The Cowboy's Promise: Love Triangle Billionaire Romance (The Wentworth Cowboy Billionaire Series)

by Elizabeth Grey

  “No!” I shouted. “Sorry. Sorry. Just… no. The last thing we need is more people around. It’s already a complete disaster.”

  “Is it true that this whole disagreement between you and Dad is about that Will guy? Again?”

  That Will guy. As if he’d been just a stupid, childish mistake instead of the love of my life. “Goodbye, Daniel.” I hung up, laughing at the games we continued to play even into adulthood to appease our father. Even Daniel hadn’t managed to escape his influence.

  When Zane called five minutes later, I turned off the ringer, pulled the covers over my head, and fell asleep.

  I hadn’t befriended Eli because of what he could do for me, but there were definitely perks to being on good terms with the man in charge of the car keys. “Please don’t stay out long,” he begged as he handed over the fob to Dad’s personal vehicle. “If they ask me where the car is, I’ll have to tell them.”

  “If that happens, I’ll tell them I stole it or something.”

  Eli’s mouth dipped into a frown. “I’m the only one with these keys. Mr. Wentworth is very particular about who’s able to get inside his vehicle.”

  “In that case, I’ll be as quick as I can.” I glanced at the pristine SUV parked in the center of the cavernous garage. “And you’re positive that this doesn’t have a tracker in it?”

  “It’s the only vehicle not on the system. I promise.”

  “Thank you. I owe you about a hundred times over by now.” I would have hugged him if he didn’t already look so uncomfortable from the praise. “If you ever need anything, just ask.”

  Eli hit the button to open the bay door. “Good luck.”

  The hardest part of the whole operation was making it off ranch property without anyone noticing. The house was up high enough that there wasn’t a great view of the road from the front-facing rooms, but I was completely exposed for most of the trip down the driveway.

  My heart pounded in my chest to the point of pain. I was convinced that Beth or my father would call any second to demand my return. But I made it. And if they caught sight of Dad’s car on my way back, I’d fib and say that Eli had been driving me out somewhere on the ranch. The dust I was about to pick up on the country roads would match the lie.

  As I drove towards Will’s trailer park on the outskirts of the reservation, it reminded me a bit of old times. There I was, sneaking out in Dad’s car to meet my forbidden lover. If that was even what we were. I didn’t know what to call our single night together.

  I paused at a stop sign that was more of a suggestion in such a rarely traveled part of Bellfield. The road was riddled with potholes and stones, but I didn’t want to draw attention on the main streets if anyone could peg this as Dad’s SUV. The Blythes had their own share of spies out in town.

  I checked my cell phone again to see who had messaged me a minute before. It was Will. Be there soon. Jessie says you’re lucky she likes you or else she’d holler at you for pulling me away.

  I snorted at the potential double meaning. I couldn’t truly know that Jessie wanted Will for herself, but I suspected it enough that I felt a surge of gratitude towards her for not standing between us. She could easily have interfered or attempted to sabotage our reunion. Jessie was the only one with an actual stake in the game—instead of my family just inserting themselves into our relationship over a stupid feud—and she’d stepped aside.

  Will beat me there but not by much. He tended to Rowdy and got him some water before meeting me in front of his trailer. “This is a nice surprise.” He took off his hat, shook out his hair, and offered me the least destroyed of his lawn chairs. “Everything okay? Wasn’t sure when I was going to hear from you again.”

  “I’m sorry for running off.” I winced at the thought of what he must have been feeling when I ditched him. “It was just a lot, and I didn’t want to make it about me when Bella needed support. How’s she doing?”

  With a pang, I remembered that I hadn’t followed up with Crystal lately. Every time I got ahead in one area, it seemed that I was letting someone else down. Is this my fate? To always be a disappointment to someone?

  “Eh.” Will sighed and stuck his hat onto the tip of his knee. “I think she’ll come around. They’re releasing her soon. She’ll just have to stay with me until she decides what she wants to do with her life. I just want her to be happy.”

  “She didn’t make up with Andy?”

