He heard the door down the hall open, and he was ready to throw expletives the woman had never heard in her rich-bitch life out east if she’d come back for a second helping. Instead, he saw Zoe Hartman walking his way, a concerned look on her face. He stood to greet her as she came in, always respectful of women, when they weren’t trying to play games with him.
“Hey, Ryder, tell me that blond chick who just came into the café isn’t from that investment firm,” she said without preamble.
He sighed. “Not exactly. She’s an attorney representing them with a new offer.”
“Are you serious?” Zoe blustered. “Didn’t they figure out the first time that no one was going to sell out? What makes them think anything has changed?”
Ryder wanted to be careful what he said about them. He trusted Zoe, but he didn’t want to sound like a crass, paranoid conspiracy theorist. “They seem to have been motivated by the idea that we’d be scared after the fire. Maybe we’d reconsider finding a new way to live that wouldn’t include disasters that could devastate us financially.”
Zoe rolled her eyes and crossed her arms stubbornly. “You know, I haven’t been here all that long, but I’m not stupid. No fire is going to change anything around here. Even I have loyalty to that land now, and I’ve only lived there for a few months. These people don’t have any sense of loyalty and pride, do they?”
Snorting, Ryder shook his head. “I don’t think their blood is thicker than water. They’d sell the wheelchair out from under their grandmother for an extra buck.” He saw the fear in her eyes and gave her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, I’m handling it. If she comes to you or Noah asking about selling the ranch, tell her to take a walk. There’s a no-sell order until the investigation into the fire is closed.”
Zoe smirked knowingly. “And how long is that going to take?”
“As long as it has to. I’m going to get rid of these city slickers once and for all.” He knew he was basically striking a match and holding it as the flame drew closer and closer to his fingers. He had to be ready to change tactics at a moment’s notice to keep from getting burned. If he was wrong and revealed his suspicions to the wrong person, he’d get fried. But if he didn’t dig deep enough, these guys would get away with their bullying, destruction of property, damage to natural resources, and arson. Maybe more, but those were the first things he was concerned with. It was enough to throw them into the pot and start boiling the water.
Alone again, Ryder decided to go back and talk to all seven ranchers. He doubted he’d find anything, but he wanted to ask if any of them had noticed anyone in the woods in the twenty-four hours preceding the fire, whether campers or hikers or otherwise. Any sign of someone hanging around would be suspicious, and if he could manage to get a description, it would go a long way in identifying who had done the deed.
But once again, he was thinking too far ahead. Ryder needed to stay focused on the task at hand. He would ask his questions, and then he would sit back and wait for the investigators from Cheyenne to get here. In the meantime, he hoped he’d given Amanda Halston something to think about, enough pause to consider the possibility that her client wasn’t exactly honest.
And that if she knew anything, she was ruined.
7
Five Forks Friendly Faces Bed and Breakfast was owned and operated by Fanny Butler, and Amanda barely managed to internalize her groan at the alliteration. What was it with small towns and old-school humor? She wouldn’t be surprised to find a lot of puns around here, too.
But Fanny was definitely a Friendly Face and gave her the guided tour. Amanda had one of two bedrooms down the hall on the south side of the converted house and would have shared the bathroom between with the guest in the other bedroom, if there had been one. The kitchen was open for snacking, though Amanda didn’t plan to “make herself at home” and go scrounging around in the middle of the night. Meals were served at seven, twelve, and six, which was fine with her. She didn’t know if she’d attend every meal, since she had other things to do. Besides, she’d seen the huge deep fryer and the giant bottle of oil in the kitchen.
Eating fried food at every meal would tear up her complexion.
To her delight, Fanny had free Wi-Fi, which meant she could get on her laptop and do some real work. Smartphones were great and it would work in a pinch, but while Amanda appreciated technology, she liked the screen and keyboard on her laptop better than any phone or tablet. She changed into a pair of khakis and a long-sleeved blouse, the most casual clothes she’d packed, and then she plugged in the laptop and turned it on.
