Page 4 of The Risk

It hadn’t even occurred to him that it could be one of his sisters. Horror filled him for one too-fast moment as it occurred to him that Genesis lived with him, too.

Then rational thought returned. He knew where his sisters were for once—all three of them.

Gene stepped between her and the sight of the woman’s body. “They are all three with George’s family today, watching the kids while George takes Ronnie to the doctor. I dropped them off with Calvin this morning. They are all fine, honey. I promise. I don’t know who that is there—but she’s not one of my sisters.”

The forensics team got to work, minus Charlie’s daughter Charlotte, for obvious reasons.

Sheriff Addy’s wife was one of the forensic supervisors. She was efficient, damned good at her job, and sweet as cotton candy. He’d known her for years.

But it was strange to see his field turned into a crime scene.

“Once we figure out how long she’s been there, there will be questions,” Chantal’s brother said. “For you, and your brothers. Even your sisters. And mine.”

“Because of ease of access.” Gene understood it theoretically. But... he was a rancher, not a cop. “We fenced this section off months ago. Going to let it go for the next few years. Only onesthat I know come through here at all are your sister and mine. They still walk along the fence line.”

“They’re going to have to take the damned car next time. Whoever did this... Chantal and Genesis would make damned easy targets.” And Charlie’s fury was hard to miss.

Of course it was.

Charlie’s sister... hell, all anyone had to do was look at her to see she wasn’t much of a threat. Gene’s hackles rose even thinking about that.

She and Genesis were out here all the time. Greer and Giavonna, too. Now there was a woman buried in his field. And someone had put her there. Gene wasn’t going to let them hurt anyone else he cared about.

He looked for Chantal, just to make certain she was okay now.

Hell, he did care about her. Gene would never be able to deny that. He doubted she realized that.

What had happened between them had probably destroyed that years ago.

It took far toolong for Chantal’s peace of mind for the police to remove the woman’s body from the field. Everyone was asking her so many questions, it made her want to scream.

She didn’t do well with large crowds of people to begin with. This was a nightmare. But Charlie was there, and so was her brother’s daughter, Charlotte.

Charlie didn’t let anyone get too close or pushy with her. He’d told the men from Homicide and from Major Crimes to cool it when they got too intense. They hadn’t realized she was Charlie’s sister until then. That was all that had them backing off.

And… Gene.

Gene was there and was somehow always between her and the police. Not that he was doing it on purpose. Not Gene.

He wouldn’t protect her from anything. Not even a viciously poisonous spider. Not Gene. He despised her. One bad incident—that she hadn’t even caused—and he had treated her like dirt ever since.

Of course, mostly they just avoided each other now.

Finally, the rest of his family arrived. Gene, Grady, and Gunn lived on the family ranch. The Hiller Ranch was almost as big as the Barratt Ranch about forty-five miles north. Their property even bumped against the Barratt Ranch in a few places. They worked hard to make the Hiller Ranch one of the best in the state. Sometimes, the Hiller brothers came over and helped her father with whatever they needed done there on the much smaller Fields Ranch. And they paid her father a fair rent for the fields he couldn’t tend now, too. The money came in handy.

They had started off with more land than the Hillers, but through the generations, that had shifted. Now, she helped her father with the two hundred twenty acres Chantal’s father still possessed. They’d sold off all but three head of cattle years ago—enough for them to have beef each year, with some left over for Charlie and his little family. They’d buy three calves from the Hillers every year to keep it stocked.

Most of what they ran on the place was Angora goats and rabbits. Her mother had gotten involved in goat milk products years ago and still made soaps and things. When her father had gotten to the point where he didn’t want to ranch so heavily, he’d sold two-thirds of their land to the Hillers and invested more into her mother’s herd of goats.

Chantal had expanded that into Angora rabbits three years ago.

Then she had learned to weave and had found her true passion. Now, she took special commissions and sold other pieces online for what, to her, were exorbitant prices.

They didn’t make much, but combined, they had enough to pay the bills. Like her father had said, when he was gone, he wanted her and her mother to have a way to support themselves, so they could keep the ranch that meant so much.

To Chantal. Her brothers helped when they could, but ranching was not something Charlie or Chad were interested in doing at all.

But Chantal… she loved the ranch. And she would do whatever she had to do to keep it.