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“Oh gosh. She is here already? I better head over.” Mrs. Hart said, leaving us to ourselves.
“How did she look?” Beau asked as I sat next to him.
“Good. Wearing these little shorts that leave nothin’ to the imagination and maybe a little sad but still damn fine.” I said with a wink, knowing my brother had a bit of a crush on her back in the day, well who was I kidding? I did too.
“That’s not what I meant, Will. Did she look like she was in a good mood and going to do the right thing?” He said and I rolled my eyes.
“I don’t know, Beau. I can’t read minds. Why don’t you head over and find out? You’re the manager for the ranch anyway, I guess that is as good a reason as any to speak to her.” I said and he grunted.
“You know it is going to be harder to do business now she is back.” He said quietly and I shrugged.
“It’s not like she knew about it before she left, and it was happening right under her nose. I don’t think she will notice now.” I replied, stuffing my mouth full of the lamb as he went silent.
“I just don’t understand why he left it to her.” He muttered and I nudged his shoulder.
“Did you forget she is his daughter in all but blood? It makes sense, Beau. Did you think he would leave it to us?” It was a conversation we often had this past week.
“No. I just… she left, Will. She left.” He said quietly and I sighed.
“A lot of folks leave these parts, Beau. But she is back now.” Even if it was with some guy following her.
“Guess I’ll go find out the future of all our lives,” Beau said as he got up and headed toward the house.
I watched my brother walk away, understanding his apprehension. Our lives were tied up with this ranch in more ways than one.
Our parent’s farm was under the Hart title now and Austin had trusted us to run things, teaching us the trade and the reason why this ranch was so important.
The cattle may be the reason this ranch was started, but it wasn’t the only thing we loaded onto trucks and shipped all over the country.
I just hoped we could keep that little secret safe from Anya because I was terrified of seeing judgment in those pretty blue eyes of hers.
When she left, I had been a fresh-faced, nineteen-year-old boy wanting to prove myself and she looked at me like I was a little brother.
The way she had been looking at me today said she finally saw me for the potential I had as a man and I was determined to remind her what she left behind, including me.
I had spent the last two years pining for the girl I had lusted after since I noticed her sweet curves and had my first wet dream about touching her.
Now she was back, I had the opportunity to make those dreams come true, I just had to do something about that fancy boyfriend.
I didn’t like the way he looked at her like she was an object and she looked defeated, like life was no longer exciting and I suspected he had something to do with that.
We had a muster coming, if I could convince her to come along, I knew she would remember what life was like here and just maybe she would want to stay.
Four
Anya
Thehousewasthesame. I don’t know why I expected it to look any different after two years, I suppose it was because I looked at it differently. This house was where the innocent girl I used to be grew up before the incident.
The girl who thought that her mother had just made an honest mistake with the wrong man, not knowingly engaged in an affair.
“Not exactly the fancy place I expected,” Damien said as he took in the old, outdated wallpaper on the walls and aging cupboards.
“What did you expect, Damien?” I asked as I dropped my bag on the sturdy dining table.
“I don’t know. It’s a ranch. I expected one of those huge homesteads that had so many rooms and could fit an entire hoard of people.” he said as he scrunched up his nose.
“Austin preferred to invest the money back into the ranch instead of the house. That’s where the money comes from. He always said there was no point fixing up the house if it was livable.” I said absently as I grabbed a glass from the cupboard and poured myself some water. I looked out of the window, taking in the bunkhouse that looked like it had been renovated, the paint a crisp white and the green tin roof shining in the sun. The paddocks still had a touch of green to them, the sun not quite scorching all the color.
