Page 72 of Tempting Fate
“I sure did. Harper’s on.”
“Nice. I guess you’ll be leaving soon.” Finally, his babysitting duties would come to an end. Somehow, he couldn’t work up the relief he knew he should be feeling. Raylene was a royal pain in the butt, but she kept things interesting. Sleeping with her had been wrong on a dozen levels, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t want to do it again.
“As soon as I find the gold.”
“Then you must be staying for good.”
She jabbed him with her finger. “Why do you think our trespasser dug at the top of the property?”
“Beats the hell out of me. You think he’s onto something?” he asked, half mocking. The other half of him had wondered the same thing. From his reading of the map, such as it was, the gold had been buried at the other end.
“It’s funny, because my plan this morning was to try my luck exactly where the trench was dug.”
“Are you sure the map never got out?”
“How do you mean? Like publicized in an article or something?”
“Or Ray maybe gave it to other people. Any chance your ex is somehow involved in that trench?”
“I doubt it,” she said. “He knew about Levi’s Gold but, like you, he thought the story was bogus. Otherwise he wouldn’t have given up his rights to the property.”
Gabe wasn’t a hundred percent convinced. From everything he’d heard about Butch, the man was the picture of self-entitlement. If he thought there were any riches to be found, he’d want to get there first—before Raylene sold the land.
Gabe pulled up behind the water tower, found a few trees for camouflage, and parked his vehicle there. If he climbed up on the tower he could see clear to Nevada. Below sat Raylene’s two hundred-acre parcel with a bird’s-eye view of the trench. Gabe suspected the digger would be back to finish the job.
“I’d forgotten about this spot.” Raylene handed him the travel mug and poured herself a cup of coffee from her thermos. “I used to play here sometimes and pretend the tower was a fort. Ray caught me climbing up the tank once, and said if he ever saw me doing it again he’d tan my hide.”
There was a ladder, but the top of the tank was a good distance from the ground. A little kid could do some serious damage, or even die, falling from that kind of height.
“I’m going to climb up and have a look,” he said, and jumped down from the driver’s seat to scope out the area.
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea in the dark.” Raylene got out, too, hugging her arms around herself to ward off the cold.
He winked. “I operate best in the dark.” Just to prove it, he climbed the ladder like a monkey. With the night-vision goggles, he could see as far as the McCreedy ranch, including a few cattle grazing in the distance. But no suspicious gold diggers lurking around. He stayed up long enough to get a lay of the land, then took the ladder down.
“Well?” Raylene asked.
“Nothing yet. Get back in the truck before you turn into an icicle.” She’d at least dressed warmly, with a bulky sweater under her ski jacket. Those signature tight jeans, hugging that outstanding ass of hers. And the boots, which practically glowed in the dark. “Turquoise isn’t a color I would’ve picked for a stakeout.”
Her eyes fell to her feet. “I guess I should’ve gone with the black ones, but these go better with the jacket.”
“Yeah, I hate when my camo clashes with my footwear.”
She laughed. “Are you ever serious?”
Only when he had to be. He opened the passenger side door and motioned for her to get in, then went to the base of the tower, crouched down, and scanned Raylene’s land from that angle.
“It’s still early,” he said as he climbed into the SUV and removed his NVGs. “I suspect if anyone returns it’ll be past midnight. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Rhys or Jake was here doing exactly the same thing as us.”
“Wouldn’t they have told us?”
“Nope.”
She grabbed one of the blankets and wrapped it around her.
“Cold? I’d turn on the heat, but I don’t want the sound of the engine to scare anyone away.”
“It’s okay.” She reached behind her. “You want the other one?”
