Page 16 of Javier

“Eclipse.”

“As in ‘exceed expectations’?” She smiled and sipped on her beer, humor filling her eyes.

Memphis caught on fast. He lifted his beer and saluted her.

“Clever. You’re an owner, aren’t you?”

“I am.”

“Was Pops?”

He drank slowly from his cup, giving himself time to consider before answering, wanting to be truthful, but not give too much away since Memphis had not revealed her reason for being in Torch River. Could it be to lay claim to what Ransom believed was his? He had known the plans and that creating a corporation to achieve them was in the works, but as soon as he was exiled from town, his name was stricken from consideration. “No. Your father was gone before the corporation was created.”

“The wealthy in the Cliffs want the Narrows land.”

“Badly. We continue to fight.”

“How?”

Don’t give away too much.“There’re committed residents in the Narrows.”

“That takes a lot of money and a well-organized coalition of people. It sounds similar to what I wanted to talk to you about, another David and Goliath situation. If you don’t mind, I’ll bring you up to speed.”

“I’d like that.”

“Pops raised me to be his right hand, teaching me all about ranch operations and management and cattle. Creed Ranch is in the beef cattle business. Angus. It was Fuller Ranch originally, owned by Mama’s parents. They left it to Pops when they passed.” She paused and looked at him. “Pops and I had a lot of discussions about my future. He encouraged me to go to college and pursue what interested me. I did, graduating with an agribusiness degree and then attending law school and focusing on estate planning and corporate law. I enjoy what I do.”

“Are you good at it?”

“I am.” She chuckled. “Very. Eben, my brother, has never shown much of an interest in the ranch. He went into investment banking.”

His assumption was wrong. Memphis wasn’t here to claim to a non-existent allotment of the corporation. “There’s more.”

“There is.”

He drained his cup and picked up the other. “Want your second one?”

“Sure, thanks. This beer is great.”

“It’s brewed in the Narrows,” he said, handing it to her and experiencing a sense of pride.

She finished her first beer and nested the second one inside the empty cup. “Are you bored?”

“Quite the contrary.” The play of emotions shifting rapidly over her lovely face fascinated him, as did her story. “Why do you need my help? Our help?”

“I want to share the backstory so that you understand why Pops had me search you out.” She lounged back in the corner of the armed bench. “Our boss and cowboys have been with the ranch for decades. It pretty much runs itself at this point. I work it sometimes because I love it, but more often I’m at the firm these days. After the growing interest in our ranch, Pops grew nervous. He had me go over the trust with another attorney to ensure it was ironclad and would protect Creed Ranch from being taken over. There’s a neighbor, in the most rural sense of the word, who is determined to buy us out. Even though his ranch is ten times the size of ours, Trey Rooney is shrewd and unscrupulous. He wants it all. It doesn’t matter what he has to pay to own it.”

Javier rubbed his chin, thinking. “Creed Ranch is David. Your neighbor is Goliath.”

“Uh-huh. Like the Narrows to the Cliffs, as I understand it.”

“A suitable comparison.”

“To make it worse, Eben is engaged to Arla, Trey Rooney’s daughter. Pops feared that Eben’s lack of interest in the ranch and his lack of mettle would prove hell for me, that Arla will pressure him to take me to court and contest the will and trust. The courts might agree that a married couple, one of whom is a Rooney, are more deserving of Creed Ranch and green-light the merger. Plus, he has politicians in his pocket.”

Something was missing. There had to be more to the story. “Why now?”

“Because an enormous oil deposit has been discovered beneath a section of our land. It’s worth billions.”

---