Cooper turned his head and traced a faint line under his left ear. “We were out working when it happened. No one else wanted to fight Jacob, but I wasn’t going to just stand there and watch him beat his son half to death. Got a shattered jaw for my trouble.”
“That’s horrible!” I clapped a hand over my mouth, realizing I’d spoken loudly enough to draw some looks from the others. “I’m so sorry.”
“Good old Jacob Blythe was on a roll that night. Fired a bunch of Will’s friends. Hurt some of the others like me who were too strapped for cash to leave.” Cooper grit his teeth, his mended jaw clenching. “Will finally gave in and said he’d call it off with you.”
“That’s…” I was literally speechless imagining the pressure Will must have been under. Yes, my father could be a tyrant in his own right, but he’d never lay a hand on one of his workers. He’d never betray that trust. “I didn’t know it was that bad. Poor Will.”
Cooper shrugged. “Seems to be making out alright on his own. Sure, he isn’t living in a mansion anymore, but he’s got a good woman, and what else do you need?”
“Oh, you mean Jessie?” I asked, using one of Dad’s favorite techniques of fishing with the information you already have.
Cooper nodded. “Sure do.”
My heartbeat pounded in my ears so loudly that I could barely make out the sound of my own words. “Yeah, she seems really nice.”
“She is.” Cooper took a small step forward and hunched closer. “Anyway, I just wanted to say that I’m here if you need me. I know some of the guys have been giving you a hard time. But your father took me in when I couldn’t find any work, not with Jacob Blythe spreading rumors that I’d stolen from him and quit. In my mind, that makes any Wentworth pretty okay with me.”
“Thank you. That means a lot.” I watched him blend back into the crowd. I was suddenly thankful for the tall sides of the plastic cup that kept my drink from sloshing out as I tried to steady my trembling hands.
Sam came up alongside me. “What was that all about?”
“You weren’t listening?”
He rolled his eyes. “I’m not Stan.”
“He just wanted to say that he’s cool with me,” I said, bending the truth. “I’m a little worn out, though. I think I’m going to head back. Will you be able to get a lift back to the house?”
“Yeah, I’m sure one of the boys can take me.” That probably meant Gus.
I finished my drink and dunked the cup into a trash can. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Thanks for the invite.”
I made it outside before tears started stinging my eyes. I was glad that I’d insisted on driving instead of making poor Eli accompany me for a second night out in a row. I turned out onto the road and kept driving, even after I’d long left behind anything resembling a paved road. It wasn’t until twenty minutes later that I realized I was driving to the lake at the far end of our property.
It was one of many, too small to be of much use for anything except a quick swim. It had made the perfect rendezvous point for meeting Will or hanging out with our friends. There was a stubby pier jutting over the water and a picnic table that had seen better days even back then.
I parked as close to the water as I could and walked onto the pier, feeling the slight sway of it as I added my weight. I stood at the edge and looked into the dark water that distorted the stars above. I remembered sitting here with Will, toes brushing the water, as he swore that he would marry me someday.
In keeping my promise to my mother, I’d absolved Will of his. Maybe we’d always been doomed, fated to be torn apart by our families. How could we fight against generations of hatred? There was no chance of resolving it, not when we couldn’t agree on what had started the feud in the first place. There was the infamous duel when Will’s grandfather had shot mine and nearly killed him, claiming that he’d believed him to be a trespasser. But they’d already hated each other even then. What was the point of it, this pettiness that had cost me the love of my life?
I stood there for what felt like an eternity, the sweet scent of sap hanging thickly in the air. The breeze blew ripples across the water as I watched, thinking of how every small choice in my past had built to this present. Will was with Jessie, not me.
I was the heir of Black Gold Creek, just like I’d always wanted.
And standing there in the darkness, it felt like all I deserved, too.
Chapter 5
Sam met me the next morning to start reviewing ranch operations. Dad insisted that everything was in order, but I knew better than to believe that after seeing how much my mother had done behind the scenes to help this place dodge disaster. I couldn’t imagine that Beth was keeping the ship afloat with the same diligence.
