by MISSY HARPER
“Fine!” He yelled back, letting go of her arm with a little shove. He had never been more angry at, or frustrated by, a woman in all his life! “But you’re gonna explain yourself, Rylee!” He stared at her hard, and it was obvious he wasn’t going to give on this point.
Rylee walked a few steps away from him, wanting so badly to rub her arm where his fingers had been digging into her flesh, but there was no way she would give him that satisfaction. He may be a caveman and an asshole, and even a womanizer, but he did deserve to know what was going on with his own ranch.
“The reason I’m in control of your ranch is because I was the only person that Papa J trusted with the information. The reason your ranch is six hundred thousand dollars in debt is because your father mortgaged the ranch for two million dollars before I took over. For an encore, he then gave away all of your bulls and almost a third of your herd. And yes, you heard me correctly, he gave them away!” She paused to let this sink in then moved on.
“I was able to find about half of the missing herd and through… creative measures… I got most of them back. We used my bulls last year, and I’d planned to do the same again this year. I couldn’t see making such a costly investment when the ranch was still in so much debt. A good bull can cost a small fortune!” The shocked look on Ethan’s face gave her a vulnerable moment where she felt as if she needed to explain herself, but it quickly passed when she recalled what an ass he’d just been.
“As far as the two million dollars, we never were able to find out what he did with that money and he doesn’t even remember making the loan, much less what he did with the cash. Maybe you’ll find it buried on your ranch some day.” Rylee told a very shocked Ethan. She felt bad for him, but he’d really pissed her off with his accusations and man handling.
“You have your answers, and now you’re gonna listen to what I have to say.” She demanded as she approached him. “I’ve busted my ass for damn near two years so you’d still have that scrap of dirt to come home to.” She informed, looking him square in the eye as she pointed her finger back toward his ranch.
“I’ve reduced your debt by more than one point five million dollars in less than two years, without any help from you. So don’t you dare march your cocky ass into my barn and tell me that I have some explaining to do! I don’t owe you a damn thing, Ethan Hawkins! You got that?” She sneered as she enunciated each word of the last statement by poking him hard in his broad chest.
Ethan couldn’t answer her question. He stood dumbfounded with his mouth wide open as she walked away form him and out of the barn. He was astounded by what he’d just heard and spellbound by the way he was reacting to her assertiveness. Normally, he didn’t appreciate a pushy woman, but on Rylee… it worked.
“And get your jaw off the barn room floor, Ethan. You’re gonna get horse shit on your chin! Come up to the office when you manage that task. I have something for you.” She stopped and turned back to face him. “And I don’t have all day to wait around on you so make it quick.”
She walked into the house and went straight into her office, plopped down in her chair and leaned her head back, expelling a heavy sigh. She was breathing so hard she thought she might hyperventilate. Being so cold to Ethan was the hardest thing she’d ever done, even if he did deserve it. How dare he come home and look at her like that after all these years! And how dare he insinuate she was the cause for his ranch’s financial problems when she had done nothing but save his sorry butt for the past two years!
He’d made her so angry she’d nearly blurted out everything! She’d wanted to scream at him all the things she’d given up so he would still have a home to come back to when he was done riding his stupid bulls! She wanted him to know she hadn’t been on a date in two years because of him and that she had done it all, and would do it all again, just for him.
That would have been a very stupid move. Then he would have known she still had feelings for him, and he would have seen her as an easy target, no different than all the other women in his life. That’s not what she wanted. She wanted more of him than he’d ever offered anyone, or she wanted nothing at all, maybe not even his friendship. Keeping up this level of hostility would be difficult, but it was necessary if she wanted to protect her heart.
Chapter 4
Coming Clean
“Yes ma’am, I understand he can be difficult. I’m very sorry. I’ll speak with him… no, I can’t do it right now, I’m working. Yes, I’ll take care of it and have Nick send over something he might like to eat more than throw. Thank you. I’m sorry for the trouble. Yes. Good-bye.”
Rylee let out a long sigh as she leaned her head back against her chair, wondering what she was going to do? Papa J’s condition had worsened rapidly since moving him to the nursing home. The doctors had warned this could happen. They said Alzheimer’s patients exhibited a rapid decline when taken out of their known environments. It was the one reason she’d waited as long as she had to remove him from his home. She’d been forced to make that decision when he’d become a threat to himself. Sadly, she’d had no choice but to agree. She just hadn’t expected the decline to be so drastic or for it to happen so quickly.
“What happened?” She heard Ethan’s voice and opened her eyes to see him leaning his shoulder against the doorframe as he watched her intently. Rylee immidately noticed that he looked good enough to be modeling that shirt and those jeans. It was rather silly of her to be surprised by this thought. He had modeled jeans, boots, hats and even underwear in the past ten years. He didn’t just look good enough, he’d been good looking enough, and on more than one occasion.
“Papa J didn’t care too much for his breakfast so he decided to throw it at the aide helping to feed him.” She answered in a sad, tired voice, shaking off her thoughts of how good he looked standing in her doorway. “Called her a few choice words, too.”
“Has this happened before?” Ethan questioned, looking more concerned by the minute.
