Page 8 of Sweet Deal (Honeysuckle, Texas #4)

“Good grief.” Rachel came to a stop just inside the barn doors, her brother nearly knocking into her.

“What the…” Preston glanced at the pile of goods lining the walls and creeping into the walkway. Leading the way, he followed the trail to the tack room and stood to one side so he and Rachel could see inside.

Sitting cross-legged on the floor, papers scattered all about, Carson clutched a few pages in his grip and stared so intently that he hadn’t heard them come inside.

“I thought you were looking for a saddle?” Preston asked.

“Found it.” Carson waved a thumb over his shoulder, pointing in the general direction of the wall behind him.

Rachel turned to see. Sure enough, their father’s saddle leaned into the corner.

“Where was it?” Preston’s gaze shifted from the corner to their brother.

“Under a pile of blankets and behind a stack of boxes.

“Boxes?” Preston’s brows crinkled to match the surprise Rachel felt. “Why are there boxes in a tack room?”

“Probably because Ray stank at housekeeping. That saddle is worth a fortune, but he probably didn’t even know it was there.” Carson waved papers in the air as he pushed to his feet. “And under all those blankets, he must have forgotten about these boxes.”

“What’s in them?” Rachel inched forward to see what Carson referred to.

“All kinds of records. Most useless, but once I found them, I kept digging, hoping to find something that would lead us to Ray or what he sold.”

Eyes alight with interest, Preston moved closer, looking over his brother’s shoulder. “Find something?”

“Not about Ray.” He handed his sister the pages.

Scanning quickly, she shook her head. “This is Clint’s work application.”

Carson nodded but remained silent.

“And?” She handed it off to Preston at her side.

“Look closely.”

Now she scanned it over her brother’s shoulder. She and Preston must have found the same thing at the same time, because both their heads snapped up.

“Ex-con?” Preston barely managed to get the words out.

Rachel tugged the papers back and read through more carefully. “For what?”

On a heavy sigh, Carson shook his head slowly. “Yes, and I don’t know.”

“Crap.” Preston raked his fingers through his hair. “Do you think he’s in on it?”

“Don’t know.” Carson shrugged.

“I can’t believe it.” Rachel stared down at the page. “Have you ever been charged with a crime? Yes. Have you served time in prison? Yes. Are you currently on parole? No.” She looked up. “So he served his time?”

“Or escaped,” Carson spat out.

“You don’t honestly believe that?” Rachel was surprised by her own harsh tone.

Carson shook his head. “No. I don’t. He wouldn’t be so calm around the sheriff if he were.”

“But that doesn’t mean he isn’t in on it with Ray, or that he’s not the one who recently removed the hay baler we found from the shed.” Preston retrieved the handwritten application from his sister.

Rachel collapsed on a nearby pile of saddle blankets on top of who knew what. “So what do we do?”

“Fire him,” Preston snapped.

“He’s been good to Mom, worked hard.” Rachel scrubbed her face. “We owe him to at least ask him what’s going on.”

Carson nodded. “I’ve run the gamut on fury and confusion, between firing him or beating the truth out of him.”

“Conclusion?” Preston leaned against the doorway, the papers still tight in his fist.

“I don’t know.” Carson reached for the pages. “I see how hard he’s worked, how much he clearly worries about Mom, how respectful he is to all the women on this ranch. It isn’t adding up.”

“So what?” Preston asked. “Tell Mom, see what she thinks?”

Rachel shook her head. “She’ll take it hard. Two betrayals, so soon after losing Dad.” She didn’t have another suggestion, but that one just felt… wrong.

The sound of a vehicle door slamming drew all their attention.

Pushing to her feet, Rachel led the way to the open barn doors.

The three siblings stood single file as if lining up for a photograph, shortest to the tallest. Though Preston and Carson were nearly the same height, she clearly stood in front to see.

Their mother hopped out of the pickup truck. Her stride steady and strong, a relief after that horrible fall in the barbed wire.

