Chapter Three
“You know you don’t have to fix anything.” Wade Matthews poured two cups of coffee and set them on the oak kitchen table that had somehow survived Jordan and his brothers’ childhoods. Wade’s housekeeper, Estelle, had put a lot of energy into restoring the faithful old table to its former glory.
“According to the lease, I do. She handles fences, roads, and pastures. I’m responsible for buildings, electrical, and water systems, all of which have problems.” He’d left the Willow Creek Ranch that day without settling much else.
“If you refuse to do your part, her only recourse is to terminate the lease.”
“Or to sue me.” Jordan frowned at Wade. “When did you become so cold-blooded?”
“I’ve always been cold-blooded.”
“Oh yeah.” That was why, as a single guy then in his thirties, Wade had taken in four-year-old Jordan, fostering him shortly after adopting Trev and Hayes, his dead brother’s kids.
Twenty-five years later, due to injury, Wade had lost some of the spring in his step, and he’d gone gray, but he was still the sturdy block of a man who’d been the epitome of security for a lost four-year-old.
A man Jordan could still depend on and would do anything for.
“Okay,” Wade relented. “I don’t want to pick on the woman, but you’re offering a good deal. She’s going to have to leave eventually, so why not take advantage now when she has help finding a new place and a payoff?”
“Maybe she thinks things will change in five years and eight months.”
“Yeah,” Wade muttered darkly. “Something will change all right. The Reed property will have been snapped up by some rich guy who wants to build a Montana castle overlooking our ranch.”
That was a danger. Their neighbor, who leased their fields, wanted to sell a parcel abutting the Tree Fork Ranch to cover family medical expenses.
The undeveloped ground needed to be cleared of timber, and was difficult to access without crossing Tree Fork property, but was perfect for Jordan to build his own base of operations as an engineering consultant and expand those of the Tree Fork.
A year ago, he would have cashed out his investments and put the money down on the property himself.
That was no longer an option due to a major miscalculation on his part.
The sure-thing startup he’d invested in had sputtered and died as new and better technology unexpectedly hit the market at just the wrong time.
He had enough savings to comfortably cover his costs until he started his business, but nothing close to the lump sum he’d need to put a down payment on the Reed property.
His brother Trev had applied for a raw land loan and been shot down due to risk.
Right now, everything was riding on the sale of the ranch he’d inherited.
“I plan to talk to her again,” Jordan said.
He’d spent the last four years of his life handling drillers, accountants, and management types who’d reacted like Lil McAllen when confronted with information they weren’t ready to process. Or didn’t want to process.
“She didn’t see this coming. She needs time to think.”
Wade considered. “Yeah. I tend to say no until I get some time to think.”
“Then you still say no.”
“Then you would do whatever you damn well pleased.”
Jordan couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah, maybe.”
“What’s she like?” Wade asked.
Jordan’s first read of Lil McAllen had been entirely superficial.
Long dark hair, striking blue eyes, a face that could have graced one of those natural beauty ads.
He liked her smile but had only seen it once or twice during their meeting.
She wasn’t tall, she wasn’t short, and she had a lithe build, like an athlete.
Working a ranch did tend to keep one in shape.
His second read had to do with the sense of caution that radiated off her.
She’d been composed during the meeting, but there’d been a lot bubbling beneath the surface.
Understandable, given the circumstances.
Then she’d laid out her position on the matter of the sale, stuck to it, and there he was. Wondering what his next move might be.
“She seemed businesslike,” he finally said.
Wade nodded, then cleared his throat. “I have something to run past you.”
“Yeah?”
“Any chance that you could share a room with Trev again?”
“In the bunkbeds?” Oh hell no.
“Estelle kind of needs a place to stay for a week or two.”
“Why’s that?”
Wade gave him a sheepish look. “Her landlord is selling the house.”
Great. Cosmic irony.
“Has she checked her lease to see if she has to move?”
“As a matter of fact, she has.”
Cold-blooded Wade Matthews, giving his housekeeper a place to stay in her time of need.
“Okay. Sure.” For now.
But he wasn’t sleeping on the bottom.
“It won’t be for long. She already has leads on a few possibilities, but prices have gone up and she has to find something in her range.”
“Maybe she could move into Bailey’s trailer. No.” He tapped the table with his forefinger. “I can move into Bailey’s trailer.”
