“He doesn’t deserve you.” He didn’t deserve Mom, either. “But thank you for looking out for me. I knew that Daniel and Zane didn’t want this place and that Dad wanted it to stay in the family, but I was never… sure.” It was such a relief to be able to talk to someone I trusted about this. When Hailey married Zane, it had felt like some topics were suddenly off-limits. She swore that she wouldn’t tell Zane, but he was her husband. I didn’t want to test that.
“Eh,” Remy said, sketching a circle in the dirt with the tip of his boot.
“Don’t worry.” I patted him on the shoulder, practically reading his mind. “I won’t put you in the middle.” Criticizing my father around him was always a fine line.
“I appreciate that.”
“But don’t you even think about retiring just because Dad’s stepping down, or I’ll hang on your ankle and beg you to stay. I need someone who knows this place inside and out.”
I didn’t add that I just needed someone to have my back in general. Whenever my father was too busy or too annoyed by my chromosomes to spend time with me, Remy would let me tag along instead. He was like an uncle of sorts, one who’d answered the phone when I’d called drunkenly sobbing after a failed project at work. I don’t know much about paperwork and money and buying companies, he’d said, “but I know that Sky Wentworth never laid in the mud and cried just because she couldn’t rope saddle somewhere on this ranch.”
“Please don’t. It gets really hot. You’re going to stink up the place.”
He chuckled and resumed walking towards the campfire. Some of the cowboys stood, and others took off their hats, but most of them didn’t react much to my presence. One of them eyed my thermos. “Need a refill?”
“No, it’s full,” I said, already in the process of dumping the contents into the dirt. “But I’ll take some of the good stuff.” There was nothing like beans roasted over an open fire in the country air. The cowboy poured me a good amount before I plopped down in a random opening in their loose circle.
I made a point to continue my banter back and forth with Remy. When the cowboys on the far side of the campfire started laughing, I joined in even though I hadn’t heard the joke. For a few minutes, I almost thought my fears had been unfounded, and the men had accepted me after all—until I realized that they were laughing at me.
Chapter 3
I shouldn’t have had that bourbon. I’d stopped at the point where it might have dulled my physical reflexes without stopping to consider my mental ones. They’d been making fun of it from six feet away this whole time. I was such a fool.
I drank the coffee as Remy tried to soften the blow by telling me that Gus—the human school bus in the XXXL Black Gold Creek shirt—was like that with all women. “He’s just… traditional.”
“Ah, tradition.” That thing that I’d been beaten over the head with since I was born.
Remy sighed. “You know how he gets.” It was the same thing he’d said about my father.
“Yeah, I do,” I replied, seeing no reason to pretend that I’d ever liked Gus. “Gus thinks he has the solution to all the world’s problems.” I pitched my voice into a mocking sing-song tone. “If only us misguided women would return to the hallowed womanly rituals of making sandwiches and babies and cross-stitch flowers to sell at the country market.”
Remy held up his hands. “I’m not saying I agree with it. You know I don’t.”
But Gus wouldn’t let it go, not even when the rest of the crew pulled into the lot, and we started getting ready. I could hear him talking about Mom to a small gaggle of sympathetic cowboys. “You’da think she’d have learned somethin’ from that momma of hers. That lady was a real lady, sure and true. Never tried to be in charge. Knew it wasn’t right. Not natural seein’ all these girls thinkin’ they’re somethin’.”
I almost bit through my lip, trying not to smack the smirk off his face as I checked the tack on the bay mare that Remy had told me was named Paprika for some inexplicable reason. Unbidden, tears welled in my eyes, stinging as they threatened to spill. I pressed my face against Paprika’s neck, hating that I cried whenever I was frustrated. The last thing I needed was for someone to see the weak, sniveling woman they imagined me to be.
After a few deep breaths, I moved around Paprika in a practiced rhythm, swapping her halter for a bridle and letting her get to know me. As much as it hurt my pride, I suspected that Remy had chosen a calmer horse for me, knowing that it’s been a while since I’ve ridden. My legs were not going to thank me later, never mind my bad ankle.
