The Millionaire's Club: Connor, Tom & Gavin: Round-the-Clock Temptation / Highly Compromised Position / A Most Shocking Revelation. Michelle Celmer

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СКАЧАТЬ what I’m here for,” he assured her. “We’ll get to the bottom of this.”

      She gave him a brusque nod. “I’ll show you to your room.”

      He hooked his bag over his shoulder and followed her up the stairs. Her boots echoed against the bare wood steps and her backside swayed temptingly in front of him. She may not have the overly accentuated curves and feminine sweetness some men liked, but something about her stirred a yearning in Connor, a deep longing he hadn’t felt for a very long time. A recklessness that tempted him to throw common sense aside and act on his feelings.

      As he always did in these cases, he shoved those feelings deep down and kept them under lock and key. He’d learned long ago not to let his emotions get away from him. When he did, bad things happened. People got hurt.

      And pretty as she was, she could still be a murderer.

      Nita led him down the hall to his room. “Jane will change your linens once a week and you’ll find fresh towels in the bathroom closet,” she said from the bedroom doorway. “There’s only one bathroom upstairs so I hope you don’t mind sharing.”

      “I don’t mind.” Connor set his bag on the hand-stitched quilt draped over the full-size bed. The room was decorated in creams and beiges with dark blue and green accents and the pine furniture looked to be antique. It was a small room, but he didn’t need much space.

      “If you leave your dirty clothes in the bathroom hamper Jane will wash them for you.”

      “I can do my own laundry.”

      Nita laughed—a husky, rich laugh. “You’ll have to get through Jane first, and I’ll warn you, she’s temperamental as a rattlesnake when it comes to other people using her fancy new washer and dryer. Ever since I plugged up the drain and flooded the laundry room trying to do a load.”

      “Long as she doesn’t mind,” Connor said.

      “Believe me, she doesn’t. She takes a lot of pride in keeping the household running smoothly. Normally she would be here to greet you and show you around, but she’s at the hospital with Daddy.”

      “She’s been with you a long time?”

      “Ever since Momma got sick. Jane practically raised me and my sister.”

      Which meant she would be unlikely as a suspect, but he had to consider every angle. Every possibility.

      She nodded toward his bag. “Would you like some time to unpack and settle in?”

      “No, ma’am, I can do that later. I’d like to get started. I’ll need a tour of the house and the property.”

      “We’ll have to be careful. The boys haven’t gotten all the holes filled yet, and I don’t want any more horses or people hurt. I’m assuming you can ride.”

      He hadn’t ridden since he was a kid, but he was sure once he was in the saddle it would come back to him. “I’ll manage.”

      “Well, then, why don’t we head out to the stable?”

      They started down the stairs, side by side, and Nita’s scent drifted his way. She smelled like fresh air and dust and faintly of sweat. And something else, something sweet, and a little flowery. Since he couldn’t imagine her wearing perfume, he decided it was probably her soap or shampoo. And it was distracting him.

      Now he understood what his brother, Logan and Gavin had been alluding to when they asked Connor if he would mind working with a woman like Nita. They weren’t worried that he wouldn’t like her. They thought he might like her too much. But he wouldn’t let this attraction he was feeling cloud his judgment.

      “Tell me about this feud,” he said to get his mind back on track. “I’ve heard a lot of rumors. What’s it really all about?”

      “It’s been going on for over a hundred years. My great-great-grandfather, Richard Windcroft, lost half his land to Nicholas Devlin in a poker game. The Windcrofts swore that he cheated, but the courts ruled in Devlin’s favor. A few weeks later Nicholas was shot dead and my grandfather was blamed, but there wasn’t enough evidence to convict him. We’ve been at odds ever since.”

      “Do you think Richard killed him?”

      “He swore he didn’t, and Windcrofts are honest men.”

      “So, if the Devlins are behind the threats, why do they want you off the land?”

      “They’ve always wanted our land.”

      “But why now?”

      Nita shrugged. “I don’t know. Do they even need a reason?”

      “Do you think there could be a connection to Jonathan Devlin’s death?”

      She stopped and spun to face him, her eyes dark with anger. “Don’t think I don’t know what people are saying. I may have hated Jonathan Devlin, but I didn’t have anything to do with his death. Not me or anyone else here. You got that?”

      Whoa. She didn’t pull any punches. He hadn’t known too many women who were so in-your-face direct.

      “I don’t listen to gossip,” he told her. “Only facts. And right now, the facts don’t point to the Devlins.”

      “If it’s not the Devlins, then who would do this. And why?”

      “That’s what we’re going to find out.”

      “It’s the damndest thing,” Jimmy Bradley said. He, Nita and Connor stood in the west corral studying one of the holes the farm hands hadn’t yet filled. After touring the property, Connor understood how someone could dig holes in the more remote areas undetected. Under the cover of darkness, unless someone was out guarding the perimeter, it would be nearly impossible to see them. But whoever had done this one had dug not three hundred yards from the bunkhouse where the farm hands slept. The question was, why?

      The holes were definitely made with a shovel, and the guilty party had left footprints in the fresh dirt. Connor crouched down and inspected the tracks. They were cowboy boots, and large, so he was guessing it was a man. Which could have been half the population of Texas for all he knew. Without a boot to compare it to, the prints wouldn’t do him much good. He’d call Gavin and have a deputy come out and photograph them just in case.

      One thing the prints did tell, him however, was that Nita hadn’t done this—not that he’d thought she had.

      “Could it be someone working on the farm?” Connor asked Jimmy.

      “No, sir,” Jimmy said with a firm shake of his head. “A few of the hands might be a little wild, but they’re good, honest men and loyal to the Windcrofts. They would never do this.”

      Connor stood and brushed the dirt from his hands. “What about a past, disgruntled employee?”

      “Well, there was one man we let go early last year,” Jimmy said. “And it wasn’t on the best of terms.”

      Nita shot him a deadly look. “He wouldn’t do this.”

      “I СКАЧАТЬ