Page 18 of Smokescreen

She also planned to get a list of any competing ranchers who might want this property from Reid, people who might have tried to convince him to sell.

She stared at what she’d just written. This was a good start, but she and her team still had a lot to uncover.

She’d just started composing a message to Tevin when a shout sounded outside.

Closing her laptop and tossing it on the bed, Olive rushed to the window.

She glanced out in time to see someone running from one of the feed barns yelling, “Fire!”

Olive dashed downstairs.

As she reached the first floor, Hannah appeared from the back of the house, wringing her hands. “I already called 911.”

“Thank you,” Olive told her before rushing outside.

She sprinted across the lawn in time to see several men running into the barn. Smoke billowed out one side.

Olive searched the people around her, looking for any familiar faces. Reid and Trick must already be inside.

She started to dart inside also when arms encircled her, stopping her in her tracks.

Her first instinct was to elbow whoever had touched her.

But well-to-do Olive Abernathy would never do such a thing.

“Reid would have my neck if I let you go inside that building,” a deep, gruff voice said.

“Let me go.” She couldn’t see the man’s face, nor did she recognize his voice.

“Only if you promise not to run in there.”

Olive’s jaw tightened, and she reminded herself to stay in character. “I won’t.”

The man didn’t immediately loosen his grip on her. Instead, he slowly said, “I’m going to trust you. But if you break that promise, I’ll grab you again. Don’t make me do that. I don’t like manhandling my boss’s girlfriend.”

Irritation clenched her muscles, and she swallowed the snappy response that wanted to leave her lips. “Good to know. Now let me go!”

Finally, the man released her.

She turned and saw it was Cooper, the ranch foreman. The fortysomething man was thick with brawny muscles. He wore a black Stetson and appeared to be bald beneath the hat. A gold hoop earring graced one ear—not something Olive expected to see on a cowboy.

Cooper stared at her as if she were a wild, unpredictable animal that might cower—or might lash out.

Finally, his shoulders loosened, and he said, “I’m Cooper, Reid’s foreman.”

Olive gulped in a breath, using all her self-control not to run into that barn. “Olive.”

“I know.”

“What if someone is hurt in there?” She nodded toward the barn.

“They’re not. Reid and my guys are getting the fire under control.”

“How do you know? You’re out here, not inside with them!”

“Because I know those men. They’re competent. And the fire wasn’t as big as you might think.”

Questions raced through her mind. Who had set this fire? How much damage had been done?