he pushed the doorbell and listened to the chimes. Had she backed out, standing him up now in a tiny effort to retaliate for their wedding years ago?

Their wedding. The familiar, burning anger started in the pit of his stomach. He didn’t want to think about that time in his life or recall anything connected with that day. Keep this business tonight, he told himself. Present his case, feed the lady and whisk her back home. He suspected he was going to have to use his best powers of persuasion, but he had an ace in the hole that he hoped would capture her interest and make her agree to his plan. A twinge of guilt rocked him for the secret only he, his parents and his brothers knew. Clamping his jaw closed, he shifted his weight as he reached again for the bell. The door swung open and his breath left him.

Looking sophisticated and breathtakingly beautiful, the woman he faced was stunning. Momentarily, another twinge of guilt stabbed him, but he shoved it aside. Recalling dealing with Pete Milan, the ever-smoldering anger threatened to make him lose his relaxed demeanor. With an effort Jake pushed aside any thoughts about her dad.

“You look beautiful,” he said.

“Thank you,” she replied quietly, but she didn’t look happy about his compliment.

“Shall we go?” he asked.

“This better be good.”

“I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t have to,” he said softly as she turned away to pick up a jacket. She scowled at him, so he knew she’d heard him. She punched in an alarm code and stepped outside, closing and locking the door behind her.

The driver stepped out of the black limo to hold the door for her. She climbed into the seat and watched as Jake sat beside her with space between them. He caught another drift of her perfume. It was not a scent he recognized, but it was enticing, filled with the smell of flowers and spice, and a hint of something more.

Jake had been amazed at how much he had thought about Madison all week. He had the detective’s information about her, but it had meant little until he was in her presence. He flicked a quick glance over her. She still had the best-looking legs of any woman he knew.

“So where do we get the plane?” she asked as the limo drove away from her house.

“At the Verity airport,” he said.

“Your plane or a charter?”

“It’s my private jet. We keep company jets in Dallas,” he answered as he shifted so he could face her. Her green eyes were on him, steady, veiled, hiding what she felt, but he could imagine her thoughts were as turbulent as his. “Your art career is going well, I’ve heard.”

“I’ve been happy with it.”

“I’m sure you have since that’s what you always really wanted,” he said, failing to keep a bitter note out of his voice. “I wouldn’t think you’d bury yourself out here on the ranch if you have a gallery in Dallas and one in Santa Fe.” He kept up conversation but all he wanted to do was look at her. Her green eyes had always captivated him, but now he noticed so much more—her flawless skin, her full lips that he wanted to kiss. He almost groaned as he made an effort to look away. “I’m surprised you like it out here.”

“I grew up here. I’m used to it,” she remarked, giving him a glance. She seemed more poised, controlled than she had before. “This way I can live in more than one place. I come out here to paint so I won’t be disturbed. In town there is something constantly going on or people dropping by. Mom and Dad gave the ranch to me three years ago. My brothers have their own places. I’m here in the fall until Christmas and I come back in May. The rest of the time I’m in New Mexico or sometimes in a condo in Dallas. Where are you most of the time—here on the ranch?”

“No. I’d prefer the ranch, but I’m based in Dallas, where the home office for the energy company is. I’m seldom here because of taking care of business. By the time I’m forty, I hope to retire and be a full-time rancher because that’s what I love.”

She nodded and became silent, looking out the limo windows. The airport was on the east side of Verity and they drove through the wide main street that had once been a dusty cattle trail before the town sprang up. They left the shops and stores, passing the oldest homes in the town, two blocks of wooden Victorian-style homes, some single story, some two or three stories tall, still occupied and taken care of with flowers and the oldest trees in Verity in the yards. Then they reached a tall Victorian house in a block by itself, the last before leaving Verity. She looked at the familiar sight, a wooden three-story surrounded by a three-foot wrought-iron fence and a front gate hanging on one hinge. Windows had been broken out. Weeds and high grass filled the yard, while the two tall oaks by the house were overgrown with vines. Without thinking she glanced at Jake.

“There’s the Wrenville house. Remember when you and Wyatt and two other football players went out at night to search through the house?” Madison asked.

“Like everyone else, we didn’t find anything and got chased out by the sheriff. I don’t think anyone today has much interest in the place.”

“You and I have ancestors that were killed there—both in love with Lavita Wrenville according to the legend. Her father drew his weapon and all three men were shot and killed, but it was never clear who shot the other,” she said. “Before she died, Lavita said that one of them lived long enough to tell her who shot who. According to legend, she wrote it down and hid it before she died. I wonder if we’ll find anything when 2015 occurs.”

“Your brother will know before anyone else. By 2015, there may not be many who care. According to the legend, the city can do what it wants with the house and property in 2015. I heard that’s why your brother is sheriff. So many people wanted him to run because he’s so honest and everyone trusts Wyatt. He’ll be sheriff when they can finally tear down the house and look for the letter,” Jake stated.

“I think the reason they wanted an honest man is more because of the part of the legend that says Lavita died a very wealthy woman and her money is hidden somewhere in the house,” Madison remarked. “If Wyatt finds anything, he’ll turn it over to the city and make public which man shot the others.

“I’d like to hear what happened. Did the Milan shoot the other two? Did the Calhoun? Or did her father shoot both of the men who wanted to marry his daughter?” she said.

