Page 5 of Ropers Can’t Tie Knots (Kissing Ridge Cowboys #3)

four

Hunter

N o way in fuck do I want to be married.

It’s not that I don’t believe Gabe. He wouldn’t just make shit up like that, but why would my grandfather do this?

After Gabe closed his door behind him, I broke down for the first time since my grandmother died.

I’m so fucking tired of holding it all in and pretending I don’t care.

Tears of anger and loss for something I never had flowed freely.

My heart, already ripped and jagged at the hands of my grandfather, finally fell apart.

I care too much, and I can’t just turn it off.

Grabbing tissues from a box in the living room, I wiped my face and sagged onto the sofa.

It’s not even about the money. Yes, it would help, and while it’s his wealth and he can leave it to whoever he wants, I poured almost thirty years of my life into this ranch.

I worked harder than any hired help, and my pay was laughable, but I stayed first out of obligation.

Like I owed it to my father to be better for the man who shunned him.

But I also stayed because there was a time I worshipped Jeremiah Burke. He loved me once when I was a child, and I so desperately wanted that man back. The warm hugs and the walks in the barn, talking about horses and ranch life. I wanted to be like him then .

Family was something everyone I knew had, and I craved it. I wanted to be the one he could count on, and I just wanted him to see me. Really see that I was capable. To be proud of his grandson again and flash his smile my way. For just one short, ‘good job, Hunter.’

It never happened.

I was foolish to live in a world where I hoped he’d change, but I suppose I’m just as thick as the lawyers who made the will thought I was.

When the tears finally stop flowing, I head up to my bedroom.

Sleep won’t make the problem go away, but it will help me forget about it for a while.

“Here you go, handsome.” Diamond sets my cheesecake down on the table with my coffee. “I gave you extra chocolate sauce. It looks like you could use some happiness.”

“Thanks, Diamond.”

I force a smile, and he pats my shoulder with a friendly squeeze before he returns to the front counter. His long legs eat up the distance as he crosses the room, and I admire not just his legs, but how he’s turned his place into a unique business that all the cowboys flock to .

With the uniform of cut-off shorts and cowboy boots—but only if his staff are comfortable wearing them—The Thirsty Cow’s brand of playful sex appeal, alongside coffee and amazing hand-crafted desserts, draws people in like nothing else. Diamond isn’t just another pretty face. He’s smart as hell.

“Hey…sorry I’m late.” Jackson plops into the chair across from me and pats his messy hair. “I thought I had a ball cap in the truck, and now I’m…yeah. I’m late.”

Jackson is usually calm and mostly put together, but it takes me less than three seconds to bark a laugh when I figure out why he’s late.

“You, ah, missed a few buttons there, Jack. Next time, just wear a T-shirt if you’re getting lucky with a deadline.” I touch the side of my neck. “Also…he left a mark.”

Jackson groans and runs a hand down his face. “It’s just…he was…and then —”

“Do not explain it. It’s fine. You made me laugh, at least.”

Diamond stops next to us and sets a coffee in front of Jackson with a smirk. “If I was a betting man, I’d say you haven’t had breakfast yet either. I have scones coming out of the oven in ten. I’ll drop a few over right away. They go great with cheesecake.”

He winks and leaves us be while Jackson shakes his head as he sips his coffee. “My life isn’t boring. I’ll say that. But we aren’t here to talk about me.”

I called him first thing this morning because the best thing to ease some sorrow is a talk with a good friend and a slab of homemade cheesecake. It doesn’t matter that it’s only 10 AM. Desperate times and all that .

“Right. I need to tell you something and I trust you’ll be honest with me.”

“You know I will.”

I launch into telling Jackson how Gabe arrived, and I was still going through all my receipts when Gabe asked if he could help me.

“Ah! So you asked him to look at the will, then?”

“I did, and I’m pretty sure I can trust him. Riley wouldn’t be friends with a guy who isn’t honourable, would he?”