Jordan’s future sister-in-law was a silversmith and before she’d taken up with his older brother Hayes, she’d used her live-in horse trailer to travel the west, selling her wares at art and gear shows. She was now taking a year-long break while Hayes went to college.
“Well, Bailey’s not using it,” Wade said, looking pleased at the prospect of getting Jordan out of the house. “If you move in there, that’ll make Estelle feel better about accepting the room.”
“She hasn’t accepted yet?”
“She will.”
That was not a given. Estelle was five feet of pure stubbornness, which was why she and Wade got along so well.
Jordan got to his feet. “Good luck with that.” He had his own battle to strategize on.
If he couldn’t talk Lil into taking this deal, which she had yet to hear, then he’d have to contact the broker and tell him it was a no-go, and then he’d have to wait for another buyer.
One who wanted an investment property they didn’t mind being tied up for five and a half years. How likely was that?
He hadn’t a clue, and he didn’t want to find out because if this sale went through, he’d be able to help Wade buy the neighboring property, thus rolling over the profits and avoiding capital gains. And he wouldn’t have to be reminded of a father who hadn’t seen fit to acknowledge him.
“What’s on your agenda?” Wade asked after rinsing both coffee cups and putting them to dry on the towel as Estelle had taught him to do.
Jordan sometimes wondered if Wade knew he’d been trained.
“I’m heading back out to the Willow Creek Ranch.”
Wade looked over his shoulder, his bushy gray eyebrows almost touching. “Round two so soon?”
“Nope. I have repairs to make.”
*
Lil had just unsaddled the new mare, aptly named Fancy, when she heard a truck approaching. She stepped out of the tack shed to see Jordan Matthews’s big Ford come into view and her stomach tightened at the sight. What now? Another go at convincing her to leave?
After he’d left, she’d contacted Aubrey to see what he’d done for a living before cowboying for his dad.
Aubrey, who was out of the loop having just returned to Marietta after living in Dillon for several years, made a call herself and then reported back.
Jordan did technical consulting on big drilling programs. The cowboy was an engineer in disguise. Did that give him an advantage?
You’ve got this.
To make certain of that, she’d called her older sister Maya right after she’d talked to Aubrey. Maya was adamant that it would take an extraordinary circumstance to remove her from the property.
“Define extraordinary,” Lil had replied.
“By the time they prove their extraordinary circumstance, your lease will be up.”
Her sister had been less helpful when it came to answering questions about the new owner, although she’d been fascinated by Aubrey’s information.
“He’s the adopted son of a local rancher. Lost both parents young. His father died in jail. He’s an engineer.” Lil could picture her sister taking notes as she recited back the information. “What’s his connection to Carl Jordan?” she mused aloud before saying to Lil, “I’ll see what I can find out.”
Lil had not heard back and she, too, was curious about the connection with Maya’s former employer. Montana cowboy and Chicago entrepreneur. Strange.
Jordan Matthews stepped out of his truck, and Lil squared her shoulders as gravel crunched under his boots.
“You’re back.”
“Sorry for showing up without notice, but no one answered the phone.”
“I was working my horses and Meg’s fixing fence. The cows got out.” For the third time in three weeks.
She left that part unsaid.
“Maybe I could get your cell number before I go.”
“Sure.” She cocked her head. “Why are you back?”
“Repairs.” He must have read her dubious expression because he added, “We have a contract. You want to show me the hole in the barn roof?”
Swallowing her suspicions, Lil led the way to the barn, where she opened the man door and pointed to where sunlight lit a circular area on the west side of the interior.
Jordan walked over to the splotch of light and looked up. “How’d it happen?”
“A windstorm brought down a cottonwood branch. We had a time getting it out of the hole.” They’d worked from the inside of the building, standing in the raised tractor bucket and sawing the spear-like branch into sections. She was certain that OSHA would have disapproved, but the branch was gone.
“I didn’t see a tree outside.”
“We hired a guy to take it down.” That had cost a pretty penny. She’d taken an extra horse into her training program because of it. “There’s a good-sized stump outside. Root system was too extensive to remove it without messing with the barn.”
As if needing to see the evidence himself, he walked out of the barn to the side where the giant tree had once shaded the building. The ground-level remnants of the tree were almost three feet wide.
“Must have been old.”
“It was. I miss it, but it was getting dangerous.”
“You paid for the removal?”