Less-than-Innocent Invitation by Shirley Rogers

Author:Shirley Rogers [Rogers, Shirley]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Man-woman relationships, Fiction - Romance, Romance - Adult, Ranchers, Romance: Modern, Contemporary, Fiction, Romance, Adult, General, Love stories, Texas, Romance - General
ISBN: 9780373766710
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2005-08-01T13:07:18.519000+00:00

Seven

Logan’s eyes glittered with anger. “What?”

“Cara dated Bart. They’d been seeing each other for a while before they broke up.”

“That can’t be true,” he said, his words hot with denial. He had no idea where she’d heard such a thing, but she was mistaken.

“The day I ran into her, Bart had already told her about the will and had broken up with her,” Melissa said, her throat dry. “Cara had been so angry at your brother. She said she’d wanted to marry Bart so he’d get the ranch. Then they could sell it and live off the money. But Bart had said he wasn’t interested in getting married and he was leaving town as soon as he got his money.”

“It’s true that Bart wanted only the money, not the ranch.” Logan cursed beneath his breath. Everything was beginning to make sense. “If what you’re saying is true, she must have told you about the will to get back at Bart. If we broke up, he wouldn’t have gotten anything.”

Melissa swallowed hard. “I’m telling you the truth, Logan. Cara was really upset that day. She wanted to marry Bart.”

“Did she? From the way she came on to me, it seems like she wanted the money even more,” he answered soberly. He felt like a fool. Cara had used him.

“Maybe she did. But that doesn’t explain why your own brother would have set you up by introducing her to you.”

“Yes, it does,” he said, aching at the cold actions of his brother. “That’s how much he wanted to leave Royal. The only way for him to get the money was to get married, or to make sure I did.”

Rising, he paced the room. “When you and I were engaged, he must have figured it wouldn’t be long before he got his cash. Knowing he’d be leaving and with Cara pressuring him to propose, he must have ended things with her.” Logan should have seen through Cara, but during that time, he’d been blinded by the pain of Melissa leaving.

Melissa looked at Logan. “And when I broke up with you, it messed up Bart’s plans.”

“Yeah.” He gave a bitter laugh. “He wanted his money bad enough to conspire with his ex-girlfriend to get it.” Bart always had been selfish, and after he’d left Royal, they rarely had seen each other. As brothers they’d never been close, had never been friends. Now, they never would be.

She stood and walked over to him. “How could he have done that?”

“After my mother died, my father doted on Bart, gave him anything he wanted. Bart was used to having his way. I guess he figured that applied to the money as well.”

She touched his arm. “They why didn’t your father just leave the ranch to Bart? Why put the stipulation in the will about one of you getting married?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure,” Logan answered, baffled. “My father was a difficult man to understand. He didn’t talk much, kept a lot inside. I think he knew how much I wanted the ranch, but he loved Bart more.

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.