While it booted up, she called Parker Brandt. It was time to figure out just how many things he’d done wrong to create such a negative attitude toward Fillmore Investments. He answered in an irritated tone on the fourth ring. “Brandt here.”
“Mr. Brandt, it’s Amanda Halston from Barrow, Marten, and Biggs.”
“And?”
His impatient and dismissive tone didn’t do anything to endear him to Amanda, either. He really could be a horse’s ass, and she would have to explain his poor behavior to Richard Fillmore himself. Maybe the owner and CEO of the corporation would have some effect on the man who seemed to think the world owed him a living.
“I’m in Five Forks right now, and I’ve met with the fire chief, Ryder Sieverson. He tells a disturbing tale about his meeting with you last month, Mr. Brandt. Could you tell me what transpired between the two of you?”
“I sure can. That overbearing bull of a man lunged at me, and I told him to be careful.”
Amanda frowned. What did he mean, lunged? “Are you telling me that Chief Sieverson physically came at you?”
“He might as well have. He was halfway across his desk, and his face was bright red. He told me to get the hell out of his office and his town, like it’s his to protect,” Brandt scoffed. “I told him he’d change his mind, and I left.”
Amanda was aghast. “Mr. Brandt, are you aware that the chief took that as a threat? I’m not sure how exactly you said it, but you left a very bad impression.”
“Am I supposed to care?”
She couldn’t believe she was having this conversation. She closed her eyes and drew on her deep, inner calm to maintain her patience. “Perhaps you should consider that your threat has been linked to the wildfire that occurred recently, and Chief Sieverson now believes that Fillmore Investments set the fire with the intention of scaring the residents of these ranches into selling.”
“That’s preposterous! I didn’t say or do anything that even suggested any of us would do something so drastic. He can’t possibly be serious about that. He’s just bluffing and trying to make things more difficult.”
“Nonetheless, Mr. Brandt, he’s prepared to investigate further with the intention of proving arson and then pointing the finger at your corporation. Until he’s convinced that there was no deliberate fire set, there is no way I’m going to persuade him or any of the other ranchers to sign an agreement to sell their properties, no matter the offering price.”
“You and your firm were hired to do a job, Miss Halston, and I expect you to do it. I’m sure you’ve been able to get by with excuses in the past, but they won’t fly here.”
His abrupt attitude—and the veiled threat—assured Amanda that he’d said something a great deal nastier to Sieverson. It also infuriated her that he would speak to her in such a manner, especially since she could read the underlying misogynistic tone. “First, Mr. Brandt, if you value our services, I expect you to treat myself and the partners at Barrow, Marten, and Biggs with the utmost respect. Second, the way in which you addressed me just now does nothing to help your cause. If you want anyone to believe you had no fault here, even in creating doubt, you’ll have to change your attitude. And finally, I am fully prepared to do the job for which I was sent here. Unfortunately, that’s going to take a great deal more time than I first thought, and we are still billing by the hour.”
“Oh, come on! There’s got to be a w
ay to speed up this process. You’re dealing with a bunch of people who can barely read and probably haven’t seen a highway bigger than four lanes.”
While Amanda had her own ideas about the slow pace and simple living of the people in Five Forks, she didn’t like the way Parker Brandt spoke about them. His haughtiness would play a big role in stagnating the progress of her venture. “If you want to try to undo the damage you’ve already done, I suggest taking action immediately.” She was going to hold his feet to the fire, now that she understood just how right the chief had been about him.
“And what action do you suggest?” he hissed.
Amanda clenched her jaw and counted to ten. I suggest you get off your ass and come out here. Get on your knees and apologize for offending the guy with the heftiest influence on this project. And in the meantime, kiss my ass. If only she could say that out loud. Instead, she cleared her throat and spoke in a sickeningly sweet tone. “Perhaps your investment firm could offer to pay out a disaster relief fund to the community, equivalent to what you offered to cover the damages from the fire. It would be seen as a gesture made in good conscience to support the people here rather than just shoving them off their properties.”
