“I would never sabotage Coyote Glen.” Landon grinned. “I don’t have to. Kitty already admitted she doesn’t know how to raise cattle.” He slid the signed document back to Mr. Wagner. “Is that all you need from me?”
Landon was entirely too pleased about this. Had he and his brothers influenced Grandpa—perhaps made comments that her family didn’t deserve to inherit? How could her grandfather have turned his estate into some sort of contest?
Mr. Wagner picked up Landon’s paper and tucked it into a file. “That should do for the present. I’ll contact you a year from today concerning Coyote Glen.” His gaze turned to Kate. “Sooner, if Miss Benton decides not to pursue her claim on the property.”
Her father narrowed his eyes at Landon. “You know what that land is worth, and you know it isn’t rightfully yours, but you’re willing to take it from us anyway?”
Landon scooped up his copy of the will. “Like you said before, I’ve got to think about what’s best for my family. I’m sure you understand.” As he stood to go, he nodded at Kate. “You should listen to your dad and not let your grandfather bully you into ranching. I’m sure you’re a wonderful interior decorator.”
Not a chance. She refused to let him win like this. She wouldn’t allow him to take the ranch and leave her family with nothing. “I’ll stay at Coyote Glen,” she said. “And I’ll make sure the place turns a profit.” Landon still seemed entirely too cheerful, so she added. “How hard can it be to keep cows alive? That’s what Grandpa hired a foreman to do.”
Landon’s grin grew. “Right. As they say, ignorance is bliss.” He waltzed out of the room with an extra bounce in his step.
Some of Kate’s confidence left at the same time he did, and she stared at the door while the ramifications unrolled in her mind. What had she just gotten herself into? She was going to be stuck on a ranch in the middle of Nowhere, Arizona, for an entire year.
Despite Mr. Wagner’s assurance that her grandfather had wanted her to give ranching a try, she knew he’d rewritten his will to be spiteful, not just to her parents but to her too. After the cattle drive, she’d refused to spend summers in Arizona, so he’d sentenced her to a year here. He’d known she wouldn’t have another choice.
Her design projects, her friends, and that guy from her apartment building she flirted with—all of it would have to be put on hold. Goodbye chic office. Hello pitchfork and cattle chute.
“I’m sorry, Jeff.” Mr. Wagner’s words drew Kate’s attention back to her parents.
Her father, who’d always been so strong—the rock of the family—had put his elbows on the table and buried his face in his hands.
Her mother rubbed his back consolingly. “It’ll be okay. We’ll get by.”
“I was his only child,” her father muttered. “You’d think I would be his favorite, but obviously I wasn’t.”
Neither parent looked at Kate. She felt as though she’d stolen her father’s inheritance, that somehow this added pain was her fault. She couldn’t stand to see him so broken. “After the year is through, I’ll sign over the ranch to you. It should be yours, not mine.”
Her father lifted his head from his hands. So much gratitude shone in his eyes, she knew she’d made the right decision. “Really? You’d do that for us?”
Kate nodded. “We’ll call it payment for my tuition.” The land and cattle were worth ten times that amount, but her parents’ happiness mattered more.
Her father reached across the table and put his hand over hers. “You’re the best daughter ever.”
“Hey,” Libby protested. “It’s not my fault Grandpa didn’t leave me anything.”
Kate’s father squeezed her hand. “Once the development pays out, we’ll make sure you have enough money to start your own design business.”
Kate smiled. That was a financial windfall she could enjoy—one that felt like a prize, not a punishment. Now all she had to do was make sure she didn’t lose the ranch.
Chapter Five
“So let me get this straight,” Jaxon said as he sat perched on the old black family room couch. Landon had called his brothers together for a meeting before Dillon headed back to Bisbee. “Our strategy,” Jaxon continued, “is to make sure Cal’s granddaughter fails at ranching, so you’ll inherit Coyote Glen?” Jaxon had already changed out of his suit from the funeral and was back in jeans and a T-shirt. “Doesn’t sit right with me. Seems like we ought to be helping Kitty. That’s what Cal would want.”
