Her Renegade Rancher EPB

by Jennifer Ryan

  Mr. Manning gave the men an opportunity to ask questions, but all they did was give a solemn nod. They moved to walk out now that their portion was complete, but Mr. Manning held up a hand to stop them.

  “Please, you’ll want to stay to hear the information about the future of the ranch.”

  The men settled in behind her once again.

  “Bea and Harry Murphy are to receive a lump sum payment of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars each. Their daughters, Anne and Kelly, will receive a lump sum payment of fifty thousand dollars, plus any outstanding student loans paid in full by the ranch owner. In addition, if Anne and Kelly have children, their children will receive school tuition by the ranch owner if times are good and the ranch can cover the cost.”

  “Wait,” Aunt Bea interrupted. “What does that mean? If the ranch can’t cover the cost of the tuition, the owner doesn’t have to provide the money set by the terms of the will?”

  “You’ve answered your question.” Mr. Manning nodded. “Wayne’s experience over the years taught him that ranching is a hard business. Though he had more good years than bad, the ones that were lean were hard to survive.”

  “The money is there now. Can’t it be set aside to provide for the children?”

  “At this time, there are no children. There may never be, or there could be an abundance of them. When the time comes, the ranch owner can determine if setting money aside is prudent, or if it’s needed to maintain the ranch. Wayne’s goal was to provide for his family, but also to protect the ranch.”

  “Family is more important than anything,” Aunt Bea snapped.

  “As the people in question are not born yet, there is no need for the money at this time. Who is to say that there won’t be enough money years from now? Given the longevity of the ranch to date, the possibility is favorable.”

  Aunt Bea turned to Simon and Josh. “Don’t think I’ll let you run this place into the ground. We’ll work together to keep this place making money to provide for the entire family.”

  “That takes care of the Murphy family.”

  “Not really,” Aunt Bea chimed in, her back ramrod straight as she sat in her seat, eyes glued to the attorney. “There’s still the matter of the ranch.”

  Clearly she wanted more.

  “Simon and Josh. It’s my understanding your father had many discussions with you about running the ranch. Based on those conversations, he determined that neither of you desires the ranch life or being involved in the daily operations here.”

  “Just because we don’t want to work here doesn’t mean we don’t want this place and can’t manage it.” Josh sat rigid in his chair, his fisted hands on his thighs.

  “I won’t continue the argument you had with your father on that point. He’s settled it in his will. The terms are as follows: ‘To my beloved sons, I leave the contents of my home, excluding the contents of my office and the library. You may decide what you’d like to keep and what you’d like to share with your aunt, uncle, and cousins. Anything you leave behind will remain the property of the ranch owner.’ ”

  “What?” Josh rose from his seat. “Are you saying we don’t own the ranch?”

  “That can’t be,” Aunt Bea gasped, pressing her hand to her chest. “I helped him start this place. He can’t not give part of it to me.”

  “Let me finish,” Mr. Manning stated, remaining calm, despite the furious gleam in Josh and Bea’s eyes.

  “ ‘Josh and Simon, you will each receive the amount of one million dollars, or five hundred thousand dollars and a chance to own a fifty percent share in the ranch if you work on the ranch for a period no less than eighteen months with no more than fourteen days off during that period without sufficient reason and evidence to support your absence from work to satisfy the ranch owner that you’ve made a good-faith effort to fulfill your eighteen-month obligation and intend to commit yourself to the running of the ranch as your life’s work. If both Simon and Josh fulfill this commitment, they will each receive twenty-five percent of the ranch. If only one fulfills this commitment, he will receive the full fifty percent share.’ ” Mr. Manning held up a paper. “I’ve got the details of how the ranch would be split here. At no time would you be allowed to sell any portion of the ranch without the other owner’s consent. You have ten days from today to decide if you want to work on the ranch, or receive the one million payout and forfeit your chance to own a portion of the ranch.”

  “Who the fuck is this owner?” Josh demanded.

  Mr. Manning pressed his lips together and turned his gaze on her. “Well, that only leaves one person in the room. Miss Luna Hill, you are the sole beneficiary of Rambling Range and everything else Wayne left behind. The cattle, horses, land, businesses, and the rest of his wealth. You, as ranch owner, will fulfill Wayne’s final wishes. The house, minus whatever contents Josh and Simon take, is yours to live in even if either or both of them decide to work on the ranch and receive their fifty percent portion. If that comes to pass, Wayne designated two areas they will be allowed to build their own homes on with their own money.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” Josh leaped up and jabbed a finger out in the air, pointed straight at her. “She gets everything. No fucking way.” His face turned red with rage.

  “You have the opportunity to keep half,” Mr. Manning pointed out.

  Luna’s gut soured and tightened. She didn’t know what to do. This couldn’t be real. He’d left it all to her.

