Not that it mattered what she wore and she certainly didn’t care about impressing Ty.
She circled the oval wood table, putting it between them, and looked at Ty through the narrow space framed by two chrome pendant lights dangling from the high ceiling. She’d been in the long, narrow conference room once before, ten years ago, but she remembered nothing about that day. She’d been crying too hard. “What do you want to know?”
Mandy pulled out one of the table’s black leather chairs and sank into it, taking refuge in its overstuffed comfort as she set the large purse she carried on the floor.
“Everything,” he said, still standing in the doorway like some gatekeeper controlling who entered and exited. “What stock you’re pulling, how many of the crew you’re using, your expense estimates, how much you expect to make on the event.”
This from a man who knew nothing about supplying stock. Those beaters inside her whirred faster.
“Everything,” he repeated.
“You can get that from Karen, our admin.”
Ty’s mouth drew in, and his eyes narrowed as he stepped into the room, covering the distance to the table in two long strides. He placed his hands on the table’s polished surface and leaned forward until he was mere inches from her face so that he blocked out everything around her. Even with that strong jaw of his clenched, he was still too attractive for her own good. She tightened her grip on the chair arms as her pulse quickened, determined to meet his steely gaze with a glare of her own.
If he was trying to intimidate her, it wouldn’t work.
“Here’s the thing, Mandy. I want the information from you. And I want you to go through it with me, number by number.” His tone was matter of fact, even if those tantalizing lips of his had flatlined.
“I need to understand the business if I’m going to lead it. And you’re the best one to show me.”
She could feel the blood pulsing at her temple, which meant she was on her way to an epic headache. Breathing deep, she cocked her head to get a better bead on his arrogance. “Here’s the thing, Ty. After today, I expect the family to own the required shares to vote you out of your role.” She prayed she was right. “And you won’t need to understand anything about the business.”
Leather creaked as Ty folded his long, lean, undoubtedly buff body into the padded chair while his dark eyes scrutinized her, as if her words puzzled him. She thought she’d been pretty darn straightforward.
Six tension-filled beats of her heart passed before he finally spoke.
“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see about that.”
At that moment JM’s nephew and Prescott’s livestock foreman, Harold Prescott, sauntered in, escorting her mother back from the ladies’ room. Weathered and graying, Harold was all cowboy, long and wiry with a conversational repertoire of a bronzed cowboy statue. Not that it mattered, since Harold dealt primarily with the animals and was as loyal as they came.
Mandy took a calming breath as greetings were exchanged and the two sat down, her mother next to her, and Harold on the other side of her mother. Taking pains not to spare Ty another glance, she looked past him to the doorway in search of her younger brother. Tuck was never one to worry about what time a clock chimed, so she was relieved to see him enter with Brian.
Except for the blond hair, Tucker Prescott was the spitting image of their late father, with his blue eyes and high-school-quarterback looks, though genes were all the two men shared. While her father had been deep into the business before his death ten years ago, Tuck preferred to ride in rodeos rather than stock them, adding to JM’s dismay. Tuck maintained he didn’t want to end up like their father, working too hard and never enjoying life. Instead, Mandy had taken up the mantle. Or tried to.
After giving both women a peck on the cheek and greeting Ty and Harold with a handshake, Tuck sank his long-limbed body into the chair next to Ty and across from his mother. Brian too went out of his way to shake everyone’s hand before settling into the head seat.
Mandy struggled with the unsettling prospect that Ty Martin might still be leading her family’s business after the reading of the will. Her leg jiggled seemingly of its own volition.
Had it come to this? Had JM held such little faith in her abilities?