again. “I heard you’d been back to the Evans Ranch with a proposition for them. Is that true?”
“Yes, it’s my job to negotiate between buyers and sellers and set the terms.” Julia nodded. “Who told you that?”
“It’s not important. Did you persuade that frail old man to sell his family land off to a developer?”
A sense of coldness settled low in Julia’s gut. “I offered him several options, one of which was a proposal from a developer who specializes in environmentally sympathetic and sustainable resort accommodation and restoration in rural locations. What about it?”
“Brooksmiths?”
“Yes.” She frowned. “They are an excellent company, how do you know about them?”
“That’s a really interesting question, Julia. Does Blaine know who they are?”
She shrugged. “He might have heard of them, but I doubt he would’ve been interested in their philosophy. He wasn’t the most environmentally aware person I’ve ever met.”
“If he was ‘aware’ of them, do you think he might have mentioned them to Miguel?” All trace of the usual smiling Kaiden Miller she loved had disappeared, leaving her completely off balance. She’d never seen him lose his temper before. It wasn’t a pretty sight.
“Miguel?”
He raised his eyebrows. “Are you going to tell me that your father didn’t mention that Miguel came to the ranch?”
“I’ve barely spoken to Dad. I literally got in late from Bridgeport, took a shower, and drove out to Morgan Ranch.” Julia pressed a hand to her throat. “Miguel came to see Dad? When?”
“Yeah, with his buddy Blaine Purvis.”
“And you didn’t think to let me know about that at the time?”
“Miguel said you knew everything, and to be honest, Julia, how else would your brother know Blaine if you hadn’t introduced them?” Kaiden wasn’t letting up.
“I don’t know the answer to that.” She had a horrible sense that the whole discussion was veering over a cliff that she hadn’t even realized was there, and that Kaiden’s current agenda had nothing to do with declaring how much he cared about her. “What else did Miguel say?”
“That you’d both decided to sell the ranch.”
“And you believed him?”
“Not at first, but I think I have a right to ask you what your intentions are when you’ve just taken on a job where you’ll be encouraging Mr. Evans to give up his ranch to this ‘sympathetic’ developer, and might think of doing the same to your father.” He shook his head. “What the hell is wrong with you, Julia? Mr. Evans trusted you!”
“Actually, I’m not at liberty to discuss Mr. Evans’s business decisions with anyone, and you, personally, have no right to ask me anything.” Julia’s hand curled into fists.
“Okay.” He paused and let out a frustrated breath. “I’m trying to understand here. Does Brooksmiths pay you a commission or something? Does Blaine? Is it worth it for you?”
“Wow.” Her voice was shaking so hard she could barely control it. “I didn’t realize you thought I had no soul.”
“I didn’t say that—”
She forced herself to meet his gaze. “Everything you just said was so completely wrong that I’m not even going to attempt to defend myself. If you truly think that’s what I’m like, and that’s what I’d do, then you really don’t know me at all.”
He sounded just like her father, assuming that a woman could never be trusted, that she’d always lie, and she was sick of it.
“I’m just trying to get the truth, Julia.” Now he sounded almost as wretched as she did, but she wasn’t buying it. “I don’t want to believe any of it.”
“But you chose to believe Miguel.” She shrugged. “And that’s not the first time you’ve done that, is it?”
He frowned.
“When Miguel told you I would never go out with you, you said all kinds of awful things about me. That’s why you fought that last time, because he defended me.”
“I fought him to make him shut his damn mouth,” Kaiden snapped. “He was the one who said foul things about you! He thought I’d be willing to spread disgusting rumors about his own sister! I would never have done that.”
“Even more reason that you shouldn’t have believed him now, then.”
“I didn’t! I tried to call you—”
“Hogwash.” Even after that startling revelation, Julia wasn’t about to make things easy for him. “I don’t know how Blaine got to Miguel, or what he offered him. Maybe my dad mentioned him. I do know that someone from my law firm contacted my mom and asked her if she had any remaining interest in the ranch.”
“Your mother?” Kaiden frowned.
“Yes, I suppose