  “Luna, Wayne understood you may be overwhelmed with the daunting task he’s set before you. While you are expected to manage the ranch, he’s left you in very capable hands with the four gentlemen behind you. Wayne also made sure that he didn’t make you lead a life you may not want, so he built you your dream.”

  It hit her all at once. “The covered arena outside.”

  “Yes. And the equipment you’ll need to run your very own equine therapy center for children with autism or with disabilities.”

  Ed placed his hand on her shoulder and leaned down. “You’ll find everything in the new barn next to the arena. We have a couple of horses here that will work for your purposes, but you’ll need to buy a few more, depending on how many people come to work with you.”

  Luna stared up at the man with the kind eyes and tried to process what just happened. She needed time to process everything, but one thing was clear. She couldn’t do this on her own. “Thank you. If you’re not too busy, maybe you can help me with that.”

  “Whatever you need. I work for you now.”

  “This is bullshit,” Josh spat out.

  “Utterly ridiculous,” Aunt Bea agreed in her own dramatically dignified way.

  “Those are the terms. They are Wayne’s last wishes. Luna, Wayne has allowed five days for Josh and Simon to take the possessions they would like to keep from the house. Until then, you may come to the ranch to work with the ranch hands and managers and to go over the business information. You are free to move in after that. We’ll need to meet to change over the accounts to your name. I suggest you meet me at my office tomorrow so we can get everything settled.”

  She nodded automatically but didn’t really understand all she was agreeing to do. It really felt unreal.

  “He left you a way out,” Mr. Manning said. “If you feel you are unable to fulfill the terms of the will, there is an alternative outcome if you don’t want to take responsibility for the ranch.”

  “What is that?” Simon asked, speaking up for the first time.

  Mr. Manning kept his gaze on her. “You can choose to sell the ranch. Simon and Josh will receive ten million each from the sale, and Bea and Harry Murphy receive an additional one million. You will split the remaining amount with the charities listed in the will.”

  “Sell it,” Josh demanded.

  The men standing behind her, men who had worked this ranch for years and put their blood, sweat, and tears into doing so with a care and devotion she admired, gasped and cursed at the possibility.

>   Luna tried to keep up with the back and forth. She’d inherited everything, but she could also give it all up. Wayne had wanted her to keep it, oversee all he’d built, but he’d given her a way out. He’d trusted her but allowed her to say she didn’t want the responsibility.

  Did she want it?

  She wanted to do what her good friend asked of her. Though saying no was an option, she couldn’t bring herself to turn down this opportunity—a chance for her to do right by her friend and have her dream, too.

  “No. That’s not what Wayne wanted. He loved this place. He cared about the land, the animals, the people who worked for him. He wouldn’t want to see it sold off piece by piece, all he’d worked his whole life for lost.”

  “Sell it, or I’ll make you wish you had.” Josh strode across the room, but Toby and Rich each grabbed him by a shoulder and held him back.

  Luna, feeling like a sitting duck in the chair with Wayne’s family all glaring down at her, stood and faced them.

  “Nothing you do or say will make me change my mind.”

  “Why would she? If she keeps the ranch, she’s got more money than she’ll ever be able to spend. She wins.” Josh shook with rage.

  “I didn’t even know about this.” Luna tried to defend herself, despite knowing nothing she said or did would change their minds.

  Simon stood up and planted his hands on his hips. “We’re not getting anywhere with this talk of selling the place. She said no. That leaves us our other options. So, I guess I work for you now, Luna. Josh and I will take care of the contents of the house, and in five days I’ll start working here. You and I can go over the details then.” Simon clamped his hand on Josh’s shoulder. Though Josh refused to stop glaring at Luna, Simon asked him, “What do you say? You ready to earn your part of the ranch?”

  “Hell no. I’ll take the million and the ten when she can’t hack it and decides to sell this place.”

  Luna never backed away from hard work or a challenge. She stood up for herself against bullies. Josh could kiss her ass.

  “That’s never going to happen,” Luna said again, believing it in her heart. It all happened so fast, but one thing settled in for certain. She’d never sell the ranch. “If we’re done here, I have to get to work.”

  “We’ll walk you out,” Toby said, falling in behind her as she left the library.

  “I’ll call you later to set up a time to meet,” Mr. Manning called after her.

  She needed to get out of there. She needed some air and time to think. Rich grabbed the front door for her. She walked out but stopped halfway across the front yard, then turned back to stare at the massive house, the arena off to her side, the massive amount of land that spread out around her and went on for miles that she could only imagine in her mind but not see from here.

  “Holy shit.”

  Ed laughed. “Exactly. Never saw that one coming.”

  “Um, you know more than I do about the ranching business. You know your jobs. I won’t interfere unless I think something isn’t going right. Over the next few days, I guess, just keep doing what you do. When I come back, I’ll spend time with each of you, going over what you do and how. I need to learn everything I can about this place and how it runs. We’ll work together as a team. I hope that works for you.”

  They all nodded their agreement.

