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Bennett’s eyebrows raised in revolt. “Yeah, if you wanna disrupt the birthing season and lose ten percent of your calves. This isn’t a dude ranch, and a scared or dehydrated mama’s not gonna go over well. If John is wrong and the monsoons are delayed, you’re putting the whole herd in a predicament. No water, no shade, no protection for the babies. The canyon’s a smarter move in my opinion.”
It was why he wanted the land in the first place.
Johnny cleared his throat but didn’t object. The guy had some nerve just standing there like he had any business telling Maggie what to do.
“Why don’t we take the horses up the canyon and I can show you what I mean. It’s easier to see than to explain,” Bennett said.
Maggie’s eyes were full of questions. He had his own, but now wasn’t the time or place. Better to get rid of the smaller problem before tackling bigger ones like his healing heart and her penchant for leaving.
“Okay, Bennett. Let’s go for a ride. Mr. Matthews, if you can show the guys to the barn and get them going on the list I gave your dad, I’d be much obliged.”
Johnny nodded, smiling until Maggie turned toward the stables. When her back was turned, his smile turned to a cold sneer.
“I know what you’re doing, Benny, and it ain’t gonna fly.”
“Oh, yeah? What’s that?”
“You’re trying to sully my name. Well, it won’t work. I’m gonna buy this land from Newman and there’s nothing getting in my way. Not even you. Do yourself a favor and back off now.”
“Or?”
“Or I’ll tell Newman you’re here for the same thing.”
Bennett laughed, diffusing the tension on his end at least. “She already knows. You take care, Johnny. It’s good to see you again.”
He strode off in the direction Maggie went, rolling the interaction off his shoulders. It took his eyes a second to adjust to the dimmer light inside the stables. Once they focused, he let out a welp of surprise.
“Maggie, this place is gorgeous.” It was drastically different than the rest of the property that looked and felt like it’d been reclaimed by the wild. “It’s all modern.”
“Yep,” she said, coming around a corner with a saddle and tack. “That’s my doing. We FaceTimed one day a few years ago, and I walked him through it.”
Bennett frowned even though the machinery was all exquisite, functional, and hers, the Steel Born logo on every item.
“It’s barely a quarter-day’s drive. Why didn’t you come back, Maggie?”
There it was. The one question he’d been saving up but was too afraid to ask.
“I’ve been asking myself the same thing this week.” Her sigh said more than her words. “In the end, I guess I liked having him with me in San Antonio. I liked the look on his face when we talked about Steel Born and the way he seemed to relax like he never did here.”
“But in the beginning? I mean, why didn’t you come back during school breaks?” When I could have seen you.
“My dad insisted this place held too many bad memories, and for a while, he was right.”
“Bad memories? I seem to recall some pretty good ones with you. One or two in this barn.”
Her face lit up like a stoplight. “Those were nice. But they were overshadowed in the end.”
He ran a finger along the cold steel of what looked like a futuristic bovine inseminator from a sci-fi Western movie. “You did all of this over FaceTime?” he asked, shifting away from a conversation that would only break his heart all over again.
“Yep. I had the equipment transported and some staff here to get it assembled.”
“Well, I love the setup—is this an inseminator?”
She beamed. His hands itched to reach out and trace her smile with the edge of his thumb.
“It is. I cut the load coil in half, so it takes a quarter of the time and cost.”
“You have one as part of the line we’re contracting?”
