*Adrenaline was still racing through Emily. Her heart was pounding, but her legs felt like jelly. The last thing she wanted to do right now was talk business with Trent. No, she wanted to follow Donovan back to his hunting lodge and finish in his bed what they’d started. Emily was so glad she had finally kissed him properly. If she’d waited around for him to do it, it could have taken until his lease was up. Now that she knew she would only have to deal with the hunters crawling all over her family’s ranch for a few more years, it was bearable. Donovan was bearable and they could have fun.
She missed having fun.
As she sat across the desk from Trent, she tried not to blush because if Trent been five minutes earlier, he would have gotten an eyeful. It could have been much worse, though. Her father could have been with him.
Things were still pretty tense between Trent and her dad. Trent was Alissa’s father, which had been an almost six-year mystery to everyone except Kelly. Her father, to put it mildly, lost his mind when he found out. Emily wasn’t sure what to think. At first, she blamed Trent. But then she realized he hadn’t known about Alissa. If he had, he would have moved heaven and earth to be with Kelly and his daughter.
And now that he was going to marry her sister, her father was just going to have to make peace with him. But Frank Sullivan wasn’t known for his forgiving nature. Luckily, Trent didn’t hold a grudge. Still, it was going to be awkward to ask him to invest in her wind turbines. He had already done so much for the Three Sisters Ranch. He’d used his purse from riding a devil bull that nearly crippled him the first time, and almost killed him the second time, to buy the land that had his school and this new house on outright.
“What can I do for you, Emily?” he asked as they walked back to his rodeo school where he, Kelly, and Alissa were living until the house was finished.
“Where’s my sister?”
“Alissa had a playdate with someone she met at the Y during her swimming lessons. They should be back by dinner.”
“That’s good. I actually wanted to talk to you alone.” She didn’t want Trent to feel obligated to help her if he didn’t really want to. It was easier for him to say no if Kelly wasn’t there pressuring him to say yes. Emily followed him into the school and into his office. Trent pulled a water out of his fridge and offered her one. Crap, she left her veggie burger in Donovan’s truck. Oh well, that would just give her an excuse to go pick it up later. She accepted the water and took a deep drink. Her throat was dry from all that gasping and moaning. So much for not complicating things by having hot, sweaty sex with Donovan. Now that was going to be all she thought of. Well, that and the wind turbines.
“What can I do for you?” Trent eased himself into his chair and propped his bad leg up on a padded stool, wincing.
“You all right?”
“Just a little stiff.”
He would never admit to being in pain. “I went to the bank today. They turned me down for a loan.”
“Why?”
She blinked at the interruption. She was expecting him to say he was sorry or not say anything. “Well, while they thought it would be a good investment, they didn’t have a lot of confidence in me.”
“They don’t know you well, do they?” Trent smiled at her.
If he could only convince her parents of that.
“They thought I was too young. I don’t have a credit history.”
He snorted. “You’d think that was a good thing. No credit card debt or existing loans.”
Emily felt her mood lighten a bit. “Right? Well, in addition to that, they didn’t count the Peace Corps as viable work experience. So I was shit out of luck.” She paused, gathering her nerve. “Would you be interested in being my partner for the wind turbines?” Emily blurted, leaning forward in her chair. She was eager to get her pitch out before he could say no. “Fifty-fifty split. Of course, you’d have to front all the money.” Hell, that sounded terrible even to her ears. This was a long shot. She didn’t bring anything to the table on this deal, except for the land and that wasn’t even hers.
This was a disaster. No wonder the bank turned her down.
“How much do you want?” he asked.
Emily’s mouth dropped open and she sat stunned for a moment. “How much you got?” she said after she recovered. “The wind turbines are about forty thousand each. And they’ll return that investment in about five years.”
“How much do you have?”
She puffed out a humorless laugh. “Not enough.”
“I’ve got an idea,” he said. “I’m not sure you’re going to like it.”
“Hit me with it,” Emily said. “You’re my last hope.”