  “Um, Toby, about you retiring soon.”

  “Don’t worry about that now. I won’t leave you in the lurch, but know that I hope to retire sooner rather than later.”

  “As in before this eighteen months is up with Simon, and possibly Josh, working here.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Oh, none of that. It’s just Luna.” She hated to lose Toby, but she had to face reality. Everything had changed for her and the ranch with Wayne’s death. “I don’t anticipate much will change in your day-to-day work, but we’ll discuss the direction of the ranch and any changes that need to be made once I’m allowed back here.”

  “No worries until then,” Artie assured her. “We’ve got this. How much damage can they do in a few short days?”

  Luna didn’t even want to think about it.

  Chapter 9

  Colt walked out of the barn and stopped short. Luna stood in the middle of the yard, staring out at the horses and cattle in the pastures. She didn’t see him. At least he didn’t think so. He hoped she wasn’t ignoring him. He approached her slowly, wondering why she stood so still, with her arms wrapped around her middle. The wind blew her hair away from her face. He didn’t like the sad, lost look in her eyes.

  “Luna? Everything okay? What are you doing out here?”

  She still wore her diner “uniform.” Black skirt, diner T-shirt, and black cowboy boots. She looked damn good. The skirt hugged her curves and outlined her very fine ass. While he took in her curves, they didn’t distract him from the fact that something about her felt off. Everything in him went on alert. Nerves tightened his belly and made him want to reach out and touch her, pull her close and hold her until she smiled again.

  “How do you do it?”

  “Do what, honey?”

  “Run this massive place?”

  “With a lot of help,” he admitted. “It’s routine. It’s my life.” What more could he say? This was all he knew.

  “I don’t know if I can do it. It’s so much.”

  He didn’t understand. “Honey, you’re not making sense. What can’t you do?”

  “Run a ranch.”

  He narrowed his gaze, studying her, wondering what she meant. His heart beat faster, hope rising in his chest that she’d decided to stay here instead of taking the teaching job out of state. “Did you buy one since the last time I saw you?”

  “No. I inherited one. Rambling Range is mine.”

  He gasped. “Holy shit.” She owned more land, cattle, and horses than he and his brothers shared.

  “That would be, ‘holy fucking shit.’ ” She raked her hand through her hair and held it away from her pale face.

  “Start at the beginning. What happened at your meeting with the lawyer today?”

  “I thought maybe Wayne left me a trinket, some kind of show of affection and friendship. Maybe a piece of jewelry that belonged to his beloved wife. One of his prize horses. A treasured book from his collection. I thought I’d go there, collect whatever it was, and move on with my life with a reminder of my good friend.”

  “But he left you the ranch? So, what, you’re partners with his sons?”

  She pressed her lips into a tight line and shook her head. “Nope.” She went on for five minutes without taking a breath, detailing the terms of the will. “Now I’m in charge of everything.”

  “Holy fucking shit.”

  She laughed, a smile finally brightening her too-serious face. “Told you.”

  “How did the family take it?” Colt certainly wouldn’t have taken it well if his parents hadn’t left the ranch to him and his brothers. He could only imagine how Wayne’s sons felt losing out on so much.

  “They want me to sell. If I do, it’s the best deal they get out of the terms.”

  “Is that what you want to do?”

  “Hell no. Wayne worked his whole life for that place. It was everything to him. I can’t just sell it.”

  “Are you ready to make that place your whole life?” Please stay.

  “I don’t know. It’s still kind of rattling around my head like a dream I can’t shake. It doesn’t feel real.”

  He hated to ask, but did so anyway, because in the end, he wanted her to be happy. “What about teaching?”

  “More than I wanted to teach, I had another dream. Wayne set it all up so I can have the ranch and the equine therapy program I wanted to start.”

  “Seriously?”

  She faced him for the first time and glared. “Yes. Why? You think it’s stupid?”

  “No. I think it’s fantastic. You’d be great and provide a wonderful service and experience for people with special needs.” />
  The starch went right out of her.

  He drew back one side of his mouth in a half frown, disappointed she’d think so little of him. “Why would you think I wouldn’t approve?”

  “Because of all of this.” She spread her arms wide to encompass the ranch.

  “What about it?”

  “I thought maybe you’d think the ranching business is enough and what I should focus on.”

  “Honey, you can do both. You can do anything you want.”

  Luna’s eyes went wide, like it surprised her he believed in her. Easy to believe in someone who worked as hard as Luna and who cared. About her job. People. Those things she considered important. Like helping others.

  “You’ve got the men to help you on the ranch. Wayne’s guys work hard. They know their stuff. They’ve been with him for years.”

  She stared up at the sky. “Toby wants to retire.”

  “He’s the ranch manager, right?”

  “Yes. Which means I either need one of the others to step up and take his place and replace one of them, or I need to hire a new manager. Either way, I don’t know what I’m doing, and I could mess it all up.”