“Whoa! Easy, girl!” It only took me a second to react, and I ignored the underlying problem while I got Annie under control. She wasn’t an excitable horse usually, but I couldn’t blame her when she was startled like that.

As soon as she was calm enough for me to dismount, I jumped off, catching her reins so she wouldn’t go wandering. Only when I was sure Annie was safe did I turn toward the idiots who’d spooked her in the first place.

“What the fuck?!” Normally, I didn’t curse or snap at total strangers unless they did something like, well, like they’d just done. What sort of moron didn’t know they shouldn’t come sneaking onto someone’s property and scare a horse someone was riding?

Then I got a good look at them and realized what the first problem was.

These two were not farmers or ranchers. I’d been around both enough for the past few years to tell the difference between people who worked their asses off for a living and rich people who liked to play at life.

These two were in the rich category.

The man had the sort of tanned, leathery skin that a lot of men got from working long hours outside, but my gut told me he’d probably gotten it more from lounging on beaches than wrangling cattle. His hair was silver, and his eyes were hidden behind a pair of sunglasses I knew were worth at least a few hundred dollars.

My oldest brother, Jax, had a pair by the same designer.

The woman was shorter than him and younger, but the way she clung to his arm told me she wasn’t his daughter. Both were wearing the sort of clothes that looked like they could have been straight out of a hippie commune, if they hadn’t been more expensive than my horses.

“I’m so sorry,” the man said, giving me one of those toothy grins I’d always hated. “I didn’t mean to startle your horse. Blair and I were just so eager to come over here and finally meet you, I guess my excitement just got the best of me.”

I kept glaring at them both; waiting for them to say something that made sense.

“I’m Blair McCormick,” the woman said, leaning forward as she held out a hand. “I’m Kevin’s partner.”

I considered not shaking her hand and blaming it on the fact that my hands were sweating inside my riding gloves, but then I reminded myself that I didn’t have any reason to be extra polite. I yanked off my glove and shook her hand, then turned to the man.

“Nice to meet you,” he said as he shook my hand, “Mr…?”

“Blake,” I said reluctantly. “Just Blake. You two shouldn’t be trespassing out here. You could end up on the business end of a shotgun or get torn up by a guard dog.”

The two exchanged a look I couldn’t read and then turned back to me with nearly identical smiles. Creepy smiles, if I was being honest.

Were they on something?

“We’re not here to trespass,” Kevin said. “We’re neighbors.”

I waited for the punchline. When it didn’t come, I took a closer look at where we were. I was near the front of my property again, and I could see the car now, a shiny red muscle car that told me Kevin was still doing the mid-life crisis thing. It sat at the end of my driveway, which meant they had to have just pulled in when they saw me coming and decided to park there.

“Technically,” I said, “you are trespassing. This is my property.”

Neither one of them seemed to care that I was being rude.

Blair beamed at me like I’d given them a warm welcome. “We’ve just been so excited to come meet you, and this was the first time we’d seen you since we’ve come out here, so we thought we’d just seize the day, you know?”

Shit. She was one of those sunshiny happy people.

“You bought one of the ranches?” I needed to figure out which one, so I could avoid it at all costs. Not that I’d ever been a neighbor-visiting person. I just had a bad feeling that these two would be the sort who’d ‘pop over’ now and again, and I wanted to make sure I had some sort of warning system in place to keep this from happening ever again.

Security cameras. I needed more security cameras.

“We did,” Kevin said. “We actually used to live in Rawlins years ago, so when we decided to retire, there was only one place either of us wanted to go. There’s no better place for communing with nature, and the harmony here has always been magnificent.”

Yeah, he was one of those.

“We just want you to know that we’re sending good vibes out to all of our neighbors, wishing you, health and happiness.” Blair reached out but stopped before she touched me.

Smart move.

I doubted they’d like to hear that the way they could make me happy was by getting back into their car and getting the hell off my property.

“Thanks,” I said gruffly. “I have work to do.”

“You are so lucky,” Kevin said. “To live in a beautiful place like this. To spend your days in such a paradise. The blue skies, and the sun, and the trees, and all of it. To be in tune with the world around you.”

I didn’t bother telling him that I hadn’t grown up here. It wasn’t any of his damn business, and I never intended on being in a position where it was their business.

I just waited.

I’d learned years ago that if I wanted out of a situation or conversation, a great way to do it was to be quiet and wait. Not quiet like my brother Cai. His quiet was calm and all that sort of shit. My quiet…my silence had always felt like I was just waiting for everything to blow up. Like I was in some sort of pressure cooker or something equally hostile.

So, I didn’t say a word.

“Was this your family land?” Blair looked around like she expected to see generations of my family suddenly riding up. “I can see how amazing it would be to hand something like this down through generations.”

I finally saw something real on her face, but it didn’t interest me enough to ask about it. These two were driving me nuts.

“Anyway,” Kevin continued, “we wanted to make sure you knew you were welcome to come over to our retreat any time. I’m sure all of this can block your chi, and everyone wants a little time to meditate, am I right?”

“Oh, and if you happen to see anyone wandering onto your property, don’t be alarmed. We’re going to encourage our guests to explore, and we never know where our life path will take us–”

I was tired of waiting for them to figure out I didn’t want them here.

“You came over to introduce yourselves. Consider yourselves introduced. You know where you parked.”

If it annoyed them, neither of them showed it. In fact, if anything, their smiles grew wider.

“Of course, of course,” Kevin said with that obnoxiously patronizing tone that my brothers always used with me.

Big. Mistake.

“Look,” I said, “I don’t give a fuck what you’re doing over there. Go back to your retreat or whatever and stay off my land.”

I turned my back on them and headed toward the barn. I would’ve preferred to ride, but I didn’t trust them not to spook Annie again.

Idiots.