She pointed the barrel toward the dirt and relief washed over me. “Better?”
“Yes,” I said. “Now, is your gunslinging grandpa home? Or Granny, for that matter?”
“They passed a few years back.” A shadow crossed over her face, replacing anger with sadness. But the anger reappeared quickly. “What are you doing here, Carter? Don’t make me ask again.”
“I need to talk to the owner of the farm,” I said.
Shelby drew her shoulders back and raised her chin. “Well, that’s me. This is my farm.”
“Oh.” I sighed. “Then I’m here to talk to you. Let me formally introduce myself. I’m Carter Allory, with Allory Agriculture. You might have heard of us?”
The suddenly furious look on her face surprised me, but when she spat on the ground at my feet, I went speechless. It seemed she had heard of us after all.
“I’m going to say this as politely as possible,” Shelby said, her blue eyes blazing with cold fire. “Get off my property and never come back. If I see you here again, I’m going to shove this shotgun somewhere you don’t want it, andI’mgoing to end up in prison.”
“Shelby…”
“You have three seconds to turn around and get moving before I make you into a new lampshade. Now go!”
I had no choice but to back off. I wasn’t sure if she would actually shoot me, but I wasn’t in a gambling mood. Allory had upset a lot of people over the years. It was the cost of doing business. Shelby probably wasn’t the only person eager to shoot an Allory executive, but she had plenty of wide, open space to bury a body and no one around to notice.
I hopped in Tyler’s truck, painfully aware of Shelby watching me from the top of the drive. Her cheeks were aflame with anger and she looked sexy as hell. It was an inappropriate thought to be having right then, but I wanted to meet her passion with mine, to kiss her until she dropped the shotgun, to rip her clothes off and fuck her until she begged me to stay instead of forcing me to leave.
It was almost worth getting shot for.
For the moment, I drove away confused, turned on, and confused some more. There were a couple more properties I had planned on checking out today, but after that warm reception, I just went back to Honeyrose to regroup.
I had only been in my room for a few minutes when someone knocked softly on the door. “Come in.”
Mrs. Presley, the owner, swept in with a pot of coffee like an angel. “You looked like you could use a pick-me-up.”
“You read my mind. Please, sit and share a cup with me.”
The woman, in her late sixties and wearing a chunky cardigan, poured us both a cup and sat at the small table in my room. “So how was your morning?” she asked.
“Actually, I met an interesting woman,” I said. “Do you know Shelby Whitaker?”
“Oh, of course. Everyone knows the Whitakers. They’re a bit infamous these days.” She took a sip of her coffee.
I leaned forward with interest. “Because her grandfather shot someone?”
“What? No, because the Whitakers used to run a giant poultry farm and processing plant around here, Whitaker Farms. But then they sold it, it got shut down, and lots of folks lost their jobs.” Mrs. Presley shook her head sadly. “Poor Shelby. Her parents sold the farm and left. She stayed behind and everyone acts like she’s the one who ruined the local economy.”
“That doesn’t seem fair,” I said.
“Life rarely is. Now, let me be clear. I’m a fan of Shelby’s, but a lot of people got hurt by her parents’ actions and she’s practically shunned because of it.” The older woman picked some invisible lint off her dress. “Seems to me, the people ought to be mad at the company that fired everyone, not the Whitakers.”
I put down my coffee on the table and looked at the woman. “Mrs. Presley, do you know which company bought the Whitaker farm?”
She nodded. “Allory Enterprises. Everyone around here knows them.”
“Mrs. Presley, you know my last name, right?” I probed.
“I do, Mr. Allory.”
I took a deep breath. “Can I ask how you feel about me being here?”
“It depends on if you’re here to help people or hurt them.” She pursed her lips. “I saw how things went last time.”
