The Cowboy's Promise Read online

  “Just a year,” he said. “She waited until it was time to renew the lease to kick me out.”

  “Kick you out?” She shook her head. “That’s rough.”

  He snorted in wry amusement. “Yeah, turned out she’d met someone at work and having a boyfriend living in her apartment was hurting her dating life.”

  “As it tends to do. Sounds like you’re better off without her.”

  “Looking back, yeah. But at the time—”

  She supposed, better off or not, that the whole thing had probably messed with his ability to trust. But you didn’t have to trust when you lived alone in a house that sat on thousands of acres. She wondered if he ever dated.

  She didn’t dare ask.

  “The timing worked out anyway,” he said, stepping back from the shore and turning to look out over the ranch. “Mom and Dad had been spending some time in the winter down in Florida. They fell in love with the place and decided they wanted to move. When I told them I was moving back home, they took that as a sign and immediately started looking for a place to live.”

  “So you came in town just in time for them to leave?” she asked.

  He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “It’s not all bad. They come back for Christmas, of course, and they spent three weeks over the summer here. They just got sick of the rough Montana winters.”

  Harley couldn’t say she didn’t relate. As much as she loved snow and beautiful scenery, by February of every year, she was ready for some warm weather. She could definitely see trading frigid winters and hours of shoveling for year-round warm weather when she got older.

  “Plus, it gives me a chance to prove to my dad that I can do it,” he said.

  Those words got Harley’s attention in a big way. Not the words themselves, but the emotion in his voice as he’d said them. Far more emotion than he’d had when discussing the woman who had dumped him for someone else. She sensed there was a lot more there, but she wasn’t going to ask. Instead, she waited to see if he’d elaborate.

  He cleared his throat and continued. “I let him down when I was a teenager. Went through a bit of a wild phase. When he left, he told me he was counting on me to turn this ranch around. He didn’t say it outright, but the message was pretty clear. This was my chance to redeem myself.”

  Interesting. Harley had never met his father, but she’d met Clay and his brothers. She had a feeling his father was a good person. Whatever Clay had done in his younger years, short of harming someone, Harley suspected it was a bigger deal to Clay than it was to his father at this point.

  She didn’t say any of that, though. He was taking off toward the house anyway. He’d said they weren’t going inside because ‘no telling what Reilly’s house looked like when he wasn’t expecting visitors.’ So where were they heading?

  “This is the best part,” he said, gesturing for her to follow.

  As they climbed the steps to Reilly’s front porch, Harley saw what he meant. There was a big white porch swing in the corner, and it looked like something straight out of a movie. If someone were trying to show what a charming front porch looked like, this would be the perfect image.

  “Reilly has the best house,” she said.

  He laughed, and she suddenly wanted to make him do that more often. “You haven’t seen Colton’s.”

  “Nicer than yours and Reilly’s?” she asked.

  He sat down on the porch swing, sliding all the way down to one end, leaving plenty of room for her to join him. “Nothing’s as nice as the house where I grew up. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.”

  She sat down, taking the far end and resting her arm on the armrest. This wasn’t good news for the job she was here to do. How could she talk him into selling if he didn’t want to live anywhere else?

  “That’s what I’ve been meaning to talk to you about,” she said.

  Because there was never going to be a good time to bring this up. And she had to bring this up. She was leaving in the morning, and she needed to drive out of here with a signed contract on her passenger seat.

  “Uh-oh,” he said. “I think I need to talk to you about something.”

  “Okay. You go first.”

  His gaze bored into hers intently, making her want to squirm but she didn’t. “I’m not going to sell. There’s nothing you can say to change my mind. So you may as well enjoy the rest of your time here.”

  He couldn’t possibly think she’d give up that easily. What kind of salesperson would she be if a strongly worded ‘no’ was enough to push her to throw in the towel?

  The answer was, she wasn’t a salesperson. She was in this position because she needed her paycheck. This was a stepping stone to bigger and better things. A resume builder.

  She decided to go ahead with what she was going to talk to him about. May as well put it out there. “Let’s think about this for a second. Say you can’t turn this ranch around. What happens?”

  He shook his head stubbornly. “Failure is not an option.”

  “Humor me for a second. You know what will happen. You’ll move money around as long as you can, maybe avoid some bill collectors, but eventually, it will be too much. And if this property goes into foreclosure—”

  “It’s paid off,” he said.

  “There’s a second mortgage,” she corrected. “You know as well as I do that they can put a lien on this property if you stop paying. And then there’s the matter of the property taxes. Eventually, the entire ranch will be sold to pay off your debts.”

  He didn’t say anything in response. She knew she was being pretty negative, and he probably didn’t appreciate it. But she had a point.

  “You’re in a great position right now,” she said, launching into the sales pitch she’d been preparing since she’d first had the idea to go this route. “If you sell, you’ll get top dollar and you can buy a home somewhere else using the money. Or just squish ranching operations to one part and invest the money into doing what you need to do to build a business here.”