“Or,” Jake said, “they all could have fired their weapons at the same time and then fired again. It never was made public how many times each man was shot.”

“I’m surprised the townspeople didn’t insist,” Madison said.

“The Milans and the Calhouns were even more influential and powerful in those days than now,” Jake said. “If they didn’t want the killings made public, they wouldn’t have been. And Lavita could have been the one who kept it all secret. We’ll know someday. Twenty-fifteen approaches.”

She shivered. “I don’t know why you and Wyatt decided you wanted to search for an old letter about killings in another century or even for a mythical fortune.”

“We were kids,” he said. He smiled. “Your brother doesn’t scare easily. We were just curious and we both wanted new, fancy cars.”

She became silent again, not mentioning that she had been scared for both Jake and Wyatt that night. Looking at the house now, she wouldn’t want to hunt for an old letter or even a fortune in there.

“Jake, we’ll have a quick flight to Dallas. Why not talk about what you want on the plane? There’s no possible interruption there.”

“That sounds agreeable. The weather’s good and it should be a smooth flight.” The sun had reached the horizon when the plane lifted off the runway, but once they were airborne and headed east there was more light as they chased the sinking sun.

“Might as well enjoy happy hour while we fly. What would you like to drink? We stock a full bar.”

“Any chance of conjuring up a raspberry tea?” she asked.

He told the flight attendant what they wanted to drink and shortly, the man reappeared with a tall, chilled glass, which he offered to Madison, and a beer for Jake. When they were again alone, she sipped her drink and smiled. “You have the formula—this is delicious.”

“Glad you like it.”

Madison leaned back in her chair. “Let’s cut to the chase, Jake. There’s no need for polite chitchat—why do you want my land? For what possible reason would you expect me to invite you onto the ranch?”

Her eyes were wide, green and thickly lashed, and he was mesmerized. A streak of sunlight streamed through the window, bathing her cheek in golden light, highlighting her fully rosy mouth. He inhaled deeply and then realized she was waiting for him to answer her question.

“This goes back generations before Lavita Wrenville. This was the earliest Milans and Calhouns. You know there’s a legend of hidden treasure on your ranch.”

“That old tale went around the family before I was born,” she scoffed, sitting back and shaking her head. “All of us looked for it. I’ve heard men from a couple of past generations were supposed to have searched endlessly. No one has found anything and most of us came to the conclusion long ago that it was merely a myth.”

“Still, it persists though all the generations.”

“Just try to get a kid to stop looking. Tony and his friends have probably dug up a total of a dozen acres with all their hunting for gold. Look at you and Wyatt, hunting for Lavita Wrenville’s fortune, which might not ever have existed.”

“I can imagine. I’ve hunted with my brothers on my side of the boundary that divides our adjacent family ranches. Since part of the boundary line is the river, the boundary keeps changing slightly. Going back to my great-great-grandfather Henry Calhoun, there was a sketchy map. No one in our family ever had interest in sharing it with anyone in your family. I’m guessing that maybe in the early days one or more family members offered to make a deal and split, but your family member refused.”

She smiled and his heart turned over. Desire heightened and he suddenly wanted to see her laugh, to hold her, dance with her—to have the past vanish. That wasn’t going to happen.

“So you have a map.” She shook her head. “I didn’t think there was a shred of truth to the legend.”

“Occasionally, legends are built on something—maybe not always exactly the way it’s stated in the legend, but something caused the legend to spring up.”

“It’s hard to believe there is a treasure hidden on our ranch.”

“That’s not so far-fetched. There was a lot of lawlessness in the early days, train robberies, later bank robberies. People just hiding something. This is a vague, damn poor map and has never made any sense to anyone in my family. I don’t think it will to you, either, but you know your land better than any outsider.”

“All these years. Why would your family even have a map?”

His gaze ran over her features, her skin that looked soft, flawless. He wished she had worn her hair down.

“No one can answer that one. The map may be bogus, although it has been in the family for generations. I’d bet that someone or maybe several in my family have tried to sneak onto Milan land to find the treasure.”

“I’m sure you’re right there. Why wouldn’t they? These ranches are big with wide, open land. Someone could easily search without anyone knowing about it.” She sipped her tea and shook her head. “So there’s really a map. All these years, actually all my life, I’ve heard the legend and heard various relatives talk about searching for it, but by the time I was grown, I just figured it was a tall Texas tale with nothing to it.” She sat back, smiling at him. “So you want permission to come on our land to search for the treasure.”

“That’s not all.” As her big green eyes focused so intently on him, he forgot the map, the treasure and his whole purpose for the evening. He wanted to close the last bit of distance between them, place his hand behind her head, wind his fingers in her hair and pull her closer to kiss her.

“There’s more?” she asked, looking at him with curiosity in her expression.

Desire raged in him, blatant and hot, until he remembered their past and then anger returned, smothering his feelings for her. He inhaled deeply, looked away and focused on his purpose.

She leaned closer. “So what else is there, Jake? What else besides a map have you kept secret all of these years and never told me when we were so close?”

“At the time we were in high school, we talked about it. It was mysterious and exciting to speculate about the legend, even though neither one of us believed it. Of all the people in both families, you and I seemed the most willing to forget the feud.”

“Yes, and I know we both thought the idea of a hidden treasure was exciting. I’m surprised you didn’t tell me about the map then.”

