“We can’t expect Trent to give us a handout every time we ask,” he said. “He put his body on the line for that money and he’s still paying for that decision.”
“Careful, Dad. It’s beginning to sound like you’ve forgiven him,” Janice said, trying to lighten the mood.
“I’ll like him better once he puts a ring on Kelly’s finger.”
“June will be here before you know it,” Janice said.
“I’m not wearing a monkey suit.”
Emily and Janice shared an amused glance. He’d wear a tuxedo if his granddaughter asked him to.
“And you better not piss away Trent’s money.”
“I’ll be paying Trent back as soon as I can. This is a loan. Not a handout,” Emily said, trying to keep her voice light and even. “The wind turbines will make us about eight thousand dollars a year. I should be able to pay Trent back in a little under six years.”
“That’s if all you do with the profits is pay him back. It may be longer than that,” Janice broke in. “Is Trent all right with waiting?”
Trying not to grind her teeth in frustration, Emily gave her sister a sharp nod. Trent said to take ten years, but Emily was determined to get rid of the loan as soon as possible.
“It’s a big responsibility,” her mother said. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
“Yes,” Emily said. Short and sweet and to the point. “But speaking of responsibility, now that I’m back home for good and I’ve got those wind turbines coming in, it’s time for me to get more serious about learning how to manage the ranch. And you should be getting serious about retiring.”
Janice dropped her fork. It was loud in the sudden silence. Nate gave Emily a “What are you doing?” look.
“What the hell does that mean?” Frank said with his mouth full.
Her mother put her hand on his arm. “I’d be happy to show you the books, Emily. It will be good to have a second eye on things.”
“I think it’s the next logical step. After all, Janice is going to have her hands full with the retreat center.”
Frank snorted.
Janice clenched her jaw.
“I don’t know anyone who is going to want to pay to camp out on our land,” Frank growled.
“It’s a good thing you’re not my demographic, then,” Janice said with fake sweetness.
Emily jumped in before they could get into a heated discussion. “And Kelly is going to be busy with her portrait studio and helping Trent with his bull-riding school.”
“So?” Frank said, reaching for another dollop of mashed potatoes.
“So that leaves me to become your successor.”
“What about Nate here?” Frank jerked a thumb at Nate, who had a chicken leg halfway up to his mouth.
“Please don’t get me involved with this. I’m the foreman. If I wanted to manage a ranch, I would have wasted my money going to college.”
“He doesn’t want it,” Janice said.
“That’s what he just said.” Emily rolled her eyes at her sister. “Anyway, that leaves me to be your second-in-command, Daddy. I’m going to be your shadow. I’ll be going with you on the cattle drives in the morning and learning everything else from you and Nate. That way, when you’re ready to retire, the transition will be seamless.”
“Retire? I’m not ready to retire.”
“Maybe we’re ready,” Janice muttered.
Emily kicked her under the table. “What Janice means is that we’re worried about your health.”
“Save your worries. I’ll be fine.”
“Yes, but you’ve worked so hard all your life. And you made sure we had the best of everything.”
Janice looked down at her plate. “That’s right.”
“We want you to take time to enjoy the little things, like Alissa and going fishing in the pond. Relax more and maybe even take Mom on a vacation.”
Nate might have muttered something that sounded like “that’ll be the day,” but Janice gave him a sharp elbow.
“Amen to that,” Sarah said.
“I can’t leave the ranch,” Frank said halfheartedly. She was getting through to him. “I’ve taken off so much time already, being in the hospital.”
“Sure you can,” Nate said. “We’ve got this.”
Emily held her father’s gaze waiting to see what he was going to lob out next, but to her surprise he just grunted and went back to eating. “I would like to go out with Donovan and bag some deer.”
Emily closed her eyes in frustration. One thing at a time.
“You do know we leave before five in the morning,” Nate said. “Cows got to be fed.”
“I am aware of that.” Like she hadn’t spent most of her summers on horseback with the ranch hands going from pasture to pasture and rounding up the cattle. “But there’s a lot more that I should be involved in, like the welfare of the cattle.” And eventually getting them out of the meat business entirely, but that was a discussion for another day.
Baby steps.
“Glad to see someone is going to use their college degree to help with the ranch,” her father said with a pointed look at Janice. And just like that, Emily was off the hook. She had never been happier for her animal science degree.
Janice was a veterinary technician who left the ranch to work with horses in dressage farms. Her father was still holding a grudge about that. Janice flipped her the bird under the table, but Emily felt vindicated since Janice had been an unbearable pill to her this morning. She knew her sisters loved her, but there were times when they got on each other’s nerves.
Her mother served an apple pie for dessert, which her father probably shouldn’t be eating either.
“I’m going to take Donovan a piece,” she said, rising up from the table.
Her father gaped at her for a moment, but recovered quickly. “I thought I told you to leave him alone.”
“You told me to stop pestering him. I don’t think bringing him a slice of homemade apple pie qualifies, do you?”
Narrowing his eyes at her, he said, “What are you up to? You’re not going to doctor the pie so he gets the shits tomorrow and can’t lead the hunt?”
