by Jeannie Watt
The heavy ceramic mug Chloe was holding slipped out of her hands, landing with a thud on the Formica countertop. “What kind of business?”
“Ranching.” Skye looked past Chloe to an older couple that had just pushed through the door. “I’d better seat them.”
Skye seated the couple, got them water and menus, then drifted back to the register. “Nothing firm yet, but we’re in discussions.”
“Why would you do that?” Chloe asked, sounding genuinely concerned.
Skye smiled at her. It felt like a weary smile, a smile one might find on a woman who’d lived for eighty decades instead of almost three. “Sometimes life backs you into a corner and all you can do is graciously say yes when someone offers you a way out.”
* * *
“I DON’T SEE this ending well,” Jess said to Tyler as they stood side by side, leaning against the rails of Hennessey’s outdoor practice pen. Bull-riding practice would move to the indoor facility once the weather grew inclement, but Ty didn’t think he’d be home all that often during that time, but if he was home it was going to be grand having a place to live where he wasn’t practically on top of his brother. That was the only part of the plan that Jess did fully approve of.
“I’m not taking advantage of her. I’m helping her in the only way she can accept.”
“Offer her the loan again.”
“No.”
“Why?” Jess tipped back his hat as he turned to eye his brother.
“Because this works for both of us. Skye gets out from under the debt and I get a place to put my money.”
“And a place to live.”
“The best part of all.” He raised his chin as the chute across the pen opened and a young riderless bull charged out, twisting and bucking. “He has potential.”
“That he does. I like the new lines Hennessey is breeding.”
So did Tyler, although he’d be retired from riding before most of the young stock was ready to buck for real. Once the young bull had disappeared through the gate and the crew started loading another, Tyler shot his brother a look. “You know that I’m grateful that you gave me a roof. I’d do the same for you.”
“If things don’t start looking up, that may happen sooner than you think.”
Jess’s job wasn’t all that stable, which was one reason he was living as cheaply as possible, and in Ty’s way of thinking, that opened up opportunity. “Then you can try your luck on the circuit guilt free. You aren’t shirking your duty. Your duty shirked you.”
Jess was not impressed with his brother’s argument. “Look.” He paused, and Tyler prepared himself for the lecture. “Look” followed by a silence meant something important was about to be imparted.
“Don’t do anything to mess up Skye’s life. She’s had enough trouble.”
Tyler waited for the rest. Nothing. He tilted his head, frowning a little. “Do you honestly think I want to mess up Skye’s life?”
“I know you’re irritated at her for thinking the worst of you.”
“Totally guilty.” He looked back across the arena as a bull came down the alleyway. “But I see this as an investment and a business proposition. If Skye’s life gets screwed up, so does mine.”
Chapter Six
Skye felt numb as she left the lawyer’s office a little less than two weeks after Tyler had made his proposal to her. This is the lesser of two evils. It was either go into partnership with Tyler, hope for a miracle—which hadn’t worked out all that well so far—or lose the ranch a little at a time.
“Cheer up,” Tyler said, lightly tapping her on the arm with the rolled-up papers he carried as they walked together down the tiled hallway toward the exit. “I’m back on the circuit in a week. You’ll barely see me.”
“Except when you’re here.”
“That’s no way to talk to your partner,” he said mildly, but she sensed steel just under the surface of the comment.
Okay, so her tone wasn’t the most gracious, but she was still coming to terms with the situation. “Sorry,” she muttered.
Tyler put a hand on her shoulder, and she instantly stopped walking, but he didn’t drop his hand immediately. The casual contact made her feel way too aware of him, which Skye didn’t like one bit. She couldn’t help it—Tyler made her jumpy.
“I don’t want your sorry.”
Too late. She swallowed the retort. “You’re right. We need to work together. I appreciate your stepping in to help me out.” She sounded sincere, and she was...except she couldn’t help dwelling on the fact that her copies of the legal agreement were carefully filed in her dad’s tooled leather briefcase, which she’d dug out for the occasion. Tyler’s were rolled in a tube, which he carried loosely in one hand and would probably soon toss into the backseat of his pickup. They were so different—and, in many ways, he was so much like Mason—how on earth were they going to partner successfully?
Compromise.
Except that she didn’t want to compromise on her own ranch.
It isn’t your ranch anymore...not until you buy him out.
The truth hurt.
“How do you suggest we proceed?” she asked as he dropped his hand, making Skye feel as if she’d suddenly been set free.
“As carefully as possible.” When she frowned at him, he said, “I worked up a plan. Maybe when I get done moving my trailer onto the property, we can go over said plan.”
“Sure.” Skye couldn’t say that she liked the idea of Tyler making plans. In fact, knowing that he was formulating plans for her—their—ranch made her feel even more territorial. Sucking in a breath, she started for the door, which Tyler opened for her. “When do you think that will be?”
“Tomorrow. When you get off shift.”
“Tomorrow is my day off.”
“Great. You can help me skirt my trailer.”
“Happy to.” Was this really happening? She couldn’t help a quick glance at him and saw that he wasn’t fooled by her show of positivity.