  “How much do you know about running a ranch?” he asked.

  She could hear the not-so-subtle subtext in the question. He was implying she knew nothing about running a ranch, and he was right. Just assuming he could relocate everything to one section of the property was pretty bold of her. She got that.

  “Not much,” she admitted. “But I studied business in college. I know you have to run at a profit, and if you can’t, you need to downsize. Cut positions, maybe find a way to survive with less inventory. If this were a startup operating out of an office, I’d suggest working from home and giving up the leased space if it helped you save money.”

  “Space is essential to cattle ranching,” he said. “The cattle need to be able to get exercise. Plus, we sell hay. Acreage is money.”

  She nodded. She didn’t want to alienate him. Maybe it was better to just let it rest for now.

  And she would have. If she’d had more than twenty-four hours to close this deal. But time was running out.

  “Any challenge you bring up, we can work out,” she said. “And all of it is better than losing the ranch.”

  His jaw ticked. “I won’t lose the ranch. I have a plan to turn this place around. It’s just not something I can do overnight.”

  Harley looked at him. His expression was fairly somber, but she could see the determination in the set of his jaw. In that moment, all she wanted to do was say to heck with her job. She could go home knowing Clay was happy. She and her roommate would be kicked out of their condo not long after her next rent payment was due, though.

  If she somehow managed to strong-arm Clay into going along with her plan, on the other hand, she’d return home feeling guilty. She couldn’t just drop the money in the bank, spend it on what she needed to live, and move on to the next client like she hadn’t just upended someone’s life. The only way this would work would be if she could somehow talk him into embracing the idea. And that did not look likely at all.

  She had
an idea. She stared out across what was technically Reilly’s front yard, trying for the most pensive expression she could muster.

  “It’s funny. I’ve been traveling with my boss for months and it’s never been like this. Every single client was more than happy to sell. He chose this for my first solo assignment. I swear, he did it on purpose.”

  Silence stretched between them as he continued to gently push the swing with his foot. She was actually enjoying the subtle rocking motion. It was relaxing.

  “Did what on purpose?” he asked. “Sent you here?”

  She sighed. “Sent me to a reluctant seller. He could have at least warned me.”

  “I’m not ‘reluctant.’ I’m—” He seemed to struggle to find the word. She had a few words for it. Stubborn. Obstinate. Refusing to listen to reason.

  “Determined,” she finally said with a smile.

  She dared to look over at him then, surprised at how grateful she was that he didn’t seem to be angry at her over her little sales push. Even though the pressure was on to get that signature, right now just having him look over at her with the hint of a smile in his eyes meant everything.

  “Determined,” he agreed. “That’s a good word for it.”

  She looked around the beautiful place and found herself teasing him. “So is this what ranch life is like? Just hanging out and swinging?”

  He laughed. “Not even close. Come on. I’ll give you a real taste of ranch life.”

  8

  “This is it.”

  Harley looked around. “Cows?”

  “It’s part of my morning chores, especially as the weather turns colder,” he said. “Usually I ride the horses out here, but it’s easier in a truck with you.”

  They’d stepped out of the truck and now were walking around the pasture. It was a little muddier out here, thanks to the big pits the cattle made as they wandered around. There weren’t water puddles like there sometimes were, but the ground was soft beneath their feet.

  “Protecting the herd is the most important thing I do around here,” he said. “You can lose one overnight.”

  “Lose? They run away?”

  He looked over at her. For some reason, her interest in what he did softened him a little every time he saw it. Especially since he still had so much to learn himself.

  “No, they stick around. This is where their feed is.”

  Her brows pulled down into a frown. “Then you lose them to…”

  “Death,” he said grimly.

  The curiosity in her expression changed to sadness instantly. There was the animal lover in her again. In spite of himself, he was drawn to that side of her.

  “But illness is a bigger problem,” he said. “Herd health is essential to getting the interest of local restaurants and grocers. In the spring and summer, we have to worry about pinkeye.”

  “I had that once as a kid!” she said excitedly. “Very contagious.”

  “There’s also foot rot,” he added. “Like athlete’s foot, but for cattle. They get it from standing in puddles for long periods of time. It’s painful, which is why I always bring medicine along for it.”

  “Wow. That sounds brutal.”

  “I can watch for that from here,” he said. “Look for signs of limping.”

  They settled into a comfortable silence as they both watched the herd roam around. She was helping him work, whether she saw it that way or not.

  “What do you do if one is limping?” she asked after they’d watched for a while with no signs of an issue.

  “Antibiotics,” he said. “I usually get Hank to help. It goes in through a shot.”

  “But wait—isn’t there meat that promises to be free of antibiotics?”

  “Yes, but we can’t sell any cattle until the medicine has passed completely through the system anyway. There’s a waiting period. I have to track all that, too. And then, in the colder months, I have to watch for calving.”

  “Calving?”

  “The cows have baby calves,” he said, boiling it down to the basics of what it was.