The second group of cowboys was heading closer to the smoking remnants of the campfire. Judging by the look of their fully saddled mounts and the truck off-roading towards the branding area, they’d been sent to pick up last-minute odds and ends. For something so essential to the ranch, we always seemed to forget at least one crucial thing, causing us to scramble to finish before it was pitch black outside.
I was just preparing to swing my foot into the stirrup when I caught a glimpse of a tall, broad-shouldered man moving towards me. I couldn’t see his face, but I didn’t need to. I’d know that stiff-legged gait anywhere. I cupped my hands around my mouth, shouting, “Well, look who finally decided to drag his butt back to Texas.”
“You’re one to talk, New Yorker.”
My heart swelled at the sight of him. Sam, the other staple of my childhood, the unflappable boy balancing Stan’s outrageous antics, Hailey’s overthinking, and Will’s constant worrying.
Much to my surprise, Gus sprinted over to greet Sam. I hadn’t known them to be particularly great friends, but there was something to be said for nostalgia. Every year, I knew fewer and fewer of the employees. The ones of my childhood had gone off to school or entered a whole different industry entirely.
Sam had done both. I waited for Gus to leave before walking over to greet Sam myself. “Hey, Sam. What on Earth are you doing here?”
“Hey yourself.” He pulled me into a lopsided hug, our left arms busy hanging onto reins. “I wasn’t sure if you’d be here. Everyone said we might finally overlap, but they also said that the last eight times I came home to visit.”
I smiled. “Must be our lucky day, I guess.” His accent was gone, but that probably shouldn’t have shocked me. From our few online interactions and occasional text messages, I’d gleaned that he didn’t come back from Silicon Valley all that often.
Sam looked so much different than the scrawny, lanky boy from my memory. He’d traded his greasy ponytail and woeful attempt at a beard for a clean shave and a crew cut. While some people never seemed to change, Sam was walking proof that you could if you tried.
“God, I missed this place.” He stared over my shoulder, taking in the rolling hills, the rock, the land that seemed endless. His brown eyes seemed to soak it all in. “I missed you.” He pulled me into another hug.
I shook off the sudden desire to move closer, to get a better smell of the sandalwood scent clinging to his plain white t-shirt. It was just the bourbon. I’d never looked at Sam that way. He was practically my third brother. “It’s been ages. How did we get so old?”
“Seriously,” he said, laughing. “I feel like I just had my going-away party for Berkeley.”
I smacked him in the ribs with the flat of my hand. “Yes, yes, we all know you went to Berkeley. You don’t have to brag about it.” It was an old inside joke, our way of poking fun at the businessmen who’d come to visit the ranch and start every conversation with a lengthy verbal resume.
“How’s your dad doing?” he asked, his brows knitting together. “I’ve been trying to get back as much as I can to see him, but he won’t talk much about the stroke.”
I shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. He puts on this front, and I can’t get past it.”
“He was the last person I expected to call out of the blue. He told me you might need a friendly face.” He met my gaze, smiling like out of all the beauty around us, he wanted to look at me. Judging by the meteoric rise
of his company, that disarming way of his had certainly served him well. “Do you? It must be stressful.”
“It is, but I’m ready.” My heart sank as I considered the possibility that my father was using Sam as my babysitter. Doesn’t he trust me? When Daniel and Zane had been absorbed in their own interests as young men, instead of spending time with me, Dad had doted on Sam. I’d find them riding together or even talking about the ranch.
I’d been silly to think that I was third place because of my brothers. No, I was fourth, the daughter waiting for any leftover affection after Dad’s favorite employees. But as much as I’d wanted to hate Sam for it, I couldn’t, not when he’d lost his dad to cancer when we were in seventh grade. It made sense for him to want to be here when his father had lived and breathed Black Gold Creek.
“We should get going,” I said, nodding at the departing cowboys already kicking up a line of dust.
