Dad sighed and wet his lips with water. “Sky, I should start with you. I’m worried about you. I know that everyone keeps saying that I’m a fighter or some other garbage, but we all know that the inevitable is coming.” He struggled to find his rhythm. “I just, well, Sky… You’re not married. It isn’t right for a woman to take a job like running this ranch without a husband to make sure she’s sensible about it.”
“What does that even mean?” I demanded, my head spinning from the wine, the anger, the unfairness of it all.
“You will still inherit the ranch, but I’m appointing Sam as a conservator of the trust. He’ll approve your decisions to make sure that you’re not impulsive.”
I snapped my head towards Sam, expecting to see his shocked expression, but the color draining from his face was proof enough that this hadn’t been an ambush. Well, at least an ambush with him in it. Beth’s knowing little smirk was about as subtle as a cannon going off. I didn’t think of myself as a violent person, but I wanted so much to fling myself across the table and slap her. “Why’d you bother telling me to come home, then?” I asked my father, my voice breaking. “To insult me?”
“This is what I was talking about,” Dad muttered, closing his eyes. “You’re always so emotional, Skyler. This is why you need a husband to balance you out.”
“How dare you sit there and accuse me of being emotional when anyone would be angry right now? I haven’t even done anything yet, and you’re already acting like you can’t trust me.”
Dad scoffed. “You gave up your right to my trust the moment you ran off with that Blythe boy. I’ll liquidate every single holding before I risk letting a foolish girl hand my fortune over to the Blythes.”
I tossed my silverware onto the table and stalked off, holding my breath in a pointless attempt to keep the tears from flowing. My stomping only further inflamed my ankle. It clicked and popped as I moved from the tile of the foyer to the plush carpet runner in the guest wing.
Suddenly, I heard a dull thud, then the clatter of shattering china. Is my father throwing plates? I paused, leaning my head closer. The next sound was Beth’s panicked wail and pattering footsteps.
“Skyler!” Sam shouted. “Skyler, get in here!”
I sprinted as quickly as my ankle would allow, freezing in the doorway at the sight of my father sprawled on the floor, his torso half-covered by the tablecloth and food and spilled wine. Beth was shaking his shoulders and sobbing. “He’s not breathing! Charles? Charles!”
I patted my pockets. “I don’t have my phone.”
Sam pushed Beth out of the way and started chest compressions.
It felt like someone else was controlling my body as I slammed my fist against the all-call button on the intercom. The household staff, perhaps sensing a brewing argument, hadn’t come to see what the commotion was about. “Brian?” I shouted at the speaker. “Eli?”
They both tried to answer at once, causing a hideous screeching, as though the house itself was yelling in alarm. Eli came through when he tried again. “Miss Wentworth?”
“I think my father’s having a heart attack,” I sobbed against the panel, the ridges of the speaker pressed against my cheek. “I don’t have my phone. Call an ambulance.”
“We should take the helicopter,” Sam called, his words choppy as he continued CPR.
We all flinched as the far door flew open, and Brian practically hurled a red trauma bag and AED onto the ground beside Sam. I didn’t remember us ever having serious medical equipment at the house, but whoever had suggested buying it deserved a hell of a raise. Beth tore it open and started flinging random supplies onto the ground. “Where’s the aspirin? There has to be aspirin in here!”
“How fast can the pilot get here?” I asked, averting my eyes from the sight of my father’s unconscious form.
Eli chimed back in. “I’d say pretty fast, since I’m the pilot.”
Chapter 6
I hadn’t moved from the armchair beside my father’s bed for so long that my feet were going numb. I couldn’t stop watching the rise and fall of his chest, as though if I looked away for even a moment, it might stop. I knew that the stroke had left him weak, but that was different than seeing it with my own two eyes. It was finally hitting home that he might be gone with so much bitterness still between us.
As I meditated to the sounds of my father’s breath and the machines beeping in the room, I fiddled with the charm bracelet that my grandmother had given me for my seventh birthday. I had been enamored with it from the moment I’d opened the box and seen the delicate 18k yellow gold chain, the striking green jadeite accents. The charms dangling from it had been rendered in such detail that they took my breath away. There was a horse and a cowboy hat to symbolize the ranch, the number seven for my age—my grandmother had even commissioned a custom Black Gold Creek charm, itself made of gold.
Looking back, it was a bit excessive for my age, but I’d cherished it my whole life. It was a piece of her that I could always carry with me. When she had given it to me, my grandmother promised that it would bring me good luck and happiness in my life. Laughing darkly, I gave it a shake. Maybe it’s out of order.
Still, I had to hope that there was some magic in a gift a grandmother gave with love. Without thinking, I unsecured it from my wrist and affixed it around my father’s. Though once it might have barely fit, now it was almost large enough to slide over his hand.
“Zane and Daniel send their love,” I whispered, hoping that he could hear me somehow. “And Hailey and the kids.”
The nurses were supposed to come and start prepping him for surgery any moment. I figured someone should be with him while Beth was off signing the paperwork. Part of me was terrified that he wouldn’t make it through the procedure, and the last lingering memory of him would be that scornful look he’d made when I dared to challenge him. I wanted him to live no matter what, but I also wanted to have another chance to prove myself. To make him proud.
