Denim & Diamonds Read Online Free Page B

received word that he was dead just after she received her letter of acceptance from the law school at the University of Missouri-Columbia. She'd gone from top of the world happy to utter despair within days but dove into her studies, determined to do everything she could to make her brother proud of her, wherever he was. At her mother’s funeral service the year

before she missed her brother more than anything, felt utterly alone. There was a glimmer of hope when she saw her father moving through the line like everyone else. He shook her hand, expressed his condolences. Hadn’t even offered her a hug. And then he was gone, leaving her to stand alone beside her dead mother’s casket. That was his modus operandi - leaving.
    And now he was gone, too. A single tear coursed down her cheek. Her lips moved as she read.
     
    “I, John Richard Jameson, of Cardwell County, Missouri, do hereby devise and bequeath my real estate in Cardwell County, Missouri, commonly known as the Diamond J Ranch, to my daughter, Elizabeth Catherine Jameson, to be held in trust for one year. It is my intention and desire that my daughter live on the ranch and manage the ranch. My said daughter must keep all employees that were employed by Diamond J Ranch on the day of my death, except and unless she has the written consent of my Trustee.
    On the one year anniversary of my death, my Trustee of this residence trust shall determine whether or not my said daughter has been able to manage the Diamond J Ranch in a profitable and successful manner. In the event she is able to manage the Diamond J Ranch in a profitable and successful manner, in the sole and absolute discretion of my Trustee, then said Diamond J Ranch will be given to my said daughter outright. It is my hope and desire that my said daughter will continue to own and operate the Diamond J Ranch as I would have if I had survived. In the event my said daughter shall fail or refuse to live on the real estate, then the real estate commonly known as the Diamond J Ranch shall be sold at public auction . . . "
     
    Her father had issued a challenge and, as he had likely guessed, she accepted it. And he had made it clear that he didn't expect her to succeed, because he spelled out what would happen if she failed

or refused. She wondered if Beau knew. But that was silly. Of course he knew. The attorney her father appointed as Trustee was a local. Her father had probably shared his plans with Beau when the will had been drawn up. Charlotte, too. Her chest rose and fell with a sigh.
    Even after all this time, her father could still control her life. She felt like she was five years old again, and he was making her take dance lessons and wear one of those horrible costumes, when all she wanted to do was take gymnastics. She made a face at the paper and hissed, “Bastard!”
    “I’m sorry?” Charlotte asked from the doorway, her thick eyebrows bunched in a frown.
    Beth looked up, her face flushed with embarrassment. She wiped the evidence of tears from her eyes. “Nothing. Um, I was just thinking.”
    Charlotte looked around the room and her frown smoothed away, “Your father spent nearly every evening here. Do you enjoy Louis L’Amour books, too?”
    “My father read Louis L’Amour?” Beth asked, her voice ripe with disbelief.
    Charlotte walked across the thick rug and ran her hands over the back of one of the wing-backed chairs facing the fireplace. “He’d sit right here, with the fire going, and read for hours.”
    “I see,” Beth said, not really seeing at all. That didn’t mesh with the stern, no-nonsense man she remembered from her childhood. Charlotte stared at the cold fireplace, her hazel eyes dreamy and unfocused.
    Beth cleared her throat, anxious to steer the discussion away from her father. “Did the neighbor girl make it back from college?"
    A smile spread across Charlotte's face. "She sure did. That kid is smart as a whip, and knows her way around the barn."
    "Is she going to