Page 10 of Inheriting Miss Fortune

He nodded but remained silent, discouraging any further discussion on the topic.

Because I understood that feeling all too well, I didn’t press.

The sun was setting behind the peaks of Three Daughters, sending golden light across the summer pastures. This was my favorite time of day. I rolled down the windows, and the scent of wildflowers and green grasses, pine and sage billowed in on the breeze.

Tully closed his eyes and inhaled. “It’s beautiful here.”

“Prettiest place I’ve ever been,” I agreed.

“That what brought you?” he asked suddenly. “Looking for a pretty place to stay awhile?”

“No.” I frowned. “A friend needed help. So I came.”

He was quiet for a minute. Then, “The sheriff, you mean.”

I glanced over at him. “No, the other guy.” My lips twitched. “The one who looked like a feral hellcat ready to strike.”

Tully didn’t say anything, but for some reason, I suddenly couldn’t shut up.

“His name is Silas. We went to college together. He accidentally married a cowboy and called me in to help last summer on the cowboy’s family ranch.”

His head turned at this. “Accidentally?”

“Long story.”

“And you stayed?” His eyes fixed on me. “You settled down?”

I shrugged. “Didn’t really have a place to go back to. Besides, I like it here. It’s nice and quiet. Plenty of room to be by myself.”

I sensed the tension in his body. “So you prefer to be by yourself?”

Since I hadn’t been born yesterday, I knew this wasn’t a casual question, and I merely grunted in response.

The truth was, I did like being by myself… mostly. And the alternative—the crushing disappointment of letting downsomeone who relied on me, of not being enough for someone I loved—was terrifying.

I had my brotherhood and other friends, like Foster and Jo Blake, who understood my boundaries. They loved me but allowed me privacy and a small amount of necessary distance. I had no plans to change that.

A small movement in the rearview mirror caught my attention, and when I looked up, I saw Lellie, still fast asleep with her head tilted uncomfortably to one side. Her wispy ringlets danced in the blowing wind.

But sometimes things don’t go according to plan, a voice that sounded like Katie’s reminded me.

“What do you, ah… what do you do for work?” Tully asked.

The awkward attempt at small talk was at least better than talking about Katie’s passing or the orphaned daughter she’d left behind, and I seized on it gratefully.

“I oversee a breeding program at a horse ranch. Silas’s husband Way’s ranch.”

“Is… that what you studied in college? Animal husbandry?”

I glanced over at him and registered a discomfort I hadn’t noticed before. “No. I studied business in college,” I said, being deliberately vague. I’d learned a long time ago that mentioning Yale to someone I didn’t know well was like dropping a bomb into a conversation. It had a tendency to change things, especially if the person didn’t know me very well.

“I guess a horse breeding program is a business,” he ventured, as if trying to connect the dots.

“I grew up around horses,” I said finally. I didn’t owe him an explanation, but for some reason, I didn’t want him to think I was completely inexperienced at what I did. “More accurately, I grew up working on a ranch. They bred quarter horses used in ranch work. I guess I got the animal husbandry vibe there.”

Tully nodded and turned back to the window, but there was still a coiled tension in his body that was hard to read.

“What about you?” I asked after an awkward moment of silence. “What kind of law do you practice?”

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