Chapter Eleven
“I was beginning to think you’d run out on me,” Noah said bluntly when he took Brandon’s call the next morning. He was in the stable getting ready for a ride, but this was more important. He’d parted reluctantly from Olivia last night after spending a couple of hours with her. It was getting harder and harder to let her leave.
“I wasn’t due for a meeting until today.”
Noah’s grip on his phone tightened. “But you’d been checking in more often.” He stroked a hand down Warning’s neck. Would he see Olivia tonight?
“Fat lot of good that was doing me.”
“Let’s meet.” He needed to see Brandon face to face.
“I’ll be at Linda’s Diner at one.” Brandon hung up before Noah could suggest they meet somewhere else. Somewhere Christie wasn’t.
“Hell, Warning. Can’t one thing go right?”
Warning flicked an ear as if it was a pointless question. Noah had to agree. Life seemed full of trouble these days, but as he hopped up into the saddle and set Warning walking down a trail, his spirits lifted. He couldn’t help think back to his time with Olivia last night. How sexy she’d been. How it had felt to be inside her.
He travelled north on a meandering trail, and when he got to the edge of the Ridley property, he decided to keep going. He and his siblings had explored this area as kids, of course, but it had been years since he’d reconnoitered here. Alone with his thoughts, the only sounds the call of a bird and the distant lowing of cattle back on his own spread, Noah relaxed. This was a wonderful property, he had to admit some time later when he’d traversed much of it. A perfect extension of the Flying W. Or Thorn Hill.
As if he’d conjured up one of Thorn Hill’s inhabitants with his thoughts, he spotted Steel Cooper on horseback several hundred yards away. Noah reined in Warning, considering his options, but it was too late to try to slip away, even if he’d wanted to. Steel had seen him.
Steel reined in, too, and when he realized Noah was heading his way, he came to meet him.
They paused when they were only a few feet apart, both of them scanning their surroundings as if they were simply out on a morning’s ride together.
“It’s good land,” Steel finally said, surprising Noah, who’d been prepared for accusations.
“That it is.”
“Heard you’re raising money for the library.”
“That’s right. Least we can do. It’s a shame the way it’s falling apart.”
Steel gave him a steady look, and Noah wondered if he knew his sister’s part in the matter. “It is a shame.”
“We’ll get the water back where it belongs in the creek right after the fundraiser.”
Steel nodded.
Noah wished he could read the other man’s mind. He’d expected arguments. Demands they set the water to rights earlier than the weekend. Not this calm acceptance.
“It’s going to get bad,” Steel said suddenly. “You know that, right?”
Noah’s stomach twisted. Bad? What did that mean?
“The drought. This isn’t the usual kind. It goes deeper than that.”
“How do you know?” Noah asked reluctantly.
Steel shrugged. Looked a little sheepish. “I feel it. It’s in the smell of the wind.”
Noah glanced at him curiously. He hadn’t thought Steel had that kind of feeling in him. He wished he could suggest their families see the drought through together but doubted the Coopers would take to that idea.
“People are going to get hurt,” Steel added.
Noah stilled. “Is that a threat?”
Steel flashed him a look of disgust. “If I was threatening you, you’d know it, Turner.”
“Look, I—”
“Next Sunday. Creek back to normal, or there’ll be trouble.” Steel dug his heels into his mount’s sides and galloped away.
Noah could only watch him, feeling he’d missed an opportunity. He turned Warning toward home, too.
Olivia was coming out of the grocery store the next day when Lance flagged her down. He was marching angrily across the parking lot, his hair slipping into his eyes. He cocked his hat back, brushed his hair from his face and shook a fistful of newspaper at her.
“Did you see this?”
“No, what is it?” Olivia had to admit she rarely read the local paper these days. Everything was online, and the Chance Creek grapevine worked far faster than the printing press did for local gossip. She was surprised Lance was talking to her; he hadn’t said more than two words since the day she’d watched him drive away from Caroline’s house.
“Read it!” He pushed the paper into her hands, paced off and spun around to pace back.
Olivia realized he’d given her the letters to the editor page. She began to read the first one, and her fingers tightened around the pages.
Dear Editor,
I must say I’m sorely disappointed to hear of the changes coming to Chance Creek High. That school stands like a beacon in my mind to the best days of my life…
The letter went on, gushing about the good old days when the writer’s life was full of studies and dances. It ended with a diatribe against brainwashing children with lessons on computers and how the school was headed for a bad end.
“What a crank,” she said.
“There’s more. Keep reading.”
Olivia jumped to the next letter. It also lamented the proposed changes to the school and explained how Chance Creek High’s old-fashioned values had made a lasting impression on the author’s life. There was a third, a fourth, a fifth—
Olivia looked up. “I don’t believe—”
“It’s a setup,” Lance exploded. “Those Turners did this. I know they did.”
She shook her head. “It’s just people afraid of change, that’s all. We already won; the project is going ahead.”
“It’s not too late for them to shut it down,” Lance pointed out. “What if they change everyone’s mind? Huh? We need that property.” He snatched the paper out of her hand. “I’ve been patient, like you asked me to be. The Turners are still stealing our water.”
“Just until next Sunday. I told you they’re helping the library. Marta needs that money, Lance.”
“They aren’t helping the library.” His tone was scathing. “They’re trying to win the prize. Stop being so damn naive.”
Olivia watched him go, her stomach tightening into a knot, then dropped her groceries in the truck and veered off toward Linda’s Diner. She needed a cup of tea before she went home.
Was Lance right?
Noah had been quick to volunteer to help raise funds for the library. Was he doing it out of the goodness of his heart? Or to steal the Ridley property away from her family? Maybe she was naive. She hadn’t even considered the second possibility, although it was staring her in the face. She couldn’t believe the man who’d made love to her so passionately last night would do anything to hurt her, though. She had hated to leave the cabin and go home—and Noah hadn’t wanted to let her leave, either.
Inside the small restaurant, she immediately spotted Noah and made her way over to him. She might as well ask the hard questions right now. She dimly recognized Brandon Sykes, one of Noah’s parolees, sitting across from him, but she pressed on.
“Noah, I need to talk to—”
“Noah! Did you see my letter? They printed it!” Coach Latham rushed up to the table waving a paper, and Olivia stiffened. Coach Latham had written in? It must have been one of the ones she hadn’t read. “Never had a letter in the paper before,” he went on. “Wouldn’t have ever done it if it wasn’t for you!”
Olivia stilled and caught a flash of consternation in Noah’s eyes.
Had he been involved in the letter-writing campaign, after all?
Olivia stepped back. Noah reached toward her, but she held out a hand to ward him off, going cold, then flushing hot as the reality of what he’d done hit her.
He was working against her. Against her family. Just when the Coopers had finally found a way to gain some positive traction here.
This is about the Ridley property, nothing else, a little voice in her mind said, but Olivia didn’t care. Whatever it was about, it was underhanded and mean. And he’d done it while wooing her, while sweeping her off her feet—stealing away and making love to her—
He didn’t care about her at all, did he? He just wanted his family to win.
He’d been pulling one over on her, and she should have seen it coming. Thirteen years ago Maya had pretended to be her best friend, right up until she’d discovered the evidence that put Olivia’s father in jail. Now Noah was pulling the exact same move, and Olivia had fallen for it all over again.
Shame flared through her, heating her skin. How dare he? How dare he mess with her that way?
“Olivia!” Noah called after her, but she was already walking out.
Out the door. Onto the street. Out of his life.