The Rancher's Fake Fiancée

by Amy Vastine

  “If he wanted to stay, I would consider staying with him.” Ethan nearly hopped out of his shoes. “But if he wants to go back to Portland, then I want to go back to Portland, too. We’re a package deal.”

  “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Ethan said, giving her a side-hug. “But I need this week to help him realize that staying would make him happy. I can’t have buyers roaming the ranch without some guarantee that you’re going to help me make it a little less desirable to them.”

  “Howard Yonk is traveling here from Bozeman. He’s interested in reverting this back to a working ranch. Tyler put together the selling points without me. I don’t know what we have to offer that I need to downplay or what we don’t that I need to make him aware of.”

  “The water rights,” Ethan blurted. “If he wants this to be a working ranch, the fact that Double T has the water rights now makes it a less desirable sale, correct?”

  “Correct. I was going to bring that up with the Mendes people, as well. Is there anything that puts cattle at risk around here? A reason someone wouldn’t want to bring their livestock?”

  “You could make something up about problems with brucellosis being transferred from wild animals to domestic cattle around these parts. There were concerns a while back with regards to the wild elk and bison by Yellowstone.”

  “Okay. That could work. Good thing you’re a vet because I have no idea what brucellosis is.”

  “A rancher will know.”

  Hadley wasn’t sure how she was going to work in all these negatives during a sales pitch, but she had a couple of hours to figure it out. Ethan better be right about Tyler needing a little encouragement to stay. If she was going to take this risk, she needed it to pay off for all of them.

  * * *

  HOWARD YONK DECIDED that he wanted to spend his golden years running a cattle ranch. He had grown up on a ranch outside Billings, but his family had sold it when his grandfather died.

  “Mr. Yonk, it’s good to meet you,” Tyler said, greeting him outside the guest lodge. “Tyler Blackwell, we spoke on the phone.”

  Howard was at least six foot seven and had a mustache as thick as it was gray. His hands were the size of frying pans and his boots must have had to have been custom ordered they were so large. He completely enveloped Tyler’s hand in his as they shook.

  “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Mr. Blackwell. Please call me Howard. I appreciate you being able to make time for me.”

  “I was happy to do it. Please call me Tyler. I’m glad it worked out while I was here to give the tour personally. I want to make sure you see all the facilities and get a feel for the land. It’s truly a beautiful piece of property, situated here in the foothills of the mountains. It doesn’t get any better than this.”

  Tyler had been rehearsing all morning. He had all the sales pitches down pat and all the important numbers memorized—acreage, number of horses for sale, age of the machinery, number of ranch hands, square footage of the structures. It helped that he had lived here when it was a working ranch, so he knew exactly how it would work.

  “Would you like to come in the lodge and get a drink before we tour the facilities?”

  “That sounds like a perfect way to start.” Howard adjusted his black wool gambler hat with its silver conch accents. Put the man in a black vest over his white button-down shirt and he’d look like he stepped right out of a Wild West movie.

  They took a seat at the bar and Tyler waved the bartender over. Hadley planned to discuss the possibility of expanding the bar with the Mendes family in a couple of days. Since Howard wasn’t looking to maintain the guest lodge, there was no reason to mention it.

  Hadley had gone on and on about how they could add some card tables and maybe even put in a small stage for some live music. She was full of ideas. He loved listening to her when she was so passionate about something.

  The two men discussed Howard’s trip down from Bozeman and Tyler got some background on the ranch Howard grew up on. It sounded quite a bit bigger than the Blackwell Ranch. His grandfather herded three times the number of cattle Big E did back in the day.

  Hadley entered the room from the dining hall. She had on a blue sundress and the new cowboy boots she bought herself at Brewster’s when Lydia came by to take her shopping yesterday. She was beautiful and falling for him. The thought made him grin from ear to ear.

  “Howard, I’d like you to meet my fiancée. Hadley, this is Mr. Yonk.”

  Howard got to his feet and Hadley’s eyes widened. “Mr. Yonk, so good to meet you.”

  “Please call me Howard.” He took her hand and gave her knuckles a kiss. “How do I get to take the tour with her instead of you?” he asked Tyler.

  “I get that a lot. And trust me, I’d rather go somewhere with her than anyone else.”

  Hadley put her arm around Ty’s shoulder and kissed his cheek. “That almost makes me sound like I’m your favorite.”

  He hadn’t thought about it like that, but she kind of was. Was this how it felt to favor something or someone?

  They chatted a little longer so Hadley could wield her charm. Howard was completely under her spell by the time they were ready to head out to the horse barn.

  Ethan was waiting outside the guest lodge. “I hate to interrupt your meeting, but I need you to help me with something. It will only take a couple minutes. I am so sorry.”

  “The work on a ranch is never done,” Howard said.

  Tyler was still annoyed even though his guest understood. “Could Conner help you? Or Katie?”

  “They can’t help me. I know it’s a bad time, but I wouldn’t be asking if I didn’t need you.”

  His brother knew he had this appointment. He knew he had this appointment at this time. He had all morning to ask for his help, but he waited until the buyer was here. Tyler kept a smile plastered on his face.

