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She couldn’t help a smile spreading over her face. She’d heard that before. A lot. She’d never heard it said right in front of a licensed, practicing attorney, though.
“Exactly,” he said. “The Knott family has taken good care of me over the years. They gave me my first job and practically took me in when my situation was… Well, let’s not talk about that.”
Georgia opened her mouth to ask a question, but nothing came out. It was none of her business, but she was intrigued. She knew nothing about Clayton Mills’ family, which was odd in a town this size. Back then, most of the grownups knew each other, and the kids regularly visited each other’s houses.
Yes, she’d been cut off from having anything to do with Clayton once he joined up with Knott Ranch, but she still would have heard something over time, especially since he’d dated Lucie while she was part of Georgia’s friend circle.
“Anyway.” He shook his head. “I didn’t mean to bore you with my life history. My point is, I don’t want to see either your family or theirs bogged down in legal fees. So, get an attorney and we’ll sit down and talk.”
Georgia nodded, mostly because she’d been standing here too long already. She had no plans to retain an attorney. Doing so would mean involving her mom and brothers. The problem was, she’d have to pay the fees out of her own bank account. Her mom handled all the ranch’s books, so she’d know immediately if money was coming out for an attorney.
But if she could find a way to work this out before bringing in an attorney, maybe they’d never need to know.
“I’ll see what I can do,” Georgia said. “I need to get to the ranch, though, and I’m sure you want to go inside.” She took a step back, causing the doors towhooshopen.
“See you around,” he said.
But neither of them moved initially. She should step around him. What was her problem? She was blocking his entry into the store.
Finally, she found a way to pull her eyes off him and start toward her truck, fighting the urge to look back at him. As she got in her car, her head started to clear. Looking into those blue-gray eyes again—it just did things to her brain. She couldn’t think clearly when he was around. And that could be bad because she definitely needed to keep a clear head right now.
4
Showing up at Cupid Ridge Dude Ranch was probably a bad idea. But Clayton wasn’t afraid of any of the Ludington brothers—even Sawyer, who seemed to intimidate just about everyone.
Okay, so his heart did pound a little harder when he pulled into the gravel parking area in front of the inn and saw three large pickup trucks in a row. Joshua, Brendon, and Sawyer—three pickups, each in the same shade of tan. This family liked to keep things simple.
Or so he’d heard.
Summoning his courage, Clayton grabbed the door handle and pushed his truck door open. It was so dark out here, especially this time of year at dinnertime. The only light came from the porch.
He shoved his truck door shut, wincing at the sound. He probably shouldn’t alert anyone inside to his presence. But as he started the short walk to the porch, he saw it was too late. Someone was standing on that porch. A cowboy. A cowboy who no doubt would be unhappy to see him here.
“May I help you?” the cowboy asked.
Clayton squinted in the darkness. He didn’t know the Ludington brothers by voice, but he’d certainly be able to identify them by sight. They all had similar facial features, but each one was distinctive. From the slightly less aggressive stance than his brothers would have taken, Clayton identified the guy on the porch as Joshua.
“Good evening,” Clayton said in as friendly a voice as he could manage.
Of all the brothers to be standing out there, Joshua would have been the one Clayton picked. Joshua was the quietest of the four brothers, generally keeping to himself. Since his dad died a year or so ago, he’d even seemed somewhat downcast—kind of like their mom, who barely left the house these days.
“Clayton Mills,” he said, reaching up and tipping his hat. He pulled it off then, remembering he was going inside. If this guy would let him pass, that was.
“I know who you are,” Joshua said.
By then, Clayton had reached the bottom of the three steps leading up to the porch. He stopped, the toes of his boots actually touching the front of the bottom step.
“I just don’t know what you’re doing here.” Joshua crossed his arms over his chest. “You know the Knott brothers aren’t welcome on this property.”
“I’m not a Knott brother.” Did Clayton really have to remind the guy that? “I worked on the ranch for a couple of years in high school. I also consider the guys friends. That doesn’t make me blood related, though.”
“A friend of the family is close enough.”
“I’m here to see your sister,” Clayton said.
With any luck, it wouldn’t come to that. He didn’t want to put Georgia on the spot, but it was the only hope he had of getting through that front door right now. The brothers would fight him to the death to protect their ranch.
That was when it hit him for the first time that there was only one Ludington sister. The Knott family had two sisters and three brothers. It must have been tough on Georgia, being the only girl in the house growing up.
