Page 12 of The Rancher’s One and Only

“There’s every kind of espionage. Because no matter where you are, people are greedy. Capitalism is an extremely corrupting force. It’s also a very motivating one. That’s something that I find to be a contradiction of human nature that’s difficult to get around. All systems are corruptible because people are corruptible. And very greedy.”

“That is true.”

He didn’t expect to be outside in the heat discussing capitalism with a small woman who had large glasses, but here he was.

“And how has your digging gone today?”

“It’s actually very promising. I am doing some scanning on the rock, and I think there are footprints. I just have to get down to the layer.”

“What kind of footprints?”

“I… I really need to be careful. I think that there are actually several perfectly preserved walking paths beneath the different layers of rock. And one of them I think… I think I might have found something we’ve never found here before.”

“You do some kind of ultrasonic scan on the rock? Like in Jurassic Park?”

“You keep bringing up Jurassic Park.”

“It’s my reference point for this kind of thing.”

“Then you might find my work disappointing. Because at no point is a velociraptor going to chase you.”

“I don’t want to be chased by a velociraptor.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t want to be chased by one either. They were quite brutal.”

“Do you think they had feathers?” That was one of the few things he knew about dinosaurs and the debate surrounding them. Basically, he also knew that from the movie Jurassic Park.

“Oh, I don’t think they did for a variety of reasons. First of all, a lot of that is predicated on the idea that we have a lot less information about these animals than we do. It’s a fair theory, and I can understand where people are coming from, but I disagree with it entirely. Based on looking at modern equivalents, like crocodiles.”

“Do you think they were reptilian?”

She schooled her face into a neutral expression. “I know they were.”

“Isn’t all this stuff just a theory?”

She looked exceedingly irritated by that. “I suppose if you don’t know how to synthesize information.”

He found himself smiling at her. She was a fascinating creature.

“Are you done digging for the day?”

“Yes. I was trying to get everything finished before it got too hot. And I was thinking I might head to town for some groceries.”

“I have to go to the store for groceries. Do you want to carpool?”

“Yes. Yes, Jax Noble, I think I would like that.”

Chapter Four

He wasn’t sure why he felt compelled to include her.

Maybe because she was interesting, and he hadn’t met anyone interesting in quite this way for a while. In the sense that there hadn’t been anyone new around. That was kind of the catch-22 of a place like this.

He’d always wanted the luxury to gatekeep who he was around.

That didn’t happen when you were in care. Didn’t really happen when you were traveling around for fights either.

He was used to chaos. And he didn’t mind it. He thought, though, that coming out here, having more time to think, a little bit more in the way of isolation would be good. It was.