From their left, Clint hopped over the paddock fencing and hurried to where Alice Sweet stood behind the truck, tailgate open, reaching for the large bags of feed. “Hey, let me get that.”

“I can do it.”

The man nodded. “Yes, ma’am, you can, but that doesn’t mean you should.”

A smile curled their mother’s lips upward as she nodded.

Clint tipped his hat respectfully, and the two exchanged words none of the siblings could hear. There was no telling what was discussed, but their mom nodded again and took a step back as Clint hefted the bag on his shoulder and walked off toward the feed shed.

“Okay.” Rachel spun around, staring up at her two brothers. “We do. Not. Tell Mom.”

“Agreed,” the two men chorused.

“I’ll check with the sheriff, see what he knows,” Carson added.

“No.” Rachel raised her hand. “If the sheriff doesn’t know, I don’t want to cause Clint trouble.”

Preston bobbed his head. “The Farradays. I could call Declan. Dad and Declan’s dad were close. He might be able to shed some light on the situation.”

All three of them glanced over to where Clint was reaching for another bag.

“For now,” Rachel cast a stern gaze in their direction, “let’s not stir the pot. We’ll keep an eye on him, but this stays between the three of us until… until we’re sure what the heck is happening here.”

It was pretty obvious to any fool that the idea didn’t sit well with the two brothers. She couldn’t blame them; she rarely kept anything from her twin, but this was different. This was important. They couldn’t let anything else hurt their mother.

Having spent most of his afternoon down a stock market rabbit hole, Jim didn’t have any more answers than he’d had when he woke up this morning, after barely sleeping last night.

He even wandered outside after breakfast to get some fresh air and hoped that giving his brother a hand mucking out stalls would give him a place to think and gather a better perspective on how to help.

What he’d gotten was sore muscles and the need for a long hot shower.

After that he’d spent hours on the computer, doing what he’d done every day, practically all day, for years—search for opportunities to make money.

The problem at hand is that the Sweets needed a ton more money than he could make in a few days.

Now what he wondered was if Rachel had talked to her siblings about his offer to at least help with a payment or two while they figured out a more long-term solution for the ranch.

Though the siblings had come up with an idea, and from what Rachel told him, if all six of them could marry and collect the full trust after a year, the ranch would be free of financial burden and there would even be a little money left to make some of the upgrades their father had originally borrowed money for.

Not all, but enough to make their dad proud.

All six. Married. Just for show. The words rattled around his brain like marbles in a pin-ball machine .

Just for show . Could he do that? Could he stay in Honeysuckle for a year and pretend to be Rachel’s husband?

Although, it wouldn’t be totally pretend.

They would indeed be legally hitched, just without any of the benefits afforded by a truly married couple.

“You look like someone stole your favorite candy.” His brother slapped him on the shoulder. “Too much hard work for a soft West Coaster?”

Not till his dying day would he admit to his brother that for all his workouts, he was grossly out of shape for ranch work.

“Thinking about something Rachel said.” He shoved to his feet.

“I think I’m going to pop over to the Sweet Ranch.

Chat a bit with Garret; see what’s the plan for tomorrow night’s games. ”

If his brother had any inkling that Jim had ulterior motives for going to the Sweet ranch, he didn’t show it. “Sounds good. And if your baseball skills are as rusty as your stall mucking skills, maybe you can talk them into a little practice game.”

“Ha, ha.” Jim flashed a toothy grin. “I shouldn’t be home late.”

Five more minutes and he was out the door.

So much on his mind and yet, he was pretty sure there was just one thing at the root of his unease—the deal.

A deal that had been meant as fun youthful teasing with a hint of possibility, but an idea that would do more for the Sweets than any market games he could play.

Turning the key in the ignition of the old truck, he put it in gear and drove off.

The Sweet ranch wasn’t far up the main road from his family.

Doc Conroy’s property sat between the two ranches.

The Sweets had a much larger and older operation than his family, but still, by West Texas standards, a close neighbor.

