Dangerous Refuge Read Online Free PDF Page B

ranch?” Tanner asked. “Any other reason for the Conservancy to want it so bad? I mean, it has a nice view, but so do a lot of places here.”
    “I’d have to evaluate it. There have been offers over the years, especially in the last couple, when real estate looked cheap here compared to Carson City or Reno. That’s one of the reasons Lorne hired me, actually. He’d gotten tired of fielding all the queries. He wanted to spend more time actually ranching and not doing the business side of things. He knew he couldn’t do everything forever. Frankly it’s something of a miracle he worked as long and as hard as he did.”
    “Any of his poker buddies interested in the land?” Tanner asked.
    “If they were, they didn’t come to me.”
    “Anything else I should know?”
    “Not at the moment.”
    Tanner stood up. “I’ll be in touch. You have my cell-phone number if you need anything from me.”
    “Of course,” Millerton said, standing quickly. “I’ll see you out.”
    “Not necessary. I have a good memory.”
    He also had a date with the nearest place that rented suits. Dress clothes were the last thing he’d expected to need in Refuge, Nevada.

Five
     
    T his dress is too small, Shaye told herself.
    You just like jeans better.
    She could almost hear her mother’s accusation echoing down from the past, louder than the party clatter in the Crystal Room of the Tahoe Sky Casino. Her mother was the original girly girl, from a family who could afford all the designer frou-frou anyone could wear.
    Shaye had been raised the same. She still wore designer armor, but only for business.
    This is business. Quit whining.
    The dress still felt too confining and too revealing all at once. The perfect cocktail costume.
    So why do men wear cloth head to toe and women wear a minimal, wet-Kleenex look?
    She gave a cool glance to a man ten feet away who appeared to be visually counting the stitches in her neckline. When the man, who was easily twice her age, realized he’d been caught staring, he started counting the onions in his empty martini glass.
    She swept the large room with a glance, looking for a friendly face. All she saw was more of the designer crowd. The staff of the Ranch Conservancy fit right in. Not for the first time, she was struck by the fact that despite the Conservancy’s mission, it spent most of its time catering to the rich with galas like this. Even if the small ranchers had been on the gala’s A-list, they would have been be too tired and too broke to attend.
    Not to mention the currents of hostility the ranchers felt for the rich outsiders who were changing their life. Locals wanted nothing to do with the fancy Tahoe Sky Casino, much less the ostentatious Crystal Room.
    One day, maybe Kimberli will let me throw a barbecue and kids’ rodeo for the real people in the valley. In fact, the next time she apologizes to me for her dumb mistake with Lorne, I’ll insist on it.
    What’s done is done, she reminded herself. Learn from it, pick up the pieces, and move on. Just like you have before.
    Concentrate on all the good Kimberli is doing. She’s not IQ smart, but she’s a genius at fund-raising.
    Trying to look happy and alert rather than sad and weary, Shaye circulated, barely touching the champagne that glowed pale gold in her glass. It was hard not to think about yesterday, and how she had found Lorne. The contrast between then and now was just too stark.
    Last night’s run-in with Lorne’s nephew had been almost as bad. Just who the hell does he think he is, treating me like an intruder. I’m a better friend to Lorne than Tanner Davis was. Or anyone else in this room, for that matter.
    Giant capital letters silkscreened on a banner suspended from the ceiling spelled out LORNE DAVIS . Jewelry flashed among the attendees, and clothing gleamed with wealth.
    Lorne would have taken one look and walked out.
    Shaye certainly wanted to. But unless she planned on returning to San Francisco and being