ago, a representative from Rolling Hills had approached him and his brothers in an offer to buy out the ranch. They hadn’t considered the offer, although lucrative, but their refusal to sell had fallen on deaf ears.
“Any word yet on anything? Did Nate find out anything more about who, if anyone, is behind this shit?” Shilah asked, in disgust.
Not only had Rolling Hills been after their ranch relentlessly, over the last year freak accidents had been accruing at an increasing rate, from isolated fires breaking out, to animals being misplaced on their way to slaughter.
Some were minor, some more serious in nature. As the “accidents” increased, more and more the brothers suspected someone was out to get them. And the only “someone” that came to mind was Rolling Hills.
The latest incident was by far the most serious. It could prove disastrous for the ranch’s continuation and was the reason Nate and Althea had made a trip to Cheyenne.
“Thank God our brother has friends in high places, or we would have been up the proverbial creek,” Holt said, a hard edge entering his voice.
Nate had been tipped off by a friend who worked for the USDA that a someone anonymous had made accusations that Wyoming Wilde Ranch was knowingly selling tainted meat.
With that, the men now knew that all the previous accidents hadn’t been coincidences. Someone … more accurately, Rolling Hills, had taken the game to a whole new level, and the threat could prove fatal for Wyoming Wilde.
“I spoke with Nate this morning. Before any of this goes further, Nate’s friend has arranged an outside contractor to come to the ranch and review our facilities.”
Shilah frowned, thoughts of Ellie momentarily placed in the back of his mind.
“Review our facilities? What the hell for?”
Holt shook his head. “Hell, at least they didn’t shut us down. Actually, it’s a good thing. This way we can prove no tainted meat is coming from Wyoming Wilde.” Before Shilah could comment, Holt continued. “Speaking of which,” he said, standing and carrying his plate to the sink. “I don’t know if you remember Doc Crandall’s daughter, Ellie?” At that, Shilah’s gaze flew to his brother’s, narrowing.
Blithely, Holt continued, “Check this out. This could either be a good thing for the ranch or bad. Depending on how it all pans out. Anyway,” he said, wiping his hands on a dishrag after cleansing the plate and placing it in the drainer, and with only a raised brow accepting Shilah’s plate as well. “Turns out she followed in her old man’s footsteps and became a vet.”
Shilah hid his surprise at the announcement. He realized that during his earlier exchange with her he never asked Ellie what she did for a living, or what had brought her to the ranch. The thought that he might be seeing her on a more regular basis, that she might be helping her father out, filled him with a heady anticipation.
“Damn, no, I didn’t know,” he said, hiding his reaction.
“Gets better than that.”
Shilah impatiently waited for Holt to continue, gritting his teeth when his brother frowned over the plate he’d just cleaned and tsked at himself, before wiping away a smudge of food he’d missed.
“When the hell did you become Betty Homemaker? Give me the damn plate!” Shilah said, snatching the plate and placing it in the drainer.
“Hey, what’s up with you?”
Shilah exhaled a breath, knowing his behavior was odd and not wanting his brother, known for his … unusual sense of humor, to discern the reason.
“Just nerves, man. This whole thing with Rolling Hills is getting under my skin,” he said, breathing a sigh of relief when his explanation seemed to appease Holt.
“Yeah, I know what you mean. Same here. Sorry about that. Guess my baby is having an influence on me when it comes to the kitchen. She pitches a fit if everything isn’t cleaned up,” he said with a shrug.
Although he wanted nothing more than to turn the tables and rag on Holt for his newfound domestication, Shilah’s mind was divided between concern for the ranch and what, if anything, Ellie had to do with it.
He ran back through their conversation in his mind. When he’d first asked her the reason for her return to the ranch, he’d wanted to bite out his tongue, seeing the laughter flee from her eyes, replaced by the somberness that she often seemed to carry around her like a stone weight.
After that, he’d managed to bring the smile back to her face, making her laugh outright a few times, and he’d been happier than he should have been. She was just a girl from his past, he reminded himself, and immediately his inner voice mocked him with the memory of how good she’d felt … how right she’d felt against him when she’d stumbled and he’d pulled her close for a moment.
No. She was a woman from his past, one he hadn’t seen or thought of for years, and nothing more.
“Yeah, well, anyway, our little Ellie has grown up and is working for the USDA. And apparently she’s the vet they assigned to come and investigate.”
“Wait a minute … back up. Ellie is investigating us?” When his brother stared at him as though he had grown two heads, Shilah realized that he must have lost a thread of their conversation, his mind on Ellie.
“Uh … yeah. We just talked about that. USDA is sending out their own investigator about the report?”
“Yes, I got that part. I missed the part about what Ellie has to do with that. How exactly … when …did she get involved with the case?”
“Now, that I don’t know. But I’m sure Nate will fill us in when he gets back home.” A glance at his watch and Holt cursed. “Damn, I was supposed to leave ten minutes ago to pick up Yaz from town.”
With that he bolted out of the kitchen, leaving Shilah with his thoughts.
Left alone, Shilah thought back to his conversation with Ellie. Each time he’d been set to ask her about what she’d been doing, somehow the conversation had turned and he’d been doing the talking. A seed of doubt crept into his mind. Had she been so absorbed in him … in the conversation, to distract him away from asking what she was doing at the ranch?
He shook his head. No, not Ellie. Besides, she wouldn’t do anything to harm the ranch, he reasoned. She loved it as much as any of them did.
But why hadn’t she told him why she was on the ranch? The question nagged at him as he left the house, turning over in his mind Ellie’s reason for not mentioning her role with the ranch.
Chapter 4
“Is that you, baby girl?”
No sooner had Ellie walked inside her parents’ house, than she heard her mother calling out to her.
With a tired sigh, she placed her bag down on the hallway table and walked farther inside, spying her mother in the kitchen, an apron tied around her ample hips.
“Is Dad home?” she asked.
“No, he got a call from the Petersons. Seems
