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Marriage?
I hadn’t bothered thinking that far ahead.
Mind whirring, I contemplate ways to turn this to my advantage.
As I look onto the yard, I see the ranch hands coming in for lunch, some yawning, others smoking. I can hear the horses neighing in the distance and the baying of the stock as they cross land that my ancestors staked their claim on two centuries ago.
The Seven Cs is mine.
All two hundred thousand acres of it.
Even if Pops’s the idiot who puts every acre at risk with his shitty business practices.
It’s a thought that makes me come to a decision.
One that’ll change my life and that of a woman I haven’t seen in a decade.
“I’ll do it.”
“Knew you’d see sense, boy.”
“I never said there wouldn’t be conditions.”
Smug smile fading, he furrows his brow. We both know control of this situation is in my hands, and he can posture as much as he wants, but it means nothing in the end. “This isn’t a negotiation.”
He acts like I’m still fifteen, not thirty-two.
But there’s his problem—I am thirty-two and he let me know that Juliette McAllister hand-picked me for her granddaughter.
“As far as I can see, it is.Youneed my ass to shuffle down the aisle, and if you don’t want to liquidate those assets of yours to cover the loan repayments when water shortages force us to downsize our herd, then you’d better give me whatIwant.”
“You won’t let the Seven Cs suffer," he jeers. "You don’t have it in you.”
“No, I don’t. This solution of yours might be gussied-up, but there are alternatives. Expensive ones for sure, but alternatives.
“Seeing as I’m the Korhonen the McAllister matriarch chose for Susanne, you’ll do as I say if you want a fast and cheap route to fixing this mess.”
His chin tilts. “What do you want?”
“You.Gone.”
His bewildered expression is borderline comical. Or it would be if anything about this situation was funny.
“Huh?”
“You heard me. Do you want to save the Seven Cs? You get away from it. Your mismanagement is what’s brought this place to its knees, then, when it was at rock bottom, you deigned to let me take over. I’m the only reason this place is flourishing.
“If you care about it as much as you claim, then you’ll resign as CEO and President of the company.”
“How dare you!”
He jumps to his feet much as I did earlier, but I’m not finished with him yet.
“Oh, I dare,Pops. Just like you dared arrange a marriage contract without warning me. I go to Wyoming on business and come home with an engagement in the cards.
“Youneed me to help,youneed the McAllisters’ water, and that has a price tag.
“Resigning as CEO and President isn’t all I want from you either. You’re going to move to the house in Saskatoon and leave us the hell alone. I don’t want to see you around unlessIcall you back, do you hear me?”