Lies That Bind Read Online Free PDF Page A

time to see Tessa hide a smile behind two fingers dancing slowly over her lips. He had to fight his own. How long had Derek been holding on to that little jewel of information? The reward was sweet. Rex could almost hear him cackling with glee.
    “So they get the ranch too?” Carmen gestured toward Rex and Tyler.
    And it was about to get sweeter.
    “It’s not part of the will.” Kevin locked a stare on Carmen. “The ranch and all it entails, with the exception of the inn business, belong to Tessa Fairchild. It’s been hers since Mike Ford died.”
    That sucked the air out of the room.
    The attorney continued. “If you’d been here for the reading of Mike’s will, you would know that.”
    Rex couldn’t hide the smirk that went with Kevin’s words. But then dread seeped in. They owned the inn, but Tessa owned the land on which it sat and the ranch that provided their livelihood and partial claim to fame. Fame Rustlers had earned, thanks to Tessa’s hard work helping them bring it up to par and beyond.
    “She has no right.” Carmen’s arm jiggled with the finger she thrust Tessa’s way. “She wasn’t even married to Mike Ford.”
    “She doesn’t have to be,” Kevin calmly replied. “According to Mike’s will and yet another DNA report, she’s Mike’s daughter. He made that clear in his will, which I understand you weren’t here for.”
    Please don’t tell them Derek wasn’t his son . They’d suffered enough without Carmen knowing that. Derek deserved a little dignity.
    Rex watched as Tessa slowly crossed one jean-clad leg over the other and leveled cold blue eyes toward Carmen and Heath. “And as the owner of this property, Carmen, it gives me immense pleasure to tell you and your charming son to pack anything you may have brought into this house today and get off my land.”
    Tessa didn’t play around. It gave him untold thrills. She’d also made it very clear this was her land. Rex could appreciate that. He was deadly serious about going after what he wanted too. Trouble was, he couldn’t decide which he wanted more right now—the land or her. He was thinking her.

Chapter Three
    Tyler felt the electricity crackling in the atmosphere. He loved the way Carmen’s eyes bugged out. Hated that Tessa essentially had them all by the balls, as he’d suspected.
    The inn was his and Rex’s now, as they’d hoped. But the building sat on land Tessa owned, along with the ranch and aviary that helped entertain their guests. Considering what happened a year ago and her absence since, why would she want anything to do with any of it? She’d made it clear how much she hated the circumstances and wanted nothing to do with it all. With Derek gone, she could force their hand and shut them down. Plus, her landownership put a serious crimp in everything they’d planned for the place. They couldn’t move forward with any type of expansion without her approval. The townsfolk were starting to show up the way he’d heard they used to back in the ranch’s heyday. Rex and Tyler chalked that up to the draw of the Aviary, damn good food, and fun things for the whole family to do. He shuddered at the thought of all the wedding events planned for the aviary in the coming months. Rustlers’ aviary had garnered quite the reputation with wedding planners.
    Tyler ordered himself to remain calm. There were options. He and Rex had been prepared to buy her out if Derek left his share of the inn to her. So they’d offer to buy the ranch and land they needed instead. Though God knew where they’d get that kind of money. Maybe they could lease the inn and continue on as always. How would it hurt, since she was never around?
    Tyler knew that answer. It’d hurt him just like it had every day since she’d left. He’d cried every night for a week over it all. Then it had been the bone-deep ache that had kept him awake, an ache that had returned with a vengeance when he’d seen her step off the plane. The knife thrust to