She’s a villain in this story whether or not she realizes it, and I’ve already built her up into someone that it’s easy to hate, despite the fact that I’ve never met her.
Katie and I strategized, and it’s a good pitch. But we’ve never met Ms. Dover before. We can’t predict how she’s going to react, and if she’s anything like her father…Hell, this could all backfire and she walks away with the ranch.
We’re in the same conference room overlooking the river, Katie and I sitting on one side of the conference table awaiting the arrival of Rachel Dover.
I turn the name over in my head, trying to put a face to the name. Trying to get used to the fact that this stranger holds so much power over me. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to be in this uncomfortable suit or away from the ranch when there are things that need doing. I’m feeling trapped.
All I know about this woman is that she works in the food industry, and that her mother is dead as well. There honestly wasn’t a lot to dig up on her, even with Katie’s extensive resources. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
Katie’s secretary opens the door, and I’m prepared for an even more visceral hate to fill me up, so bitter that I could already taste it in my mouth. I’m ready to hold myself back from anger and pretend that I’m okay for the sake of my promise to Evelyn.
What I’m not ready for is one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen to walk into the room. Waves of dark hair fall around her shoulders, framing a delicate face that could easily be at home on a magazine cover. Legs in dark leggings that go one for what feel like miles. Perfect curves barely hidden under her dress; a style that looks like a large button-down shirt belted at the waist.
My body reacts to her at the same time that my mind does, with sudden, animal longing. She’s damn gorgeous, and suddenly the deepest part of me identifies a need that hadn’t been there moments before I first laid eyes on her. A need very specifically for her. It tells me that being married to her won’t be so bad if this marriage requires any kind of consummation to function.
But this isn’t a day where I can let my dick lead me. This is a day where my dick needs to keep itself in check. So I think about mucking out three-day old stables to keep my mind in the game. I stand to reach across the table and shake her hand.
I’m definitely not thinking about the way it would feel to sink my hands into that gorgeous hair or how those curves would look if I got so lucky to strip her completely bare.
Our hands connect, and she’s staring at me just like I’m staring at her—like I’m something entirely unexpected. I wish I could say that there was no reaction when I touched her skin, but the electric current that runs between us is impossible to ignore.
Katie breaks the somewhat awkward silence. “Miss Dover, thank you for making the trip on such short notice. This all must be quite a surprise.”
She gives us a tight smile. “It’s not a problem. Your email was intriguing, though. I have to admit I have no earthly clue what is going on. My father never gave me anything except for my DNA,” she says with a chill in her voice.
Well, at least it seems we share the same opinion of her father.
Her eyes flick to me again. Gorgeous green eyes that I could get lost in. It’s like she’s studying me and trying to figure out exactly who I am in this strange situation. That’s fine, she’ll find out soon enough.
Katie clears her throat. “Be that as it may, your grandmother recently passed away, I’m sorry to tell you.”
The look on Rachel’s face is one of genuine shock. It seems she wasn’t even aware of Evelyn’s existence.
“She was the owner of Rocking R Ranch.” Katie slides one of the ranch’s brochures across the table to her. “It’s a fully functioning ranch as well as an elite resort and vacation destination. When she passed away, she left the ranch to Mr. Burgess here. But there are some very old laws in Wyoming, and the ranch has to pass to a blood relative or be sold to the government. You’re the last living blood relative.”
Rachel’s eyebrows raise into her hairline. “Are you serious?”
I don’t have to look at Katie to know that she’s pinning the woman across the table with the look that she gave me a couple of hours ago: not unkind, but absolutely unyielding. “I promise you, Miss Dover, I’m not a woman who plays games. I wouldn’t have flown you all the way out here for any kind of practical joke. You’re the last living blood relation of any kind to Evelyn Roscoe, and so the ranch now belongs to you. You own it.”
I watch as she processes the information. First shock, then anger and sadness. Disbelief. Her face is like an open book. “This can’t be real,” she mutters. “My father didn’t even like me enough to give me his last name. I’m supposed to want a ranch from his family? No thank you. The Roscoes have done enough damage to me already. I don’t want anything to do with that loathsome family.”
“Evelyn was nothing like your father,” I snap, and her gaze locks on mine. They’re the first words that I’ve spoken to her, and she’s appraising me with new and curious eyes. “I know what kind of man he was. But Ev—your grandmother was nothing like him. She was kind and genuine, and she cared about the ranch.”
She looks at me for a long moment, and then back at Katie. “I’m sorry to have wasted your time, but I’m not interested. Sell it and have them send me a check. You clearly have my details.”
She moves to stand, and red tints the edge of my vision. How can she be so callous? So dismissive? She doesn’t understand and I’m going to make her understand. My mouth is opening to tell her exactly what I think about her and her attitude when I feel Katie’s hand on my shoulder.
“I’m afraid it’s not that simple, Miss Dover. If you’ll listen, I can explain everything to you.”
Rachel looks hesitant, but nods.
“Rocking R Ranch isn’t just a ranch like you might see in the movies. There’s a full staff who live on the property, as well as the people who come and visit for vacation. It’s a community in itself, and the center of the local economy. It supplies local stores with meat and dairy. If the ranch is sold to the government, everyone who lives on the ranch will lose their homes and jobs. They would likely turn the property into a straight mass cattle ranch. But, if Mr. Burgess continues to manage the ranch, everything can continue as normal, and it will be much more profitable for you. He’s Evelyn’s chosen beneficiary of the property and has an excellent reputation.”
Rachel looks between the two of us, and I can see her mind going into overdrive, trying to figure out exactly what we want from her. “There’s a catch,” she says. “There’s got to be. That speech is one that you could have given me over the phone, so why I am I really here then?”
I have to give the woman credit. She isn’t stupid. Glancing over at Katie, I see that killer little smile again. “In order to stay within the limits of the law, Mr. Burgess has to be a relation of the late Mrs. Roscoe. In order to make financial decisions for Rocking R. Ranch, he would need to be a part of the immediate nuclear family.”
The air stills, and I see the question in her eyes. Katie goes in for the kill. “In order to save Rocking R Ranch, you and Mr. Burgess need to marry.”