By the time he turned into the Sweet driveway, he’d come to terms with at least one thing—what he was thinking wasn’t so much about saving the ranch, but saving Rachel from another man. Or maybe, saving himself.

As soon as he came to a stop in front of the large home, Brady and another dog came trotting over to the truck, a little boy who had to be Mason jogged behind them.

Carefully, Jim opened his door and eased out of the vehicle.

Neither dog looked terribly angry, and yet, neither budged from Mason’s side.

His first step forward and Brady lifted a lip, exposing one very long and sharp tooth.

The other dog did the same, and bless that little boy’s heart, he latched an arm around each dog’s neck and simply announced to them, “He’s a friend. ”

Instantly the dog’s hackles eased, and the semi snarl faded, but Jim cut a wide berth around the boy, nonetheless.

There wasn’t the slightest doubt in his mind that if he made a single wrong move, those dogs would protect that child with their lives—and he had no intention of proving his suspicions.

“Well, what a nice surprise.” Alice Sweet appeared on the porch. In a button-down shirt with jeans and boots and a buckle to remind him that once upon a time the woman had been a barrel racing champ, she looked every bit the image of the rancher’s wife… widow.

“Hope I’m not intruding.”

“Now James Henderson, have you been gone so long that you’ve forgotten what it means to be neighborly?”

Swallowing a chuckle, he resisted the urge to dig his booted toe into the dirt. “No, ma’am.”

“Then come on in and I’ll get you a drink.”

“Thank you.” He followed her onto the porch and into the house. His gaze darted around. Little had changed through the years except things were a lot quieter. “I was hoping to have a chat with your sons.”

“Oh?” Her brows lifted slightly.

“About the game tomorrow.”

“Oh.” A smile touched her lips. “They’re in their dad’s office. I swear, the last few months those kids gather in that room so often I’m starting to think they’re digging under the floorboards for gold.”

Now was a good time for him to laugh in earnest. Especially since he knew why the siblings gathered so often.

“You know how to find them. Go on.” Alice smiled, nodded, and politely shooed him toward the office. Tapping on the door jam with his college ring, he waited till everyone looked up before stepping into the room. “Your mom tells me y’all are digging for gold.”

Jillian chuckled. “I wish.”

“Jim?” Rachel popped up from her seat.

He tried to contain the smile that threatened to take over his face at the mere sight of her. “Have you had a chance to discuss my offer yet?”

“She was just telling us.” Preston looked up from the desk.

Jillian shook her head. “We need another loan like we need a hole in our heads.”

“I understand,” he nodded, “but this would be different. Interest rates aren’t great right now anyhow, so an interest-free loan with no payments until you can get back on your feet would help.”

Eyes darted back and forth. Carson looked at Garret, Garret looked at Preston, Jillian looked to Jim and eventually, all eyes landed on Rachel.

“Why is everyone looking at me?”

Carson hefted a shoulder. “It’s tempting, but you’re not on board?”

She shook her head, her gaze drifting toward him. “Best way I know to kill a friendship is to borrow money.”

“Don’t you plan to pay it back?” he teased, or at least hoped that’s how it sounded to his audience.

“Of course we do.” Her voice rose an octave with indignation.

“See?” He flashed a smile and faced the others. “Then what’s the problem?”

Rachel collapsed again in the chair. “Besides it’s just a temporary fix, like shoving chewing gum into the hole in the dike. It just feels wrong.”

“She’s right,” Jillian chimed in. “We can’t take advantage of your friendship.”

“Why not?” Preston stared at his sister. “We let Sarah marry me. No one was worried about a family friendship then.”

Jillian’s head snapped over to her sister and Rachel leveled her gaze with her sister’s for a long moment before finally shaking her head with a shrug.

“Excuse me.” Jim cleared his throat. “I wasn’t finished.”

All eyes turned to him, and he took a deep breath.

He might very well have lost his mind, but here went nothing. “What if I step in and play happily ever after the same way the rest of you have?”