“Dad,” Janice said, exasperatedly.
“I hadn’t thought of that. That’s a good one, Dad. No, he took me out to lunch this afternoon and I thought this might be a nice thank-you.”
“You went out on a date with Donovan Link?” Janice said.
“It was lunch.”
Her mother and father exchanged a look, and he shrugged. “Ask him if he’s seen Ghost yet.”
“I damn well will not,” Emily said. She wasn’t going to mention the white elk to a trophy hunter. That was all they needed—to have every yahoo with a rifle shooting at flashes of white for the chance to cut off and mount the head in their living room.
“Kelly wants to take some pictures of her,” Janice said. “Donovan knows not to shoot her. We want him to track her. Kelly is planning on entering the pictures in the state fair next year. It would be great publicity for the ranch.”
And for Donovan’s hunting tours, Emily thought sourly.
After wrapping a large slice of pie, Emily went outside. It was a nice night for a ride and she was going to stay on the new paved road, which was well lit, so she saddled Sunflower up and headed over. Unfortunately, there were several cars in his parking lot and the entire hunting lodge had every light on.
“Oh shit,” she said. His hunting party had already arrived.
“Hey, who’s this?” one of the men said from the porch as she approached. Sunflower flicked an ear, but otherwise didn’t respond.
“I’m here to see Donovan,” she said, getting down from her horse. She securely tied her to the hitching post outside because Sunflower had a habit of untying herself and wandering back to the barn.
“Hey, Donny, your girl is here,” another called back into the hunting lodge.
She climbed the stairs and they parted. Two of them smiled down at h
er and the others couldn’t be bothered.
“Hey,” Donovan said, coming out of the lodge. She was relieved he was here. The hunters were giving off some crazy vibes. You could almost taste the testosterone.
“I’m sorry to bother you. I wanted to swap my burger for a slice of Mom’s apple pie.”
“Come on in,” he said. “Guys, make yourselves at home. There’s more beer in the fridge and I think there’s a football game on in the basement on the wide screen.”
A few of the hunters decided to finish their cigarettes, but the others wandered back inside. Donovan led her into his office and shut the door.
“I love the smell of toxic masculinity in the evening,” Emily said.
He went into a mini-fridge and handed her the bag from the Mustard Seed. She exchanged it for the apple pie. “You didn’t have to come all the way out here tonight. I would have dropped off your lunch before we left tomorrow morning.”
“I didn’t come here for just for that. I didn’t think your hunters were coming until later.”
“They made good time. So why did you come?” He crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re not here to cause trouble, are you?”
Emily flicked the lock on his office door. “It depends on how you define trouble.” She kicked off her shoes. Her nipples puckered in anticipation as she pulled the T-shirt she had changed into over her head.
“Christ, woman, don’t you ever wear a bra?”
“Bitch, bitch, bitch,” she said, unbuttoning her jeans and sliding them and her panties down.
Donovan’s eyes went wide. “I don’t know what the hell those guys were smoking out there, but if this is a hallucination, I’m going to empty my bank account to buy some more.”
“We got interrupted before. I wasn’t finished yet.” She walked into his arms. His hands were everywhere. They were rough against her soft skin, but it made her want to purr like a cat.
“Are you fucking serious?” he said. “I’ve got a house full of riled-up men.”
“They’re watching Texas A&M downstairs.” She tugged his T-shirt out of his pants and slid her palms up over his chest.
“I can’t be away for long,” he groaned. “I want to take my time with you.”
“I don’t want it slow, Donovan,” she said, unsnapping his pants and pulling down his zipper.
When she reached inside his briefs, he took in a sharp breath and said, “All right, have it your way.” He picked her up and slung her over his shoulder. She managed not to shriek as he opened a door in the back of his office and strode through it. Emily saw it was a cozy bedroom before she was dumped on his bed.
“I brought condoms,” she said, suddenly breathless as he shed his clothes. “They’re in my jeans pocket.”
He looked great naked, his biceps and abs clearly defined. Emily couldn’t wait to have him next to her. He opened up the drawer in his bedside table, tossed a few on the bed, and then covered his body with hers.
“Finally,” she groaned, wrapping a leg around his. He was hot and hard, the wiry hairs on his leg coarse and satisfying against her skin.
Then he was kissing her and she got lost in the sweet slide of their bodies and his hot mouth plundering hers. Reaching down between them, Emily wrapped her hand around his cock and tugged on it with slow pulls. Now it was his turn to moan into her mouth. When the thrusting and rubbing built to a fever pitch, she tore open a condom and slipped it on him. Straddling him, she sank down on his thick cock until he was deep inside her.
“Look at me,” he ordered and her entire body quivered.
His big hands steadied her hips.
“You are so fucking beautiful.”
Emily moved slowly at first, loving the way he stretched and filled her. Deep and wide, he felt incredible.
“I want to fuck you all night long,” he growled.
