Rodeo Rancher

by Lauren Wood

  “Get married.”

  It was said quickly and quietly like he didn’t want me to really hear what it was that he had to say. “What?”

  “I want you to get married Gemma. I have already picked out a perfect husband for you. I can’t take care of you with just money. You are going to need more than that and I want you to do this. It will set my mind at ease to know that you are properly taken care of.”

  I was sure that a fly was going to land in my mouth, it was agape so wide. I couldn’t believe what he was saying. It was typical dad of course. He was so damn protective. Of course he would have already picked out a husband. I was twenty two years old and the last thing that I was worried about was a husband. This wasn’t the fifties anymore. No one got married at that age. He had me late, so now I was supposed to rush it along so he could be around longer. I had asked him before why he didn’t just go adopt a baby himself. And I was the unreasonable one.

  “Dad, you can’t be serious!”

  “I am Gemma. I have thought about this a lot and it doesn’t even have anything to do with grandchildren, though you know I would love it if you had some and soon.”

  I sighed and I couldn’t believe that we were having this conversation, again. It was rather ridiculous and I wasn’t sure what to say anymore. What do I say to that?

  “This is for your future. I know how you are with money Gemma. How are you going to take care of everything?”

  Now I was supposed to answer and all I had for him was a shrug. I was still in my early twenties. Why did I have to worry about all of this stuff right now? He acted like he was on his deathbed and for a moment I thought that this was what it was all about. Maybe he was dying and he wanted me to get hitched so that I would be taken care of. Was that it?

  “Are you dying dad?”

  “What? What are you talking about?”

  “You are acting like you are going to be gone tomorrow.”

  “No, but your mother and I want to travel, be gone longer than a couple of days. How was your weekend?”

  My face soured up and I pouted out my lips. “It was horrible and I think you know it. You are the one that made sure I was broke this weekend.”

  “That is what it will be like all the time if you don’t take care of things or if you aren’t married to a man that can take care of you. I know you are young, but it is time Gemma.”

  He made it all sound so rational, even though it was the craziest thing that I had ever heard. Did he hear himself?

  “You can’t be serious!”

  “I am and the way you are acting now just tells me that I am doing the right thing. I will give you a couple of days to get used to the idea and then you will tell your mother to start with the arrangements. She is not to know about this Gemma. As far as she is going to know, you and Keenan fell in love.”

  I was starting to think that my father was crazy and Keenan sounded like a silly name. It was one of those times that I actually hoped all of this madness was just a dream. How could this be real?

  Chapter 4

  Keenan

  The offer ran through my head, as did Ronald, the man that made it. I wanted to think that he was joking or had had a little too much to drink, but neither one was the case. He knew exactly what he was doing and I had a feeling that Ronald knew that I was desperate enough to work with him that I might.

  Love and marriage were never on my radar. As far as I was concerned, women were a dime a dozen and I got bored easily. That had made it so that through the years, I never stayed with a girl long, most of the time it was for just one night and then I moved on. Very few women would I see again and only Ashlyn had been one that I had stayed friends with. She was the exception.

  Then there was the idea that the girl had to have her father bribe another guy to marry her. Sure I was rich, but it wasn’t like they were desperate for money. He was desperate to get her off of his hands and that didn’t sit well with me at all. What was she like?

  I did an internet search to see if I could come up with any kind of picture or likeness and although I found thousands of the rest of the family, the girl seemed to be mainly out of the limelight. It was just another mystery and I felt like I should at least get to see what she looks like before I go ahead and say yes.

  I was going to say yes though. Marriage wasn’t this sacred thing that everyone made it out to be. It was just a piece of paper and if that is what Ronald wanted to get him to be my mentor, then so be it. I would give it to him and the peace of mind that came with it. It wasn’t going to mean anything and even the old man had to realize that he couldn’t guarantee the heir that he seemed so bent on having.

  Still wanting to have some idea of what Gemma looked like, I called in Mike, a guy that found out everything that I wanted him to. I was going to have him do a little investigating and see what he could come up with. If nothing else, I would get Mike to get me a picture of her now. I just wanted some inkling of what I was getting myself into. I wondered if she was hideous. Would that even matter?

  I decided that it wouldn’t and when Ronald called me for an answer, I still didn’t have a picture.

  “Well, have you thought about it Keenan?”

  He didn’t say straight out what he was talking about, but there was no sense in pretending that I didn’t know what it was that he was talking about.

  “I have thought about it a little bit, but I have to admit that it feels like I am the one with no guarantees in this arrangement. You will have your daughter taken care of and peace of mind, what are my assurances?”

  There was silence on the phone and then Ronald asked me what kind of assurances that I wanted. I wasn’t sure, should have thought about it before I opened my mouth.

  “What kind of mentoring will I get from you?”

  “You want to know if I will make you richer?”