“I didn’t know it then. There’s a rule in our family—no one gets told about the map, and sworn to keep it in the family, until he or she is twenty-one years old.”

She laughed, a soft sound that played havoc with his insides again and made him forget what he was after.

“That’s probably why your family has kept it secret all these years. Kids talk.”

“Probably,” he said, smiling at her. “When you heard the legend, did the version you heard mention a shoot-out?”

“Yes. I heard there were Milans and Calhouns who would discover each other searching for the treasure and the Milans would run the Calhouns off our land.”

“Did you ever hear if any were killed?”

“Yes, but truthfully, I was a kid and didn’t pay that much attention to talk about someone who had lived generations ahead of me and who I never knew.”

He sipped his beer before he continued. “According to the Calhoun version of the legend, wherever the treasure is buried, your ancestors and my ancestors had a gun battle. Two Calhouns were killed and three Milans. They’re buried in shallow graves where they had the gunfight. This goes back to the first generation of each family to settle here and it was before both families had their own cemeteries. Now we have our own burial ground and I imagine you do, too.”

“Yes, we do.”

“I want the bones of the Calhouns brought home. Hopefully, we’ll find the treasure, which is yours since it is on your land.”

“You want bones,” she said, frowning slightly. “You could search every day for the next ten years and never find graves or bones or treasure, if it even ever existed. I can’t imagine that’s what’s behind this dinner,” she said, beginning to sound angry.

“Just one more thing besides the bones. There’s supposed to be a deed one of our ancestors was carrying. It was a deed won in a poker game. According to the story my family tells, the deed gives the Calhouns rights to a large part of the McCracken place to the east of us all along the border of his ranch.”

“A deed to the McCracken land,” she said, staring at him while she seemed lost in thought. “If that exists, it’s worth more than any treasure you could possibly dig up.”

“Jeb McCracken is mean and ornery and has fought with every neighbor,” Jake replied.

“That includes my family. There are people in town he’s aggravated. He’s left unpaid accounts all over this county and he’s spent more than a few nights in jail for brawls on the weekend in town. No one would regret seeing you get a chunk of that property.” She stared at him with a speculative curiosity in her eyes. “My ancestors are supposed to have been in that gunfight, also. Suppose we find the deed with my ancestors. Are you still going to claim it?”

He gave her a faint smile. “Not if their name is on the deed or it’s in a bony skeleton hand.”

She had to smile then and he felt another punch to his insides. Her smiles and her laughter had always been his undoing. He ached to reach out and touch her.

“I have no intention of searching long. I want you to look at the map I have and see if you can recognize anything. You probably have aerial photos of your land, all sorts of photos. If anything seems likely, then I’d like a chance to see if the deed exists, see if a treasure is buried with them and get my ancestors’ bones to take back for a proper burial. I have time in my life for that now and it would please my grandfather.”

She laughed softly, shaking her head. “You don’t seem the type for this. Why do I feel as if I better look at this from all angles, that you’re up to something—like surveying my land to drill for oil or gas?”

“All I want is what belongs to the Calhouns—namely my ancestors’ bones and the deed to the McCracken land if that exists. I’m not going to do any surveying, I promise you.”

“According to the old legend, the treasure is what caused the feud in the first place. Your great-great-great-grandfather and my great-great-great-grandfather came out here after the Civil War. What I’ve always heard is they found gold in a deserted house in Tennessee during the war. Later, my relative stole away your relative’s fiancée right before the wedding and that’s when the feud started. Then they fought over the gold and the woman they both loved, but a Milan killed a Calhoun, so the Calhouns rode in at night a week later and burned down a house, killed a Milan and carried off the woman in question, adding to the anger between the two families. The fight has continued until present day. I guess we have a truce of sorts now.”

“That matches what I’ve always heard about the beginning of the feud,” he said. “That and when they fought, there were several Milans and several Calhoun brothers, plus an uncle.”

She shifted, recrossed her legs, distracting him totally. She sat quietly, so he remained quiet, letting her think about what he had said. She turned to the window and his gaze traveled slowly over her. She was twisted slightly in her seat, the neckline of the blue dress gaping a fraction, revealing the full rise of her breasts, her skin pale and creamy. The temperature in the plane jumped and he wiped his brow as images of long ago tormented him. Her waist was as tiny as ever. How well he could remember the feel of her in his hands. He had to stop thinking about the past, had to avoid erotic memories that set his heart racing.

Jake remembered her dad and that last night before he was going to elope with her, and the tantalizing memories vanished, replaced by anger, dulled by the passage of years, but still there.

She turned back while he was still looking at her neckline. She shifted slightly. “Jake, I have to think about this. We’ll be in Dallas before long, so we might as well go to dinner. I’ll consider your request and by this time tomorrow, I’ll give you an answer.”

“That’s great, Madison,” he said, feeling a stab of satisfaction. He was certain she wanted to discuss his proposal with her brothers. He hoped not her father.

Their pilot announced they were approaching Dallas and as they lost altitude, the sun was low on the horizon. By the time they were in the limo on the way to the restaurant, darkness had set in.

In a short time they were seated in a darkened corner table in a small private room. Lights were low, music from the piano player in another room was muted.

“So you got a private room for us. I didn’t know there was any such thing for just two people. I’m impressed.”