Jackson shakes his head hard. “No, and you know they’re close. Remember when Riley’s Aunt Agnes fell just as we got serious? He called Gabe, and I found them sleeping together.”

“What? Like…sleeping or fucking?”

Jackson laughs at my question and shakes his head.

“Sleeping, Hunter. Riley was upset and needed comfort, which Gabe gave him. They used to do that a lot, from what Riley says.”

“Can I go back and ask what you did when you found them like that? Honestly, I probably would have punched first and asked questions after.”

Diamond shows up with fresh scones for each of us and little pots of homemade jam. Blueberry is one of the flavours. I should tell Jamieson since he loves this stuff. “I’m sorry I can’t offer clotted cream right now. The delivery guy is late. I’m so sorry.”

Diamond is truly apologetic for the oversight. “I’ll survive Diamond. Thank you. Just tell any of the English folk before they order, so you aren’t mobbed.”

We both laugh as Diamond hurries away to the long line of customers that have just arrived .

“I almost punched him.” Jackson says as he slathers a scone with strawberry jam. “But I knew Riley enough to keep calm. He wouldn’t have been with me then fucked someone else forty-eight hours later. Plus, Gabe immediately identified himself, which helped.”

We eat quietly for a few minutes. Exclaiming about how great it all tastes, fresh cream be damned, while inside I’m a nervous mess. But I’m not leaving here without having a plan of action.

“So…Jesus…I don’t even know how to say this, Jack.” Running a hand over my face, I puff out a breath before summoning the courage to just say it. “According to the residual trust, it’s mine if I meet the conditions.”

“That’s amazing!” I hold up my hand and shake my head. “Oh. How is it not amazing, then?”

“I need to be married.” Jackson sputters his coffee and I pass him a napkin. “My bad. I should’ve let you swallow that first.”

“Married!?” Jackson’s eyebrows raise as he processes my info drop. “Like, say ‘ I do ,’ and have a proper husband married?”

“If there’s another kind of marriage, please share,” I say dryly.

Jackson blinks a few times before puffing out a breath. “So, what are you going to do?”

“I was hoping you had an answer.”

Jackson’s eyebrows return to earth and this time draw into a scrunch on his forehead.

He does that when he’s thinking, and it’s something I’ve seen plenty of times when we were rodeo partners.

“Okay, tell me what else it said. Let’s workshop this.

” Jackson cracks his knuckles and sits forward. “We’ll solve this together. ”

And that’s why I called Jackson. He’s always in my corner, even when I’m an asshole. Sometimes I think I don’t deserve a friend like him, but fuck, I’m glad I have him right now.

“There aren’t a lot of details. Gabe said the only heir inherits the rest at certain intervals if they’re married and stay married. I think he said three months, six months, and a year.”

“What exactly happens at those times?”

“A portion of the money is released from the trust to me to do with as I wish.” I bring my mug to my lips. “As long as I’m married.” I wash the words away quickly with warm coffee.

Jackson nods and rubs his chin. “I feel like there’s a catch. Unless you being married is the catch.” Jackson presses his lips together. “Actually, do you think he’d do that?”

“Do I think he’d force me to get married, which I never wanted, because he thinks it will make me miserable just to receive the money? Abso-fucking-lutely.”

“If you don’t get married, what happens to the trust?”

“Oh, get this…it goes to the Broken Rainbow.”

Jackson’s mouth drops open.

“Are you fucking kidding me? Jesus, he was a real piece of work. Make you miserable being married or make all our lives miserable because he funds a bullshit straight-rights group.” Jackson’s hand curls into a fist. “That group isn’t a charity.

They spread hate everywhere and are actively lobbying the government to repeal everything we fought for.

Hunter, please tell me you won’t let that happen. ”

Jackson didn’t have to point out everything my grandfather did.

It kept me awake most of the night already.

I thought of my friends here in Kissing Ridge, especially Riley and Jackson.