Sam insisted on giving me a boost into the saddle. He mounted his horse and came up beside me. “After you.”
I could feel dozens of eyes boring into the back of my skull as I failed to rope a calf after chasing it around for the better part of ten minutes. The cowboys were resting by the fence, probably enjoying Gus’s commentary, if their snickering was any indication.
Sam rode up a few minutes later to put me out of my misery, catching the calf with a clean throw. The others jumped in a moment later, dragging it down to be branded. I stood off to the side, the lasso dangling from my hand.
He made it seem so effortless as if this wasn’t a perishable skill. It was, right? Or was there something wrong with me that I couldn’t do this simple task anymore? Maybe my father was right, and I wasn’t as fit to run this ranch. At that moment, it seemed easy to believe.
Remy whooped from a few feet away as he snagged the next calf. I sprinted over and pinned it, wanting to redeem myself however I could. I looked away from the terrified animal and tried to tune out the sound of its frightened cries. Remy’s daughter Crystal brought over the iron and pressed it to the animal’s flank. The calf writhed underneath my knee as the smell of singeing hair filled my nostrils.
I wanted to close my eyes completely, but that would only further prove Gus’s point that women didn’t belong here. Besides me, the only other two were Crystal and the young girl who was helping with vaccinations. Whatever I did reflected on all of us. Mom used to say that women had to work twice as hard. She’d forgotten to mention that we’d all be judged together.
“All done.” Crystal lifted the iron, and I let go of the calf. It immediately rolled to its feet and ran off away from us. Other ranchers were standing by to catch it and move it to another pen. I stood and stretched, cracking my neck to work out the knot in my shoulder. “Next!”
“We’re gonna need a minute!” someone called.
As I walked over for a sip of water, my ankle clicked and crunched, only worsening my annoyance at the men around me. When Remy had gotten his teeth knocked out, it was an accident; when Domino rolled onto my ankle after getting stung by a wasp, I was incompetent.
There was a slight lull in activity, so I took a seat and propped my foot up on the fence. Sam was a few yards away chatting with Crystal. He’d always been a natural on horseback and one of the only people with the patience to teach Remy’s daughter.
The funny part was that he never wanted to become a cowboy. He’d loved horses and going to the rodeo, but this wasn’t his life. Now, he was one of the most prominent businessmen in the country. I was proud of him, the way he’d followed his dreams like that. But some part of me resented that he’d never needed to fight for his right to sit at the table.
If my family didn’t own this place, they wouldn’t have let me through the front gate. While I was still blessed beyond measure with wealth and this inheritance, I could recognize it. I could see the cracks in the façade of this town that pretended to be paradise. Just thinking of Gus and my father and the way people treated Stan was enough to make me want to pack my bags and go back to New York.
But I’d accomplished what I’d set out to do there, just as Sam had made his mark in California. I just wished I knew whether Dad cared one bit about my legacy. Was he proud? I wasn’t so sure.
Crystal grabbed a bottle of water and took a seat. “Phew. That boy’s aged like a fine wine.” Her eyes flitted over Sam’s body. “I sure missed him.”
“You still have a thing for him?” I asked, laughing. It was clear as, well, crystal that she’d had a crush on him. She’d been thirteen when Sam left for college, so none of us paid too much attention. It was different now that we were grown.
“Psssh. That’s none of your business, Sky.” Crystal nudged me with her elbow. “I’m glad he’s back for a while. Funny how we all became friends.”
“What do you mean?”
She dumped the remaining water over her head, spraying the both of us. “Your daddy took my daddy in when he was out of work. He let me have a job off the books back in, oh, what, seventh grade? And he did the same for poor Sam, working to help out his momma.”
“He has… a good heart.” I couldn’t deny that my father had a soft spot; it just wasn’t for me. It felt like the whole town was a Charles Wentworth fan club, though. He saved his sharp edges for family, always demanding pride and loyalty, and honor. Those were fine and well, but sometimes I’d just wanted a damn bedtime story and a hug. “And a stinger.”
