by Donna Alward
She had been arrogant. And prideful. It smarted that he knew it.
When she got back to the barn, Brett was waiting to take Charley. She was surprised at that. She’d figured he’d be nowhere to be seen. But of course, despite his outburst and riding away, Brett had manners. He was a gentleman. Both times when she’d been rude and judgmental, he’d been the first one to reach out.
This time though, his face was a mask of cold politeness as he held Charley’s bridle and waited for her to dismount. She hopped down and gave Charley’s neck a pat. The earlier silence had been comfortable, but now it was awkward as anything.
“I’d better get going. I still have to drive to Great Falls and get cleaned up before the shower.”
“I’ll put Charley up. Thanks for coming, Mel.”
But his words held little warmth. They were a show of manners, nothing more. It was getting clearer by the second that he’d wanted to bring her around to his way of thinking…and she’d been trying to do the same and they were simply at an impasse.
Any romance was doomed from the start. It was time they faced facts. Some raging libido couldn’t make up for all the other problems. They were bound to be on different sides.
“Thanks for showing me around,” she replied, suddenly dreading driving away. He wouldn’t be calling her again. She knew that as sure as she knew the sky was blue.
She might have said something more, but he was already walking away, leading Charley to the barn. She watched for a few seconds, the way the back pockets of his jeans shifted as he walked away, the straight line of his strong back.
He didn’t look back.
Melly sighed and then made her way across the yard to her car. When she drove away, she kept looking in the rearview mirror to see if he was watching. He wasn’t. Today’s conversation had completely killed any chance they might have had. He wasn’t the one. Even though at times she’d thought he could be. It just went to show that ticking all the right boxes didn’t mean a damn thing.
Not a damn thing at all.
Chapter Seven
Melly’s hand shook as she put down the phone.
It was done then. Brett had outbid Dustin, who’d maxed out his approved financing on his last bid. Before the end of the summer, Brett would take possession of their ranch. Angry tears streaked down her cheeks now that the conversation was over. Not just angry at Brett, but at her parents too. They could have accepted a lower offer and kept it in the family, and they’d chosen not to.
At the bridal shower, her friends had laughingly come up with a solution to all her problems. If she married Brett, she’d get to keep the ranch anyway. So what was the problem? He was good looking and they had chemistry…there were worse things.
But she’d already been in a marriage based on a lie. There was no way she could do that again. And she hardly knew Brett well enough to know if she could ever love him. She wasn’t so gullible as to believe that lust and love were the same thing.
She flopped down on her bed and stared at the ceiling. It wasn’t fair. If this were a book or a movie, the ranch would be saved and the girl would get the guy and it would all work out. Instead, neither of those things had happened. And she was right back where she started. Alone.
Disgusted, she got up from the bed and went to the kitchen, where her laptop sat on the counter. In moments, she’d booted up and logged on to NotMy1stRodeo.com. Two new hat tips waited for her acknowledgment. Instead, she went to her dashboard and looked at her messages. There was Brett’s picture, so handsome and yet a pale likeness to the man she’d met. The photo didn’t capture the power of his smile or the heat of his touch. Neither did it touch on the spark of anger in his eyes when he was wronged. And in some ways, she had wronged him. The kicker was she admired him for his perseverance to his goals, the strength of his resolve. She wished her ex-husband had demonstrated more of that strength rather than weakness. And she wished Brett’s resolve could have been aimed somewhere other than at her parents’ ranch. It was like he said. They both thought they knew what they needed from a partner, but when they got what they wanted, things were more complicated than ever.
Her heart was heavy and there was a lump in her throat as she hit a button that said delete profile. When it asked for confirmation, she gave it…and then she was gone. Gone from the site. Enough of online dating for her.
It was time she moved on. From everything and got a fresh start.
Brett hopped out of the truck and smiled at the couple waiting at the bottom of the steps. “Jim. Becky.”
“Hello, Brett.”
Jim held out a hand and Brett shook it. Over the past month, he’d gotten to know the Carmichaels better, and he liked them. A lot. Having new surveys done and changing the purchase agreement had taken the lawyers some time, but it was all settled now the way they wanted it. Brett was more than satisfied with how it had turned out, and he had Manda to thank once again. It had been her idea to separate the house from the rest of the ranch, enabling Jim and Becky to remain in their home. So Brett had given them the option, knowing that it might be too difficult for them to watch someone else ranch the land.
But they’d accepted, gratefully.
“Coffee’s on,” Becky said, smiling up at him. “Why don’t you come in?”
“Just for a minute,” he answered. “I really just came by to pick up the keys to the buildings and barns.”
He followed them up the steps while Jim lamented the old days. “Used to be we didn’t have to lock our doors around here.”
“I know,” Brett replied. “For a long time, you just needed a good guard dog. Now it’s locks and security cameras.”