“No, that’s not our strategy.” Landon had only told his brothers that Kitty was bound to make all sorts of mistakes. He hadn’t even gotten to his thoughts on strategy yet.
“If we’re talking about what Cal would want,” Dillon put in, “Cal wouldn’t want our ranch to fail.” Dillon for once wasn’t checking his watch and reminding them all that he needed to head back to his apartment in town. He sat next to Jaxon, looking out the picture window at the front pastures, green patches set against the backdrop of red mountains. “Cal didn’t leave Coyote Glen to Jeff Benton because he knew his son would sell it. Kitty will do the same.” Dillon shook his head. “It’s just a shame Cal didn’t sell us the place beforehand and leave the money to his family.”
Landon tossed his tie on the couch and loosened the top buttons of his shirt. “Cal didn’t sell it to us because he hoped Kitty would take to ranching.”
“Right,” Dillon said. “It’s clear how much she loved the ranch by the fact that she hasn’t stepped foot on it since she was fifteen. Maybe we shouldn’t offer to share our equipment like we did with Cal. To succeed in business, you’ve got to use the leverage you have.”
Preston took a handful of Doritos from a bag on his lap and flipped one into his mouth. “We should tell everyone about the Bentons’ golf course ambitions and how Kitty’ll put our ranch out of business. People won’t want to help her.”
“She won’t put us out of business,” Landon assured him. “Even if we can’t use Cal’s wells, we can still haul water in.”
“That’ll be such a hassle,” Jaxon said.
“And expensive,” Dillon added. “Which means that it will cut into both your time and your profits, not to mention the wear and tear it will put on your trucks.”
Preston scowled. “You don’t mess with a man’s truck.”
“Agreed,” Dillon said. “Hauling in water isn’t a long-term solution.”
Landon didn’t like the direction this conversation was taking. “Yesterday, I offered to help Kitty with anything she needs. I’m not going go back on my word now because of the will.”
Preston crunched another chip. “You’re just saying that because Kitty is single and pretty. If Cal had left the ranch to his son with the same agreement, you and Jax would happily see Coyote Glen go down in flames. We need those wells, so we can’t be nice about this just because our opponent is a woman.”
“She’s not our opponent.” Jaxon leaned back and put his feet on the old wooden trunk they used as a coffee table. “She’s our neighbor and our friend.”
“More of a friend to some of us,” Dillon said with a knowing look that verged on a smirk.
Jaxon picked up a Dorito and threw it at Dillon, nicking the side of his face. “Kitty and I are past history. She’s not my type anymore.”
“Yeah,” Dillon snorted. “She’s too smart for him now. She might not fall for that ‘I’m offering kissing lessons line.’”
Landon raised his hands to change the subject. Somehow talking about the way Jaxon had kissed Kitty still irritated him. The whole thing had become a joke to his brothers, but that was because they hadn’t been there when Cal chewed out Kitty. They hadn’t driven her home and seen her eyes swollen from crying.
“We don’t need to do anything to make sure Coyote Glen doesn’t turn a profit,” Landon emphasized. “I don’t believe for a minute that a city-girl interior designer is going to last one month, let alone twelve, on a cattle ranch that’s almost a half hour from the nearest small town and an h
our and a half from Tucson. She’ll be stir-crazy by next week. All we have to do is sit back, wait, and then offer to pay a fair price for the land if she agrees to give up her claim on the ranch. Win-win all around. We’ll have water, Cal’s family will be compensated, and we won’t have to worry about golf carts spooking our cattle.”
Preston made a grumbling sound in the back of his throat. “I think you’re underestimating how greedy some folks are.”
“And you’re forgetting how hard ranch work is.” Landon leaned over and ruffled his younger brother’s hair. “Maybe we need to give you more chores after school.”
Preston chomped on a chip sullenly. “Oh, you’ll give me more chores. And I already know which ones. You’ll send me to Coyote Glen to help out little Miss Blue-Eyed-and-Clueless. I saw how you were looking at her at the funeral.”
