It was then that real fear gripped her throat. “You know something, don’t you?” she asked, with the blinding realization that he was hiding something from her. She pulled away from his embrace and felt her heart thud with dread.
The pain in his eyes was nearly tangible and the lines near his mouth were grim with foreboding. “I want you to marry me, as soon as possible.”
“But there has to be a reason.”
“How about the fact that I can’t live without you.”
“Level with me, Trask.”
“I am. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and I thought you wanted the same.”
“I do…but something isn’t right. I can see it in your eyes. What happened?” she demanded.
Trask pushed his hands through his hair and his broad shoulders slumped. “I just came from John Davis’s office,” he admitted.
John Davis. The private investigator. Tory’s voice trembled slightly. “And?”
“And he came up with some answers for me.”
“Answers that I’m not going to like,” she surmised, taking in a deep breath.
“Yes.”
“About Dad?”
“No.”
Trask turned and met her confused gaze. “John Davis did some digging, thorough digging. He even went back to the penitentiary to double-check with George Henderson about what he’d discovered. George decided to come clean.”
“About what?”
“Your father was innocent, Tory. Just as you believed.”
So that was it! Trask’s guilt for condemning an innocent man to prison was what was bothering him. Relief washed over her in a tidal wave and tears of happiness welled in her eyes. If only her father were still alive he could be a free man. “But that’s wonderful news,” she said, stepping closer to him.
The look he sent her could have cut through steel. “There’s more. Your father wasn’t involved with Linn Benton and George Henderson but someone else was.”
She froze and the first inkling of what he was suggesting penetrated her mind. “Who?”
“Your brother, Tory. Keith was an integral part of the horse swindle.”
Tory didn’t move. She let the words sink in and felt as if her safe world was spinning crazily away from her. Cold desperation cloaked her heart. “But that’s impossible. Keith was only sixteen. He didn’t even know Judge Benton or…George…”
“He knew George Henderson, Tory. George was the local vet. He’d been out to the ranch more times than you can remember. He liked your brother. Keith had even gone hunting with him on occasion.”
“But he was just a boy,” she said, feeling numb inside. “It just doesn’t make any sense, none of it.”
“Why do you think Keith reacted so violently to my return to Sinclair?”
“He has reason to hate you.”
“And fear me.”
Tory’s mind was clouded with worried thoughts, pieces of the puzzle that weren’t fitting together. She walked away from Trask, pushed her hands into the back pockets of her jeans and stared into the lake, not noticing the vibrant hue of the water. The gentle afternoon breeze lifted her hair from her face. “I don’t believe you,” she whispered. “If Keith had been involved with Linn Benton and George Henderson, it all would have come out at the trial.”
“Unless your father paid for your brother’s crime.”
“No!” She whirled to face him. Her eyes were wide with new understanding and fear.