Page 35 of It's a Wonderful Knife

I frowned. “No more than he did her.”

Royce glanced over, and his gaze softened. “They’re both the same level of despicable if you ask me.”

“Agreed.” Movement on the edge of my vision made me turn my head. My heart almost stopped when I saw Amelia peering around the corner of River and Lucas’s cabin. Her gaze was fixed on Santiago’s retreating back, and her expression was murderous. “Oh, no.”

“What?” Royce glanced sharply at me.

“Amelia… she’s there over by River’s house.”

He sat up, looking alarmed. “Seriously?” He followed my gaze. “Oh, boy. Do you think she heard them?”

I let out a shaky breath. “Judging by the daggers in her eyes, yeah. She heard them. I think the whole farm probably heard them.”

Royce’s voice was strained as he said, “This is bad, Max. This is very, very bad.”

Chapter Six

Royce

“Smokehouse bacon pasta alfredo,” Elle announced, setting down a big dish of delicious-smelling food. The scent of garlic and mozzarella cheese wafted down the table.

“Wow, that smells fantastic, Elle.” I smiled at her.

“Thanks. It’s Dakota’s favorite.”

Dakota nodded. “It sure is. I can’t wait to dig in.”

“There’s garlic toast too.” Elle set a basket on the table. “And peach cobbler for dessert.”

“I’m seriously beginning to worry I’ll have to perform open-heart surgery on all of these people if this bacon theme continues,” Max whispered to me, helping himself to a generous serving of salad.

“Bacon makes everything better,” I said, although because he looked so concerned, I didn’t take as big a portion as I’d have liked. The amount of bacon being served didn’t surprise me because Elle always leaned heavily on bacon for her cooking. But Max was right, and I had no desire to die of coronary disease, so I also took a healthy serving of salad to fill my belly.

Gianna was in good spirits, laughing at everything Santiago said. She’d brazenly picked a seat across from Amelia and Santiago, and Santiago was eating up the attention. I had little doubt she was playing footsies with him under the table because she didn’t seem to be using her brain. Amelia was seething, her eyes dark with jealousy. She barely said a word during the meal, but she watched Gianna like a hawk.

Richard was leaving in the morning, and he seemed in good spirits. He’d mostly kept to himself the few days he’d been here. He hadn’t joined in with any of the activities, and I was wondering why he’d even made the trip. All he’d really done was join us for meals and crawl around in the underbrush. Maybe it was the cop in me that smelled a rat.

The lights flickered at one point, and when everyone started whispering uneasily, Mona stood up. “Don’t worry, folks. We have backup generators if the storm knocks out the electricity. This isn’t our first rodeo.”

Ezra spoke up too. “The storm was expected to hit later tonight, but it seems to be coming in early. Because of the poor weather, we won’t be able to take the moonlight hayride we had planned.”

There was a disappointed murmur from the group, but Max looked relieved.

Ezra waved his hands in a placating movement. “We’ll make it up to you tomorrow night.”

Dakota frowned. “I don’t think we’ll be able to do the hayride tomorrow night either.”

Ezra gave his son an impatient look. “Why not?”

“Well…” Dakota now seemed uncomfortable that he’d gotten his dad’s attention. “It’s just that… I heard it’s supposed to rain the next few days.”

“No need to worry ahead of time,” Ezra sniffed, stroking his beard.

“Oh, I just don’t want anyone to get their hopes up,” Dakota said quietly.

Mona watched their interaction with a frown. “There’s nothing wrong with thinking ahead. If the storm does continue, we’ll just have to figure out other ways to entertain the guests, right, Dakota?”

Dakota nodded. “Yes. That’s what I was thinking. We should be prepared for bad weather.”