Page 3 of Deadly Evidence
He waited until she settled her rifle in the gun rack behind the desk and sat down, then he settled in one of the chairs facing her.
“Another option is that I could be an old college boyfriend.” His voice lowered, and a teasing glint lit his dark eyes. “A guy hoping for a second chance.”
A funny little flutter tickled her midsection as she tried to imagine a guy like this one hoping for another chance with her.
It was totally unlikely, but the vision was enticing and it took a moment to rein in her wayward thoughts.
“Skipthatidea. Though,” she added darkly, “I’m not so sure the first is any better. How much do you know about this kind of work?”
“I grew up on a ranch. I know my way around livestock, ma’am.”
“Kind of a stretch, isn’t it—ending up in the DEA?”
“Our ranch went under when I was fifteen. I spent four years in the Marines, then earned a couple of degrees in law enforcement and business.” He gave her a patient smile. “I may be a little rusty, but I was on a horse before I could walk.”
This wasn’t ideal. But with a thirteen-year-old daughter, livestock, and a ranch to protect, she had to take what she could get.
“You still look doubtful,” he said with a low laugh. “Just say we were friends in college. I was in the area and called you for old times’ sake. You needed help, I was looking for a temporary job.”
“A college guy working as a ranch hand?” She rolled her eyes.
“So—maybe I was a failure, dropped out, and never found a good career.”
“Maybe...”
“A past relationship angle will give me more mobility and more access to the locals. An ordinary ranch hand wouldn’t get to town much except for Saturday nights.”
She frowned. “I’ll need to lie to people I’ve known all my life, and I don’t know if I can pull that off.”
“Just deflect any questions, then.”
“You havenoidea what this will do to the gossip mill around here. People might assume we’re having an affair or we’re on the verge of marriage. There will be a lot of curiosity about you.”
“Clear out here?”
“And after you leave town, everyone at church will be patting me on the hand and saying, ‘I’m so sorry, dear—you must be so heartbroken.’”
“Not if you say that you ordered me off your ranch after discovering I was a no-good, lying cheat. I won’t be here long—a couple months at the most.”
“Well...”
He took her hesitation as a yes and gave her a nod of approval.
“You’ll need to give me regular paychecks, or your banker might realize that something’s fishy and talk about it. I’ll cash them and give the money right back.”
She quoted the pitifully low wages she could afford right now, then tipped her head toward a window.
“I’ve got three small cabins about a hundred yards west of the main house. “The last one can be yours. It’s a small one bedroom but it’s private, in case you have a wife or...um...someone who’d want to stop by.”
“Not married, no commitments.”
A muscle ticked at the side of his jaw—a touchy subject, maybe? But surely a guy like this one would have no trouble finding Mrs. Right.
“Lucky, then,” Anna said lightly. “Not many women would find this area appealing.”
But his single status wasn’t so lucky. Not for her, anyway.
There was something about him that made her wish she’d thought to put on mascara and a better pair of jeans this morning, and the very last thing she needed was to start thinking with her heart.