They walked down the sidewalk to the parking lot. Tyler’s truck was on the far west and hers was on the far east. She hadn’t planned it that way, but it worked for her. Tyler stopped at the point where their paths diverged, hooking his thumbs in his belt loops. He hesitated for a moment, then said, “I know you hate this, but as I see it, it was me or the highway.”
He understood her situation exactly—but it would have been hard not to. It wasn’t as if she were dodging the facts or misrepresenting anything. Tyler and his newly hired accountant had gone over her tax and ranch records for the past several years. He knew her situation, and he knew what he was getting into.
“You’re correct.” This was the eating-humble-pie part that she hated so much.
“I want this ranch to work. If that means sorting out what needs to be done and assigning responsibilities, so that we don’t get in each other’s way, that’s what we’ll do.” He stepped a little closer, and Skye’s breath caught. She wasn’t used to being this close to Tyler Hayward. For years she’d done her best to stay far away from him.
“Actually, the ranch runs pretty well.”
“Meaning...?”
“I can run the ranch just fine on my own. I’ve done it for years. You can take your half of the profits. You’ll have a place to stay.”
He smiled. “You’re essentially demoting me from partner to tenant?”
His tone told her it wasn’t going to happen. He wouldn’t let her run her ranch alone. She quirked one corner of her mouth up into a grim half smile. “If I thought you’d let me, I’d do it in a heartbeat.”
“What makes you think I won’t let you?”
“You want me to squirm.”
His expression shifted ever so slightly. She’d struck a nerve.
“Your ideas of my motiv
ations are off base.”
“Maybe so,” she allowed, even though she didn’t believe it. Fighting with her “partner” wasn’t conducive to peaceful coexistence until she could buy him out. “Habit. I’ll work on it.”
“I’m moving the trailer in tonight. I’ll see you tomorrow to discuss our partnership. What time works for you?”
“Eight o’clock.” She wanted to get it over with. Yes, it was going to mess with her day, but she needed to get used to Tyler messing with her days. “I’ll see you then.”
Determined to have the last word, she turned on her heel and almost twisted her ankle. Somehow she managed the first few steps in the direction of her car without limping, because she knew for a fact that Tyler was watching. Watching her and quite possibly smiling that...smile of his. The crooked one that made her feel off-kilter and self-conscious.
Yes. That smile.
Well, maybe working with her on the ranch would help wipe that smile off his face.
* * *
AT LEAST SHE hadn’t fallen when her heel caught, because if she had, then Tyler would have had to fight instinct and let her pick herself back up. Skye Larkin wanted as little to do with him as possible, and because she was now beholden, she was all the more determined to keep him at arm’s length.
He dug his keys out of his pocket and headed for his truck. Too bad, babe. He was her partner, and they were going to tune up the ranch so that it made money. Things wouldn’t change that radically, but he had some ideas and there was a boatload of repairs to make around the place. He wouldn’t have a lot of time to do those himself, but he could hire them done if he continued winning.
He saw no reason why he wouldn’t. Winning was what he did.
The trailer he’d bought used was almost twice the size of the one his brother was living in. He’d offered to trade, because he was going to be home a heck of a lot less often than Jess, but Jess had said no. He’d earn his own bigger trailer. Tyler didn’t fight him. He liked the new-to-him trailer and figured he’d be comfortable there when he wasn’t on the road and his twin would have adequate space in his own home now that he wasn’t sharing.
Less than two hours after signing the legal agreement, Tyler and Blaine parked the trailer on the far side of the dilapidated bunkhouse, where he had access to sewage, power and water lines. All the niceties of home—most of which he’d lacked in his early days on the road when he’d dry camped. Now he drove or flew to his events and stayed in motels and hotels more often than not. It was good to be in the money, to be comfortable on the road.
The trick was to stay in the money. The one given in a bull rider’s career was that it could end at any time—or, at the very least, be subject to an extended hiatus. He’d been blessed with a relatively injury-free season so far, which he attributed to luck and his more intense training and eating regime. Nothing like winning big to motivate a guy to do it again.
“I can’t believe you’re going to live here,” Blaine said as he dusted his hands off, then lifted his chin as the little donkey they’d put back into the pasture twice came trotting toward them again. “That little guy needs to be in sheep wire.”
The mule, who was apparently the little guy’s bosom buddy, leaned over the fence and called for his friend.
“My turn,” Tyler said as he headed toward the donkey.
“Should we leave him out? We can keep an eye on him.”
“And listen to that?” Tyler called back, his voice nearly drowned out by plaintive mule cries.
“Good point.”
Tyler easily caught the donkey and after a moment’s thought led him toward the barn, where he put him into a small pen that opened out onto the pasture. The mule trotted toward the pen, and the two were soon bonding over the planks. Tyler wondered how long it would be before the little Houdini figured a way out of the pen. Apparently he stayed in the pasture on the honor system when Skye wasn’t home—not a big surprise given how loose the wire was on most of the fences.