“Kelly wants to take photographs. Janice is into her horse therapy business. And Frank isn’t getting any younger. I know it would ease his mind if one of the three of you were interested in ranching.”
“I’d love to run this ranch, but I don’t have the experience to claim being a manager. That was part of the problem the bank had.”
“I’ll loan you some money. I don’t want to go into business with you because I don’t want Frank to think I’m trying to take over the ranch one sister at a time. I also don’t feel right making a profit from the loan. So instead, I want you to make training to take over the ranch your job.”
That sounded too good to be true. “What’s the catch?”
“The catch is you have to convince your father that you’re the heir apparent. And that means you need to convince your sisters, get Nate on board, and ease any doubts in your parents’ minds that you can handle the responsibility.”
For a minute, she had been afraid he was going to tell her the condition of the loan was that they had to keep raising beef cattle to slaughter. “I can do that,” she said quickly, before he changed his mind on the terms. “But I want to get at least ten turbines. Are you in for a half a million?”
Trent choked on his water.
She knew his purse from riding Corazon del Diablo was close to three million. But she also knew he’d spent a lot already, buying the land for his house and school from her father. Not to mention building his new house and putting money into his business. Plus, he was planning a wedding and there was also Alissa’s college fund to think about. Emily blew out a nervous sigh. “Of course, anything you can give me, I would be appreciative.”
“I was thinking about half that,” Trent said.
Emily couldn’t keep the grin off her face. “I won’t let you down.”
“I know. Look, Kelly is really worried about your dad. If you can get him to retire by taking on his duties, it’ll be completely worth loaning you the money.”
“You’re a good man, Trent. Especially since my dad has been a bit of a jerk to you.”
“He’s my daughter’s grandfather. He doesn’t have to treat me like a son. As long as Alissa is the apple of his eye, he’s all right in my book.”
“Are you kidding me?” Emily smiled. “She had him attending a tea party with her action figures the other day.”
Nodding, Trent returned her smile. “That’s what I want for him. For both of them. With you and Nate working together, the Three Sisters Ranch will come back better than ever.”
Except for that pesky cow-murdering thing. But one battle at a time. Still, her conscience nudged her to let Trent know about her plans. She took in a deep breath. “I have some major changes I want to make to the ranch.”
“That’s between you and your sisters. And after Frank’s retired.” Trent clamped his hands over his ears playfully. “Start off with the wind turbines and take it from there.”
She stood up and put out her hand. “I appreciate the confidence you’re placing in me.”
“Why wouldn’t I be confident in you? You basically ran a ranch in Ethiopia.”
“Not even close. But I get what you’re saying. I’ve got transferable skills. I wish the bank had seen that.” She wished her family could see it.
“More importantly, you have the drive and determination to make this work.”
They hammered out the details for the next half hour or so and Emily left feeling confident and in control of her life for the first time in…well, ever.
*
Dinner that night was painful. Only her parents, Nate, and Janice were at the table. Her mom had made fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and some corn that they had canned from the summer crops. Emily substituted vegetarian chicken nuggets and tried not to feel like she was eating a kiddie meal.
“How did everything go at the bank?” her father said as soon as her mother got done pouring them all iced tea.
“Dad,” Janice said with a resigned sigh. “We don’t have to talk about this at the dinner table.”
“It’s okay,” Emily said, reaching for a snowflake roll. “I got turned down for the loan.”
Janice looked at her plate. Her parents exchanged knowing glances, but Nate said, “I’m sorry to hear that, Emily. I know you had your heart set on the wind turbines.”
“I do, but don’t worry. They’re still going through.”
“How?” her father asked scornfully.
“I have some contacts from the Peace Corps who can help me out. And in the meantime, Trent loaned me some money.”
Frank dug into his chicken angrily. He probably should be eating grilled chicken instead of chicken that had been buttermilk-dipped and fried in her mother’s special crushed corn flake and potato chip coating. And the butter and gravy drenching his mashed potatoes weren’t such a good idea either. But there was no telling him that. At least he was putting some weight on again.