  Will shook his head. “I know he’s scared, but I’m still angry with the kid for not calling me as soon as he knew something was wrong with Bella. If they get back together, he’s going to have to show me that he can be responsible.”

  “Bella’s smart. She’ll make the right call.” I thought about when we were her and Andy’s age. “Not all of us were eighty years old at eighteen.”

  “That’s true,” he conceded. “We did have a lot more to deal with. Not to say that’s a good thing.”

  I stared at the dirt beneath my feet. We both knew that I hadn’t dragged Will away from work to hang out and talk about his sister. Despite all that we’d shared, I couldn’t bring myself to say the words to his face. “My father is trying to make me get married.”

  “Well, I bet a stroke would make anybody feel sentimental.”

  “It’s not like that.” It wasn’t as though Dad was just sensing his own mortality and wanted a chance to walk me down the aisle. “He asked Sam to come home because he wants us to be together.”

  Will sat up straight so quickly that his hat tumbled to the ground. He ignored it. “You’re serious? Did you tell him you wouldn’t do it?”

  “He doesn’t want to hear it.” To anyone else, they might have taken that as an easy excuse, but Will knew how difficult it was to pry free. “There’s no way out where I don’t lose. That’s starting to sink in.”

  We fell into a tense silence. My heart, scarred as it was, still ached at the sight of Will’s wounded expression. History was doomed to repeat itself no matter what we did. And even though Will saw the best in people and often had a rosier view of the future than I did, he didn’t deny that I was surrounded by problems on all sides. “What about you?”

  “What about me?” he repeated.

  “You know.” I jerked my chin towards his trailer. “What about your plan to go to Wyoming? Is that still on the table now that Bella isn’t leaving?”

  “I haven’t thought about it much,” Will admitted, scanning the horizon. “I just know that I don’t want to stay here. I love my job and getting to work with Jessie and see Tim. But this whole town is… rotten. I’ll never be anything except his son.”

  “How is this ever going to work?” My voice broke and I dipped my chin, covering my eyes with one hand as tears welled up inside of them. “Even if my father changes his mind and lets us be together, you’ll be in Wyoming or somewhere else with Bella. I’ll be here running the ranch.”

  “And if he doesn’t change his mind?”

  “I’ll go to New York and pick up there again.” It wasn’t a matter of lacking options. I simply couldn’t choose from the ones I already had. “I have another life there. It isn’t the one I imagined, but it’ll do.”

  Again, I thought of what it would take to secure the ranch and whether I was willing to become that person. Mom had wanted me to run Black Gold Creek and prove that Wentworth women were just as good as Wentworth men. But would she have wanted me to sacrifice my happiness for it?

  “Don’t you want more than that?” Will asked, his question far from rhetorical despite its phrasing. “You’re willing to settle?”

  I looked at him, knowing that I’d given him up once before and survived. Maybe, if I truly closed my heart, I could do it again. “You know what you mean to me, Will. But nothing ever goes our way. If I stay in Texas and you go to Wyoming, we’ll always be living two separate lives. And I can’t go to Wyoming. Any ranch, really. It would just remind me of what I’d given up. What I’d lost.” And there was no way to stay and keep Will. My father ha
d made that clear. I’ll liquidate every single holding before I risk letting a foolish girl hand my fortune over to the Blythes.

  “I was prepared to go to Boston for you,” he said so quietly that I had to strain to hear it. “That wasn’t my perfect life. But you were enough. Why am I never enough for you?”

  “It’s not like that.” I couldn’t find the right words. “You know that it’s complicated. It’s not like I don’t want us to be together. I just don’t want our relationship to be the only thing I have.” Was that so outrageous?

  Will threw up his hands. “What else is there if not the people you care about?”

  “Maybe we should just stop seeing each other.” My shoulders drooped at the mere suggestion. But I didn’t see a way out that wouldn’t be equally painful.

  “That’s crap,” Will said, standing and beginning to pace in a messy line. He paused and wagged his index finger at me. “You’re just using me to make yourself feel better. You never had any intention of doing the right thing, the hard thing. You’re a coward, and it’s time to either face the music or stop pretending.”