“That’s one reason I like this place. There are only three of these rooms.” He paused when their waiter arrived to take drink orders.

“Little chance of interruptions here by people who know either of us,” she said as soon as they were alone again.

“That’s right. You can barely see your hand before your face, much less who else is in the restaurant. Do you still like fried chicken better than anything else?” he asked, looking at a menu. He glanced up at her.

“No, like so many other things, my tastes have changed. I see lobster on the menu—that’s what I’ll have.”

“Excellent choice. I’ll have the steak,” he said, watching her while she had her head bent slightly over her menu. The candle flickering in the center of the table highlighted her shiny brown hair and rosy cheeks. Again, he wished she had worn her hair down the way he liked it best. He should forget what he liked best about her and leave anything personal a closed subject.

In minutes the waiter returned. He uncorked a bottle of white wine, gave it to Jake to taste and then poured two glasses after Jake’s approval.

As soon as they were alone, Jake raised his glass. “Here’s to finding the treasure.”

With a faint smile, she touched his glass with hers and heard the faint clink of crystal before she sipped. “That’s a safe, innocuous toast,” she said.

He smiled in turn. “I thought so.”

“I’m still thinking about your request.”

“If I’m successful, you’ll get your treasure, I will find a deed and get the bones of my ancestors for a proper burial. We both win.”

She tilted her head to study him, sipping her wine while she sat staring. “Why do I feel there is more to your request than you’re telling me? I find it a little difficult to trust you. You better not have manufactured this map yourself.”

He held on to his temper. “My dad took the map to someone in Chicago who could tell him the approximate age. It dates back to the mid-nineteenth century. That’s good enough for me. I’ll give you a copy of the letter and you can contact the people in Chicago yourself.”

“I’d like to see the original map. Will it disintegrate if it is handled?”

“Not if it’s handled carefully and you don’t intend to pass it all around. But you don’t get it until we have a deal.”

“You don’t trust me,” she said, bitterness filling her voice and anger flashing in her eyes, for an instant igniting his own fury, which he banked immediately.

“Should I?” he asked, trying to curb his feelings and get back to amicable dealings with her.

“Of course. You did at one time,” she reminded him sharply. Looking away, she took deep breaths. Spots of red were high on her cheeks. She sipped her wine and gradually her breathing went back to normal before she faced him again.

He’d give her time to think it all over; he just hoped the flare of animosity hadn’t killed the deal. Again, he had a flash of guilt for what he had kept from her. But then he thought about her father and stopped worrying about the secret he harbored.

* * *

Madison ate in silence while she mulled over his proposition, studying it from every angle because she didn’t trust him. She suspected he wanted badly to drill on her land and she wondered how much of wanting his ancestors’ remains was because he wanted to lease part of her ranch. Why hadn’t this come up years earlier or with some other Calhoun? And a deed and map? She had never heard of either one. Were they both hoaxes so he could get on her ranch? She wondered what was behind Jake’s request. She couldn’t keep from feeling that it was something to do with wanting to drill on their property.

What did she have to lose? That’s what she couldn’t figure. So he saw her land up close—she was certain he’d seen aerial photos because they were in the county records and on the internet. If he found the treasure, he had said she could have it. He simply wanted his relatives’ remains and the deed if there was one. While part of any ranch around here, including the McCracken place, would be a real asset, he would have to fight McCracken to get it.

She couldn’t believe a deed and his ancestors’ remains could be all there was to his request.

She glanced at him to find him watching her. His thickly lashed midnight eyes were seductive, mesmerizing. And guileless. He looked honest, trustworthy, open—all good qualities, yet she couldn’t believe the proposition was simply what he was telling her and nothing more.

Caught in his steady gaze, she forgot the legend, the treasure and the proposition. Instead she remembered Jake’s eyes filled with passion, a silent emphasis to what he did with his hands and his body. She had loved him deeply.

Instantly she broke off that train of thought and tried to think about her schedule tomorrow, his proposition, anything to escape memories that twisted a knife in her heart.

No matter how she turned his request in her mind, she couldn’t think how there could be an underlying motive and anything else for him to gain without her knowledge if she said okay to him.

“If I say okay to your proposal,” she asked him, “what are you going to do? Go out there with your shovel and start digging around?”

“Of course not,” he replied, smiling, his smile giving her heart a squeeze. He was so incredibly handsome and appealing and a smile made him doubly so. “I’ll get a crew from my ranch hands—not too many—about five. I want you to study the map and see if you can narrow down the location. There is no earthly way I can. You know your land, and if you don’t, one of your brothers should.”

“I’m no geologist. Suppose I can’t tell anything?”

“Then you and I will work on it together, but I’ll bet you’ll look at the map and come up with some possibilities for the area.”

She thought about what he was telling her as she put down her fork, her appetite suddenly gone. She wondered what she could do to make sure she didn’t get cheated.

“You didn’t eat much,” he observed a few moments later.

“It was delicious, but I don’t eat much most of the time and I’ve been busy thinking about your proposition.”

“Take all the time you need. You don’t have to give me an answer tomorrow night for that matter. I can wait. Want to go dance?”

“No, thanks,” she replied, smiling at him. “This is sort of a business dinner and I have no interest in dancing. Too much on my mind. I’d step on you,” she added, broadening her smile.

