Page 18 of Her Cowboy Baby Daddy
And it was probably going to be a while until she fell asleep again.
Whatever. She headed down the dark hallway and into her bedroom, which was partially illuminated by the outside porch light.
Nobody was going to scare her into doing their bidding. She might not seek out confrontation, might have spent a lot of her life making herself invisible to avoid it, but she’d changed over the past few years, and she wasn’t taking this kind of crap lying down.
Tomorrow she was signing water lease papers right after she checked out Andie’s tractor skills. Mr. Anonymous Caller could take a flying leap. No one was telling her what to do with her own property.
*
Spence was checkingthe boundary fence along the county road before they turned their cattle into that pasture. It was open range, but cows on the road were a danger, especially at night, and the Kellers were careful about keeping their fences intact. He approached the junction between the county road and the long driveway leading to the ranch when a truck slowed and then turned down the drive.
He knew that truck. Now what he needed to know was if Hayley was there with good news or bad.
By the time he got back to the house, Hayley was seated at the kitchen table between Daniel and Audrey, going over the terms of the lease, which according to Daniel, were almost identical to the terms before, except for the price, which had gone up significantly.
Daniel looked up as he walked into the kitchen. “Good,” he said simply. “I have something to discuss with you.”
“Okay.” Spence pulled out a chair and sat.
“Hayley here is having an issue.”
“What’s that?”
“I got a call warning me to keep my water on my own property.”
Spence met his dad’s gaze. “Really? Whoever could that be?”
“That’s the question,” Hayley said, drawing his attention. “As far as I know, no one knows that we discussed this matter.”
“Unless Hunt simply put two and two together.” Spence frowned at the table. “Although, he wasn’t living here the last time we leased water from the Lone Tree.” Carter Hunt had left his daughter on the ranch with a housekeeper while he traveled the world, nailing down his business deals, and had only recently taken up full residence on the ranch, which he now wanted to expand in a major way. Once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur.
“When did you get the call?”
“Last night. Just late enough to make it creepy. The voice was male, but I didn’t recognize it. It sounded... younger than Carter Hunt.”
“Are you leasing us the water?” Daniel asked in a patient voice.
“Of course. Even if I’d decided not to, the phone call would have changed my mind.”
“It must have been Hunt.” Spence could think of no one else with an interest in the matter.
“I can’t see him doing anything that would blow back on him legally, but... if he could get away with some nefarious shit, I can see it,” Reed said.
“If there’s nefarious stuff happening,” Audrey said, “then I worry about Hayley being alone on the ranch.”
“I’m not alone,” Hayley said. “I have a new hire staying with me.” She hesitated before adding, “A person who worked for Carter Hunt until a few days ago.” She shifted her attention to Spence. “She’s the one who adopted the dog you found. We hooked up via the dog.”
“This sounds kind of suspect to me,” Reed said.
“A coincidence?” They happened, but Spence was always suspicious of things that fit together too precisely. Like this time frame.
“You found the dog before asking about the water lease,” Hayley pointed out.
“When did this person get fired?”
“I don’t know the timeline,” Hayley said slowly. She regarded the table with a frown, then looked up. “I think she’s legit.”
“Even so...” Spence shifted, pulling his feet under his chair and propping his elbows on the table. “Maybe you need some day help.”
