She met his hard stare, gnawing on her lower lip.
“If you are involved with anything illegal up there, you best tell me right now.”
She gaped as the shock hit her like a slap. He couldn’t really think she had anything to do with this. Could he?
He looked serious enough. “Because I will not be dragged into another mess.”
“I’m not involved with anything illegal.”
He continued to stare, lips pressed thin and colorless.
She threw up her hands in disgust. “Okay! I swear! I’m not involved in anything, and all I know is someone cut my fences, half my herd is gone, I’m missing cattle and now I owe a fine.”
“What is it you want me to do, exactly?” he asked.
“Check the fields for tracks. Tell me everything you can. Maybe poke around in the upper pasture.”
“The crime scene, you mean.”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Fifty bucks?”
He shook his head. “I want a cow for my sister’s Sunrise Ceremony.”
“Your sister?” Some of the fight drained out of her, replaced by shock. Izzie touched the gold crucifix, rubbing it between her thumb and index finger before letting it drop. “I thought Jovanna was...”
“So did we. She’s not. Just missing. We are going to find her.”
Izzie absorbed that bit of news. It was really none of her business, but she remembered the bright and happy little girl who left with her mother for her first contest and never came back. If they could find her, they’d need every bit of that cow to feed all the company and relatives who would attend. A homecoming and a Sunrise Ceremony. Goodness, there would be hundreds of people.
“She’s been gone a long time,” said Izzie.
Clay said nothing to that.
“All right, then.”
He replaced his hat. They were close to a deal. Once she’d known him intimately. But then he had been a boy. This man before her had become a stranger.
He made a sound of frustration in his throat.
When he met her gaze, she braced, knowing he had reached a decision. And also knowing that once Clay Cosen settled on a course it was nearly impossible to change his mind.
When he finally spoke, his voice was tight, clipped and frosty as the snow off Black Mountain.
“All right. One cow. My pick.”
It took a moment for Izzie to realize that she had won. She blinked up at Clay, recovered herself and nodded.
“My pick,” he repeated. “And if you are lying to me or dragging me into something illegal, I will turn you over to Gabe so fast, little brothers or no little brothers.”
It was a threat that hit home, for while her mother still ran the household, Izzie owned the cattle. It was a sticking point between her and her mother, for her father had left the entire herd to his eldest daughter instead of his wife. Her mother, a righteous woman with a knack for scripture, also had a habit of spending more than her husband could make. And though her father had had trouble telling his wife no, Izzie did not. Which was why she had increased the herd by forty head and also why her mother was equally furious and proud of her. Izzie planned to keep her promise and pass her father’s legacy to her brothers. Up until today she had done well. Up until today when she had lost fifty-one head. Her shoulders slumped a little, but she managed to keep her chin up.
“That’s a deal.” She stuck out her hand and pushed down the hope that he would take it.
He stared at her hand and then back to her and then back to her hand. Finally he clasped it. The contact was brief. But her reaction was not. She felt the tingle of his palm pressing to hers clear up to her jaw. Why, oh why did she have to have a thing for this man?
Clay broke the contact, leaving Izzie with her hand sticking out like a fool. Clay rubbed his palm on his thigh as if anxious to be rid of all traces of their touch. She scowled, recalling a time when things were different.
“When do we start?” she asked.
“Sooner is better. Tracks don’t improve with time.”
“Let’s go, then. We can take my truck.”
He hesitated, glancing to his vehicle. She followed his gaze, noticing he did not have a gun rack.
“You want to bring your rifle?”
“Don’t carry one.”
She frowned, thinking she had not heard him correctly. Clay hunted. He fished. Surely he had a rifle. It was part of life here. Shooting at coyotes and gophers and rattlesnakes, though she usually took a shovel to the snakes. Everyone she knew carried a firearm. But everyone she knew had not been charged with a crime.
He was allowed to carry one. His rescue earlier today proved that. Was it because he now knew the difference between robbery and armed robbery?
“What did you use earlier?”
“Belongs to the office.”
She eyed him critically. He didn’t just look different. He was different in ways she could only guess at.
“You don’t hunt anymore?”
“Sometimes with my brothers. I mostly fish.” He glanced away, and his hands slid into his back pockets as he rocked nervously from toe to heel, heel to toe.
Finally he looked up. She met Clay’s gaze, and his expression gave nothing away.
“Still want my help?” he asked.
Izzie nodded.
He glanced toward his house, and she realized that he must not have eaten yet, since she’d caught him before he even made it to his front door.
“I’ll buy you a burger after,” she promised.
His mouth quirked. “Okay.”
He strode past his battered pickup toward her newer-model Ram with the double wheels front and back and the trailer hitch behind. Oh, how her mother hated this truck, even though it was a used model.
Izzie watched Clay pass. His easy gait and graceful stride mesmerized her until she realized he was headed toward the driver’s side. For a minute she thought he meant to drive. Izzie still had two years’ worth of payments on her truck, and nobody drove it but her. But instead of taking the wheel, Clay opened her door for her and stepped back.
She felt her mouth drop open but managed to hold on as she nodded her thanks and swept inside the cab. He waited a moment and then closed the door before rounding the hood and removing his hat. Then he slid in beside her, hat in his lap. He fiddled with the seat controls, sending his seat as far back as it would go, and still his knees were flexed past ninety degrees. Then he sat motionless as she headed home.
“Who do you think cut your fences?” he asked as they rolled down the narrow mountain road from his place and toward hers out past Pinyon Lake. Here the forest lined both sides of the road