Page 16 of Some Cowboys are Off-Limits

Her father turned away from her and strode toward the sink. He picked up a glass and filled it with water.

“Dad. What’s going on?”

“I made a deal with him.” He tilted the glass and took a few swallows.

Her blood ran cold. “What kind of deal?” This wasn’t good. She hadn’t thought Elijah was the type to make any kind of underhanded agreement. Yet, that was exactly what it sounded like. She shut her eyes tight, hating that her father was taking his sweet time in answering. “Dad,” she repeated, “what kind of deal did you make?”

Carlos placed the glass on the counter and then rested his palms on the flat surface, not facing her. “He’s agreed to do any of the work we need in exchange for becoming a partner of sorts.”

“What? You’re selling the farm to him?”

He turned to face her then, his expression hard and unwavering. “I didn’t sell him anything. We made an agreement. He will get paid for his work because I refuse to take advantage of anyone, and especially not the family that you are so close to.”

“I’m close to Anna. Not anyone else.”

His hard gaze intensified. “You know better than to say something like that. The kids in that family are just as much part of our family as you are. He deserves an honest pay, and if that means I put up collateral, then so be it.”

She bit back a groan. Did her father not realize the jeopardy he was putting the farm in by signing away half of it? What if Elijah decided he wanted to sell his half to someone else? “Have you brought up this kind of agreement with the lawyer? It’s not smart to—”

“I’m old, Scarlett. I’m not an idiot. I fully intend on having the lawyer draw up a contract that stipulates the arrangement.” His sharp voice caught her off guard, and she took a sudden step backward. Her pulse roared in her ears and her heart rate accelerated.

Their relationship had been strained since she’d returned home, but she hadn’t thought it was so bad that he’d do something like this without asking her opinion of it first. She shut her eyes briefly and when she opened them, her father was gone. She spun around to find him slipping out of the kitchen.

Still thumping like mad, her heart stumbled and cracked as a slice of pain shot through it. Was her relationship with her father so terrible that he was trying to push her out? Because that was what it felt like had happened. She’d been nothing but the good little daughter since she’d arrived home.

She’d dug in and gotten her hands dirty. She’d done all the chores she knew how to do. She’d even gone out to try to start the tractor but couldn’t get it running.

A tear slipped down her cheek. It appeared she’d not only lost her mother, but she’d lost her father as well.

He’s grieving. That was the excuse she’d continued to give herself whenever she’d had a rough conversation with her father.He lost the love of his life. She needed to expect that things would be rough going in the beginning. She needed to show him that she wasn’t going to go anywhere. That she was serious about this.

Scarlett threw her fists down at her sides and strode toward the kitchen door that would take her out back. There was a conversation she still needed to have with Elijah, and this new information only added to the importance of what needed to be said.

She all but stomped toward the barn, entering it and taking a quick look before she headed around the back. Wherever he was, he had better be ready. Her heritage had always served her well when it came to speaking her mind. A fire burned deep inside her, forged from her own grief but also from the love she had for her parents and her friend.

Elijah was examining the engine of the tractor she’d attempted to start earlier, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows and his hat resting on the seat. He tugged at a hose, then leaned closer to examine something else.

A twig snapped beneath her feet, and he glanced up in her direction. Only then did he stop what he was doing and toss the rag he held over his shoulder. “Scarlett. I was wondering how long it would take you to show up.”

She skidded to a stop. “Excuse me?”

“I figured you’d come find me to finish the conversation from where we were interrupted yesterday.”

Folding her arms, she scowled at him. “Yeah. That’s part of the reason I’m here.”

“Okay, so let me have it. Tell me I’m wrong and that you’re nothing but a sweet friend who has never done a single bad thing in your life.”

She snapped her mouth shut, unsure of how to proceed. She’d figured he’d come at her with the same stuff, and even still, she hadn’t been able to come up with anything to defend herself with.

“That’s what I figured.” He turned back to the tractor. “The problem is, you’re no different than you were in high school. Sure, youlookall grown up. And you might be saying all the right things, but the truth is, you’re going to do the same thing you always do.”

“And what is that?” she hissed.

He stopped what he was doing but didn’t look at her. “Leave.”

She gasped. “I don’t always leave.”

Elijah huffed. “You might not think you do, but I’ve seen enough evidence of it to last me a lifetime.”

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