LITMIR.BIZ

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      “Allie?”

      “Yes?”

      “Why are you being so snarky toward me?”

      She frowned as her lips parted. But she didn’t say anything. He held her gaze, refusing to let her off the hook. She moistened her lips. “I, uh, am perhaps taking my day out on you?”

      A question. As in “Would you accept this as an explanation?” No, he would not.

      “I know you explained it all in detail in Culver Ranch and Feed, but I admit, I still don’t get where all the animosity is coming from. Do you hate all football players?”

      “I...”

      “Or all people with money?”

      “Just those that try to buy my ranch when it isn’t for sale.” She’d gotten an unexpected toehold.

      “I don’t want your ranch anymore. So maybe you can quit sniping at me.”

      Another pause, then she said slowly, “All right,” sounding as if she hadn’t been aware she had been sniping at him. Or maybe that was how she treated the men in her life. Maybe that was why she was divorced...but he didn’t think so.

      This had something to do with him personally and he wanted to know what and why, but now was not the time. “Thanks,” he said easily.

      “No problem,” she replied stiffly.

      Yeah, he decided as he loaded his tools a few minutes later, patience was a good thing and he was going to be patient with Ms. Allie Brody. Because as odd as it seemed, this job was one of the few bright spots in his life right now.

      * * *

      ALLIE STRODE OFF to the house after Jason started loading his man toys in the truck. Once inside, she pulled out the band that had held the knot in her hair and shook her head. Better.

      Why was she being so snarky toward him?

      Easy answer. Because he put her on edge. He’d been tall, good-looking and well-muscled in high school, but ten years later he’d acquired an aura of casual sensuality that was flat-out doing things to her every time they came into contract. Things she didn’t want done to her. What choice did she have but to defend herself with snark?

      She could keep her distance. Check his work after he left.

      Yeah. That would be the safest way to handle things. Just stay away. Then she wouldn’t be catching herself ogling him when she should be discussing the job.

      She turned on her computer and checked to see if Dani had sent any new photos of her little niece, Clarice. Nothing. Damn. She could have used a good niece fix. She fired off touch-base emails to her mother and all three of her sisters, then shut down her computer and sat listening to the silence.

      This was not what life after Kyle was supposed to be like. Living in the house where she’d been so unhappy, distracted by a man whom she had nothing in common with. A pro football player? Really?

      Former pro.

      All the same. When she’d finally hit her breaking point five years after being wed—four of which had been spent with her eyes wide shut as she supported her husband in endeavor after endeavor while the ranch fell down around them—her life was supposed to move forward. Yet here she was living in a house from her past, employing a man from her past. Working at the job she’d trained for, yet coming home feeling empty and unsatisfied.

      She needed to give her life strategy some serious thought. And in the meantime, she was going to check for new calves. She’d just headed out the door when a car pulled into the driveway and once again she became aware of just how alone she was on the Lightning Creek. If trouble came, what means did she have available to deal with it?

      And as the car pulled to a stop she realized that trouble had indeed just showed up in the form of her former father-in-law, Ray Largent.

      She was definitely getting a dog. A big one. With lots of big teeth.

      “Hi, honey,” Ray said as he got out of his car.

      Honey, her ass. Ray had been the one pushing Kyle to get a part of the Lightning Creek in the divorce settlement. And when he didn’t get the real estate, he settled for everything he could get on the place, even going so far as to haul off an antique tractor that had belonged to her grandfather. The tractor was back and Kyle was gone, working in another part of the state.

      But Ray was here.

      Allie didn’t say hello. She wasn’t one for playing games. She and Ray knew where they stood with one another and he could waste energy playing nice, if he wanted, but she wasn’t going to.

      “The ranch isn’t for sale, Ray.”

      “Kyle’s been hurt. Earlier today.”

      Allie felt the blood drain out of her face. “How?”

      “Car accident while he was coming home from a job interview.” Kyle had been a deputy sheriff while they’d been married, but he’d quit over a year ago to seek out the big bucks in the oil boom on the other side of the state. Rumor had it he’d recently been fired, and now Ray had all but confirmed it.

      “I’m so sorry,” she said.

      “He wanted me to tell you in person.”

      “How bad...?” From Ray’s tone she was starting to fear permanent injury.

      “Neck damage. Broken ribs and some sprains. He’s in a lot of pain.”

      “But he’ll recover?” Allie asked, needing to hear that he would. She had issues with Kyle, but she didn’t want anything to happen to him. Once upon a time she’d thought she loved him.

      “With time.”

      Allie swallowed and raised her chin. “Thank you for coming by, Ray. I appreciate not hearing this secondhand.”

      “He’d, uh, like it if you stopped by to see him. The boy has had a lot of time to think.”

      Allie felt as if she were a split second away from hyperventilation. She was sorry Kyle was hurt, but they were done. How could it possibly help him if she visited?

      “I know he’s been wrong in the past, but it would make him feel better.”

      “I’ll think about it,” Allie finally said.

      “Thank you.” Ray spoke so sincerely that Allie felt like a jerk for not instantly saying she’d see him. But she needed to think. “He’s at Our Lady of the Mountains Hospital. He’ll be there for some time.”

      Allie pressed her lips together and nodded. “Our Lady of the Mountains. Thank you.”

      Ray got into his car and with a lift of his hand, drove away, leaving Allie standing in her driveway, feeling like hell.

       CHAPTER FIVE

      MAX HAD LOST a little of his fight after his day with Jimmy. Jason didn’t know whether to be suspicious or relieved. He decided to go with relieved, although he couldn’t come up with any good reason for his father’s change of attitude. Maybe Jimmy had explained reality to him...

      Naw.

      Jimmy was more likely to come up with a new scheme. Whatever the cause, Jason enjoyed his evening, which he spent watching a Giants game with the old man.

      “How’s your job?” Max asked during the seventh inning.

      “Slow, but it’ll get done.”

      “Don’t know why you don’t bring in the equipment.”

      “She can’t afford it.”

      “Yet she can afford to pay you an hourly wage.”

      Minimum wage, but he wasn’t going

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