“I wouldn’t mind, but we can sit out the dancing.” He leaned forward, reaching across the table to take her hand. The instant her fingers touched his warm ones, she couldn’t get her breath. The air around her heated and her body tingled. That slight contact sizzled from her head to her toes and then settled low in the center of her being, a hot torment that made her ache to be in his arms and brought back memories of Jake holding her close, kissing her passionately, making torrid love to her that drove her wild.

“Truce?” he asked and she barely heard what he said as she stared at him. Something flickered in the depths of his eyes and for one brief instant, his fingers tightened around hers and his thumb ran over the back of her hand.

“You always did have the smoothest skin ever,” he whispered, his voice husky, a thick whisper, while his eyes blazed with such hot desire that she felt as if she would melt. At the same time, she wanted him to pull her toward him, to take her on his lap while he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her senseless. Closing her eyes momentarily, she tried to stop thinking about the past with him, the love she had thought they had shared. Love that he had smashed the way someone would break a crystal goblet by throwing it down.

She yanked her hand free and looked away, gasping for breath and hating that she had lost control so obviously that he could not avoid knowing exactly what she was feeling and thinking. He could see how much he could still affect her and she hated it.

“I guess we have a truce,” he said. His voice was raspy and she realized she still had an effect on him, too, giving her both satisfaction and annoyance.

“Truce for now,” she replied without looking at him.

“When you’re finished, we can head home. You can think about what I’ve offered.”

She nodded. “Then I’m ready to go back,” she said, wondering if they would say goodbye at her door and if she turned him down, if they wouldn’t see each other again. She didn’t care and she wasn’t too interested in accepting his proposition, except there were possibilities that would be good for her family.

She continued to think about all he had told her while he paid the bill and they returned to the airport. They barely talked, which seemed so odd in some ways. Long ago, she could talk to him endlessly and never tire of it.

Finally, as they flew back to Verity, she turned to him. “I think I would like to have our ancestors’ remains have a proper burial, also. If you remember, I’ve always been interested in our family tree and our history. The treasure—that seems a tall tale to me, but who really knows? It’s a generous offer to turn the treasure over to me if we find one.”

“Somehow, I think we might be more likely to find bones than treasure. If we do find treasure, that’s a good payment for your agreement to this,” he said. His long legs were stretched out in front of him, his booted feet near her. When they had boarded the plane, he had shed his jacket and tie and unbuttoned his collar. He looked relaxed and he still appeared open and straightforward, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that in some way, he was slipping something past her.

After another lapse of silence between them, she sat up straighter and turned slightly to face him. He sat watching her.

“If we do this and do find bones, how will we know whose bones are Milans and whose are Calhouns?”

“Take them to the county medical examiner. We can get some kind of DNA test and they can sort out the two families.”

She nodded. “That sounds reasonable. And I walk away with the treasure?”

“Absolutely.”

She lapsed into more silence before she broached the topic. “I know you want to lease some of my land for your energy company. Why not go elsewhere? It’s a big world.”

“So it is, but your land looks promising and is an area that we think may be a big play. It’s also cheaper and easier for us because it’s close to our headquarters. Labor is available here. Trained men who do this if we need to hire more. It’s dollars in the bank instead of going off a long distance.”

“That sounds reasonable. Suppose we put a high, high price on this.”

“You can price yourself out of the market, but energy companies, I think, are generous when they want something. Are you going to give us a chance?” he asked, looking at her and smiling, making her heart turn over again. Longing swamped her again. Too easily he could trigger those feelings.

“Don’t push me, Jake,” she said and he became silent again.

She thought about his original offer, still trying to look at it from all possible angles. When they stopped in front of her house, the driver came around to hold the limo door. Jake accompanied her to her door.

“Want to come in a few minutes? Would your driver mind?”

“No, he’ll wait. He’s getting paid for whatever he does.”

She unlocked the house and turned off the alarm. “We’ll go into the study,” she said, glancing at Jake to see him looking around.

“I forgot—you’ve never been inside this house. Seems ridiculous in some ways, but understandable in others. My ancestors would be turning over in their graves if they knew I’d invited a Calhoun inside.”

Jake smiled again. “I still feel the feud is arcane, ridiculous. Come into the present.”

“I agree, but we decided long ago to stop fighting it,” she said. As he walked beside her, he looked around. “Is any of this art hanging on the walls yours?”

“Not in the hallway, but in here it is,” she said, leading him into a study that held a large wet bar. “The painting over the mantel is mine,” she said and he crossed the room to look at the large painting of a field of bluebonnets, a tall oak in one side of the field and a stream running through it. “You’re not a contemporary artist. This is a beautiful painting and you’re very good.”

“Thank you. The painting on that wall by the window is mine, too,” she said and he crossed the room to look at the painting of three horses in a field, a cowboy holding the reins and standing by one. “That’s good, Madison. Very impressive. I can see why you’ve been a success.”

“Thanks. Would you like a drink?”

He shook his head. “No, thank you. Let’s just talk.”

She motioned with her hand. “Have a seat,” she said, sitting and crossing her legs, pulling her skirt to her knees and catching him watching her.

“I’ve been thinking about this all evening, Jake,” she said slowly, watching him intently. “I will in fact give you a final word tomorrow night....” She wouldn’t commit until she talked to her brothers; after all, she had to protect Milan interests. “But I’m thinking about accepting your proposal.” She speared his eyes with her own. “Under one condition.”

