“Shit.” I mutter the word under my breath, momentarily ashamed that I would swear like that in front of someone like Katie. On the phone she said that there was a problem with the transfer of ownership, but I didn’t think that she meant something like this. I assumed I’d need to sign a few extra documents or pay some fees for transfer of liens. I couldn’t have predicted something like this, something that is so completely out of my control. Hell, this has nothing to do with the land today or how much I value it. This decision was made before I was even born. Before Evelyn was even born. I feel this dream slipping farther and farther away from me.
“Do I have any options? Evelyn didn’t have any family.” I finally say, my voice sounding raspy since my mouth is completely dry.
Katie’s mouth turns up into a sneaky smile. It’s both amazing and disturbing in a woman of her age. She’s been doing this a long time and I’m sure that she’s pinned men to the wall with that smile. “See, that’s not exactly true. Evelyn had a son.”
I knew that. “He died ages ago.” And good riddance. Evelyn’s son was always a sore spot. He never gave her anything but grief when she was alive, and then that grief was insufferable after he died because she spent so much time imagining what could have been. It was a complicated relationship that caused her so much heartache. She felt like she failed him, even though there was nothing she could have done to make him better.
“Yes, he did,” she says. “But not before he had a daughter. She lives in Colorado.”
Shock rolls through me. Evelyn had a granddaughter? A brief flash of hope shines down on me before flickering out once again. “That’s good that it won’t immediately pass to the government, but how exactly does it help me if Rocking R just goes to a stranger?”
Katie looks at me. “Evelyn wanted the ranch to go to you. The law says that it has to pass to a blood relative. There is a very simple way that both of those things can be accomplished.”
Clarity, and then nausea, hit me in two distinct waves. I turn back to the window, this time using the view to distract me from the reality. Katie wants me to marry this woman. Evelyn’s granddaughter. A complete stranger.
In my mind, the dreams I had in my head since I’d found out the ranch would be mine disappear. I’d imagined finding someone and raising a family together on the ranch. And when I got old enough, I would pass it on to my children as well. All of those dreams evaporate in a second with the idea of marrying this woman.
But I swore to protect Evelyn’s legacy, and if marrying a stranger is the only way I can keep my promise, I will do it. No matter what it costs me. “What’s her name?” I ask.
“Rachel Dover,” Katie says. “She took her mother’s last name. And this doesn’t have to change anything for you, Clayton. It’s purely a business arrangement. Nothing more. A means to an end.”
I know logically that it’s true, but it doesn’t feel that way. “And you think that she would actually agree to this?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know, but she’ll be here this afternoon and we’ll find out.”
“What?” Brand new shock straightens my spine.
That smirk again. “I’m flying her out from Denver. She confirmed. We have a few hours to work out the details of what you want so that we can present a united front. We have to make sure this deal is lucrative enough for her, and also make sure it’s iron-clad so you end up with what’s rightfully yours, and we fulfill Evelyn’s last wishes.”
I shake my head. It’s not what I want, but if this is the way that it has to be, then I will make it work. “All right then,” I say. “Let’s get to work.” And I sit down to plan how I’m going to marry a stranger.
* * *
The more that I think about this the more that I dislike it. I’ve put my life into Rocking R Ranch, and the idea that I have to bend over backwards to save my life’s work from an archaic law grinds under my skin and makes me clench my jaw. And the more I think about marrying this girl—the daughter of Evelyn’s one true source of pain—the more uncomfortable I am.
She’s a villain in this story whether or not she realizes it, and I’ve already built her up into someone that it’s easy to hate, despite the fact that I’ve never met her.
Katie and I strategized, and it’s a good pitch. But we’ve never met Ms. Dover before. We can’t predict how she’s going to react, and if she’s anything like her father…Hell, this could all backfire and she walks away with the ranch.
We’re in the same conference room overlooking the river, Katie and I sitting on one side of the conference table awaiting the arrival of Rachel Dover.
I turn the name over in my head, trying to put a face to the name. Trying to get used to the fact that this stranger holds so much power over me. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to be in this uncomfortable suit or away from the ranch when there are things that need doing. I’m feeling trapped.
All I know about this woman is that she works in the food industry, and that her mother is dead
