“Yes. Parties. There are times I have a lot of company out here. Gabe and I will have things together. There are family parties, too.”
“Do your parents spend much time here?”
“Nope. Dad has a ranch in the Hill Country where the area is green and scenic. This place was our family ranch, but Dad deeded it to me and gave Gabe another one he owned.”
She nodded. “How nice. A father who passes things on to more than the oldest child. Of course, mine wouldn’t have passed anything on to me if I had been the oldest child. I told you, I never dreamed Will would sell the place. Neither did our father who would have put binding stipulations on Will had he known. I’m sure he assumed Will would always live there. He left money to me, but nothing else. No part of the ranch.”
“I’ll have to admit, I’m glad Will sold out. Our family has wanted that ranch for generations. The sale has brought you into my life, which is a bonus.”
They strolled down the wide hall again until he turned into a suite. “These are my rooms. You’ll be nearby, but I wanted you to see where I am.” She looked at the living area that held a desk, an entertainment center, comfortable sofas and chairs, a wall of bookshelves. On a nearby table she noticed a picture of a beautiful brown-haired woman standing beside a horse.
“That’s my sister,” he said quietly. “We were close.”
Caitlin moved closer to study the picture. “She’s beautiful.” She understood why Will had gotten involved with her. “She’s really gorgeous,” she said, thinking she was the feminine version of Jake with blue eyes and brown hair. Caitlin had known about Brittany Benton and Will because sometimes Will had made her cover for him when he had slipped away from family gatherings, and she could remember Brittany as one of the most beautiful girls she had known. Caitlin was aware that Will had been happy and seemingly in love with
Brittany at first. She never thought Will concerned himself
with the old feud or did anything with Brittany out of revenge. Caitlin was certain that Will did exactly what he wanted to do and family history never mattered to him. Since she had to occasionally be ready to cover for him with the family, she knew when he had been out with Brittany.
Brittany had always been nice to her, and Caitlin had wondered how Will could hold the interest of someone so beautiful and so friendly. Except Will could be charming when he wanted to be. He was with his friends. At first, Will had been wildly happy about dating Brittany. The little Caitlin had seen him, it still was obvious how happy he was. Probably, he had been happy until Brittany had made demands on him. Caitlin could imagine Will carelessly getting Brittany pregnant and then wanting no part of taking any responsibility. Being with Jake had brought back memories of that time as well as the questions about what had really happened.
Had Will really been driving the car that killed Brittany Benton? If Brittany had been pregnant, Caitlin could see Will becoming desperate to avoid an obligation and the wrath of their father. Deep down, perhaps Grandmother had suspected Will had been responsible, but she always tried to hold the family together. They would never have an answer because the only living person who knew was Will, but Caitlin could imagine him going to any length to live life the way he wanted.
Caitlin’s grandmother had always wondered even though she only said it aloud once. They had been talking about the trial late at night and Grandmother had gazed out the window into the dark night. “Will is focused on himself,” she had said. “He might be capable of wrecking Brittany Benton’s car to get her out of his life.” Caitlin had listened in shocked silence. After a few minutes, Grandmother had turned back to look at Caitlin. “This family will stand by Will. He has to be proven innocent.”
“I remember at Will’s trial, Grandmother had gathered the family. We all had to go to support Will.”
“Yeah, our family did the same to show support for Brittany even though she wasn’t present,” Jake said and his tone was cold.
“My dad always insisted that Will was innocent. We celebrated Will’s being found innocent of all charges. That was the one time I recall when Will was nice to me the entire evening. It was one of the few times I can remember seeing him at his best.”
“Sorry. I can’t agree.”
Was Jake trying to get revenge by buying the place and tearing down all the structures, destroying everything owned by the Santerres that he could?
Her grandmother would be shocked, certainly annoyed that Caitlin was here, planning to spend the night with a Benton. Not as annoyed as the men in the family. Will hated Jake and Jake indicated the dislike was mutual. She had heard all about Brittany Benton and Will, whispers from Ginny McCorkin, her best friend, as well as her grandmother’s side of the story. Rumors were that Will had gotten Brittany pregnant and refused to marry her. Grandmother had been furious with Will, but she seldom saw Will once he was a teen. Caitlin always figured Brittany was pregnant because of carelessness on Will’s part. Will was too selfish to worry about someone else, even when he thought he was in love. Will wanted to stop seeing Brittany, difficult when she lived on the neighboring ranch and didn’t want to stop seeing him. Then the fatal night when Will and Brittany had fought when she had died in the car wreck.
Both sides had a battery of lawyers, the Santerres’ from Chicago, the Bentons’ attorneys from Los Angeles. Will was found innocent and released, all charges dropped, but the hatred between the two families had grown stronger and the animosity between Will and Jake had become worse than ever.
She recalled the trial. Grandmother Santerre had insisted the entire family attend to show support for eighteen-year-old Will. The Bentons had turned out, too, all of them looking solemn and angry. Seventeen-year-old Jake and his brother, his mother and father. Will’s mother had still been alive then. She had attended with Titus. Caitlin had been there with Grandmother. They had cousins from Dallas and an aunt and uncle who had come to show support for Will. It had been a solemn time. Caitlin could recall feeling sorry for Brittany and for the mess Will had created. Deep down, Caitlin suspected the Bentons had the true story. Will had a cruel streak and he was a wild driver. Before the fatal accident, when Will had wrecked cars, she had heard her grandmother arguing with her father about covering for Will and buying him new cars without involving the insurance company. It was always difficult for Caitlin to think that Will was any blood relation to Grandmother Santerre who was kind, loving and caring.
That weekend after the trial Will had gone out to celebrate. She’d heard he had had a big fight with Jake Benton. She never heard who won, but assumed Will because she suspected he was meaner and he was a year older and bigger, but she’d heard stories about Jake Benton, too, and wondered if he had held his own with Will.
Caitlin closed her eyes for a moment to clear her thoughts, then glanced around the room again. “You have everything you want here,” she said, hoping to change the subject.
“Yes, I do. It’s comfortable and I come here to relax and get away from the regular work and office. This is my first love.”
“Then why don’t you ranch? You don’t have to work like crazy.”
He shrugged. “Yes, I do. I want to make money. I want total independence from my dad and there are accomplishments in the business world that will help me get what I want to stay totally independent.”
“Like making more money, owning more property, building a bigger company and a few other things along the same lines,” she said.
“Right. Let me show you where my bedroom is,” he said, taking her arm. She stood, resisting him slightly.
“I think I can find your bedroom, should I need to. If the house catches on fire, I’d guess you have an alarm system.”
He grinned. “You can’t blame me for trying to get you into my bedroom. I’d like to remember you in there in my arms.”
“It’s not going to happen. Not tonight at any rate,” she added.
“Very well, I’ll