A Home in Hill Country (Harlequin Heartwarming) by Roxanne Rustand

he’d be thankful for everything you’ve done. I promise I’ll take good care of this place, and his horses, too.”
    Nora turned away and busied herself with gathering the halters, lead ropes and hoof picks that Luis and Cody had left on the fenders of thetrailer. “You be careful, hear? Young woman and a child out here, all alone…”
    “I’m not some city slicker afraid of the dark, Aunt Nora. Remember, I spent part of my childhood here. I won’t miss the streetlights and traffic.”
    “It’s not just that.” Nora inclined her head toward the barn, so Kristin fell in step with her as she headed that way.
    Once the tack was stowed, Nora leaned against a stall door with one booted foot cocked back to rest on the rough timber. “I don’t know how much you know about your dad.” She laughed dryly. “Kids usually aren’t aware of everything that’s going on, and I expect your momma didn’t feel too inclined to share a lot of good memories, eh?”
    “True,” Kristin admitted. “Though she didn’t run him down in front of me. I know they fought a lot more after the foreclosure of our ranch. And after the divorce, I didn’t get to see him much.” She forced a smile. “I missed him.”
    “My brother was a good man. A hard worker, and I believe he was as honest as they come. Things never did go right for him, though. Drought and cattle prices foreclosed his ranch. He scraped and saved, and rallied a lot of friends to join him in a partnership to buy thousands of acres of good Texas Hill Country, back before the prices hiked up so high. People…” Nora paused.“Well, when the consortium went under, there were a lot of people around here who were hurt bad. Some lost their life savings, some lost the family ranches they’d mortgaged to join in. A lot of them blamed your dad, saying he’d talked them into a foolish scheme.”
    “But it wasn’t his fault, right?”
    “No. It wasn’t the fault of the man who over-saw the day-to-day operation of the place, either. Zeb Ritter worked hard as any man could, and your dad was out there, too, working twelve-to eighteen-hour days for him. The economy and the drought were at fault, but it’s easier to take failure when you can pin it on someone.”
    Maybe that’s why her dad hadn’t had much time for a young daughter who’d lived so far away. “That’s not fair. ”
    “Yeah, well, Zeb committed suicide almost eighteen months ago, and your dad died the month before. Neither one is left to blame, now.” Nora’s lips thinned. “I wanted you to understand, because there are still some locals with hard feelings.”
    “I’ve already run into a few of them.”
    “There’s something else.” Nora paced to the side door of the barn and stared out over the dry, rolling landscape with her thumbs hooked in the back pockets of her worn Levi’s. “Everyone in these parts knows how that sorry excuse-of-a-manGallagher wanted the K-Bar-C land. Power and control is everything to him, and it sticks in his craw that the Home Free committee nabbed it.”
    Kristin joined her at the doorway. “But what can he do about it?”
    “Nothing legal,” Nora scoffed. “I just want you to understand what’s going on around here, and I want you to be careful.”
    “I hardly think the man can kick me off my land.”
    Nora rested a calloused hand on Kristin’s arm. “Your dad worked for Clint up until a few weeks before he died. They must’ve had a big argument, because Nate either quit or was fired. I’ll go to my grave thinking there was something fishy about my brother’s death so soon after that.”
    Startled, Kristin drew in a sharp breath. “But it was ruled an accident.”
    “I have no proof. But your dad drove that road most every day of his life. He knew every curve, every bump. The weather was dry. The sun had just set, so the light was still good. The sheriff doesn’t agree with me, but I believe someone forced your dad’s truck off the road. And I think I