She bristled immediately. “That’s absurd. Aaron is my friend.”
“I know you see it that way, but, as I mentioned before, with friends like him, you don’t need to be hunting up enemies.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Darlin’, the one thing I know is that, if you’re counting Aaron as a friend, you’d best start packing something against snakebite.”
“You don’t know him as well as I do.”
“I know him well enough.”
Her hands balled into fists. Her voice dropped from warm to icy politeness. “I know you’ve always been jealous of our closeness, but you’re going too far.”
Her withdrawal struck him like a slap. He shook his head. “Got to disagree with you there. I’m saving that for tomorrow.”
Fact was, he was saving a lot for tomorrow. Including his goodbyes, because, sure as hell, when he called out Aaron for his back-stabbing, Elizabeth wasn’t going to waste a lot of time sending her husband packing.
She interrupted his thoughts. “I know from your notes in the books that you suspect someone of sabotaging the Rocking C.”
And she wanted him to tell her he didn’t suspect Aaron. He ran his hands through his hair. “There’s no sense dancing around the subject. Aaron’s the one behind the Rocking C’s troubles.”
“My father made some mistakes…?” Her hands disappeared from the tabletop. He assumed from the way her spine was razor-back sharp, she was clutching her fingers in her lap. “Number one being taking Aaron on as a partner?” she asked, and then went on before he could answer. “Do you have proof?”
She looked at him. It was clear in her eyes she was hoping against hope that she wasn’t going to lose another dream to reality. He swore long and hard. Why did he have to be the messenger? Why couldn’t her father have had the brains God gave a rock, and seen Aaron for the snake in the grass he was?
“Nothing the law would cozy up to,” he hedged.
“Which means you don’t have proof.”
Christ, he could feel the knots that bound them together unraveling. The small part of him that hoped she’d believe him, despite her lifetime belief in Aaron, started to die. “I’ve got the facts. Whether they’ll hold up in a court of law isn’t the point.”
“It is to me.”
“Yeah. I figured that.”
“What are these facts?”
“First off, Aaron’s set to lose everything without the water rights you grant him.”
“So? He knows those aren’t in danger.”
“He set you up to lose the ranch by furthering that bank note when any prudent advice would be to hold tight while you were solvent.”
“I don’t agree.”
The last drop of hope in him died. “No shock there.” Wanting this over, he pushed on. Words fell over words as he let the explanation spew forth. “Then this fancy pants Brent comes along. Man goes out of his way to hunt you up and, from what Old Sam says, seemed to know exactly what to say to you to make you tumble like an old stack of hay.”
“I was stupid.”
“You were set up.”
“Who says?”
“I do, and so do the men.”
“What do you know?”
“More than you, apparently, because there was no danger of you losing the ranch until you married me.” He shot her an amused glance. “Appears you spiked their guns when you took matters into your own hands. The way Cougar and I figure it, they couldn’t be sure I’d continue to allow the water, so they had to drive it under.”
“They called in the note.” Desperation entered her voice.
“Yeah. They delivered the news when you and I were in town that day. And guess who was walking out of the office right before I walked in?”
“Aaron, but that’s not surprising. It is the only bank in town.”
“It’s mighty strange that, a week before, they were willing to extend the note until spring with my savings against the balance. But, when I brought the money in, all I could manage was one month.”
“That doesn’t mean Aaron had anything to do with it.”
“No, it doesn’t, but it does point a finger that way.”
“But Aaron—”
He didn’t want to hear her defend good old Aaron. He cut her off. “As soon as it looked like I was going to get the cattle rounded up for the railroad deal, I got bushwhacked.”
“That could have been anyone.”
“Except that foreman of Aaron’s was there when I made the deal.”
“It’s still supposition.”
Asa threw his napkin on the table. “Yeah. Just like today, when I went to deliver the cattle a week early, and I find the railroad is wary of taking them. Seems a rumor’s been spread that the reason I want to bring them in early is because they’re sick and I want to unload them before it becomes obvious.”
Her rigid posture collapsed. “Oh, no.”
“Yeah. Oh, no.”
“What are we going to do?”
They weren’t doing anything. “Tomorrow, I’m going into town and settle this.”