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Her jaw was set, her eyes focused. Only a small quiver of her bottom lip gave her away. He’d take her in his arms and let her mourn the loss of her father, but that wasn’t Bennett’s place. Not anymore.
“Let me take it off your hands. I want to buy it as it is, Maggie. You wouldn’t have to do a thing. Sign the papers and I’ll take care of fixing this place up.”
“Papers? You’ve drawn up a contract?” Her voice was high, bordering on shrill.
He reached for the folded offer tucked in his back pocket. “Of course. This isn’t my first rodeo.” He smiled, really hoping to diffuse the tension.
Making her mad as a kicked hornet’s nest wasn’t how he planned to do this.
“No. And I know how you feel about rodeos, don’t I?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
She held out her hand and gestured for the paper. “Never mind. Lemme see it.”
He gave it over and she opened the single sheet detailing what he was willing to pay and how soon he’d like to secure ownership. The gasp that escaped her lips said his offer was more than fair.
“This is obscene. The property wasn’t worth this much on its best day.”
“It is to me.”
Her gaze focused on him and this time, when her jaw set, her lips did, too.
“You don’t own enough of this valley? I saw the map, Bennett. BTM Ranch took over everything from here to Austin.”
“For good reason. They were failing and I’m not. I’ve made this place profitable again, Maggie. And I don’t have a single regret.”
“Why would you want to pay this now? Why not wait till I’ve turned it around?”
Bennett took a swig of his coffee. “Because I want to make it my own. Your dad was a good rancher, Maggie, but he ran this place to the ground because he refused to modernize. I won’t make that mistake. This land—the creek and shade of the canyon especially—it can save cattle if the drought persists.”
Maggie paced toward the front door, her coffee mug tight in her hands like it was tethering her to reality. His truths might be hard to handle, but they were the facts, plain and simple.
“You’re right.” He smiled until she didn’t. “But you’re also missing half the story. He didn’t for one day refuse to modernize. We made the plans. We designed them to the last sustainable fence post. Maybe with a little help, my dad could have made this place profitable, too.”
“Where were you, then?”
Her jaw fell open in surprise, but her eyes were lined with regret. “Doing my job. What about you? Maybe if you hadn’t sat back and watched him fail so you could snatch up his property like the vulture you’ve become—”
“Now, Maggie—”
“No. You don’t get to come in here and act like a white knight when you could have helped him, Bennett. If you’re so rich, so successful, why did you leave my father’s ranch here to die with him?”
He opened his mouth to reply, even though he wasn’t sure what he could possibly say to that.
She didn’t give him the chance either way. “I want you to leave.”
“What? Maggie, can’t we talk about—”
“We did, and I’m not selling. At least not yet. I loved this place once and I still do. Or did you forget that I was as good a rancher as you, maybe better?”
“Then why’d you leave?”
“It doesn’t matter why I left. Let’s just say I didn’t have anything holding me here anymore.”
Wait, what?
“What do you mean? You never gave me your answer, Maggie. You just left. How is it fair to blame me for that?”
