by Natalie Dean
In Debt to the Cowboy
Miller Brothers of Texas Book Two
Natalie Dean
Kenzo Publishing
© Copyright 2020 by Kenzo Publishing - All rights reserved.
In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document by either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited, and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.
Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.
Dedication
I’d like to dedicate this book to YOU! The readers of my books. Without your interest in reading these heartwarming stories of love, I wouldn’t have made it this far. So thank you so much for taking the time to read any and hopefully all of my books.
And I can’t leave out my wonderful mother, son, sister, and Auntie. I love you all, and thank you for helping me make this happen.
Most of all, I thank God for blessing me on this endeavor.
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Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Epilogue
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About Author - Natalie Dean
1
Silas
Hooves pounded against the earth in a thunderous rush, the ground flying below at a break-neck speed. It was exhilarating, the morning sun shining on his back, the crisp air in his lungs, sharp with the lingering cold of winter but rich with the possibility of the new life of spring.
Silas and his mount, Amaranth, cut across the riding trail with confidence, his twin brother right behind him. He could practically feel Sterling breathing down his back, close to catching up with him, but not quite close enough.
Then it happened. With one more press of his heel, Amaranth was rushing forward in one last lunge, taking him across their impromptu line of finish-barrels. It took him a bit to kill his momentum, but when he did, he saw his twin giving him a rueful look from his own mount, Obelisk.
“I would maybe feel slighted, but I know you’ve been practicing your riding more than me.”
Silas sent his brother a grin. “That’s not exactly hard to do. When was the last time you walked to any of our barns? Or hung out with the horses?”
“Yeah, yeah, go ahead and lecture me. What’s with all the outdoor time you’ve been racking up lately? I feel like I hardly ever see you or Solomon anymore.”
“We’re around,” he answered with a shrug. “Besides, we had a particularly hard winter. Now that spring is here, figured it’d be good to get out and enjoy things, ya know?”
Sterling let out an amused huff. “That’s one way to put it. I thought Dad was going to have an outright apoplexy when Samuel called us to say that he was getting engaged to some farmhand. I don’t think I’ve ever heard ‘prenup’ so many times in a single screaming-fit.”
Silas returned his wan smile. “Yeah, that was definitely an interesting day.”
It wouldn’t have been that bad if that was the only surprise event that happened. And as the two slowly trotted to the horse barn and went through grooming their mounts, Silas couldn’t help but mentally go through everything else that had happened.
For one, Solomon and the strange city girl that he was with seemed to be getting pretty serious. He rarely ever talked about it, and Silas wasn’t sure that Dad even knew about it, but it was definitely affecting things.
It wasn’t anything too obvious, Silas supposed, but he noticed a pattern after Solomon started spending way more time in his office and started going to the city a couple of times a week. He and Dad fought more than Silas could ever remember in his entire life, the tension in the house rising with each passing feud. He wished that the two of them could find an accord, but it seemed that Solomon wasn’t willing to be Pa’s errand boy anymore. And as Solomon was being groomed to take over as head of the business, he had new ideas of how things should be run that their dad adamantly disagreed with.
As if his dad had heard his thoughts, Silas’ phone rang as he went to get a treat for Amaranth. He was half-tempted not to answer his phone, surprising himself by the very thought. He never ignored his dad’s calls.
Huh.
Answering, he wasn’t surprised to hear his dad’s sour tone on the other end. Dad was always mad about something lately. Mom said it was the election stress mounting, but Silas wasn’t entirely enthused about the man Dad was trying to get into the position of power. Not that he would ever say that out loud, of course.
Dad spoke with his usual commanding voice. “I need you to go into the city, to that one property we put in a proposal for and check if it’s worth doing a follow-up on.”
“Oh?” Silas tried to ask nonchalantly. It was no secret that he’d always had a knack for telling if a new land acquisition was going to be a good investment or not. But he thought that his family was currently more into streamlining the processes that they already had than expanding.
“Yes. A new opportunity has opened up, and we might have a chance to seize this at half cost. But I want to make sure that it’s going to be worth it. You know how you have a nose for sniffing out hang-ups.”
“Alright, Dad. When do you want me to head out?”
“Now.”
“Now?”
“Yes, now. That’s what I pay you for, right?”
