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His sister. For a full ten seconds she was stunned, and she was...

Why had she assumed it was his lover? Even if she wasn’t his sister, she could have been a committed girlfriend. Or even a wife. It wasn’t like she knew everything about Levi.

So why had that been the go-to? And why had it bothered her so much?

Well, the truth was, she didn’t trust men as a species because of her dad. Sad but true. The thing was, if someone you’d known all your life could turn out to be hiding secrets, then anyone could be.

Many Dateline episodes supported that theory.

So maybe her go-to was a bit more judgmental than it should be. But that was how she stayed safe. It wasn’t personal to him. It was just her issues.

That was all.

She really didn’t know enough about him. Well, she did know he had a sister. Sisters, in fact. And a brother. She knew about the Grangers. It was that thing where you talked about people but you didn’t necessarily know all the details because it was from a hundred different sources. But everybody knew each other’s biography in a small town.

Levi Granger had been taking care of this ranch since his parents died when he was a teenager.

He had younger siblings, and they’d been in his care, too.

Many people sighed with sympathy when they talked about him, though in the next breath they often said that he was a difficult asshole.

It was funny, though, that she hadn’t even thought about his siblings when she had come up here. Or really, his biography in general.

Her dad leaving, her mom leaving a few years after, those events had impacted her profoundly. It stood to reason that Levi would be even more affected by his parents dying. Maybe it wasn’t entirely fair of her to judge him.

Well, she could judge him, she supposed; it was just that perhaps his behavior had a fair source.

She would remember that during the day when she was tempted to be irritated at him.

“I’m Quinn Sullivan,” said Quinn. “I work at Four Corners next door.”

“Oh, I remember you. From the meeting.”

Which meant Camilla probably wasn’t her biggest fan.

“So, what are you doing here?” Camilla asked.

Quinn straightened, trying to look official. “I’m consulting.”

Levi cast a disdainful eye over her that seemed to say: we’ll see. Then he looked up at Camilla. “You should go ahead and get packed, Cam. You need to get ready to head back to school.”

“I do?”

“Yes, you do. I already showed you that I’m good.”

“She’s your consultant,” said Camilla, looking shocked.

Quinn looked at him, and then looked at Camilla.

She had no idea where that had come from. Or what it meant.

“Yes,” she said. “I’m his consultant. I have a degree in agribusiness, and experience with admin and business at Sullivan’s Point, and I’ve offered to put in some time here.”

She could feel his rage getting hot and bright, and that made her feel...

Just. Damned. Fine.

She had one on him. His sister was worried about him. He wanted her to leave, and he’d already told a lie to get her to do it, and now Quinn was here.