The Millionaire's Club: Connor, Tom & Gavin. Michelle Celmer
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to be in the area and I wanted to come by to tell you how sorry I am that your father was hurt. Is he going to be all right?”
“He’ll be good as new in no time. Thanks for asking. Gretchen, have you met Mr. Thorne?”
Nita waved Connor over knowing that with his hat on Gretchen could easily mistake him for Jake, which, considering the fleeting look of distaste on her face, she had.
“Connor Thorne,” Nita added. “Jake’s brother.”
“What a pleasure.” The plastic smile slid into place and she held out a hand for him to shake.
With a slight hesitation, Connor shook it. “Ms. Halifax.”
When Gretchen turned to Nita, Connor wiped his hand on his pant leg.
“I’m not one to listen to rumors,” Gretchen said. “But I’ve heard you’ve fallen into hard times. Is there anything I can do to help?”
How about you throw on a pair of boots and muck a stall, Nita was tempted to say, but held her tongue. “We’re okay, Gretchen, thanks for asking.”
“I’ve always admired your family and their hard work. I’d even consider a partnership with you if it came down to it.”
Over my dead body, Nita thought, wondering what the woman could possibly gain by offering her help. Women like Gretchen Halifax didn’t do anything out of the goodness of their hearts. She used people for her own personal gain. Maybe by owning a farm she thought she would be closer to the community somehow. No matter the reason, it would be a cold day in hell when Nita let Gretchen weasel her way into the family business.
“Those are just rumors,” Nita assured her. “We’re doing fine.”
“I’m so glad to hear it. You take such good care of Silver Dollar.”
And how she knew that, Nita wasn’t sure. Gretchen rarely came to see the horse and had only ridden her once for a photo shoot. Nita figured she’d bought it as some sort of campaign ploy, part of her political image.
“She’s a sweet horse,” Nita said.
“When I’m mayor,” Gretchen said, casting Connor a challenging look, “I’ll pressure the sheriff to put an end to the Windcroft-Devlin feud. And with the new policies I’ll be enforcing, you’ll be eligible for tax breaks that will benefit your business.”
Blah, blah, blah. Nita resisted rolling her eyes. If Gretchen thought that little pitch was going to win her Nita’s vote, she was wasting her time. Nita didn’t have anything against the woman personally. She just had a distaste for phony, self-serving people in general.
“Thanks for stopping by, Gretchen.” As in, get lost.
“Remember, if there’s anything I can do to help, don’t hesitate to call.” Gretchen picked her way across the gravel drive and got into her car, waving before she drove away.
“I feel like I need to go wash my hand,” Connor said from behind Nita.
“Why?” Nita teased, turning to him. “She give you cooties?”
He had a look of thorough disgust on his face. “Does she really think people fall for that fake nice routine?”
“I hear that Malcolm Durmorr is smitten with her.”
“Malcolm is even sleazier than she is,” Connor said.
“What’d she want?” Jimmy called to them. He was loading tools into the back of the pickup.
“Came to see how we’re doing,” Nita told him, walking over to the truck. “Wants to help out if she can.”
Jimmy shook his head. “That one gives me a serious case of the creeps.”
“You off to fix those fences?”
He tossed a bundle of precut wood boards in the bed. “Yep. It should take most of the afternoon.”
“I’ll be in the office for the rest of the day,” Nita said. “Why don’t you take Connor with you?”
“Actually, I think I’ll hang back,” Connor said. He didn’t like the idea of Nita in the house all by herself. On the off-chance that someone would risk harming her in the middle of the afternoon, he was going to be there to intervene.
“There’s nothing for you to do in the house and Jimmy could use the help.”
He could see this was going to be a problem, and looked to Jimmy for a little help. The old man picked up on his silent plea.
“It’s nothing I can’t handle on my own,” Jimmy told Nita.
“I know it isn’t, but it’ll go a lot faster with another man helping, and Connor wanted to learn all about raising horses. That means everything.” She pinned her eyes on Connor. “Even the things you don’t think are much fun.”
“This is not about the entertainment value of the work. And I’m going to regretfully decline.”
“Regretfully decline?” She propped her hands on her hips and her eyes turned stormy. “According to our arrangement, you work for me now. That means taking orders.”
He held his ground, but he didn’t see this ending well. She’d dug her heels in and it looked as if she wasn’t going to budge. “I’m sorry, but I can’t do that.”
Her anger level went from zero to sixty in about half a second. “You’re here to keep an eye on the farm, aren’t you? So go keep an eye on it!”
He was going to have to tell her the truth about what his real orders were. And she wasn’t going to like it. “I’m not here to protect the farm,” he said.
Now she just looked confused. “Then what the heck are you here for?”
“I’m here to protect you.”
Chapter Five
“The hell you say?”
“We think that with your father out of commission, you could be the next target. I’ve been sent here to make sure you remain safe,” Connor explained.
“Well, I’m touched by your concern,” she said, even though she wasn’t, even though she wanted to tell him to take a hike. “But I can take care of myself. What I need is someone to watch the farm.”
“I’ve been given orders and have every intention of following them.”
“Oh, now you admit that you’ve been given orders? Well, here’s an order for you pal, get out there and fix that fence or pack your bags.” She turned and stomped toward the house, anger burning a hole in her gut. Who the hell did these Cattleman’s Club guys think they were? She was perfectly capable of defending herself. She didn’t need a keeper.
“You don’t want to do that,” Connor said, following her.
She flung the back door open and hurled herself through it. “And why is that?”
“Because when I go, the Cattleman’s Club will pull out completely and you may never know who’s behind the disturbances. This situation will continue to get worse until you lose everything. Do you want to be responsible for driving your family business into the ground?”
She spun around, found him standing in the doorway looking smug as hell. “Then I’ll go to the police.”
“Are you forgetting who the sheriff is?”
Another Cattleman’s Club member. Swell. She was beginning to wonder if seeking their help had been such a hot idea after all. “What is this, a conspiracy?”
He walked toward her, his voice low and patient. “If you calm down for a minute, and think of this logically, you’ll see that we’re only trying to help. And it would be in your best interest to let us do