His By Any Means: The Black Sheep's Inheritance

The two of them had fought over everything, he remembered now. From doing chores as a kid to driving as a teenager. Sage had instinctively gone in the opposite direction of anything J.D. recommended. There’d been plenty of battles between them, with Ellie stepping in as peacemaker—until she died after giving birth to Angelica.

And the love they shared for Sage’s sister was the one thing he and J.D. had ever agreed on. She had been the glue in their shattered family. Without Ellie there, they would have all floundered, but caring for Angelica kept them all afloat. Then Marlene had moved in and because she hadn’t expected their love, she’d won their hearts.

Shaking his head now, Sage reached for his wine and gulped it down as if it were water. The waiter appeared, delivering their meals, and for a moment or two, there was silence. Then they were alone again and Colleen finally spoke.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring back unpleasant memories.”

“You didn’t,” he lied, smoothing his voice out as easily as he mentally paved over memory lane.

“Okay.” She took a small bite of her ravioli, then chewed and swallowed. “Well, I’ve been talking forever. Why don’t you tell me about your ranch?”

Sage stared at her for a long minute as he tried to figure out what she was up to. But damned if he could see signs of manipulation on her features.

So he started talking, grateful to be in comfortable territory. He watched her face as she listened to him, and enjoyed the shift and play of emotions she made no attempt to hide. But as he told her about his place, Sage realized something. He wasn’t going to be getting the information he needed tonight. She was either really skillful at turning the conversation away from her—or she was as sweet and innocent as she appeared to be. But either way, it was going to take longer than he’d thought to find out exactly what she knew.

Oddly enough, that thought didn’t bother him at all.

* * *

“You can’t be serious.” Laura Falkner dropped into her favorite chair and stared up at her daughter as if she’d just sprouted another head. “Three million dollars?”

Colleen drew a deep breath and realized that over the past few days, she had actually gotten used to the idea of having three million dollars. Okay, it was still a little weird to know that she wasn’t going to have to worry about paying her cable bill—or anything else. But she’d finally come to grips with the idea that J.D. had meant for her to have this. That he’d wanted to help her reach her dreams, and she only wished that she could look him in the eye and say thank you.

Now, seeing her mother’s reaction to her news made Colleen excited all over again. She was so glad she’d waited a few days to tell her mom. Colleen had wanted to get everything in order, have her plan set in stone so her mom couldn’t argue with her over any of it. It hadn’t been easy to wait. The past three days had been a whirlwind of activity. She’d hardly had a chance to really sit down and appreciate just how much her life had changed.

And thanks to J.D.’s generosity, her mother’s life was about to change, too.

Looking around the apartment she and her mom had shared when they first moved to Cheyenne, Colleen smiled. There were good memories here, but soon her mother would be making new memories. Enjoying the dreams she’d always tucked aside. And that pleased her, even though she knew she would miss her mom being so close by.

“I’m completely serious,” Colleen replied, sitting in the chair opposite her mother. She reached out and took her mom’s hands in hers. “It’s all true. I’m going to get my nurse practitioner’s license and buy myself a cabin in the mountains as soon as possible.”

“Honey, that’s wonderful.” Laura pulled her hands free of her daughter’s grasp, then cupped Colleen’s face between her palms. “It’s been your dream for so long, having a rural practice.” Leaning back in her chair, she smiled even more broadly. “I’m delighted for you. Of course I was so sad to hear that Mr. Lassiter had died, but it was so good of him to remember you.”

“It really was.” She could see that now and accept J.D.’s bequest for the gift it was. She didn’t care anymore if people talked. As Sage had pointed out, either way, she couldn’t stop them, so why shouldn’t she be grateful to J.D. and enjoy what he’d tried to give her?

Sage.

Just the thought of his name sent ripples of anticipation racing through her. It had been three days since their dinner together, and the one-time-only night to talk about J.D. had turned into something more. Sage had taken her to a movie two nights ago, and last night to a country-western club for dancing. She still didn’t understand why he wanted to spend so much time with her, but she was enjoying herself more than she would have thought possible.

