The Maverick Meets His Match

by Anne Carrole

  “You wouldn’t.”

  Ty hardly felt like giving her an explanation now, but there would be no good time to explain, no time when she’d want to hear what needed to be said.

  “Your grandfather was worried about having enough money for the family over the long haul. I think the recent downturn in the economy fueled that concern. He asked me to analyze the rodeo operation and determine if the operation could provide enough income for the family through the coming years, given the investments that would be needed in livestock, and the state of the industry, and…” Ty looked straight into her eyes. Sometimes the only way to say bad news was directly. “And the quality of the leadership. If I think there is too much future risk, I am to sell before Prescott’s reputation can be tarnished.” He took a hard swallow. It was the truth, but no doubt a harsh one for Mandy to accept.

  He’d hoped to serve up the idea of selling the company as an opportunity when and if the analysis warranted it. But maybe it was better she knew the truth from the beginning, considering he would be probing pretty deep into Prescott’s business practices.

  He watched her face as she processed the news, saw her eyes turn glossy as tears filled them. Hell. He could handle anything but a woman’s tears.

  It wasn’t but a heartbeat, though, before she faced him squarely with the fierceness of a warrior ready to battle and with the tears, gratefully, at bay. “Does that include the ranch land?”

  It was almost a relief to see her back in fighting mode instead of silenced by an unintended blow. He preferred her like this, he realized. Strong and resilient. JM would have been proud of his granddaughter’s spirit.

  “Planned communities are sprouting up here in the West, and though the housing market has been hurt across the country, Wyoming is in better shape than most states,” Brian began. “There could be a small fortune to be had for the ranch. And if the rodeo company is sold, the need for the land will be negligible given the meager return on investment on cattle herds. From the figures I’ve seen, it’s the rodeo company rent that makes the ranch profitable. But selling the deeded land of the ranch would be at your and Tucker’s option. The company would be Ty’s decision.”

  She cast her eyes downward and shook her head.

  “The ranch piece is something for me to look at, Mandy, and for you and Tucker to consider.” Ty knew from experience that money could do a lot of persuading, and a land deal this size could mean real wealth for the Prescotts. And a coup for him and the new company he planned to form.

  “You’re a developer though. That’s what you do. And that must have been why he picked you.” Her monotone couldn’t disguise the cracks of emotion in her voice.

  “That was one reason.”

  And the other was that JM knew Ty would be objective in his assessment, wouldn’t let sentimentality, or his own interests, interfere with the cold, hard facts. Ty had built his reputation on being cool and detached when it came to making profitable business decisions. And that’s why he was also no longer at the land development firm. Some people didn’t want to know the truth. Some people preferred to make deals based on connections, paybacks, and, worse, gut instead of reason.

  Head bent, Mandy continued to stare at the table’s polished surface as if the answer was written in the grain of the wood.

  Brian cleared his throat again. “Should you consider marriage instead, JM expected Ty to use a prenup to protect his own assets. The provisions of JM’s will would protect Mandy’s interest. If you decide not to marry, JM has granted Ty a sort of consolation gift for all he’s asking of you, Ty.”

  “Isn’t it enough he can sell the business? Why does he need a consolation prize?” She jerked her chin in his direction as if there was some question as to the “he” she referred to.

  “It’s a gift, Mandy, not a prize. Ty, under the circumstances I outlined, if you decide not to marry but instead to just manage the business, you would receive JM’s ranch house and the surrounding hundred acres of land. The boundaries of these acres are prescribed in the will and would be taken from the deeded ranch land held in trust for Mandy and Tucker.” Brian looked up and met his gaze. “I guess he felt you needed a little piece of Wyoming to call your own.”

  Mandy gasped. “That’s prime land. We have barns and corrals on that land. It’s Prescott land.”

  “You and Tucker would still have over 30,000 of deeded and leased acres if you decide to hold on to it,” Brian noted.

  “But he’d be living in my grandfather’s house. That belongs in the family.”

