Page 17 of Christmas with the Cowboy
How the hell had Trenna known that there was trouble brewing at the river if she wasn’t communicating with her father, as she’d said earlier? And why had she assumed that he couldn’t take care of his own ass?
There was one quick way to find out.
Don’t be stupid. Leave well enough alone and let the lawyers talk.
Reed took the free end of the chain after Henry put the tractor in position and wrapped it around the post. He stepped back as Henry lifted the bucket and the end of the post slowly emerged from the rocky soil.
Four more posts and then he would follow Henry back to the ranch. Leaving well enough alone was the smartest move here.
For once Reed hoped he listened to his saner self.
Chapter Four
Reed’s saner sidelost the battle.
After the last post was pulled and dumped onto the Hunt side of the fence, Henry drove the tractor across the field toward the ranch while Reed turned the side-by-side in the direction of the river road. According to his mother, Trenna had bought the cottage not far from the Hunt Ranch and he assumed that was where he would find her.
He wanted a word.
There was only one house on the road between the river and the Hunt’s ostentatious gate, and Reed slowed to a stop at the mailbox. There was no car in the drive, but the garage doors were closed, so he took a chance and turned in. As he pulled to a stop, he caught sight of Trenna’s car parked behind the garage and wondered for one crazy moment if she’d hidden her car in case he came looking for her.
He shook off the thought. Trenna was no coward. She’d had the advantage of kinship with the boss when she’d gone head-to-head with Jay at the river, but a lot of people wouldn’t have confronted the big man at all.
She shouldn’t have. She knew from experience that Reed was totally capable of fighting his own battles, verbal and otherwise, so why had she followed Jay and intervened?
Hell, how had she known to intervene in the first place?
Had she been present when her father ordered the hit?
He got out of the side-by-side and headed up the walk, his steps slowing as Trenna opened the door, and a wave of…something…smacked into him. Nostalgia? Regret? Desire?
He didn’t know and he wasn’t going to have it. Trenna had left him. Had traded her relationship with him for a full-ride scholarship. She’d never come out and said it, but Reed had pieced together the situation—Carter wouldn’t finance her schooling if she continued to see Reed and she’d buckled.
Or maybe she’d never felt about him the same thing he’d felt about her.
Whichever it had been, she’d left and never contacted him again. Now here she was, looking hot as hell in well-worn jeans that hugged her legs, an oversized men’s shirt over the tank she’d worn when she’d come to do battle with Jay, and a paintbrush in one hand. It felt fucking surrealistic.
“Reed.”
The heiress of the ranch voice. He’d heard it every now and again while they’d been dating. She used it with people who’d pissed her off, people she wanted to shut down. People she’d wanted to keep her distance from. Jay, less than an hour ago. She’d never used it with him, not even when she ripped his heart in two.
He shifted his weight, tucking his thumbs into his front pockets.
“I was wondering why you felt the need to come to my rescue.”
“Old times’ sake?”
He cocked his head in a you-can-do-better-than-that way. But at least the imperious note had left her voice.
She let the hand with the paintbrush fall to her side. “Jay stopped by concerning another matter, and I sensed trouble. I guess I felt like I owed it to Audrey to stop things before they got out of hand.”
“What made you think they’d get out of hand?”
She gave him aduhlook.
“Believe it or not, I no longer dive headfirst into trouble. I can’t afford to. I have a kid.”
Her gaze flickered at the mention of Lex, but her voice remained even as she said, “Things appeared to be escalating when I arrived. The tractor had come into play.”
