Hearing the words had made him finally understand what he’d been feeling all this time, why he knew he had to make this move to Wyoming.

  He loved his wife.

  More than anything, he looked forward to having her back in his arms again.

  * * *

  Brianna had thrown the last of her clothes in the dryer and decided to take time to eat lunch. She would definitely be busy this week. Cash had asked that she move into the ranch house and she’d promised she would. That meant she would start moving her things a little at a time.

  When they’d talked that morning, she had been tempted to ask him when he would return, but kept herself from doing so. She had known what their marriage arrangements would be when she’d agreed to marry him. Just because they’d had a wonderful time on their honeymoon, that didn’t mean anything had changed—although she had tried her best to make sure he would miss her while he was in Alaska.

  Leaving the laundry room, she saw all the mail stacked up on her kitchen table. It was mail she’d been too busy to look through before leaving for the wedding. Most was junk mail anyway.

  Thirty minutes later she had tossed most of it away when she came across a letter addressed to her from the law firm of Denese, Fryson and Cohen in Los Angeles. She frowned. Why would a law firm be writing to her? And where had she seen the name of that firm before? For some reason, it sounded familiar.

  She tore open the letter, and as she read what it said, intense anger consumed her. Cash was going to contest the will? When had he planned this? The letter was dated more than a week ago. Before she had agreed to marry him. It had been delivered Tuesday.

  Was this plan B in case she had turned down his counteroffer of marriage on Monday? From what the letter said, it seemed he had already put a plan into motion to take her to court and contest Ms. Ellen’s will, not just for the fifty acres but for everything his mother had left her. That included her house, and the thought had her fighting back tears.

  How could she have been so wrong about him? How could she have let another man play her for a fool? Tears she couldn’t hold back streamed down her face. Never again. Never again.

  * * *

  Cash glanced down at his cell phone when it rang and smiled when he saw it was Brianna. He clicked it on. “I was just thinking about you, sweetheart.”

  “Were you? Why? Did your attorney let you know he had jumped the gun in sending that letter since I did consent to marry you?”

  Cash frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  “I am talking about the letter I got from your attorneys, Denese, Fryson and Cohen, stating your plans to contest the will. I guess that was your plan B in case I decided not to marry you.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Tell that to someone else, Cash. Just so you know, I plan to get my own attorney and file for a divorce. I refuse to stay married to a man I cannot trust.” And then she hung up on him.

  Cash sat there holding the phone, not believing the conversation that had just transpired. He had no idea what Brianna was talking about. He’d never dealt with any law firm by the name of Denese, Fryson and Cohen.

  He tried calling her back, but she wouldn’t answer. Damn! Getting up from his desk, he crossed the hall to Garth’s office and barged in without knocking. Garth snatched his head up from the papers he’d been reading. When he saw the anger on Cash’s face, he stood and asked, “Cash, what’s wrong?”

  Cash then told Garth what Brianna had told him. “Damn it, Garth, I’ve never even heard of that law firm.”

  Garth’s jaw tightened. “I have. They used to be Dad’s attorneys out of LA.”

  “Dad?”

  “Yes, but I had no idea he still had them on retainer.”

  Cash’s frown deepened as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I swear, Garth, if Dad is responsible for this, there will be hell to pay. How dare this firm send any document on my behalf when they don’t represent me. I can’t believe they would notify Brianna that I would be contesting Ellen’s will.”

  “How soon are you leaving for Wyoming?” Garth asked his brother.

  An angry Cash met his brother’s gaze. “I’m leaving as soon as I can get my plane ready.”

  * * *

  Around midnight, Brianna was awakened by pounding on her door. Turning on the lamp by her bed, she got up and slid into her robe. She had a sinking feeling who it was. A quick look out the peephole confirmed her suspicions.

  “What do you want, Cash?”

  “Open the door, Brianna. We need to talk.”

  “No. We have nothing to say to each other. Just go away.”

  She was about to return to her bedroom when he began pounding on her door again. “I am not leaving, Brianna. Open the door.”

  Brianna drew in a deep breath. Before going to bed, she had talked to Miesha, and her best friend had found it hard to believe Cash would do such a thing. Brianna hadn’t wanted to believe it either, but she had those attorneys’ letter to prove it.

  “Brianna!”

  She could hear the anger in his voice. What did he have to be mad about? She was the one who’d been played for a fool. “We have nothing to say, Cash.”

  “Yes, we do. Now open the door.”

  Fine, they would get it all out, but there was nothing he could say that would make her forgive him. She opened the door and looked at him. He stood under the porch light, his features tight and brooding. He was wearing a business shirt and slacks. Had he come straight from his office?

  “Please say what you have to say and leave, Cash,” she told him, closing the door behind him when he entered her home.

  “You are wrong about me, Brianna.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest and glared up at him. “I got the letter from your attorneys, Cash. Now I know the truth. You were going to take everything Ms. Ellen left me. You pretended to be fine with my inheritance, but deep down you resented it and didn’t want me to have anything. You were going to toss me out of my home like Hal Sutherland planned to do. You are no better than him.”

