Just say what you gotta say, keep your mouth shut and we’ll have a check cut before you know it.”
Right. Slugging Murphy probably hadn’t been the smartest thing to do, but the guy just would not take no for an answer. He wanted Ryan neck-deep in his scam, for insurance purposes if nothing else. It didn’t matter that Ryan was as good as an accessory for knowing about the plan, even if he kept his mouth shut.
If I could only be sure Gramps hadn’t been involved.
The Blue Devils coach hollered, “Hey, MacIntosh! You ready to finish up this game?”
Returning to the present, Ryan swigged down a healthy gulp of the orange atrocity he’d gotten from the Thermos. As he headed back for the game, he saw a woman pushing her way through the gate.
Even if she hadn’t been a knockout, he would have noticed her. It was the way she dressed—a lightweight blazer paired with jeans that clung to well-proportioned legs. Who wore a blazer to a kids soccer game in south Georgia?
As he hollered for Emily to throw the ball in, Ryan stole another glance in the new arrival’s direction. Honey-brown hair that would go golden in the summer sun, a little smile playing on her lips, more than a dab of confidence in her walk. This was a woman who knew what she wanted—and where to find it.
Ronnie Frasier’s girl took off on a long drive the wrong way. Ryan hollered for her to stop, but his soccer player never heard him. Instead, the ball went into their own net with frustrating ease.
He stood, moved his cap from his head and used his forearm to wipe away the perspiration that had beaded there. Honestly, this was harder work than getting the harvest in.
If there is any harvest this year.
Ryan pushed the thought from his mind. He glanced over at Jack, saw his cousin talking to the new arrival.
Saw Jack pointing in his direction.
Ryan’s stomach sank. Had to be that private investigator the insurance company had said they were sending.
Just his luck.
But then, he’d had a crop of bad luck for the past six months. If Ryan had believed in karma, he’d be convinced he’d been a scuzzball of the first order in a previous life.
All he’d wanted to do was save his grandfather’s farm and look after Mee-Maw.
And avoid Murphy.
Somehow Ryan didn’t think his goals would mesh with those of the pretty little thing waiting for him on the sidelines.
Just his luck.
BECCA SURVEYED the pack of girls running after the soccer ball. Some of them were pretty good for their age. Well, compared to her. But then Becca had entertained herself picking dandelions from a forsaken corner of whatever athletic field she’d graced.
Give her tai chi any day; it was more her style. No scoreboard to let her know how far along the game was. From the looks of the tall redheaded coach—Ryan MacIntosh, she knew from one of the parents—it had lasted too long already.
Still, MacIntosh seemed to remember why they were here. A few minutes after one girl scored on her own net, he stopped to give high fives for effort when his team managed to recover a turnover.
He looked even better in real life than he had in the few photos she’d dug up on the Internet. He didn’t look like the brain trust of a complicated farm scam.
At that thought, her father’s words when she’d said as much came back to her:
“Becca, remember, he’s a crook. A scammer. You’re just buying into the stereotype that crooks look like crooks.”
MacIntosh had that going for him. With his red-blond hair and his muscled legs that showed off a tan darker than usual for guys his coloring, he certainly didn’t fall into the Wanted-poster category. He was good with the kids, patient. She’d seen him break up a fight earlier. He’d handled that well. Odd for a guy who didn’t have kids of his own.
Becca had made it her business to find out all she could about Ryan MacIntosh before she’d arrived. Thirty-two. Never been married. No scrapes with the law. He’d graduated with an associate’s from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College and a bachelor’s and a master’s from University of Georgia. Then he’d taken a sales position with an agriculture chemical company. Moved to middle Georgia to run his grandfather’s farm after his grandfather’s death the year before.
The farm had been in his family for five generations. On it, Ryan MacIntosh had grown soybeans, corn and cotton. Lately, though, it seemed that MacIntosh’s chief crop was desperation.
Right now, the farm was the smallest in acreage owned by any full-time farmer in the county—and in the past it had been in tax trouble. She’d turned up a few closed-out liens, as well.
Yup. Ryan MacIntosh was a desperate man.
And, according to her dad, probably a crook, even if he did give peewee-soccer players high fives.
The game played on with Ryan’s Bulldogs taking a beating at the hands of the Blue Devils. Had he chosen that team moniker out of loyalty for his alma mater? What did a person do with a degree in agronomy, anyway?
“Hey, shove that Thermos over and have a seat. This thing could take awhile.”
Becca glanced over at the dark-haired guy with the cast. “Really? I figured it was just about over.”
“Nah. We got started late—the referee stood us up. I’m Jack MacIntosh.”
She moved the Thermos and reached over to shake his hand. “Becca Reynolds. Any relation to Ryan?”
“Sure, first cousins, but we’re more like brothers. Ryan hadn’t mentioned meeting any ladies.”
A smile tugged at her lips as she thought how Ryan was not going to like meeting her in the slightest. “We haven’t actually met.”
Jack raised an eyebrow. “Oh. One of those online deals?”
His words made her feel a little guilty as she thought about her own Rooster—whom she owed an e-mail and hadn’t had a chance to pay that debt since she’d been researching MacIntosh and the other players in this scheme.
“No. This is business.” Becca fished out a card and handed it to him.
“Reynolds Agricultural Investigations.” Jack looked up from the card, a chill in his eyes. “You’re what? A hired gun for a crop-insurance firm?”
Becca had seen that chill before. Farmer types didn’t much care for her or her dad.
At least he didn’t make a cutesy remark about me investigating how many peppers Peter Piper picked. “I’m a private investigator. I work as a consultant for the insurance company that covers several of the farmers in this area, yes. I wouldn’t say a hired gun—”
“I know about people like you. I own an insurance agency.”
Her alarm bells started jangling. “Crop insurance?”
He laughed, a derisive snort. “You kidding? You can’t make any money selling crop insurance in south Georgia. No, strictly homeowners and auto, as well as life and a few health-insurance policies.”
Becca nodded, staying quiet to see what else Ryan MacIntosh’s cousin would volunteer. She didn’t have to wait long.
“So why are you investigating Ryan?”
“Who says I’m investigating your cousin?”
A shadow fell across her, and Becca looked up to see the man in question standing over her.
“Hand me that stack of cups, if you don’t mind.”
Ryan’s voice was clipped. She picked up the requested cups and extended them his way.
He