He pocketed the Range Rover keys from the kitchen drawer. “Just wish me luck.”
She moved close, surprising him with a quick kiss at the corner of his mouth. “Good luck.”
His pulse did a happy dance as he made his way to his vehicle. If Pen was kissing him goodbye, opening up to him about her relationship with her mother and father, his luck was already changing.
A smile tugged his lips. Talk about silver linings. If he won Pen’s heart in the coming weeks, all the chaos of recent months would have been worth the trouble.
*
Reid planned what he wanted to say to his family as he drove toward the ranch. How much did he reveal? Who had the best chance of winning Hugh’s trust and the skill to worm information from their cagey lawyer?
In the interest of time, he pulled into a parking lot and let his car idle while he took out his phone and fired off a group text to his family.
Family meeting in the main house living room ASAP. Urgent.
If he didn’t have to wait for his siblings to gather from all over the ranch and town, all the better. He tossed his phone on the passenger seat and pulled back into traffic, headed to the ranch. Despite hitting every red light on the way home, he still reached the long driveway to Colton Valley Ranch within twenty minutes of sending the text. Plenty of time for most of his siblings to have assembled.
As Reid strode into the main house, he encountered Marceline coming down the grand staircase from the area of the upstairs suites where she lived. She wore a little smile as she strolled down the steps, and if Reid hadn’t known about a certain ranch hand named Dylan, he’d have sworn that smile meant his half sister was up to her scheming ways. But he’d recently had a surprisingly candid talk with Marceline about her secret love for the “forbidden” cowboy, and her personality had improved greatly in recent weeks.
“We need to have a family meeting,” Reid said, loud enough to draw Marceline out of her daydreams. “Now. In the living room.”
“I know,” she returned, with a snooty lift of her nose. “I got your text. But don’t think that just because you fire off a clipped group message that I’ll always be willing to respond on command. I have my own life, my own things to do and people to see.”
Reid arched an eyebrow and smiled despite his half sister’s curt tone. “And how is Dylan?”
Just the mention of his name brought the grin back to her face. “Good.” She descended the last few steps, then cocked her head as she eyed Reid suspiciously. “You’re not teasing me about him, are you? Because I have a right to be with anyone I—”
He raised both hands. “Whoa! Chill. If you’ll recall, I was the one who encouraged you to do what made you happy and not let him get away.”
His answer seemed to satisfy her, and with a toss of her hair, she headed into the living room. “Can we get this meeting of yours over with quickly? I have things to do.”
He followed her into the living room and took a head count. Piper sat next to her new man, Cord Maxwell, alternately whispering to Cord and looking at her cell phone. T.C., his eyes closed and his head leaned back on the couch catnapping, was there, as was his mother, Whitney. Fowler, notably, was missing.
Reid dialed his oldest half brother, who answered his phone on the fifth ring with a gruff, “What is it, Reid? I’m busy.”
“Tough. We all are, but this is more important. Get your ass out here for a family meeting.”
“What if I’m at the office?” Fowler grumbled. “I could have business meetings with overseas investors.”
“Do you?”
Fowler balked, fumbling, “Well... I—”
“That’s what I thought. Family meeting. I have important news concerning the search for our father. You need to be here.”
Fowler scoffed. “For the record, I resent being summoned like an underling. As the president of Colton Inc., I cannot just drop everything when you crook your finger, expecting—”
“Just hurry. We’re all waiting on you.” Reid hung up before his older brother had finished pontificating and grousing about being called to the meeting.
Alanna hadn’t shown up, either, and Reid’s next call was to the stable, where Jake McCord, Alanna’s new love, answered. “We’re on our way. Just cooling down the horses and putting our tack away. Five minutes.”
We. Reid considered telling Jake the meeting was for family only but it seemed his family was growing. Since his siblings were pairing off and getting married, spouses had as much at stake as the rest of his siblings, he supposed.
Reid paced the room impatiently. “Where’s everyone else?”
“Right here. Keep your pants on.” Zane sauntered in from the back of the house near the kitchen with his fiancée, Mirabella, beside him. His half brother carried a large sandwich and seemed irked to have his meal interrupted. “So what’s this urgent meeting about?”
“I’ll tell you when everyone is here.”
“Zane, you’re getting that all over the imported rug!” Whitney squawked, flapping a hand toward the bits of lettuce and mayo dripping out the back of Zane’s Dagwood-worthy meal. “At least get a plate.”
Zane sent his mother a flat look, turned to an accent table where an antique pitcher and wash bowl were displayed, and held the wash bowl under his sandwich. “Happy?”
Whitney gasped her indignation. “Zane! You can’t—”
“Mother, please,” Reid said in a loud, firm tone. “Forget the sandwich.”
Fowler arrived through the door from the foyer about the same time Alanna and Jake shuffled in from the back of the house. Reid gave Fowler a disgusted look. “You weren’t even at the office?”
His oldest brother, dressed in his signature tailored suit and Stetson, straightened his tie and dismissed Reid with a haughty sneer. “I’m headed there as soon as this little chitchat of yours is over, so—” he waved his fingers “—get on with it.”