“He’s refused to eat what they served before, but he’s never thrown food at anybody. And you know your Pop would never use foul language with a lady in the room. He’s kicked your butt, and all three of my brother’s butts, for it in the past.” She told him as she gestured toward the chair in front of her desk. Ethan quirked his eyebrow in agreement as he moved away from his position against the door frame.
“Well, maybe this isn’t the place for him.” Ethan looked worried as he took his seat, concern etching his face.
“I really don’t think the place would matter. His doctor says moving him would only make it worse. It’s just the natural progression of the disease, unfortunately.” She sighed as if she’d let everyone down. “Doctor Brady warned this would happen when we moved him. I just didn’t expect it to happen this fast, Ethan. I’m sorry.”
She really felt bad about what was happening. It wasn’t fair to Ethan that he came home and his father disappeared before he could even unpack his bags. It had been her call not to tell Ethan about his father’s condition because she hadn’t wanted him to come home. Now she felt pretty selfish, as if she’d stolen his father away from him. Ethan looked perplexed and worried for a moment then he looked up to meet Rylee’s eyes.
“Why did they call you and not me, Rylee?” He asked softly. “They know I’m home, now.”
Rylee took a deep breath and let it out slowly before turning to a safe behind her desk and typing in the combination. She pulled out a file folder and placed it in front of her. Mentally preparing herself for the tough conversation ahead, she looked up at Ethan. It was the only part of his homecoming she had dreaded as much as having to actually see him again before she was able to stop loving him.
“Ethan, when we noticed something wasn’t quite right with Papa J, I went to work for him… more of a fact finding mission than anything. What I found was that the ranch was in major financial trouble. I spoke to him about it, and he was shocked! He had no idea. We tried to be respectful of him, but he just kept making bad decisi
ons. When I’d remind him about the financial issues, it was as if he were hearing them for the first time.” She sighed as she made a helpless gesture with her hands.
“I had to stop him, but unfortunately he’d already made that huge loan from some internet bank and there was nothing I could do about it. We were trying to save his dignity for as long as possible by not taking legal action, but in hind sight we saw that was a major mistake. For that, I am very sorry, Ethan.” She sighed heavily. Ethan sighed himself and shook his head in understanding.
“It had gotten to the point where we had no choice but to take action. So, to avoid humiliating him by taking him to court, I tricked him into signing a power of attorney, giving me total control over all of his financial matters and everything he owned or controlled… which happened to include your shares of the ranch because you’d given him power of attorney over them.”
“How’d you manage that?” Ethan sat up a little straighter in his chair and eyed her with suspicion. There was a hard edge to his question, and normally she would have taken offense to it, but she really couldn’t blame him.
“Papa J goes to auction the first Thursday of each month. Nick, your sister and myself had seen an attorney to have the papers drawn up. We wanted to be ready if the opportunity ever arose. We all had our respective copies, but I got lucky, Ethan.” She shrugged her shoulders as she looked at him. “We were hoping one of us would encounter the opportunity to get him to sign them.”
“But that can’t be legal!”
“There was no one around to challenge it. Our hope was to avoid having to force him to suffer the embarrassment of going to court, being declared incompetent. Not to steal from him. Nobody wanted to see him go through that.” Ethan’s only response was a deep sigh.
“He had some calves dropping early and couldn’t go to the auction that morning. However, he was convinced he needed a new tractor. He didn’t, but he wanted me to go for him and buy him another damn tractor. He’d just bought one a few years back, but he didn’t remember. It was as if he were back in that time when the old tractor had given out.” She took a deep breath and looked him in the eye. She wasn’t proud of what she’d done, but it had been necessary.
“I told him they wouldn’t let me make such a large purchase unless he signed a form giving me permission to make purchases on his behalf. He signed the Power of Attorney agreement without even reading it.” Rylee opened the folder on her desk and removed the document his father had signed.
“This is the document he signed. There are no copies, and you can tell from the blue ink on this one that it is the original.” She pushed the document across the desk toward him.
“I never had any intention of taking your ranch from you, Ethan. I only tricked your father into signing this to save him, and the ranch, from total financial ruin. I knew how much it meant to both of you and I couldn’t let you loose it.” Her eyes were tender and looked to be filled with tears. “It’s yours now. Take the document and shred it, burn it, or whatever you want to do with it. You’re officially back in control of your ranch. I only intended to maintain control while you were gone, and until you were ready to take over.” She assured him with both elbows on the desktop and her hands folded together before her.
Ethan sat the papers back down on top of her desk and stood up, running his hands over his face and through his hair. All of this was unbelievable! It felt surreal to be talking about his ranch and his father this way. Doing so with a grown up Rylee, one that he couldn’t seem to help wanting to lay across that damn desk, wasn’t helping matters much either. Nothing in his life was making any sense!
“Why didn’t somebody call me when this all stated, Rylee?” She could tell by his voice he felt very hurt and angry, but was trying to keep it in check.
“Money.” Rylee stated flatly.
“What?” He stopped pacing and stared at her as if she’d slapped him. He expected to hear any number of reasons, but money wasn’t one of them.
