Brothers of Miller Ranch Box Set

by Natalie Dean

  Sophia watched with wide eyes. Had that really worked? Had she won that particular round? She never won any of her face-offs with her ex or her family.

  But sure enough, the cars pulled out and headed down the drive, kicking up plenty of dirt and dust in their wake. Sophia wanted to do so many things at once. She wanted to dance; she wanted to scream in joy and disbelief. She wanted to throw a touchdown and lasso the moon and just generally run around until she couldn’t anymore.

  Maybe… maybe she was meant to meet this Bradley fellow. He certainly had done a great job of turning her life upside down so far.

  But that thought brought her up short. Her ex was so lovely at first too, spending money on her, helping pay her bills, taking care of her when she got the flu. He made her rely on him until he was a habit, and once she was fully dependent, that was when things started to change.

  So, as nice as these folks were, they weren’t going to stay that way. That just wasn’t how it worked in the world.

  “So, let’s talk about this wedding, shall we? I never thought you were the quick engagement type, my little Bradley, but it’s just like you to have a secret girlfriend that you don’t share with us until you’re sure of things.”

  Wait, Ma’s happiness wasn’t an act? Sophia watched with wide eyes as the woman came back to her side and gave her another soft hug. She had thought the older woman’s joy had been too over-the-top not to be fake, but the police cars were gone and she still seemed so thrilled.

  “You know, he did the same thing when he was younger. Dated a girl for months, ended things, and she tried to blackmail him but kept it all to himself.”

  Blackmail?

  Sophia looked to Bradley, begging him for an answer or a lifeline or something, but he just stood there, looking as bewildered as her.

  “I figured you all were busy. Wasn’t nothing I couldn’t handle on my own.”

  Ma finally let go of Sophia and stepped away ever so slightly. “For having four other brothers, you’d think he’d be a bit more dependent, but my two youngest are all about taking care of themselves, doing things their own way.”

  She chuckled and wiped at her eyes. “Goodness! I’ve got to write an email to my list! We’ll start sorting out details later. Now, I know you like to do things on your own, but I insist on no wedding until at least the end of this year! We’re still planning out Benji and Dani’s for goodness sake!”

  “Uh, yeah Ma, not until the end of the year at the earliest.”

  Ma Miller clapped and headed inside. There were several exchanges from the rest of those present which fell on Sophia’s ears like white noise. More than a bit overwhelmed, she mouthed to Bradley that they needed to talk. He nodded, but that did little to calm her nerves.

  Why did she get the feeling that they had jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire?

  8

  Bradley

  Why had he done that?

  No really, why had he done that?

  He didn’t know. He had been aware that the idea his subconscious sputtered up was insane and reckless and probably terrible, but it had been the only way he could think of to make those men leave, and at least stay away long enough for Sophia to finish up everything she needed to do. He hadn’t exactly thought about the long-term consequences of his sweeping statement, and now they were crashing down on him.

  It took a while to get away from the house. Apparently having a whole bunch of men show up and demand their houseguest—like some sort of prisoner—was plenty cause for conversation. Everyone had an opinion or comment on it. And if they didn’t have anything to say about that, they wanted to talk about Bradley’s secret engagement.

  Alright, he really hadn’t thought things through. But it had worked, hadn’t it? He’d never expected his own family to buy it, and he came close to coming clean about a dozen times, but the thought of how crushed Ma would be kept stopping him.

  Ma never asked for a lot. She wanted everyone happy and healthy and loved. He knew that she’d been worried about his complete lack of interest in anything outside of the ranch’s finances, so taking that relief away from her seemed cruel.

  He’d really stepped in it, hadn’t he? Well, he was a math whiz, not a master strategist.

  Eventually, when he and Sophia managed to get away, they ended up in front of the main barn, most of the workers having gone home to the night. Those who were around were all the way in the back, working with power tools that would keep them from hearing anything said from all the way at the green grass in front of the barn.

  But the moment it was apparent that they were in the clear, Sophia whipped around. “What in the world are we going to do now?”

  “I, uh, I don’t know.”

  She stood in front of him with crossed arms, her brows furrowed as she stared him down. It was a far cry from the shaking, panicked woman he had found that first night in the hotel.

  Then again… maybe it wasn’t. Even bleeding and bruised, there was always a layer of steel to her. Right down to her core.

  “Maybe we could just, uh, pretend to be engaged for a while, however long you need, then eventually break up. No harm done.”

  “No harm done? I think your mother just about died and went to heaven when she heard we were a thing.”

  “Yeah. I didn’t really count on that. I thought she’d know I was making it up. I guess she was pretty happy to find out I had something in my life aside from our accounting books.”

  “And you’re saying we could break up and she wouldn’t be devastated?”

  “Well, we could always play it up right before we end things. Make it real dramatic until she’s relieved about the breakup.”

  Sophia let out a disbelieving noise, but he kept going.

  “But the point is, it’ll work for the time being. You said you needed a little more time. This’ll give you that. Nobody’s gonna haul off a Miller’s girl. And even if they tried, the whole town would talk about it.”

  “This whole thing is crazy. You know that, right?”

