page16 (1/2)

Chapter Four

Gabe cranked the engine of his Hummer and put the s up and the A/C on The blast of cool air was exactly what he needed after the worrisome issue with the equipment The problem didn’t make sense His people took every safety precaution and his company’s tools were top notch There was no reason for the failure that could have, at the very least, set them back for weeks At the worst, someone could have been injured He was proud of Eot hurt on his watch

He was still chewing over the situation when Brooke broke into his thoughts “Does Vincent work for you?”

Gabe glanced at his neighbor She’d turned slightly in the seat, gnawing at her bottom lip At some point while he’d been inside the office, she’d taken down her ponytail The resultclothes with her hair up What he thought noas that Brooke Clayton was one beautiful woman Thick waves of pale blond hair fell past her shoulders and set those huge blue eyes off to perfection He was lousy at describing a pretty wo

“What?” he asked, feeling stupid because he’d coht

“Vincent Does he work at the mine?”

“Oh Vincent” He sed “Part-time He works at a ranch somewhere, too Why?”

“You shouldn’t trust him, Gabe”

He blinked, surprised at the vehe people and he’d read friction between the cousins even though Vincent had said all the right things But so far, he’d found Vincent to be a useful employee

“Care to elaborate?”

“He’s not a nice person You can’t trust him”

Which didn’t tell hiiven me no reason not to”

Her nostrils flared, but she didn’t argue She shifted away, crossed her arazed out the side , silent

“I’ve heard about the bad blood between some of the Claytons I don’t need that kind of trouble onhelp with the local workforce I can’t complain”

Still, she said nothing Apparently, the bad blood ran thick and deep and straight into the younger generation He changed the subject

“Did AJ behave himself?”