Read Online A Woman's Touch by Jayne Ann Krentz - Free Book Online Page B

down,“ Kyle instructed as he followed her into the condo. „I’ll get us both a drink. We’re going to need it.“
    „Why?“
    „I have a story to tell you,“ he said. „And you’re not going to like it. Just remember the advice you gave me earlier today about listening to explanations, okay?“ He paused for a moment in the kitchen doorway. „And remember something else, too, Becky.“
    „What?“ she asked, aware of a cold chill somewhere in the vicinity of her stomach.
    „Remember that whatever else happens, you and I are involved and that’s not going to change. We’ll get through this together.“

FOUR
    „I know all about the news you got from the lawyers this afternoon.“ Kyle stood at the window, drink in hand, staring broodingly out toward the mountains. „Congratulations.“
    „You don’t sound all that thrilled for me,“ Rebecca remarked quietly. She clutched her glass of wine and waited for the ax to fall. She could almost hear it swishing through the air above her head.
    „I’m not. It complicates matters. On the other hand, if it hadn’t been for that land you inherited from Alice Cork, I would never have met you.“
    Rebecca took a deep breath. „How do you know about Alice Cork and the land?“
    „It’s a long story.“
    „Once upon a time…?“ she prompted dryly.
    „Right. Once upon a time.“ He paused, apparently searching for words. „Once upon a time there were two men and two ranches divided by one very valuable strip of land. The land in the middle was called Harmony Valley. It was badly named, to say the least. There has never been any harmony connected with that damned valley.“
    „Who owned Harmony Valley?“
    „Each of the owners of the two ranches wanted it right from the start, but a man named Macintosh actually got it first.“
    „And who owns the ranches that border it?“ Rebecca asked with a strong sense of foreboding.
    „The Ballards own Clear Advantage ranch, which borders one side of the valley.“
    „Clear Advantage?“ Rebecca stared at Kyle’s back. „Any connection with Clear Advantage Development Company?“ The firm was one of Flaming Luck’s arch competitors.
    „There’s a connection, all right. The same kind of connection that exists between Flaming Luck Enterprises and Flaming Luck ranch. I own both. Glen Ballard owns the Clear Advantage and the development company he’s built. He named his company after the family land, just as I did. Our ranches both border Harmony Valley. The Ballards and the Stockbridges have been feuding over that damned valley for three generations.“
    Rebecca got a queasy sensation in her stomach. „Feuding?“
    Kyle turned to face her. His green-and-gold eyes were riveting in their intensity. „It started with a woman and a piece of land, and it looks like it’s going to end that way.“
    Rebecca set down her glass with a very deliberate movement and clasped her hands in her lap. „You’d better tell me about it.“
    Kyle hesitated and then began to recite the tale with the fluency of someone who has heard the story many times since childhood. „The Ballards and the Stockbridges both wanted Harmony Valley. Originally because of the water.
    Later because of the mining potential. Macintosh, the original owner of Harmony Valley, wouldn’t sell to either the Ballards or the Stockbridges. From all accounts he was a tough old bastard. Things got nasty. Threats were made.
    Shots were fired.“
    „That sounds like something right out of the Old West.“
    Kyle gave her an odd look. „It was the Old West. At any rate, Macintosh finally offered a solution. He was dying and he had a daughter. She wasn’t very pretty, I’m told, and she had no suitors. Macintosh wanted her safely married off to either a Stockbridge or a Ballard. Whichever family accepted her as a bride got the land.“
    „That poor woman,“ Rebecca exclaimed in sympathy.
    „She would have been rich, regardless of which side she chose.“
    „She