“That’s insane. You can’t be serious.”
“Think it over, Mr. Brandt. Without the peace offering, we could be in a standoff for months. I would rather not make Five Forks my permanent place of residence, and I doubt Mr. Fillmore would care to receive the bill for those services.” She hung up as he sputtered on the other end, wanting to throw the phone out the window. It would be pointless, since Brandt wouldn’t feel a thing. But it might relieve a little of her frustration.
Amanda walked a fine line. She knew you had to be assertive to accomplish anything, and she liked the creature comforts that came with the urban lifestyle. But she also knew that family was important, and that included legacies. These ranches were more than just pieces of land to the people of Five Forks. They had been passed down for generations and stroked with loving hands to make them profitable. These people loved their homes, and money couldn’t buy out emotional attachments.
Parker Brandt had been the wrong person to send in here, and it was going to set her back significantly in her progress as it was. If he had any further dealings with the townspeople, Amanda would never close this deal. And as things stood now, she was beginning to wonder about the fire herself. She would have adamantly and flatly denied it just an hour ago. Parker Brandt, however, had made her question everything she thought she knew about Fillmore Investments.
For the sake of the deal and the reputation of Barrow, Marten, and Biggs—as well as her own—Amanda thought maybe the best way to handle this was to cooperate with the investigation. She needed to talk to the partners about this and have them release funds that could be used to aid with the process. And in the meantime, Amanda was going to rack up a few hours digging deeper into the corporation and see if there was a track record that was cause for concern. It wasn’t like there was anything else to do in this town, unless she wanted to fantasize about Ryder Sieverson. And since the package came with the gift of his surly and defiant personality inside, that wasn’t exactly the pleasant image she wanted.
8
The wind blew harsh and frigid, the storm already blowing in. Ryder bundled up to head home, hoping to get there before the worst of it hit. They didn’t usually have blizzards this late in the season; it tended to be more flurries or a gentle, consistent snowfall. But this one was slated to be a bad one, dropping over a foot on them in the next 36 hours.
That put a kink in things, since the work crews would have to dig the tarps out from under the snow just to get them off the land that needed to be searched. It was treacherous enough with broken and singed pieces of trees and jagged stumps scattered over the ground. To have to work through that kind of snow buildup would be downright life threatening, and he didn’t want anyone facing that kind of trouble.
At this point, though, he couldn’t think too hard on it. He wasn’t a god and didn’t control the weather. If he did, they’d be in a tropical heatwave for the next six months. Now, he needed to get home to safety, and he needed to make sure the pigs were bunkered down tight against the deadly cold. He was short on time, and the fact that everyone else was trying to get out of town and to their ranches, just like he was, made traffic thick. It moved slowly against the oncoming weather, and he tried to be patient. He tuned to the AM band and found the mountain weather advisory station.
It wasn’t good. Gale force winds, power outages, branches coming down laden with snow and ice, and temperatures in higher elevations dropping below zero. It was slated to be one of the worst late-season storms Five Forks had ever seen. Ryder knew he’d be digging himself out of his house when the blizzard finally stopped.
He hadn’t made it very far when he noticed a black BMW sitting in front of the diner without chains on the tires. It didn’t take a genius to figure out who was driving that. No one local would spend that kind of money on a foreign car, and they certainly wouldn’t drive it around in the dead of winter without chains. That was crying out attempted suicide.
Gritting his teeth, he turned into one of a string of empty parking spaces as the first flakes started to fall, wishing he wasn’t so concerned with safety. But that was his line of work, and even if Amanda Halston was a pain in his ass, Ryder wasn’t going to let her kill herself driving in weather the likes of which she’d never considered possible.
