LITMIR.BIZ

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the carpet in her towering heels, shoulders straight, head high.

      And as the door closed behind her, Vic slumped back in his chair, dragging his hand over his face, feeling stupid and scared.

      He’d just about made a fool of himself in front of this woman.

      Lauren had a buyer for the ranch.

      And there was no paper from her father.

      He had promised his younger brother, Dean, that they were getting the ranch. Guaranteed it. Now they might lose it.

      If that happened, how was he supposed to help his brother?

      * * *

      “Lauren, how lovely to see you,” Drake Neubauer said, getting up from behind his desk.

      Outwardly Lauren was smiling but her insides still shook and her hands still trembled.

      Mr. Vic Moore had looked so angry when she told him about the buyer for the ranch.

      You did nothing wrong, she told herself, taking a deep breath as Drake walked toward her outstretched hand. He has no claim.

      You could have let him help you.

      She dismissed that voice as quickly as it slid into her brain. She’d been doing fine until he’d interfered and almost made her fall.

      And wouldn’t that have come across all dignified?

      “So glad you could make it here,” Drake said as he shook her hand, his other hand covering it, squeezing lightly. “Goodness, girl, your hands are like ice.”

      “I’m just cold-blooded,” she joked as she returned his warm handshake.

      Harvey had always accused her of that. At least that was the excuse he gave her when he dumped her a few days before their wedding.

      “It’s good to be back,” she said, relegating those shameful memories to where they belonged. The past.

      “I’m sure you missed all this,” Drake said, waving one hand at the window behind them.

      Drake’s offices were situated above the hardware store, and through the window Lauren saw the valley the Saddlebank River snaked through. Her eyes shifted to the mountains, snow frosted and craggy, cradling the basin, and her mind slowed. Though she and her sisters had resented coming here every summer, when they were back home in Knoxville she’d found herself missing these very mountains.

      “It was a part of my life,” she said, her voice quiet.

      “Does it feel good to be back?” Drake asked.

      Lauren gave him a brief smile as she lowered herself to the chair, setting her briefcase on the floor and tucking her skirt under her legs. “Yes, it does.” Though the restless part of her wasn’t sure how she would stay busy on the ranch, the weary part longed for a reprieve from the stress and tension of the last year and a half.

      And a break from the pitying stares of friends each time they met. Harvey hadn’t only taken a wedding away from her, he’d also robbed her of her money, her dignity and her self-esteem. She had been scrambling to show to the world that he hadn’t won.

      “And how are you doing since your father’s passing? Ironic that it wasn’t the cancer that killed him but a truck accident.” Drake sat down, opened the file lying on his desk and flipped through it.

      She wasn’t sure how to respond, so she said nothing.

      Though losing her father had bothered her more than she’d thought it would, the true reality was neither Lauren nor her sisters had ever been close with Keith McCauley.

      “Has the accident been cleared with the insurance company yet?” Lauren asked as Drake made a few notes on a piece of paper in the file. “Jodie had said there were some difficulties?”

      “They’re still dealing with it, but last I heard, it should be finalized in the next few weeks.”

      “Where is the truck?”

      “At Vic Moore’s. The accident happened as your father was going down his driveway.”

      “Any liability at play?”

      “No. That much has been determined already. The truck was in perfect working order.”

      “And Vic’s driveway?”

      “Your father hit a deer, then lost control and rolled the vehicle. Neither Vic nor the Rocking M were at fault.”

      “I wasn’t thinking of filing a lawsuit, if that’s what you were worried about,” Lauren said, her mind ticking back to the tall man still sitting in the waiting room. With his dark eyebrows, firm chin and square jaw, he commanded attention. When he had stridden into the office, she had been unable to look away.

      But all it took was a glance at her bare ring finger and her father’s will to remind her of the hard lessons life had taught her about men. Men were selfish and undependable. Between her father, Harvey and her now-former boss, she should be crystal clear on that point.

      In Christ alone...

      The words of a song she had been singing lately slipped into her mind, and she latched on to them. Men might not be able to give anything up for loved ones, but Christ had.

      Which only reminded her again that she needed to be self-sufficient and self-reliant.

      “No. Of course not.” But Drake’s hasty answer, and the way he fluttered one hand in a defensive gesture, told her that he had, indeed, thought exactly that.

      She tried not to feel overly sensitive, reminding herself that Drake knew nothing about her other than what her father had told him.

      “So I’m guessing you’re here to officially check in,” Drake said, settling into his chair behind his desk.

      “Or clock in,” Lauren returned. “I wasn’t sure of the protocol, and I did end up coming a couple of weeks earlier than anticipated.” Getting laid off was a stark motivator.

      “No. It’s fine.” Drake gave her an apologetic smile. “I know your father had his reasons for doing this, and just for the record, I tried to talk him out of it. Tried to explain to him that it could come across as being manipulative.”

      Lauren shrugged. “Let’s be honest here. Like Jodie said after the funeral, it seemed he never gave us anything without strings attached.”

      Her words came out more bitter than she’d intended. Though she and her father hadn’t had the adversarial relationship he and Jodie had, they hadn’t been close, either.

      “I’m sorry, but at least not all three of you had to stay here. You can decide what to do after your two months are up.”

      Lauren heard the unspoken question in his voice and decided to address it directly.

      “Erin said she would go along with whatever decision I make, but you may as well know that we will be selling the ranch.”

      “To Vic?”

      Lauren shook her head. “No. I have a buyer lined up. A client from the firm I worked...used to work for. He has various real estate holdings and has been looking for another investment opportunity. When I told him about the ranch, he was interested.”

      “But Vic has rented your father’s land for the past three years. I thought they had an agreement.”

      “Is that going to be a problem?” Lauren straightened, leaning forward, her heart racing at the thought that he might jeopardize the sale. She would receive one-third of the proceeds, and she would need every penny of that for her new business venture. A venture that she was in a rush to put together after losing her current job. “Does he have a legal right to the property?”

      “As far as I know, your father never gave me anything in writing, if that’s what you’re concerned about. I believe it was a handshake deal. Not uncommon around here.”

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