Milan shoot the other two? Did the Calhoun? Or did her father shoot both of the men who wanted to marry his daughter?” she said.
“Or,” Jake said, “they all could have fired their weapons at the same time and then fired again. It never was made public how many times each man was shot.”
“I’m surprised the townspeople didn’t insist,” Madison said.
“The Milans and the Calhouns were even more influential and powerful in those days than now,” Jake said. “If they didn’t want the killings made public, they wouldn’t have been. And Lavita could have been the one who kept it all secret. We’ll know someday. Twenty-fifteen approaches.”
She shivered. “I don’t know why you and Wyatt decided you wanted to search for an old letter about killings in another century or even for a mythical fortune.”
“We were kids,” he said. He smiled. “Your brother doesn’t scare easily. We were just curious and we both wanted new, fancy cars.”
She became silent again, not mentioning that she had been scared for both Jake and Wyatt that night. Looking at the house now, she wouldn’t want to hunt for an old letter or even a fortune in there.
“Jake, we’ll have a quick flight to Dallas. Why not talk about what you want on the plane? There’s no possible interruption there.”
“That sounds agreeable. The weather’s good and it should be a smooth flight.” The sun had reached the horizon when the plane lifted off the runway, but once they were airborne and headed east there was more light as they chased the sinking sun.
“Might as well enjoy happy hour while we fly. What would you like to drink? We stock a full bar.”
“Any chance of conjuring up a raspberry tea?” she asked.
He told the flight attendant what they wanted to drink and shortly, the man reappeared with a tall, chilled glass, which he offered to Madison, and a beer for Jake. When they were again alone, she sipped her drink and smiled. “You have the formula—this is delicious.”
“Glad you like it.”
Madison leaned back in her chair. “Let’s cut to the chase, Jake. There’s no need for polite chitchat—why do you want my land? For what possible reason would you expect me to invite you onto the ranch?”
Her eyes were wide, green and thickly lashed, and he was mesmerized. A streak of sunlight streamed through the window, bathing her cheek in golden light, highlighting her fully rosy mouth. He inhaled deeply and then realized she was waiting for him to answer her question.
“This goes back generations before Lavita Wrenville. This was the earliest Milans and Calhouns. You know there’s a legend of hidden treasure on your ranch.”
“That old tale went around the family before I was born,” she scoffed, sitting back and shaking her head. “All of us looked for it. I’ve heard men from a couple of past generations were supposed to have searched endlessly. No one has found anything and most of us came to the conclusion long ago that it was merely a myth.”
“Still, it persists though all the generations.”
“Just try to get a kid to stop looking. Tony and his friends have probably dug up a total of a dozen acres with all their hunting for gold. Look at you and Wyatt, hunting for Lavita Wrenville’s fortune, which might not ever have existed.”
“I can imagine. I’ve hunted with my brothers on my side of the boundary that divides our adjacent family ranches. Since part of the boundary line is the river, the boundary keeps changing slightly. Going back to my great-great-grandfather Henry Calhoun, there was a sketchy map. No one in our family ever had interest in sharing it with anyone in your family. I’m guessing that maybe in the early days one or more family members offered to make a deal and split, but your family member refused.”
She smiled and his heart turned over. Desire heightened and he suddenly wanted to see her laugh, to hold her, dance with her—to have the past vanish. That wasn’t going to happen.
“So you have a map.” She shook her head. “I didn’t think there was a shred of truth to the legend.”
“Occasionally, legends are built on something—maybe not always exactly the way it’s stated in the legend, but something caused the legend to spring up.”
“It’s hard to believe there is a treasure hidden on our ranch.”
“That’s not so far-fetched. There was a lot of lawlessness in the early days, train robberies, later bank robberies. People just hiding something. This is a vague, damn poor map and has never made any sense to anyone in my family. I don’t think it will to you, either, but you know your land better than any outsider.”
“All these years. Why would your family even have a map?”
His gaze ran over her features, her skin that looked soft, flawless. He wished she had worn her hair down.
“No one can answer that one. The map may be bogus, although it has been in the family for generations. I’d bet that someone or maybe several in my family have tried to sneak onto Milan land to find the treasure.”
“I’m sure you’re right there. Why wouldn’t they? These ranches are big with wide, open land. Someone could easily search without anyone knowing about it.” She sipped her tea and shook her head. “So there’s really a map. All these years, actually all my life, I’ve heard the legend and heard various relatives talk about searching for it, but by the time I was grown, I just figured it was a tall Texas tale with nothing to it.” She sat back, smiling at him. “So you want permission to come on our land to search for the treasure.”
“That’s not all.” As her big green eyes focused so intently on him, he forgot the map, the treasure and his whole purpose for the evening. He wanted to close the last bit of distance between them, place his hand behind her head, wind his fingers in her hair and pull her closer to kiss her.
“There’s more?” she asked, looking at him with curiosity in her expression.
Desire raged in him, blatant and hot, until he remembered their past and then anger returned, smothering his feelings for her. He inhaled deeply, looked away and focused on his purpose.
She leaned closer. “So what else is there, Jake? What else besides a map have you kept secret all of these years and never told me when we were so close?”
“At the time we were in high school, we talked about it. It was mysterious and exciting to speculate about the legend, even though neither one of us believed it. Of all the people in both families, you and I seemed the most willing to forget the feud.”
“Yes, and I know we both thought the idea of a hidden treasure was exciting. I’m surprised you didn’t tell me about the map then.”
“I didn’t know it then. There’s a rule in our family—no one gets told about the map, and sworn to keep it in the family, until he or she is twenty-one years old.”
She laughed, a soft sound that played havoc with his insides again and made him forget what he was after.
“That’s probably why your family has kept it secret all these years. Kids talk.”
“Probably,”
