he got level with the car, the driver abruptly put up his tinted window and drove off.
Miguel waited for him to stow the wood in the back of his truck and come back to where he was standing.
“Who was that you were with?” Kaiden asked. “I didn’t recognize the car.”
“No one you’d know.” Miguel turned toward the house. “Are you going to be up here for much longer?”
“Why do you ask?” Kaiden politely held the door open for his companion.
“Because we’re paying for a housekeeper. If you’re always here Dad doesn’t need her.”
“I don’t have time to do her job and mine,” Kaiden said evenly. “And I think Julia’s paying Beth’s salary, not you.”
Miguel took off his sunglasses. “You seem to know an awful lot about what’s going on in my family.”
“That’s what neighbors do. We support each other.”
“So it’s got nothing to do with the fact that you’ve always had the hots for my little sister? I thought I’d blown that fricking candle out years ago.”
Kaiden shrugged. “You’d have to ask your sister about that. I can’t really comment.”
“I bet you can’t.”
“We’re not in high school anymore, Mig. Your sister is big enough to decide what she wants to do with her life, and who she wants to see.”
“Oh, she told me all about you hanging around.” Miguel’s smile wasn’t pleasant. “Bothering her again. She thought it was pathetic.”
Kaiden smiled and leaned back against the countertop. “See, the thing about Julia is, that if she did feel that way, unlike you, she’d tell me to my face.” Kaiden stared down at Miguel. “And, weirdly enough, she hasn’t, so I’ll wait until I hear from her directly, rather than believe you, okay?”
“You need to get off this ranch, Kaiden Miller.” Miguel squared up to him. “No one wants you here, sniffing around, making my dad all kinds of promises.”
“Promises about what?” Kaiden chuckled. “That the master bath will be finished in three weeks, or that the kitchen will take a bit longer? Give me a break.”
“You’ve always wanted this place, Kai,” Miguel said. “Even when you were a kid you’d come around here, desperate for my dad’s attention because your old man was a complete bastard. And, you still want it now. You think that you can have Julia, and that my dad will leave you the place instead of me. But it’s not going to happen, bro. You don’t get to take my inheritance away from me.”
“Man, that’s some imagination you have there.” Kaiden shook his head. “You know all you have to do is stick around and run this place, and it’s yours. You’ve always had that certainty, and you don’t want it, you never have. You couldn’t wait to get out of this valley.”
“That doesn’t mean that you get to take it instead,” Miguel retorted.
“I never thought it did.” Kaiden walked over to his workbench and picked up his tape measure. “If you don’t want the ranch, then give it to Julia. Let her put a manager in to run it for you.”
“Like she wants it either.” Miguel scoffed. “She’s definitely changed her mind since she found out how much we can get for it. That’s why she put me onto a guy who’s a whiz at maximizing profit from land sales. She knows as well as I do that Dad can’t run this place, and that he’ll want money to fund his health needs in the very near future.”
“What guy?” Kaiden tried to look dumb even as his heart plummeted to his boots.
“Blaine Purvis. He came to see me today to talk about selling the place.”
“You’re going to sell it? Has Juan agreed to that?” Kaiden tried not to sound too shocked.
Miguel shrugged. “He’ll come around.”
“I doubt it.” Kaiden took the pencil out from behind his ear. “If you’ve finished spouting all your conspiracy theories, can I get on? Despite what you think I have other jobs lined up after this one.”
“Actually, I don’t doubt you on that at least.” Miguel stepped back and assessed the kitchen. “I’ve got to hand it to you, Kai. This is quality work.”
“Thanks.” Kaiden returned his attention to his plans. “Juan and Beth should be back any minute now. Maybe you should put some coffee on.”
* * *
On the drive home, Kaiden couldn’t help but replay his conversation with Miguel over and over in his head. The allegation that he wanted the ranch for himself was stupid, but the other parts . . . He had been that needy kid