Trumped Up Charges - By Joanna Wayne Page 0,1

in the letter he’d gotten inviting him to the ranch for this dubious occasion.

The legacy of Reuben Jackson Dalton.

R.J., the father he hadn’t seen in twenty-seven years. All he knew of his biological father had come from his mother, Jerri, wife number three. If she’d ever said anything good about R.J., Adam didn’t recall it.

But she must have loved him once—before she’d put him completely out of her life. She’d even lied about his being alive for years—which was strange in its own right, since she was normally a stickler for the truth.

She’d divorced R.J. when Adam was four years old. He didn’t remember a lot about that, but he did remember crying when they’d driven away from the ranch.

His mother had married again when Adam was eleven and Doug Abbott had become Adam’s father in every way that mattered until he’d been killed in an early-morning pileup in a dense fog when Adam was eighteen. In his heart and mind, his father had died that day.

Still, Adam had always wondered about R.J. But from the time he was old enough to remember asking about him, his mother had told him R.J. had died soon after their divorce. He could tell she didn’t like talking about him, so he’d eventually quit bringing up the subject.

Adam was twenty-one and leaving for his first tour of duty as a U.S. Marine before she admitted that R.J. was alive. Even then it was clear she hoped Adam wouldn’t get in touch with him. She cautioned him that R. J. Dalton was nothing but trouble and had never cared anything about him or anyone else.

Nonetheless, Adam had thought about visiting R.J. then. He’d even gone so far as to get into his truck and start toward the ranch. He’d changed his mind before he’d reached the turnoff at Oak Grove. If R.J. had wanted him in his life, he’d have come looking for him. Adam would have been easy to find.

That’s why the letter requesting his presence for the reading of the will had come as such a shock. He hadn’t even heard that R.J. had died.

Oddly, Adam felt a twinge of loss as he opened the door to his truck and planted his feet on the hard earth. He wasn’t sure if it was for R.J. or just for what might have been had R.J. ever been a real father to him.

But being overlooked by R.J. was only a precursor to the rejection that had come later. Hadley O’Sullivan had seen to that.

While he’d been fighting for his life from injuries sustained in an ambush on a craggy mountainside in Afghanistan, she’d found a replacement lover. She’d married him and given birth to twins before Adam was even out of rehab. Apparently Hadley, like R.J., figured Adam was easy to forget.

All in the past, he reminded himself as he climbed the wide wooden steps to the house. The clamor of voices coming from behind the closed doors promised that this was not a friendly meeting. Dread punched him in the gut. He didn’t need this.

His phone rang as he turned the doorknob. He checked the caller ID. It was his mother, no doubt wanting to know how the gathering of the clan was going. He ignored the call and turned his phone to vibrate.

Right now he just wanted to get the will reading over and done with. He’d expected nothing from R.J. while the man was alive. He didn’t expect any more now, so how bad could the meeting be?

As soon as he took a seat, Attorney Conroe Phipps called the meeting to order and had the siblings introduce themselves. And then the fun started.

Phipps used his laser to point out each preposterous detail as he went over the requirements to receive a share of R.J.’s estate. The jolts came hard and fast, similar to an emotional earthquake with countless aftershocks.

Adam scanned the room, briefly studying each of his half siblings. They were clearly as stunned as he was.

Jade, the only female of the group, was kicking her crossed leg with a ferocity that made him think she was about to propel into orbit. Even Cannon, the rodeo cowboy of the group and the one person Adam thought might have been more receptive to the terms of the will, wore an expression that looked as if he’d been kicked by a bull.

No one was smiling. Adam himself swallowed a few curses along the way. He figured there would be time to vent his