Free UlteriorMotives by Chandra Ryan Page A

be.”
    “That’s what bartenders do.” His hand hovered over the
doorknob and his brow had started to sweat. She could tell that he wanted out
of the room. And she wanted him gone twice as bad. But not until she’d found
out as much as she possibly could.
    She smiled the best she could even as her stomach cramped.
“Still, awful noble to lend a friend your ear so often. Especially since you
weren’t profiting from it. Heck, I bet it even cost you some customers. Nobody
likes to sit around and listen to the same old bellyaching day in and day out.”
    “If they want alcohol on this rock they have no choice.”
    “That’s right. They don’t, do they?” Her head still buzzed
with the headache but she continued to push forward. “And there is no thirstier
bunch than miners, ain’t that right?”
    He looked confused but didn’t bolt. “Miners are my main
clientele. They’re good salt.”
    Of course they were. And almost always single to boot. With
such a dangerous job, not many women would tie their futures to them. Not only
were they drinking most of Jake’s alcohol but she was willing to bet they were
the ones regularly bedding the women too. “Too bad the farmland is so good. If
there were more miners, I bet you’d make a fortune.”
    “Farmers are a pretty thirsty bunch as well. Don’t you be
worrying about little old me. I’m doing okay.” With that, he opened the door
and then slipped out before she could say anything else. But she’d already
heard enough.
    She’d bet he did better than okay now. He’d probably be
doing fantastic once LMX-3 set up shop though. The company would increase the
number of miners by threefold. And the farmers would eventually be forced out
because of the land pollution. It would be a windfall for him. And all that
stood between him and all that money was her little ranch—unless she did
something to stop him.
    Her reader sat on the table next to her. Without much
effort, she grabbed it and sent off a message to the sheriff. She thought about
sending a message to Jasper but decided against it. The last thing she needed
was Jasper confronting Jake. Jasper could take the tavern owner in a fair
fight, no doubt about it, but a snake was always meanest when it was cornered.
And it would never occur to Jasper to fight dirty. It was one of the things she
loved about him.
    The room swayed around her. Loved about him? She respected
him, sure. He might have started out lying to her, but since then he’d put
himself in harm’s way several times trying to help her. And he’d been honest
and upfront with her about his father. That couldn’t have been easy. He truly
seemed to have a passion for helping people. And phenomenal sex never hurt. But
did that make it love? And if it was love, what would him leaving do to her?
Her stomach cramped hard enough at the thought that she felt sick.
    Oh she was screwed. Regardless of what she called it, him
leaving was going to hurt. She bit back a gasp of surprise at the burn of
unshed tears. Ranchers didn’t cry. They especially didn’t cry over city boys.
Ranchers manned up and solved their problems. And she would do exactly that.
She would figure a way out of this. Really she should be happy she caught it so
early. Now she could limit the damage his leaving would do. She would survive
this because she could survive anything.
    As if the universe heard her and decided to take her up on
the challenge, the alarm for the house started blaring around her and a mist of
water droplets from the sprinkler hit her at exactly the same moment. This
couldn’t be a good development.
    She bit off a curse as she smelled the faint wisps of smoke.
She’d have to worry about the broken heart later. Right now she had to deal
with the snake in her house. She knew who had set this fire. It wasn’t a
creative move, but apparently Jake had decided to up the stakes this time.
    Thankfully Jasper had left her crutches in a corner. She
could hobble over to them and