Three

Jake tried to avoid showing any emotion, but his heartbeat sped up and he had a flash of satisfaction. She was going to agree to let him on her ranch. He barely paid attention when she said she had a condition. He couldn’t imagine anything she could come up with that would stop him from accepting.

“Sure. Let’s hear it,” he said.

“I want to take a couple of my ranch hands and accompany you.”

As if cold water had been poured over him, his enthusiasm chilled. “You don’t trust me? Madison, if I surveyed your land, it wouldn’t get me any further with you on signing a lease,” he stated, sitting up straight in the chair. “I don’t intend to survey, but why would you want to go with me?”

“First of all how would I know if you found the treasure if I wasn’t along, except pure trust that you would inform me about it? That isn’t going to happen,” she said, her voice sounding cold and harsh, something he had never heard from her before.

“I expected you’d want one person to go with us—I figured one of the men who works for you. There’s no reason for you to go with us and it would be a waste of your time to have to sit and watch us dig.”

“You said nothing about someone who works for me going with you.”

“That’s your decision.”

She faced him, looking calm and composed again, the flash of anger gone. She shook her head. “That’s my condition. Take it or leave it. I go or you don’t.”

He stared at her a moment and then shrugged. “Sure, come along. If you think it over tonight and still want the same agreement, that’s fine. You have yourself a deal,” he said, holding out his hand. “If we find the treasure, you get it. I get my ancestors’ remains. We’ll just have to see if we do find a deed, what it says and who the land goes to. You go with me to search for the treasure.”

She placed her hand in his to shake while she smiled at him. “Deal.”

Her hand was warm, soft, and when they looked into each other’s eyes, he realized it might be torment to work with her beside him every day. He released her hand and the moment was gone, but it had dampened some of his enthusiasm. He didn’t want to get emotionally involved with her again and he didn’t like this constant flashback to that time in his life when she meant everything to him.

“I can go in tomorrow and clear my calendar. I don’t think we’ll search for more than a week, but I’ll clear my schedule for two weeks just in case. I can be ready to go Tuesday. What about you?” he asked.

“My time is my own. I think it would help if you would give me a copy of the map and let me study it. We need to have an idea where to go before we start. If you can send me an electronic copy of the map tonight when you get home, I can start studying it. Then tomorrow night, if you’d like, you can come over and look at maps of the ranch with me. You’re a geologist—I’m sure you can figure out some things from those photos of the ranch.”

“Sure. That’ll be good. I’ve already scanned in the old map, so I can send it easily.”

“Good. We’ll get started tonight.”

“You’re going to lose a lot of time to work on your art.”

She shook her head. “No, I won’t. I’ll take my sketch pad with me—because I don’t intend to dig. You’re the one so eager to do this.”

“You’re the one who will benefit from it if we’re successful,” he reminded her. “But you don’t need to dig so much as one shovelful of dirt.”

He stood. “I’ll go home and send you a copy of the map. Give me about an hour.”

At the door he paused. “Thanks, Madison, for agreeing to let me do this. Hopefully, it will be a productive venture.”

“I hope so. Thanks for dinner,” she said, following him into the hall.

“I’ll call you when I get home,” he said, walking away, aware she stood on her porch and watched him. As the limo pulled away, she still stood on the porch—a small figure in the moonlight.

They were going to search for the treasure together. Not what he had expected, but it was okay. The main thing was she had agreed to let him look. He hoped he succeeded in finding everything he was searching for. Again, guilt assailed him, but all he had to do was think about the day he had planned to elope with her. As he rode, he pulled out his phone to call his brother Josh, but there was no answer. He didn’t want to call Mike this late because Mike had a two-year-old son and he would be in bed.

He called Lindsay next to tell her. His sister was jubilant over his success with Madison.

After finishing his call with Lindsay, he thought about Madison. Was she looking forward to the search? He knew she hadn’t accepted because she wanted to be with him. It had been obvious that tonight had been a strain on her and she disliked being with him.

He didn’t understand the anger he had glimpsed in her eyes a few times. Why was she angry? She had done what she had wanted to do and put her career first. He shrugged, refusing to worry about it. It no longer mattered. He was honest enough with himself to admit it still hurt sometimes but he had put it in perspective and moved on.

As they reached the back door of his ranch house and his chauffeur stopped the limo, Jake opened the door. “Thanks, Chauncy,” he said, tipping his chauffeur in spite of the generous salary he paid.

“Night, Jake,” Chauncy said, following his boss’s orders for informality when it was only the two of them. Chauncy drove on to the garage to park the limo and go to his spacious apartment over the six-car garage while Jake entered his house.

In a short time he called Madison to tell her he had sent the map copy. Their conversation was brief and then she was gone.

Then he spread the maps on a table in his study and compared the ancient one with the one he had of Madison’s ranch, which was an aerial view. He had already picked out what he thought the most likely places to search, but he wanted to see what she chose. He could hardly believe it. He’d wanted to do this for a long time and now it was finally going to happen. Adrenaline pumping, he could barely contain his excitement. He had energy to burn, so turning off the light in the study, he went to the gym to work out. If all went well, he was in for some hard physical labor in the coming week.