His words made her wetter and she leaned over to steady herself on his shoulders. Donovan thrust up and he captured her nipple in his mouth. Sucking on it, he undulated his hips and almost slipped out.
“No,” she cried out raggedly and bounced hard on him so he was firmly inside her. The friction and heat were building up into a delicious tension. His fingers tweaked her nipples as their mouths dueled. She had pictured this for so long, wanting to fight with him and then fall into bed and fuck him.
Rolling quickly, Donovan was suddenly on top of her and taking control of the pace. She’d said she wanted it fast and he was providing her with hard, thrilling plunges that made her toes curl.
She wanted his mouth back so she could scream into it. Her body twitched and rose to greet every pump of his hips. Emily dug her nails into his shoulders as the hot rush of her orgasm shook her from head to toe.
“More,” she cried out, and he rocked them faster.
She came again as he pinned her legs up over her head and plunged into her, hard and deep. His eyes were intense and the grin he gave her was feral as he lost control. Donovan bit back a few curses and shuddered against her. Releasing her legs, he rocked against her slowly and kissed her again.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, licking down her chest, to her belly button. “I have to get back to the group. They’re paying me a lot of money and I can’t be a bad host.”
“I understand,” Emily said. “I just wanted to finish what we started before.” She caressed his head and tilted her hips up at him.
“We’re not finished,” he said. “This is to be continued.” Then Donovan rolled off her to get dressed.
Feeling smug, she got dressed and shared another lingering kiss with him. “You don’t have to walk me out.”
“Yeah, I damn well do.”
Emily saw a few stragglers on the porch, but based on the noise from downstairs, most of the crew were watching the game. Donovan helped her back on Sunflower and walked with her to the lighted path.
“You shouldn’t run into any problems, but if for some reason a hog is around, ride like hell to the barn. Janice’s dogs should raise holy hell and scare them off.”
“You worry too much.”
“And you haven’t seen the aggressive hogs I have. Stay safe, sweetheart. I’ll see you after the weekend is over and we can spend more quality time together.” He ran his hand over her thigh and it was hard to ride away from him.
“Think about me?” she called over her shoulder.
“Bet on it.”
Chapter Six
Emily had a rough weekend. Nate was trying to get her to quit before she started, and while she understood that he wanted to give her an idea of the worst-case scenario, he had no idea that she had faced more dire situations with crappier equipment in Ethiopia.
Yesterday, she had helped cut a few sick cows away from the herd and bring them back to the ranch for their veterinarian, Pete Dickerson, to take a look at. She called in a mechanic to fix the Gator and the haying tractor because, of course, both machines decided not to work at the same time.
The icing on the cake, though, was when her father’s truck got stuck in the mud and he made her get behind it with the rest of the hands to push it out. If he thought a little mud was going to deter her, he was mistaken.
She hadn’t had time to visit Donovan again, though he was probably camping out with his tour group. Emily was barely able to climb the stairs to her bedroom every night. She wouldn’t be able to keep up with him in bed tonight anyway.
Monday, however, her father took pity on her and told her to shadow her mother and help her with the accounting and the bills. That was more Janice’s area of expertise, but her mother served tea and cookies and not once did Emily step in horse or cow shit.
They were in worse shape financially than she had thought, though. “I figured it was getting better,” she said to her mother.
“This is better. I’ve been able to pay off the back bills, but trying to keep up with the new ones has been a challenge. The rent money helps, of course, but Trent’s students pay him and Janice’s retreat attendees will also pay her.
We need to bring in more money. We can do that by selling some cows off-season, but we won’t get a good price.” Her mother tapped a date on the calendar. “We’re going to sell off a hundred head.”
“I’ve got a few ideas that might help.” Once they paid what they could, she helped her mother in the kitchen to prepare supper and then went out front to make a phone call. Now that she had the money, or would once Trent transferred it into her account, she called the number her friend Bobby from the Peace Corps had given her to schedule a meeting about installing the wind turbines.
“Who’s this?”
Emily was a little taken aback by the roughness. “Hi, my name is Emily Sullivan. Bobby Reeves gave me your number. I’m looking for Jules St. John?”
“This is he.” The voice smoothed out into a more professional tone.
“I want to get some wind turbines placed on my land and he said you could help me with that.”
“Have you had the land tested?”
“Tested for what?”
“If there are enough wind currents to power a turbine.”
“Oh. No, I haven’t.”
“How many were you looking to put up?”
At forty thousand each, she could only afford six. Emily nibbled on her lip. But that wouldn’t leave her with much left over from Trent’s loans. She decided to play it safe, even though it was killing her not to wring all the profit she could from it. The ranch would still have bills to pay and saving some of the loan money gave them a cushion that could set her parents’ minds at ease.
“Five,” she said before she could change her mind.
“Five?”
“That’s all I can afford right now,” she said defensively.
“You should have at least double that to start off.”
“Well, unless you can give me ten wind turbines for the cost of five, it will have to do for now.”
There was a long pause and then the man said, “Do you have enough land available for ten wind turbines?”
“I have enough for fifteen.” She snorted. What did it matter? She only had the money for five.
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