Cocking his head to the side a little, he says, “I take it you and your brother are not on good terms?”
Shaking my head, I quickly glance around the parking lot to see if any men in suits are around. “No, he doesn’t like me very much.”
Trying to behave as low-key, close to casual as I can, I think I might look like a lunatic to Mason. Now he’ll just want me off his ranch because I’m a crazy person.
The car behind us saves me when it honks for Mason to leave the pump, he continues to study my face for a momentbefore he starts the truck and we pull away from the pump.
“Just tell me if there is anything I need to know,” he finally says after we get a couple of miles down the road.
Trying not to look obvious, I look in the side mirror to see if there are any black SUVs behind us. I glance in his direction and then down to see what he is looking at, and I have both of my hands balled into fists in my lap. I quickly open them and wipe my palms down my jeans.
“He’s not a nice person and I just try to keep my distance from him.” I know it sounds lame, but I’m so frazzled that I couldn’t look or sound smooth right now if I tried.
The rest of the drive back to the ranch is quiet as I chew my thumbnail and watch the scenery fly by out the window. The adrenaline and fear are making me nauseous and I’m wondering if I just put a target on the family.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
MASON
IF Ihadn’t witnessed the terror on her face as she practically ran across the parking lot to the truck this morning, I wouldn’t even know anything happened. Sloane avoided all my questions and once we got back to the house, she slipped into her usual behavior like nothing happened.
Oh, yeah, she’s also avoiding me.
Again.
She almost seemed relieved that Marley kept everyone, including me, busy through the day prepping for the tree-trimming party. But as I watch her across the dinner table now, I can see the worry lines on her face, and no matter how hard I try, I can’t get her to look at me.
My phone rings as we are finishing dessert and my father gives me a dirty look, it’s Callum. As I put my napkin on the table, I say, “Sorry, Dad, it’s work, Ihave to take it.”
Holding the phone to my ear, Callum is silent on the other end as he waits for me to step away. Once the doors to the library are closed behind me, I say, “Yeah, did you find anything?”
“The company you are getting the letters from is a shell company for a larger company called Royce, Inc. that buys up land, breaks it up, and sells it to the highest bidder. The interest in your family land is due to an article a couple of years back about the natural springs peppered throughout that area.
He pauses to see if I have questions and when I stay silent he continues, “We found two bidders that are already waiting in the background like vultures to build spa retreats and resorts that offer the ‘experience’ of the native land,” he chuckles before he adds, “one of which is not a U.S. company.”
Silence is on the line as he lets me wrap my head around what he just said. “They’ll never get their hands on this land, but did you see anything mentioning the stipulations of the natural mineral rights?”
“Either they haven’t looked into the legal arrangement of that yet, or they have something up their sleeve and don’t care because we didn’t see anything like that mentioned.”
As I’m listening to him, I’m drawn to the book that Sloane was looking at when I scared her the other day. I pull it out and open the front cover to read what would bring the tears I saw when I walked in.
While looking at the inscription on the inside cover of the book, I split my attention and ask Callum, “In the last letter we got, they mentioned sending someone to talk to us, did you happen to see who that might be?”
The elegant handwriting of my grandmother is on the page of the little book, I would recognize that script anywhere, but I don’t know what about the message to my mother would make her cry.
“No, we can keep watching it and I’ll let you know as soon as I know.”
I slide the book back into its spot and change the subject, “I need a background check on the new housekeeper my dad hired.”
“Sure, send me what you’ve got and I’ll look into her.”
We wrap up the call and I take a moment to look at the hills and trees out of the east-facing window. I lean on the window frame and let my thoughts drift back to when we were kids and my brothers and I would play in those woods.
So many memories that made me who I am today.
“You planning on being a part of the family or you going to stand in here by yourself all night?” My father’s deep, gravelly voice brings me back to the present.
I turn to him and cross my arms over my chest, “What do you know about Sloane?”
