by Em Petrova
“Dammit, I need to speak to him now, not when he gets around to it.”
This man was the same type of grump as KC this morning. Maybe they were related.
“May I ask who is calling and I will try to deliver the message to him?”
“This is his uncle, John Cohen. It’s urgent.”
“All right, I will go and see if I can—”
“Oh, fine. Dammit, just tell him his father died and I need him to come home. It’s only two goddamn hours to the Amazing Grace, and I expect him here tonight.” With that, he hung up.
Kizzy clutched the phone to her ear, reeling. The Amazing Grace? The Amazing Grace Ranch? Million-dollar horses came out of that ranch. Even stunned as she was, she was able to connect those dots, drawing in the lines with a mental black marker that pointed directly to KC.
His family was from money—the stories of him starting this company from the ground up couldn’t be true.
And oh God, his daddy had died.
Her heart plummeted as she realized the task laid at her feet. She had to be the bearer of tragic tidings, and she knew the old saying about the person to inform you of a death became the murderer, because until the words were spoken, their loved one remained healthy and alive in their minds.
Shit.
What would her sisters do? They both had a measure of toughness and sympathy that she didn’t feel she shared. The sympathy she could do, but could she keep her eyes from brimming when she broke the news to KC about his father?
She sat there another long moment, contemplating how to say the words. Should she break up the meeting or let him finish? Judging by his mood this morning, he wouldn’t take her interruption well, so she would wait. Another half hour wouldn’t be the end of the world.
Oh, poor KC. A death in the family, and one so close, wouldn’t come easy. She’d never heard him talk about his father, but that didn’t mean they weren’t close. KC never spoke of his personal life at all.
She tapped the toe of her shoe on the tile and let her thoughts slide to her newfound knowledge of her boss. The son of the owner of the Amazing Grace. Every equestrian who competed coveted one of their prized bloodline, and even as a little girl, she’d heard her brothers talk about owning one of those horses that came off the Amazing Grace when they grew up.
To think she’d been sitting here with a man raised to that life… who’d walked away from that life.
Looking at KC, there wasn’t a single trace of the country boy who had grown up on a horse ranch. Only now, she saw that the carved lines of his body that filled out his designer suits so well might not have been built by a personal trainer at the gym but by good old-fashioned hard work.
A sizzle of attraction shot through her, and she sat there, further shocked by her own reaction.
For a girl who didn’t want a cowboy, she was sure getting keyed up at the thought of KC in those Levi’s and a pair of work gloves, slinging hay bales. He might even be shirtless in her imagination, the sun gleaming off the sweat on his chiseled torso…
She had to get hold of her runaway thoughts. This was not the time to crush on her boss.
To her horror, the conference room door opened and an employee stepped out. She caught sight of Kizzy and gestured to her. “Mr. Cohen needs you.”
Her heart hammered in her ears. She slowly gathered her pen and notepad to go inside. Concentrating on the meeting would be difficult knowing what had to come next, but what choice did she have besides to do her job?
* * * * *
Sir.
Knox looked in Kizzy’s file in HR and learned her age. She was only ten years younger than him, and he didn’t want to be a sir to her.
He didn’t want to think about why he cared so much either, but hopefully she stopped calling him that.
He dismissed the meeting, and everyone at the conference table stood and made their way to the smorgasbord of sandwiches at the side. Today Kizzy had ordered a selection of pastries as well, and that was going over well among the employees. The woman always seemed to be a step ahead in life—knowing what he needed before he even asked and suspecting the employees could use something sweet this morning too.
He’d been thinking of her far too much lately, and not in a very boss-like way.
He shook his head at the thoughts revolving around his brain. Maybe a vacation was in order—he’d had difficulty focusing lately.
Over the weekend, he’d struggled to work, which was how he typically spent Saturdays, with spreadsheets and goal sheets to plot his next move to launch the company even higher and earn even more money.
But when he spread the papers over his dining room table, he’d heard Kizzy in his ear.
Why do you need to push the company higher? Why are you so driven?
Because I will only be the best and do the best job. Otherwise, why bother?
No, that was his father talking. Why bother training a horse if you do it halfway? Why get a B in school when you can work harder for that A?
His work ethic had been driven into him and fact was, it was probably genetic too. His father was a workaholic, and nothing but the best came from the Amazing Grace. He had taught Knox all he knew.
Kizzy stood a few feet away, hands clasped and shooting him glances. His mind took off on another tangent, and damn if he didn’t picture her in those sexy curve-hugging jeans and white T-shirt she’d had on at the market. With her hair loose and the waves more untamed than he’d seen them in the office and dressed down, she was just about the hottest woman he’d set eyes on in a long time.
Among all the primped, pampered and Botoxed women he saw on a regular basis, her au naturel state had been more than memorable—it mesmerized.
Hell, she hadn’t even been wearing lipstick, and her plump lips had still looked pink as if she’d been biting them and—
“Uh, KC, can I speak to you alone?” She stood at his elbow, looking up at him.
The scents of something floral and fruity reached him, but it wasn’t remotely girlish. It was inviting as hell.
