“You got it, boss.”
When the call ended, Ben tucked his phone back in his pocket. “You two get on with your foraging.”
“Something wrong, Papa?” Cooper asked, his innocent face wrinkled with concern.
He didn’t like to worry his son, so he only hugged him to his side. “I’ve got to handle a man I don’t rightly like much. Today, I can’t give him that wide berth we talked about.”
His gaze lifted to her. She was watching him with that line between her brows. He gave her a wink, which had her smiling softly.
“Cooper, why don’t you run up ahead and make sure Neil is ready to go?” she asked.
“You bet!” He rushed off with Tank barreling after him.
“Taft is on his way up,” he said, touching her arm gently. “I want you and Cooper out of sight.”
She nodded crisply. “We’ll go out the back. Take care, Ben.”
“Don’t worry none. Dusty will be coming to join me.”
After a worried look in her eye, he watched her go. She continued to look back over her shoulder. He watched until she was gone from view before walking down past the main house.
Dusty was puffing when he reached him. Ben didn’t have a chance to do more than incline his chin at the man before Taft arrived. Ben made sure Dusty had pulled up his phone before he walked over to the driver’s side.
Taft rolled down the window. Today, he wore Western wear, from a fancy Stetson to a white button-down work shirt. Still, Ben could see the city on him. “It’s all over town about your troubles, Ben. I might be new to the area, but I wanted to help out by bringing some lumber from the Silver Dollar. I heard from a fellow in town that others in the community were doing so. I hope you’ll accept my help.”
Ben stared him down. The man’s face revealed nothing.Then again, his ancestor had been an infamous poker player. “We’re lucky to be helped by so many.”
“Indeed,” Taft agreed as Ben signaled to the hands to start unloading the flatbed. “I also heard Skip Jenkins is thinking about selling you some of his land.”
Ben ground his teeth. Land sakes, this asshole had spies everywhere. “Now that is not common knowledge.”
“You’d be surprised.” Taft’s mouth formed an almost lazy sneer. “Every small town plays the telephone game, Ben. I’d like to offer you triple what you pay for it.”
“That’s mighty premature,” Ben answered cautiously, putting his boot on the truck’s running board.
“Not to me.” Taft drew out a slender cheroot and lit it. “Ben, you and your family don’t need that land. I do. The Silver Dollar just isn’t a big enough spread yet. Coming back here to the town where my ancestor started means a lot to my family and me.”
Ben made a noncommittal sound, doubting it. Taft had three ex-wives living on his money in Florida, from what he’d heard, and three college children who had yet to set foot in Montana. What was hard to figure was this obsession with his ancestor. But asking would only make the man stay longer on his property.
“After you refused to sell Wild Mountain to me, I think it would be neighborly of you to sell Jenkins’ land to me instead.”
He made sure the last of the lumber was unloaded before he gave an easygoing smile. “James, if Skip had wanted to sell that land to you, he would have. Instead, he wanted to sell it to my family and me. That’s how things are.”
Taft puffed a few circles of smoke in the air before locking eyes with him. More like locking horns. “Things can change. I’m sorry you weren’t willing to consider my offer. Every time I come up to the Triple M, I leave disappointed. That doesn’t make me happy, Ben. Not one bit.”
Ben only shrugged. “Thanks again for the lumber.”
Taft gave a careless wave. “Think nothing of it. I could buy and sell every lumberyard in Montana and the surrounding states, but where would that leave you?”
Ben knew a challenge when he heard it. “Right here on the Triple M, Taft. Good day.”
The older man clamped on his cheroot and turned on the truck, pulling in a wide circle to leave the same way he’d come. Ben was glad to see him go. Some men liked to play games, but he wasn’t one of them.
Dusty drifted over toward him. “He’s as clever as a snake, coming here with lumber like that, pretending to be all neighborly.”
“Make sure to go over the lumber he brought. Make sure it doesn’t have a fire accelerant on it or anything that could hurt us.”
Dusty whistled. “That’s some kind of twisted imagination you have, boss.”