I played with the charms on my bracelet again, thinking about my grandmother. Is this my destiny after all? Marry an eligible man and search for a way that I could bear to love him… “Why are you doing this to me?” I asked Dad, imagining, or maybe hoping, that he was listening.
I didn’t even know if it was worth it anymore. As much as I resented seeing Will and Jessie, I admired that kind of unencumbered life. Will had been strong enough to walk away from his family and his fortune in pursuit of happiness. He deserved it. Do I?
I retraced my tattoo as Sam returned with a cup of coffee. I shook my head and raised the flask I kept in my jacket. If he had any opinions about my drinking, his face didn’t show it. “We should talk,” Sam said, gesturing towards the empty hallway outside.
I limped after him, trying to hide the pain whenever my ankle popped. He led me to an empty seating area by some vending machines and fell into one of the faux leather chairs. I took the one opposite him and crossed my bad ankle over my opposite knee.
“You must be furious,” Sam said, closing his eyes. “I’m so sorry, Sky. I didn’t know. I wouldn’t have come at all if I’d known his plan.”
Though I still had not recovered from the initial shock of my father’s bombshell announcement, I was comforted in knowing I was wrong about Sam’s involvement.
“It’s not your fault. You’re family.”
Tears shined in his eyes when he opened them, further proof that he belonged in this wretched family where all we could do was hurt each other. “You’re all family to me, too. But I didn’t come back to be a game piece, and I’m a little upset that your father would do that to me. Put this conservatorship on me without even asking. I came back because I wanted to be here for you.”
I almost reached out and took his hand, but I didn’t want him to misconstrue my meaning, not after all of that talk about marriage. Sure, Sam loved me. That was obvious. But it was the kind of love for someone like a sister, the same way he adored Dad. But maybe…
No, I sighed to
myself. It was just the alcohol again.
We both looked up in tandem as Beth walked over with one of the nurses. I hadn’t forgotten her earlier meddling about the ranch, the way she’d baited me, but I wasn’t going to pick a fight with her now. If Dad didn’t pull through, there would be plenty of days of bickering ahead. I gave her a curt nod to communicate as much.
“The surgery is going to take a long time,” Beth explained. “He’s stable for now until they can get him in the OR. You should get some rest.”
I would normally have objected at the thought of leaving, but I knew that the news would spread faster than any Texas wildfire ever could. “You’re right. Let’s just hope the media doesn’t get into it until the morning.”
“The media?” Sam repeated. “You should be more worried about the cowboys.”
I couldn’t argue with that. “Fifty bucks says there’s at least ten of them on the front porch when we get home.”
I was almost right. There were five, but not for the reason I thought. I knew the moment that I saw Remy crying on the front steps that something else must have happened. He loved my father like a brother, but he also thought leaders shouldn’t bring their personal feelings to work. It was a lesson that had served me well in the city. “What’s wrong?” I asked as soon as we were within earshot, shooing the other cowboys away from him. “What happened?”
Remy stood and took off his hat, crushing the brim in his grip. “Crystal is missing. She didn’t come home, and she’s not answering her phone. I just know something is wrong.”
“And you’re sure that she didn’t just overdo it at some party?” I asked. It wouldn’t have been the furthest thing off from the realm of possibility. I’d been there a truly embarrassing number of times. As much as Remy could be the stolid, dependable manager we needed, Crystal had inherited his flair for adventure.
“Definitely not. She always tells me what she’s up to.” Quieter, he added, “No one has seen her. I called all of her favorite places just in case she forgot to tell me she was having a late night out.”
“Did you call the police?”
Remy nodded. “They said it’s not really a missing person case yet and that I should just check in tomorrow.”
I looked around at the others, surprised to see them all staring at me. It hit me then that they weren’t just delivering news. I didn’t need five messengers. They were asking for my help with their presence, if not their words. None of them so much as glanced at Sam.
Regardless of whether Dad or the cowboys believed I deserved it, my last name was Wentworth. It was my responsibility to look after our ranchers.
“Well, if the cops can’t officially do anything yet, then let’s build a search party of our own and get to work,” I told Remy, sensing that was what he’d wanted to do in the first place. “Call everyone in.”
Black Gold Ranch cowboys swarmed all over the town and the land as soon as we put the word out that Crystal was missing. We worked until we were about to drop, taking 10-minute power naps in the backs of trucks or settled down in the dirt. Like me, most of the cowboys hadn’t even gone to bed when we’d roused them by phone, radio, and even the siren we used far out in the hills where you’d be lucky to get a carrier pigeon, never mind a cell phone signal.
I was so nervous that Beth would call with news about the surgery while I was out of coverage. I’d texted her an update about Crystal with no response, figuring that she had as much of a right to know as any of us.
Her response was short and sharp: Good luck.
And then, just after dawn, the police finally called with some news. “They found her car by the reservation!” Remy exclaimed after tearing a dusty streak across the ranch on horseback. He’d been searching the outlying areas half the night, fretting about coyotes or kidnappers or whatever else his brain could conjure up as a possible threat to his little girl. “We have to go!”
