Taking another bite, he caught his mom's eye and changed the subject. "What do you know about Lennie Duncan?"
His mom raised her brows. "I'm not sure what you mean, son."
Dylan swallowed the food in his mouth. "I'm just saying, I've been away at school for four years. What's going on with her?"
His mom bit back a smile. "I see. Things were pretty rough at the ranch for a few months after her father's stroke. Lennie was still in college. The ranch hands stepped up and, somehow, they managed. Your father offered to help but Evan wouldn't hear of it, of course. Now that Lennie's back home, I hear things are running more smoothly."
Dylan nodded. "Anything else?"
Millie grinned. "She's not seeing anyone as far as I know."
"Oh." Eyes on his plate, Dylan took another bite. That was just what he wanted to hear.
"Why all this interest in Lennie?"
He looked up. "I saw her in the cardiologist's office with her dad."
Millie shook her head. "You could have asked her how she was doing."
"Not with her dad around. Evan would skin me alive."
"Over my dead body," Roy said hotly.
Millie sighed. "This damn feud. I'm so sick of it. The poison it spews on these two families just goes on and on."
Dylan laid his silverware across his empty plate. "My feelings exactly. I wish we could just forget about who took whose land."
"Tell Duncan that. I'd gladly put it behind me," Roy said grimly.
Millie said quietly, "In all fairness, it's his family that feels it was shorted."
"I can't help it that his forebearer was too stupid to pay for the land he wanted, can I?" Roy retorted. "Our ancestor got there first and paid, fair and square."
Millie didn't let it go. "But was it really fair? The Duncan's had already marked it for their own. That's the story, anyway. The 40,000 acres would have made a huge difference in the running of their spread. They were left with only 21,000 acres. When you compare the large size of our ranch, 40,000 disputed acres was a small amount of land for the Govains to haggle over."
Roy pressed his lips into a line. "The Duncans should have gone in to pay for it if they wanted it. It's the way the system worked. They didn't, and we bought it. End of story."
Dylan huffed loudly. "End of story except for 150 years of hard feelings and feud."
Roy scowled. "Evan is a bitter man. He'll never let it go."
Dylan shoved back his chair and stood. "Maybe he won't, but I hope Lennie will. It's time the Duncan/Govain feud ended."
Roy tossed his napkin on the table and made a rude noise. "Good luck with that."
As Dylan strode out of the room, he made a promise to himself. He would make his own luck. He'd find a way to talk to Lennie and hope like hell she welcomed the conversation.
DEAR READER
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR reading my books. Drop by janalynknight.com and join my newsletter to be the first to get a look at chapters like this. Or, if you like leaving reviews of the books you read, join my Posse review team at janalynknight.com and get advance copies of my new books in exchange for leaving honest reviews. May all your dreams be of cowboys.
Janalyn Knight
Don't miss out!
Click the button below and you can sign up to receive emails whenever Janalyn Knight publishes a new book. There's no charge and no obligation.
https://books2read.com/r/B-A-BHXG-INQBB
Connecting independent readers to independent writers.
Also by Janalyn Knight
THE GOVAIN COWBOYS
The Cowboy's Fate
The Cowboy's Choice
Standalone
True Blue Texas Cowboy
Cowboy for a Season
Watch for more at Janalyn Knight’s site.
About the Author
Janalyn Knight writes romance novels featuring sexy Texas cowboys and hot, self-reliant cowgirls. Spending her early years on the Navajo reservation where many of her classrooms were taught in the Navajo language first, Janalyn grew up rodeoing and even worked a few years on a ten-thousand-acre cattle ranch. When she’s not writing romances, she’s taking care of her mother. Her greatest joy is sharing her twenty-acre Texas Hill Country compound with her two daughters and their families. Fans are invited to check out Janalyn on her website where they can sign up for her newsletter and keep up with upcoming releases.
Read more at Janalyn Knight’s site.
The Cowboy's Choice Page 15
