When she’d come out of the Grange office, she’d gone straight to the bathroom to wipe the makeup off her face and fix her hair. After she was certain no one would realize what she’d just been doing, she’d come out to hunt down Gavin and tell him to take her home. He’d complained about missing the silent auction results. “I want to see how my price predictions do.”
“This silent auction is nothing,” she’d said, playing things down. “You want to see a real auction? Try an authentic cattle auction.”
“Okay then,” he’d said, then agreed to take her back to the ranch. It wasn’t until he’d texted her about which cattle auction they’d be going to the next day that Brenne realized he’d taken her words seriously. So here they were, watching Jim Dickins sell calves to the people of north Texas.
“Fifty!” Gavin shouted, lifting his paddle high.
“What are you doing?” Brenne said, taking the paddle away from him. “You don’t want to buy this calf!”
Gavin’s eyes were glittering. “I just got caught up in the pageantry.”
Brenne laughed. She couldn’t help herself. The billionaire was the strangest man she’d ever met. But he was growing on her. Not as a love interest, not really. But as a friend.
Which is why I’m so terrible at seduction.
“Have you had enough?” Brenne asked, waving away the smell of manure.
Gavin’s brow furrowed. “It’s not really like the silent auction, is it? It’s much more frenetic.”
“Well, a silent auction is meant to be polite, civil. Not a bunch of shouted drivel that goes by so fast you can’t tell half of what he’s saying. Some folks get caught up in the pace and end up overpaying for their animals.”
“You said I overpaid at the silent auction,” he reminded her.
“You did! You were so obsessed with writing a bid for the value of the item, a value you wildly overinflated, by the way, that you forgot just to write a bid slightly higher than the one before you. That’s how it works.”
“Come on, you can’t believe that fermentation crock was only worth thirty-five dollars.”
Brenne threw up her hands. “It was probably only worth twenty dollars!” She realized too late that one of her hands was holding the paddle.
“I see eighty. Sold at eighty to the lady in the turquoise boots!”
“Shit,” she muttered. “Looks like we’ll be bringing home a little something extra to the ranch tonight.”
Brenne was still out of sorts as they made their way to the parking lot, calf in tow. “I’ve caught hell with the way you swept the silent auction, and now I’m going to have to explain to my brothers why we’re showing up with a new head.”
“You don’t think people are upset that I won every item, do you? I mean, I paid fair value for them.” Gavin’s tone, as always, was moderate. “And the money all goes to charity.”
She looked at him, and all of her frustration melted away. Gavin was truly a stranger in a strange land. There was no malice in his actions, no devious purpose behind his curiosity. He was just going through life, testing his theories, poking into things that interested him, and making cognitive connections that most others would miss. From his brain had sprung one of the largest companies in the history of mankind, and he’d just helped her bid for, and win, a random calf at a cattle auction.
Gavin was just Gavin, and that was okay.
“You’re in the back with the calf,” she said, wanting to see if he’d balk at the prospect. She’d likely hand off the keys to the truck to him, then ride in the bed with the calf.
Gavin looked at the calf, then back at her, then at the truck bed, his mind doing calculations she’d never understand. “Okay. Show me what I need to do.”
“First, help me lift him into the bed,” she said. It was a young calf, just weened at almost two months, but it still weighed over 150 pounds. Between the two of them, they were able to get it into the truck. “Now climb up.”
Gavin climbed into the back, and she shut the gate. “Keep hold of that rope, and keep him close. See if you can get him to settle. He’ll likely skitter around at first, but then calm down and sit.”
Gavin was on his knees, and he leaned in to cup the calf’s jaw. “Let’s sit down. We will have a more comfortable ride that way.” He bent his legs to slowly come to a seated position, his eyes never leaving the round black eyes of the calf. Brenne watched in awe as the calf lowered itself to sit beside him.
“Perfect,” she said, giving Gavin an approving nod. “I’ll go slow, but just tap on the window if you have any problems.” Brenne climbed behind the wheel and started out of the lot. She was about five miles from the auction yard when her phone started buzzing.
Brenne was grateful that her father’s truck had Bluetooth. She hit a button on the screen in the center of the dash and answered. “Hey, Lou. How’s it going?”
“Hey, Brenne. Did I catch you at a bad time?”
“Not really.” She explained about Gavin and the accidental calf.
Lou laughed. “Hashtag farm girl problems.”
“You said it. So what’s up?” She knew Lou always had a reason to call, no matter how small, even though she called on an almost daily basis.
“Right. I wanted you to give Gavin a message for me, about the auction experience he bought.” Her voice dropped in annoyance. “Johnnie told me to call. He wants me to make sure that Gavin understands that a ‘tour around the world’ in the description pertains solely to the wines he’ll be serving, not to an actual tour around the world itself.”
Brenne let out a laugh that echoed around the truck’s cabin. “My brother is ridiculous. Gavin knows it’s just a wine tasting for chrissakes.”
“I know. That’s what I told him too, but he started talking about breach of contract and the number of lawyers Instant Gratification has, and I figured I better do as he says just to calm him down.” Lou laughed. “You know your brother can’t take too many stressors at once, and your brothers are doing their best to push all his buttons about this whole IG thing.”
“What do you mean?” Since Brenne had started seeing Gavin, her brothers had begun leaving her out of their discussions about the town’s future. She was now some kind of double agent and wasn’t to be trusted, it seemed.
“Oh, you know, keeping tabs on Gavin, digging up dirt in case something goes wrong, finding ways to safeguard the ranch in case IG tries to buy it. And trying to convince you to—uh, well, you know what I mean anyway.”
“Convince me to what, Lou?” Her muscles tensed, knowing her friend hadn’t wanted to say what she just had.
Lou confirmed her suspicion in her response. “I don’t think they’d be too happy with me telling you, but I’ve honestly wanted to say something since I overheard them talking about it. Brenne, they want you to send Gavin packing, but they know if they say that outright, that you won’t appreciate it. They think you might even do the opposite out of spite.”
“Of course they do.” Brenne let out a heavy sigh. “They’re not the only ones. Alex Parsons is singing the same tune.” Anger rose inside her. “Do they really think I’m that vindictive, that petty?”