Page 48 of The Cowboy’s Reckoning

What the hell was he going to encounter in there?

He cautiously opened the door, stuck his arm inside and hit the light switch, only to have it pop and go black, startling the shit out of him and whatever else was in the barn. So much for his electrical short-searching skills. The battery-operated trouble light was only a few feet away from the door, and he edged toward it as the goats scrambled inside their enclosure. A throaty growl came from a few yards in front of him.

He snapped on the light and a bobcat blinked at him from the haystack. Betty, Meg’s big white dog, held ground in front of the goat pen, fur standing straight up on the back of her neck as she warned off the cat with a fierce growl. The goats continued to bound around the interior of the small enclosure, and he could see that part of the racket had been Betty knocking over the collection of shovels and pitchforks that had been leaning against the wall next to the pen.

The bobcat stared a hole through Jordan, the picture of feline insolence, then turned and lightly jumped to the floor. Betty held ground, thankfully, since Jordan didn’t fancy a late-night vet visit, and the cat strutted out of the rear entrance to the barn.

“Good girl,” Jordan said, deciding he wasn’t going to risk approaching the guard dog until she lowered her ruff.

The half-closed barn door jerked open, and Jordan jumped before turning to see Lil standing in the doorway. Betty shifted her gaze to Lil, then brought sharp eyes back to the place where the cat had disappeared.

“What is going on?” Lil hissed.

Jordan moved to the doorway, leaving Betty to convince herself that all was well. “Bobcat.”

Lil’s shoulders dropped. “Is that all? When I saw that your trailer door was open, I had no idea what to think.”

“Is that all?” he echoed.

Granted, a bobcat wasn’t a cougar, but still.

“We had a cat come visit last fall.”

“Old business then.”

She walked past him to Betty and laid a light hand on the dog’s back. “I think it’s gone, girl.”

Betty did not look convinced. Lil moved to the pen where the two goats were backed into a corner, speaking to the frightened animals in a soft reassuring voice as she crouched near the wire enclosure. “Would you close the back doors?” she asked Jordan.

“Sure.” Jordan headed to the doors at the rear of the barn, which were left open so that the horses could seek shelter if necessary. With the horses now on the Tree Fork Ranch, there was no need to keep the doors open, but no one had thought of closing them.

The goats were starting to calm when he returned from rolling the doors shut.

“No barn lights?” Lil asked, indicating the trouble light with a lift of her chin.

“I didn’t get things as fixed as I’d thought.”

She wrapped her oversized sweatshirt around herself more tightly. “I’m sorry for what I said earlier.”

“I’m the one who said it. You just said it back.”

She sank onto a hay bale. “I’m not good with ties, Jordan. The emotional kind.”

He had a feeling that it wasn’t so much a matter of not being good with emotional ties as being afraid of them. Betty, sensing the unsettled vibe, came to lie at Lil’s feet and she leaned down and rubbed the dog’s head.

“I’m cautious about them myself.”

She smiled a little. “I’ve heard.”

“I never want to promise what I can’t give.”

“Nor do I.”

“Which makes us a perfect pair.”

She continued to rub Betty’s ears as if she hadn’t heard him, but he was certain she had. The dog’s eyes were almost closed.

“I don’t believe in the one, Jordan. I think life can be lived quite well in the solo state.”