“We can’t expect Trent to give us a handout every time we ask,” he said. “He put his body on the line for that money and he’s still paying for that decision.”
“Careful, Dad. It’s beginning to sound like you’ve forgiven him,” Janice said, trying to lighten the mood.
“I’ll like him better once he puts a ring on Kelly’s finger.”
“June will be here before you know it,” Janice said.
“I’m not wearing a monkey suit.”
Emily and Janice shared an amused glance. He’d wear a tuxedo if his granddaughter asked him to.
“And you better not piss away Trent’s money.”
“I’ll be paying Trent back as soon as I can. This is a loan. Not a handout,” Emily said, trying to keep her voice light and even. “The wind turbines will make us about eight thousand dollars a year. I should be able to pay Trent back in a little under six years.”
“That’s if all you do with the profits is pay him back. It may be longer than that,” Janice broke in. “Is Trent all right with waiting?”
Trying not to grind her teeth in frustration, Emily gave her sister a sharp nod. Trent said to take ten years, but Emily was determined to get rid of the loan as soon as possible.
“It’s a big responsibility,” her mother said. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
“Yes,” Emily said. Short and sweet and to the point. “But speaking of responsibility, now that I’m back home for good and I’ve got those wind turbines coming in, it’s time for me to get more serious about learning how to manage the ranch. And you should be getting serious about retiring.”
Janice dropped her fork. It was loud in the sudden silence. Nate gave Emily a “What are you doing?” look.
“What the hell does that mean?” Frank said with his mouth full.
Her mother put her hand on his arm. “I’d be happy to show you the books, Emily. It will be good to have a second eye on things.”
“I think it’s the next logical step. After all, Janice is going to have her hands full with the retreat center.”
Frank snorted.
Janice clenched her jaw.
“I don’t know anyone who is going to want to pay to camp out on our land,” Frank growled.
“It’s a good thing you’re not my demographic, then,” Janice said with fake sweetness.
Emily jumped in before they could get into a heated discussion. “And Kelly is going to be busy with her portrait studio and helping Trent with his bull-riding school.”
“So?” Frank said, reaching for another dollop of mashed potatoes.
“So that leaves me to become your successor.”
“What about Nate here?” Frank jerked a thumb at Nate, who had a chicken leg halfway up to his mouth.
“Please don’t get me involved with this. I’m the foreman. If I wanted to manage a ranch, I would have wasted my money going to college.”
“He doesn’t want it,” Janice said.
“That’s what he just said.” Emily rolled her eyes at her sister. “Anyway, that leaves me to be your second-in-command, Daddy. I’m going to be your shadow. I’ll be going with you on the cattle drives in the morning and learning everything else from you and Nate. That way, when you’re ready to retire, the transition will be seamless.”
“Retire? I’m not ready to retire.”
“Maybe we’re ready,” Janice muttered.
Emily kicked her under the table. “What Janice means is that we’re worried about your health.”
“Save your worries. I’ll be fine.”
“Yes, but you’ve worked so hard all your life. And you made sure we had the best of everything.”
Janice looked down at her plate. “That’s right.”
“We want you to take time to enjoy the little things, like Alissa and going fishing in the pond. Relax more and maybe even take Mom on a vacation.”
Nate might have muttered something that sounded like “that’ll be the day,” but Janice gave him a sharp elbow.
“Amen to that,” Sarah said.
“I can’t leave the ranch,” Frank said halfheartedly. She was getting through to him. “I’ve taken off so much time already, being in the hospital.”
“Sure you can,” Nate said. “We’ve got this.”
Emily held her father’s gaze waiting to see what he was going to lob out next, but to her surprise he just grunted and went back to eating. “I would like to go out with Donovan and bag some deer.”
Emily closed her eyes in frustration. One thing at a time.
“You do know we leave before five in the morning,” Nate said. “Cows got to be fed.”
“I am aware of that.” Like she hadn’t spent most of her summers on horseback with the ranch hands going from pasture to pasture and rounding up the cattle. “But there’s a lot more that I should be involved in, like the welfare of the cattle.” And eventually getting them out of the meat business entirely, but that was a discussion for another day.