  “So you have to call a vet in to deliver when it’s time?” she asked.

  Her question threw him off for a few seconds until he realized she really didn’t know how this worked. This was a business, not just some property where four brothers lived. The more he could get the message across, the more likely she’d be to get why he couldn’t just take a wad of money and walk away.

  He shook his head. “I handle all that. With Hank’s help, of course. We don’t just pack these guys up and trot them off to the vet like people in the city do with their poodles.”

  “Oh no, I wasn’t saying...” She bit her lip, seemingly nervous that she’d stepped her way into a mess. “It’s just...that’s amazing. You play the role of doctor, business owner, land caretaker. I know you have help, but not nearly enough. It’s just…”

  “Amazing,” he finished for her. “Thanks, but when it’s all you’ve ever known, it doesn’t really seem all that unusual.”

  “I guess I never really thought about what it takes to run a ranch. I assumed the livestock just roamed around, eating, until you sold them.”

  “That’s sort of what they do, but feeding them is work,” he said. “And tending the pastures and making sure each animal is healthy and in good condition. Then there’s the other business sorts of things, like networking with grocers and local restaurants who might need your meat, making sure the employees are paid, doing your taxes. The usual stuff.”

  She looked out over the pasture again, watching the cattle for a while. One was wandering somewhat close to them and he saw that as his chance to give her a little up-close-and-personal experience with checking on cattle.

  “This one is recovering,” Clay said, walking toward him.

  He didn’t want to make Harley follow him by gesturing or anything. Maybe she didn’t even want to venture farther out into the pasture. But he was happy when he heard the crunch of her feet on the grass behind him and knew she was following.

  “I really need to check body temperature, but I don’t have my thermometer,” he said as he put one hand on the healing cow and carefully examined her face. “I look for runny discharge and labored breathing. Same with any other type of animal.”

  “Do they ever make it hard for you to check?” she asked, stopping several feet away. “Or is it just that they trust you now?”

  “Depends,” he said. “Sometimes we have to rope them, and it takes two of us to do the work. But I’ve found being on the mend makes them calmer.”

  “Plus, you were the one taking care of him,” she said.

  “It’s a she. A male would be a bull.” He pointed to one of his bulls, just a little further out. “Bulls have a more muscular, stocky build usually.”

  If nothing else, today would be a learning experience.

  “Oh, crap. I knew that. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  She shivered and crossed her arms over her chest. It hit him then just how cold it was out here. He’d gotten used to it, working outdoors through so many cold winters. It wasn’t like his time in Chicago had introduced him to a tropical climate, either. But Harley probably wasn’t as used to being outdoors.

  “Let’s head back,” he said. “I need to check on some things and you can rest up.”

  She didn’t look as eager to get back as he might have expected. In fact, he wondered if she was hurt that he hadn’t invited her to come along, but there was nothing fun about what he’d be doing for the next couple of hours. And he needed to be able to jump in and speed through his work without having to explain to someone what he was doing.

  “I didn’t realize how cold it was until now.” She climbed into the the cab and shut the door. It was still somewhat warm in the car, thanks to the heat that had been running full blast during their drives around the property.

  “Let’s get some heat going,” he said, turning the ignition. She was probably used to a push-button start, but this truck was at le
ast a decade old.

  The truck fired right up—not always the case—and he shifted into reverse. He was already plotting the next couple of hours as he pushed the accelerator and the tires began spinning.

  But the truck didn’t move.

  He knew almost immediately what was happening. Knew the last thing he needed to do was continue to push on the pedal. But instinct took over, falsely leading him to buy into the fact that just a little more power would get his tires out of this mud hole they were digging. Finally, he forced himself to stop trying to get out of this and put his foot on the brake.

  “What’s happening?” Harley asked.

  “Mud. We’re stuck.” He shifted into park and hopped out of the truck.

  This wasn’t his first rodeo. He’d actually first been introduced to it when he was still in elementary school. He, his father, and Colton had been working the ranch when they’d found themselves in this very situation. He’d learned that early on what to do.

  Grabbing the floor mat, he wedged it under the front driver’s side tire in the way he’d done all his life. He then hopped back in the truck and closed the door.

  Harley glanced at him with a worried look on her face. “Don’t we need another vehicle to tow us?”

  “Nope.”

  Okay, he sounded confident, but if he had to be honest, deep down, he had the fear that this would be the one time this trick didn’t work. He’d have to figure out what to do from there with Harley looking on. He was almost embarrassed to admit to himself how much he wanted to impress this woman.

  Fortunately, the tire slid right on out of the small hole he’d dug for himself, thanks to the little bit of leverage he’d given. He shifted into park once he was out of the danger zone, then climbed out and tossed his floor mat onto the bed of the truck before getting back in.

  Her look of wonderment did all kinds of good—but bad—things to him. “What can you not do?”

  “A lot, actually,” he said with a laugh. “The list would be a mile long.”