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“Elena, I don’t need the damn pedigree. I need to know how fast you’ll sell the horses,” Fiona demanded, ignoring Hunt and me.
Elena didn’t react outright, but I knew her.Still did, I thought, elated. For a split second, irritation flickered in her eyes before she smothered it, reining it in like she always did.
“Some horses are already spoken for. The others will take time to place—unless you’d rather sell to the highest bidder, whether they know how to handle them or not,” she explained evenly. “The WildflowerCanyon Rodeo is coming up. We’ll get the horses in front of the right people.”
Fiona waved a dismissive hand. “I need a report on numbers and valuations before the end of the week.”
Hunt muttered, “Please,” and shook his head, clearly disgusted with Fiona’s attitude. I was right there with him—her casual disregard, the way she spoke like Elena would just do as she was told, made my teeth clench.
Fiona glared at me, demanding I do something.
Not going to lift a finger to help you, sister, ‘cause you’re off the fuckin’ deep end here.
Elena only nodded. She wasn’t giving Fiona the satisfaction of a reaction, and that was probably the smart move. Definitely smarter than my girlfriend, who didn’t know when to fucking stop because she decided to cap the clusterfuck this meeting was with, “And, Elena, when I say the end of the week, I mean the end ofthisweek.”
Amos let out a sharp breath. “Fuckin’ hell.” He looked at me with disgust. “You wanna talk business with me, you make suresheisn’t around. That woman doesn’t have the sense God gave her, and she for sure doesn’t know how to be respectful.”
Fiona took a step toward Amos, and it would have been a strong move, except her heel got stuck in the soft grass.
“You are an accountant, Mr. Langley, and you’re welcome to walk away. We’ll find someone?—"
“This meeting is over,” I snapped. “And, Amos, you need to work with Fiona…and, darlin’, you need to learn to work with everyone here. Selling a ranch this size is gonna take a while, and if every meeting is gonna be like this, I’m going to need to put a bullet through my head.”Or yours.
Fiona’s phone rang, and she didn’t even bother excusing herself before stepping away to answer it.
Amos turned to me. “I repeat. You need to get yourself a new accountant or a new girlfriend, you decide. I’m talkin’ to you and not her.”
I drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “I need you, Amos.”
His gaze didn’t soften. “Then act like it and reinherin.”
I looked at Hunt, who was watching me like he was waiting to see what I’d do next.
“Same goes for you,” I said.
“And what does that mean?” Hunt asked lazily.
“Make it work with Fiona,” I responded patiently. This wasn’t on these guys; it was on Fiona. Amos was right; I had to remove her head from her ass, so she could see things clearly.
Hunt shook his head. “I’m with Amos on this. You make sure she treats me well; I’ll do the same for her.”
Then, finally, I faced Elena. She hadn’t looked at me once since this meeting started.
“Elena?”
She met my gaze, and held it for a moment before she said, “I got no problem with your pitbull, boss.”
Amos and Hunt busted out laughing, and I had to control myself not to ‘cause that shit would be inappropriate.
Fiona was angrier than I’d ever seen her on the drive to Kaz Chase’s place. I could feel it in the way she sat beside me—arms crossed, legs angled away, jaw clenched so tight she probably cracked a damn tooth.
I was pissed, too.
But unlike her, I wasn’t bothering to hide it.
“The way you talk to them isn’t okay.”
She let out a sharp, humorless laugh. “Excuse me?”