“Exactly,” Nate replied, his tone just as somber. “All they have is a rumor and a helluva lot of speculation—”
“A damn lie, that’s what it is,” Holt barked, and Nate nodded his head.
“Yeah, a lie, but a lie that could have gone a long way toward shutting us down. At least we’re given the time to prove our innocence and that a lie is all this is.” He paused and took a deep breath. “And that’s where Ellie fits in,” he said. And at mention of her name, Shilah raised his eyes, narrowed them.
“She’s working as a subcontractor. She’ll be at the ranch, observing the animals for usual signs of the disease, as well as taking blood samples.”
“And how did she become involved?”
“This I don’t know. I’m only glad that she is, not because I expect any favors, but because she is someone we know, someone we trust. Someone we know isn’t in Rolling Hills’s back pocket,” Nate replied.
He went on to inform them that she would be on the ranch over the next several weeks, and that she would have their full cooperation.
“But … despite the fact that we consider her like family, we need to keep it business. Not interfere—no taint of interference can be on this investigation. This has to be legit, up front. This is the only way to squash all the bullshit rumors.”
After speaking, he glanced over at each of them, waiting for everyone’s consent. When his glance landed on Shilah, he saw his brother frown, a look crossing his face, before his gaze moved on.
Shilah pushed off the wall he’d been leaning against, feeling his body tense.
“We have to clear our ranch. Our name,” he finished, encompassing everyone in his statement.
Shilah’s glance slid around the room, going to each face. Tension and underlying fear was thick, palpable in the room. Yet, a steely look of determination was on both of his brothers’ faces, as well. The Wilde brothers wouldn’t go down easily.
“I guess you’re right. Ellie’s investigation will not turn up one damn thing wrong with our processing of the animals, or the animals themselves,” Holt said, walking over to Yasmine, looping his arm casually around her shoulders.
“I’ve asked her to come tomorrow and speak to the men. Explain what she’s doing here, and what her role is. I’ve also told the men to give her their full support. Anything she asks for, any help she needs is to be given. And of course we’ll do the same,” Nate finished, and everyone nodded their heads in agreement.
The birds chimed from the antique grandfather clock that stood in the corner of the room, indicating it was now past midnight.
Nate glanced toward the clock before rising, lifting Althea’s hand and facing his brothers. “That’s it, fam,” he started. “We go on with running the ranch, doing what we do—”
“And doing it damn good,” Holt interjected, a grin on his tired face.
“That’s the only way we Wildes know how to do it,” Shilah agreed, and the brothers all shared a look.
As they all began to disperse, Nate called out to him, asking to have a word with him before he left. Nate waited until they were alone before he began to speak.
“Shilah, we need to discuss something.” Nate approached, a worried frown pulling his brows together. Something told Shilah the discussion centered around Ellie.
Although carefully keeping his expression neutral, Shilah wracked his brain wondering how … if his brother had somehow found out about his involvement with Ellie.
He mentally cursed. Hell, talk about jumping the damn gun. He’d only had a one-hour conversation with her and here he was thinking, if only in his mind, that they were involved.
Nate stopped in front of him, crossing his arms over his chest, and stared at Shilah. With his brows together, the expression on his set face confirmed to Shilah that somehow his brother had figured out there was something going on between him and Ellie.
Even though Shilah himself hadn’t figured out exactly what that was, he was damned if he was going to allow anyone to stop him from finding out.
Shilah pushed away from the wall, feeling the muscles in his neck, his entire body, tense as he faced his brother.
“Listen, we need to talk about Ellie.”
Even if that meant going against his entire family.
Chapter 6
“Was there a reason you didn’t tell me you were in charge of the investigation against me and my brothers?”
Ellie jumped at hearing the deep voice and spun around to see Shilah Wilde lounging in her office doorway casually, his arms folded across his broad chest.
She clutched the file folder she held in her hand tighter, before turning back around and calmly placing it inside the drawer and closing it shut.
The sound of his voice sent a fizzle of awareness through her, unreasonable as it was sudden. Ellie drew in a deep breath to compose herself before she faced him.
“I wouldn’t call it that, Shilah,” she said calmly, despite the way her heart was beating out of control.
“Then what would you call it, Ellie?”
She grew uncomfortable beneath his stare. He simply stood in the doorway, his gaze raking over her as she stood next to her desk. She sighed, blowing out a breath.
“Come in, please,” she invited. After hesitating briefly, he pushed his large frame away from the doorway and moved to walk inside. “Close the door behind you, please.”
She glanced toward her computer, where she’d been in the middle of shooting off an email to her supervisor at Jasper and Brant, the firm that was subcontracted with the USDA, giving him an update of her status.
She subtly pressed a button on her console, sending her computer to sleep.
“I know I should have told you the reasons I was at the ranch when we were together a few days ago. I’m sorry that I didn’t.” The words were inadequate, Ellie knew, and offered no real explanation.
But she had no explanation herself. All she knew was that when she’d seen him again her reasons for being at the ranch had flown from her mind.
Ellie had chosen not to examine her reasons too closely. Her encounter with Shilah, although brief, had elicited old feelings, feelings she’d had as a child, about the ranch, her accident … and Shilah.
“I wasn’t trying to hide anything from you. I—I—” She stopped, sighing. “I’m sorry, Shilah.”
She saw his face lose some of its stiffness, and the tension in the room eased.
“I guess it just hit me out of the blue when I was told. I wasn’t expecting it. To be honest with you, it’s not your fault, not really. I got so caught up in just talking to you, was so excited to see you that I didn’t think to ask you myself.”
The minute he finished speaking, she saw his face slightly flush, as though he hadn’t meant to say what he had. She felt an answering blush on her own face.
“Anyway, I understand,” he continued. “The ranch has been going through a lot … this investigation came out of nowhere for us. Had Nate not been tipped off …” When he paused this time, Ellie knew that whatever he’d been about to disclose was something she didn’t need to know about.
She raised a hand. “Hey, why don’t we put this out there now. I can’t discuss what’s going on, and neither can I know about any inner workings of the ranch.”
Shilah was shaking his head before she could finish.