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door of a battered pickup just a dozen feet away. The narrowed look he gave her was laced with pure venom. “Like living alone, do you?” His voice was low, deadly. “Just you and that daughter of yours, and the old lady?”
    He was a complete stranger, but the threat in his voice was unmistakable. She stared back at him in disbelief. “Wh-who are you?”
    His laugh was sharp, without humor. “Don’t matter none, now does it? Especially not to a high-and-mighty McAllister.”
    She bit back a sharp reply. High and mighty? If only he knew. Forcing herself to ignore him, she turned away to walk into the drugstore, though she felt his glare burning into her back.
    When she glanced over her shoulder, he was gone.

FOUR
    “I don’t see anyone out there now.” Wade Hollister tipped the blinds down with a forefinger and peered out the front window of his law office, his lips pursed. “What did the guy look like?”
    “Middle-aged, probably. An old, silver-belly gray western hat. Leathery skin. Maybe a little over six feet.” Janna shifted uncomfortably on the wooden chair, thankful that she’d dropped Rylie and Claire off for a visit at her sister Tessa’s place before coming into town. “He didn’t threaten me, exactly, but he sure seemed to relish the fact that my mother, daughter and I are living out at the lodge on our own.”
    “Your description of him fits half the cowboys in this county, Janna. Did you see what kind of truck he had?”
    “Dusty. Beat up. A dark color—black, I think.”
    “And that describes about half the trucks. Maybe it isn’t such a good idea, you being so far from town.” Wade released the metal blinds and turned toward her with a frown. “Two women and a child alone.”
    She waved away his concern. “We aren’t.”
    “I’m not sure your lodge guests would be much protection, my dear.”
    “Our first one sure is.” Janna sorted through the manila folder in her lap and withdrew a draft of a lease contract for Snow Canyon Lodge. “Can’t beat an interim sheriff.”
    “He’s not there all the time though, is he?”
    “No, but soon we’ll have a constant parade of guests, which ought to dissuade anyone from causing trouble. Too many eyes.” She held out the document. “My mother and I discussed your latest version last night. We’re ready to sign, once we have a final copy.”
    Wade settled into the leather executive chair behind a mahogany desk that dominated his modest office space before leisurely reaching across the polished surface to accept it. “You’re sure you don’t want to wait awhile? Just to make sure this is the right decision?”
    “It is.”
    “Even though it locks you into a ten-year contract?”
    “ With the right to renew for the same time period, and to buy that part of the Snow Canyon Ranch property.”
    Janna remembered Wade from her high school days, when he’d been a young history teacher fresh out of college.
    Though he’d been a nice guy, he’d been an uninspired instructor, and after that first year he left town and went to law school.
    Maybe that distant association made him feel like her mentor, but at the age of thirty-three she wanted help with legal matters, not fatherly advice.
    Moving an ashtray aside, he braced his elbows on the desk and steepled his fingertips. “That murder investigation isn’t going to be good for business.”
    Startled, she met his gaze.
    “Don’t be surprised,” he said with a chuckle. “This area doesn’t exactly have the latest dispatch system technology. The locals can entertain themselves by eavesdropping with their scanners. I heard the call, and I expect half the people in the county did, too.”
    Michael’s parting words now sent a shiver through her. “The killer might not be too happy about this discovery.” What if he was still somewhere in the area and had already heard about it?
    She lifted her jaw to show confidence she didn’t quite feel. “There’s no proof it was a