Clearly waiting for a reaction that Ty had no intention of giving, Stan stared a bit longer.
“I’ll see you around,” he finally said and thrust out a hand. Ty shook it with a firm grip.
After a slight hesitation, Stan turned and ambled away with an arthritic gait that no doubt came from being in the saddle too long and stepped on one too many times.
Ty looked back at a group of rodeo cowboys huddled at the far arena gates, and took a deep breath. He wouldn’t be surprised if Lassiter was initiating those calls to the rodeo committees. JM had warned him about that. It was one of the reasons he’d asked Ty to step in. Ty may not have supplier experience, but he had a reputation of being a tough businessman. Yet determining what was right for Prescott, for the Prescott family, for Mandy, would not be easy. But he’d promised JM he’d do his best to ensure the family members would have the means they needed for the future, whether from company income or proceeds from a sale, and he would keep that promise. And he’d start by finding the head of the Greenville Rodeo.
Chapter 5
Mandy watched Ty kick up gravel as he cleared the pens behind the arena and walked straight toward the stable area where she had been currying her horse, Willow. When his text message said he would travel separately, she’d hoped that meant he’d arrive later, much later. Seemed like he’d actually arrived early. She wondered why.
Working for Ty was going to be the hardest year of her life. Maybe two years. The thought brought a lump to her throat.
She followed Ty’s movements as he drew closer.
He was decked out like he was ready to work. No suit jacket today. Just washed-out denims, worn in interesting places and anchored by an ornate silver buckle he’d likely picked up at one of those little touristy stores that dotted the county roads, and a black Prescott Rodeo T-shirt stretching over his torso, revealing his gym-ripped biceps. His boots were polished, embroidered black leather, and a clean black cowboy hat covered his thick dark hair.
Tanned, taut, and no doubt talented. He strode toward her with that determined, long-legged gait of his, like he meant business. Personal business. She wondered what he thought about her leaving him last evening at that same spot by the creek and if he even attached any significance to that spot. She wondered, too, if he would continue the conversation from the evening before or accept her decision. As her body temperature kicked up a notch with his every step, she wasn’t certain she wanted him to accept her decision, since the idea of marrying him had dusted up thoughts of what that would entail. Touching, kissing, and… Her heart thumped hard against her chest.
Control, that’s what she needed. If she was going to get through these next months, this next year, she needed to control her thoughts, her impulses, her mouth, and, most of all, her attraction to him.
She took a deep breath.
“So you’re here,” Mandy said as he drew close. She threw the currycomb into the box of brushes that sat on the ground next to the stall door, causing a clattering noise. Willow shifted her weight at the sound, and Mandy patted the horse’s satiny neck in reassurance. Remember, control, she told herself.
“I told you I’d be here,” he said. She felt a flutter in the pit of her stomach as he ambled toward her. Knowing she watched a man who held her future in his hands was surely the source of that flutter and not that he looked like a western-wear model.
She pulled on the reins that tied Willow to the post outside the stall to assure they were secure. “It appears you beat us.”
His smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I flew down. Wanted to get the lay of the land.”
Of course he flew. She’d known he owned a private plane. Made her shudder just thinking about one of those little puddle jumpers. “And how does the land lay?”
He stopped mere inches from her. So close she could feel his breath on her lips as he looked down into her eyes, like he wanted something from her. Something not business related, but that was just silly. She took a step back.
“Introduced myself to Guy Lager.”
Guy headed up the Greenville Rodeo committee and was the one who signed the contracts and checks.
Mandy had called Guy yesterday to put him at ease. He’d told her he had confidence in her, but that didn’t mean he did.
“Did he share any concerns about the rodeo now that JM isn’t here?” Asking cost her some pride, but she needed to know for the sake of the business. She squared her shoulders for the blow.
Ty nodded.
“Let me guess. You told him you were running things, and his issues disappeared.”