Page 56 of Keeping His Brat

Two problems solved, maybe three, all in one phone call. That was a good morning’s work. He felt pleased with himself and turned to start searching for pavilion plans. If the rest of the morning went as well, he’d be happy to knock off early.

He had a general idea of how he wanted the structure to look, but he was going to need a solid plan for the men to work with. If necessary, he would hire a contractor to come out and set up the foundation, but he was pretty sure his guys could handle it. Ranch hands tended to be jack of all tradesmen and most of them had done construction at one time or another when work was lean.

It didn’t take him long to find something that would work well and could be easily modified. It was a simple enough structure for them to build. The price too was reasonable.

There was a strong urge to order the plans immediately, but he held back. He wanted to get things moving and that pushed at him. The truth was though, it would be months before they could start building. It was silly to buy something so fast when he had the time to keep looking.

He’d wait, saving the link instead. But mentally he was already checking it off his list of things to do. By the time he headed for home, early as planned, he really felt like he’d made a good start on their future.

It put him in a good headspace to be patient with Charlie and listen. Sam could tell she was surprised at how easily he accepted her story about what had happened. She kept looking at him, waiting for the anger, but he wasn’t feeling it anymore.

Since he wasn’t sure he was fully aware of everything she’d done, he did ask if there was anything else she needed to tell him. He hadn’t expected anything earth-shattering. It was just a useful tool he kept in his Dom bag of tricks.

Charlie had a tendency to omit things. She didn’t count it as a lie, but he did. So, he’d learned to ask. She was a lot less likely to hide things if it meant she had to actually verbalize the lie.

“I sold Devil,” was absolutely the last thing he expected her to say. It floored him. He didn’t even know how to respond at first.

It was true that she’d once talked to local farmers about selling off some of their extra land, but she hadn’t actually gone through with it. And the fight they’d had over the attempt, had been one of the direct causes for the addition of punishment in their relationship.

For her to actually go through with a sale of a valuable animal he had plans for, without even telling him, was so over the top. He had to literally take a moment to count to ten before he could say anything to her.

“Charlie, why would you do that?” He struggled to keep his voice neutral and knew some anger was creeping in when she flinched.

“I had good reasons, S—Daddy. I—I promise I did.” The tremble made it clear she knew she was in big trouble.

“Do I get to hear these reasons now, or after I blister your ass with a paddle?” She squirmed like she was considering making a run for it and he tightened his arms around her waist. He wasn’t up to chasing her across the ranch.

She snuck a quick look at him and then her eyes darted away. “Well, I didn’t go looking to sell him. It hadn’t even crossed my mind …” She trailed off.

It was obvious she was stalling. He shifted her on his lap, gripped her chin and forced her to look up at him. “Charlie, you can either start talking now, or you can go stand in the corner until you’re ready. It’s up to you.”

Sending her to the corner might have been the best idea for both of them. It would give him some time to calm down. But truthfully, he wasn’t even that mad yet, he was just outright confused. Stunned. But her stalling was going to push his buttons.

She fidgeted, struggling with her inability to look away. “Well, you know how you assigned one of the guys to work with him?”

“Ricky, yes. He’s good with spirited horses. Used to break mustangs in college. Why?”

“He asked if he could buy Devil. I guess they formed a bond, and he had some ideas about training for saddle bronc competitions. And I know that’s not what you had planned for him but …” She let the words die off.

It was definitely not what he’d envisioned for Devil. That didn’t mean he couldn’t see the possibilities now. With his spirit and his stubborn nature, the stallion could do well in that role, maybe.

“Ricky has the money to pay for Devil? You know he wasn’t cheap.”

Charlie blew out a nervous breath. “No,” she admitted with reluctance. She hurried to add, “Not upfront anyway. I agreed he could make payments, but we’ll get what you paid for him eventually … plus a bonus. He agreed to two stud contracts at no charge. Kind of like for interest. Either live if he can get Devil to behave, or artificial.”

That took him by surprise and both eyebrows climbed. That wasn’t a bad deal really, especially since the stallion was currently useless. Worse than that really, he was a lot of extra work. It didn’t excuse what she’d done, but it did soothe his mood some.

“Didn’t I see Devil in the barn earlier?”

“Oh! Right, that’s the other thing. He’s going to pay to board him here and do all the care himself and fit the training in on his own time. So, Devil will stay but we won’t be covering his expenses anymore. And you can still get a couple of foals from him eventually like you wanted. I thought— I thought maybe you’d be happy not to have to worry about him anymore.”

He let go of her chin and sighed. Itwasa good deal and if Ricky had approached him there was a good chance he would have agreed. He might not even have bothered to get a stud concession he was that sick of having to deal with the menace of a horse.

“Charlie, I’ll admit you made a good bargain, but what I want to know is how you thought this was okay? You know you don’t even have the legal right to sell any stock on this ranch. I’d have to sign off on it anyway, or the lawyer would.”

Charlie had begun to gnaw on her bottom lip, as she always did when she was anxious or in trouble. There was more to this story than she was telling him, and for some reason she didn’t want to continue. He gave her two minutes and when she didn’t answer his hand moved down to settle on her ass in warning.

“Charlie, you better start talking. I’m running out of patience.”

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