Leslie LaFoy by Jacksons Way Read Free Book Online

Maybe two?
She lifted her chin. “That depends entirely on how much you intend to take out of the business for your own needs and when you intend to do it.”
    He considered her for a long moment. “Fifty-two and some-odd thousand dollars. And I've got just under sixty days.”
    Fifty-two thousand dollars? Almost a quarter of the company's current net worth?
“It can't be done,” she declared, her pulse racing painfully hard and fast.
Sixty days? Oh, my God.
    He gave her that quirked smile of his and lifted his whiskey glass in salute. “Where there's a will, there's a way.” He winced and quickly added, “No pun intended.”
    Her eyes burned and pulsed from the heavy pressure behind them. Her fingertips ached. Lindsay knew that if she remained as she was, she'd soon explode. She began to pace, willing herself to breathe and then calmly approachthe situation. “Mr. Stennett,” she began after a few moments, “our country's in the midst of a financial panic. Haven't you noticed the deteriorating state of affairs? Or is it that the Republic of Texas is so isolated as to be immune from the economics of the rest of the continent?”
    “I raise cattle, Miss MacPhaull. Along with almost every other man in the Republic,” he countered instantly, all the ease gone from his voice, leaving only the hard edge. “The beef on your table tonight could well be from a steer that's come off Texas grass. If it is, you can be sure that the cattleman lost money selling it. The Panic's stripped money from every pocket out there and people can't afford fancy food on their tables. That means the demand for beef is down. And when demand's down, so's the price buyers are willing to pay. But the cattleman has bills he's got to pay, and a little money being better than no money at all, he sells for what he can get.
    “Now added to that is the fact that Billy was a gambler to the center of his bones. The poker table didn't thrill him nearly as much as the high-stakes risks to be had in land speculation. He bought largely on credit, using his ranch land as collateral. He did all right with it, too. He just didn't time his dying all that well. When he cocked up his toes, he left me with a mountain of debt and a short deadline. I could sell every head I own, and with the market as it is—
because of the Panic
—it still wouldn't be enough to clear the title to the land Billy left me.
    “The short answer to your question, Miss MacPhaull, is
yes.
I'm well aware of the effects of the Panic and I'm not the least bit immune to them.”
    In the silence that fell in the aftermath of his retort, Lindsay realized that not only had she stopped her pacing but that the cause of her racing pulse had shifted. Jackson Stennett was far more intelligent than she'd originally thought. The easygoing approach to matters he'd displayed up to this point was nothing more than a thin veneer. Under it lay a man quite capable of holding his own in any New York boardroom. She'd badly underestimated his business abilities.
    And if that wasn't startling enough, she'd also underes-timated the effect he had on her physically. Despite the fact that he'd remained perfectly still, his hip propped against the corner of the desk and his whiskey in hand, she was very much aware of his strength, of how dangerous he could be if he decided to unleash it and direct it outward. A small part of her was frightened by the possibility. The larger part of her, though, thrilled at the thought of facing and withstanding it.
    There was no mistaking the sensation swelling inside her. The feeling was very much like that of standing in the bow of a ship as a storm rolled in at sea. Exhilarating in its recklessness, it warmed the blood in a way nothing else could. To defy destruction was to feel truly alive.
    She arched a brow and asked quietly, “I don't suppose it's occurred to you to simply let the creditors have Billy's land?”
    He threw the contents of his glass down his throat.