The corners of her mouth twitched. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Anyway, ranching's a lot more than cattle and horses. There's breeding, equipment, payroll, finances... a little bit of everything. If the business side turns out to be more your thing, the office staff can teach you that. And if, someday, you decide you want to help run the ranch, we'll figure out where you fit best.”
He took another sip of coffee before continuing. “Whether you stay or leave, your share of the ranch is yours. If you'd rather build a life somewhere else, I'll buy you out at a fair price. But if you want to stay...” He smiled. “...there'll always be a place for you here.”
She was stunned.
She'd come to Kansas expecting to fight for an inheritance.
But Shane was offering her something far more valuable.
Relief washed over her so completely that she almost laughed from the sheer absurdity of it. Twenty-four hours ago, she'd been rehearsing arguments about wills and inheritance laws. Now they were discussing her future on a ranch she'd never expected to set foot on.
“You're going to regret this,” she teased.
“I doubt it.”
“You've clearly forgotten I've never set foot on a ranch before last week.”
He laughed. “True.”
“So how'd your dad teach you?”
“Our dad...” He paused and met her gaze head-on for a beat before continuing. “...started putting me to work before I was old enough to reach half the latches around the place.” He smiled at the memory. “He always found something I could do. Feed the chickens. Gather eggs. Sweep the barn. Hold a gate. As I got older, the jobs got bigger and dirtier—like roping calves and mucking out stalls.”
“What's that? Mucking.”
“Shoveling horse shit.”
“Ew,” she said with a grimace.
He chuckled. “You get used to it, but I agree—riding horses is a lot more fun than cleaning up after them.”
A genuine laugh escaped her for the first time all day.
As he watched her, a thoughtful expression spread across Shane’s face. “Huh. I see it now.”
She cocked her head to the side. “See what?”
“Tuck was right.” He held her gaze. “We both have Dad's smile.”
She hadn't expected those words to matter so much. Yet they did.
For years, she wondered if she'd inherited anything at all from the man she'd never met. Now, for the first time, someone who had actually known Peter was giving her a memory of him.
Not about the way he looked or his personality.
About the way he smiled.
Did it still hurt that she'd grown up without knowing her father?
Of course.
But she couldn't change the past. What she had now was the chance to build a future with the brother she'd only just found.
The warmth filling her chest lasted only a moment before another thought forced its way to the surface.
Troy.