“The ranch was in major trouble… like over two million dollars worth of trouble. No one had that kind of money and we had no idea what your financial situation was, Ethan. We didn’t know if you’d saved your pennies or blew them all on women and whiskey.” Rylee leveled with him. “What we did know was how much that scrap of dirt meant to you, and that you were expected to win the championship again that October. A million dollars could have held the bank off and given me the time I needed to save your ranch.”
“But why not tell me, Rylee? Why did you keep it all from me? My ranch’s financial situation… my father’s health!” He yelled in aggravation as he leaned his hands on the top of her desk and stared hard into her eyes.
“Because I needed your head in the game, Ethan! You know as well as I do, as soon as you heard what was going on you’d have come home!”
“But I could have gone back, Rylee!” He shouted at her and slammed his fist into the desktop. Aggravated by both the situation and the fact that she’d never looked more beautiful. She was absolutely gorgeous when she was angry and determined, and it pissed him off that he was noticing at a time like this.
“And rode bulls with the weight of the world on your shoulders? How well would you have ridden? How long would you have lasted… how long would you have lived, Ethan? I couldn’t do it!” Her voice cracked and Ethan saw the love she had been trying to hide, not only in her eyes, but in her actions as well. She’d done what she had to protect him as much as to save his ranch. He didn’t like the choices she’d made, but he saw that, at the time, it was the only choice she could have made. It was a sound business decision, and he’d have made the same one had the tables been turned.
He stepped away from the desk and braced his hands against the wall, letting his head fall between his arms. Why’d she have to be so damn precious! He’d always had a soft spot for that little Runt, but now it was different. She wasn’t just some cute little kid anymore. She was a full grown woman, and he wanted her in a way he could never allow himself to have her.
Knowing how she felt about him and what she’d done for him wasn’t making it any easier. He wanted to tell her he realized what she’d done and why. He stood with his hands against the wall, taking deep breaths in an effort to not put those hands on her. He tried to focus his mind on what she’d said and not on what he wanted to do to her. The facts began to sink in and his shoulders slumped. Finally, he sat down in the chair and looked at the floor.
“I didn’t win that year. I got tossed in the dirt in the semi-final round.”
“I know.” Her voice was so soft he almost couldn’t hear her and couldn’t stop himself from wondering what it might be like to feel her whisper like that against his neck as he touched her. “And you didn’t get tossed in the dirt, you damn near got yourself killed.”
“Yeah, there was that.” Ethan made a disgusted face, feeling worse than ever about that night now that he knew Rylee had been counting on him winning.
She’d had the weight of the world on her young shoulders and he’d been laid up in a hospital praying he still had all his important parts. He looked up at her and for a moment she allowed him to see into her heart. He saw how hard she’d worked and how much she’d sacrificed. He wanted to show her how much it meant to him, but he pushed it to the back of his mind, trying to take Tanner’s advice and think with the head on his shoulders.
“So you held out hoping I’d win the next year.” He provided, and Rylee shook her head. “I had the money, Rylee… five times over.”
“I’m sorry, Ethan.”
“I know. How’d you hold off the bank?”
“It was a group effort.” She let out the deep breath she’d been holding. “First we convinced Mr. Martin, from the bank, to payoff the high interest loan Papa J had made online. But, then when we couldn’t make the balloon payment in November, we all had to pitch in. Sam came up with some cash, and Nick mortgaged his restaurant. Dad transferred some of his herd over to Hawkins Cattle and I… well, I did some
work for the bank and I agreed to go on a date with the bankers disgusting son.” Rylee admitted shamefully as she straightened some paper work on her desk and shivered with the memory of the whole situation.
“You went on a date with Martin’s Millions to save my ranch?” Ethan laughed, but it wasn’t a humorous laugh. Edgar Martin thought he was God’s gift to the ladies, but the ladies wanted less than nothing to do with the guy. The only way he ever got a woman to go out with him was to wave around daddy’s money, then he felt like he was entitled to what his money had bought. They had nicknamed him Martin’s Millions back in high school before he started forcing his hand with women.
“Don’t ever let it be said that I never did anything for you.” Rylee complained as she pointed her finger at him.
“I’ll remember that.” He teased and offered her a sexy wink while trying to swallow down the fear of what she may have been forced to do to save his ranch.
“You better!”
“Well, Runt, I understand why you did what you did, but I still don’t like any of it. And how you got my brothers and Kelly to go along with it, I’ll never understand. But, um… I do appreciate all you’ve done.” He looked down at the floor for a few seconds before he looked back up at her.
“I guess it should be said that I was wrong to jump to conclusions about you and the ranch… earlier in the barn?” He stammered over his attempt at an apology.
“Well, if that’s an apology, then I accept, but only if you agree to not pull any more of that high handed, caveman crap with me again.” She raised one of her perfectly arched eyebrows at him. He smiled at her as if he were going to play with her a bit, but then his smile died.
“You never did answer my question about why the nursing home called you and not me or someone else in my family.” He reminded her. Rylee sat back, took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
“Let’s have it, Rylee.” All signs of teasing were gone now.