He sat down at the kitchen table while Becky got coffee from a pot. The house was comfortable and plain, a regular farmhouse much like the one he’d grown up in. The coffee was joined by a plate of cookies and they all sat around the oak table.
“I just wanted to let you know that starting tomorrow, the construction crews will be at the building site.” Brett took a sip of coffee. “Hopefully, they won’t cause too big of a disturbance.”
“It’s your place now, Brett. I think you chose a good spot for the house.” Jim reached for a cookie.
“Well, it just made sense. I want my own home, and it didn’t make sense for you to have to leave if you wanted to stay. It’d be a hard thing to say goodbye to, I think.”
“Our daughter certainly thinks so.” Jim’s face fell a little. “She’s very angry with us for selling to you.”
“Because you could have sold to Dustin?”
Jim’s gaze snapped to Brett’s. “You knew about Dustin?”
“I knew more than that, sir.” Nerves tangled in his stomach. It wasn’t about the deal. They’d agreed to that ages ago. It was Mel. Always Mel. After several weeks, he should be able to leave her behind, but he somehow couldn’t.
He put down his cup. “Mel didn’t tell you, did she?”
“Melly? What does she have to do with this?”
Wow. Brett had actually been surprised when the Carmichaels had accepted his offer. He figured Mel would have gone to them and pleaded her case, told them everything in an effort to change their minds.
“We met back in May, but I didn’t know who she was. She still goes by Walker—”
“Yes, we know,” Becky said a little sharply. Brett wasn’t sure if that was aimed at him, or due to dislike of the ex.
“It wasn’t until we’d seen each other a few times that the pieces came together and she realized it was me who was trying to buy the ranch. She was really mad at me for that, but we’d only been seeing each other briefly and, well…” Brett’s face heated. “Truth is, I’m also divorced. This was a big decision, and not one I was willing to let be influenced by a relationship that was so new and uncertain.”
“I see.”
Brett met Jim’s gaze full-on. “Sir, I
made it clear to Mel that I didn’t know who she was before we went out, and I think she believes that now. But she’s still put out that I didn’t step aside.”
“Is that why you suggested splitting the property?” Becky asked softly.
“Only partly.” More than he wanted to admit, if truth be told. He couldn’t deny he’d felt better knowing that Mel would still have a place to come home to like she wanted. “I really do want to build my own house,” he continued. “But Mel made me think. There is a special connection between a rancher and the land. I know this place means a lot to you, and to her, and so I offered the split if you wanted it. I promise you the operation is in good hands. This way we all get what we want in the end, right?”
There was quiet in the kitchen for a moment. “She doesn’t know about the split.” Becky’s words came out on a sigh. “We were going to tell her, but she decided to go away for a while over her summer break. She’s always wanted to go to California and drive up the coast, and I think she chose this summer because she didn’t want to be here to see the ranch change hands.”
“She probably didn’t want to see me either,” Brett admitted. “She wasn’t very happy with me the last time we saw each other.”
“She doesn’t know you did this for her, then.”
“Did what for me?”
Mel’s voice broke through the conversation and the three of them swiveled in their chairs to face her.
“I didn’t hear you come in, dear,” Becky said, but Mel’s gaze was glued to Brett’s.
She was so pretty. Her hair was back in a ponytail and her face was tanned, highlighting a few freckles on the bridge of her nose. She was dressed for the heat, in denim shorts and a blue T-shirt and sandals. It made her look about twenty years old.
“Melissa,” he said, embarrassed when her full name came out on a croak. She could still make him so nervous.
“Brett.”
The word was so cold he was surprised it didn’t freeze midair, despite the summer heat.
“Brett’s taking possession today,” Jim said quietly. “We were just talking things over.”
“How long has he given you to pack and get out? Do you know where you’re going to live?”
“You might have known these things if you’d stuck around,” Becky reminded her, a sharpness to her voice that said she wasn’t happy with Melissa’s tone.
“It’s why I came back.”
“No one is going anywhere,” Brett announced, impatient. “And I’ll explain why, if you’ll sit down.”
“Another explanation? Each time you give me one of those, Brett, the results are the same. You on our ranch.”
“My ranch,” he corrected calmly. “Melissa, sit down.”
“I don’t think—”
“Sit down,” he repeated firmly.
A mutinous set to her lips, she pulled out a chair and sat.
He focused on her. Not on her father or her mother, just her. He wasn’t sure he wanted an audience right now, but things needed to be said and he was going to say them. It might be the only time she’d listen.
“I did some thinking after we last saw each other,” he began. “And I talked to Manda too. She knows me best out of all my family. I think it’s a twin thing.” He smiled a little. Sometimes having a twin was a pain in the ass, but sometimes it was handy. “She knows better than anyone what I went through when my marriage ended. I was left feeling like I was nothing more than a hick with a pitchfork. Sherry had…I don’t know, some image of how glamorous life as a rancher would be. Like all the dirty work would be done by the hands and I’d strut around in clean boots and big belt buckles with her on my arm. When she left, in my head I knew she’d simply not been prepared for life on a ranch. I knew that she hadn’t really loved the person I was, just the person she wanted me to be. But I think you know as well as I do that the heart can be harder to convince. I felt like less of a man, and it’s taken me a long time to want to put myself in that position again.”
