A hawk circled overhead, silhouetted against the deep-blue sky and setting sun.
“Don’t you have your family’s ranch anyway?” Then leave mine alone.
“Hardly. My brother, Trace, owns that. And it’s not exactly profitable, I might add. He’d have been better off letting me develop the land before the economy tanked, small as it is.”
“You put everything in dollars and cents, don’t you? Even your own heritage. Maybe Trace prefers scratching out a living on the homestead rather than selling off family history just to gain a buck.”
Apparently for Ty, there wasn’t any reason to do anything but the almighty dollar. And this was who her grandfather wanted her to marry. Who her grandfather had given the keys to the company. Who her grandfather had trusted to make the decisions about Prescott’s future, including if it even had a future. And who her body wanted with frightening insistence.
A tick appeared in his jaw. “Let’s keep things on topic, Mandy.”
“As I see it, you take the ranch house or you take half the remaining shares. Either way, I lose. I’ll wait the year.”
“Could be two years.” He was back to cool, implacable Ty. Caught on a breeze, the wayward lock of his hair blew across his brow. She’d love to really mess up his hair, run her fingers through it. Instead she watched as he finger combed it in place.
“Is that the creek up ahead?” he asked as a sliver of blue came into view in the distance.
She wondered if he even remembered that day, a day she would never forget.
“Yup.”
“I hadn’t realized we’d ridden so far. Race you.” With that he took off on the mare, only it was more of a lope than a gallop, given his horse didn’t often go above a trot.
She fought the urge to ride in the opposite direction, like he’d left her that day, but then she’d be admitting to herself, and him if he remembered, that the day had mattered to her. She lightly kicked Willow into a gallop and, with the wind sounding in her ears, quickly overtook him.
She pulled up just shy of the bank, not wanting to risk Willow’s legs to uneven ground. Water gurgled below them. The drought had taken its toll, and the stream was but a thin ribbon winding through the encroaching banks. Right now it looked barely knee deep.
The slash of water against the brownish-green land, along with the smoky-purple of the mountains and the setting of the fiery sun in a blue sky, was a testament to Mother Nature’s handiwork. A stand of cottonwoods provided shade along the bank. And there was that large boulder jutting out into the water. Funny how she had come to the exact spot.
“I have very fond memories of this place,” Ty said, walking his mare up to stand alongside her. He leaned forward to rest his arms on the horn of his saddle.
Could he be referring to that time? Her memory of that day was far from fond.
“Aren’t you anxious to return to your real job rather than traipsing around ranches and rodeos? Being away even a couple of weeks, I’m guessing, is killing you. To take a leave of absence for a year must seem the equivalent of a prison sentence, regardless of whether you are doing it for the right or the wrong reasons.” She prayed her assessment was correct. She was having a hard time getting through a day. How would she get through a year?
“I made a commitment to JM. One I take seriously and wouldn’t have made if my circumstances hadn’t allowed me to fully meet that commitment. I wouldn’t count on less than two years unless I sell the company. I’ll do what I think JM would have wanted me to do. So if you want to run Prescott in six months and keep the ranch house, seems the solution is easy.” There was that devastating smile again. “We’ll probably end up in bed together anyway, even if we don’t marry. Marriage would be in keeping with your grandfather’s wishes, is all.”
His audacity was only equaled by the smug smile on his face. Yet she feared his prediction had more truth to it than was good for her emotional health.
“Just so you’d get an additional fifteen percent of the company, and I’d come away without controlling interest. And what’s to say you wouldn’t sell the business within that six months’ time frame anyway. Where would I be then?” Willow stretched her neck for some grass, and Mandy gave a tug on the reins, then lightly petted Willow’s neck. The horse’s weight shifted, but Willow obeyed.
“A very wealthy woman. But it won’t be easy, especially at this time, to find a buyer in six months, if the analysis warrants that. But I won’t lie to you. It is possible.”