Dragging herself away from thoughts of Sage, Colleen focused on what she’d come to tell her mother. “There’s more, Mom.”

“More?” Laura just blinked at her. “You have financial security. You’re about to make your dream job a reality. What’s left?”

“Your dreams.”

“What?” Her mother had the wary look in her eyes that she used to get when Colleen was a child and up to something.

“You know how you’re always talking about moving to Florida to live with Aunt Donna?”

The two sisters were both widows now, and they’d discussed for years how much fun it would be if they could live together. But neither of them had been able to afford the move, so it just hadn’t been possible. Until now.

“Yessss...”

“Well, you’re going to.”

“I’m—” Her mother’s mouth snapped shut. “Don’t be silly.”

“It’s not silly.” Colleen had it all worked out in her mind. In fact, since the reading of the will three days before, she’d spent a lot of time on the phone, talking to lawyers, bankers, real estate agents and travel agencies. She had wanted every detail clear in her mind before broaching the subject to her mother. It had all been worth it, too, because as she started laying out her plans, Laura was dumbstruck.

“I’ve found a perfect house for you and Aunt Donna. It’s gorgeous and it’s in this lovely retirement community outside Orlando.”

“You can’t do that, you don’t have the money yet and—”

Colleen cut her off quickly. “It’s amazing how willing banks are to give you a line of credit based on a lawyer’s sworn affidavit that a will’s bequest is coming.”

“You didn’t.”

“Oh, yes, I did.” Walter Drake wasn’t the easiest lawyer to talk to, but he had assured Colleen that she would be able to draw on her bequest almost immediately. And he’d gone out of his way to set up the line of credit with a local bank.

Laura pushed out of the chair and walked the few steps to the narrow, galley-style kitchen. Busily, she filled a teakettle with water and set it on the stove, all the while shaking her head and muttering.

“Mom—”

“You shouldn’t have done that, Colleen,” her mother said, not even looking at her. She turned the fire on under the kettle, then grabbed two mugs from a cupboard and dropped a tea bag into each of them. “I don’t want you spending money on me. I want you to have that money to keep you safe.”

Colleen’s heart turned over. Her mom was the most unselfish person she’d ever known in her life. She always gave and never once had she done anything purely for herself. Well, that was about to change, whether she liked it or not.

Joining her mother in the kitchen, Colleen gave her a hard hug, then said, “I couldn’t spend all of that money if I tried and you know it.”

“Just the same—”

“Mom.” Colleen tried another tack. “Getting a house for you and Donna, so you can live without the snow making your arthritis worse, that makes me feel great. And, I only put a down payment on it. I would never buy you a house you haven’t even seen.”

“I don’t like this...”

“You will,” Colleen said, hugging her again. “And anyway, if you don’t like the house, we’ll find something else. I just thought it would be a good idea because this community has people to take care of your yard and watch over your house while you’re traveling—”

“Traveling?”

This was so much fun, it was like Christmas morning. Colleen grinned. “Yes. You’re going to travel. Just like you always wanted to.”

“Honey, enough. You know I can’t let you do this. Any of it.” Laura finally found her voice and naturally she was using it to try to turn down her daughter’s generosity.

“Too late, it’s already done.” Colleen hurried back into the living room, grabbed her purse and carried it back to the kitchen. She set it onto the small round table, slid one hand inside and came back up with a batch of cruise brochures. Handing them over to her mother, she tapped her index finger on the top one.

“A world cruise?” Laura dropped into one of the kitchen chairs as if she’d suddenly gone boneless.

“Yes.” Colleen really did feel like Santa. A tall, busty Santa with big feet. “It doesn’t leave for another three months, though, so you and Aunt Donna have plenty of time to get your passports and shopping done, and I thought we could talk about your moving to Florida as soon as you get back. Of course, if you’d rather move right away, I understand, but I don’t know that I’m ready to have you leave just yet and...”