Read Slow Ride Home (The Grady Legacy) for Free Online

task for tomorrow morning. Though Kathy had said they wouldn’t need to talk to Ackerman and Freeman, the original Bull’s Hollow lawyers, unless Tank didn’t cooperate, Allie didn’t agree. Rumors about one of the Grady men having an affair had floated around the ranch. Rumors she’d been told to ignore so she had, especially when Ben had scoffed at them. But stranger things had happened. Not that she expected Randy to reveal family secrets either, but his reaction to her questions might give her a direction to search.
    Then she could go back to Houston with its triple-digit temperatures and oppressive humidity. While the temperature was only a few degrees cooler up here in Bull’s Hollow, the humidity was much lower, which made the heat bearable. How quickly she’d acclimated to the east coast’s seasons.
    “I’m heading home.” Kathy shoved her cellphone into her pocket. “You comfortable interviewing this Panola fellow?”
    “Tank and I got along fine. I can find out what the issue is. Don’t worry.” Allie leaned on the counter. “Are you sure you shouldn’t assign someone else? Logan’s argument that I’m a liability is valid.”
    “AJ, this case should be fairly open and shut. You’ve handled others like this before.”
    “It’s different with people I know.” With Ben.
    “Which is exactly why you’re perfect for this case. You knowing Panola could be our ace in the hole. He’s more likely to be honest with you than he will be with me. Think of the old honey instead of vinegar saying. See if you can sweet talk him into signing back the land but if he doesn’t agree to sign off, don’t be afraid to pull out the vinegar. Once you’ve got the word from the family’s old lawyer that they didn’t handle any sales to Panola, go after this fellow with guns blazing. Because sure as shooting he’s trying to cloud the title as payback for your Ben firing him. Threaten to sue him if you have to, ask him how much it’ll take to get him to sign away his rights, then remind him we can sue his ass. Are you okay with that?”
    “I’m fine with it.” She’d have to be if she wanted to keep her job. Not that she particularly enjoyed working for SSTG, but she’d grown fond of living with a roof over her head and food in her cupboards until she found somewhere else to work.
    “Same with the Gradys. If they’re trying to hide anything, if the Gradys fudged their Title Insurance application, you’ve got a better shot at reading them because you know ’em.”
    “I couldn’t read them when I lived here. I would never have—” She swallowed the rest of the sentence, not willing to get into a discussion of her past with her boss. “I wouldn’t have trusted them the way I did.”
    “Which puts you more on guard. You’ll be watching them closer. Besides, I got a load of how Ben looks at you. You can deny it all you want, but he’s still got a thing for you, and I’m not ashamed to admit I’m willing to ask you to exploit his attraction all you can.”
    He was probably remembering what she used to do for him. Wondering if he could seduce her again. “You’re seeing things.”
    “Nope. I’m not. By the way, I want deets on this history they referred to. It’s more than what you told me earlier, isn’t it?”
    “You know all you need to. The rest doesn’t matter.”
    Kathy lifted her eyebrows. “Uh-huh. You realize I’ll get it out of you eventually.”
    “You’ll try, I’m sure.” But she didn’t share everything in her life, especially with her boss.
    They walked out to Kathy’s car, parked beside Allie’s trim Honda.
    “You can do this. I’m counting on you to be thorough. Shake whatever tree you have to. Rattle their cages. Dig up their dirt. Eighteen million is too much to lose if this claim is real. And if there is another heir hidden somewhere, we might be facing losing the whole thirty-three million. Do your job the way I taught you. If you do, you’ll have evidence