We cant really make a decision until all my brothers see the place, Tag said. Hayes said nothing.
She could feel the tension between the two men. Well, let me know. This property wont stay on the market long. Ill lock up. She moved past Hayes to turn out the light and lock the door.
When she came back out, the brothers were leaving. She shivered as she felt someone watching her. Her gaze shot to Hayes, but he was looking off toward the mountains and his brother was busy driving.
Im losing my mind. Hayes Cardwell wasnt her attacker. So why, when she thought of his brown eyes, did some memory try to fight to surface?
* * *
GUS THOMPSON WAS going to see McKenzie no matter what anyone said. When hed come out of the police station and climbed into his vehicle, he hadnt known where to go or what to do. He had to save his career, and McKenzie was the only one who could do that.
Restraining order or not, he would see her.
He had racked his brain, trying to remember where she said she had a showing today. Something about a listing in Big Sky. A former restaurant. Hed quickly checked to see what commercial restaurant space was under the multiple listings at Big Sky and laughed out loud when hed found the restaurant with ease.
It didnt take much to find out what time she was showing the place. Hed called the office, changed his voice and pretended to be the person she was showing the restaurant to. Within minutes, hed found out that McKenzie would be at the restaurant this afternoon at two to meet the Cardwells.
For a few minutes after hed hung up, hed tried to talk himself out of driving up to Big Sky. The last thing he needed was for her to call the police before she heard him out. It appalled him that she thought she could just fire him and hed go away. Well, she was dead wrong about that.
Unfortunately, the forty-mile drive had taken longer than hed expected. Summer traffic. Hed forgotten about the damned tourists so he hadnt been able to beat McKenzie to the restaurantwhich had been his intent.
Fifty minutes later, hed parked next to a small grocery in a space where he had a good view of the restaurant with the M.K. Realty sign out front. Hed arrived in time to see two men pull up in an SUV only moments after McKenzie.
Hed been forced to wait, telling himself it might work out better. He would grab her after her showing. He could get a lay of the land before he did anything stupid. More stupid, he thought, thinking of Cynthia, the receptionist. She wasnt even that cute.
While he had no patience for waiting, he was surprised when the showing only took a matter
of minutes. He had to laugh. Boy, had that not gone well. And now McKenzie had just lost her best salesman. She would definitely regret firing him, probably already did.
He saw his chance when the two men McKenzie had shown the property to got into their SUV and drove away. The restaurant location was somewhat secluded, separated from the other businesses by pine trees.
Once he got her alone, shed be forced to listen to what he had to say.
As he started his vehicle, planning to park behind her car so she couldnt get away, he saw her looking around. Was she worried he might show up? Or was she looking for the man whod attacked her last night? Her gaze skimmed over him in his vehicle where he still sat, motor running. He looked away, glad hed driven his silver SUV that looked like everyone elses around here.
When hed dared take a peek again, she was headed for her car. He couldnt let her just drive away. His best chance of talking to her was here rather than back in Bozeman.
Gus shifted the SUV into gear. He told himself all he wanted to do was tell her what he thought of her firing him, of accusing him of attacking her, of treating him like an employee rather than appreciating what he did for M.K. Realty.
He just needed to have his say. He wasnt stupid enough to touch her. Or threaten her. He had the right to have the last word. She couldnt just get rid of him in such a humiliating way and think he was going to let it pass.
But as hed started to drive up the road to the empty restaurant, another vehicle pulled in and parked next to her car. Annoyed, he saw that he would have to wait again. He hadnt come all this way to give up. He killed his engine with a curse. If he couldnt get to her now, then soon. She would hear him out, one way or another.
* * *
MCKENZIE HATED THE scared feeling she had as she hurried to her car. Her gaze took in the activity lower on the hillside. She told herself shed just imagined someone watching her. Down the road, there were families in vans with laughing and screaming children, older people trying to park in front of one of the small businesses that dotted the meadow, a young couple heading into the grocery store.
Everywhere she looked there were people busy with their own lives. It was June in Montana, a time when in Big Sky, it seemed everyone was on vacation. No one had any reason to be watching her.
Still, she gripped her keys in her fist until her hand ached as she neared her car. She wanted to run but she was afraid that like a mad dog, the person watching her would give chase. She couldnt see anyone watching her and yet the hair rose on the back of her neck. The afternoon sun had sunk behind Lone Mountain. Shadows moved on the restless breeze through the pines next to the building.