“A room and bath, I believe.” Max increased his stride, and Hannah grasped his arm, held tight, and gritted her teeth as she tried to match his pace. Lord, but she would be miserable when she got home.

She could feel him straighten his shoulders. “It’s settled, then. I’ll tell Jose my plans for the dairy and that we think it’s a fine idea about the restaurant, and that he can bring Irena up from Charlotte and so forth. We’ll work out the details later.”

“That was fast.”

“Not really. I think deep inside I knew this day was coming.”

Ahead of them a granite outcropping came into view. “Let’s sit over there and you can tell me about your lunch with Bob and Zachary,” Hannah suggested. “I take it it went well, if you’ve asked your son to climb the mountain.”

“The boy’s got a degree in history.” Pride filled his voice. “Imagine that. Studied as he traveled and did one of those correspondence courses from an accredited university. Now, that takes initiative and determination.”

“Is he expecting to teach history?”

“I don’t think so, but you never know. He’d need to go back and get a master’s degree, he says. Meanwhile, let him find out all he can about those seven hundred acres.”

They sat for a while on the warm, flat boulder. “Bob questioned Zachary, and Zachary actually opened up about his life and travels, told us how he met Sarina.”

Max talked, and Hannah leaned against him trying not to think about her aching knees and cold hands.

“It boils down to this. Zachary loves to explore new places, and we haven’t a clue what’s up that mountain. Getting him up there to informally survey the area would be a great way to find out, keep him busy, and maybe give us something to talk about.”

“Back when we were trying to stop Anson from selling to that developer, didn’t Wayne go up that mountain hunting for ruins or rare species of plants, so we could make a case against a housing development?” Hannah asked.

“He made it up several hundred feet, but the brush thickened and he stopped. I doubt he even knew what the heck to look for.”

“What’s going to keep Zachary from stopping when he gets to that same area?”

“Jose has a man we’ll send along with him, someone with a mean machete arm. He’ll tackle any underbrush they run into. I don’t want Zachary up there alone. You never know what’s there, sudden drop-offs, snakes, waterfalls, caves.”

“It sounds like it might work, and who knows what could come of it?” Hannah shivered under Max’s jacket.

“I’m hot and you’re shivering. Let’s get back down.” Rising, Max helped her to her feet.