Will of Steel Read Online Free PDF

never.”
    That was true. Both old men had left ironclad wills with clauses about the disposition of the property if Theodore and Jillian refused to get married.
    â€œThe old buzzards!” Jillian burst out. “Why did theyhave to complicate things like that? Theodore and I could have found a way to deal with the problem on our own!”
    â€œI don’t know. Neither of you is well-off, and that California developer has tons of money. I’ll bet he’s already trying to find a way to get to one of you about buying the ranch outright once you inherit.”
    â€œHe’ll never get it,” she said stubbornly.
    Sassy was going to comment that rich people with in tent sometimes knew shady ways to make people do what they wanted them to. But the developer wasn’t local and he didn’t have any information he could use to blackmail either Theodore or Jillian, so he probably couldn’t force them to sell to him. He’d just sit and wait and hope they couldn’t afford to keep it. Fat chance, Sassy thought solemly. She and John would bail them out if they had to. No way was some out-of-state fat cat taking over Jillian’s land. Not after all she’d gone through in her young life.
    Maybe it was a good thing Theodore didn’t know everything about his future potential wife. But Jillian was setting herself up for some real heartbreak if she didn’t level with him. After all, he was in law enforcement. He could dig into court records and find things that most people didn’t have access to. He hadn’t been in town when Jillian faced her problems, he’d been away at the FBI Academy on a training mission. And since only Sassy and her mother, Mrs. Peale, had been involved, nobody else except the prosecuting attorney and the judge and the public defender had knowledge about the case. Not that any of them would disclose it.
    She was probably worrying unnecessarily. She smiled at Jillian. “You are right. He’ll never get the ranch,” she agreed.
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    They pulled up at the house. It had been given a makeover and it looked glorious.
    â€œYou’ve done a lot of work on this place,” Jillian commented. “I remember what it looked like before.”
    â€œSo do I. John wanted to go totally green here, so we have solar power and wind generators. And the electricity in the barn runs on methane from the cattle refuse.”
    â€œIt’s just fantastic,” Jillian commented. “Expensive, too, I’ll bet.”
    â€œThat’s true, but the initial capital outlay was the highest. It will pay for itself over the years.”
    â€œAnd you’ll have lower utility bills than the rest of us,” Jillian sighed, thinking about her upcoming one. It had been a colder than usual winter. Heating oil was expensive.
    â€œStop worrying,” Sassy told her. “Things work out.”
    â€œYou think?”
    They walked down the hall toward the master bedroom. “How’s your mother?” Jillian asked.
    â€œDoing great. She got glowing reports from her last checkup,” Sassy said. The cancer had been contained and her mother hadn’t had a recurrence, thanks to John’s interference at a critical time. “She always asks about you.”
    â€œYour mother is the nicest person I know, next to you. How about Selene?”
    The little girl was one Mrs. Peale had adopted. She was in grammar school, very intelligent and with definite goals. “She’s reading books about the Air Force,” Sassy laughed. “She wants to be a fighter pilot.”
    â€œWow!”
    â€œThat’s what we said, but she’s very focused. She’s good at math and science, too. We think she may end up being an engineer.”
    â€œShe’s smart.”
    â€œVery.”
    Sassy opened the closet and started pulling out dresses and skirts and blouses in every color under the sun.
    Jillian just stared at them, stunned.