The cowboys trailered up their mounts in case they might need to search on rough terrain and brought along a small fleet of trucks for the paved areas. I insisted on driving Sam, who was busy on the phone coordinating additional volunteers from out in town. When we arrived, many of them were already there with horses or vehicles of their own.
I couldn’t believe how many people turned out in such a short amount of time. I spotted Stan and his wife Meg making their way through the crowd and waved.
“Hey,” Stan said, leaning against the side of our truck. He sighed suddenly and dropped his head. “Oh, yeah, this is exactly what we need right now.”
I groaned at the mere suggestion of one more complication. I turned to see what he was looking at just as Will and Jessie rode up. Tim—a high school acquaintance I’d heard had become Will’s best friend in recent years—wasn’t too far behind them.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, doing a poor job of filtering the panic from my voice. It’s like he had no self-preservation instinct whatsoever, just trotting into a crowd of people who hated him from head to toe and blood to name. Will just never knew when to stop being so noble and honor the fact that he just couldn’t be a part of some things in Bellfield anymore—like my life. We’d chosen. He was with Jessie and I… I was winning a legacy.
Will dismounted and gestured at the assembled group. “We just came to offer our help. Heard that Crystal might be in trouble.”
I knew that my father would skin me alive if he knew that I’d accepted help from Will, or any Blythe for that matter, but I decided to leave it up to Remy. There was a time and a place to put aside feuds. Maybe this was one of them. Remy shook his head firmly to each side. A ranchman to the end.
“That’s very sweet of you,” I said, “but I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”
Jessie looked like she might argue, but Will motioned for her to wait. “I understand,” he said, already lifting his foot towards his stirrup. “In any case, I hope you find Crystal soon.” He looked down from his saddle at Stan. “Would you please give me a call and let me know she’s safe when you find her?”
Stan tipped his hat. “You’ve got it.”
Will and his companions turned their horses in a tight half-circle. The trio departed at a slow walk, Tim leaning over in his saddle with a not-so-quiet whisper, “You woke me up and made me put on pants, and they don’t even want our help?”
“Drop it,” Will muttered.
I didn’t have time to think about Will, not when Crystal could be in danger. Searching all night hadn’t yielded anything except her car. It was time to think creatively.
As we laid out a plan, it occurred to me that maybe Dad insisting on that helicopter hadn’t been a frivolous idea, and not just because it had potentially saved his life in getting him to the hospital. I nudged Sam. “I wonder if Eli would quit in a rage if I woke him up to fly over the area.”
He hummed for a moment, thinking. “You know, I have a pilot’s license. I’m rated for helicopters.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No, really. We’ll have to get fuel, though, if you’re serious about going up in the air.”
I made the executive decision that we would. With so many people on the ground already, it just made sense to get a couple eyes in the sky. We refueled in a hurry and got ready to take off. I kept waiting for Sam to say he was joking about his license, but that quickly faded once I saw the sure way his hands drifted over the various switches and controls for the pre-flight check.
I’d been in enough helicopters that the height didn’t bother me, even as I contorted my torso into odd angles in an attempt to see as much as possible. Below us, the land appeared to stretch endlessly. “You don’t think Dad would really sell, right?” I asked. I knew it wasn’t exactly the best of times to get into it, but finally, having a moment alone with Sam, I couldn’t help but blurt it out. If that had been his intention all along, he wouldn’t have made his line of succession such a muddled disaster.
“I don’t know.” Sam fell silent for a moment. “Is it as importa
nt to you now as it used to be? Or would you consider selling it?”
“Never, and I don’t think Dad would either.”
“I will say that I know he was looking into it as an option. He didn’t tell me anything that was set in stone.”
I whipped my head around so fast that my headset clanged against the window. “Are you freaking kidding me? He must have told us a million times that he’d never, ever do that.”
Sam winced. “I’m just playing devil’s advocate, okay? Ranches are dying. People are outsourcing to other countries. If you did want to sell, there are a lot of other places you could invest.”
“I know that,” I snapped. “I was an attorney in strategic investments. You’re starting to sound way too much like your pals in Silicon Valley.”
The comment must have stung at least a little because Sam didn’t speak again. I watched a tumbleweed spinning in the wind, bouncing along the vast emptiness. It was going nowhere that mattered, just rolling and rolling.
It was my fault that my father was considering selling the ranch, my fault that he couldn’t see me as anything other than a weak woman. If I’d just been a little better, maybe we wouldn’t be here now.
Beside me, Sam fell silent as we continued to scout the land. But after an hour, we circled back. There was nothing. And as much as I’d hoped Remy would have some news from the ground, I could tell immediately that their teams turned up empty-handed just like ours.
As we broke up the search to get some rest, I threw my arms around him as he cried. The cowboys looked on with a mixture of apprehension and fear. It wasn’t what we needed at an already uncertain time, but I refused to believe the worst. “Don’t give up, Remy,” I whispered. “She’s out there.”
The Cowboy's Promise: Love Triangle Billionaire Romance (The Wentworth Cowboy Billionaire Series) Page 6