Silas held his tongue. He hated it when his dad brought up his salary because it wasn’t like he could argue with that. Still, it would be nice to be asked to drop everything and go to the city rather than being ordered like some little Boy Scout.
“Alright, Pa. Email me the address and whatever specs we already have. I’ll look around and do some digging.”
“That’s my boy.”
The call ended as abruptly as it started, Sterling giving him a stern look.
“See, I told you being talented would only end up in trouble,” Sterling said.
“Don’t I know it. I’ll see you later.”
“Alright. But I won’t stay up for you.”
“You never do.”
They shared a dry laugh. For being twins, they certainly had plenty of differences. While Silas liked to roll out of bed around nine and start his day, Sterli
ng always had problems sleeping through the night. It had caused plenty of issues when they were kids, but it had leveled out since they had separate rooms—albeit in the same wing.
Lately, the younger twin had taken to sleeping from ten to midnight, then somewhere around four a.m. to six a.m., then again from one o’clock to whenever the heck he woke up in the afternoon. It probably wasn’t the greatest for him, but it was what seemed to work. Silas got the feeling that sometimes his brother envied how the rest of his siblings could sleep whenever they wanted to, but Sterling never verbalized as much.
Besides, it wasn’t like anything could be done about it. He’d done enough sleep studies for them to know that he was perfectly healthy, and he didn’t want to risk addiction to sleep aids, so it was what it was. Besides, Silas had enough on his plate without having to think about his little brother’s sleeping habits.
After taking care of his horse, he hopped in a golf cart and headed back toward the house. He used to drive to the barn, but Solomon was on a kick about the environment and reducing their waste where they could, and Mom had been suspiciously excited to suggest electric-powered golf cart-like things.
Although, it had been pretty darn adorable when her lilac golf cart was delivered, with flowers painted onto its covering and protective, clear rain curtains that could be rolled down the sides whenever the weather eventually kicked in. She’d fluttered around like a kid on Christmas, even though she could have bought it whenever she wanted, considering that their family was solidly in the billions in net worth.
That pleasant memory lasted through getting his car and heading into the city. He would have liked to read through the entire file, but he didn’t multitask while he drove. That’s what Sterling was for.
Except he and his twin rarely did any jobs together anymore. Mostly because they traded off dealing with Pa’s special events or business meetings and parties. It wasn’t like most people could tell them apart anyway.
Which was ridiculous, because Silas didn’t think that they looked that similar.
Sure, they shared the same face and eyes, but Silas kept his hair cut shorter in the classic, Americana style while Sterling favored a slightly curly almost-bouffant look. There was also the matter of the scar—
Silas shook his head. He didn’t need to think about that at the moment. He just needed to drive.
And so, he did. Arriving somewhere around ten thirtyish. It was the perfect time, really. Early enough to miss any lunch rushes but late enough that many of the local workers would be at wherever they were employed. Silas found his job was the easiest when he could snoop without gaining much attention.
It took about an hour and twenty minutes to get to the exit he wanted, all the way on the other side of the city, and he pulled into a clearly abandoned shopping center that the rest of the residents were using for parking. A quick scan of all the cars in the area told him that not a single one of them was new, and most were patched up in some sort of rough way. Alright, that meant the residents were most likely in the lower class, but not so low that they couldn’t afford a vehicle—even if a majority of them were beaters.
He was almost tempted to get out of the car and hurry through the process so that he could get home, but he decided he didn’t want to rush it and have to come back. Unlike Solomon, he had no desire for repeated trips to the city.
So instead he sat back and read the file. There were at least three other competitors who were interested in the properties and had been putting out feelers too. Part of the reason Dad was probably interested in the entire block was just to spite them as much as it would be a great spot for another warehouse.
Because it would be a great place for a warehouse, that was for sure. It was practically immediately off the highway, so easy access for deliveries. It was on a sketchier side of the city, so the price of gobbling it up wouldn’t be that extreme. Also, if they got their warehouse there so that they could supply more grocers on the other side of the city, it would raise the property value of the entire effort and provide a healthy return on their investment if they ever sold the place. Especially since there was a luxury apartment building being constructed not that far away.
It took him a good half hour to look over everything he wanted to, check out all the info and specs he could find online. But eventually he locked the file in his glove compartment and headed out.