  “Hadley, can you take Howard over to the horse barn and I’ll meet you guys over there?”

  “Of course.” She was a lifesaver. “Shall we?”

  * * *

  HADLEY HOOKED ARMS with Howard and led him in the direction of the barn. The man was a giant. She wasn’t sure what horse Tyler planned to put him on. Perhaps the horseback riding would go badly and that would help discourage him from buying. She walked him by the small corral where the two mares and the foals were grazing.

  “These are our newest members of the family.”

  “Have you named the foals yet?” Howard asked.

  “Not yet. I think the boys are feeling the pressure. It’s like naming a child. You don’t want to mess it up because the baby will have that name forever.”

  “People forget that most things can change. People change their names all the time. Mistakes happen. They don’t have to ruin everything forever, though.”

  Wise words from Mr. Yonk. They continued their walk to the barn. Hadley tried to calm her nerves. She was afraid Tyler would find out what she was doing and not understand. He couldn’t understand until Ethan helped him see what the ranch really meant to him.

  “What I love about this ranch is all the different lodging accommodations we have here. Besides the brand-new guest lodge, we have the four cabins on the northwest side and then there’s the owner’s house.” Hadley knew he wasn’t planning on running it as a guest ranch, but playing up the guest facilities might turn him off.

  “Well, sounds like I could let everyone who would work here live right on the property if I wanted to.”

  “Oh, that’s right, you’re the one looking to revert it back to a full-time working ranch. We have another interested buyer who’s looking to keep it as is.”

  “There’s another buyer?”

  “Shoot!” Hadley smacked herself on the forehead. “Please don’t tell Tyler that I said that. I don’t think I was supposed to mention that.”

  “Don’t you
worry. I didn’t hear anything about other buyers,” Howard said, patting her hand.

  Conner had some of the horses exercising in the outdoor riding arena. They stopped there to watch.

  “Do you ride often?” Hadley asked.

  “Not as much as I did when I was young, but it’s one of the things I am most looking forward to getting back to. I think it was Daniel Boone who said, ‘All you need for happiness is a good gun, a good horse and a good wife.’”

  “Sounds like something he would say,” Hadley replied. She was a city girl and had no idea if that sounded like Daniel Boone or not. “Do you have all those things, Mr. Yonk?”

  “Howard,” he corrected her. “And I have a very good gun, a couple good horses and one very horrible ex-wife. She’s part of the reason I’m looking for a ranch away from everything.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “Hadley!” Grace came down the path from the guest lodge as they had planned.

  “Excuse me one second. What was that about the work on a ranch is never done?” She laughed with Howard and went to talk to Grace.

  “Did you hear what he did?” Grace tried to sound a bit hysterical.

  “Who?”

  “Ben. He blew it! The water rights belong to the Thompsons now. Judge Edwards ruled in their favor and now we’re screwed.”

  “Shh!” Hadley glanced over her shoulder to make sure Howard heard every word but thought she didn’t want him to. She pushed Grace a little farther away. “The gentleman over there is our potential buyer,” she murmured.

  “What? Why didn’t you tell me?” Grace flailed her arms and had acting unhinged down pat.

  “You didn’t give me a chance,” Hadley said while fighting the urge to laugh. If she lost it, Grace would crack up and everything would be ruined. This was ridiculous. She would not repeat this farce with the next buyer. “Get out of here and pray he didn’t hear what you said.”

  Grace stomped away while Hadley tried to control her expression. She needed to look frazzled, not amused. This was serious. If she wanted Howard Yonk to walk away from this sale, she had to do her part.

  “Sorry about that. There’s always some kind of drama going on here. Plus my sister-in-law is under so much stress being pregnant and all.”

  Howard nodded, but was definitely mulling over everything he had heard.

  “Tell me more about your family. Do you have any children?”

  “Three girls who won’t talk to me anymore thanks to that horrible ex-wife I mentioned before.”

  Howard’s life was far from happy. “I’m sorry to hear that, too.”

  Tyler came jogging down the path a minute later. He seemed clearly displeased with whatever it was that Ethan used to buy them some time to put on their little show.

  “So sorry for the delay, Howard. I hope Hadley has been good company at least.”

  “She’s a doll, but I think I’m going to head back home without the tour.”

  Hadley was a bit shocked that it worked. He wasn’t even going to look at the property.

  Tyler was beside himself. “What? Howard, please. If we get out there on horseback and you see the land, you are going to fall in love, I promise.”

  “I might, but I doubt this is the property for me. You have a lot going on here and it’s probably a little too guest and not enough working ranch for me. I won’t waste your time when I am almost certain this isn’t for me.”

  “But, sir.”

  “Mr. Yonk... I mean, Howard, please. I’m sure I’m not half the salesperson my fiancé is. If you let him show you around, he might be able to answer some of your questions better than I can, perhaps get you to change your mind,” Hadley said, hoping she could cover her tracks well enough.

  “You are a sweet young lady, Hadley. It was a pleasure talking to you. I’m just going to head back up to my truck and be on my way.”

  Tyler followed him down the path. He turned around, put his hands up and mouthed, “What happened?”