  “Oh, I am very, very aware. But sometimes, crazy plans are the best plans, right?”

  She scoffed, but her arms finally uncrossed and her body language relaxed. “I don’t think anyone will ever refer to this as the best plan in any regard.”

  “Maybe, but if it works, it works.”

  She nodded, and the conversation halted. The two of them stood there, and the reality of the situation began to sink in.

  They were engaged.

  Fake engaged, but still engaged. They were going to have to pretend to be in love with each other enough to get married.

  Oh, boy. That was a whole lot of pressure that he hadn’t exactly anticipated. Looking at Sophia, it seemed like she was getting just as overwhelmed as he was, and he didn’t like that at all. The whole plan was to protect her, not to stress her out.

  “What?” she asked sharply, using that same tone she had the first night he met her.

  Great, it seemed like he had put things all the way back to square one. She hadn’t used that tone since her second day with the girls, and he felt guilty that he had put her on edge.

  But then she started to pace, chewing on the knuckle of her thumb, and it was all too much. He wanted to take her hands and soothe them, to tell her that everything would be okay even if he wasn’t sure it would be. He needed something. A distraction from the situation and all the weight of it.

  But what could possibly pull her mind from the fact that exactly what she had feared had happened, and he had only bought her time instead of solving her problem entirely? He should have believed her when she warned him. But he’d been so sure that her ex wouldn’t go to such lengths. That it wasn’t reasonable. Well, it was very clear that reason went right out the window whenever it came to those abusive—

  “I… I need to not think. I’m driving myself crazy.” She stopped pacing and looked to Bradley, like she was waiting for some kind of answer.

  Right. He could do that. H
e might not know how to solve her entire issue, but he had an idea of how to lose at least an hour or two.

  “Hey, have you ever ridden a horse?”

  “A horse? You mean… like… a horse, horse?”

  “Well, I’m not aware of any other kind. A few of our girls prefer riding in the evening, if you’re game.”

  “I’ve never ridden one before.”

  He stepped forward and offered his hand. To his great surprise, she hesitantly took it.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll teach you.”

  9

  Sophia

  Sophia stared up at the massive beast that Bradley had saddled up and brought over to her. The horse was beautiful, truly, and everything that Sophia had seen in the movies, but she was also so big.

  “Here ya go. Hyacinth is perfect for beginner riders. She’s got a great temper and likes taking direction. Plus, she’s on the smaller side, so she won’t hurt your thighs as much.”

  “My thighs?” Sophia repeated, choosing to skip over the fact that this was a small horse.

  “Yeah, when you’re in the saddle, you control a lot of your body’s motion by squeezing your thighs against the saddle. We’ll go easy so you won’t get any saddle-burn, but it’s important not to let yourself flop around like a sack of flour.”

  “I… I didn’t know that.”

  “Yeah, not a lot of folks do unless they have direct experience with horses. Now, let me show you how to get on.”

  He grabbed a short set of wooden steps and placed it next to the horse. Patiently, he showed her how to put her foot up in the stirrup and then swing her other leg over the animal. When he was seated properly, he made a dramatic little motion.

  “Taa-daa. Now it’s your turn.”

  Sophia licked her lips. All of her survival instincts told her that she definitely should not get on the giant animal that could easily throw her and then trample her. People got paralyzed from bad horse falls. She had enough on her plate without any of that.

  But at the same time, there was something enticing about the beautiful horse. Maybe she’d watched one too many horse movies when she was younger, but it seemed like it would be mighty nice to be able to ride free, wind in her hair and all that.

  “Can you show me again?” she asked nervously.

  “Yeah, ’course.”

  He didn’t even look annoyed as he gracefully got back to the ground and explained the whole thing again, making sure to stop at each step and make sure she understood—even when he had one boot hooked up in the stirrup and was balancing carefully on his other.

  “There. Think you wanna try it? Ain’t no shame in saying no,” he said, smiling at her from up on the horse.

  Part of Sophia wanted to say no. Really wanted to say no. But she was tired of being scared and tired of always retreating from things. She wanted to take some of the power back.

  “Yeah. I do.”

  Deep inside, she felt a fledgling flicker of trust rise in her. This Bradley guy was alright. Although she couldn’t guarantee that he would stay alright, she would take the moment for what it was.

  “Well, alright then!”

  He got down off the horse again like it was the easiest thing in the word then offered her his hand. Once more she took it, surprising herself, and let him guide her up the mini-stairs and next to the horse.

  “Alright, foot in the stirrup. Yeah, there you go. I knew you were listening.”

  She smiled ever so slightly at that. From anyone else, maybe it would have been patronizing. But coming from Bradley’s mouth, it was just… sweet.

  Carefully, slowly, she went through the steps. It was much easier to watch than actually do, but that was often how life was. She bit her lip as she concentrated, finding her center of balance then swinging her leg over the saddle while also pushing up with her foot in the stirrup.

  And then, just a second later, she was sitting in the saddle.

  “I did it!” she said somewhere between a shout and her normal volume. She didn’t want to spook the horse, after all.

