Curvy Girls: Claimed By The Cowboy (The BBW and the Billionaire Rancher) by Georgette St. Clair
Authors: Georgette St. Clair
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wasn’t it!” Abigail spluttered.
“Wasn’t it?” He glanced at her, and she could have sworn she was a flash of hurt in his eyes, but maybe that was just from dredging up his old, painful family history.
“Anyway, Jebediah was angry at the world over the loss of his sons and the breakup of his marriage, furious that Boone was all he had left…he made Boone feel worthless. Took out all his anger on him. Let him know how much he missed his real sons, every day of Boone’s life, if what I hear tell is true. Boone grew up to be a drunk, angry hell-raiser who embarrassed his dad every chance he got. That’s why Jebediah wrote the trust in a way that left Boone as a powerless figurehead who had no say in the running of the ranch.”
“Ouch. Okay, I’ve now lost my appetite. And I feel bad for all the times I thought Boone was a drunk woman-hating pig.”
“He hated just about everyone, darlin’. He took it out on his first wife, my brother’s mother, until the day she died, and you know the stories about that.”
“That when she fell down the stairs, she had some help? And he paid off the coroner to write a fake report and cover it up?”
“Exactly. And right after she died, when Clayton was only two, he married my mother, and started beating on her too, until…it doesn’t matter. She found a way to make him stop. She took me and made my father build another house for us on the property, had affairs all over town and flaunted them in front of my father’s face. It just made my father more bitter and full of self-hatred. She left my father living in that big ole house with Clayton and his nannies…left him to beat up on Clayton until Clayton was old enough to hit back.”
He glided into a parking lot in front of a white clapboard house. Abigail’s heart leaped to her throat. What the heck was going on here? Ty had just pulled up in front of offices of Reginald Bigelow, Justice of the Peace.
Ty ran a weary hand over his face, pressing against his eyes. “Our family tree has poison running through it, Abigail. Clayton grew up angry and bitter. Hating the ranch. Hating everything it stands for.”
“You said you were going to stop him from developing the ranch.”
Ty turned to look her full in the eyes. “Turns out it’s not that easy. The terms of my grandfather’s will are that whichever one of his grandsons’ marries first gets the ranch. The other grandson gets a substantial amount of money, free and clear; worth as much as the ranch. What my grandfather wanted was that the Jackson legacy would live on. The trust says that whoever inherits the ranch can’t subdivide it, can’t split it up at all. Unfortunately he didn’t specify how the property can be developed.”
“Oookay…” She didn’t like where this was going.
“Clayton doesn’t want the money. He wants to tear down the main house and pave over everything, over his childhood, over every bad memory that haunts him.”
“There must be something we could do…maybe if I found that black-footed ferret…”Abigail felt faint. This couldn’t be happening.
“That might slow him down, it might not. He might just build first and face the penalties. He’s absolutely determined to go ahead with the development, and I’m running out of time. I’ve had private investigators keeping an eye on Clayton ever since he went back to Los Angeles, and they just called me this morning. He picked some Eastern European model that he’s been dating for about three weeks, and convinced her to enter an arranged marriage so he could get the ranch. He’s getting married in a few hours.”
Abigail’s eyes widened. Ty could not possibly be headed where she thought he was headed with this.
“And?” she barely managed to squeak out the word.
“If he gets married before I do, he will ruin the ranch and ruin this town.”
She shrank back away from Ty as far as she could into the corner of the truck, and shook her head,
“Wasn’t it?” He glanced at her, and she could have sworn she was a flash of hurt in his eyes, but maybe that was just from dredging up his old, painful family history.
“Anyway, Jebediah was angry at the world over the loss of his sons and the breakup of his marriage, furious that Boone was all he had left…he made Boone feel worthless. Took out all his anger on him. Let him know how much he missed his real sons, every day of Boone’s life, if what I hear tell is true. Boone grew up to be a drunk, angry hell-raiser who embarrassed his dad every chance he got. That’s why Jebediah wrote the trust in a way that left Boone as a powerless figurehead who had no say in the running of the ranch.”
“Ouch. Okay, I’ve now lost my appetite. And I feel bad for all the times I thought Boone was a drunk woman-hating pig.”
“He hated just about everyone, darlin’. He took it out on his first wife, my brother’s mother, until the day she died, and you know the stories about that.”
“That when she fell down the stairs, she had some help? And he paid off the coroner to write a fake report and cover it up?”
“Exactly. And right after she died, when Clayton was only two, he married my mother, and started beating on her too, until…it doesn’t matter. She found a way to make him stop. She took me and made my father build another house for us on the property, had affairs all over town and flaunted them in front of my father’s face. It just made my father more bitter and full of self-hatred. She left my father living in that big ole house with Clayton and his nannies…left him to beat up on Clayton until Clayton was old enough to hit back.”
He glided into a parking lot in front of a white clapboard house. Abigail’s heart leaped to her throat. What the heck was going on here? Ty had just pulled up in front of offices of Reginald Bigelow, Justice of the Peace.
Ty ran a weary hand over his face, pressing against his eyes. “Our family tree has poison running through it, Abigail. Clayton grew up angry and bitter. Hating the ranch. Hating everything it stands for.”
“You said you were going to stop him from developing the ranch.”
Ty turned to look her full in the eyes. “Turns out it’s not that easy. The terms of my grandfather’s will are that whichever one of his grandsons’ marries first gets the ranch. The other grandson gets a substantial amount of money, free and clear; worth as much as the ranch. What my grandfather wanted was that the Jackson legacy would live on. The trust says that whoever inherits the ranch can’t subdivide it, can’t split it up at all. Unfortunately he didn’t specify how the property can be developed.”
“Oookay…” She didn’t like where this was going.
“Clayton doesn’t want the money. He wants to tear down the main house and pave over everything, over his childhood, over every bad memory that haunts him.”
“There must be something we could do…maybe if I found that black-footed ferret…”Abigail felt faint. This couldn’t be happening.
“That might slow him down, it might not. He might just build first and face the penalties. He’s absolutely determined to go ahead with the development, and I’m running out of time. I’ve had private investigators keeping an eye on Clayton ever since he went back to Los Angeles, and they just called me this morning. He picked some Eastern European model that he’s been dating for about three weeks, and convinced her to enter an arranged marriage so he could get the ranch. He’s getting married in a few hours.”
Abigail’s eyes widened. Ty could not possibly be headed where she thought he was headed with this.
“And?” she barely managed to squeak out the word.
“If he gets married before I do, he will ruin the ranch and ruin this town.”
She shrank back away from Ty as far as she could into the corner of the truck, and shook her head,
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