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It was then she realized she had not told them her name.
“Kalie,” she said. “Kalie Parker.”
Preston grinned and walked out.
“Again, my apologies, Miss Parker,” Colby said. “Don’t know what came over me ’cept that you are one fine-looking woman and I’m just a lonely cowboy.”
With a sigh, she realized she was going to need these men and it would be in her best interest to stay on their good side.
“Apology accepted,” she said.
“Goodnight, Kalie,” he responded.
For a moment, she was tempted to tell him to call her Miss Parker, but she didn’t. Instead she closed the door behind him and slid the door lock.
Glancing around the house, she began a thorough inspection. The home was large, and while it was outdated, it had good bones. Good structure throughout. She would get a pretty penny for this place. It would be a great home to raise a large family in.
Oddly, it had character all its own that she kind of liked. A homey feeling where she could see a large family gathered around the dining room table with a Christmas tree reaching up to the second floor in the main room and children chasing each other through the house.
Going up the stairs, she checked each bedroom until she found the master.
There in the center of a very large room was a bed big enough to hold four or five people.
“Why did they need such a large bed?”
Were they big people? She would be lost in that monstrosity.
A brick fireplace stood against one wall and framed pictures sat on the mantel. In one, she saw the face of her father.
She picked up the frame and stared at the boy. Her father had to be about eight years old and he stood between two smiling men. One she recognized by family resemblance as Will Parker, his father. The other man she didn’t know.
“You were here, Daddy,” she said. “Why didn’t you tell me about your parents? What were you hiding?”
CHAPTER5
After the door closed behind Colby, the men walked through the night to the bunkhouse, their boots crunching on the gravel of the drive.
An owl hooted off in the distance and a cow mooed in the pasture. The sounds of home.
As soon as they were far enough away that he didn’t think they could be heard, Preston swore under his breath.
“Damn, Colby, she’s a stunner. No wonder you acted like a fool,” Preston said, wondering how he would have reacted to seeing her traipsing into the grocery store.
“Well, it almost got me fired,” he said. “She didn’t threaten, but I could see it there in those titillating emerald eyes. Now do you understand why I want to fuck her?”
Of course, he did.
“Oh, yes,” Preston said, walking into the bunkhouse. “But how long is she going to stay? And what’s she going to do with the property?”
So many questions swirled in his mind now that the new owner had finally arrived.
The woman had not said a word about her plans except that she intended to return in two weeks to the big city. Two weeks they had to convince her to stay. Not to sell the land. And yet, he didn’t want to put any kind of pressure on her.
Whatever they did had to be subtle. This was her decision. A bad owner who hated the ranch would be even worse than a new owner who wanted to make the land into a ranching subdivision.
“Damn, I wonder if she would sell the property to me?” Preston said, thinking out loud. All he had was his trust fund, and while he didn’t want to carry a mortgage, it would be better than the land going to Jim White. Or maybe his parents would agree to help him.
That would have the family owning two large ranches in the area. But his father was one tight man when it came to his cash.