  “I guess he hoped you two would marry so it would indeed remain in the family. If you marry, the ranch house is a wedding present to Mandy, so if you choose the marriage option, regardless of what happened after you married, that house would be yours, Mandy.”

  Mandy’s green eyes shot fire in his direction. Too bad all the passion was anger.

  Hadn’t been that way ten years ago. Not that time at the creek.

  Not that she didn’t have good reason to be worked up about this will. If it was a surprise to him, it must have been a shock to her—a damn unpleasant one.

  How many times had he told JM how much he loved his house, wanted one just like it, never dreaming of such generosity, never expecting it? JM had apparently divined the truth. Ty hungered after a place where he could have a few horses, despite his decade-long aversion to anything having to do with his family’s ranch. But he never mentioned those things with a thought that JM would or should do something about it. Ty was more than financially capable of providing a house and land for himself. That he hadn’t was another matter.

  Still, he had questions. “So as long as the marriage lasts a minimum of six months, I wouldn’t get the house, but I would still get shares equal to fifteen percent of the company, even if we divorced after that time period?”

  “Yes,” Brian said with a reassuring nod.

  Mandy shook her head. “How can you even conceive of such a sham of a marriage?”

  “I’m just trying to understand the options. If I had an interested buyer, I might be able to complete the analysis and sale of the rodeo company, if warranted, within six months. So, Brian, why the marriage provision, since the six months timing wouldn’t necessarily prevent the sale of the business? Course it would get me out of Mandy’s hair faster, and, Mandy, you’d be able to keep closer tabs on me.” He couldn’t quite keep the smile off his face.

  Mandy stared at him. He could see the pulsing of her clenched jaw, no doubt from grinding teeth.

  “I absolutely refuse to consider such a thing. End of story.” Mandy wrapped her arms around her trim waist in a hug. She probably could use one right about now. “The company is profitable. I’ll stake my future on that.”

  Ty didn’t think it was the time to remind her that his mandate wasn’t to determine if the business was profitable but whether it was likely to provide enough profit, under Mandy’s leadership, to sustain the family, meaning Sheila, Tucker, and Mandy, for the next twenty years or longer. JM was worried about his family’s future, not their present.

  “I’m just trying to understand his motivation for making such a strange provision. You have to admit it’s a doozie.”

  Brian nodded. “I wish I could shed light on what he was thinking. I asked him several times, but he wouldn’t answer. However, in studying this provision, I can only guess he was trying to play matchmaker.”

  “Matchmaker?” He and Mandy spoke in unsettling unison.

  “Whatever gave him the idea we were a match?” Mandy questioned, glaring at Ty with a look that could wither a steel rod. As if it was somehow his fault.

  Ty searched his mind to see if he’d ever given the old man any ideas in that direction. He’d asked after Mandy whenever he’d see JM, but that was just being polite, as anyone would have been. He may have commented a time or two about what a pretty granddaughter JM had, again just being nice, making talk. He certainly never admitted he was physically attracted to Mandy. That would hav
e just been awkward. Ty might have added his two cents about her most recent boyfriend, Mitch Lockhart, not being worthy of someone like Mandy, but then he was just agreeing with what JM had already said. As to marriage, he’d always deflected any talk about marrying by saying he’d never find a woman who was beautiful, smart, and as driven as he was, someone who would understand and support his work ethic. Nope, he’d never given JM a hint he was in any way attracted to Mandy Prescott, much less interested in marrying her, because he wasn’t. Not Mandy, not any woman.

  “I was wondering the same thing,” he added.

  “You know it wasn’t my idea. I don’t even like you.” Mandy swung her attention back to Brian, leaving Ty to absorb that statement. Why did it feel like someone had just dropped an ice cube down his pants?

  “This is ludicrous.” Mandy charged ahead. “How could you let him write such a thing—or believe we’d even consider it?”

  “As I said, don’t blame the messenger. You have until Tuesday to think about it.”