  I rambled about the ranch and Mom and my promise. “How am I supposed to betray her memory? Your mom is gone, too. I thought you’d understand!”

  He rubbed his forehead, chest heaving. “Your mom didn’t make you promise to run the ranch because that’s what she literally wanted. She just didn’t want you to be a doormat. You let your dad and your brothers run all over you for years.”

  “I did not,” I huffed. “Zane and Daniel were on my side sometimes.”

  “Doormat.” He held up a hand to cut me off. “Don’t even rationalize it to me. I was the same way, so I’m not judging, but that’s the truth of it. And if you ever want to get through this thing with your family, you have to see that. They’ve stomped all over you so much that you don’t even notice.”

  “How is that my fault? I can’t change that my father thinks women are pretty baby factories with three brain cells. Or that my brothers try to appease him to avoid the heat.” They were better now that they were adults and on their own, but the habit had been permanently ingrained in them from our childhoods. Their support was always hidden somehow, like when they’d opposed the proposal to sell the ranch. They’d voted in my favor by vetoing the other option.

  Will walked over and took a knee beside me. He pressed my hand between his. “Sky. You only want me around because you feel a void. But money or inheritance or family approval won’t fill that. You keep defining yourself by what’s around you. You have to find yourself. That’s what I tell Bella, anyway.”

  I locked eyes with him, seeing the same concern that had been written across his face in Bella’s hospital room. “I’m not going to hurt myself, Will.”

  “I know that.” He kissed my knuckles, leaving his lips hovering just above my skin. “But there’s more to living than not wanting to die. If I asked you to run away with me right this moment, what would you say?”

  I looked down at him, one knee pressed to the dirt, and it felt like he was proposing in an entirely different way. But he wasn’t presenting me with a ring. He was giving me an ultimatum. My gaze flicked over to the watch on his wrist. I watched the second hand tick as I slowly pulled my fingers free. “I should get home before Dad notices I’m gone.”

  “You can’t expect me to wait forever,” Will said.

  “I know. And you shouldn’t. You should go to Wyoming and forget about me.” I staggered to my feet. “Goodbye, Will.”

  He didn’t move. I squeezed his shoulder as I passed. I was too devastated to cry. The pain was like a pulsing wave deep within my chest. I climbed into the SUV and slammed the door. “I love you,” I whispered as I shifted into reverse. “I’m sorry.”

  And I left Will Blythe, the love of my life, kneeling in the dust of the lonely desert before me.

  Chapter 20

  I made it three miles before I started bawling. I smacked the mute button on the radio to cut off the sappy pop song that had just started playing. I forced myself to continue straight instead of taking a right and heading for the highway. It seemed so simple to go north to the airport. Buy a ticket to New York. Start over. There was nothing at the house that I couldn’t replace.

  But then I’d be running away for good, and I’d have thrown away my chance with Will for nothing. I’d gone to see him with the intent to depart for New York and here I was convincing myself to stay again, to fight for the promise I’d made to Mom. In my heart, I knew that the only outcome worth this agony was to take over the ranch.

  I slammed the steering wheel with my palm, sick of my own indecisiveness. I was an adult, not some lovesick child. But the ache was just as powerful as I remembered. I almost wished that someone new would come along and sweep me off my feet. Will would fade to a distant, pleasant memory. Would that truly be better, though?

  When I pulled into the garage, Eli emerged from his office looking visibly relieved. He slipped the keys into his pocket, then leaned over his desk to retrieve a box of tissues. He held it out to me wordlessly, and I mopped my dripping face. “Is there anything I can do, Miss Wentworth?”

  “Not unless you have a magic wand.”

  “I’m clean out of those.”

  “Thanks for covering for me.”

  Eli bobbed his head. “Any time.”

  If Beth and Dad were curious about where I’d been, they didn’t mention it as I passed the dining room where they were eating brunch. They’d set the table for me, but I blew by, clenching my teeth to keep my face as neutral as possible. I’d become extraordinarily grateful for Beth’s presence now that she kept Dad from haranguing me. It wasn’t out of any concern for me, but it was still nice not to have to walk on eggshells.

