Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 140795 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 704(@200wpm)___ 563(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140795 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 704(@200wpm)___ 563(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
“What do you think is on my plate?” Reaper asked, his voice tight with anger as shame filled him, expecting the inevitable had happened and that he had been recognized from the movies that Slate had made of him. Had someone from Treepoint seen them and spread the gossip of what he had done?
Matthew answered him matter-of-factly. “I think worrying about becoming infected from the woman you tried to save and protecting Ginny from her stalker gives you a pretty full plate. You don’t agree?”
Isaac coming back into the building was a welcome interruption.
“I shouldn’t be the only one worried about being infected. All of you should be concerned.”
“We are.” Isaac snorted, taking the spoke that Matthew handed off to him before going back outside. “Which was why we hightailed into town to get Ginny.”
“You’re not concerned with Silas contracting the sickness?”
“If he does, he does. We’ll worry about it if it happens, just like if Ginny or you do,” Matthew stated practically, handing another spoke over to Isaac. “Won’t be the first time one of us has been sick and another has to take care of them.”
“This virus is killing a large number of people overseas.”
Matthew paused before sticking the spoke into the furnace. “You do know who you’re talking too, right?” The shadowy flames played across Matthew’s profile. “The Colemans have been fighting against the odds of surviving for generations. This isn’t anything new for us.”
Reaper had to respect how the Colemans lived. Isolated, they led their way of life on their own terms without help from anyone. They stood firm in their dignity, despite the harassment they had to deal with when they left their mountain.
He could understand why Ginny had worked so hard to earn enough money to build a home, and why she wanted her children raised here. It was an idyllic way of life that didn’t exist anymore, except for the precious few willing to brave the challenges.
Were they brave enough to take Ginny out?
Something kept nagging at him about her stalker. He couldn’t put his finger on it, and he was beginning to suspect that Shade and Rider had the same feeling, which was why they were so determined for him to take over. Fresh eyes could often see what others couldn’t.
Using the opportunity of Isaac being inside the building, Reaper told them that he was leaving. Continuing in the same direction, he strolled through a copse of trees, wanting to map out Ginny’s brothers’ homes and find any vantage points where Silas could be watched.
Coming out from the trees, if he hadn’t been looking where he was going, he would have fallen down a steep hill. Below, a home had been built in a bowl-like indention in the mountain, secluded by the trees and invisible to the naked eye.
He had no idea the mountain he had driven past numerous times had this scope of land farther up from The Last Riders’ clubhouse. How far did the Colemans’ land go?
Ironically, he hoped Ginny’s stalker tried to scope out the property. He would be scraping their remains off the bottom of the basin.
The thought had no more than entered his mind when the hair on his neck stood up. Spinning on the balls of his feet, he saw Ginny staring at him from under a tree behind him.
“I came out to warn you. I see I was too late.”
Chapter Thirty-One
The way he had spun to confront the person behind his back hadn’t given Ginny time to mask her expression. Everything she felt for him had been captured in that moment before she could disguise her feelings.
The knowledge of it shouldn’t have weighed so heavily on him. She had been telling him how she felt with every word and touch from the beginning.
“I was trying not to startle you, which was why I stayed back when I saw where you were standing. Matthew and Isaac were worried you might fall and wanted me to warn you about the drop-off.”
Slowly coming to stand next to him with her hands in a thick blue jean jacket, Ginny looked down at the basin. “Moses lives there,” she informed him when he made no attempt to talk to her.
“How does he keep it from flooding when it rains?”
“Dad rented an excavator.” Ginny pointed to the side of the mountain from where they were standing. “He used the rocks to divert the water to a pond on the other side of the rocks. He moved the cow pins there, too. They roam during the day, and one of the boys pins them in at night.”
“How many cows?”
“When I was little, Freddy usually kept four. Two calves, then two grown ones.”
“Saves the need for foraging for racoon and squirrels.”
Amusement shined on Ginny’s face, uncovering a deep inner beauty that, like the land she was standing on, couldn’t be appreciated from a distance.