Page 38 of Puppy Kisses

If Bea heard Phoebe’s remark, she let it pass. Adam, however, wasn’t about to allow any of this to slip past him. He sat up straighter, wiping his muddied hand on his jeans. “You’ve finally decided to sell? To us?”

Finally, it was here. Finally, he was going to get the land needed for the expansion. If Dawn had somehow managed to convince Bea to do this in a single afternoon, he was going to kiss her. With tongue. And in front of everyone here, too.

“I didn’t say that now, did I?” Bea smacked her lips. “Next time, you’ll want to add a little more cinnamon to this pie, Adam. It could use a kick of something.”

His excitement began its slow and inevitable deflation. Of course it wasn’t going to be that easy. Dawn might be capable of making him act contrary to everything he knew and believed in this world, but her magic obviously didn’t extend to a woman like Bea Benson.

“Cinnamon,” he agreed flatly. “Sure thing.”

“Bea hasn’t yet decided who she wants to sell to,” Dawn supplied. “It’s a delicate situation because of the promise she made to Peter Smithwood.”

Adam didn’t care for the sound of that. “Promise? What promise?”

Bea gave that cackling laugh again. She also paused to take a long sip of her vodka lemonade, which would explain why she was in such a conciliatory mood. “You obviously never got the full story from your grandfather.”

That got Adam’s attention. Phoebe’s too. Neither of them had known their grandfather very well—he’d passed away not long after Phoebe and Zeke had been born—but he was something of a legend around these parts. He’d started their ranch with nothing more than a hundred dollars and the deed to the land in his pocket. And, as Adam knew from his own experiences, a hell of a lot of hard work. All those rumors of his infamy, of having cheated the Smithwoods at cards, were just that—rumors. In a community the size of theirs, that sort of thing was inevitable when something as large as a three hundred acres was involved.

And when the Smithwoods were involved, but that part went without saying.

“What story?” Phoebe asked. “No one ever said a word about a promise to me.”

“Well, of course they didn’t,” Bea said. “It’s none of your damn business. It all happened long before you and that swoopy-haired twin of yours were a twinkle in your parents’ eyes.”

Methuselah gave a whimper at Adam’s feet, so he reached down and wordlessly plucked the puppy from the ground. He could hear Dawn’s cluck of disapproval at how quickly he’d given in to her demands, but it wasn’t as though he had a choice. Methuselahneededhim. In fact, as soon as he started running his fingers over the silken threads of her ears, she settled down, her head resting contentedly on one knee.

Since he knew he was in the wrong—and because offense was always the best defense—he pointed an accusing finger in the direction of Dawn’s chair. “I thought you came over here to be helpful.”

“Training your guide dog to recognize fencesishelpful,” she replied, laughing. It perfectly matched the tinkle of ice against her glass. “Besides, Bea had more interesting things to tell me than where to put the tomatoes. You never told me she knew so many things about your family.”

“She doesn’t.”

“Like about how your grandfather was a con man and a philanderer.”

“He wasnota con man and philanderer.”

“And about how he used to make his living fleecing people at cards until he settled down on the ranch.”

“There’s nothing illegal about a friendly game of poker.”

“Or about how after Peter Smithwood lost half his ranch to your grandfather, he sold Bea this piece of land for the sole reason that he didn’t want any part of his property touching yours.”

Adam paused. “I didn’t know that one.”

There was something self-satisfied about the way Dawn settled back into her chair, a puff of air rising from the seat cushions. “Then I’m guessing you also don’t know that he made Bea and her husband promise never to let you guys get your hands on it. Apparently, it was part of the original purchase contract. She literally can’t sell it to you.”

Adam let out a long breath. All of his hopes and dreams for the future seemed to vanish with the air in his chest. It caused him a pang of regret, but not nearly as much as the realization that Zeke’s and Phoebe’s futures were vanishing along with it. Oh, the ranch was fine rightnow, with the three of them sharing the responsibilities and the income, but he didn’t know how long it could stay that way. If one of them got married, one of them had kids… A ranch the size of theirs could support a single family, but it couldn’t support three separate ones. Expansion was the only way to keep the holdings intact.

“Is that true?” he demanded.

“Of course it’s true!” Bea said. “I don’t know where the paperwork is, but Dawn says she’s happy to sort through all that crap in the basement to find it. Seeing as how I’m letting her off the hook with the garden and all.”

“I didn’t say I washappyabout it…”

“She also thinks I should hire a professional cleaner to come through here and lend a helping hand, but that’s where I draw the line. I’ve never met anyone with so many opinions on things that aren’t any of her goddamned business.”

It would have been easy for Dawn to take offense at this, but she just laughed. “I could say the same of you, but you’ll notice I refrained.”

Adam cleared his throat before they got too far off course. This conversation was more productive than any of the ones he’d tried to start with Bea for the entire past year combined.