Colton Cowboy Jeopardy (Coltons of Mustang Valley)

“Tired and paranoid. And sad. Dad texted me this morning, but it probably wasn’t him. So I was careful.”

“I don’t think it will take Spencer long to get back to us.”

A faint smile touched her lips. “Were you able to search at all?”

“I found another place the box is not,” he said.

“Good.” She took a bite of the cobbler and closed her eyes. “This is epic.” She handed him a fork. “There’s enough to share.”

One more boundary he plowed right through for Mia. They polished off the sweet dessert and she reached for her laptop. “I think I have a better idea. Come over here.”

As he sat down, he caught her minimizing a map of residential Las Vegas and a tab with home listings in Denver. “Are you thinking of moving?”

“Yes. Call it plan B. Or G, or whatever letter I’m up to by now. We can talk about it after you see what I found for you today.”

His stomach cramped. His search seemed less important lately. He had all his life to find that box. Mia’s situation was more urgent. She couldn’t stay out here indefinitely and was clearly making plans to move on.

Without him.

Why the hell did that hurt?

Yes. She was thinking of moving. Said it as if that was the most obvious solution. It was. She couldn’t live in secret out here forever. He looked down into Silas’s face, his ears ringing and his heart hammering that his time with this little guy was limited.

“Jarvis. You’re not listening.”

“Sorry.” He focused on the map of the ranch filling her screen and th

e point where her finger hovered. “Your son is a terrible distraction.”

Her expression softened. “I know.”

An unsettling feeling of rightness sifted over him. This woman, with that warm, uninhibited love shining in her eyes and her child in his arms, was right. For him. He could almost hear the click as everything snapped into place. He hadn’t counted on this at all.

Was her love worth the effort and risk theory rubbing off on him? He’d initially blamed her philosophy about life and living on motherhood and a daughter’s tender heart and devotion. He had no idea how to explain the reaction rocketing through him.

He felt Silas getting sleepy and he stood up, swaying gently with the baby. “Why add this spot to the search?” he asked, the unfamiliar emotions making his voice rough.

“I made a few calls this afternoon. Many of the public records have been scanned in and I was able to access them online. I’d rather be there in person, but...” Her voice trailed off and she stroked a curl of hair over Silas’s ear.

“Anyway,” she cleared her throat. “I took a closer look at which acreage was acquired when.” She zoomed in. “We’re here,” she pointed. “And this sector northwest of us is a prime spot to look.” She tipped her face up, smile blooming. “I think it’s the spot.”

In his arms, Silas gurgled. “He seems to agree,” Jarvis joked. “Tell me more.”

“Either Herman or Eugene Colton picked up this strip of land just a few years before the date on that deed of sale that shows Herman sold the property to Ainsley.”

She clicked and opened a new window on her screen and a spreadsheet opened. “This is hardly proof of anything, but this is the list of when which parcels changed hands. Between Herman and Eugene and the Ainsley family, the acreage that melded into the Triple R was in flux for a long time.”

“But we’re not sure that first deed of sale between Herman and Ainsley was legit.” He said it out of habit as much as belief. He still had faith in his grandfather’s story, but that properly filed deed of sale would be hard to overcome. “It doesn’t make sense that Herman would sell the land and keep searching for the card cheat while telling anyone who’d listen that the property was rightfully his.”

“I know.” She looked at him, sadness filling her lovely eyes. “You may never know exactly what happened.”

Well, he had no chance of separating fact from legend without the box. “So that’s the spot?”

Her teeth nipped her lower lip and her mouth quirked to one side. “All it needs is an X,” she said with confidence.

“Can I take a look?”

She scooted over and he handed her the baby, before taking the seat she’d been using. He scrolled in and out on the image as he read through the documentation of this particular acreage. “This is even farther out than I expected.”