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“You weren’t trying to ingratiate yourself with the owner? Get me into bed, make me think that I was special, then beg just one little favor?”

“No.” At her frown, he hurried onward, shoving that foot in his mouth so far down his throat it was a wonder he could talk at all. “I wanted to check the place out. See if it— See if you—” The expression on her face made him stop.

“You were spying on us?”

“No. Well, yes. But not you. The area.”

“And this.” She waved her hand to indicate what had passed between them.

“That was between you and me. It had nothing, whatsoever, to do with my work.”

One of the horses snorted; then several others answered, making it seem as if none of them believed Matt, either.

“You wouldn’t answer my calls, my e-mails, my letters,” he pressed on. “When I got here you tore up the most recent message right in front of me. What was I supposed to do?”

“Find some other ranch to trash?” McCord asked amiably.

Matt ignored him, focusing on Gina. “Just listen to me, Gina. Let me explain why this is so important.”

“Important enough to pretend you liked me,” she murmured. “Must be life-or-death stuff.”

Matt frowned, confused. “Pretend?”

“Yes,” she snapped. “Lie, cheat, act like you care. Remember?”

“I told you that wasn’t how it was. How it is.”

“Right. Because a guy like you—” She waved her hand to indicate … His head? His face? He wasn’t sure. “Is gonna be interested in a girl like me.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

She laughed, though the sound was watery. There were tears there somewhere waiting to spill out, and Matt hated himself. “Never mind,” she said. “Go on. Tell me why you had to do this. What’s so damn important about my land that you just can’t let it go?”

There was something going on he didn’t understand. But if Matt couldn’t convince her now, he was not only never going to be able to vindicate both his mother’s work and his own, but he’d also never find out what in hell she was talking about.

“You aren’t actually thinking of listening to this guy, are you?” McCord seemed a little worried, and Matt’s panic lessened.

This was the path to what he wanted. Tell Gina everything. Or almost everything. He should probably leave out the sorcerer. That usually made people stop listening, if not right away, then shortly thereafter. But he could convince her with the parts of the theory that didn’t sound crazy. He had to. He just wished he didn’t have to do it in front of all these people.

Once he made his case, Gina would agree to let him dig. Hell, maybe she’d even help.

Matt pulled the copy of the photograph out of his pocket, smoothed the paper, then held it up so she could see.

Gina took one look at it, paled, and said, “Get him out of here.”

* * *

“Wait. What? No!” Teo, or whatever he called himself now, insisted. “Gina, you have to listen—”

She snatched the photo out of his hands and walked away.

When she reached the banked fire she crouched, poking up the flames, then feeding them twigs. As soon as they licked upward again, Gina tossed the thing on top.

She’d destroyed every hard copy she had and deleted the file. She never wanted to see that place again, not even on film. Where had he gotten it?

“Internet,” she muttered. Where nothing ever died.

Gina rubbed her eyes. She felt numb, and she needed not to be. She had a tour to lead. There was no one else.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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