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I can’t resist sneaking her another admiring glance, but from somewhere deeper, I resist it.So what? She can tweak numbers and tastes like salted caramel. So do a lot of women.
I strengthen my resolve against her. One crazy night with her and Connor, and I’m losing my grip. I have to stay focused here… don’t I?
Idly, I wonder what it is I’m fighting against exactly, and as her subtle cloud of citrus vanilla washes over me, I find myself unsure. Flashes of her naked, writhing body beneath me overtake my thoughts for the moment.
Connor clears his throat, and I’m thrust out of my reverie.
“Let me see,” I say, taking the folder from her.
She hands it to me, deliberately sliding her slender fingers against mine, and I scowl lightly. Rose blushes and turns back to the plans.
“I think we can break this down chunk by chunk,” Connor says, pointing toward the barn on the blueprint. “Start with the lowest costs and work our way up?”
“No,” Rose corrects him. “We should start on the house. It’s in the worst shape, and Katherine deserves better.”
“We need to see what’s going to bring in the most income the fastest,” Katherine interjects. “The barns are the lowest cost, and we can immediately fill them with horses to get the ranch going. We can start by offering riding lessons. Then, with more income flowing, we can focus our attention on house repairs. The boys have done a good job ensuring that nothing is technically falling apart here. Most of the work internally is bound to be cosmetic.”
“Horses cost money,” Rose points out, and I’m half-listening as I look at the numbers closely. Everything makes perfect sense, and my appreciation for Rose’s seemingly endless abilities only multiply as I read them.
She really is more than a pretty face.The realization takes me by surprise.
“Let’s take a breath for a second.” Rose sits down in a chair to face her grandmother. “The purpose here is to get the entire ranch running, right? And then make it suitable for guests.”
“Of course,” Katherine concedes. “But to do that, we need stables, horses?—”
“You’re getting ahead of yourself, Katherine,” Rose says gently. “There’s mold in some of these rooms. The roof is ready to cave in on the west side, even if it’s functional now. What will we do if the house falls down? Live in the stables?”
Katherine stares at her evenly. “You’re worried I’m going to up and croak before you’ve renovated the place?”
Rose pales at her no-nonsense approach. “No!” she denies, but I read the lie all over her face, so I’m sure her grandmother does, too.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Katherine tells her flatly. “And the house is the least of our worries now. If the roof leaks, we’ll patch it like we have before. Let’s focus on getting the business running. That’s what will get the coffers filled. This isn’t my first rodeo, dear.”
She chuckles at her own pun, but Rose is less amused. She looks to me and Connor for help, but we agree with Katherine, and she can see she’s outnumbered.
“Can’t we work on both?” she offers weakly.
“Until there’s money coming in, we need to be careful,” Katherine informs her, and she blushes as she understands her grandmother’s unspoken warning.
Rose is unemployed. There’s only Katherine’s social security money, and whatever money she has left from Jake—which can’t be much if she sold part of the land to my and Hudson’s families. The first priority here must be bringing in a steady income stream.
Grimacing, I set the file folder down and silently sip my coffee as Rose sneaks me a covert glance.
“You have any thoughts on this?” she asks hopefully.
I shrug. “Let’s see what tools we need and then take an inventory of what we already have. Whatever tools the Stannich hardware store doesn’t have, we can order or get in Helena.”
“All right,” Rose agrees with forced cheer. “Let’s do this then.”
I wonder if she’s regretting her ambitions yet.
* * *
It won’t take much to raze the old structures on Katherine’s property. They’ve been so ill-kept already that it won’t take much more than Connor’s John Deere to knock them down once we start the project.
Connor and Rose are having a heyday filling up the cart in the Stannich market as I hang back, watching them, the knot in my gut growing tighter.
What’s going on here? How is she just infiltrating our lives?
