Page 23 of My Three Rivals

I swallowed and found my voice.

“Yeah?” I called back to Wyatt.

“You’re home already?”

“Yeah.”

“You alone?”

I snickered, the last images of Tegan fading away from my mind. “I am now.”

“You left all your shit everywhere, man.”

Sighing, I turned off the shower and realized there was no towel anywhere. My eyes narrowed slightly as I considered Tegan had done that by design.

“Mav?”

“Yeah, I heard you,” I grumbled. “I can’t find a towel.”

“I’ll look for one. But you can’t leave your clothes everywhere, Maverick.”

“I heard you, Mother,” I retorted lightly. His footsteps fell away, and a moment later, he knocked on the door again. I opened it, reaching for the towel, but he sheepishly handed me a top sheet instead. “What the hell is this?” I demanded.

“There aren’t any towels or linens in the closet. I grabbed this off the bed.”

“That sneaky little brat,” I snorted, accepting the sheet and wrapping it around myself. “She’s trying to sabotage us.”

Wyatt glowered. “She’s gonna have to do better than that,” he muttered, spinning toward his room. He paused and glanced back at me. “Oh, and Atticus is back. He says the construction team is coming in the morning to prepare for digging.”

I blinked in surprise, a twinge of nervousness hitting my gut. “Already?”

Wyatt shrugged. “He wants to start with the plans. No point in just sitting around doing nothing.”

If Tegan didn’t like Natalia being here, she really wasn’t going to like this.

I felt some pity for her, but Atticus was right—we couldn’t wait for her to continue with business. That’s what we were doing here, after all.

CHAPTER10

Wyatt

Iwas up and out before dawn as usual, waiting on the construction crew and Bobcats that Atticus had already warned were heading to the vineyard that morning. I was startled to find Tegan already on the porch when I stepped out, curled up on one of the ancient wicker chairs, staring off into the horizon with a cup of coffee in hand.

In that position, she seemed small, vulnerable, her pensive face almost sad until she saw me, and her expression blanked. I could tell my early-morning arrival had caught her off-guard, and she started to stand but seemed to think better of it and remained in place, holding her ground as always.

I had to admire her stubbornness, even if I found it daunting at the core. I’d never met a woman so willing to go head-to-head with a man like she did. And she had no qualms about taking the three of us on without flinching. She was fearless, unyielding.

She would never find herself in the same position as my mother.

I shrugged off the thought of my mother and continued down the steps, toward the plot of land that Atticus had in mind for starting.

“What are you doing?” Tegan fired out, surprising me.

I hadn’t expected her to speak to me at all. I paused, half-tempted to ignore her, but there was a genuine curiosity in her voice, and she was going to find out sooner or later.

“The construction crew we hired is coming, and they're bringing Bobcats. I’m going to show them where to set up.”

Her eyebrows knit into a vee. “Bobcats,” she echoed. “Like diggers?”

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