* * *

Monday morning Jake flew to Dallas and went to his downtown office on the twentieth floor of Calhoun Energy. His office was half the floor with a reception room, his private office with its own entrance, the executive conference room, a room with a bar, a bathroom and a small workout room. On the floor above were two penthouse apartments with terraces.

Before Jake could call, Josh phoned and said he was on his way up. Jake was glad Josh was in town. Even though he had an investment in Calhoun Energy, he had his own hotel business and was gone more than he was in Dallas. In minutes his brother came striding into his office. His straight dark brown hair was neatly combed and he looked every inch the successful hotel mogul with his gold cuff links catching the light as he swung his arms. The gray suit and matching tie provided contrast for his brown eyes and dark looks.

“Good morning. How did it go last night?” he asked, sitting in a leather chair facing Jake, who leaned back in his chair behind his desk. Morning sun slanted through the floor-to-ceiling windows behind him.

“Excellent. I have permission to search on her ranch.”

“Hot damn! That’s perfect. So she bought it. Any stipulations?”

“Yes, she had one. The hitch you predicted,” he said, thinking each sibling reacted in a customary way and Josh was the cynical, study-all-angles-first brother.

“She wants someone from her ranch to go along,” Josh surmised.

“She does. More than one. In fact, she’s going with me.”

“Uh-oh,” Josh said, narrowing his eyes. “Do you think she wants to renew old times?”

“Not even remotely. She doesn’t trust me and she wants to see for herself.”

“She’s going to join you if you dig for buried treasure?” Josh asked, making a tent of his fingers in front of his chest. One booted foot rested on his knee.

“No, she won’t dig. I’m guessing that she’ll watch or sketch while she waits. Whatever she plans to do, she is definitely going with me.”

“Don’t ever trust her.”

“I don’t think you need to give me that advice,” Jake answered.

“I suppose not. So what happens if you find something and she’s there?”

“The treasure is hers as we planned. We get the remains. If any remains are Milans, she can have them.”

“What about the deed? If it’s there, she’ll see it.”

Jake nodded. “If it’s buried with the treasure, yeah. If we find it, she’s going to want to see it. At that point, I’ll drop the part about the McCracken land because she’ll know that I knew all along if there was a deed to land, it was Milan land.”

Jake sat forward in his chair. “You know, I wonder if it’s a tall tale—that our ancestor won part of the Milan ranch in a poker game and the deed was buried with that treasure.”

“You’ll have to take on about the bones of our ancestors like they mean the world to you.”

“I’ll worry about Madison. If that deed exists, I want it. According to what we were told, the deed would give us Milan land all along our border and that would be fabulous.”

“I think so,” Josh said, his brown eyes twinkling. “You’d get revenge for old man Milan telling you that you couldn’t marry Madison, to never go near her again.”

“I don’t care about revenge. That’s the past. If we have a deed to part of their ranch, I want that Milan land. We’re not the only company going after leases there,” Jake said, knowing that all his siblings owned shares in Calhoun Energy, just as he had an investment in Josh’s company.

Josh ran his fingers through his hair that sprang away and curled in a tangle. “Have you called everyone to tell them?”

“Yeah, I called you, too, and no one answered.”

Josh grinned. “I got your text. When you called, I was with...a friend.”

“The redhead?”

“No, she’s gone. Sandy is a brunette. You’ll meet her, maybe. Or maybe not.”

He paused as they heard voices outside the office and he watched their oldest brother, Mike, and their sister, Lindsay, appear from his private entrance.

“Good morning,” Mike said, standing and gazing at his brothers with wide dark brown eyes. Locks of his curly black hair fell slightly on his forehead. He shed his brown leather jacket, draped it on a coatrack by the door and hung his brown broad-brimmed hat on the rack.

“Come in and sit. Where’s Scotty?” Jake asked about Mike’s two-year-old.

“Home with Mrs. Lewis.”

“Lindsay, I didn’t expect to see you this morning.”

“I had to get some supplies and Mike talked me into coming. This is great news.”

“Madison was suspicious of my motives at first, but then she bought it and said that I can look for the treasure,” Jake explained and all three siblings cheered. “You two have a chair,” Jake said and Mike sat in the other leather chair while Lindsay took a wingback.

“And Madison thinks the deed gives you land from the McCracken place?” Mike asked.

“Right,” Jake replied. “From what I’ve always understood, until now, no one outside our family knows about the deed.”

“Thank heavens,” Josh remarked.

“Madison’s going with me on the dig. That’s the only way she would agree.”

“That’s bad news,” Lindsay remarked, frowning. “You can bet her brothers will be thinking up ways for her to take advantage of this. She’ll try something sneaky.”

Mike shook his head and rolled his eyes. “She wants to get back together with you.”

“No, she doesn’t,” Jake answered. “Madison doesn’t trust me to tell her if I find the treasure. It’s that simple.”

“Watch her. I don’t think it will be that simple,” Mike said. “I agree with Lindsay. Don’t ever trust a Milan,” he said and Jake’s eyebrows arched.

“What happens if you do find the deed?” Lindsay asked.

“I show it to her and claim the land.”

“You can just act surprised there really is a deed,” Mike said. “She can’t blame you for feeling uncertain about it.”

“I won’t need to act,” Jake remarked dryly. “I will be as surprised as hell if we find a deed or anything else. I don’t really think that legend is true.”