“We should have done that in the first place,” Tyler said as he rejoined Blake by the trailer. They stood for a moment regarding the ranch, and Tyler was fairly certain that Blake saw exactly what he did—a ranch that had been something back in the day, and could once again be something, but not without an infusion of cash. Tyler’s cash.
“Are you sure about this?” Blake finally asked.
“I had to invest in something. This seemed good.”
“Because of what Mason did?”
This again. Tyler stopped adjusting a hose and gave his cousin a hard look. “Because Skye shouldn’t lose her ranch due to his...indiscretions.”
Blaine pushed his hat back. “You going all white knight?”
Tyler smirked up at him from where he knelt in the dirt. “I think the princess welcomes the arrival of the white knight.” He went back to work on the clamp. “I’m investing my money.”
Blaine looked around. “I’ve seen better investments.”
“The place is a little run-down. A lot of places are.” The droughts of recent years had been ruthless, but the weather seemed to have shifted last year, and for the first time in ages they had a normal snowpack, which meant normal water, which meant better production.
The ranch wasn’t a bad investment. He wouldn’t let it be. When he wasn’t on the road, he’d help Skye work the place, and when he was, she was more than capable of handling things. Probably more capable than he was in some ways. She knew the place. She’d grown up there. It was going to take her a while to get used to having him around, but as he saw it, she’d better get used to it, because it was also going to take her a while to buy him out. Ty was very curious to see how things played out between them.
So was Blaine. “I hope you guys don’t kill each other or something.”
“We’ll do fine...after the initial period of adjustment.”
And that, he had a feeling, was going to be interesting.
* * *
SKYE DECIDED THE best place to meet with Tyler to go over his plan for the future of her ranch...which was actually now their ranch, as much as that pained her...was at the old picnic table in her yard. That way she wouldn’t get that trapped-with-Tyler feeling. Being in a small space with the guy, like her kitchen, made her feel edgy and self-conscious, and that was the last thing she wanted. This first meeting would set the tone for their working relationship, and she wanted every advantage.
At eight o’clock she came out of the house with a carafe of coffee, two cups and a small pan of warm take-and-bake cinnamon rolls. As she unloaded the items from the tray she’d used to carry them, Tyler came up the walk.
“Wouldn’t it have been easier to meet in your kitchen?”
“But it’s so nice out here,” she said lightly as she poured a cup of coffee. She raised her eyebrows at him politely as she gestured to the second cup.
“Please.” He sat down on the bench on the opposite side of the table from where she stood. She poured the coffee and pushed the tin of rolls closer to him. He shook his head, and she gave him a curious look.
“I watch what I eat. No useless carbs.”
Skye blinked at him. How was she supposed to enjoy eating her roll when someone with a nutritional conscience was sitting across the table from her?
“That gets you no points in my book,” she murmured as she maneuvered her way onto the bench.
“Nutrition plays a big part in building muscle mass,” he said as he took a drink of coffee. “Why don’t you want me in your kitchen?”
She ignored the question, because there was no way she was giving a truthful answer to it, and defiantly pulled a cinnamon roll out of the pan and set it on the napkin in front of her. Tyler’s stomach rumbled audibly, and she almost smiled.
“What did you have for breakfast?” she asked as she took a bite of the flaky r
oll.
“Four eggs. But that was almost three hours ago.”
He had eaten at five?
He read the question in her face and gave a casual shrug. “I wanted to take a look at the place.”
“Without me.” As soon as she spoke, Skye wished she could take the words back. He had a half interest in the place. He could do whatever he wanted.
“I didn’t know if you were awake.”
“I work the early shift at the café, so I’m usually up at five.”
“Good to know.”
Skye didn’t know why. It wasn’t like they’d be doing anything together. As she understood it, the point of this meeting was to delineate responsibilities so that they could stay out of each other’s way. “You said you have a plan.”
“Nothing on paper, but I do have an idea or two.”
Skye took another bite of the roll, but she barely tasted it, which was a shame, because she rarely indulged. Tyler set down his cup. “You’ve run this ranch for a long time essentially on your own.”
“True.”
“It’s not in very good shape.” She opened her mouth to defend herself, but Tyler raised his eyebrows and she closed it again, figuring it was better to let him finish insulting her and then mount a defense. “Which is no surprise given the circumstances.”
She bit into the cinnamon roll, then slowly chewed, glad to have a reason not to speak.
“The outbuildings need to be reroofed. There are fencing issues. The corrals haven’t been cleaned in a long time.”
Skye swallowed and dabbed at her lips with the paper napkin. “Anything else?”
“I didn’t have a lot of time to look at the equipment—”
“It’s all fairly new. We invested after Mason won those big back-to-back checks three years ago.”
“Good use of the money.”
“Better than some of his other uses,” she said, her mild tone belying the tightening in her chest. Mason’s betrayal was still difficult for her to both fathom and forgive.
“I’m sorry this happened to you, Skye.” Tyler spoke softly. Sincerely. As if he understood and sympathized. Skye didn’t want sympathy any more than she wanted him on the ranch.