“Her eyes are green.” Landon said. “And I was only looking at her to see how she was holding up.”
“Uh huh.” Jaxon clearly had his doubts. “Does this mean you’re having second thoughts about Angelina?”
Landon had never had first thoughts about her. Angelina had gone to high school with him and now worked as a vet in a Bisbee clinic that specialized in livestock. Although another vet worked with her, she always seemed to be the one who showed up when Landon put in a call, and it was becoming clear that she wanted to help him out with more than just an occasional cow with pinkeye. He’d taken her out to dinner a time or two to thank her for her help, and she’d invited him to her last office party.
“Angelina and I are just friends,” Landon said.
“And you and Kitty are just opponents,” Preston said. “Try to remember that.”
Chapter Six
Kate didn’t think much about running the ranch the first week and a half after her grandpa’s funeral. She and her parents had to sort through decades of her grandparents’ possessions. Fortunately, Dewayne Hughes, the foreman, oversaw a lot of the day-to-day tasks of running Coyote Glen. He was a middle-aged man, who may or may not have had hair underneath his hat. His skin was so tan it seemed to be made of leather, and he constantly had a wad of chewing tobacco in his cheek.
He lived in a small house on the other side of the front pastures: the foreman’s cottage. Kate had never stepped foot inside it. When she’d spent summers in Arizona, she’d seen Mr. Hughes as someone who had no patience, imagination, or sense of humor, and she’d kept out of his way as much as possible. Now she had to work with him five days a week.
During their stay, Kate’s father helped her clean the barn, showed her how to feed and water the livestock, and gave her a crash course in reattaching barbed wire to fence posts. But her family couldn’t stay long. The will limited the time she could have visitors. And besides, her parents needed to get back to their jobs, and Libby had to return to school.
The morning of her family’s departure, Kate went outside to see them off. Her father gave her a long hug. “Love you. Thanks for your help. You’ll be fine. Just call me when you have questions.”
Her mother hugged her next. “Your father hasn’t worked on the ranch in twenty-five years. Ask Dewayne your questions. That’s what you’re paying him for.”
Kate’s father pulled the car key from his pocket. “Cattle haven’t changed since I was a teenager. They still eat the same stuff and give birth the same way.”
Her mother motioned for Libby to get in the car and mock whispered, “When your father lived here, no one used spreadsheets or smartphones. The internet was just a wispy thing made of chat boards and cat memes.” She gave Kate another hug and kissed her cheek. “Thanks for doing this for us. I’m sorry we’ve turned you into a ranch hand for a year.”
“You didn’t do that,” Kate said. “Grandpa did.”
“Well, we appreciate your work,” her mother emphasized. “Remember, at the end of this, you’ll have money to start up your own design business.”
The reminder should have made Kate happy. But any future plans seemed so far away, blotted out by desert hills, red rock, and a hot Arizona sky.
Libby took one last selfie with a background of Palo Verde trees and distant hills. “I wish I could stay. Horseback riding is way more fun than homework. Besides, Preston Wyle is hot.”
“He’s too old for you,” Kate said. “And if he’s anything like his brothers, he’s nothing but trouble.”
Libby sighed meaningfully. “Sometimes the trouble is worth it.”
“I doubt that.” Really, it was a good thing Libby never came to spend summers at Coyote Glen. She was nothing but confidence and flirt. She would have given Grandpa fits.
As Libby got into the back of the car, she sent Kate a knowing look. “If you run into any of that sort of trouble with Preston’s hot older brother, I want details.”
Kate didn’t bother asking which brother. They all qualified.
The car started up and headed toward the drive that led to the main road. Kate waved bravely until they pulled out of sight. And then she was alone. She felt as though she’d been dropped off on island—a desert island filled with cattle.