  Her words seemed to have struck him. His eyes lit with even more anger. “I did not have those attorneys send that letter, Brianna. Why would I send a letter contesting the will when I planned to marry you?”

  “It was a plan you put in place just in case I turned you down.”

  He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “I planned to marry you whether you turned me down on Monday or not. You would have been my wife regardless.”

  His words infuriated her. “Are you saying I would not have had a say in the matter?”

  “No, what I am saying is that you would have eventually said yes because we’re good together. Because I couldn’t live without you. Because I would have convinced you how much I want you. How much I love you.”

  She backed up as if his words were a weapon. “You don’t love me.”

  “I do love you. I love you as much as you love me, Brianna.”

  She lifted her chin. “What makes you think I love you?”

  “You told me this morning before I left. You said it right after we climaxed together that last time and before you drifted off to sleep.”

  Had she? “What I said after sex means nothing now. I am filing for a divorce.” She watched him rub his hand down his face as if he was agitated. Brianna cared less how he was feeling when her heart had been broken.

  Cash looked straight at her and said, “That firm does not represent me and I did not have them send you that letter. However, I think I know who did.”

  “Who?”

  “My father.”

  Her frown deepened. “Why would your father do such a thing?”

  “Because Bart Outlaw thinks he has the right to control every situation. Even those that involve his grown-ass sons.”

  “You want me to believe your father would do something like that knowing you would eventually find out about it?”

  “Yes, because in his mind, he honestly believes he’s looking out for our best interests.”

  Brianna didn’t say anything because what he’d told her was pretty much what Ms. Ellen had said about her ex-husband. Suddenly, Brianna remembered why the name of that law firm sounded familiar. “That same firm also sent Ms. Ellen letters when she tried reaching out to you.”

  Cash lifted a brow. “Ellen tried reaching out to me?”

  “Yes, for years. That same firm would return her cards and letters, threatening to sue her if she continued to contact you. It’s all in that packet I told you about in your bedroom. She even hired a private investigator to send her periodic reports on how you were doing, when you refused to have anything to do with her.”

  Cash frowned. “I didn’t know she tried reaching out to me. I figured she was no different than my brothers’ mothers. That she never wanted to have a connection to me.”

  “Well, you were wrong.”

  * * *

  I have been wrong...

  Cash didn’t say anything as his mind absorbed what Brianna had said. She had told him about that packet weeks ago, but he had refused to look at it. Now he wished he had, and tonight he would, but first he needed to make sure Brianna believed him.

  “It seems Bart’s deceit is deeper than I thought.”

  “I don’t understand why your father would want to keep you away from your mother.”

  “Like I said, he thinks he has the right to control every situation when it comes to his sons. He gives orders and expects us to obey, but we never do.”

  Cash remembered that time Bart didn’t want to accept the Westmorelands as the Outlaws’ kin even though they all favored. His sons hadn’t gone along with that directive either.

  He moved to stand in front of Brianna. “I meant it when I said I love you. I’ve probably loved you from the first. I did not have any attorneys send that letter. I knew nothing about it. You have to believe me, Brianna.”

  “You father didn’t want us to be together?”

  Cash shook his head. “It’s not about you, since he had no idea how I felt about you. For Bart, it’s about him believing I am getting cheated out of something he feels is rightfully mine.” He paused. “I recall him saying something to that effect when I returned to Alaska after the reading of the will and mentioning Ellen had left parts of her land to you. He said then that he thought I should get all of it. My mistake was dismissing what he thought. I hadn’t figured he would do what he did.”

  “Do you think you’re being cheated out of something that is rightfully yours, Cash?”

  He shook his head. “No. The land was Ellen’s to do with as she pleased. I was honestly surprised she left me anything. At the time, I thought she hadn’t wanted any dealings with me. That’s why I didn’t want to keep the land. I hadn’t wanted anything from her.”

  “And now?”

  “You are the reason I changed my mind about the ranch, about my mother. Falling in love with you was the clincher.”

  “You do love me? Honestly?”

  He reached up and caressed her chin. “I do love you. Honestly. I want to see what’s in that packet to find out the truth. But first, I need to know that you believe me, Brianna. That you still love me. That is what is most important to me now.”

  She met his gaze and nodded. “Yes, I believe you.”

  Cash released the breath he’d been holding. He hadn’t wanted to imagine her not believing him. He pulled Brianna into his arms and captured her mouth with his. He needed this. He needed her. Moments later, when he broke off the kiss, he whispered against her moist lips, “I love you.”

  Teary eyes stared up at him when she said, “And I love you.”

  He swept her off her feet and headed to her bedroom.

  TWENTY-THREE

  “Yes, I’m okay, Garth, but I’ll be a whole hell of a lot better after I confront Bart,” Cash said. “It’s bad enough he had that law firm send that letter to Brianna, but to discover Bart also used them to keep Ellen from being a part of my life is unacceptable.”

