Total pages in book: 33
Estimated words: 31021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 155(@200wpm)___ 124(@250wpm)___ 103(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 155(@200wpm)___ 124(@250wpm)___ 103(@300wpm)
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 as well. There honestly wasn’t a lot to dig up on her, even with Katie’s extensive resources. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
Katie’s secretary opens the door, and I’m prepared for an even more visceral hate to fill me up, so bitter that I could already taste it in my mouth. I’m ready to hold myself back from anger and pretend that I’m okay for the sake of my promise to Evelyn.
What I’m not ready for is one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen to walk into the room. Waves of dark hair fall around her shoulders, framing a delicate face that could easily be at home on a magazine cover. Legs in dark leggings that go one for what feel like miles. Perfect curves barely hidden under her dress; a style that looks like a large button-down shirt belted at the waist.
My body reacts to her at the same time that my mind does, with sudden, animal longing. She’s damn gorgeous, and suddenly the deepest part of me identifies a need that hadn’t been there moments before I first laid eyes on her. A need very specifically for her. It tells me that being married to her won’t be so bad if this marriage requires any kind of consummation to function.
But this isn’t a day where I can let my dick lead me. This is a day where my dick needs to keep itself in check. So I think about mucking out three-day old stables to keep my mind in the game. I stand to reach across the table and shake her hand.
I’m definitely not thinking about the way it would feel to sink my hands into that gorgeous hair or how those curves would look if I got so lucky to strip her completely bare.
Our hands connect, and she’s staring at me just like I’m staring at her—like I’m something entirely unexpected. I wish I could say that there was no reaction when I touched her skin, but the electric current that runs between us is impossible to ignore.
Katie breaks the somewhat awkward silence. “Miss Dover, thank you for making the trip on such short notice. This all must be quite a surprise.”
She gives us a tight smile. “It’s not a problem. Your email was intriguing, though. I have to admit I have no earthly clue what is going on. My father never gave me anything except for my DNA,” she says with a chill in her voice.