  “You have my answer now. It is no.” With that decision, Mandy rose and slung her large leather satchel over her shoulder. She brushed her hands down her jeans as if she could get rid of the whole discussion. “I’ve got a rodeo to put on this weekend, gentlemen. I’ll be seeing you.”

  “Wait,” Ty said, also rising. No way could he let her leave without clarifying things. “Regardless of this provision, I’m heading up the company, at least for the time being. So I think the phrase is we’ve got a rodeo to put on this weekend.”

  If he didn’t assert authority immediately with Mandy, he knew it would only get worse between them. “So, when we get back to the office, you will meet with me, you will show me the plans for this weekend’s rodeo, what stock we’re pulling and why, cost estimates, and profit potential. And just so you know, I’ve already had Karen book me a room at Greenville since I will be overseeing the operation, as I will all the rodeos going forward.”

  She looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “Don’t think I’m going to train you.”

  “If you want me to release the money for the event, I need to review your plans.” She needed to understand who was boss. He could almost see the wheels turning in her head as she struggled with his edict. She had to know he’d bench her if she balked at his requests. If she was smart, she wouldn’t test him.

  “I still need to clarify a few things about the terms of the will,” Brian said. “For one, cohabitation means not only living under one roof, but sleeping in the same room whether on the road or in the ranch house, and you can’t be away from each other for more than twenty-four hours at a time. Essentially, he wants you together during those six months.” Brian looked from Mandy to Ty. “Not that it matters, since you both seem set on not doing this.”

  “Does he dictate where we take our meals and how many showers we must take together?” Mandy said in a voice filled with fury, though Ty kind of liked the shower image.

  “No,” Brian answered.

  “That was a rhetorical question, Brian.” She shook her head, and it seemed as though some of the steam had come out of her as she sighed. “I don’t know what got into JM at the end, but thinking Ty and I are in any way a match is just too ludicrous to contemplate. I don’t have to wait until Tuesday. You have my answer now.”

  With her large purse slung over her shoulder, she moved toward the door, ready to escape.

  The whole scene would have been pretty entertaining if his bachelor status wasn’t part of the ante. Still, it was kind of ironic that all these years he’d avoided Mandy out of deference to her being JM’s granddaughter, and here JM was giving his blessings for what could be six months of guilt-free sex.

  “I can’t accept it until Tuesday. So you both should plan to be back in the office at two o’clock on that day.” Brian nodded. “And I’ll have a judge and the license ready. You both need to take a blood test today, which I’ve arranged at the clinic around the corner.” He looked at his watch. “At three o’clock. Plenty of time to make it.”

  “But I said no.” Mandy waved her hand. Ty couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. She reminded him of a caged animal that had been pacing far too long and not getting anywhere.

  “I can’t accept your answer now, as I said. And if you don’t want to jeopardize that outright grant of shares equal to twenty-percent of the company, Mandy, you must satisfy these simple requests for getting a blood test and giving me your answer on Tuesday.” Brian strode toward her and handed her what appeared to be a copy of the will. He held out one for Ty to take. Ty grabbed it, interested to read it for himself.

  “You can have another lawyer look it over,” Brian continued. “But I advise you to do now what is outlined in the will, Mandy. And that means getting a blood test. I’ve already done the paperwork for the license. You both need to sign before you leave.” Brian held out a silver pen.

  Mandy froze as if a doe in the sight of a hunter’s gun. She probably felt like she’d been a target lately, what with her grandfather’s passing, Ty taking over, and now this ridiculous provision. And Ty hadn’t exactly made it any easier by pulling rank. But he was responsible for the company now. He took the responsibility seriously.

  “Mandy,” Ty said, using the same low, controlled voice he would use with a spirited horse. “Let’s just sign and get the blood tests. We both know it’s not going to happen, but there’s nothing to getting a blood test.” Ty took the pen and signed the paper Brian held. He handed the pen to Mandy.