“Believe me, your manhood has never been an issue.”
Brett’s face heated a little and he wondered if the blush was noticeable.
Mel’s expression had softened a little. “Look, I know I haven’t always been fair. It’s got a lot more to do with me than it does with you, and in the end it still hurts that the ranch has been sold. Family should come first.” Her gaze flitted over her parents. “I would have thought you’d feel the same way. We could have kept it in the family—”
“I like Dustin,” Jim spoke up. “He’s a good kid. But I’m not sure he’s ready to take this on. Both from a work perspective, and from the financial burden. He’s got a wife and kids to think about.”
Brett leaned over and put his hand over her fingers. “Mel, I always had the best of intentions. I did think about walking away from the deal, you know. But I’d worked for this for so long, and I don’t trust easily. How could I logically walk away from it because we’d been out on a few dates?”
“I had started to feel it was more than that,” she admitted softly.
“Me too,” he agreed, his voice quiet. “But I didn’t trust what was between us. It just kept snowballing into a bigger mess. And then, when you walked away, I came up with a compromise.”
Her gaze met his, and he could see a little bit of hope there. Just a brief moment, but there was a flash of uncertainty that encouraged him.
“You want to be able to come home,” he said, squeezing her fingers. “I understand completely. You want to know that one thing in your life is a constant. I wanted to buy the ranch, but not your life. Not your parents’ lives either. So we had everything re-surveyed and another purchase agreement drawn up. The house and two acres around it still belong to your mom and dad. They can live here as long as they like. And your dad has agreed that if they ever want to sell and move somewhere smaller, you get first crack at the property. I get the second.”
Her eyes grew round. “But…where will you live?”
“I’m building my own house south of here. I’m not the enemy, Mel. I promise you, I’m not.”
She pulled her hand away and her eyes filled with tears. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Sweetheart,” Becky jumped into the conversation. “We know how hard the last few years have been for you. This wasn’t an easy decision for any of us, and we never wanted you to feel like you were, well, displaced. No matter where we are, you can still come home, okay?”
Mel nodded. “I’m still sad. I hate that things have to change.”
Brett laughed a little, but it was thick with emotion. “Oh, I know. But sometimes change can be a good thing. Sometimes a person can resist it all they want, and then they get a boot in their ass and end up going for coffee.”
Jim and Becky looked confused, but he knew Mel understood, and her lower lip wobbled just a bit. “You should hate me for being such a spoiled brat,” she murmured, looking down at her lap.
“Not spoiled. Just scared. And I could never hate you.”
The kitchen was silent. He wished they were alone but he was also glad somehow that the four of them had sat in a room together and talked. Still, there were things he wanted to say without an audience. Things that had little to do with the ranch.
“Mel, let’s take a walk.”
Mel looked up at him then, and the old chemistry was there, simmering behind her eyes, heavy in the air between them.
Maybe what was between them couldn’t be fixed.
But he’d like to have a chance to try. And if it was really over, they could leave it in a better place, without anger and resentment.
Chapter Eight
Melly didn’t know what to say. She’d agreed to take a walk, partly because she wanted to hear what he had to say and partly because she really needed a few minutes to get her head in the right space.
The past month, as she
and Leanne had traveled the coast, she’d done a lot of thinking. She’d thought about the ranch, about her family, about Brett, and about letting go. She’d come to terms with it for herself, but the idea of her parents leaving the place they’d lived for over thirty years broke her heart. They’d invested so much time and energy and love into the place to just up and leave.
Walking in and seeing Brett sitting at the kitchen table? Her reaction had been so instantaneous, so unexpected that she’d immediately thrown up barriers in the form of hostility. But it wasn’t her anger at Brett that had resurfaced. She might have been able to deal with that. It was something else. It was attraction and longing that had slammed into her like a freight train, stealing her breath. After everything, he still had the power to turn her to mush—and all without saying a word.
Finding out he’d made provisions for her parents to stay meant more than she could say. But she had to try. She already owed him an apology. Knowing he’d taken this step simply blew her mind.
Melly knew where she needed to take him. They followed a path behind the house, through the grove of trees to a meadow, and then through more woods until they came to a narrow creek burbling over the rocks and stones.
“It’s peaceful in here,” Brett commented, letting out a big breath. “I’ve seen the whole ranch, but I never knew this was here.”
“I kept it a secret,” she said softly, picking her way down over the bank to the water. There was a spot part way down where the dirt had eroded away from a thick tree root, and it formed a natural seat about four feet wide. Melly eased herself into it and patted the hard earth beside her. “Come sit on my sofa,” she invited.