Read Online Standoff at Mustang Ridge by Delores Fossen - Free Book Online

it.”
    “Isn’t that what prenups are for?” he immediately asked.
    “Travis refused to sign one.”
    He thought about that. And cursed. “Then Travis could be pressing for this marriage so he can get his hands on your money?”
    “Maybe. He said he wouldn’t sign a prenup because he has triple the money that I do and doesn’t need my inheritance, but I found some things in the papers I sent to Agent Lott that contradicts that. I believe Travis has the million to pay off my father’s debts, but I think it would also wipe out his liquid assets.”
    “Yet you agreed to marry him? Hell’s bells, Sophie, Travis could have been planning to kill you—” And his argument came to a halt. “But after the wedding. That’s the only way he could have gotten his hands on your money.”
    She nodded.
    “Travis could have sent the kidnappers, though,” Royce added.
    Another nod. “Maybe he was going to force me into the marriage. Or he’s sick enough to stage my rescue so that I’d go running into his arms.” She paused, shuddered. “But those men fired shots at us.”
    “Maybe not on Travis’s orders,” Royce had to admit. “They could have panicked or even thought they could scare us into surrendering.”
    Movement in the side mirror caught his eye, and Royce automatically went for his gun. He stopped, though, when he saw his father’s truck coming up the road. Royce cursed. He didn’t need this today.
    “Trouble?” Sophie asked.
    “Always,” Royce mumbled.
    He got out, Sophie did the same, and they went onto his porch, which was scabbed with ice. Sophie’s left foot slipped, sliding her right back into Royce’s arms, and that’s when Chet stepped from his truck.
    “Jake told me about the shooting,” Chet greeted in his usual snarling tone. “Is that why you brought her here?”
    Royce opened the door to his house and helped Sophie inside. It was not only warmer there, but it would get them out of the slipping embrace that his father had no doubt noticed.
    “Sophie’s in danger,” Royce informed his father. “And yeah, that’s why I brought her here.”
    Royce braced himself for a scathing reminder of that danger following her to the ranch. Chet had had a few run-ins with Eldon, so Royce figured his father would want her anywhere but there.
    Of course, Chet felt that way about most people.
    “I’ve heard talk,” Chet said, his attention landing not on Royce but Sophie, “that my son might have gotten you pregnant.”
    Sophie made a sound of pure surprise, and if Chet’s revelation hadn’t stunned Royce for several seconds, he might have made that sound, too.
    “Where did you hear that?” Royce demanded.
    “Around. Is it true?”
    “No,” Sophie insisted before Royce could tell Chet to mind his own business.
    “Good.” But there was no relief in Chet’s weathered eyes when he looked at Royce. “I didn’t think you were that stupid. Best to keep your jeans zipped around her sort.”
    Royce glanced at Sophie and saw the color rise in her cheeks. What Royce was feeling wasn’t embarrassment. It was pure anger.
    “Her sort?” Royce repeated. He eased Sophie back so he could step inside and meet his father’s gaze. “What? You afraid I’ll follow in your footsteps?”
    Royce didn’t give Chet a chance to answer. He’d made his point, and that point was for his father to back way off, especially when it came to Sophie.
    He shut the door. And locked it. While he was at it, Royce set the security system. From the window, he saw his father mumble something and then get back in his truck and drive away. Good . He could only take Chet in small doses, and that had been a big enough dose to last him for weeks.
    “Your father and you don’t get along,” Sophie commented. She took off her coat and put it on the peg next to the door.
    “No one gets along with Chet.” Royce shrugged. “Well, except my three-year-old niece, Sunny. He doesn’t bark and growl at her.”
    “Then there