  “Ever pragmatic, aren’t you, Ty?” She nabbed the pen from his hand, and her fingers swept over his in a delicate brush. An odd jolt ricocheted through him. What was that about? Too much thinking about having sex with her, no doubt.

  Mandy took a minute to read over the papers before she signed and handed them back to Brian. Straightening, she whipped her hair over her shoulder in defiance. She looked stunning, even when she was mad—especially when she was mad. Her curvy chest heaved under her black top, drawing his attention to a spot he’d no business looking at. Of course, if they were married…he gave a mental shake.

  This would get him nowhere fast. JM’s proposition was unacceptable. Working with Mandy a full year in a “no touch” zone would be difficult enough. Six months living together would be torture if she held out for no sex. Of course, if he could convince her otherwise…maybe. As long as they both agreed to a divorce at the end.

  “Fine, blood tests. I go first.”

  Ty stepped to pull open the door to the hallway. “Then my office for our first meeting since I got here two weeks ago.”

  “Or what?” she challenged.

  “Or he can fire you, Mandy,” Brian called from behind.

  “He can’t. I’m a shareholder.”

  “He can, and he can keep you from running the business for up to two years if he chooses,” Brian said.

  “Let him try.”

  Ty struggled to keep the smile from his lips but failed. This was going to be some year.

  Chapter 3

  Sitting in her cubicle in the cramped space that served as Prescott’s headquarters, Mandy reviewed the revised budget yet again, going through each line item, trying to see it through Ty’s eyes, except she couldn’t fathom what a man who knew nothing about putting on a rodeo would see there. Yet he would be the ultimate arbiter.

  She glanced at the closed door of the only office in the small building. It had served as her grandfather’s office. Ty now sat behind that desk.

  Life could be cruelly unfair.

  Mandy’s cubicle faced that office door, the half wall providing just enough space for a counter to hold her computer and two old pictures—one with her smiling father, mother, grandfather, a young Tucker, and her teenaged self at some rodeo event long forgotten, and one of her and her father at one of her barrel racing events. Two upper cabinets formed the right wall she shared with the cubicle belonging to Karen, their office manager, with two long file cabinets tucked under the right wall’s counter
space. The back half wall, which she shared with Harold’s cubicle, was covered in cork, and she’d hung pictures of her horses and bulls interspersed with the faded ribbons from her barrel racing days. She really should take those ribbons down, but they reminded her of going to rodeos with her father as he worked them and she competed in them. Happier days, days free from worry as to the future. Little had she known.

  She hated the idea that Ty was sitting in her grandfather’s office and that he was heading her company, and yet she was working late to give him the budgets. Her gaze fell on the black-and-blue spot on her arm where blood had been drawn. The whole idea of marrying Ty Martin was just too ludicrous to endure, but she had dutifully gone for the blood test.

  Her headache only slightly eased after the day’s events, she glanced at the closed door. What did Ty think of such a preposterous proposal? At the reading of the will, he’d actually seemed to be considering it, and he’d gone for the blood tests.

  She picked up the revised budget sheet and scanned each line item again until she got to the personnel line. Kyle Bradshaw, the most recent recipient of the James Prescott Memorial Scholarship and a part-time employee of PRC since he was fifteen, had asked for Fridays off during the summer, their busiest time, so he could take a summer course. Of course, she’d granted it. Kyle, his father, and his brother all worked at PRC off and on as the ranch season allowed and the whole family had been at her grandfather’s funeral, though she hadn’t had the opportunity to say more than a few words to them or half the crowd of guests who had attended.

  She changed the personnel figure to reflect Kyle’s absence and hit Print for revision number four. She’d have to change around the personnel duties as well. Flipping to another screen, she deleted Kyle’s name beside the feeding-and-watering duty and replaced it with her name. Added to her event duties, it would make for a very long day. No matter. She’d been short-handed before, and Ty certainly couldn’t complain about the salary savings. She flipped to still another screen and made a note to hire a temporary replacement for Kyle, hopefully by the next rodeo event.