Stud Farm: The Delancey Brothers

by Joanna Blake

  “Eat. It will help.”

  I finally looked at the smug bastard. He winked at me as he shoveled a heaping fork full of food into his mouth. Grudgingly, I forced myself to take a bite.

  And then another. And another.

  Before long I was feeling a bit better. Less drunk anyway. The toast must have sopped up some of the bourbon still rolling around in my guts.

  Daniel and Francesca came in, giggling like school children. Now Jake and I exchanged a superior glance. Not that Jake wasn’t guilty of acting like a lovesick fool himself. But Daniel was over the top with his girlfriend Francesca.

  It would have made me nauseous even if I didn’t have the hangover from hell.

  “Morning.”

  “‘Giorno.”

  Daniel was halfway through his food before he noticed anything was wrong. He insisted on feeding Francesca small bites of food. I rolled my eyes. The man was in over his head with the gorgeous Italian girl who’d come here to breed her horse.

  And never left.

  I liked her. Just like I liked Jake’s fiancé Elle. Loved them even, in a sisterly way. I just hated watching my brother act like a jackass.

  Either one of them.

  “What’s got into him?”

  Jake grinned and got up to get more coffee.

  “Big brother fell off the wagon last night. And then it ran him over.”

  Daniel looked surprised and then he seemed to remember the date.

  “You okay?”

  I nodded.

  “I will be. I shouldn’t have scheduled so much today. I have to meet with the arborist about the elm trees.”

  Daniel frowned.

  “I can do that Jackson. My schedule is light today.”

  “No. I’ve been talking to this guy for months now. I need to be there in person.”

  “Suit yourself.”

  “But thank you.”

  Daniel grinned at me. He knew I had been working on being less of a dictator about running the place. I’d gotten shit from both brothers lately about being a bit too bossy, even if I was in charge.

  I was trying to learn to delegate. Just… not today.

  Daniel leaned back in his seat as Francesca got them both more coffee, his eyes never straying far from his woman. In fact, it looked like he was ready to pounce on her.

  As usual.

  “Where’s Elle?”

  Jake grinned.

  “Sleeping. She had a late night.”

  I shook my head and grimaced. My brothers were both sex-crazed maniacs. I was the only person in the house who had important things on their mind, like running the damn business.

  They were lucky to have me. You would think they would thank me daily, and do what I said without question. They did follow my lead for the most part, but they seemed to take a perverse pleasure in challenging me from time to time.

  Daniel cleared his throat.

  “The Jenkins’ Farm sold.”

  I cocked an eyebrow at him. The Jenkins’ Farm bordered our property on the south side. It was a small farm, not even a fifth the size of our land. But it was a long and skinny plot and we shared a lot of acreage with it.

  “Any idea who bought it?”

  Daniel shook his head.

  “Some city people. I haven’t met them. Two sisters from what I hear. Going to make a go at farming the place.”

  “As long as they don’t try and build a subdivision, I don’t care what they hell they do.”

  The Jenkins had been a farming family around here forever. They even predated the Delanceys. It had been hard to watch their land fall into disrepair and finally be seized by the bank. The last generation had simply no interest in taking over the small farm.

  Not that I blamed them. Farming was hard work and there was very little chance of an independent family farm ever turning a profit. It was harder and harder for small businesses like that to complete against the huge factory farms.

  It was a shame though.

  A damn shame.

  Angelina

  “How can there be so many spiders in one place?”

  Casey chuckled, handing me a newspaper.

  I rolled it up and smashed the spider that was scuttling around the kitchen counter.

  “You are getting good at that Ange.”

  I looked over at Casey, who was in her wheelchair. She didn’t need it all the time, but at the moment it was the only clean chair in the house. In fact, it was the only chair in the house at all, other than the porch swing out front.

  I’d forgotten to hire a cleaning service to come and clean the place up. So now on top of waiting for workers to come and repair what looked like at least three separate leaks and electricity that went in and out, I had to clean the place myself.

  I sighed. It was an old house. I knew that no matter how glamorous it looked on those renovation shows on television, it was going to be a lot of work just to make this place habitable.

  But I didn’t have much of a choice.

  At least the sunroom was leak free and cheerful. It was on the first floor, right off the large, sunny kitchen. It was the perfect place to set up Casey’s bedroom. The steep stairs would not work for her.

  Not yet anyway.

  I’d been cleaning for hours already. So far the kitchen was half done, and the sunroom was spotless. Then I would do the living room and downstairs bathroom.

  My room could wait. I needed to get Casey comfortable first. And quickly, because the movers would be here in a few hours.

  I lifted the newspaper and brought it down again with a hard thud. Probably harder than I needed to. Then I thwacked it again for good measure.

  “I think you got it.”

  Casey was laughing at me. I couldn’t help but laugh along with her. I had been a little rough on the tiny spider. In fact, there wasn’t a trace of it left on the counter other than a small dark smudge.

  “Angelina, Spider Hunter.”

  I shrugged.

  “I might be a little tense.”

  “You?”

  I shook my head, running my hand over my forehead.

