A Cowboy's Pride by Karen Rock

Author:Karen Rock [Rock, Karen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781488085314
Publisher: Harlequin Heartwarming
Published: 2018-09-01T15:19:45+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

“MS. BRENNON?”

Cole and Katie-Lynn stopped in the county clerk office’s main hall, turned and spied J.D., the Historical Documents clerk. Every muscle in Cole’s body clenched. Did J.D. have information on the missing water rights’ easement?

His hand settled on the small of Katie-Lynn’s back protectively—as her rabid superfan neared. J.D.’s hands shook, and his eyes bulged. Katie-Lynn had confessed how much she needed to be seen and J.D. saw her, all right. She’d always belong to the world, to her fans and herself, and him not one bit. She’d confessed she still cared for him, though. Enough to change her life so they could be together? Or should he be asking himself the same question? He was beginning to suspect he should. But he needed his privacy. Loving her would make his life public. He’d live under a microscope, in a phony world full of fake people.

When it came to him and Katie-Lynn, there were no easy answers.

“Hey, J.D.” At Katie-Lynn’s megawatt smile, the clerk stumbled to a halt. “We stopped by Historical Records like we’d arranged, but it was empty.”

J.D. held up a crumpled paper bag with a large grease stain engulfing the bottom half.

“Were you having lunch?” Katie-Lynn prompted gently. “We finished up at the financial office earlier than planned.”

Based on Maggie’s journal, they’d requested Crystal River Railroad’s grant documents as well as government audits.

J.D. nodded, opened his mouth, closed it, then blurted, “Olive loaf.”

“Well, now, that’s my favorite luncheon meat.”

“Liar,” Cole muttered under his breath, biting back a grin.

Katie-Lynn shot him a quick, withering look, closed the distance between herself and J.D. and looped an arm in his. “Were you able to find out anything about the easement?”

The question broke J.D. from his trance. “Yes,” he gasped. “Follow me.”

Cole reached the door first. He wrenched it open, heart in mouth, and ushered them inside. “What’d you find?”

“A court case.” J.D. heaved a ledger from behind his desk and dropped it to the table with a thud.

Cole fumbled to open the book at its marked spot.

“Let me.” Katlynn’s calm voice eased his rampaging pulse. Sliding a fingernail behind the tab, she flipped open the tome.

Cole bent down and scanned the faded page. “Cade, plaintiff versus Loveland, defendant, June 1, 1908.” His gaze snapped to Katie-Lynn. “The Cades sued my family.”

“Almost a year to the day after Maggie’s death.”

“And Everett’s.”

“‘Complaint,’” Katlynn read. “‘Plaintiff, Josiah Cade, by his undersigned attorneys, Weston and Weston, brings this extinguishment of easement suit asking the court to terminate the granted property easement in accordance with Article 631 of the Civil Code. The easement granting Archibald Loveland livestock access to the Crystal River through Josiah Cade’s property unduly burdens the servient owner through egregious misuse of aforementioned easement.’”

“We had an easement.” Cole heard his words from a distance, as though someone else spoke them, his tongue, his mouth, his body, numb. Seeing it on a map was one thing, but reading it in print struck him physically. Viscerally. If the original easement was still in place, his family’s financial troubles wouldn’t exist.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.