I rolled my eyes. “First of all, real life cowboys don’t look like the strippers that dress like cowboys, as sad as that is. Next, that ranch is in the middle of nowhere; no shopping, no spas, no coffee shops, no nothing. But most importantly, no gay men.”
“It’s just a year, baby, then you can come back to the city with me. The gay men will still be here. I promise not to use them all up while you’re gone.”
I looked around my condo and shook my head. “What am I supposed to do with my place? And Jinji will have to come with me. She’ll hate the ranch.”
“As long as she’s with you she’ll be happy, and as far as your place goes, sublet it to me. I hate my roommates, anyway. You know that’s why I stay here most of the time.”
“I’m going to have to do this, aren’t I?” I asked with a sigh.
“‘Fraid so, sugar,” he said, coming over and pulling me into a hug.
“Well, other than you, no one will miss me here anyway. It isn’t like I have a job or a boyfriend or anything I’ll be leaving behind.”
“Just remember, it’s a year, not forever, and I’ll come to visit.”
“You promise?”
“Yeah, and by the time I get there, I expect you to have hired a couple of real cowboys.”
“Okay, but if you just messed up my nails with that hug, I’m totally kicking your ass.”
2
Reed
I stood by the corral watching as Landon worked with the filly. She was a pretty little thing, and she came from a fantastic bloodline. Only time would tell if she would take to training or not, but so far she looked great. Landon was doing a good job with her. Honestly, I was out here as much to evaluate him as the horse. He had come very highly recommended by a friend, but I wanted to observe his skill with an untrained horse for myself. I had high standards for the men who dealt with the horses. My motto was to use your brain, not pain, so I wanted to see him in action.
He had a soft rope harness on her and used a stick and a lead. I paid attention to see that the stick was being used to tap not strike, and so far, that had been the case. This was her first day in the corral since she arrived. Landon let her go around the edge of the fence a few times, then he stepped toward her turning her the other way. He did that a few times and then stopped. She stopped also and stood still. That was the sign of a good horse. She took her cues from him, watching him closely. Eventually he was ready to get closer to her, and I waiting to see how he would manage it. He moved toward her slowly; she stood stock still until he got about five feet from her and then she started backing away. He turned his back to her and walked back to the center of the ring. She cocked her head to the side like she was trying to figure him out. He repeated that same thing four more times, turning and walking away each time she backed away from him. On the fifth time, she followed him to the center of the ring and nudged his shoulder with her nose. The smile on his face was bright as the sun.
“Good job, Landon,” I called out to him.
“Thanks, boss. She’s a beauty.”
“She is. You keep working with her, she’s claimed you now.” I turned to head back inside the barn, but Margo came across the yard from the main house, so I stopped and waited for her.
“How’s he doing?” she asked.
“Good, real good. Butch was right, he’s great with the horses. The owner of Two Pines was an idiot to let him get away. He’s going to be a real asset around here. He understands the horses, and he has rodeo experience, so he also knows that end of the business.”
“That man isn’t an idiot; he’s a homophobe, plain and simple. If that boy weren’t gay, he would still be training horses on the Two Pines Ranch.”
“Old thoughts die hard around here. You know as well as I do that if old man Ellis had known about me, he never would’ve hired me.”
“That’s the truth. Now speaking of which, that’s why I came out here. I heard from the attorney. They’ve located Randall’s son and informed him of the conditions. He’ll be here in three days.”
“Great,” I said sarcastically. “Just great.”
“Now, Reed,” she said patiently. “You need that boy to agree to stay for a year. Don’t you forget that.”
I took a deep breath, pushed my hat back on my head, and looked around the ranch. My ranch. Well, it should be anyway. Randall Ellis had been ill for two years prior to his death, and I’d been running the ranch for a year before that. We’d been in talks for a while about me buying the ranch. I’d implemented changes believing it would be mine. I had a hefty savings account from my prize money back in my rodeo days, and while it wasn’t enough to buy the ranch outright, it should have been enough for a down payment. I’d invested so much time, blood, sweat, and tears into this place.
When I came here, it was a working cattle ranch. Now the cattle herd was small and used primarily for training the horses. I didn’t want a cattle ranch, I wanted a horse ranch, so that was what I had started to build here. But the sicker he became, the more he talked about his estranged son. I’d known all along he had a son that was half-owner, but he assured me he wanted nothing to do with the ranch and would happily sell. He said that the boy ran off at eighteen because he thought ranch life was below him. He wanted to live in the big city, not out in the middle of nowhere on a dirty, dusty ranch. Imagine my surprise when Randall died and left the ranch to his son instead of selling it to me. The horses were still mine, at least Randall had enough decency to see to that. He had also left me enough money that coupled with my savings it would allow me to outright buy a small spread. All I had to do was agree to live here and run the ranch for a year, and the horses and the money would be mine. But I didn’t want to buy another ranch. I’d fallen in love with the Bluebird Ranch, and unfortunately, it looked like that was no longer an option unless the son agreed to sell.
What mattered now was getting through the next year dealing with a spoiled city boy who had zero interest in owning a ranch, without ruining the reputation I’d built as an excellent horse trainer and businessman. Then I could move on and start over, again.
“I suppose I should move out of the big house before he arrives.”
“I don’t see why you should. That’s been your home for over a year. That house is plenty big enough for the both of you. I was talking to Bart and he said he always liked the boy, so maybe it won’t be as bad as you’re thinking.”
“Old Bart likes everybody. Besides, city boy has been gone a long time now, so I’m sure he’s changed a lot. To be honest, I’m hoping he stays for the year and then goes back to the city. Maybe he’ll consider honoring Randall’s original agreement to sell to me. I really don’t want to leave here.”
“I know you don’t. I think you should stay put right where you are unless he tells you to move out. Besides, where are you going to go? You tore down the original foreman’s quarters to expand the barn, and Landon took the last spot in the bunkhouse.”
“He’ll already be pissed he has to stay here. Randall said he hated everything about ranch life. That he’d always thought he was too good to get his hands dirty. If that’s true, I doubt the poor little rich boy’s gonna want to share a house with a lowly ranch foreman,” I insisted.