Yes, she was taking up far too much of his thoughts recently. She wouldn’t appreciate the interest, but she really was the most intriguing woman he’d seen in ages.
He shook himself and smiled down at her, sorry he had snapped at her earlier, but hearing that sir from her lips had set him off. Unless she was on her knees calling him sir, he didn’t want to hear it from Kizzy.
Now that thought had no business in the office. He shoved it away.
“If you’re going to tell me to have a pastry, I will. They look delicious. Well done, Kizzy.” He smiled but she didn’t smile back. Concern glowed in her blue, blue eyes.
Oh no. She wasn’t going to tell him she was quitting, was she? Ever since he’d overheard her telling someone named Justus that she loved him, he’d pictured her handing in her resignation to run off and be someone’s wife. A total waste of her talents but then again, it was none of his bus—
She put her hand on his arm, her grasp firm. “I need to speak with you. Alone.” She released him and walked away, giving him no choice but to follow her swaying hips.
To his shock, she led him into his office and pointed to his chair for him to sit. He didn’t know whether to be worried or amused at the reversal of roles.
She smoothed her hands over the front of her skirt several times and paced back and forth too.
“Kizzy. What is going on?”
She stopped and faced him across the desk, devastation on her beautiful face. “Mr. Cohen… KC, I mean. I’m sorry I have to tell you this, but you received a call while you were in the meeting. I took it right before you asked me to join you.”
“A call from who?”
“Your uncle, John Cohen.”
Oh hell. Uncle John was just trying to get him to change his mind about going his separate way and take over the ranch. His father was getting up there in years and every so often, Uncle John called Knox up and tried to boss and bully him back home. But Knox was dead set against the l
ife of a rancher. He’d seen how it had hardened his father, made him into a workaholic with little time for pleasures in life. At least here in Houston, running his own company, Knox could go and have fun if he wanted to. He could have attended that country concert in the park like Kizzy, but he couldn’t admit to himself he liked anything to do with his country upbringing and roots.
Kizzy stepped up to the desk and gripped it. Her fingertips grew white. Alarm hit him when he saw her sway on her feet.
“Kizzy, sit down.” He leaped up and came around the desk.
She tipped her head back and stared into his eyes, her own swimming with tears. Shock and confusion struck him, amplified when she grabbed his biceps and held him in place in front of her.
“KC, your uncle called to relay the news that your father has passed away.”
He blinked down at her. The warmth of her touch turned icy.
“What?”
“Oh my God, I’m so damn sorry to be the one telling you this! Your father has passed away and your uncle said he expects you at the Amazing Grace tonight.” Her voice wobbled and broke.
His bowels turned to water, and he staggered back a step, dumping his form into one of the overpriced chairs in front of his desk. They weren’t all that comfortable for the money he’d spent on them.
He shook his head, slowly at first and then with a snap. “No. He isn’t dead. John’s just being an asshole, trying to manipulate me to go home because he knows I’m done with ranchin’.”
Hell, his drawl was back full force, and he’d fought so hard to get rid of it.
Kizzy planted herself before him. When she crouched by his knees, a tear broke free of her blue eye and tumbled down her cheek.
His own emotion boiled up and over, and he tried to bite back the tear that dribbled down his own face, but he couldn’t.
“Oh KC, I’m so, so sorry. What can I do for you?”
He didn’t answer, just pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to control himself. His cowboy days flooded back to him, all those years growing up as a rancher’s son. Getting his first pony and then his second, training one and winning the blue ribbon at the 4-H Fair. Falling into bed exhausted after a day of hard work, which his father said he had to put in like everyone else on the ranch, no matter what his last name was.
His father… gone.
“How?” His voice was sandpaper over rough wood.
She shook her head, and a bit of hair broke free of the twist on the back of her head and floated down around her jaw. Such a delicate woman and yet so strong.
“I don’t know. Your uncle didn’t say. Maybe you should call him back.”
“Yes.”
“Would you like me to get him on the phone?”
He nodded.
She stood and started to walk away, but he caught her back by the wrist. She twisted to stare down at him, and damn if he didn’t ache to pull her into his arms and gain a bit of comfort in this lonely world.
He’d set out to obtain this world, though, hadn’t he? Telling his father he was making his way alone, didn’t need the ranch or the family millions, that he could build this company from the ground up alone.
Now he didn’t have an opportunity to take any of that back or tell his father he loved him.
His shoulders shook with emotion. “I’m sorry. Not at all professional, so cowardly,” he said.
But Kizzy just bent and put her arms around him, tucking him against her warm, soft body and offering him the shoulder he needed.
It was enough.
He withdrew, and his tears receded. He said, “Get my uncle on the phone, please.”
She stood there another second, as if uncertain if he was all right for her to leave him, and then went out to her desk. A moment later, his phone beeped with the waiting call, and Knox picked up to speak to his uncle and hear about the tragedy for himself.
When he finished, he looked up to find Kizzy in his doorway, hands twisting.
“Can I do anything for you?” she asked quietly.
“Yes. Cancel all my appointments for a week. And yours too. I’d like you to come with me, home to the Amazing Grace. We’ll leave in an hour. Can you be packed?”
She nodded without hesitation.