“You know how it is,” I said to Sam over lukewarm cups of coffee that we’d forgotten to drink.
“You certainly talked my ear off about it enough when we were kids.” He balled up his fists and pretended to cry. Mockingly, he said, “We only made a gazillion dollars today, Sam, not two gazillion.”
I kicked him lightly under the table. “Oh, shut up. That gazillion dollar was paying your check, if I recall.”
“Hey,” he said, somewhat indignant as he held up his opened left hand. “I’ve still got callouses from getting that check, thank you very much.”
“I’ve still got callouses from counting all that money.”
Sam burst out laughing. “You’re so shameless. It’s fantastic.”
My cheeks ached from smiling for so long. I’d missed this, our back-and-forth banter that flowed from one subject to the next. As much as I loathed to admit it, maybe Dad inviting Sam out here hadn’t been an entirely terrible idea. It was nice to have someone around who knew my history without needing an explanation that would undoubtedly be a convoluted, rambling mess.
And honestly, I liked who I could be around Sam. I didn’t need to have my hackles up. After years of corporate battles and family politics, it was nice to relax and speak organically without having to filter every syllable.
“This place has gotten even bigger since I left,” Sam remarked, flipping through the color-coded tabs of a binder from the accountant. “When did you expand into crops? And why?”
“It’s complicated. You know all the way on the east side where there’s the bluffs and then that really skinny patch of land?”
Sam nodded. “What about it?”
“Some random guy approached Dad one day about testing the soil to see if he could grow sorghum. We weren’t using it, so he let the guy plant there. Since we own the land, we get a great tax break.”
“Seems convenient. What about this property in Montana?”
It went on like that for hours, the two of us huddled around the long table in the library with reports and spreadsheets littering every inch of its surface. We even spread some maps out on the floor. Between our breeding programs and the satellite ranches, our cousins maintained in other states, I was getting whiplash jumping between so many figures: 50,000 cattle. 400 Quarter horses. 1 Will Blythe. Regardless of how much work there was to do, he was never far from my mind. But there was a task that needed my attention.
Trying to dissect the networks of subsidiaries and contracts was dizzying work. I did most of the legal heavy lifting, whispering layman’s translations to Sam when he was confused by some particularly verbose document. But I loved it. It felt like I was unraveling an entirely new world and making my mother proud at the same time.
Finally, when Sam and I both felt cooped up enough to scream, we piled into one of the trucks and drove out to check on the heifers and newborn calves. Lowell, our head of cattle operations, met us out front in a pair of waders, soaking wet and looking perplexed. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, nothing,” Sam called as we walked closer. “Just coming to see the little ones.”
“Ah,” Lowell sighed.
I pushed Sam towards the door to the barn. “We’ll get out of your hair.”
“Mmhmm.”
We managed to hold in our laughter until we were inside. Sam turned to me, his face flushed as he tried to stifle the sound with his hands. “He hasn’t changed one bit!”
Lowell was from New Zealand. He came to Black Gold Creek after working jobs in South Africa, Japan, Ukraine, India, and Brazil. He had some great stories, but he was so intensely grumpy that we’d joked as kids that they’d thrown him out of half the planet.
Still, he appeared appreciative when we volunteered to help him wrangle newborns and tag their ears. “Great,” he deadpanned. “Start now.”
Sam nudged me with his elbow and turned his head in both directions. “Think I could use an earring? Yellow could really be my color.”
“A nose ring would look much, much better.”
He held a tag and pressed it to his nostril. “How do I look?”
Being out on the ranch with Sam and seeing the newborn calves made me yearn for my mother again. She’d loved to just wander the land, stopping to chat with random cowboys at work or check on the animals. She just had a way with all living things—or at least most living things, judging by the slew of dead houseplants we’d had at any given point in time.
