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Now he leaned lazily against the side of Jolie’s SUV, as if he had all day to shoot the breeze—aiming to aggravate Dad, no doubt.
“We all should’ve come to see your clinic, but you know how it is.” He jerked his chin toward their father. “We never, ever get done around here.” He spat out the words.
Jolie knew indeed. The ranch always came first with Robert Maxwell.
“Maybe you can come in sometime on your own, to see me?”
Bobby gave her an odd look. “Yeah, right.”
“I imagine you have lots of other things to do on your time off.” She fought to keep her voice level. “But I’d like that a lot. If you find the time someday.”
With surprising agility for a man his age, Robert leaned over in his saddle and untied the other horse, then rode over to the car and held out its reins to Bobby. “We’re fifteen minutes late. Now get on this horse andride.”
Bobby waited a beat before taking the reins, another mild insurrection that registered in Robert’s darkening scowl.
“Everything going well?” Shading her eyes against the sun, Jolie managed a smile as she looked up at her father.
Intelligent, stubborn, and with a single-minded determination that brooked no opposition, he’d been a stern, implacable ruler of his domain for decades. After her mother’s death he’d become even more distant and cold.
“Busy.” He tugged the brim of his hat lower over his face and imperceptibly cued his horse into a neat one-hundred-eighty-degree pivot toward the pasture gates at the north side of the barn.
Gathering his reins, Bobby stepped lightly up onto his mare and settled her with a quiet hand on her neck. Anger simmeredin his eyes as he watched their father nudge his horse into an easy jog. “I’ll come to see you the next time I get a ride into town.”
“Aride?”
“Judge LeVay ruled on my case a while back. You didn’t hear?” He gave a harsh laugh. “Probably not. Communication isn’t a Maxwell trait.”
Sorrow swept through Jolie as she remembered the car accident last Halloween. Four people—Bobby, two friends, and the driver of the other vehicle—had been injured, and Bobby’s closest friend, Danny, had been in a coma for a while. All because of Bobby’s drinking and his reckless driving.Such an incredible waste.
Rising anger warred with concern for her little brother. “How did he rule?”
“I was way over the legal blood-alcohol limit, so Dad’s lawyers decided to plead a lesser charge before going to trial. They said a trial would be too risky.” Bobby’s tone turned sarcastic. “Not that LeVay would’ve dared put Robert Maxwell’s son in prison.”
“You only lost yourlicense?”
Bobby sliced the air angrily with the side of his hand. “What, you think I should be in jail?”
“No, I—”
“Well, don’t worry,sis.I got three years’ probation, a thousand hours of community service, and have no wheels for a year. I’m stuck here under Dad’s thumb from morning till night,” he snarled. “And Dan’s parents are threatening to sue. I would have beenbetter offin jail.” He spun his horse away and took off at a lope toward the pasture gate.
“Bobby, wait!”
She knew he’d heard her, but he didn’t give any sign. Pulling to a sliding stop by the gate, he neatly sidestepped his horse intoposition and navigated through the gate, opening and shutting it without dismounting.
From the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of color. Cassie, her middle sister, who now worked in Billings, stood in the doorway of the barn, her somber young son, Zak, at her side.
“Hi, there! How’s my favorite nephew?” Jolie smiled at Zak, but he gave his usual almost-imperceptible shrug and looked away. She lifted her gaze to Cassie’s. “Nice surprise—I didn’t see your car when I drove in.”
Cassie ignored the greeting. “Still handling our family problems as well as ever,” she said coldly. “Why isn’t that a surprise?”
With her bright red hair and hazel eyes, Cassie had taken after the Maxwell side of the family, and she had the temper as well.
Even after going to college and establishing a successful career with Montana Child Protective Services, her childhood hostilities still surfaced whenever Jolie came home.
“I don’t want to take over,” Jolie said evenly, trying to mask her hurt. “I couldn’t even if I wanted to, because no one ever tells me about what’s going on out here. How is Dan doing? And what’s this about a lawsuit?”
“The Maxwell lawyers say Danny’s family plans to sue for at least five million.”
