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Now they almost looked chummy.
“Look at him.” Sylvee’s voice burned with awe. “He’s such a beautiful man.”
Ash’s heart rate spiked. Cutting his stare over Piers’s chiseled form, he nodded. “He is. And he’s ours.”
The thought carried him a few more steps to the paddock. As the men heard them coming, they twisted to look at him and Sylvee.
With a protective hand on her spine, Ash led her forward. She walked right up to Piers and brought her arms around his waist. She rested her head on his chest, and he cradled it to him with a big palm. Then he leaned down and kissed her.
When he looked up, his stare locked on Ash’s. Whatever was going on, he gave nothing away. Ash couldn’t read him.
He shifted his gaze to Hugh and Riggs, standing together. “What’s going on?”
“Hugh and Riggs have made us an offer.” Piers’s statement made Ash curl his fingers into a fist at his side.
“I’ve already heard it. Leave Alaska. Go to Texas and manage the horse herd there if we leave quietly.”
Riggs had the grace to hang his head. “It’s still a good option. We need someone in Texas, and you two know your stock.”
Ash inflated his lungs. They burned and stretched with the gathering need to bellow.
“Ash.” Piers gripped his shoulder, drawing his attention. “We’ve been invited to stay here on the ranch. All of us.”
He shook his head. “Yeah, but we want a family, and the ranch isn’t the place to raise one.”
Hugh shifted his weight to the other foot. “That’s why we’re offering the cabin on the other side of the mountain. Where we took the cattle to pasture for the summer.”
Sylvee’s hand fluttered to her throat in surprise. Ash felt like he’d been struck by a bolt of lightning.
“The cabin? It’s small.”
“We’ll renovate it. Add on to accommodate the big family we plan to have.” Piers’s blue stare was riveted on Sylvee.
Her cheeks took on a pink glow that told Ash he’d won her over with that one statement.
How could Ash shoot down the idea when it was so clearly what Sylvee wanted? Happiness seemed to encircle her like a halo.
“What’s the catch?”
“No catch,” Riggs spoke up. “We like you guys. You’ve done a lot for the ranch, and we want you to stay on with us in another capacity by managing the herd. Leave the women to the other Boot Knockers.”
He turned his attention to Piers. “You want this?”
His lover gave a single nod.
“And I can see you do.” He couldn’t resist reaching out to take Sylvee’s hand.
She nodded too.
“Then I’m in.”
Hugh and Riggs flashed grins.
“There’s one more thing.” Piers looked down at Sylvee. “After you get licensed to practice law in Alaska, the ranch wants to keep you on retainer.”
She gasped and spun to face the bosses. “Are you serious?”
Hugh nodded. “You impressed us when you fought for Avril. And it made us realize that we need contracts that are more ironclad so something like that doesn’t happen again.”
