Bear Pause (BBW / Bear Shifter Romance): A Billionaire Oil Bearons Romance (Bear Fursuits Book 6) by Isadora Montrose

waiting for him when he climbed down. The other man looked worried and baffled. “Well?” He demanded.
    “Sabotage.” Steve said. “Someone deliberated punctured the roof. Good thing we haven’t had rain lately.”
    “Jesus,” said Lance.
    “Don’t think he had anything to do with it,” Steve said. “This is the work of somebody with a grievance,” he said carefully. “You got any disgruntled employees?” he asked.
    Lance shook his head firmly. “Nope,” he said. “We don’t have disgruntled employees on the Double B. Or in the stud. Miss Laura is a good employer. People tend to hang around for a long time. The closest thing we have to a disgruntled employee is that damn goldbrick Cory Saunders.”
    “Saunders is lazy,” Steve agreed. He looked up at the slits in the roof. “Probably too lazy to put himself out doing this. What about that guy I replaced, Duane what’s his name?”
    Lance shook his head. “Duane Petersen wasn’t a disgruntled employee. He didn’t so much quit as he left to get a better job. His uncle in Texas bought another truck, and he asked Duane to come drive it for him. Duane took off in a hurry only because his uncle has lots of nephews, and he figured the job wouldn’t stay open long.”
    “Huh.”
    * * *
    Morning turnout was nearly over. The stalls had been mucked out and grooming had begun. Laura noted that Steve Holden was nowhere to be seen. Why was she always watching for him? The last thing she needed was a sexual harassment suit. Carlos intercepted her on her way to say hello to Dakota.
    “You might want to see this,” he said handing her his phone.
    Laura scrolled through the photographs in disbelief. Her new barn roof was pockmarked with ragged holes.
    “When did this happen?” she asked him.
    “I don’t know when, Miss Laura,” Carlos said. “Lance Prescott and Steve Holden found them when they were getting the hay this morning. Steve took those photographs. And he and Lance found the tools that were used to make the holes.”
    “Oh,” said Laura. “Where?”
    “On our very own tool rack,” said Carlos indignantly. “Someone took a mallet and a chisel and stood on the hay bales and punched seventeen holes in the roof.”
    For a moment and Laura couldn’t speak. When she caught her breath she asked, “Who?” She didn’t ask why. Why was obvious. The intention had clearly been to get the hay wet. Damp hay got moldy. It could not be fed to horses. And worse than that, it presented a fire hazard. Fermenting hay had started many a fire, in many a hayloft.
    Carlos shook his head. “I don’t have any more idea than you do, Miss Laura. But I’m damn well going to find out, if you’ll pardon my French.”
    Laura looked at the foreman. Today he looked his age, as if this sabotage had made him feel his years. She gripped his shoulder reassuringly.
    “I don’t know who did this,” she said softly. “But we’ll find out. I guess I’d better call the insurance company.”
    I took care of that,” Carlos said gruffly. “And I called the Sheriff’s Department. They said they’d send a deputy out when they had one to spare. Frank Golden said that he could send a crew out to fix the roof first thing tomorrow. He is going to take out that entire section and replace it with matching shingles.”
    “Okay. Thank you, Carlos. Anything else?” This seemed to be as mysterious as the missing stock. Who could be trying to sabotage both the ranch and the stud?
    He hesitated. “I was going to show Holden how to train the horses on the lunge line this morning, but I don’t feel up to it.”
    Laura mentally raised her eyebrows. Teaching new hires to train the horses was one of Carlos’s favorite jobs. And he liked Holden. But Carlos looked frail this morning. This had hit him hard. Rather than risk embarrassing her old friend, she just nodded.
    “Where is he?” she asked.
    “Raking the paddock.” Carlos said.
    Raking the paddock was a euphemism for cleaning