Page 47 of The Cowboy’s Reckoning

“Agreed.”

He undid the gas cap, then took the pump handle from the tank. “Do you want me to go?”

Her shoulders dropped as she exhaled. “Honestly, I don’t know what I want, other than my old life back.”

“The life before I inherited?”

She grimaced. “Some aspects of it anyway.”

He topped off the tank, replaced the pump handle then screwed on the cap. “I can’t blame you there.”

“It’s not you.” She seemed to reconsider. “Well, it is you.” She met his gaze. “Aubrey told me that you were an accidental breaker of hearts.”

His jaw went slack. “Excuse me?”

“Not an insult.”

“Sounds like one.”

“Not the way she told it.” He frowned his lack of understanding and she said, “I don’t consider that a bad thing.”

And then he understood. Lil, who liked his company, considered the fact that he didn’t make commitments easily a plus.

He didn’t know that he agreed with her. “I’m always upfront,” he said, unable to refrain from defending himself of being a breaker of hearts.

“Thus the accidental part.”

He started to respond, then thought better of it. He wasn’t ready to have this conversation.

*

It was almost eleven when Jordan finally started nodding off after replaying the conversation with Lil in his head a couple hundred times, only to be jerked awake when his phone rang. He grabbed it, instantly thinking that there was an emergency on the Tree Fork, and was surprised to see the name of a former coworker light up the screen.

“Ready to come back to work?” Rex Caldwell asked, not bothering with a hello.

Jordan’s shoulder muscles automatically tightened.

He still hadn’t recovered from his last job. “I’m not.”

He had a plan, and that plan involved taking time off and setting up a home base before hanging out his shingle as a vertical bore consultant.

“How about in a couple of months? October to be exact.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“It’s a DanCo project; starts the first of October.”

“You’re with DanCo?”

“On the Alaska coast, getting really wet.” Rex coughed. “You weren’t the only one who took a beating from Stanton.”

Jordan had worked for Stanton Boring until the mismanaged project from hell had convinced him that it was better to take his chances as a consultant rather than committing to a single company. Of course, at that time, he’d thought he had a ranch to sell.

After getting the details of the job, he told Rex to contact him closer to contract time, because there were things he needed to settle before he started working again. Rex, finally realizing there was a time difference between Montana and Alaska, apologized for the late call, then added that he was looking forward to working with Jordan again. He disconnected and Jordan set his phone on the shelf next to the bunk before adjusting the pillow and staring up at the dark ceiling. If the job had been scheduled during the summer months, he would have passed. He had to leave the Willow Creek at some point, but he would put that off until he was sure that nothing more was going to happen.

And then what?

His eyes had started to drift shut when a loud clatter from inside the barn brought him upright. A metallic clang followed, and he got out of bed, shoved his legs into his jeans and then his boots. After a still moment, the commotion started again. He pulled on his shirt then eased open the trailer door. Wild bleating from the two goats inside the barn, followed by a low answering growl made it obvious that he was not dealing with a human intruder.