Page 15 of Christmas with the Cowboy
A stunned look crossed his handsome face. “I wasn’t…I mean…”
“I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt, Jay. I believe you were being playful, but I’m not into it, okay? Just…treat me like an acquaintance. Not like quarry.”
When he managed to close his mouth, it formed a brutal line. “You got it wrong.”
“I hope so. But now we both know.” She squared her shoulders. “I’ll take the deed to Dawn.”
Jay muttered something less than complimentary as he turned on his heel and headed for the truck, looking like smoke was about to roll out of his ears.Shit.She’d learned long ago that confrontation had a price, but now she was wondering if someone else was going to pay this price. Did Jay know that she used to date Reed?
Trenna pressed a hand to her forehead. Even if he didn’t, he looked like he wanted to eat someone for breakfast after being taken down by the fact that she wanted nothing to do with him.
As soon as Jay and his henchman pulled out of the driveway, Trenna headed into the house. She stood for a moment in front of the stack of boxes, overflow from her studio apartment, trying to remember where she’d packed that damned deed, which was Dawn’s Christmas present to her dad. Less than a second later, she abandoned the search.
She had not liked the look on Jay’s face after she’d said more than she should have. If she was not mistaken, shit was about to go down.
*
Driving T-posts intocobbly alluvium was a teeth-rattling operation, but Reed didn’t slow down, driving one post after another until the straight part of theD-shaped piece of land was once again crossed by five strands of taut barbwire.
Both he and Henry were sweating hard and smacking at mosquitoes that rose from the still water at the edge of the river when they started cutting the wire off Hunt’s fenceposts. Who’d ever put it up had the proper equipment and had known what they were doing.
“I don’t know why I feel like a criminal,” Reed muttered to Henry as they cut sections of wire, which they loosely rolled before dumping it on the Hunt side of the boundary fence they’d just rebuilt. They’d started pulling out Hunt’s posts, using the tractor bucket and chain, when a truck roared down the track next to the river and came to a stop. Reed hadn’t heard it coming, due to the noise of the tractor, but when he spotted it, he lifted a hand, signaling Henry.
Henry swung around in the tractor seat as two men got out of the truck. Reed recognized Jay McClain immediately, but the second guy was a stranger.
“What you boys doing?” Jay asked as he swaggered up to the new wire. He reached out with one hand and gave it a tug.
“Tidying up some debris left on our land,” Reed said.
“Uh-huh.” Jay glanced down at the ground as he kicked the toe of his boot against the T-post. “According to Mr. Hunt, the boundary here is not what it seems.”
“He had it surveyed?”
“He’s filed some paperwork.”
“Ah.” Reed pretended to give the matter a couple of seconds of deep thought, then said, “You need to get your asses off our property.”
Jay poked his tongue against his cheek as he gave Reed a slow once-over. The guy beside him was focused on Henry, who’d wisely stayed in the tractor rather than add his 150-pound bulk to Reed’s side of the equation.
Jay had finally pulled his tongue out of his cheek. “Mr. Hunt says it’s not your land.”
“Really?” Reed tipped back his hat. “And you’re what? His goon squad? Here to enforce boundaries?”
“Could be.”
“How?”
Jay sauntered forward. “Any way I have to.”
Reed glanced down at the man’s feet, then back up at him. “Gonna kick sand on my boots?”
Jay indicated the side-by-side. “Get into your rigs and leave.”
Now Reed stepped closer, putting his face close to Jay’s, even though he had to look up. It’d been a while since he’d scrapped, but his specialty had been big slow guys, like the one standing in front of him, and he was hopeful that muscle memory would not fail him.
“You’re asking for it,” Jay said through his teeth before pushing Reed’s chest hard. Reed quickly regained his balance.
“He’s videoing us,” Goon Two said tightly. Sure enough, Henry had his phone up.
