Kathie DeNosky - Rich, Rugged Ranchers

Luke’s beautiful blue eyes rounded innocently. “I didn’t think it would be a problem. She’s been itching to retire.”

“Yes, I found that out the hard way. Your brother led me to believe I’d have to fire Ruth in order to take my position at the lodge.”

Luke stared at her for a full five seconds, then rubbed the back of his neck. “Ah, hell.”

Sophia let go a heavy sigh.

“Logan was messing with you,” Luke said.

“But it wasn’t done in jest.”

Luke leaned forward to put his glass of tea down on the stone cocktail table. “Don’t let him get to you, Sophia. He’s got a burr up his butt about what happened in the past. He’ll come around soon enough.”

“Do you really believe that?” Sophia heard the hope in her own voice. All she wanted to do was live peacefully at Sunset Ranch. She didn’t expect Logan to welcome her with open arms, but if he would simply not stand in her way, or better yet, just ignore her, she’d consider it a victory.

Small lines around Luke’s eyes crinkled as he winced. “Honestly? Not really. At least not anytime soon. He’s more stubborn than I am.”

She remembered the arguments she’d had with Luke when they were growing up. He rarely backed down from anything if he thought he had right on his side. “That’s saying something,” Sophia muttered.

“Hey!”

She smiled. “Just speaking from memory. I’m sure you’re more reasonable now.”

“Damn straight I am. I mean, I wasn’t stubborn so much as I was right and I’ve always been reasonable.”

Sophia nodded, not to belabor the point. It felt good bantering with Luke again.

“So what else did you and my brother talk about yesterday?”

“He tried to …” she began, but then thought better of it.

“Go on.” Luke nodded his encouragement. “What did he try to do?”

Sophia didn’t want to get between Luke and his brother. There had been enough of that when they were kids. Logan would be rude to her or worse yet, pretend she didn’t exist, and Luke would come to her rescue. As a result, the two brothers had been at odds with each other, at least when it had come to her. She didn’t want to rekindle that bad blood. “Nothing.”

“He did something, Soph. If you don’t tell me, I’ll go straight to the source. I’ll find out.”

“Don’t bully me, Luke.”

“I’m not bullying you, for heaven’s sake. But you need to tell me.”

Sophia sat silently.

Luke rose slowly from the sofa, battling his reluctance to leave. “All right, I’ll go ask my brother if you—”

“Okay, fine. I’ll tell you.”

He took his seat again.

“You have to promise not to interfere. I don’t want to come between the two of you.”

Luke’s lips tightened and twisted back and forth for so long, Sophia thought he wouldn’t agree. “Fine, you have my word.”

Sophia took a swallow, sorry now that she’d brought the subject up. “Well, not only did Logan lead me to believe that I’d have to relieve Ruth of her duties, but he tried to buy me out of the inheritance. He said he’d have his lawyer find a way around the stipulation that I stay on for a year to run the place. He offered me a huge sum of money.”

“Aw, crap.” Luke took to rubbing the back of his neck again. “That guy beats a dead horse, doesn’t he?”

Sophia drew back and gasped.

“Sorry. Bad choice of words.”

Yes, it was, considering that Sunset Ranch was all about raising and nurturing the finest horses in the country. “He doesn’t want me here. Logan’s got piss for brains sometimes. He knows damn well he can’t buy you out.”

“Exactly, but he sure drove his point home about wanting to be rid of me.”

“I’m sorrier than you can imagine that I wasn’t here to greet you yesterday.”

“It’s not your fault, Luke. I’ll admit that ever since you called me, I’ve been dying to see you again, but you can’t reschedule your life around my comings and goings. I’m a big girl now, and Logan doesn’t scare me.”

“He may not scare you, Sophia, but he hurt you. And that’s just plain wrong if you ask me.”

Sophia didn’t want the reminder of how Logan had made her feel yesterday. It seemed that for the majority of her life, she’d been on the outside looking in. She’d never gotten over that feeling. That’s why coming back to Sunset Ranch, the one place she’d ever felt as though she’d belonged, was so important to her.

“You know what,” she said, with a wave of the hand, “let’s change the subject. Tell me about yourself, Luke. You mentioned you were in the rodeo for a while. What was that like?”

Sophia settled back and listened to her friend tell her about his life after she’d left Sunset Ranch. And when he offered to take her to dinner for the spiciest chili in the West, her stomach grumbled quietly at the mention of food.

“Yes. I’d love to have dinner with you.”

The only thing louder than The Kickin’ Kitchen’s piped in honky-tonk music was the Red Savina habaneros they put in the chili. The hot stuff made Logan’s insides sing like a hillbilly band and required a generous dowsing of cold beer to wash away the flames. After a morning of schmoozing with prospective clients and an afternoon of pencil pushing in his office, he couldn’t think of anything better to do tonight than eating a bowlful of chili with a friend.

“You want another go round?” Ward Halliday asked, after slurping up the last spoonful of chili on his plate. Ward had a stomach of iron, which served him well on all-you-can-suffer chili night at Kickin’.

Logan glanced at the empty bowl sitting in front of him. “Nope. I haven’t put out the last blaze catching fire in my stomach yet. But you go ahead.” He caught the new waitress’s eye and crooked his finger.

She sauntered over, giving him a big smile as she approached. “Hi, boys, you ready for more?”

“My friend here will tempt fate once again. You can bring him some,” Logan said. “You don’t sell antacids for dessert, do you, darlin’?”

She acted as if she hadn’t heard that question a thousand times before. As a matter of fact, maybe she hadn’t. From what he could recall, being a semiregular and all, the young blonde hadn’t worked at Kickin’ all that long. Her name tag said she was Shelby from California.

“Hey, not a bad idea. I could start a side business and retire before I’m thirty.”

“And what would you do if you retired?” Logan asked, noting how attractive she was in a cute-as-a-button sort of way.

She stared off into the distance for a few beats, before focusing on him with an honest-to-goodness look. “I could tell you what I wouldn’t do. I wouldn’t be working two jobs and struggling to take care of my grandfather in his tiny house by the interstate. Poor man would have a nice place to live and a real good nurse to care for him in his last days.”

“Sorry to hear your grandpa’s not well,” Logan said.

“I appreciate that. He’s a dear man and I’m doing my best.” She shrugged a shoulder. “I’m afraid I’m all he’s got right now.”

Logan eyed the pretty woman with admiration. It was refreshing to hear how loyalty and devotion still meant something to some folks. “Well, then I think he’s got a hell of a lot.”

The girl’s smile returned, beaming on Logan like shining stadium lights. “Thanks, I needed to hear that today. What else can I get for you?”

“You’re welcome. And if you could bring us another round of beers, too, I would appreciate it.”

“You got it,” she said, and turned to take an order from the next table.

Ward shook his head when the waitress was out of earshot. “Man, oh, man.”