Baby steps.
“Glad to see someone is going to use their college degree to help with the ranch,” her father said with a pointed look at Janice. And just like that, Emily was off the hook. She had never been happier for her animal science degree.
Janice was a veterinary technician who left the ranch to work with horses in dressage farms. Her father was still holding a grudge about that. Janice flipped her the bird under the table, but Emily felt vindicated since Janice had been an unbearable pill to her this morning. She knew her sisters loved her, but there were times when they got on each other’s nerves.
Her mother served an apple pie for dessert, which her father probably shouldn’t be eating either.
“I’m going to take Donovan a piece,” she said, rising up from the table.
Her father gaped at her for a moment, but recovered quickly. “I thought I told you to leave him alone.”
“You told me to stop pestering him. I don’t think bringing him a slice of homemade apple pie qualifies, do you?”
Narrowing his eyes at her, he said, “What are you up to? You’re not going to doctor the pie so he gets the shits tomorrow and can’t lead the hunt?”
“Dad,” Janice said, exasperatedly.
“I hadn’t thought of that. That’s a good one, Dad. No, he took me out to lunch this afternoon and I thought this might be a nice thank-you.”
“You went out on a date with Donovan Link?” Janice said.
“It was lunch.”
Her mother and father exchanged a look, and he shrugged. “Ask him if he’s seen Ghost yet.”
“I damn well will not,” Emily said. She wasn’t going to mention the white elk to a trophy hunter. That was all they needed—to have every yahoo with a rifle shooting at flashes of white for the chance to cut off and mount the head in their living room.
“Kelly wants to take some pictures of her,” Janice said. “Donovan knows not to shoot her. We want him to track her. Kelly is planning on entering the pictures in the state fair next year. It would be great publicity for the ranch.”
And for Donovan’s hunting tours, Emily thought sourly.
After wrapping a large slice of pie, Emily went outside. It was a nice night for a ride and she was going to stay on the new paved road, which was well lit, so she saddled Sunflower up and headed over. Unfortunately, there were several cars in his parking lot and the entire hunting lodge had every light on.
“Oh shit,” she said. His hunting party had already arrived.
“Hey, who’s this?” one of the men said from the porch as she approached. Sunflower flicked an ear, but otherwise didn’t respond.
“I’m here to see Donovan,” she said, getting down from her horse. She securely tied her to the hitching post outside because Sunflower had a habit of untying herself and wandering back to the barn.
“Hey, Donny, your girl is here,” another called back into the hunting lodge.
She climbed the stairs and they parted. Two of them smiled down at her and the others couldn’t be bothered.
“Hey,” Donovan said, coming out of the lodge. She was relieved he was here. The hunters were giving off some crazy vibes. You could almost taste the testosterone.
“I’m sorry to bother you. I wanted to swap my burger for a slice of Mom’s apple pie.”
“Come on in,” he said. “Guys, make yourselves at home. There’s more beer in the fridge and I think there’s a football game on in the basement on the wide screen.”
A few of the hunters decided to finish their cigarettes, but the others wandered back inside. Donovan led her into his office and shut the door.
“I love the smell of toxic masculinity in the evening,” Emily said.
He went into a mini-fridge and handed her the bag from the Mustard Seed. She exchanged it for the apple pie. “You didn’t have to come all the way out here tonight. I would have dropped off your lunch before we left tomorrow morning.”
“I didn’t come here for just for that. I didn’t think your hunters were coming until later.”
“They made good time. So why did you come?” He crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re not here to cause trouble, are you?”
Emily flicked the lock on his office door. “It depends on how you define trouble.” She kicked off her shoes. Her nipples puckered in anticipation as she pulled the T-shirt she had changed into over her head.
“Christ, woman, don’t you ever wear a bra?”
“Bitch, bitch, bitch,” she said, unbuttoning her jeans and sliding them and her panties down.
Donovan’s eyes went wide. “I don’t know what the hell those guys were smoking out there, but if this is a hallucination, I’m going to empty my bank account to buy some more.”