  The intercom rang sometime later on, though I couldn’t be sure how long it had been. It was tough to judge when every minute I spent lolling around my bed in tears felt like six hours. I used the remote to activate the intercom instead of getting up. It was the epitome of laziness, but I didn’t care anymore. About anything. “Yeah?” I called out.

  “I thought you might like to know that Crystal and Remy are dropping by,” Dad said.

  I was surprised. I’d expected it to be Beth for some reason. Dad so rarely stooped to communicating outside of yelling when he could have one of the maids or Beth do it instead. I hopped off the bed and moved closer to the microphone. “Thanks for telling me. When are they getting here?”

  “Soon.” He hung up.

  I took a quick shower and used a gritty facial rub that always made my skin bright pink. It concealed the darker lines around my eyes and the redness, though there was nothing to be done for the swelling. Crystal would probably be able to tell in three seconds that I’d been sobbing my eyes out.

  I dressed casually in jeans and a ranch T-shirt that I’d pilfered from the laundry. Sam must have received a similar summons because he was already in the foyer waiting to see where we would all congregate. “Hey,” I said, flashing him a smile.

  He returned it with some effort. “Hey.”

  As odd as it sounded, I was actually frustrated that I’d barely argued with Sam when we were younger. Sure, we disagreed over minor things or hurt each other’s feelings by accident. But that was a poor reference point now when we could barely exist in the same space without dying of awkwardness. I didn’t know how to apologize or if I needed to apologize at all.

  I wasn’t accustomed to prying emotions out of Sam. He was always so straightforward. I took out my phone just to have somewhere else to focus. Please tell me you’re almost here. S-O-S. Fighting with Sam and we’re both waiting for you.

  Crystal replied almost instantly: Awkward. Probably like 3 minutes away. What’s got his panties in a twist?

  I told him I wouldn’t marry him.

  HE PROPOSED?

  No! It was just Dad trying to push us together.

  Beth and Dad appeared at the end of the hallway and waved us into the sitting room. I knew something
was up when Brian began laying out a table of finger foods and small plates by the bar.

  “Is something going on?” I asked. There was no way my father would be thoughtful enough to request snacks just because Remy and Crystal were visiting.

  “Just catching up with everyone,” Beth replied.

  And when she said “everyone,” she apparently meant it. Remy and Crystal showed up together, then Gus and Lowell. Cooper, who Gus had chosen as an assistant, stumbled in last, looking like he was certain there had been some kind of mistake. He visibly relaxed when he saw that Lowell and Remy were there.

  Dad opened the bar and even poured a few drinks. The cowboys were in their element, taking a breather from work and cooling off with beer and whiskey. “This is creepy,” Crystal muttered to me and Sam, the three of us huddled around one of the coffee tables. “What’s going on?”

  “He didn’t tell you either?” Sam asked. “All I got was a text that said ‘Be here at 2 o’clock. Having gathering.’”

  “Gathering?” I squinted at Dad, hoping to spot some clue as he goofed around with Gus. “Since when does Dad have gatherings for fun?”

  Crystal groaned. “Why do I feel like this isn’t going to end well?”

  Besides us, Lowell looked like he would have been happier staying with the cattle. He hovered by the bar with a drink and a frown. I’d literally never even seen the man indoors, barns excluded. If he was here, my father was plotting.

  I did believe that he’d invited Crystal and Remy over out of compassion and not just to further his own nefarious scheming. Remy was one of Dad’s closest friends, and I’m sure that he felt his absence both personally and professionally. The ranch wasn’t the same without Remy, though from what I’d heard, Gus wasn’t doing a half-bad job of standing in for him.

  The cowboys did their rounds, each dropping by to ask Crystal how she was feeling. Gus, of course, asked to see her bullet wound. She pretended to lift her shirt, then flashed him the middle finger. He walked away chuckling. “What a piece of work,” she said. “So shameless.”