  “Nothing, I swear,” Hadley mouthed back.

  Liar, liar, pants on fire. One buyer down. One to go.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  “SO WALK ME through it one more time. You’re heading to the horse barn...” Tyler paced back and forth in front of the couch in the cabin. He didn’t even care if he wore out the new carpet.

  “We went down to the horse barn. I showed him the baby horses.”

  “You didn’t call them baby horses, did you?”

  “No. I called them the foals. Do you really think he decided not to buy the ranch because I didn’t call baby horses by their proper name?”

  Tyler raked a hand through his hair. This wasn’t Hadley’s fault, he kept telling himself. “No. Okay, so then what?”

  “We kept walking. I asked him if he rides horses often. He said he hadn’t ridden in a while. He quoted Daniel Boone. Something about guns and horses and wives help you find happiness. I asked him if he had those things and he told me he had a bad divorce, his daughters don’t talk to him anymore and then he said he wasn’t interested in buying the ranch anymore.”

  “So you reminded him about the miserable parts of his life and he left?”

  “How is this my fault? I asked a perfectly innocent question. Are you telling me you weren’t going to ask him if there was a Mrs. Yonk at any point during your conversation? You would have, don’t even lie.”

  Tyler sat down on the couch next to her. He would have asked the man about his family eventually. She hadn’t said anything he wouldn’t have said. “I know it’s not your fault, it’s just so frustrating. I don’t understand what triggered him.”

  “Maybe he’s not as ready to buy as Rachel heard. He shows up here, it’s hot, there’s a lot of walking, he’s a big guy, maybe he realized the life of a rancher is a hard one and he’s not ready for it.”

  Hadley had spent the last half hour trying to calm Tyler down, but he took it so personally that Howard left without seeing the property. The Blackwell Ranch was more than the guest lodge. It was the land that made it special.

  “I didn’t even get to show him the best parts of this place. He didn’t get to see the pond or the wildflower fields.”

  Hadley threw her arm around him. “It didn’t work out. It wasn’t meant to be. Howard Yonk thinks a gun, a horse and a wife are the perfect recipe for happiness. That sounds more like the plot for a new series called CSI Montana if you ask me.”

  Tyler laughed, and she kissed his cheek because she could do that now whenever she wanted.

  “He’s not the right guy to take over this land,” she added. “We have another potential buyer coming on Wednesday. Let’s see how that goes.”

  She was right. Yonk was only the first one. They had the Mendes family coming in a couple of days and if that fell through, they’d find another and another and another until the right one showed up. Someone would buy it eventually.

  Hadley curled up against him. “You know, you promised me that one of these days we would sit out on the front porch and watch the sunset. Can we do that tonight?”

  He kissed the top of her head because he could do that anytime he wanted now. “I would love to watch the sunset with you.”

  Tyler’s phone rang. He unwound himself from Hadley and grabbed his phone off the desk. It was Kellen. He hadn’t spoken to him or emailed him in days. He probably was worried that Tyler was dead.

  “I thought I was on vacation. Business partners don’t call when you’re on vacation.”

  “I’m thrilled that you’re having so much fun that you forgot all about me.”

  “I could never forget you.” Tyler smiled at Hadley. He could never forget her. She lay back on the couch and kicked off those cowboy boots. She was so cute. He wanted to spoil her to let her know that she was special.

  “I was wondering if you looked
at the research that Eric did. I also forwarded you his analysis for Kingman this morning. He worked on it over the weekend and it’s excellent.”

  “I looked at the research and it was decent.” It was better than decent. It was thorough and well written. If the analysis was at the same level, he didn’t have a leg to stand on to convince Kellen to demote him and give the job to Hadley.

  This day was going from bad to worse. “I still propose we do both.”

  “Both what?”

  “Both get jobs.” He couldn’t speak freely in front of Hadley. If she knew there was no promotion at the end of this, she would lose all trust in him.

  “You mean give both Hadley and Eric the brand strategist title?”

  “Yes.”

  “Listen, I reached out to Hadley and she agreed to talk to me about her career when she gets back. I don’t think she’ll be so opposed to being patient and setting some goals. Maybe in a year, we can move her up a notch.”

  “A year?” There was no chance she would agree to that. He could not let her down like this.

  Her brow furrowed and she gave him a questioning look. He winked and smiled, hoping to ease her mind. He motioned that he’d be right back and ducked out onto the porch, where he could say what he needed to say.

  “I already told her the job is hers,” he admitted as he sat down on the bench where he was going to watch the sunset later.

  Kellen didn’t take the news well. “Excuse me?”

  “Before I left. I told her the job was hers. I can’t take it back. I didn’t realize you would have such a problem with it. I didn’t think Eric would turn things around so fast. I’ll forgo my bonus and we can use that money to cover her raise.”

  “Are you kidding me? I thought this was a partnership. I thought we made decisions that affect the whole company together. Was I wrong?”

  “I was wrong, so I’ll take the hit on this one.”

  “Are you sleeping with her? Is that what this is about?”

  “No!” He was falling in love with her, but he was definitely not sleeping with her. “It’s not like that.”