Light filtered in from the south-facing windows as I stood in the library again, my feet planted at awkward angles to avoid upsetting the paperwork we’d left out on the thick Persian rugs that lined the walkways. Amidst all of this polished wood and dark leather, all I could think about was the futility of such luxury. We had more than we could ever spend. And instead of carving out a portion to something worthwhile, Dad had clung to it, his appetite growing in proportion to his wealth.
It had frustrated my mother, who’d wanted so desperately to start a charity, to have something of her own. I lifted a picture frame from the nearby table and studied her face under the glass. I’d been an infant when this was taken. She had me balanced on her arm while Zane and Daniel stood beside her.
I sat on the sofa and poured another glass of wine, finishing the bottle that I’d nabbed from the cellar this morning. I remembered Mom explaining that love wasn’t always a whirlwind. She’d told me about how she’d married my father at her father’s behest, and it had taken years before she’d grown to love him.
I didn’t think that I could stomach that. No, not after Will. Not after knowing what it truly felt like to love. I’d rather be alone than settle for a mockery.
A voice rang out behind me. “She really was a beauty, wasn’t she?”
I nearly dropped the frame and my wine as I jolted. I turned to peer over my shoulder and spotted Beth. Great. This is just what I need.
“I’m sure that’s the description Dad would give.” I couldn’t dispute my mother had been gorgeous, but that wasn’t what should have stuck out about her.
“I heard she was tough on you.” Beth came around the edge of the sofa and sat practically in my lap. She touched my forearm with her clammy fingers. “You must miss her.”
I nodded, not sure what Beth wanted or why she’d venture in here. “Do you need something?”
“I just came to talk.” Her whole face lit up as she smiled. “I just have the most wonderful news.”
I was groggy with wine, or else I wouldn’t have had the patience to sit through another game. Still, I was glad for the dark glass and the fact that the label was facing us. It helped conceal the fact that I’d apparently drunk the entire shiraz in a sitting.
“Oh, and what’s that?” I prompted when she didn’t go on.
“May I ask you a question?”
Questions answering questions. That was our forte around here. “Sure,” I drawled.
“Why do you care about this ranch so much? You had a successful job in New York. You were a lawyer.”
Beth just didn’t get it. Everything I’d done so far had been to have this moment, to show that I could flourish on my own. I’d applied to colleges without hinting at who we were instead of letting Dad buy me a seat in an Ivy League like he’d done with Daniel. When magazines had started featuring me on their lists of young up-and-comers, I’d been Sky Wentworth, powerhouse attorney, not entitled heiress.
“It’s my home. I promised my mother I’d look after it.” It was the understatement of the century, but I wasn’t going to let Beth have information without knowing what she wanted first. I searched her face for clues, but her enigmatic little smile could have meant anything. When she’d first married my father, I’d mistaken her acting skills for kindness.
For a while, I thought maybe it was just a personality clash. It wasn’t until Zane had complained about Beth to Hailey that I knew I wasn’t alone.
“I was just curious,” Beth said. “Your father didn’t want to tell you about the buyout offer. I think you had a right to know.”
“Buyout offer?” I rolled my sore ankle, the pain helping to sharpen my wine-soaked brain. I was already drafting a message to my brothers. We didn’t always agree, but there was no way that they’d withhold this kind of information from me.
“A buyer got in touch with your dad earlier with a very good offer. $700 an acre. That’s over $600 million.”
I folded my arms to show her that she wasn’t fooling me. “If you’re trying to get my help convincing Dad to sell, I’m not doing it. This is our legacy.”
“Your grandfather founded this place. $600 million would let you make your own mark on the world.”
I wanted to ask if that was the whole reason she’d married my father, but I knew better than to poke the bear of their prenuptial agreement. Knowing dad, it was ironclad. “There’s no way my dad is ever going to sell this place.”
“You’re probably right.” She heaved a sigh and touched my arm again. “Luckily, he’s making some major changes to the trust tomorrow. It’s certain to be a big day. You must be so excited.”
