Page 76 of The Cowboy’s Reckoning

Aubrey gave Lil a side-eye but didn’t comment as they approached the corral where three black Angus cows lay with their legs tucked close to their bodies, lazily chewing their cuds while the calves trotted and played, butting at one another.

“Four calves, three moms. One set of twins.”

“That’s adorable.” Aubrey put her hands on the rail. “No offense, but your cows are a lot uglier than Scott’s.”

“No offense taken,” Lil said lightly.

There was no way an Angus was winning a cuteness contest against a Scottish Highland.

“Have you considered—”

“No. They cost a lot and have a slow growth rate.”

“How do you know this stuff?” A calf approached and Aubrey held out her hand.

It almost touched her fingers, then put its head down and jumped sideways. Finally, after several fly-bys, the little heifer touched Aubrey’s hand and she laughed.

“Okay. I now have cow experience.” She lifted her chin at the moms sunning themselves. “No way am I getting close to one of those.”

“Wise choice,” Lil replied.

“You’re okay, right?” Aubrey asked as they made their way back to the house. “With Jordan being gone?”

“Yes.”

Aubrey left it at that, but Lil knew her friend was reading between the lines. She knew Lil well enough not to push for information just yet. It was coming eventually. But it wasn’t happening today.

If ever there was a man Lil could fall for, Jordan Matthews was that man. She’d told herself that she could walk away, no harm, no foul, when they’d first started seeing one another. Technically that was true … except for the no-harm thing.

After Aubrey drove away, Lil found herself at the goat pen, which had somehow become her thinking spot.

Time. Space. Perspective.

It sounded like a physics problem, but it was what she needed. At some point this matter with the ranch would be settled. Until then, while they still saw each other regularly, she was going to do the thing that felt safest. Be a tenant. Be a … what? She tried the word friend, but it wasn’t right. Not at this point.

Keeping her emotional distance meant sacrificing the closeness she’d come to depend on, but she wasn’t going to risk needing something that might disappear; to need a man who might disappear. She’d had enough grief over the past few years without adding to it.

Coward.

The small voice startled her. She wasn’t used to internal dissent when it came to the matter of protecting her heart. She shoved the troublesome thought to the back of her mind, where it belonged, but it elbowed its way back out again.

Do you really think you can control things by not taking chances?

Rather than answer the question, she hugged herself more tightly.

*

Jordan’s message to Libby went unanswered. He sent another, starting with “I know who you are …” hoping it would startle a reaction out of her.

It did not. He wasn’t giving up, but it was time to attend to other business in his life. Like earning a living and finding a place to live larger than his trailer. He’d contacted his work friend Rex and told him he was interested in the October project, got a positive reply back, and then thrown himself into ranch work. The bigger living space would have to sort itself out. He figured with the income from the Willow Creek and the October gig, he’d be able to put a down payment on a single-wide mobile home with enough room to spread out. As to the Reed property, that would remain on hold until he managed to track down Libby Weston, which he would, even if it involved another visit to Connery’s office with Burke in tow. The following arrest would no doubt entertain his brothers.

As to Lil, they would be connected by the Willow Creek lease until it lapsed. She’d warned him about her personal boundaries before he’d dived into the relationship. He’d thought his were the same, only to learn the hard way that they were not. He was at a loss. Usually, when he encountered an obstacle in life, he strategized his way around it. Lil defied strategizing and thinking about her was kind of ruining him.

For that reason, he’d thrown himself into the project of rebuilding the old diesel generator that had at one time powered the ranch. The project quieted his mind. It also required parts and several trips to town to get said parts because according to the laws of mechanicking, he never got everything he needed on the first trip. Jordan was actually on his third trip in three days when he heard his name called from across the parking lot at Big Z’s hardware store.

“Hey. Jordan.” He turned to see Aubrey the accountant waving at him from the far side of the lot.

With her was a guy with his jeans tucked into the damnedest pair of cowboy boots he’d seen outside of the big-name rodeos. She said a few words to the man, touched his chest, then hurried toward Jordan.