  “Go for a walk, you are exhausted. I’m going to rest.”

  “I need to get ready for the movers.”

  “Nah, you did enough. It doesn’t have to all get done in one day.”

  I smiled. She was right. I could take a quick walk and then come back with a clear head.

  “I wish I could help you.”

  Tears stung my eyes as I looked at my sister. She was in daily pain. I hated to see her suffer. But the worst part for her was the feeling of helplessness.

  I reached out and took her hand.

  “I know Case. You will soon. Just watch, I will have you doing all the chores by Christmas.”

  For a moment we just smiled at each other, both of us hoping for the same thing. Such a simple thing for most people. All we wanted was her health back. A little normalcy and relief.

  It wasn’t so much to ask, in the grand scheme of things.

  “Go on, I know you are itching to get out there and look at the land.”

  “You are sure you don’t need anything?”

  She smiled at me, tilting her chair back into the recline position.

  “I’m fine. You get some air.”

  I nodded and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

  “See you in a bit.”

  Chapter Three

  Jackson

  It was a beautiful day. A bright, beautiful, clear day. The sun was shining. The sky was bluer than blue. The birds were singing.

  And I wanted to punch every last one of them.

  Not that I had anything against cute little tweety birds. I just wanted them to shut the hell up. They were interfering with my hangover.

  I grimaced, shading my eyes with my hand. Even the dark sunglasses I’d borrowed from Jake did little to cut the painful glare. It seemed to pierce straight to my tired, angry, hungover soul.

  Oh yes, I wanted to hit something.


  Or go back to bed. But there was work to do, just like always. The Delancey Estate waited on no man.

  “Cut it down or just trim it? I’d say it’s about done, though you could leave it a few more years once we take off most of the branches. Won’t be too pretty though.”

  I nodded at Dave, making a slicing motion with my hand. He was running a crew of about five or six guys. They had a small crane, a wood chipper, and lots of chainsaws.

  He gave the signal and the roar of the chainsaws tore through the air.

  I walked away slightly, wishing I had a pair of those ear mufflers that the crew were wearing.

  This was too much. And scheduling it today of all days had been a real fuck up on my part. But Dave was booked months in advance.

  It was what it was. I would get through this, and then I would crawl into a deep dark hole and sleep for twelve hours. And next year, I would not get nearly so shitfaced.

  Or at least, I wouldn’t plan anything for the next morning.

  Our property was covered in trees. Many of them were a hundred years old or more. We were in an area at the edge of the property where we didn’t ride much, but still, it was our property and if a tree came down and injured someone, it would be our responsibility.

  And I took my responsibilities very seriously.

  I was still backing away when I slammed into something. I nearly fell over as I turned to see what the hell was behind me.

  I reached out, just as the person behind me started to fall. A loud feminine squeak let me know it was a woman. I could also tell by the smell. She smelled nice.

  Really, really nice.

  I helped her stand and froze, stock-still. I could hardly believe my eyes once I got a good look at her.

  Huge green and gold hazel eyes started up at me. She had an oval face with a pert nose and pink luscious looking lips. Her long, rich golden hair had slid over her eyes and she pushed it back angrily.

  She looked like an old school movie star. Natural and fresh as a daisy. And she had managed to do the impossible.

  She'd made me forget my hangover.

  I was thunderstruck as I stared down at her. It took a second for me to realize I was still holding onto her arms. For a moment she looked as stunned as I did.

  Then she scowled at me, brushing my hands off.

  “What the hell are you doing with my tree?”

  “Your tree?”

  She cocked her hands on her hips. Very nice hips, I might add. Attached to very, very nice legs.

  Hell, everything about the woman was downright delectable.

  Except the way she was caterwauling at me. I winced, my hangover making itself known again.

  “Yes, it’s my damn tree!”

  “That’s on Delancey property right there.”

  “Delancey property?”

  I nodded, trying to ignore the hot surge of lust this rude woman was instilling it me. It was hard to believe my cock was functional, hungover as I was. But I felt it twitching in my jeans, almost as if it was trying to escape and rub itself all over her.

  Still, I wasn't about to let her lay claim to our tree.

  “This land has been in our family for five generations. And that tree has been there the whole damn time. It’s ours!”

  “Oh no it isn’t! I have a survey! Don’t you move an inch- I will be right back with it!”

  I narrowed my eyes at the very pretty, very angry intruder. I shook my head. No matter how gorgeous she was, I wasn’t going to budge

  But lord, she was gorgeous.

  The best damn pair of tits I’d seen in a dog’s age too. No. Longer.

  And I was a tit man.

  My mind was reeling as I watched her walk away. Her long legs ate the ground like nobody’s business. She was wearing worn in denim work gear that only emphasized her deliciously feminine curves.

  Oh yeah, she was stacked to say the least.

  Not to mention a massive pain in the ass.

  That’s when I realized who she was.

  I groaned, running my hand over my hair.

  It looked like I had just met the new neighbor.

  Angelina

  “Of all the nerve!”

