“Let’s stop playing games, here. Tell me what you know about this woman and those children, or I will put all three of you in my lovely little jail cell for the night, until I find out what’s going on here!”
As soon as the man confirmed their names—Belle, Simon, and Madelaine—Luke froze on the spot, and things became completely personal. Outwardly, he managed to maintain his casual demeanor.
“Who is the fiancé?” For some reason he couldn’t really explain, anger rose in him at the fact that this man obviously hesitated to divulge this information.
Caleb stepped closer when the tall man stopped speaking and openly put his hand on his revolver in the holster resting on his hip. “Do we need to take measures?” he asked.
“Phineas. Phineas Greed. He is the new owner of the Peterson ranch,” the tall man said.
Luke took a minute to process this information.
“The ranch was sold? I didn’t hear of it being up for sale,” Caleb mentioned casually.
Luke tilted his head toward the tall man with a questioning look.
“It wasn’t. Mr. Greed is family. I think he’s her cousin or a nephew or something.” The man lowered his head, clearly annoyed about this interrogation.
Luke and Caleb looked at each other for a moment. What they’d just heard was interesting news for both of them. It changed everything.
Without saying another word, Luke turned around, pushed his way through the wall of men behind him, and made his way to the exit. He heard Caleb pay for their drinks before he followed in a hurry.
This needed to be dealt with immediately. Luke needed to confront Madelaine about this, and part of him fought the rising suspicion that she might not have told him the whole truth. There were too many facts that simply didn’t line up, when she clearly remembered Simon and Tinsel, as well as all the horse knowledge she obviously possessed, plus several other things—such as the way Belle liked pancakes. He hadn’t questioned it when Evelyn had brought it up, but right now, everything bubbled to the surface.
It enraged him. Infuriated, he mounted his horse and immediately kicked it into a frenzied gallop, racing back to his ranch.
One thing Luke didn’t allow anyone to do was lie to him and make him look like a fool. At this point, he couldn’tbe certain that his suspicion was true, and if it turned out that Madelaine really did suffer from amnesia, he could always apologize after.
However, if he came to find out that shehadlied to him this entire time about her apparent memory loss, there would be Hell to pay.
Chapter Twelve
Luke’s Ranch
Luke jumped off his horse and darted toward the front door.
“Go home, Caleb!” he called to his deputy. “Let me deal with this. I’ll fill you in tomorrow,” he yelled over his shoulder before slamming the door shut behind him.
Given the late hour, it was quiet all throughout his home. Evelyn had evidently gone back to her and Caleb’s ranch, which was adjacent to his, and all other house staff had retreated back to their own accommodations. Luke knew that Madelaine was in her room when he saw the faint glow of light coming through underneath the door, which illuminated the stone floor in the hallway just enough so Luke could see in the dark.
He didn’t know whether she was decent or if she’d be in a state of undress, but he didn’t really care. “Madelaine!” he yelled, slamming his fist against the solid wooden door.
He heard a yelp, then Simon’s alarmed voice, and then Madelaine’s frantic whisper. His anger rose to unprecedented levels, and he couldn’t hold it back any longer. He furiously pushed the door open, which crashed against the wall, and marched right into the room with wide, furious strides.
Belle and Simon sat on the bed, wide-eyed and fiercely hugging each other as Belle began crying in obvious fear. Madelaine stood at the end of the bed, holding her hand over her heaving chest as she stared at him with a petrified look on her face.
Smoothing her skirt with her hands, she turned her back to him and went back to packing her saddlebags. “Have you no manners?” she asked with clear annoyance in her voice, but she didn’t look at him.
“Why are you packing your bags?” he countered, stepping closer to the bed to get a better look at what she was doing.
“Why do you think?” she asked with a curt, angry glance, as she turned away from him to retrieve something from the top of the commode.
Luke was perplexed. Why wassheangry?
“Why?” he demanded, outraged, grabbing her by the elbow to halt her movements.
She stared back at him with a scathing look and yanked her arm out of his grip. “It’s none of your business!” she said furiously, clearly appalled at him touching her like that.
Wrong answer.