“Good.” His voice was firmer, more his own. “I’ll pick you up at your apartment.”
* * * * *
With their bags in the trunk and Kizzy in the passenger seat, Knox took the fastest route out of Houston to the interstate. The road lay before them, and in the distance, thunderclouds.
It fit his mood, the heavy gray weight of the sky sinking down on his head. As he drove, it was impossible not to overthink the events surrounding his father’s sudden death. His uncle had told him briefly it was a heart attack, massive coronary, according to the coroner. But what he really needed to know was how much of that was due to the stress of running the ranch alone?
Sure, Uncle John had been his sidekick all these years, his right-hand man. But when Knox had left home, his father had made no attempt to pretend he wasn’t pissed. They’d fought about it, in fact. Why did he need to prove himself by going off to become some city exec when what his family had built lay in his hands?
Now Knox couldn’t quite remember what had made him so driven. Maybe it was the stupidity of youth or the stubbornness. Either way, he’d let his father down.
In his life, he had few regrets and this was the biggest of them all. But at the same time, he did not regret his actions that had built one of the largest mortgage companies in the country in such a short time.
Next to him, Kizzy had her phone out and was thumbing away texts and emails. She thwarted at least four phone calls before they were on the interstate.
She set the phone on her thigh and reached for her notepad, which she had in a giant handbag on the floor. She tapped the back of the pen on her teeth and began to scribble some notes.
“You’ll ruin your enamel doing that,” Knox said.
Her hand stilled and she slowly turned her head to look at him. “My momma always said the same thing, but it’s a habit I’ve had since I was in elementary school and my teeth are fine.” To prove it, she gave him a big cheesy grin.
His amusement came out as a faint sigh and a quirk of his lips, but he didn’t feel much like smiling.
The ranch would be left to him in his father’s will. But he’d run from that lifestyle and he was happy with his new life. He didn’t want a ranch, let alone one with as much responsibility as the Amazing Grace.
Kizzy’s phone rang, and she answered it within seconds, so the ring tone didn’t go on for long. But it was a popular country tune.
If her going to a country music concert in the park hadn’t convinced him she wasn’t raised in the city, he’d seen her in those jeans at the market, and they fit her like nothing else he’d seen her wear.
Not that it mattered, because she was an excellent personal assistant. The best he’d had, he had told her, and he meant it.
“Yes, Mr. Davis. Yes, I’ll be sure to tell him. Call if you need anything and I can help you with it,” she said into the phone.
Chuck. The son of a bitch had made a rude comment or two about Kizzy since Knox had hired her, and he did not abide by workplace harassment. He’d let Chuck know in no uncertain terms that he should shut his mouth, and the last time he’d flat out told him he’d shut it for him.
The older man’s face had reddened but he’d made no reply.
Knox slanted a look at Kizzy. So capable and calm in the face of the unknown. She had packed and climbed into his Lexus without a single question as to their destination or what she was needed for.
She deserved to know what awaited them.
When she set the phone back on her thigh, Knox said, “It was a massive heart attack that killed my father.”
She turned her compassionate gaze on him, and he had to look away or risk that lump returning to his throat. “I’m so sorry, KC.”
“You might as well know my
uncle and the rest of my family calls me Knox. Knox Channing.”
She nodded. “I know what the initials stand for.”
“My family owns the Amazing Grace.” Now it was all his. Hell, what was he going to do with the ranch when he was living in the city?
“That’s quite impressive.”
“You know of it?”
She nodded. “My family’s into horses.”
“We live in Texas. Everyone’s into horses.” He made sure to speak in the concise way he’d trained himself to, and not shorten words or use slang. It was important to him to uphold a reputation, even if he was on his way back home.
“When we arrive at the ranch, I’ll need some help organizing things.”
“That’s what I’m here for,” she said.
He nodded, studying her eyes for a moment before returning his gaze to the road. It wasn’t the first time he’d noticed her beauty, but now he was seeing a brand-new depth in Kizzy, a sweetness that was born and bred into her.
The hours passed with her continuing to run his empire all from her tiny phone, and the pages of her notepad filled up as her to-do list grew. He drove… and he thought far too much about that storm waiting on the horizon.
* * * * *
Kizzy never thought she’d get the chance to set eyes on the Amazing Grace at all, let alone from this vantage point.
She and Knox pulled through those big gates with the brand on them and big steel letters spelling out Amazing Grace just as the heavens let loose.
Wind shook the expensive car and rain struck in massive sheets, making it seem they were being hit by waves. She couldn’t help but wonder if a pickup would withstand the torrential downpour better, because the car was shifting around like a kite in the wind.
Then came the hail.
“Holy crap,” she said softly, clasping her fingers in her lap.
“I can’t help but feel this is the welcome my father would want me to have, seein’ how I left it all behind.” Knox’s pronounced drawl and the way he dropped the G on his words aroused her curiosity more than the statement. The man had secrets, and she was seeing through the walls he’d created around himself.
Why hide, though? Why run from all this? Judging by his words, he and his father had had a falling out, but if that happened to one of her brothers, they would never deny their true heritage—they’d find another ranch to work.