She hardly had time to wallow sufficiently in self-pity before Dewayne strolled up with a list of chores for her. Time to start her stint as ranch boss. She fed the horses and chickens, gathered eggs, and drove out to the bull pasture. Since the bulls were kept away from the cows for most of the year, they didn’t have as much grazing land and needed extra feed. Then she checked a stretch of fence in the back sections for loose wire. While she did that, she picked up litter that trespassers had left behind and contemplated how much she hated both trespassers and shrub brush.
Missy accompanied Kate as she worked, head cocked in question as though she wasn’t sure why Kate was still here and was really hoping someone better would come along.
That was Kate’s first day on her own.
The next morning when she went outside to face her responsibilities, Dewayne was already waiting for her with a new litany of tasks. “You can’t help with fixing well pumps or patching irrigation pipes, so I’ll handle those. After you feed the animals, check the water tanks and spread manure on the garden.” He pointed to a small mountain near the barn. Even at this distance, the unpleasant scent drifted over every time the breeze picked up.
Kate stared at manure pile grimly. A wheelbarrow, shovel, and hoe lay nearby. “Wouldn’t using a tractor be faster?”
“Yep. But the small tractor’s hydraulics are out. Still waiting for a part.” He nodded to the side of the barn where the tractor stood surrounded by buckets like it was a sick patient.
Then the shovel it was. “Okay.” She would have preferred to try her hand at patching irrigation pipe. “All of it goes on the field?”
He nodded. “The animals eat the plants and then fertilize them too. That’s the beauty of the circle of life.”
Kate did the first two chores and started in on the last. She learned three things while shoveling. First, the circle of life smelled awful—and got worse as the temperature climbed. Second, flies could make any chore worse. And third, she really should have bought better boots before she decided to work on a ranch. The ones she wore were now ruined for any social events. She would never get all the gunk out of the crevices.
At lunch time, she didn’t stop to eat. Her appetite had left the moment she started this task. She was hot, sweaty, and worried she was breathing in dung dust. She’d only managed to reduce the mountain into a menacing hill when she slipped on a patch and fell into the mound.
She caught herself before she did a face plant, which is when she realized how much her hands hurt. They stung like crazy—so much that she almost wished she hadn’t put them down to catch herself.
Her hat tumbled into the mound, but she didn’t bother retrieving it. She stood up, shaking her hands in a fruitless attempt to reduce the pain. “Crap. Crap. Crap!”
“That’s one name for it.”
She hadn’t seen Landon approaching, but he was strolling toward her, taking i
n the situation.
Of course, the guy had seen her slip into a manure pile. He was like some sort of chronicler of all her horrible life moments. He wore faded blue jeans that fit him just right, along with a tan T-shirt that showed off his muscled arms and chest. Really, how did a guy make an old T-shirt look that good? His blond hair was barely visible beneath the brim of his cowboy hat, but his eyes—those blue eyes could be seen anywhere. The guy oozed masculinity. How annoying.
Did she have anything gross in her hair? She used the back of her gloves to wipe the strands that had fallen into her face and wished she’d changed her gate settings so it didn’t automatically let vehicles in. “Hi, Landon. Can I help you?”
He tucked his thumbs into his pockets. “I was just about to ask you the same thing.”
“How thoughtful.” She kept her voice light. “You smelled the welcoming scent of manure all the way from your ranch and drove over here to help?”
“Nah. I just came by to see how you were doing without your folks.” He’d come to check up on her. At least he’d found her outside working, even if he had witnessed her fall down and then inexplicably wave her hands around like they were on fire.
He surveyed the garden, the wheelbarrow, the shovel she’d flung on the ground, and her hat lying atop the dung pile like a flag planted on Mount Everest. “You seem to be doing fine.”
“Yep, if fine feels like your hands have been gouged.” She pulled off her gloves. A row of blisters spread across the base of her fingers. Most were already popped and weeping. How had she gotten so many when she’d been wearing gloves?
He stepped closer to her. “Your hands will toughen up after a…” He saw the raw welts and let out a whistle. “Why didn’t you stop when the blisters first formed?”
The Cowboy and the Girl Next Door: (A Clean, Enemies to Lovers Romance) Wyle Away Ranch Book 1 Page 5