His brothers always thought he was crazy for bringing his expensive car to the rougher parts of town, but he wasn’t particularly attached, and it was insured. It wasn’t like his brother’s car, which was some souped-up, sporty thing that cost a real mint.
He walked the front of the block, and then the back, then repeated the process on the other side. He took his time, making sure to jot down which were businesses and which were residences. For the first time in a while, almost all of the shops had apartments directly above them, where he guessed the owners lived. Interesting, and the sign of a close community.
But there were other parts that showed it as being less close. There were a lot of young folks, ranging from grade school to their early twenties, some playing, some milling about, some very clearly busy on errands, some working and some loitering around. If there was one thing Silas had learned from his several years of helping his dad, it was that when kids had to act like adults, their homelife was less than ideal.
The power lines in the neighborhood were old, and pairs of shoes hung over a couple. He spotted a pothole, a few shuttered windows, a few with bars over them. But he also spotted a community grocery with people laughing and shopping. He saw older people sitting on porches. There was an undercurrent of community, but it was a weaker one.
Interesting.
It took him longer than he thought it would to finish up, especially since he wanted to get home and see if Mom needed help in her garden, but after two full hours and several dozen instances of some serious side-eye, he was heading back to his car.
He almost expected trouble: a broken window or someone showing up and demanding to know why he was poking around the neighborhood. But instead there was no one there, no damage to his car, and he was able to slide in without incident.
Alright, Silas could do with some more good luck like that. He put in one of his favorite CDs and started to pull out.
Only to have his car sputter out and his steering wheel to freeze like a rock.
He had jinxed it… hadn’t he…
Biting his tongue, Silas refrained from letting out a long list of curses. He was sure his dad would have some sort of lecture about car maintenance or something of the sort, but he didn’t want to call someone to tow him all the way back to the manor.
Getting out of his car, Silas looked around, his hands on his hips. In a strange twist of luck again, he saw that there was a mechanic shop right down the road. Huh, the day really was an emotional rollercoaster, wasn’t it?
Shrugging his shoulders, he headed back down the street again.
2
Silas
The mechanic shop wasn’t bad, as far as mechanic shops went. The building had a sort of reception office that was connected to the garage. Of course, the front lot was filled with cars that looked like they could use some help, and Silas was sure the back was cluttered with parts and scraps. He had noticed it vaguely when he’d been walking along but hadn’t paid much attention. Mechanic shops usually did good business in low-income areas, with everyone needing their car to survive but always owning vehicles on the verge of death. It was a cruel cycle, but if they saved up, they would be able to get less of a junker. Besides, there was public transportation and biking.
He shook his head, catching his derailed train of thought. Walking up to the cluttered front desk, he stood there for a moment. There was a young man in a jumpsuit there, the standard blue one you might expect on someone who worked in a garage. He couldn’t have been much older than eighteen, with short locks framing his round face and thick glasses over his umber eyes. He didn’t seem too busy, and ye
t a couple minutes passed by, then a couple more.
Silas stood there quietly, shifting slightly from foot to foot. He didn’t want to interrupt in case the young man was filling out an invoice or trying to concentrate on something important, but he couldn’t help but feel like maybe he was being ignored.
Silas wasn’t used to being ignored.
He waited another two minutes before gently clearing his throat. The young man still hesitated for a moment then finally looked up, rubbing his nose with the back of his hand that resulted in a smear of grit across his dark skin. Silas decided not to say anything about that. Maybe it was petty, but who was to say?
“You need directions to the highway, sir?” Well, at least he was polite.
“No, actually. My car just stalled out. I was hoping to get a tow and see if you guys had time to take a look at it?”
The young man scratched his nose again, resulting in another smear. Silas still didn’t say anything. “Umm… hold on a minute. Let me go check with the mechanics. You can have a seat over there.” He pointed to a line of three folding chairs pressed up against the far wall.
“Alright. I’ll do that, then.”
It wasn’t quite the brush off, but it wasn’t exactly a warm customer service welcome either. Silas couldn’t tell if he was too used to being kissed up to and pampered or if he had somehow annoyed the receptionist even as he walked in. But he started to think it was the latter more than the former when it took another twenty minutes for the young man to return.