  “I agree. Are you still returning this weekend?”

  “Yes, and I’m bringing my wife with me. What Bart did was unforgivable.”

  Cash, with Brianna by his side, had gone through the packet. He saw all the birthday cards Ellen had sent that the attorneys had returned, along with their letters threatening what they would do if she continued to reach out to him. He’d also seen the private investigator’s periodic reports on him. It changed everything he thought he knew about his mother. It hurt to think of all the time they’d missed.

  “I told the brothers what Bart did, and we support you,” Garth said. “Bart was wrong.”

  “Yes, he was.”

  When Brianna came into the living room with a cup of coffee for him, Cash said to Garth, “I’ll talk with you later. Brianna and I will be coming in on Friday. I don’t want anyone to mention anything to Bart.”

  After hanging up, Cash took the coffee cup Brianna offered him. After taking a sip, he put it aside to pull her into his lap. Seeing those cards and reading the private investigator reports had been emotional for him, and Brianna had been there to help him through it.

  “When?”

  He glanced down at the woman he held in his arms. “When what, sweetheart?”

  “When did you know you loved me?”

  He smiled. “I honestly think it was when I arrived in town and saw you with that ice-cream cone. I thought about you the rest of the day and night, and then to see you again at the reading of Ellen’s will was mind-blowing. All I knew was that I wanted to see you again, which was why I rushed back to Wyoming on Thursday. I finally accepted I loved you when you whispered the words to me, but I should have known based on how I felt when you asked for my sperm.”

  She covered her face. “I can’t believe I asked you that.”

  “As you can see from our sexual encounters, I am all in.” He uncovered her face with his hands and said, “Now tell me when you fell in love with me.”

  She smiled up at him. “It was the summer after my first year at college.”

  “But we hadn’t even met,” he said.

  “I know. It was the first summer I returned home from college after my breakup with Alan. I hung around the ranch, too embarrassed to go into town. Ms. Ellen got me to organize the attic to keep me busy. That’s when I came across that PI report with your college graduation picture.”

  She shifted in his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I saw it, thought you were quite a handsome young man and decided to make you my fantasy boyfriend.”

  He chuckled. “Your fantasy boyfriend?”

  “Yes. The more I thought about you, the less I thought about Alan and the pain he had caused me. Needless to say, that summer I got all into you, Cashen Outlaw. Then when I saw you that day at the reading of the will, I knew you could be my fantasy everything. I realized I loved you when I was trying to make up my mind about your counterproposal. I decided that if you never fell in love with me, I would love you anyway, and I would love the baby you would give me.”

  “Um, the baby I have given you,” he said, touching her stomach. “I have a feeling you got pregnant during our honeymoon.”

  A huge smile spread across her face. “I have that same feeling. I hope so.”

  “I hope so, too. And what we have has nothing to do with the land, Brianna. It’s about me loving you, you loving me and us wanting a baby together. It’s all about love.”

  And then he lowered his mouth to hers.

  * * *

  Bart Outlaw walked into his study at the Outlaw Estates in Fairbanks after being told by his housekeeper that his son Cash wanted to see him. He saw Cash with some woman and wondered what this was about.

  “What’s going on, Cash?”

  Cash turned to his father. “First, I’d like you to meet my wife.”

  “Wife?”

  “Yes, I got married last Wednesday. This is Brianna Banks Outlaw. Brianna, this is my father, Bart. Now, with that out of the way, I want to know why you had your attorneys send Brianna a letter saying I was contesting my mother’s will?”

  “Because you should have contested it! And why did you feel the need to marry her?” an angry Bart asked. “I had things under control. You would have gotten everything.”

  “As usual, you stuck your nose where it didn’t belong, Dad. I told you from the beginning I thought Ellen did the right thing in her will. And to set the record straight, the reason I married Brianna had nothing to do with the land. It had to do with me falling in love with her. And what about all those times you refused to let Ellen reach out to me while I was growing up? Who gave you the right?”

  “It was a decision I made as your father. Had she really wanted you she would have gotten you.”

  “She tried. I know she took you to court to get custody of me.”

  “And she lost. I had to teach her a lesson about what can happen when anyone tries to go against Bart Outlaw.”

  Cash didn’t say anything. At that moment he knew his father didn’t regret anything he’d done because he felt he was justified.

  “I’m moving to Wyoming,” Cash said.

  “You’re what!”

  “You heard me. I am moving to Wyoming.”

  He saw the color actually drain from Bart’s features. “You’re leaving the company?” Bart asked in a shocked voice.

  A part of Cash wished he could say yes, he was leaving the company, knowing how much such a thing would hurt the old man. Instead he said, “No, I will still be working for the company, but not here. Now more than ever I need to get away from here. Get away from you. Hopefully, one day you will realize what a huge mistake you made in trying to control my life. Goodbye, Dad.”