Mary Brady - Winning Over the Rancher

“We hear what you’re saying, Baylor, and we’re not afraid to look the truth in the face anymore, thanks to you,” Lance said as he took Holly’s hand. “And we think this woman is what we need to get the project up and running.”

“How does she plan on doing that? How long will it be until she can’t even make the trip here?”

“We think she plans on living in the valley during the project, instead of commuting,” Lance continued. “That gives us her constant attention during the whole thing.”

“She plans on living here?”

There were several nods.

“Why would she do that? Isn’t there a husband or at least a man who cares about his baby involved in that decision?”

“She moved out of her home two weeks ago and she’s been staying in a motel since,” Holly said as she tugged a strand of her long red hair.

“And you’re all dodging the topic of the baby’s father. Why?”

“Six months ago, her husband died unexpectedly,” his mother said in a gentle tone.

“And you’ll soon find out, it was a week after he had moved out of their home,” Holly added.

He tried not to glare at the bunch of them. “She loses her home and her baby’s father, so you think we should give her a place in this valley? Why don’t we throw in a family, too?”

They had the presence of mind not to snicker at that one. It would please them all if he thought this valley was a place to have a life and a family and not a place to flee from.

“Bay, she needs us and we need her. There’s a match meant to be here.” His mother took a seat beside him as she spoke and patted his knotted forearm.

“What about the rest of her client list?” Baylor asked.

“We’re it right now. The whole kit ’n’ caboodle,” Seth said as he hooked his thumbs in the belt loops of his jeans and rocked back on the heels of his boots.

“I have to ask you again, are you people nuts?”

Amy stepped forward. “Baylor, Holly and I were talking and we knew you’d be concerned, but we can tell you having a baby isn’t any sort of disability. Holly helped birth a calf three days after Matthew was born.”

“We also suspect,” Holly said as she stepped up beside her sister by marriage, “one of the reasons you want out of this valley so badly is you don’t want to bring a wife and a family into this situation, to put more strain on the ranch.”

Holly was mistaken about his reasons for leaving, but he wasn’t going into that right now.

“You know we’re behind you, Baylor,” Amy added. “No matter what you decide.”

Baylor let his hands relax on his thighs. “I’m not sure there’s a third woman in the world like you two—”

“Baylor, you’re full of crap,” Seth said.

“No language like that in my house, please,” Evvy Doyle insisted. They might wade in the muck on a regular basis, but that didn’t mean they were uncivilized.

Baylor glared at his brother as he continued. “But someone has to think of what’s best for all of us. You all chose me for that.”

Lance, always the peacemaker between his two younger brothers, gave a conciliatory wave. “So, do we call her and tell her she has the job or do we wait a day or two so she doesn’t think we’re too eager?”

“Wait a minute. Wait a minute.” Baylor waved both hands in the air. “If she has nothing, then why—”

His father interrupted. “When her husband died six months ago, he owed a lot of money.”

“And two weeks ago they threw her out of her home.” Amy tapped in what should have been another nail in the coffin of failure for K. L. Morgan and Associates.

But all faces looked, if not hopeful, at least mulish.

“This is even worse.” Baylor put his hands behind his head and glared at each one of them in turn, except his mother. He hadn’t been able to give her impatience since he was in middle school and he was old enough to know she would never harm a fly. “We’re going to bail her out after she made too many bad choices in her life.”

“It was more like bad luck.” Lance defended her in the name of peace and harmony, of course.

“She seemed to be playing straight with us. Her proposal is more along the lines with what we wanted and she thinks she can bring the project in under the costs of all the others.” This was his father again.

“Have any of you checked these references closely?” Baylor asked as he studied each member of his family again.

Evvy extracted a folder from a stack of papers, spread out several glossy prints on the coffee table and handed him a list of names and contact information. “We called them all. They had nothing but praise.”

Baylor examined the list and then each photo. They all were impressive. He had thought that the first time he went through them. There were individual homes, and two concept communities, but there was one problem. “You know there is a big gap in her work résumé.”

“She apparently let the business slide early on in her marriage,” Seth said. “But before that…”

“And she wants to relaunch with us?”

“Baylor, worst case, what if she can’t do it?” Holly asked.

“More of us leave the valley than just me, and soon.” Baylor’s blunt response made the group go quiet.

With no one speaking, the children could be heard playing in the back of the house. His brothers had three children between them. The neighboring ranch had lent their housekeeper to see to the little ones so all the family members could be present for the meeting and not be distracted.

His family was right about one thing. K. L. Morgan was the lowest bidder and that was another reason he wanted to eliminate her. You get what you pay for. Could they afford the lowest bidder? Would it all fall apart before it was completed or collapse in the middle of a stormy night?

Yet she had covered as much and, in some cases, more than the other designers and contractors had covered in their proposals. As far as he could tell, her plans were impeccable.

There was one thing about KayLee Morgan the others did not offer and Baylor was somewhat uncomfortable admitting it even to himself. The woman was hot, hotter than this valley had ever seen—and he suspected she was that way before pregnancy made her curves so seductive.

“She is the most convincing candidate, Bay, and we need her.” Lance took his stand. “But, most of all, we need you on our side.”

On their side. Ultimately, if Baylor fought hard enough, the decision would be entirely up to him. They had paid dearly in hard-earned cash they could have spent on themselves, but instead they gave him a university education. They sent him out to gather the collective know-how of ranchers and farmers all over the country and bring it back to the Shadow Range. Now their livelihood depended on his being good enough to make the right move.

He helped his mother up from the couch, and she followed him as he left the room with the paperwork in his hand.

“Did you find out anything about your sister?”

Baylor felt the sharpness of the pain in his mother’s voice and shook his head.

He stopped and hugged her. At times like this he wondered how she withstood the pressure of her life. He knew she’d take the blows for each of her children and grandchildren if she could.

KAYLEE HAD TRULY BELIEVED she had a shot this time. When tears she couldn’t stop filled her eyes, she steered the car off the road and shut off the engine. Crying on mountain roads didn’t seem all that smart.

The off-road parking spot had to have been put there for the view, so when the tears passed and since she had no idea what to do next, she viewed.

She stared out at scenery so stunning it almost made her brain hurt. Mountain peaks soared in the distance. The midafternoon sun danced in sparkles off the melting snow around her car. The tops of tall pine trees peeked out from the deep canyon beside the road, and water burbled down from the rock face that shot straight up on the other side of the car.