Page 128 of Ironwood Ranch Cowboys

I blink at her. Is that an insult? “I like flexibility.”

“I’m sure you do.”

And there it is again, that little hook under the compliment. That neat, careful implication that flexibility is another word for rootless, unstable, unserious.

I smile. “It’s worked well for me.”

“I imagine it would have to.”

Vivian turns to the roast chicken being served like she didn’t just casually slice a layer off my patience.

“So many young women mistake restlessness for independence,” she says, speaking generally while very obviously meaning me. “They think refusing permanence is the same as building something.”

Duke exhales through his nose. “Jeez, Aunt Viv.”

Silas says, very evenly, “Enough.”

The whole table stills.

Vivian turns her head slowly toward him. “I’m trying to understand the woman you hired. I don’t think you need to turn this into something dramatic, dear. You know I care about you all and this ranch. I need to make sure everything is run properly.”

Silas rolls his eyes. “You know I run this ranch right.”

“Well, we wouldn’t have Miss Annie here if you were, would we?”

Bile collects at the base of my throat. I don’t like being targeted, but I also don’t like being a pawn in a bigger argument. One I don’t understand at all.

I thought the brothers were hard to read, but Vivian is something else.

“I’m here to do a job,” I jump in because I need to try to shatter the tension a little. “And I’ve been working hard…”

“Hmm, I see.” Vivian smiles. “So, you do have fire.”

I want to throw the soup. Instead I sit straighter and let my anger intensify, becoming useful.

“If you have a question,” I say, “you can ask it directly.”

“Oh, I’m sure I could.” She folds her napkin with perfect precision. “But direct questions are so rarely where the truth lives.”

That’s such rich, manipulative nonsense I almost admire it.

“What truth are you looking for?” I ask.

Vivian takes a sip of wine. “I only mean that Ironwood has always required a certain kind of loyalty in the past, so you are… an anomaly.”

What does she mean?

I hate being on the back foot.

“Annie is doing great work,” Cody jumps in defensively. “She’s spotted errors in the system we needed to see.”

“Hmm, and you couldn’t do that alone, Cody?” She cocks her head to one side. “Because I thought the numbers were your work.”

A light redness stains his cheeks. “I’m too close.”

She lifts one shoulder. “Legacy matters. Family matters.”

Duke’s easy warmth vanishes so fast it’s almost startling. Cody’s expression sharpens, becoming clinical and dangerous. Silas looks like he’s been carved out of the darkest part of the room.