Heart of Texas Vol. 2 Read Free

him to let their younger brother stay. But she didn’t need to beg very hard or very long for him to relent. Unfortunately it had become apparent that a liar and a cheat didn’t change over night—or in six years. Grady’s brother was the same now as the day he’d stolen from his family.
    Despite the air conditioner, the heat inside the truck cab sucked away Grady’s energy. It should have come as no surprise to discover that Richard had lied to him again. This time would be the last, Grady vowed.
    Oh, yes, this episode was the proverbial last straw.
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    H IS DAYS IN P ROMISE were numbered, Richard Weston thought as he sat on his bed in the bunk house. It wouldn’t be long before Grady learned the truth. The whole uncomfortable truth. Actually he was surprised he’d managed to hold out this long; he credited that to his ability to lie effectively. But then, small-town folks were embarrassingly easy to dupe. They readily accepted his lies because they wanted to believe him. The years had finely honed his powers of persuasion, but he hadn’t needed to work very hard convincing the business owners in Promise to trust him. Being born and raised in this very town had certainly helped. He nearly laughed out loud at how smoothly everything had gone.
    Actually Richard did feel kind of bad about leaving a huge debt behind. Max Jordan was decent enough, even if he was an old fool. Billy from Billy D’s was okay, too. One day—maybe—when he had money to spare, he’d consider paying everyone back. Grady and Savannah, too. That would shock his uptight brother.
    It might all have worked if Richard could’ve persuaded Ellie Frasier to marry him. He experienced a twinge of regret. Hemust be losing his knack with women. Nothing could have shocked him more than Ellie’s informing him she’d chosen Glen Patterson, instead.
    Damn shame. Glen was a real hick, not all that different from Grady. Why Ellie would marry Glen when she could have had him was something he’d never understand. Women were fickle creatures, but until recently he’d been able to sway them to his way of thinking.
    Not Ellie. How he would’ve loved to get his hands on her inheritance. That money would have gone a long way toward solving his problems. Well, it didn’t do any good to cry over might-have-beens. He was a survivor and he’d prove it—not for the first time. Nothing kept Richard Weston down for long.
    Calculating quickly, Richard figured he had only a few days before everything went all to hell. He was ready. Grady seemed to think he idled away his days, but Richard had been working hard, preparing what he’d need. He’d been planning for this day almost from the moment he’d gotten back to Promise. Grady needn’t worry; before long Richard would be out of his brother’s hair.
    Sure he had regrets. He’d thought about returning to Promise lots of times over the years, but he’d never suspected it would be for the reasons that had driven him here now.
    When he’d first arrived on the ranch, he’d felt a faint stirring of emotion. It’d been a little less than six years since he’d set foot on the old home stead. Those feelings, however, hadn’t lasted long and were completely dead now, especially since Grady had tossed him out of the house and forced him to sleep in the bunk house.
    Richard couldn’t grasp what it was that had kept his father and now his brother tied to a herd of four-footed head aches. He hated cattle, hated the way they smelled and bawled, theway they constantly needed care. Hated everything about them. This kind of life was never meant for him. Sadly no one appreciated that he was different. Better, if he did say so himself. Not even his mother had fully recognized it. Unfortunately neither did Savannah. Now that she’d married Laredo, she was even less inclined to side with him.
    Sad to say, his time