Page 53 of The Cowboy’s Reckoning

“So who could that be?”

“One of the heirs? Someone handling the paperwork? Although that’s a violation of ethics.”

“Who were the heirs?”

“You, his wife, and the employees.” Confronted with three bemused gazes, she explained, “Carl Jordan left his company to the employees.”

“Well, that certainly narrows down the suspects,” Lil murmured.

*

Maya might not have been a ranch girl in spirit—chasing cows, fixing fences, and feeding herds didn’t do much for her—but she loved to ride. If she’d decided to pursue horse training, Lil was convinced that her older sister would have been better at it than she was, but instead, she’d chosen law. It did pay better.

On the last day of Maya’s stay, she and Lil had ridden the property on horseback. The cow shooting was days past and Lil tried to put the unsettled feeling she had when she was in the pasture behind her. She showed Maya where the fences had been breached and/or cut and where she’d seen the hiker and the boot print in the soft soil near the cut fence. Maya had no further insights, but she’d insisted on seeing the sites in person.

When they returned to the ranch and finished grooming their horses, Maya didn’t seem to be in any hurry to return to the house where Meg was working on that evening’s farewell meal. Lil was starting to get the big-sister-talk vibe.

It came more quickly than she expected. She’d thought they’d at least have time to bring in the goats and play with the kitten, whom Maya, stunned that he didn’t have a name, had dubbed Elton. Just because.

“I like Jordan,” Maya began and Lil immediately sensed where this was going.

“He’s a good landlord.”

Maya gave her a wry side-eye. “Right.”

Lil shrugged dismissively, hoping to put the topic behind them. She did not want to discuss Jordan with her astute sister.

Maya cocked her head, looked like she was about to launch into one of her famous debates, but instead she said, “Just do me one favor.”

“What’s that?” Lil asked on a frown.

“Give yourself a break from being the pillar that holds us all up. We might crumple a little, but we won’t fall.”

“Okay …” They’d had this talk before.

“And don’t let fear rule.”

Lil’s chin jerked up. “What kind of fear?”

“The fear of new things.”

“New things.” Lil could think of only one new thing in her life that didn’t involve trouble on the ranch. “You mean a relationship?”

Maya answered with a lift of her eyebrows. “Or letting one pass a certain point?”

“Kind of wading into personal waters,” Lil warned in a voice that was falsely light.

“You’d do the same for me.” Maya mimicked Lil’s singsong tone.

“And you’d take my head off.”

Maya shrugged, unconcerned. “Probably. All I’m saying is that we’ve been hit by a lot. I’m still dealing with losing Dad, and I’m sure you are too. Then we lost the ranch. It’s hard not to be conditioned to anticipate the next big swing life takes at you.”

“I see that as a positive.”

“Is it?” Maya asked, furrowing her forehead.

“Forewarned is forearmed.”