Hidden Treasure(20)

“Just sit there, beautiful, and let me tell you about the land.” When her cheeks filled with color, he figured he’d finally done something right. Though she must have been told she was beautiful all the time, maybe it was by people who wanted something from her, so it didn’t mean as much.

That thought sent a bolt to his stomach. He also wanted something from her — her land. She just didn’t realize that yet. He was such a freaking fool to think he could begin something with this woman. There was no possible way it could ever lead to anything but disaster, because when she found out that he didn’t really work for her — that, in fact, he was deceiving her with a rather crass ulterior motive — she’d never speak to him again.

Wasn’t that ideal, though? He could have fun with her now, give them both a lot of pleasure, and then walk away guilt free. Of course, how was he going to walk away without guilt when he already felt terrible about what he was doing?

Thrusting that thought away, he decided just to enjoy the moment.

“You know already that you have ten thousand acres. There are usually a couple of hundred head of cattle on the south side of the property, but not this year, because of finances. And the north side is where your fields are. You grow soft white wheat, which will be ready to harvest about the end of July or beginning of August. The ranches around here have seen some hard times lately and a lot of them are losing money, but your father is convinced this land is rich and you can turn it around.”

Colt paused. He was sure the land could be turned around, too, but did he really want to tell her that? If he was supposed to be trying to persuade her to leave, he didn’t want to tell her how valuable her land was, did he?

Of course, he wouldn’t be playing fair then, and he didn’t believe in lies, didn’t believe in beating an opponent without giving him — okay, her — all the facts. It made victory less satisfying.

“Do you think it can be saved?”

She was looking at him trustingly, and Colt knew he couldn’t lie to her. No way.

“Yes. I think this ranch can do a lot better than it has. Tony is an excellent foreman and he does the best job he can with the budget he’s been given, but the previous owners were swimming in debt, and they had too much pride to ask for help. By the time I knew what was going on, Donald had passed away and his wife was in mourning.”

“What could you have done?”

Colt winced when she asked that question. This was the reason lying was never good — you always had to be so careful with what you said. There had been plenty he could have done, and first and foremost was to buy the property. He’d never know why they hadn’t just sold it to him. He would have let them stay in the house until they were gone and he would have taken care of their land. Foolish pride was all he could think.

The couple hadn’t had children to pass the land down to, and it would have worked out so much better for all of them. But why waste time wondering? He would never have the answer. And he was dealing with Brielle now. That’s what he needed to remember.

“We all help each other out here,” he said, hoping that would be good enough for her.

When she didn’t question him further, he breathed out a sigh of relief. Brielle was apparently a lot more trusting than he was.

“You have really rich soils, superb pastureland, and a year-round supply of fresh water running through your land from a mountain spring.” Water from that same spring also ran through his land, but he left that part out.

When the two of them approached some low tree limbs over the trail, Colt ducked easily and didn’t think anything of it until he heard Brielle cry out. After turning in his saddle to look, he whipped his horse around, then jumped off.

Brielle was lying on the ground with a grimace of pain on her face.

“What happened?” Colt knelt down next to her and looked around for signs of a snake that might have startled her horse, or for any other reason she’d been thrown.

“I don’t know,” she said while trying to sit up and then wincing. That’s when he noticed the rip on her jeans, and some blood on her hip. She’d landed on a jagged rock. Bending down, he examined the cut.

“It doesn’t look too deep, but we need to get antiseptic on it to prevent infection. It will hurt for a few days, but other than that, it should heal fine. Let me grab some things to help clean and wrap it.” He got up, went to his saddlebag, and pulled out some first-aid supplies.

His horse was trained so well that he didn’t have to tie him to a tree. Shadow would stay until Colt told him to go and graze. They were so in tune with each other that the horse knew when Colt needed to ride fast and release energy or go slow and examine the land. Even the slightest of movements from Colt let his horse know what he wanted.