“Something got it started and it makes sense. You know our ancestors shot and killed Milans and Milans shot and killed some of our ancestors, which is part of what started the feud,” Josh said.

“A woman got it started. She planned to marry a Calhoun and ran off with a Milan,” Mike reminded them.

“You know Madison doesn’t trust you,” Josh remarked.

“I don’t really care,” Jake replied. “If there is a deed and that deed will stand up in a court of law, then part of the Milan ranch is ours. Maybe the best part of the Milan ranch.” All were silent a moment and Jake figured the others were thinking about the prospect of owning part of the Milan ranch just as he was.

“What a deal,” Josh stated, his brown eyes on Jake. “This may get the old feud fired up again.”

“I hope we’re all more civilized today than to go shooting at each other,” Jake said. “We may start searching tomorrow. I’m going to her house tonight to look at aerial photos of her ranch and hear her theories on where to look. I sent her a copy of the map last night.”

They speculated on where the digging would take place, as they had all studied the map and the aerial photos of the Milan ranch.

“All we can do is wait and see,” Mike said. “Call one of us each night and give us a report and we’ll call the other two.”

Jake agreed.

“That old legend,” Lindsay remarked. “It would be funny if it turned out to be true.”

“It sounds likely to me,” Mike added, glancing at the others.

“I go back and forth about it,” Jake said. “I first heard it from Grandad. He said a Calhoun had a box of gold and he was trying to get away from robbers—”

“It might have been just the reverse,” Mike said. “The Calhoun ancestor may have been the robber trying to escape a posse.

“They’ve also said the shoot-out was over a Calhoun’s fiancée who ran off with a Milan and they had the shoot-out over her,” Mike stated.

“That’s what Grandad always said. He said the Calhoun got her back because he killed the Milan,” Jake said. “The deed was won by a Calhoun from a Milan and was supposed to say clearly that the land belonged to the Calhouns, and the deed was with a box of gold coins.”

“The ranch boundaries we have now weren’t clear back in the time that shoot-out happened, but that started the feud,” Mike said. “Myth or truth? Maybe we’ll finally find out with our generation.

“I’d like to come with you,” Mike added, “but I think it would cause trouble with Madison Milan to have two Calhouns.”

“No,” Jake replied. “She won’t want the Calhoun brothers going along, or our sister.”

“Frankly, I don’t want to go,” Lindsay said.

Josh stood up. “I’ve got to go. I leave for L.A. in a few hours. Good luck, bro,” he said, looking intently at Jake. “Sorry, but I don’t think you’ll find anything. If a treasure is on that ranch, it’s a needle in a haystack.”

“I’ll text all of you each night.”

“Good,” Mike said, standing with the others. “Good luck to you.”

Jake gave him a thumbs-up. He watched as his siblings left and then he sat, turning his chair to look out over Dallas while he thought about the old legend and the Milan ranch. Was it really true or was this a wild-good chase? If there was a buried treasure, was there any hope of them finding it? Actually, it might be buried on Calhoun land because to all his family’s calculations it was close to their boundary. Through the years there had been plenty of searching on the Calhoun side, but to no avail.

He thought again of Madison, remembering her perfume, the way the blue dress had clung to a figure that still took his breath away. She was a beautiful woman, poised and confident now. He hadn’t slept well last night with her filling his dreams. Memories of making love to her had plagued him, waking him, leaving him hot, sweaty and wanting her, something he didn’t want to feel. They had been kids when they had thought they were in love.

What had been a significant difference at nineteen and sixteen no longer mattered at thirty-two and twenty-nine. When he looked back on it now, he had to admit that they had been too young to marry, but at the time it hadn’t seemed that way.

Because of Pete Milan’s heavy-handed manner, Jake had never thought about the man being right until the past few years. All he could remember was her father warning him to get out of Madison’s life and disclosing that she had already accepted his offer to open art galleries for her and get her showings in the best exhibitions in the Southwest and along the West Coast—if she would call off the wedding. Her father’s promise had probably saved her several years of struggles and had made her a legitimate working artist. Evidently that was what she’d wanted the most. More than him. Jake had known instinctively that his own dad would have agreed with Pete Milan and said they were too young to marry; his mother never liked any of the Milans anyway.

He thought again of Madison, remembering holding her soft hand last night when they had the handshake on their agreement. Could he work with her and keep his hands to himself and resist flirting with her? Did he really want to resist? Was she still off-limits to his heart? Wisdom answered yes. She obviously didn’t feel kindly toward him or want to recall the past. What would it be like to be with her every day for the next week or two?

* * *

Madison bent over the map and aerial photo spread before her as she made notes. For several hours she’d tried to focus her thoughts, but too often she realized she was staring into space, lost in thought about Jake and their time together last night. She had been shocked at how handsome he looked—far more than when he had been nineteen years old. Worse, he was even more appealing to her as a man than he had been as a teenager.

She had never known if her parents had any inkling of the depth of her feelings for Jake Calhoun. It didn’t matter now.

One time their foreman, Charley, had come around the garages and seen her in her car at midnight. He had asked if her parents knew she was out and he had told her to go back inside. She had gone back, climbing in through her open bedroom window and sitting there, watching in the dark until she saw Charley disappear into the bunkhouse. She had climbed out again and taken a truck, driving across the ranch in the moonlight to meet Jake. That had been one of the last times they had been together before the night they had planned to run away and get married.

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