AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No.” She placed her hands on her slim, jean-clad hips.
“As long as you and the rest of Johnson’s employees stay on this side of the fence, I’m satisfied. If not, I’ll contact my attorney.”
“And what’s the attorney’s name?”
Dani forced a smile though her stomach was churning. The man had just called her bluff. “Let’s try and keep him out of it,” she replied. “I don’t think Caleb wants to get into a legal battle any more than I do.”
“He claims you don’t have an attorney; that you’re bringing up this potential lawsuit as an empty threat.”
“Try me,” Dani said, hoping that she wasn’t provoking McEnroe into following her suggestion. “I just hope it doesn’t come to a costly legal battle. Neither Caleb nor I want the adverse publicity or the expense.”
“I don’t know,” Chase thought aloud, walking to the post supporting the porch roof and leaning against the painted wood. “Caleb seems to have his mind set. He’s already spent a fortune on architects, engineers, surveyors, lawyers and politicians. I don’t think one more stumbling block is gonna deter him.”
“We’ll see,” she said grimly, anger coloring her face.
“I’m afraid we will, lady,” he agreed, seeing for the first time the trace of fear in her large gray-green eyes.
“Just tell him why I came by.”
Dani turned on her heel and tried to ignore the dread stealing into her heart. So Johnson was going to play hardball. She walked down the brick path and ignored the urge to run. She could feel McEnroe’s eyes on her back as she climbed into the pickup and shoved it into gear. As s
he cranked the wheel and turned the ancient rig around, she slid a glance through the window toward McEnroe. He was still where she’d left him, on the porch, leaning casually against the post and watching her intently. She could feel the burn of his eyes against her skin.
Oh, God, she thought desperately. Johnson won’t be satisfied until he takes it all. Then, forcing her fatalistic thought aside, she muttered, “Pull yourself together, Dani. Dammit, Johnson can try to take your land, but if he does he’ll find that he and McEnroe and anyone else who’s involved with him will be in for the fight of their worthless lives!”
Chapter Two
For three days Dani watched Chase.
From her vantage point at the house, she had a view of the surrounding property from all angles. To the east toward the county road, there were only two small fields that were filled with livestock. Hereford cattle and a few horses mingled and grazed in the dry fields. To the west, behind the cabin, the larger acreage dipped down before slowly rising at the base of the mountains. Grizzly Creek, running south from Caleb Johnson’s land, cut through the westerly side of her property in a clear blue ribbon and offered the only respite, save her hand-dug well, for the parched land.
Dani gave credit where credit was due and Chase McEnroe was the most persistent man she’d ever met. Though he’d stuck to his part of the bargain and stayed on Caleb Johnson’s property, he’d pushed the boundaries to the limit, often walking along beside the fence posts and surveying the water rushing through her land.
She observed him wading in the creek, sometimes with another man, but usually alone. Though she never really understood why, she watched him from a distance.
One day, while she had been bucking hay, Dani had seen Chase fly fishing in the stream. Later, after she and Cody had stacked the bales in the barn, she’d observed Chase digging in the streambed. Dani had never caught him on her side of the fence, although he strayed near the property line, staring over the barbed wire to her land and the life-giving water slicing through the dry fields.
“I wonder what Johnson’s got up his sleeve,” she muttered to herself as she hoed a row of potatoes in the small garden near the backyard. An uneasy sensation had been with her ever since she’d spoken with Chase at the Johnson farmhouse. There had been something in his eyes, something close to pity, that had made her back stiffen in pride and had caused a stab of dread to pierce her heart. “That man knows something,” she decided, straightening and leaning on her hoe to ease the tight muscles of her lower back. “And if I were smart, I’d try to find out what it is.”
It was nearly dusk and McEnroe was still near the creek, shading his eyes against a lowering sun as he studied the rippling water. It crossed Dani’s mind that he might wait until it was dark and then trespass on her land. By why? And what would he find in the darkness?
“And who cares?” she said aloud, grabbing her hoe and walking angrily back to the house. Sweat was dripping down her dust-smudged face as she shoved the hoe into the shed near the back porch and went inside.
Cody was propped on the worn sofa in front of the television and Runt was parked on the floor in front of him. At her entrance, Runt lifted his black head and thumped his tail on the floor; Cody hadn’t noticed that his mother had come into the house.
Dani looked around the room and frowned. The dinner dishes were still on the table and Runt’s dish was empty. “Cody?”
He slid a glance in her direction but didn’t move. “Yeah?”
“I thought you were going to clear the table.”
“I will . . . I will.”
Dani sat on the arm of the overstuffed couch and smiled at her son. “I was hoping it would be sometime this century.”
“Aw, Mom,” Cody grumbled, his face crumpling into a frown as he tried to concentrate on the television.
“I mean it.”
