Chapter Four #2
“Great.” She untied the mare and started toward the corrals. Jordan’s gaze drifted down as she walked away, then jerked back up when she stopped and looked over her shoulder. “If you do get in trouble, make sure it’s on the ground, not the roof. I don’t do heights.”
Right. As if he was going to need a rescue.
*
Lil drove across the field in the ATV, her equipment stashed inside milk crates strapped to the back.
She’d waited until Jordan had climbed onto the roof before leaving, just to reassure herself that he’d be fine.
She would never get onto a roof without having someone nearby in case of emergency, but then her father had fallen off a roof when she’d been eight years old and she’d remembered how long he’d worn the big sling for his shoulder injury.
From Christmas to Valentine’s Day. But the pitch of this barn roof wasn’t as steep as that on her family ranch, and it also wasn’t December, so chances were that Jordan Matthews was correct—he could handle himself.
She hoped so anyway because it looked like the repairs that had been neglected for so long were finally being done.
She told herself she didn’t care about the reason Jordan was jumping into things—to pretty the place up to sell—but there was no denying that she was anxious.
Did he understand that she and Meg were not vacating? Would he adjust his plans accordingly?
Lil parked the ATV next to the wire that had come to rest in large coils after being snapped.
As she’d driven the cows to the holding pen less than an hour ago, she’d convinced herself that she’d been overreacting.
Deer had busted through the fence as they often did.
But now, inspecting the wires, there was no missing the diamond-like cut of nippers on wire.
Or was there? Maybe that was how kinks broke under pressure.
Bullshit. That wire’s been cut.
Lil studied the belt of trees that grew on the opposite side of the creek that bordered her pasture. Rude fishermen with wire nips?
Destructive kids?
Shane?
Her stomach tightened even as she dismissed it.
Shane had been a possessive asshole where Meg was concerned, but not the kind to creep around doing damage to property.
He preferred making his presence known. And he wasn’t exactly a woodsman.
The thought of him sneaking through the forest to the far side of their property just to cut a fence was ridiculous.
It took close to an hour to fix the fence and then drive the ATV over to the break that had allowed the cattle onto Baxter land a little over a week ago.
It didn’t do much good because Meg had strung new wire between the post and brace where the break had occurred and disposed of the old.
Lil had nothing to inspect and therefore no way of knowing if that wire had been cut.
Instead of starting back to the ranch, she sat straddling the ATV and staring across the field at the barn where Jordan was working on the far side.
Unless he’d fallen off, of course.
*
After using a small hand saw to square up the hole in the roof for future repair, Jordan scooted on his butt toward the ladder. He paused before stepping onto the rungs, taking a last look around. The ranch was, in a word, peaceful.
You own this place.
He appreciated the windfall, but not the circumstances under which he got it, which made it feel like a freaking consolation prize.
All he could figure was that Carl Jordan refused to acknowledge him because Jordan had been an unwelcome reminder of a quick affair with his mom, probably when he breezed through the area to either buy or check on his property.
Chicago had been the guy’s home forever according to the small amount of personal information Jordan could find online, and he’d been very married at the time of Jordan’s conception.
Jordan also knew little about his mother, but what he’d heard was all good, amplified perhaps because she’d died so young without family other than her four-year-old son.
Jordan remembered her. Or so he thought.
He knew that his memories might be part truth, part wishful thinking, but he recalled soft words, soft hands, tired eyes.
And her smile. He knew from the pictures he had in the slim album, his only connection to that part of his past, that he had inherited that smile.
He’d searched the album for photos of a young Carl Jordan, but there’d been no men in any of the pictures. Only his mother and him.
A kitten scampered around the base of the ladder as he descended, then darted out of sight before his feet hit the ground.
The little gray and white fur bundle was a lot cuter than the feral teenage kittens Trev’s partner Maclyn had brought to the Tree Fork.
Those gangly tabbies looked like they were one step away from forming a street gang and spent most of their time glaring down from high hay bale perches and growling.
Jordan took down the ladder and laid it on its side against the barn as the sound of the approaching ATV grew louder.
A few minutes later, Lil drove out of the pasture and zoomed past him, parking beside the small tack shed next to the barn.
The big white dog ambled out of the barn to meet her, and she ruffled the dog’s fur after dismounting the quad.
“Get it fixed?” he asked.
“I did,” she replied.
“Wildlife?”
“Only if they’ve developed opposable thumbs. I’m pretty sure the wires were cut.”
He drew his chin in. “No shit.” There were reasons people cut fences, very few of them legitimate. “What about the last break? Were those wires cut too?”
“Couldn’t check. Meg replaced the wire.” She rubbed a hand over the back of her neck and squeezed the muscles there before dropping it again. “This isn’t your concern.”
“Landlord,” he said simply.
“Fences are our responsibility.”
He didn’t know a lot about Lil McAllen, didn’t know if she was the kind who invited revenge tactics, but his gut told him she was not. Maybe the fences weren’t his responsibility, but if someone was screwing with her—
A wild thought shot into his head.
What if Jess Connery had decided to give the McAllen sisters a nudge toward the door, thus earning what had to be a healthy commission? The idea was over the top, but he didn’t know Connery. Maybe he was an over-the-top kind of guy.
He met Lil’s gaze. “Have other things been happening around here?”
Her eyebrows lifted. “We just went over everything that’s gone wrong with the place.”
“Things like the cut wire,” he said. When she frowned, he said, “Why would someone cut your fence, Lil?”
It was the first time he’d used her name, and it felt oddly intimate coming off his tongue.
Lil folded her arms over her chest. “It could just be stupid kids. It probably is stupid kids.”
“Do you have stupid kids in the area?”
She abandoned her defensive stance and pushed the hair away from her face. “I don’t know, honestly. They don’t have to live nearby. It is almost summer. Camping season will soon be in full swing.”
She was right. Sometimes people, especially those who weren’t local to the area, did stupid things for no reason, but despite Lil’s dismissive attitude, she seemed uneasy.
“Lil—”
“Look. I’ve heard you’re a good guy, but this in my problem.”
Jordan cocked his head. “Who said I was a good guy?”
It was obvious from the way her gaze shifted that she hadn’t meant to let the good guy comment slip.
Lil cleared her throat before hesitantly looking back at him. “My friend Aubrey. She went to school with you.”
“Aubrey the accountant?” he asked. “Blond hair? Glasses?”
Obviously, Lil was unaware of the nickname. “I guess? She was with us at the Graff, but her back was to you.”
“She was a couple years behind me. Scary smart. Quiet.”
“It’s the quiet ones you have to watch out for.”
He grinned. “Maybe so.” His smile faded and an awkward silence followed.
Lil shifted her weight. “I have more chores to see to.”
“I have a big hole to fix.”
But neither of them moved.
Then Lil tilted her chin in a determined way that told Jordan that the moment was here. They were about to open a discussion. The discussion.
“Are we clear on the fact that Meg and I are staying on the Willow Creek until the lease is up?”