toward her. “You think?”
“Have you consulted an attorney?” A question she’d put off asking until she had more facts.
He put a gentle palm on each side of Taylor’s face, making her nerves start doing a crazy dance, and instead of answering, focused on her as if she were the answer. Things were heating up between them, and she wasn’t doing one damned thing to stop them.
“Cole?”
“Miranda has an attorney on retainer.”
“That doesn’t mean…”
“The land is mine and Jancey’s. It’s not going anywhere. When I get ahead, I’ll hire a lawyer.”
“But what if she finds a loophole to gain possession,” Taylor asked. “Eminent domain, or pedis possessio?”
He gave a short laugh. “I think she would have already done that if she could, because that’s exactly how my cousin got his ranch out of her clutches.”
“Bottom line, you can’t make a living on your own property?”
“I can, but I can’t. Jancey and I get a percentage of the take from the guest ranch, but it’s not as much as you might think. If there’s an open position on the ranch, Jancey or I could choose to take the job and draw a paycheck in addition to the percentage—which is what we did in the past. I worked there for…hell, since I was sixteen. Went back to work after college, thinking that it was my job to help the family business. Then my uncle died and it all went to hell.
“I can live here on my ranch. However, if I work the ranch, the money I make goes into the general coffers and I pull a percentage of that, as does Miranda.”
“Her finger’s in every pie.”
“The result of an agreement between brothers—one of whom was madly in love with her.”
Cole gestured toward the door with his chin. “I’ll show you the rest.”
He toured her through the barns, which had been expertly staged. He shook his head at the gleaming leather harnesses hung on one wall.
“Looks good,” Taylor murmured.
“Want to know how long it’s been since there’s been a draft horse on the place?” He stopped at the wide door at the far end of the barn and stared out over the fields. Everything about him was stiff and defensive. Taylor was familiar with the posture, having held it a few times herself as she dealt with problems at work…but those problems had never been personal.
She shifted her weight, and he slowly turned toward her, tearing his gaze away from his land. One corner of his mouth tightened. “You know why I brought you with me, right?”
“To keep you from doing something that might get you arrested?”
The corners of his mouth quirked into a faint smile. “Just so we’re on the same page.” He settled his hands on her shoulders, staring down at her seriously. “But I never asked if you were on board for a meeting with the queen.”
“Totally.” She couldn’t wait to meet the woman.
“I thought about bringing my cousin Jordan, but he and Miranda…well, let’s just say that until recently, I was able to play the game with her. He never was.”
“Blood on the walls?”
“It’d be close to that.”
She set her hands on his biceps, felt them tighten under her palms, but neither of them moved closer.
He went on. “I don’t know which Miranda you’ll see—probably the pathologically nice one to begin with, but since I’m not going to play her game…well, I just want you to watch. See if you see what I do.” He gave a small snort. “And then help me come up with a way to defeat her.”
“She sounds like a supervillain.”
“No.” He brushed his fingers down her face and leaned down to give her a soft kiss before stepping back. The kiss was as heady as the hot one had been. Maybe more so. “She’s just an evil narcissist.”
Taylor smiled a little. “Same difference. I’ve encountered a few of them in my professional life.”
“Another reason you’re here.” He swept his gaze around the barn, shook his head and then motioned toward the truck parked just outside. “Let’s do this thing.”
“Sure.” She reached out and took his hand. He squeezed her fingers and kept hold of them until he opened the truck door for her.
Taylor settled inside. Where is this going? her little voice murmured as Cole got into the truck.
Into territory she’d never been in before.
She straightened her shoulders. Okay, so she was venturing into something new with a guy she was beginning to like a little too much. A guy who made her hormones happy.
A guy whose lifestyle didn’t exactly mesh with her own.
Maybe it’s time to stop thinking.
She didn’t know if she could do that, but she could suspend activity until she got more information. Actually…she’d been doing pretty good at suspending activity lately. It wasn’t a bad skill to hone.
Instead of following the road that Matt had taken, Cole drove out the main entrance, locked the gate after him, then followed the pavement to the guest ranch.
Like his ranch, this one was meticulously kept. The buildings were rustic, yet obviously new. And there were a lot of them.
“This is some place,” Taylor said. A tastefully carved wooden sign on the cabin-like building to her right said Spa and Sauna.
“It used to look a lot like my ranch, once upon a time.”
He took her hand as they walked up the steps to what was the main lodge. “My cousin grew up here. I don’t think there’s anything left that he recognizes.”
A young woman in a white shirt approaching from the direction of the stairway smiled in welcome, but the smile disappeared when she saw Cole standing beside Taylor. One of the loyal minions, no doubt.
“I want to see Miranda.”
“She’s—”
“Right here,” a carefully modulated voice sounded from the top of the stairs. A woman in her midfifties, dressed in dark-wash denim jeans, a plain white shirt and a zillion-dollar turquoise-and-silver necklace descended the staircase. As she caught sight of Taylor, her expression became one of gracious welcome. If Taylor hadn’t been clued in, she would have totally bought it.
“Cole.”
“Miranda.”
“I’m Taylor.” No sense waiting for introductions while these two faced off, one smiling graciously, the other stone-faced, both with hard, hard gazes pinned on the other.
“So nice to meet you.” Miranda offered her hand and Taylor took it, noting that the woman wore no rings except for the gold band on her left hand, and that her nails were buffed but she didn’t wear polish. Yet everything about her and her environment cried money. Purposeful? Probably.
She was attempting to look down-to-earth but elegant. It was working. With milky skin, pale green eyes and light auburn hair, simplicity suited her.
Taylor smiled and withdrew her hand, wishing she could have said she was Cole’s attorney just to see the woman’s reaction.
Miranda turned her attention to Cole. “Have you heard from Jancey?”
“She’s staying with me,” Cole said. “That’s why I’m here.”
Miranda wore an expression of extreme relief, then her features hardened. “Even though she’s family, this isn’t working, Cole. I can’t have people disappearing