  I stomped home, eager to show that rude man he was wrong. I could not believe it was our first day here and already some big, macho Southern cowboy was trying to push me around?!

  It didn’t matter that he was by far the best looking man I’d seen in my life. He might look like a movie star but he was so rude I barely noticed. And now he was cutting down my tree!

  I’d waited my whole life to have my own trees and here he was, chopping one of them down without a by your leave!

  Casey was dozing when I slipped inside so I tiptoed around the place, trying to find the survey. I realized I must have packed it when I couldn’t find it. It wasn’t in my messenger bag or the small suitcase I’d brought ahead with me. I closed my eyes.

  He was going to win dammit!

  I couldn’t bare the thought of going back there empty-handed. He would look at me in that condescending way he had and call me a silly woman. Then he would cut down MY TREE! I almost kicked something I was so mad!

  Then inspiration struck.

  Of course! They had emailed me a PDF of it as well. It wouldn’t be easy to see on my phone so I started looking for my tablet.

  At least I knew where the tablet was! I pulled it out of my bag and grinned. It had been turned off for the past ten hours or so. I prayed it had enough juice left to show that man what a jerk he was!

  I sighed with relief when I saw that the tablet still had about 40% power. It would have to do. I straightened my spine and marched all the way back to the properties edge.

  I was full of butterflies and nervous energy as I stomped my way across the field, barely noticing the weeds or wildflowers around me. By the time I got there, I was even more fired up than I’d been when I left. It wasn’t just righteous indignation either.

  I was looking forward to wiping that smirk off his handsome face.

  But when I got there, I stopped short.

  Yet another large, outrageously good-looking man was standing beside him. Good lord. Did they grow on trees around here or something?

  “Hello, I’m Daniel Delancey. This is my brother Jackson.”

  I nodded, accepting his hand.

  “Angelina Randall.”

  He smiled at me. His brother on the other hand, was scowling. Damn him, the man looked good even doing that.

  Life really wasn’t fair sometimes.

  “I’ve brought my survey.”

  “Perfect. Maybe then we can get back to work.”

  “Please ignore my brother. He’s not always this bad tempered.”

  I lifted my chin.

  “That will not be a problem.”

  The sandy haired giant let out a disbelieving snort. I frowned at him before remembering I had just said I would ignore him. I turned my attention to his brother Daniel.

  “I thought Dave could look at it. He’s a third party so he has no vested interest.”

  “He’s under your employment isn’t he?”

  Daniel laughed.

  “He’s in high demand, he certainly doesn’t need us. Right Dave?”

  Dave stepped forward and shrugged.

  “It’s true.”

  I pulled up the map and scrolled to the northern edge of my property, which was the southern edge of theirs. Then I handed it over to the foreman. I glared at Jackson Delancey, who was watching me with a hooded look on his face.

  I looked away, my cheeks flushing for some indefinable reason.

  How the man could make me blush at a time like this was a mystery!

  The foreman took a look at the tablet and pointed.

  “See, look here. The border really falls just north of the tree.”

  Jackson Delancey smiled at me arrogantly.

  “See? It’s our tree. And it is dangerous for horses and humans alike. It has to come down.”

 
; Daniel shook his head.

  “It appears to have grown over the border Jackson. So it is mostly on our side of the line, but not completely. But Miss Randall, it does pose a safely hazard. That’s why we are clearing this area up.”

  I looked at the trees above us. They did look a bit weathered. I chewed my lip, not sure what to say. I hadn’t been wrong exactly. But I wasn’t right either.

  “How about this? Dave here will take a look at all the trees in the area and trim or remove them. He can do your side of the line as well. Then he can make a few piles of mulch for you.”

  “Mulch?”

  “For your crops. You are a farmer right?”

  He smiled at me charmingly. I couldn’t help but smile back.

  “I am.”

  It felt funny to say that. But I liked it. And I liked him for saying it. His obnoxious brother on the other hand…

  “So it’s settled?”

  I nodded and shook his hand again. I was not about to shake the other one’s hand. Not that he offered. Jackson was rude, even in victory! I was about to say goodbye when Daniel glanced at his brother and then at me. Then he started grinning mischievously.

  “You should come to the house for dinner. Be neighborly. How about Friday night?”

  I shook my head.

  “That’s very nice of you but I can’t leave my sister alone for too long.”

  “Bring her with you.”

  “She’s in a wheelchair.”

  I saw Jackson’s head turn. I thought he’d been ignoring me completely this entire time. Now he was watching me closely.

  “My father is too. The house is wheelchair accessible.”

  I chewed my lip. I had run out of excuses. I’d been horribly rude to his brother and now Daniel was being nice.

  Too nice.

  I was about to ask myself why when I caught the flash of blue. Jackson’s eyes were literally boring into me. Not just staring at me either, he was inspecting me.

  Jackson Delancey was not so subtly checking me out. Not like you looked at someone you didn’t like. No, he was looking at me the way a man looks at a woman he wants to… do things with. I swallowed, realizing his eyes were doing strange things to my pulse. I also realized that I looked like a mess. My hand flew to my hair and brushed it back.