choice.”
“Oh, I have a choice, all right.” Her lips thinned in determination that equalled Rip’s. “If you’re so hell-bent on giving Three Oaks to Luke Summers, go right ahead. Just don’t expect me to stick around and be grateful for leftovers.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that if you go through with this absurd plan of yours, I’ll leave Three Oaks and never look back.”
“Don’t threaten me, Sloan. You’ve already made it clear you’ll have nothing to do with Cruz Guerrero. Where else would you go? What else would you do?”
“I’m well trained as an overseer. There’s bound to be someone with a cotton plantation along the Brazos River who’ll want to hire me.”
“There’s not a gentleman planter in Texas who’ll have anything to do with you,” Rip said. “In case you’ve forgotten, you’re a woman. Not one of them would hire a woman to do a man’s job.”
Sloan was choked silent by the truth of his words. Rip had made her what she was—a woman with a man’s dreams and capabilities—and there was nowhere she could be herself except here at Three Oaks.
Which only made what he proposed to do all the more cruel.
“And don’t think you can run away and hide with Cricket and Creed at Lion’s Dare or with Bay and Long Quiet at Golden Valley,” he continued. “Your sisters have their own lives to lead. You belong here at Three Oaks.”
“For how long? Until another bastard of yours shows up to take the rest of what’s mine?”
Rip had already raised his hand to strike her again when he caught himself. A look bordering on pain etched his blunt features. “Don’t provoke me, Sloan. I’m angry enough with you to do something I might regret. There’s nowhere you can go. You’d best bite leather and endure.”
Sloan stared defiantly at her father. She would have argued further, except it was clear there was nothing more she could say until she found out how Luke Summers felt about Rip’s plans. There was a small chance he wasn’t any more willing to possess an interest in Three Oaks than she was to have him acquire one. But she wasn’t counting on it.
She was still in shock over the revelation that Luke Summers was her half-brother. Although Rip would not tell her exactly what Luke had said, he had convinced her father of the veracity of his claim.
But if Luke was truly Rip’s son, why hadn’t he spoken up four years ago, when he had first come to Three Oaks? Why had he waited until now to reveal the truth? What exactly had he hoped to accomplish by telling Rip now that he had a son?
Sloan wanted some straight answers and she intended to have them.
“I’ve made my stand clear,” she said. “Right now I have plantation business that needs tending. I’ll see you at supper.” She turned on her booted heel and marched from her father’s study.
Sloan’s stomach was knotted in a fist, and the noon meal of salty ham and biscuits she had just eaten with Rip threatened to force its way back up again. She swallowed hard as she left the house. She looked down at her hands and realized they were shaking as badly as Rip’s had been. She grabbed the reins tied to a post in front of the house and stepped quickly into her horse’s saddle. The animal sensed her tension and sidestepped nervously.
Sloan refused to give the stallion his head, holding him to a walk. He fought the bit, dancing under her, heading for the road that led away from Three Oaks, which Sloan used when she took him for a hard run at least once a week.
Rip can’t do this.
Of course he can. If Rip never taught you another thing, he taught you that nothing’s certain in this life.
Sloan shook her head in disgust. She of all people should be aware of that. Hadn’t she learned her lesson from Antonio Guerrero? She remembered vividly the night her sister Cricket had told her Tonio was a traitor, that the Texas Rangers had discovered Tonio’s plot and had set a trap to catch him.
“Oh, I have a choice, all right.” Her lips thinned in determination that equalled Rip’s. “If you’re so hell-bent on giving Three Oaks to Luke Summers, go right ahead. Just don’t expect me to stick around and be grateful for leftovers.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that if you go through with this absurd plan of yours, I’ll leave Three Oaks and never look back.”
“Don’t threaten me, Sloan. You’ve already made it clear you’ll have nothing to do with Cruz Guerrero. Where else would you go? What else would you do?”
“I’m well trained as an overseer. There’s bound to be someone with a cotton plantation along the Brazos River who’ll want to hire me.”
“There’s not a gentleman planter in Texas who’ll have anything to do with you,” Rip said. “In case you’ve forgotten, you’re a woman. Not one of them would hire a woman to do a man’s job.”
Sloan was choked silent by the truth of his words. Rip had made her what she was—a woman with a man’s dreams and capabilities—and there was nowhere she could be herself except here at Three Oaks.
Which only made what he proposed to do all the more cruel.
“And don’t think you can run away and hide with Cricket and Creed at Lion’s Dare or with Bay and Long Quiet at Golden Valley,” he continued. “Your sisters have their own lives to lead. You belong here at Three Oaks.”
“For how long? Until another bastard of yours shows up to take the rest of what’s mine?”
Rip had already raised his hand to strike her again when he caught himself. A look bordering on pain etched his blunt features. “Don’t provoke me, Sloan. I’m angry enough with you to do something I might regret. There’s nowhere you can go. You’d best bite leather and endure.”
Sloan stared defiantly at her father. She would have argued further, except it was clear there was nothing more she could say until she found out how Luke Summers felt about Rip’s plans. There was a small chance he wasn’t any more willing to possess an interest in Three Oaks than she was to have him acquire one. But she wasn’t counting on it.
She was still in shock over the revelation that Luke Summers was her half-brother. Although Rip would not tell her exactly what Luke had said, he had convinced her father of the veracity of his claim.
But if Luke was truly Rip’s son, why hadn’t he spoken up four years ago, when he had first come to Three Oaks? Why had he waited until now to reveal the truth? What exactly had he hoped to accomplish by telling Rip now that he had a son?
Sloan wanted some straight answers and she intended to have them.
“I’ve made my stand clear,” she said. “Right now I have plantation business that needs tending. I’ll see you at supper.” She turned on her booted heel and marched from her father’s study.
Sloan’s stomach was knotted in a fist, and the noon meal of salty ham and biscuits she had just eaten with Rip threatened to force its way back up again. She swallowed hard as she left the house. She looked down at her hands and realized they were shaking as badly as Rip’s had been. She grabbed the reins tied to a post in front of the house and stepped quickly into her horse’s saddle. The animal sensed her tension and sidestepped nervously.
Sloan refused to give the stallion his head, holding him to a walk. He fought the bit, dancing under her, heading for the road that led away from Three Oaks, which Sloan used when she took him for a hard run at least once a week.
Rip can’t do this.
Of course he can. If Rip never taught you another thing, he taught you that nothing’s certain in this life.
Sloan shook her head in disgust. She of all people should be aware of that. Hadn’t she learned her lesson from Antonio Guerrero? She remembered vividly the night her sister Cricket had told her Tonio was a traitor, that the Texas Rangers had discovered Tonio’s plot and had set a trap to catch him.
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