  “I was going to word it a little differently, but that is the gist of it. You get what you want, so how will I know that I will get what I want?”

  This was a strange way to talk to my future father in law about his daughter that he wanted me to marry. It was just so strange that it was almost surreal and any minute I was going to wake up from this dream and the chance of a lifetime. Be as rich as God, to marry one girl. Right then I realized nothing about her mattered. All that mattered was the position her father could put me in.

  “If I back you Keenan, your net worth will do nothing but go up, just knowing me publically will help you out and I think you know that. If you didn’t already know what you could get out of such an arrangement, we wouldn’t be talking right now. We are both busy men, so bullshit aside, have you came to a decision?”

  “I just have one question to ask you Ronald.”

  “Okay, go ahead. I will answer if I can.”

  “Why me?”

  Ronald wasn’t expecting that question and for a moment I had to wonder if he knew why. Maybe it had been something that just popped into his head and he blurted it out, but I didn’t think that was it. It was like he knew I was going to be there at the charity event. Did he know that I was going to be the one that he would propose this all to? It just didn’t make sense to me and I wasn’t comfortable in a situation where I couldn’t see all of the angles. Everyone wanted something and I couldn’t clearly see why I had been chosen to marry his daughter.

  “Many reasons. You have been trying to get to me for years. The shenanigans at the charity event told me that you were desperate enough to entertain such an idea. You are accomplished, very accomplished in your own rights and that alleviates anxiety that you are in it to get my money. You want to make more of your own and there is nothing wrong with that. Darryl Jameson took me under his wing a little before I turned forty. That’s when everything started to happen for me. So, you have a good family line, your own money and a brain in your head. What more could I ask for in a son in law?”

  It was a lot to process, but it was clear that he had read up on me and at least thought it through to so
me degree. Though I had to wonder why if so much thought was put into this idea of his, why he hadn’t come up with something better than an arranged marriage.

  “But why would you do it this way?”

  Ronald scoffed. “Why not? Parents have been picking their children’s partners a lot longer than marriage for love. Love is fleeting, but money, obligations and family ties last a life time.”

  I felt a shiver run up my spine with his words. How could I have not known that this was going to be more than a marriage? It wasn’t just a piece of paper. It was going to be more, so much more. Insane as it sounds, I was just now starting to realize that this was going to be a lifetime thing that I needed to really think about. Didn’t I have enough money? Did I really need to do all of this just to make more and pick up some prestige?

  “You are right. This is a big commitment.”

  Ronald chuckled. “You need to make the decision. Are you jumping in or backing off?”

  It was a now or never type of situation. I could tell that right from the bat and I wanted to tell him that I couldn’t, there was no way that I would go with such a crazy scheme, but Ronald had been right on all accounts. I was just a little bit desperate. Desperate enough to reach another height that I couldn’t on my own, just to get off of the plateau I was on.

  “Yes Ronald. I will marry your daughter. You have a deal.”

  The older man exclaimed and I pulled my ear back. I had a bad feeling in my stomach. Most people listened to theirs and let it guide them through their life. I ignored mine every chance I got. The larger the leap, the more uncertainty there was, the more yelling from my gut to stop. This was one of those times and I was just going to see where it took me. Out of all of the deals I had made though, this one seemed to be the biggest.

  “Hot damn son. Well good. I have my wife putting something together for this weekend. That will suit you, won’t it?”

  “This weekend?” My voice was hoarse and the last bit came out as a croak. This was happening far faster than I would have liked. How was I going to explain this to my own parents? I sighed when I really thought about it. My father would be happy because it was Ronald’s daughter. He wouldn’t care how we met or anything other than attaching ourselves to his family.

  My mother on the other hand would want to know everything else. I didn’t have an answer for her and I was already trying to formulate something in my head. Giving me just a few days to figure it out was pushing it in my mind. Why did it have to be so suddenly?”

  “Yes, do you have plans? Because if you do, you might want to cancel them.”

  “No, no plans that can’t be rescheduled. That is just rather soon. Isn’t a lengthy engagement period considered the right way?”

  Ronald told me that he didn’t care. “It doesn’t matter how it looks. Not in this century anyways. I just want it done and everything moving in the right direction.”

  There was an urgency I didn’t understand, but I was just going to chalk it up to a hidden health scare or something like that to make him want to put his affairs in order. I tried to remember if I had seen any signs of sickness when I had seen him last. I didn’t remember thinking of anything more than he was sharp and healthy for his age.

  I agreed to his mad scheme and got off of the phone not really sure how to feel about it all. I wanted to think of this as the changing point. I was already rich beyond all means, but I was still hungry for more. Now it was power and respect, the kind that I had seen first-hand when I was around Ronald. That is what I wanted and I was on the way to getting it.

