LITMIR.BIZ

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asked, swallowing down a sigh. If her mother didn’t just let her eat, she would scream.

      “Well?”

      “Well, what?”

      “Did you get to talk to the boys?” Leandra asked.

      “If by boys, you mean Nate or Holt, the answer would be no.”

      “And what about Shilah?” her mother replied, as she began to eat.

      “No,” Ellie replied shortly, after a brief pause. When her mother stared at her she felt like a deer caught in the headlights.

      “What, Ma?” she asked, around a bite of food.

      She felt as she had as a child whenever her parents caught her telling a lie. She felt the tips of her ears burn, something that happened whenever she hedged on the truth.

      “Hmm,” was her mother’s noncommittal reply, and Ellie’s ears burned even hotter.

      After a few moments of silence, Ellie reluctantly spoke. “Okay, so I did run into Shilah. But we didn’t get a chance to talk about the ranch, at least not about my involvement with the USDA.”

      “Oh, really? So, if you didn’t talk about the ranch, what did you talk about?” her mother asked, a gleam in her eye. Ellie quickly picked up her glass of tea and took a deep drink.

      “Oh, nothing important. Mainly just caught up. It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other,” she said with a shrug, forcing a lightness to her expression she was anything but feeling.

      “He didn’t bring up the troubles going on at the ranch?” her mother probed.

      Ellie inhaled a deep breath, thoughtfully chewing. At that point she would give every one of her advanced degrees to make her mother just drop the subjects of both the Wilde Ranch and Shilah.

      “No. Like I said, we just caught up on old times. Hmm, Ma, did you put cinnamon in these rolls? I really have missed your cooking,” she said, smiling.

      Although her enthusiastic reaction to her mother’s rolls was feigned, she mentally held her breath, hoping her mother would at least take the hint that Ellie didn’t want to discuss the ranch.

      “Hey, thanks again for setting up my office for me, you and dad did a great job.”

      “Do you really like it? I didn’t go overboard with all your plaques? As soon as it was official, I couldn’t wait to get may hands on it and decorate,” Leandra said, a smile splitting across her face. Ellie let out a long breath, relieved that she’d managed to shift the topic away from Shilah.

      When she’d accepted the job offer from Jasper and Brant, a subcontractor to the USDA, along with it she was offered an office in town, set up with facilities for her to do rudimentary tests on the ranch’s equipment. She’d declined, choosing instead to work out of her father’s office.

      Still active, her mother continued to serve as her father’s assistant at his clinic. Her barely lined face belied her age, yet she, as well as Ellie’s father, was in her mid-seventies.

      Ellie thought back to her decision to return home, a decision she’d made well before accepting the offer to work for the USDA. She knew that, although she wasn’t sure how long she’d stay here at home, she’d made the right choice.

      “Do you think the boys will be okay?” her mother asked. She was pulling Ellie out of her thoughts and managing to drag the subject back to the very one Ellie was determined not to talk about.

      She glanced over at her mother and saw her shifting the food around her plate with her fork, a frown marring her otherwise smooth forehead. Ellie placed her fork down and sighed.

      “I’m sure they will, Mom. But you know I can’t discuss the case.”

      She knew that her mother wanted the best for the men, for their ranch, their shared history stretching back to the days when Ellie’s father and Jed Wilde had been young men. They’d both set out to accomplish goals with odds stacked against them. But Ellie couldn’t discuss the case with her mother, or anyone else, outside of her direct supervisor.

      Ellie didn’t want to chance any sort of taint on her investigation, and the best way to do that was to keep the topic away from her involvement.

      Her mother reached over and patted Ellie’s hand, nodding her head in understanding.

      “You don’t have to say another word, baby girl. I understand. I’m sure everything will work out in the end. It always does.”

      “I’m sure it will, Mom.”

      As the two women silently finished their meal, Ellie’s thoughts turned to the investigation, and she silently prayed that her mother’s wish—a wish she shared—would prove true and her investigation would lead to clearing the ranch.

       Chapter 5

      “So, that about sums it up. With this information at least we know where we stand.” Nate paused and glanced around the room. “We have an idea of what we’re up against and a plan to beat it.”

      Althea, who stood close to Nate as he briefed the family, leaned over and grasped his hand in hers, squeezing it, giving him an intimate look. Shilah saw his brother immediately turn her way, the hard look on his face gentling, as he pulled her tighter against him before he turned back to face the family.

      “The accusations aren’t founded on anything more than rumor and hearsay. Good thing for us that’s all they’ve got going right now. Whoever the hell is behind this—”

      “As though we don’t know who the hell that is,” Holt broke in, disgusted, pacing the length of the living room. “We all know Rolling Hills is behind this.”

      Nate ran a hand through his short, thick hair and sighed. “Yeah, well, the truth is the USDA knows, as well. There was a leak within Rolling Hills that linked them with the allegations against us. None of that really matters now. USDA has no choice but to investigate all rumors—”

      “Then why don’t they go to the source? Stop with all the accusations against us. They know it’s all bullshit, anyway—”

      “Because they have to investigate, Holt. They don’t … can’t take accusations of mad cow lightly. It’s something they have no choice but to investigate, no matter what their relationship is with us,” Shilah interjected. “Look, from what you’ve told us it seems pretty clear what our course of action is. We sit back, participate in this investigation and let the truth speak for itself. We’ll be cleared and this will be over.”

      It was late and everyone was starting to feel the stress from the long day. Tension was thick in the large family room where they’d gathered to discuss the additional information Nate and Althea had brought back with them.

      Although the couple had returned home from Cheyenne several nights ago, this was the first time everyone had managed to get together in one place. Despite their exhaustion from the busy day, all duties had been completed or temporarily shelved in order to deal with the immediacy of their situation.

      Nate had been in contact with a friend who worked for the USDA, and several months ago Nate had been told that a slaughterhouse the ranch used had been accused of selling sick cattle. Without the ranchers’ knowledge, the slaughterhouse had been investigated thoroughly, but no animals, including those that came from Wilde Ranch, had shown evidence of the fatal disease.

      The matter had been dropped, only to resurface last month when several children had gotten sick from meat, thought to be infected with mad cow, they’d eaten at a fast-food restaurant.

      Just the mention of mad cow, particularly after a devastating outbreak that had occurred several years ago, made the USDA know it would be a public-relations nightmare if the rumor leaked to the press.

      From his friend, Nate had also learned that the allegation had been lodged directly against Wilde Ranch. Although the

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