name is Sam Wilkins. The gist of it is, my daddy caught me and him in a…compromising position in the stable. Daddy asked Sam if he planned to marry me. When Sam said no, Daddy ran him off the farm with a shotgun.”
Connor fought the grin that mental picture stirred up. “So, this man, he took advantage of you?”
The look she gave him was one of pure disdain, and her chin rose even higher. “Excuse me, but do I look like the kind of woman a man could take advantage of?”
At that very second, no. In fact, he was pretty sure she could hold her own with a grizzly bear. An emotion that felt like envy burned through him when he thought of the lucky individual who’d had his hands on that lean, lithe body of hers. He wondered if she’d be the shy, demure type in bed, or rowdy and assertive.
Something told him this woman didn’t have a demure bone in her body. She would be full of passion and fire.
All the more reason to keep his thoughts on the assignment and off Nita. He wasn’t looking to get involved with anyone—especially someone like her. The more attracted he was to a woman, the more desirable he found her, the more likely he was to lose control. And when he lost control, bad things happened. Which was the number one reason he hadn’t been in a gratifying relationship with a woman in longer than he could remember.
“Besides,” Nita said, drawing him back into the here and now, “last I heard he was foreman at his cousin’s farm in Kentucky, so it couldn’t have been him.”
Connor was sure there was more to the story, but he had the suspicion he’d get his head bitten off if he asked. And she was right, it probably wasn’t that employee. “Is there anyone besides the Devlins who has some kind of grudge against you?”
“I’ve asked myself that same question a million times and I just can’t think of anyone.”
“Maybe your father would know of someone?”
“I was planning to go visit him after we’re finished. I can ask him then.”
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to come with you.”
“Who’s going to watch the farm?” she demanded.
He hadn’t planned to come right out and tell her that he was assigned to be her bodyguard, and he had the feeling that when she figured it out for herself all hell would break loose. Either way, he was going to escort her to the hospital. If someone meant her harm he was going to be there to protect her.
“I’m sure Jimmy and the other men can keep an eye on things until I get back.”
“We can do that,” Jimmy said. The old man gave Connor a look, as if he had a pretty good idea that Connor wasn’t there to watch just the farm.
“Besides,” Connor said. “I doubt someone would be foolish enough to try something in broad daylight. Unless you think your father’s not up to the company yet.”
“If I know my daddy, he’s already pitching a fit to get home. He wants to get to the bottom of this just as badly as I do. I’m sure he won’t mind you coming.”
“The sooner he gets back, the better,” Jimmy said gruffly. “The boys went into town for supplies this morning and already there’s been talk.”
“What kind of talk?” Connor asked.
“That with Will gone, and all the disturbances out here, things are bound to fall apart.”
Nita’s face flushed with anger. “Don’t those busybodies in town have anything better to talk about?”
“Why would they think that?” Connor asked.
“After word got around about the poisoned feed we lost customers,” Jimmy said. “People pay top dollar to have their horses trained by Nita. If we can’t guarantee a horse’s safety, people stop callin’.”
“All the more reason to catch the son of a bitch,” Nita said, her eyes two violet embers.
Connor was convinced right then and there that Nita would never purposely cause trouble on the farm, not if it affected her livelihood.
“Seen enough?” she asked him.
He nodded and followed her out of the corral to where they’d left their horses. As they mounted, Nita noticed that he winced a little as he settled into the saddle. She often gave lessons to new riders and recognized the signs of a sore rear end. If he was achy from the short amount of time they’d been out, he’d be hurting like the devil by nightfall.
“We’ll go this way,” Nita said, leading him up the property line toward the main stable.
“How bad is it?” Connor asked.
“How bad is what?”
“Your financial situation.”
She didn’t want to discuss the farm finances with a stranger, whether he’d agreed to help her or not. It was no one else’s business. And every time she let herself think about it, a new notch of fear worked itself into her side.
“We’re holding our own,” she told him. What she didn’t say is that if business didn’t pick up soon, if they continued to lose customers, it wouldn’t be long before they went bankrupt. Then the Devlins would get what they’d been after all these years.
With her daddy out of commission, the burden of making things right landed squarely on her shoulders. But she could handle it. And when she found out who was trying to ruin them, that person was going to wish they were never born.
Chapter Three
When Nita and Connor stepped into her daddy’s hospital room an hour later he was asleep, and Jane was perched in one of the visitor’s chairs reading a romance novel—her one personal indulgence. 1:00 p.m. every afternoon, for exactly one hour she could be found on the cedar swing, or curled up on the couch, her nose buried in a book. Unless someone was bleeding to death or the house was in flames, everyone knew better than to weasel in on her “me” time.
Nita figured, under the circumstances, it would be safe to interrupt her. “Hi, Jane,” she said softly.
Jane looked up, smiled and set the book down. Despite being away from the farm, she wore her typical work attire—plaid shirt, jeans and canvas tennis shoes—and her long dark hair was pulled back into a neat bun. She was nowhere close to the stunning beauty Nita’s mother had been, but she had a quiet grace about her that Nita had always admired. And Jane didn’t let anyone, especially the men on the farm, push her around. Though she was a good ten years younger than Nita’s daddy, if anyone wore the pants in the Windcroft family, it was her.
“Hey, honey,” Jane said, rising to give Nita a hug. Jane had been at the hospital late last night and had come back early that morning, and she looked tired for it. “How are things going at the house?”
“Breakfast was a bit of a fiasco,” Nita said. “But I managed to get most of the burnt smell out of the house.”
Jane cringed. “Lord, I don’t even want to know.”
Nita