  The idea that I was going to be married and it all hinged on that was just a thought way off in the back of my mind. It didn’t matter to me anything about her. I would marry his daughter in a few days and I hadn’t even asked to see her first because it was the power and money that I wanted. I had enough women on the side that none of my needs were unsatisfied. Why would any of that change?

  I sat back and closed my eyes, trying to imagine what this change was going to be like. I tried to imagine myself as a husband and I just couldn’t. It had never crossed my mind before, but here it was, about to happen. All I had to do was meet my new bride and convince the world that we were happily married and in love.

  That didn’t sound that hard. I made a call to the investigator Mike to keep looking. There was no rush on it now, but I wanted to know all that I could about my wife to be.

  **END OF PREVIEW**

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  BE MY PRINCESS: SNEAK PEAK

  PREVIEWS

  Be My Princess

  A Billionaire and Virgin Romance

  Blurb

  I needed an assistant like that; hot tempting and willing to please.

  Her innocence was intoxicating and I had to have more.

  I was going to be her first and her last.

  I lived by rules and rule number one was don’t let women get to me. Stacy got to me.

  My life was a dream.

  I had more money than I could ever spend.

  A hot model every night to suck me off.

  My business kept my heart pumping.

  I had everything that a man could ever want.

  Then I saw a college buddy that I hadn’t seen in several months.

  He was married and smiling like an idiot at his new wife.

  I was never going to be like that.

  No woman was ever going to change me.

  Not me.

  Enter Stacy Growler and everything changed.

  She wasn’t like most women I met.

  She told me no.

  Stacy was clear that she wasn’t interested.

  It should have stopped me.

  But it just made me want her more.

  I want her to be the princess of my life.

  Her innocence a drug and I was now an addict.

  I wasn’t going to rest until I had Stacy underneath me.

  Until she was screaming out my name in that sultry little voice of hers.

  Chapter 1

  Chris

  “I am glad you could make it tonight Chris. I know you have been in Europe for a while.”

  “I never miss the Gala. It is the only charity event that I actually like coming to anymore and I didn’t even want to come to this one.”

  Keenan agreed and I could tell that he was talking about all of the beautiful girls that were around. It was the first time I had seen him with his new wife though and I could tell from being around them that he was smitten with her and not looking too far. He hadn’t given much looks to anyone else and I found that a little different. The man used to be a worse womanizer than I was. What had changed everything so much?

  “My wife wanted to come, though I tried to get out of it. She says that I should do more to help. It’s my duty or something like that.”

  I started to laugh until I realized that he was being serious.

  “Isn’t that Ronald’s daughter?”

  Keenan said that it was. “Yes. We got married and everything changed.”

  “I can see that. I also hear that you aren’t working as much anymore.”

  “No, I would rather stay home. Made enough money for this lifetime I suppose.” He didn’t look so sure of that last statement and it made me wonder.

  I had a feeling that was another bit of wisdom from the new wife. I certainly hadn’t heard him talking about such things before. Keenan was the man that never had enough. How had he changed so much in the last couple of months?

  “I don’t think that is something you will ever hear me say. I was actually going to see if you had any advice of KTT. I know that you aren’t really dealing with stocks anymore, but since your father in law is God of all of that, I thought you might have some information that I don’t have.”

  “You know, I really d
on’t know. I didn’t realize how far I was out of the loop until you asked me about it. I will ask Ronald or look it up myself. Damn, Chris. I have been in a fog lately.”

  I saw that he was looking at his wife again. I could tell that something had happened to my old friend from college. He was not the same guy that I had seen a couple of months ago at a convention. This time he was scattered brained and it reinforced the fact that love had no business in my life. If that is what the results of love was. I didn’t want to have anything to do with it.

  “Tell you what Keenan, why don’t you come down to the members meeting this weekend? I haven’t seen you there in a couple of years. They are having it in Jamaica. There will be hot women and beautiful weather. Get away for a bit so that you can get back in the game because you are getting rusty my friend.”

  Keenan looked like he was going to say no, but his wife had walked in on the last part and insisted that he goes. “See, there you go dear. I know that you need to get some work done. Sounds like fun and you were just saying how you wanted to get back into it.”

  I was thankful that she hadn’t heard the first part about the women, but it put the man on the spot and he wasn’t going to be able to say no. Not with her standing there. I had a feeling that Keenan couldn’t say no to his wife at all.

  “Fine, I think I will Chris. It will be good to speak to some people that I haven’t seen in a while.”

  I smiled at Keenan and told him that he made the right choice. It would be good to see my old friend again. I don’t know what was going on with him, but his wife seemed to run the show. We exchanged times and I promised that we were going to catch up this weekend.

  Watching Keenan and his wife, I was even surer that I didn’t want to go that route. There was pressure to do so, always pressure to start a family like that would somehow facilitate anything in my life. Like it would fill a void that was there. I didn’t need a family to be fulfilled. I had everything I needed and conquering the world was enough for me.