  “Never doubted that you would,” Bradley said with a smile, taking the steps away before returning and taking the reins. “Now, I want you to squeeze a bit with your thighs to keep yourself upright. Make sure your core is tight and your spine is straight, but not rigid. You don’t wanna be tense because then you’re gonna bounce and resist the motion instead of going with it.”

  “Surely it can’t be that simple,” Sophia said, giddy with excitement. She felt so high and regal atop the horse, like she needed a crown and maybe a train. No wonder there were so many movies about them. Horses were cool.

  “It’s not, but you’re a beginner and Hyacinth is very forgiving, so that should suffice for now. You ready to move?”

  She looked down at the man uncertainly, but he was smiling brilliantly up at her, like she had made his entire day by even trying.

  When was the last time someone had looked at her like that? She couldn’t remember. No, her mind was full of scowls and red faces and shouting and—

  She shook her head. This was a good moment. She didn’t need to bring the shadows of her past into it.

  “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. Nothing wrong with standing here a moment.”

  “Oh, no, that wasn’t at you. I was just getting too much into my own head.” Sophia took a breath. “Yeah, I’m ready to move.”

  “That’s my girl.”

  Something bloomed in her chest when he said that. Something fragile and tentative and oh, so alien that she shoved it out of her mind with a vehemence. She didn’t have the time or energy for anything new or unknown. She was too busy grappling with her current reality without going under.

  And her current reality was that she was on a horse.

  “Alright, here we go,” Bradley said, most likely for her own benefit, before slowly walking forward.

  Sophia jolted a bit at the first clop but remembered what Bradley had said as they headed towards the barn door. Adjusting her posture, she let herself relax slightly while still gripping the saddle. Oh yeah, her thighs were going to feel the burn later.

  But later was later, because in her current moment, suddenly Sophia understood every weird horse girl she had ever met. Even though Hyacinth was just idly clopping along, not even fast enough to be considered a walk really, she felt so powerful and connected to nature. Weird, and definitely not accurate, but that was how she felt. Like there were no fetters on her. Like she could duck down and cling to the horse’s mane and take off across the fields of Montana.

  “There ya go! You’re a natural. Do you wanna go for a walk all around the pond or just stick to around the barn for now?”

  “The pond!” Sophia said quickly, maybe a little too quickly. It was best not to show how much she wanted or liked something, because then that could be used against her.

  But Bradley laughed. Didn’t judge her for being so excited to be moving at a glacial pace on the horse.

  “Alright then, the pond it is. Normally I’m not a huge fan of geese, but the same ones have been coming here for generations, and they’ve been spoiled right rotten. As long as we don’t go near their eggs, they should leave us be.”

  “Uh, are geese normally not nice?” They weren’t exactly a common occurrence in St. Louis, only populating the mini ponds around the malls during very specific times in the summer, but the plump things didn’t look so terrible.

  Bradley laughed again. “Are you kidding me? Those things are basically piss and vinegar coated in feathers with a good amount of Satan pushed into their souls. Are you telling me you’ve never had one of those birds hiss at you?”

  Sophia’s eyes went wide. “They hiss?”

  “Yeah, they definitely do. But don’t worry, like I said, the ones around here are nice. Well, as nice as a goose could possibly be. Swans are the same way, you know, only meaner and more aggressive. It’s like they know they’re pretty so they can have terrible personalities.”

  Sophia f
ound herself laughing, feeling so thoroughly shocked at the mental images that were coming to her. “I’m learning so much today.”

  “Well, you’re a city girl, right? There’s a whole lot to learn about us simple country folk and our lives.”

  “Of all the words I could use to describe you and your family, simple would not be among them.”

  “Yeah, we are a strange set. How many families do you know that have five sons and give them all names starting with ‘B’?”

  “That’s not what I meant, but now that you mention it, yeah, that is pretty weird. There a story there or something? Or does your Ma just love that particular consonant?”

  “It’s a family thing. Started about five generations or so ago. Apparently, it got into my some-odd great gammie’s head that all of her children should have names that started with J, maybe to honor Jesus or something, and it kinda stuck. At least I was lucky enough not to be a double M.”

  “Oh man, I didn’t even think of that. Has it happened yet, or have your ancestors been merciful?”

  “Nah, Gammie Miller was real into comic books during the war—she was a nurse, actually—said it helped her forget about everything going on outside her tent. So she decided to give her kids the good ol’ repeat initial just like a lot of her favorite superheroes. My Pa’s name is Mark, and his brothers are Mack and McLintock.”

  “You have an uncle named McLintock Miller?”

  “Yup. He has his own ranch down in Texas. It was going to be an extension of the family business, but he disagreed with all the pampering we give our animals and wanted to go grand scale instead of keeping it small like we have. Pa and him butt heads a lot when he visits, but they love each other.”

  It was interesting to learn so much about the man who’d rescued her, that she had been largely avoiding. She felt a bit guilty for that, but whenever she saw him, such a complicated mix of feelings rose in her. She was grateful, of course, immensely so. Some nights she would wake up in a sweat thinking that she was back in that hotel room, her ex standing over the foot of her bed.