Riley plans same sex weddings, and that enriches his life in ways I can’t understand because romance was never my thing.

Weddings are enormous expenses just to say two words in front of hundreds of people you barely send Christmas greetings to, and it’s never appealed to me. But that sort of thing makes many people happy.

Including the two men or women who might be there, not just because they love each other, but because it was something we had to fight for. It’s a statement, and I could never live with myself if I was part of the reason the basic right was taken away.

“No, Jack. I don’t want that to happen. But I don’t know how to not have it happen. That’s why I called you.”

We sip our coffee in silence for a moment, and I don’t really know how the hell I can just marry someone and parade them around to have funds released.

“I have an idea,” Jackson says.

“Tell me.”

Jackson chews at his lip and leans forward, dropping his voice like we’re planning a bank robbery and not finding me a fake husband.

“Gabe. You should marry Gabe.” Jackson rushes on. “He already lives at your place. He’s a lawyer, and he’ll make sure you don’t break the rules of the will, and he’ll definitely support the reason for not forfeiting funds to Broken Rainbow.”

As far as ideas go, it’s not the worst one.

“You think he’d go for it?”

Jackson grins. “Only way to find out is to get a ring and ask. ”

He chuckles a little, and I do, too, because me proposing is just ridiculous…but it makes sense. It also gives me hives, but it makes sense.

“I’ll talk to him tonight.”

After I left Jackson, I stopped at the jewellery store downtown.

Ring prices were…something. After trying to be polite by asking vague questions, I finally just asked the girl for the cheapest ring they had. A $149 thin gold band now sits in a box in my pocket in what possibly is the biggest twilight zone moment of my life.

If Jackson is right, Gabe will agree this is a great idea and we’ll arrange a date to get our marriage licence and walk over to the courthouse as soon as it’s in hand. We’ll submit the proof to the trustee for the clock to start and meet up again in three months.

I feel hopeful for the first time since the old bastard died. This battle with lawyers and wills might finally have an end in sight. Which, if I’m honest, has been more stress than I could handle. I was close to breaking a few times, and now, with some resolution, it’s like I can breathe again.

By the time I came home and fed the animals, it was late, but they didn’t give me too much shit for it. Even Lewis. He accepted the carrot I threw his way, and I lingered along the fence, watching him eat it with his little paws and chubby cheeks. Such a funny little animal.

The nerves don’t hit me until after I’ve showered and started dinner. I don’t even know Gabe’s schedule. We didn’t have time to talk about any of that, but he’s a lawyer in Kissing Ridge. He can’t work that late… can he?

The ring in my pocket feels like a bomb, and I just want this over and done with. I’m almost positive proposals shouldn’t make people feel like the world is about to end, but maybe if you’re in love, it’s completely different.

The front door opens while I’m chopping carrots for the steamer, and I hold my breath for Gabe to announce he’s home.

“It smells amazing in here. I should pay extra for you to be my chef,” he jokes as he loosens the tie at his neck.

My palms sweat, and I wipe them on my jeans and attempt a smile.

“Are you okay?” Gabe asks with a tilt to his head.

“I’m fine?”

“Are you asking me? That sounded like you’re not sure.” His eyes narrow, and I hold my breath as he scrutinizes me like a bug under a microscope.

“I’m sure. I usually cook for two, so I have something for lunch the next day, but you’re welcome to join me again.”

“Really?” His eyes light up like it’s Christmas, and he heads to the stairs. “Give me a minute to change, and I’ll help you.”

Gabe disappears, and I return to my task.

“Just ask him, for god’s sake,” I mutter to myself and slam the knife through the carrot harder than I should .

If he says no, it’ll be even more awkward than it is now. If he says yes, well, maybe we can go for ice cream or something. What do people do to celebrate this kind of thing?

I’m so out of my comfort zone here. I’d be more comfortable running naked down Main Street.

Which I’d likely choose over what I’m about to do.