“He’s got a mean streak. I couldn’t believe he sold your horse like that.”
“Me either.” I’d checked every barn and paddock looking for Domino when I got home from school. Remy was the one to tell me.
Crystal put her hat on again and tilted it back until the brim was at the right angle. “He hates the stuffing out of Blythe. I don’t know why you bothered. You going to try to see him?”
“I actually saw him at Stan’s last night,” I admitted. “Stan called him.”
She chuckled. “That busybody. He’s just looking out for you, though. We were all kind of surprised when you didn’t end up together.” Crystal nudged me again. “After all those times, Hailey and I helped you sneak out, and you didn’t even keep the dang man.”
It was my turn to laugh. “I think Hailey made out okay considering she married Zane.”
Crystal whistled a short tune and pretended to be looking anywhere else. “I’m not getting in your saddle or anything but just saying that Will isn’t married or anything. Just saying. Moved outside Bellfield and just… goes to work at this little ranch. Has a trailer out by the reservation.”
“He’s living in a trailer? Will Blythe? Of the Blythes?”
“Trust me, no one in town thought he’d last either. But he did.”
I pretended not to care. I wanted to ask more about Will, whether he’d dated anyone since or ever asked about me. But those were dangerous questions around here. Just ask my poor Domino, wherever he was, probably an old man by now.
Our conversation was interrupted by the scuffling of new calves. “Y’all ready?” Gus called out to no one in particular.
“One sec!” Crystal shouted, rising to her feet and jogging over.
I followed after her. Remy and Sam were wrangling cattle, and Crystal was the only other person here who probably didn’t think I was better off baking pies or cleaning. The handles of the irons were hanging out of the propane heater waiting for the next calf. Crystal pulled on a pair of basic work gloves.
“I thought you’d need thicker gloves.” I didn’t know much about branding, to be honest. I’d only ever been allowed to watch.
“There are covers on the handle.” She pointed to the silicone sleeves. Cocking her hip, she fixed me with a serious stare. “What are you really doing here, Sky? This has squat to do with running the business, and you know it.”
“I just always wanted to be a part of it,” I said, rubbing the tattoo on my wrist. “It’s such a big deal. And I just thought it would be good to show that I’m not going to hide in an office all day.” I
nstead, I would fail to rope a calf in front of everyone and look like a total dolt.
Crystal jerked her chin towards Sam, who was trotting away from us, his posture impeccable like always. “If there’s one thing you should learn from losing Sam’s dad and your mom, it’s to make peace with your father while you can instead of this whole rebellious thing. He loves you.”
“It’s not like that.” Being here was about more than just rebellion or even showing cowboys like Gus that I could hack it. It was also to honor my mother, who would have wanted to see me here, doing something I’d been forbidden to before. “Dad kept my mom in this little box her whole life. She never got to see this side.”
Crystal made a little noise in her throat as though I’d made her think. “So, you’re saying that you just want to be a cowgirl?”
“Something like that.”
“Well, if you want that, you can’t just be pinning calves all day.” She took off her gloves and pressed them into my hand. “Grab an iron, girlie.”
I watched them glow in the heater, the letters B and G twisted into a logo that any rancher would know in a heartbeat. It was the same as the ink beneath my skin, a mark that connected me to these animals, this ranch, this makeshift family. While other fathers had celebrated their children, like Gayle and Stan, the ranch was Dad’s true pride. All my life, I’d wanted to belong here, to be another part of its history.
I’d banged on the door and asked to be let in.
I’d pleaded with Dad to give me a chance.
I’d cried when whatever I did wasn’t enough.
That was over now. This was my home, and I wasn’t going to let anything hold me back. I grabbed the branding iron and stalked towards the next calf. Crystal smiled up at me, her knee pinning the animal’s neck.
I wasn’t asking for a seat anymore; I was taking one.
Chapter 4
The Cowboy's Promise: Love Triangle Billionaire Romance (The Wentworth Cowboy Billionaire Series) Page 3