Ducking against the icy wind, he jumped out of his truck and hauled himself into the diner, where Hattie was shutting off lights and donning layers of clothes. And standing next to a booth, gathering a laptop and several folders with papers sticking out the edges, was Amanda. She gazed at him, looking completely stunned, and he gave her a weary look. “Where are you staying?” If she said she was planning to drive up to Cheyenne, he was going to bash her head in for being stupid and inefficient. That didn’t strike him as being her nature.
Jutting her chin out defiantly, Amanda told him, “I’m at the bed and breakfast.”
“We’re already on the backup generator, Chief!” Hattie called from the kitchen. “It won’t last but another hour or so. Fanny lost power, too.”
Great. Fanny’s place didn’t even have a good fireplace. Her heat was gas, like everyone else’s, but the building was drafty, and it wouldn’t keep anyone warm. And he doubted Amanda could fathom a world where she couldn’t connect to technology. “I’ve been without power before,” Amanda said, sounding like a petty child. “I can handle it. I have an extra battery for my laptop, and my phone has a full charge.”
Ryder snorted. “Are you expecting the power to magically come back on in an hour or so?”
She shrugged. “I can make it ten or twelve hours on that battery, no problem.”
He shook his head. “Spoken like a true city girl. The lines are down, Miss Halston. It could be days before the work crews can even make it out here to make the repairs. Unless you have gas heat and a fireplace or wood-burning stove, you’ll freeze. And without a backup generator, you’ll be twiddling your thumbs by this time tomorrow. That’s if you can sleep buried under six thick blankets.”
She looked skeptical, and Ryder was glad she was considering the impact of the storm. He’d barely scratched the surface of the aftermath of this scale of storm. He turned to look out the window and knew he was taking too long. He had to make a decision and enforce it, fast, or he would lose his pigs and likely not be able to see to get to his ranch. “Come on, you’re coming with me.”
Her jaw hung slack as she gaped at him. “Where is it you think you’re taking me, Chief?”
“To my place.” She put her hands on her hips, poised to protest, but he didn’t give her a chance. “You can tell me what an overbearing antifeminist jerk I am when we get there. Right now, the wind and snow are picking up, and in a little over an hour, there will be zero visibility. That means no driving. Now, I have a fireplace, lots of wood, gas heat,
and a generator with enough backup propane tanks to keep you juiced for a week on those devices. I can’t promise the world wide web, but I have a spare bedroom and bathroom, and I have food stocked for occasions like this. Now, do us both a favor and come on.”
She hesitated. “My car…”
“Won’t make it anywhere because you don’t have chains. Who the hell rents a BMW anyway?” he asked, finding it absolutely ridiculous.
She pursed her lips. “Can I get my suitcase out of the trunk?” she asked, sounding exasperated.
Ryder rolled his eyes. “Give me the keys. Get in my truck and wait. The heat’s blasting in it.” She tossed them, and he caught them and hurried to the car, pressing buttons until the trunk popped. He was bad with all the automatic stuff under normal circumstances, but in gloves manipulating the stupid little key fob was nearly impossible. He grabbed the large red suitcase and the smaller pink bag, telling himself this was a really stupid idea and justifying it by reminding himself that he was the fire chief and responsible for everyone in town, not just the residents. Besides, he could just see that damned investment firm spinning things so that, if Amanda died in a car accident or froze to death, they could prosecute him for murder. Despite his lack of immortality, they would find some way to prove he was a god of weather and circumstance.
As the snow began to fall in earnest, Ryder tossed the bags in the bed of the pickup and covered them with a tarp, using bungie cords to hold it in place. Then, he hurried around and jumped in the truck, leaning his face in front of the heat vent to warm his nose.
Turning onto the road again, he was relieved that at least some of the traffic had cleared out and the rest moved at a reasonable pace. He glanced at Amanda, huddled in the passenger seat and facing out the window so he couldn’t even see her profile. “Is that coat the warmest thing you brought?”
The Cowboy In Me (Wild At Heart Cowboys Book 2) Page 4