“Really?” I asked, my stomach already twisting at the thought that it would be official soon. Black Gold Creek would really be mine. I’d have to settle portions out with Daniel and Zane for when, well, for the future…but that could wait.
“He’s going to make the announcement at dinner,” Beth said, beaming. “Don’t forget to act surprised!”
Dinner couldn’t come soon enough. I barricaded myself in my room to process it all, deciding to hold off on telling anyone else until it was official. I wanted to be able to send Hailey ridiculous pictures of me celebrating and make her guess why. Growing up, I’d always felt terrible complaining to her about my parents when hers cared more for drugs than they did about her. She’d never seen it that way, though. I’m your best friend. You can tell me anything.
I couldn’t wait to tell her that I officially controlled the ranch. Although what I’d thrown on to do paperwork and chase calves wasn’t what I would call flattering, I suspected that getting changed into something more presentable would tip off Dad that I already knew about the trust.
When the electronic dinner chime rang on the house-wide intercom to summon us, I could hardly catch my breath. I forced myself to move with such slowness that I was the last to arrive and take my seat at the mammoth dining table. This was one of the few traditions that my father had kept alive after Mom—eating dinner together every night.
“There you are,” Sam said, giving me a tight smile that told me Beth had been whining about the sixty seconds she’d needed to wait.
I was pleased that he was joining us. I hadn’t been expecting him, knowing how careful he often was to avoid overstepping. “Here I am.”
Dinner wasn’t exactly the cozy, family-centric experience that the public service announcements touted on television. Our dining room could have doubled as a garage for a dump truck. Our places were set with the “everyday” bone china and gleaming silver flatware. God forbid anyone in this house ever touched stainless steel.
We sat back in our seats while our live-in chef, Brian, unveiled the various dishes, a responsibility he’d begrudgingly assumed when Dad wanted to know exactly what he was eating after having been fed goose blood so
up once. Hailey had told me about Beth’s campaign to have a bigger household staff, as if having a personal chef, a chauffeur, and a small army of maids wasn’t enough.
Thankfully, Dad had put his foot down on that one, which meant that we at least got to serve ourselves once the food was laid out. I could live with the over-the-top silk tablecloths and hand-embroidered, monogrammed napkins. But having someone refill my glass and scrape the crumbs from the table between courses, that was just too much.
As Sam turned to listen to Brian’s explanation of how the poppy seed salad dressing and lamb lollipops had been prepared, I noticed a bruise on the side of his jaw. “What happened?” I asked when Brian was finished, touching my own cheek.
Sam’s face reddened, matching the slight sunburn along his hairline. “Tried to help halter break some of the foals. One of them butted me under the jaw.”
“Happens to the best of us,” Dad said. “Just look at Remy.”
I rolled my ankle under the table, remembering how easy it is to lose control of the situation around the horses.
Beth chose a dinner roll and passed the basket to Sam. “It looks so difficult to handle the young animals. We might have an ice pack in the freezer.”
“He doesn’t need an ice pack,” Dad snapped. “He’s a man, not a child.”
I snatched a roll of my own and stabbed into it, sawing at the bread. I just needed to keep it together for one more meal, and then it wouldn’t matter anymore. I normally wouldn’t have leaped to Beth’s defense, but I knew that the flash of shock and hurt on her face had been real. I’d watched Dad stomp all over my mother for years. I didn’t need part two.
Finally, just as we wrapped up dinner and Brian laid out a spread of pastries, Dad brought up the trust. “Well, now is as good a time as any.” He dabbed his mouth and folded the napkin into an imprecise square. “While we’re all here, we should talk about the trust.”
Sam’s eyes bulged from across the table. He flicked them toward the door and raised an eyebrow. I shook my head minutely. I knew that my father would never have raised a family affair in front of Sam unless he wanted him to stay. Plus, I couldn’t wait to see Sam’s reaction. He was going to be thrilled for me, enough that he’d even combat Beth’s sourness.
The Cowboy's Promise: Love Triangle Billionaire Romance (The Wentworth Cowboy Billionaire Series) Page 5