“We got interrupted before. I wasn’t finished yet.” She walked into his arms. His hands were everywhere. They were rough against her soft skin, but it made her want to purr like a cat.
“Are you fucking serious?” he said. “I’ve got a house full of riled-up men.”
“They’re watching Texas A&M downstairs.” She tugged his T-shirt out of his pants and slid her palms up over his chest.
“I can’t be away for long,” he groaned. “I want to take my time with you.”
“I don’t want it slow, Donovan,” she said, unsnapping his pants and pulling down his zipper.
When she reached inside his briefs, he took in a sharp breath and said, “All right, have it your way.” He picked her up and slung her over his shoulder. She managed not to shriek as he opened a door in the back of his office and strode through it. Emily saw it was a cozy bedroom before she was dumped on his bed.
“I brought condoms,” she said, suddenly breathless as he shed his clothes. “They’re in my jeans pocket.”
He looked great naked, his biceps and abs clearly defined. Emily couldn’t wait to have him next to her. He opened up the drawer in his bedside table, tossed a few on the bed, and then covered his body with hers.
“Finally,” she groaned, wrapping a leg around his. He was hot and hard, the wiry hairs on his leg coarse and satisfying against her skin.
Then he was kissing her and she got lost in the sweet slide of their bodies and his hot mouth plundering hers. Reaching down between them, Emily wrapped her hand around his cock and tugged on it with slow pulls. Now it was his turn to moan into her mouth. When the thrusting and rubbing built to a fever pitch, she tore open a condom and slipped it on him. Straddling him, she sank down on his thick cock until he was deep inside her.
“Look at me,” he ordered and her entire body quivered.
His big hands steadied her hips.
“You are so fucking beautiful.”
Emily moved slowly at first, loving the way he stretched and filled her. Deep and wide, he felt incredible.
“I want to fuck you all night long,” he growled.
His words made her wetter and she leaned over to steady herself on his shoulders. Donovan thrust up and he captured her nipple in his mouth. Sucking on it, he undulated his hips and almost slipped out.
“No,” she cried out raggedly and bounced hard on him so he was firmly inside her. The friction and heat were building up into a delicious tension. His fingers tweaked her nipples as their mouths dueled. She had pictured this for so long, wanting to fight with him and then fall into bed and fuck him.
Rolling quickly, Donovan was suddenly on top of her and taking control of the pace. She’d said she wanted it fast and he was providing her with hard, thrilling plunges that made her toes curl.
She wanted his mouth back so she could scream into it. Her body twitched and rose to greet every pump of his hips. Emily dug her nails into his shoulders as the hot rush of her orgasm shook her from head to toe.
“More,” she cried out, and he rocked them faster.
She came again as he pinned her legs up over her head and plunged into her, hard and deep. His eyes were intense and the grin he gave her was feral as he lost control. Donovan bit back a few curses and shuddered against her. Releasing her legs, he rocked against her slowly and kissed her again.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, licking down her chest, to her belly button. “I have to get back to the group. They’re paying me a lot of money and I can’t be a bad host.”
“I understand,” Emily said. “I just wanted to finish what we started before.” She caressed his head and tilted her hips up at him.
“We’re not finished,” he said. “This is to be continued.” Then Donovan rolled off her to get dressed.
Feeling smug, she got dressed and shared another lingering kiss with him. “You don’t have to walk me out.”
“Yeah, I damn well do.”
Emily saw a few stragglers on the porch, but based on the noise from downstairs, most of the crew were watching the game. Donovan helped her back on Sunflower and walked with her to the lighted path.
“You shouldn’t run into any problems, but if for some reason a hog is around, ride like hell to the barn. Janice’s dogs should raise holy hell and scare them off.”
“You worry too much.”
“And you haven’t seen the aggressive hogs I have. Stay safe, sweetheart. I’ll see you after the weekend is over and we can spend more quality time together.” He ran his hand over her thigh and it was hard to ride away from him.
“Think about me?” she called over her shoulder.
“Bet on it.”