Connor stood across from them on the other side of the kitchen table. He’d been keeping his distance all day. Not that he wasn’t still following her everywhere, he’d just been doing it from a couple yards away.
He was a tough one to figure out. She’d told him she didn’t want commitment, and still he’d turned her down, even though he was obviously attracted to her—because there were things about him she didn’t know. Well, heck, there were things about her he didn’t know, either. They didn’t have to be best buddies to enjoy each other’s…company. As far as she was concerned, it was better that they weren’t. She didn’t like it when men got attached to her. That was right about the time they started trying to change her, to mold her into something she didn’t want to be. Something she couldn’t be.
He thought he had issues? Well, who didn’t? That shouldn’t stop them from having fun.
“We’ve been looking for some sort of pattern,” Jake told Nita. “But so far we’ve come up empty.”
There was a time, when she first met Connor, that she’d thought Jake was the more attractive of the two. His stunning smile and cheerful disposition were hard to resist. But there was something about Connor, something dark and exciting, that intrigued her.
And the more Connor eluded her, the more frustrated she grew. Maybe it was the thrill of the chase, but she’d never wanted a man the way she wanted him. It felt almost like an obsession. Getting in his pants was all she seemed to think about anymore, and at the same time, it wasn’t about sex.
She didn’t know what it was about anymore.
“There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it,” Gavin said. “If we knew the location of the land, it might make more sense. All we know is that it’s somewhere in Royal.”
“We thought maybe Connor would recognize some of the markings,” Jake added.
Connor shook his head. “Sorry. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”
“It looks old,” Nita said.
“Jessamine Golden disappeared shortly after the turn of the last century,” Jake told her, “making the map at least one hundred years old. Most of the landmarks could be long gone by now. It could be next to impossible to determine its location.”
“Let me have a look at that.” Her daddy hobbled in from the living room on his crutches. “I’ve lived in Royal my whole life, maybe I’ll recognize the land.”
Jake and Gavin nodded and Connor stepped aside so Will could take a look.
Her daddy studied it for all of about two seconds when his brow furrowed and he asked, “You fellas aren’t pulling my leg now, are you?”
“What do you mean?” Nita asked.
“I mean, is this some kinda joke?”
“You recognize it?” Connor asked.
“Well, of course I do. This here is Windcroft land.”
Nita looked at the map again and shook her head. “But Daddy, that’s too big to be Windcroft land.”
“But it used be bigger,” Connor reminded her.
“Before the Devlins stole it from us,” her daddy added bitterly. “I reckon this map was drawn up before the poker game.”
Nita looked over at Connor. “Are you telling me that all that gold is buried here?”
Connor smacked himself in the forehead. “All this time it was staring us right in the face. I can’t believe I didn’t figure it out before.”
“Figure what out?” Jake asked.
“All the holes dug on the property.”
“Oh my gosh,” Nita said, the truth knocking her for a loop. “They weren’t dug to hurt the horses after all. Someone was looking for buried treasure!”
“And I’ll bet that gold is the reason that someone has been trying to get you off the land,” Connor said.
“But who?” Gavin asked.
“Jonathan Devlin had this map,” Will said. “And he would have recognized the land, too. Probably every one of the Devlins knows about it.”
“But do they know which heart marks the treasure?”
“Considering all the holes we found,” Nita said, “they don’t have a clue.”
“There’s so many of them,” Will said. “It could be anywhere. In the corrals, under the stables or the house. It could take years to find it.”
“And we still don’t know who’s doing the digging,” Nita added.
“But we’re getting closer,” Jake said, rolling the map. “Connor, could Gavin and I have a word with you?”
“Nita, would you mind if we use the office?” Connor asked.
“Of course not,” she said.
“Wait for me here,” he told her, his tone threatening enough to let her know he meant business.
She saluted him. “Yes, sir.”
Shaking his head, Connor led his brother and Gavin into the office, switched the light on and closed the door. “What’s up?”
“We just wondered how things are going out here,” Jake said. “If you’ve found any evidence linking Nita to Jonathan Devlin’s murder.”
“Nita is a lot of things, but she’s not a murderer. Alison is right, she’s not capable.”
Jake grinned. “Is that your personal or professional opinion?”
He shot his brother a look.
“She is awfully cute,” Jake taunted.
Gavin laughed. “If she ever heard you call her that, I’ll bet you’d be nursing a black eye. She doesn’t strike me as the type who would appreciate men referring to her as cute.”
“Does she know why you’re really here?” Jake asked.
“Yeah, she knows,” Connor grumbled, and she sure as hell hadn’t been making his job easy. Twice that day he’d taken his eyes off her for about half a second, and when he turned around, she was gone. She was stealthy as a cat and twice as obstinate. She was going to fool around and get herself hurt.
That gold was worth millions. If it really was buried somewhere on their property as the map indicated, who knows to what lengths the people searching for it would go to get their hands on it.
“By your tone, am I to assume she’s giving you trouble?” Jake asked.
“From what I hear, trouble is her middle name,” Gavin said.
Connor snorted. “That’s an understatement.”
“At least we know for certain that someone else is responsible for the problems out here,” Gavin said. “And we know why.”
“But is it the Devlins?” Jake wanted to know.
“Tom called me today saying he had new information about the feud,” Gavin told them. “Rumor has it that about four weeks after Jonathan died, his grandson Lucas, Tom’s uncle, approached Will Windcroft in the Royal Diner. Witnesses heard Lucas saying something about the two of them needing to talk, but Will got angry and stormed out of the restaurant. Tom was supposed to have a meeting with Lucas to try to find out what it was he needed to talk about.”
“Maybe it’ll be the answer we’re looking for,” Jake said.
“I’m hoping it is. He wants us to meet at the club tomorrow