Page 41 of White Collar Rancher

Priya was probably awake by now, used to Caleb and Brigit’s intrusion into their morning. She now made sure all traces of their clothing and any blankets they used under them were gone.

Each time, she was content to stay inside where it was warm. He came out here and did his thing, and she wrinkled her nose at his dirty clothes when he went back inside. He’d probably do the same thing if he went to the hospital and saw her immediately after aiding in a birth. Their worlds were different, but out in the middle of nowhere, they collided nicely.

To give him something else to mull over besides how comfortable this routine had gotten, he gestured to the freeze-proof water tank in front of him. “This is the best investment I’ve ever made.”

“This winter is going to tax how well it can keep water from freezing.” Caleb came to a stop next to him. “Brigit said your mom asked about Priya. That you mentioned her a few times.”

“I did?” He tried to recall his recent conversations with Mom.

“With you, it only takes mentioning a woman’s name once for Joan to think there’s something more there.”

Justin scowled at the round tank in front of him. Two ewes munched at the trough and a six-month-old lamb limped around his boots and nudged his leg. “What’d Brigit say?”

“That you were just friends and you needed a little help with Isaiah once in a while.” Caleb chuckled and shoved his hands in his coat pockets. “I’m sure she was disappointed. Someone like Priya would make her a happy mother-in-law, definitely more than me or Kami did at first.”

“She adores Kami, and I think sometimes you’re her favorite son.”

Caleb’s grin was full of mischief. He reveled in how “Mama Walker” doted on him. “I’ll never compare to her little boys, but it doesn’t mean I don’t like how she brags about me to everyone—after she’s covered the successes of her own kids, of course.”

Justin had never given his mother much fodder to talk about. He’d intended to, of course, when he’d charged out into the world to prove himself. The few times he called home though, he would mention where he was traveling and only that he was working on a big account. Not that it was a million-dollar merger between two marketing companies and his company would only come out on top if he did his job correctly. He would never mention that the company he worked for was half his. He had never felt like it.

The pressure. The gnawing stress. The headaches and heartburn he formed at only twenty-five years old. All so he could fill someone else’s bank account and have his contribution to the effort lost in the small print. He hadn’t been in it for the prestige, but he’d expected more. More fulfillment. More pride in what he did. More rewards that weren’t really more work in disguise, like the meet and greets in Aspen. Not a real vacation.

Guys ten years older than him were taking blood pressure medication and going through divorces. He’d thought he could escape that future.

Until Gabrielle had strung him along and his nights of sleep had been cut in half as he ran numbers and created proposals. He’d thought then that they were blistering hot between the sheets, but only because of the lies she’d fed him. Like that he was the only one. She’d confide in him about personal problems with her family, whom he’d never met, so he would double down and work harder to compensate. She’d played on his emotions when he’d been replaceable in so many ways.

“So is there?” Caleb’s questions hauled him out of his dark memories.

“Is there what?”

“More.”

Justin laughed. “No. I told you how it is. We’re both adults.”

“Uh-huh.”

Justin crossed his arms. He was not having this conversation. “I’m standing in sheep shit, covered in muck. Have you ever seen Priya’s house?”

Caleb’s wry smile answered his question. “I’m only in Lakewood for emergencies. There’s literally no other reason for me to be in that neighborhood.”

“Then you can see why we’re not in a relationship. It’d be like trying to build a castle in the swamp.” And he wasn’t trading his swamp for marble columns. He turned around. Caleb would get the signal that this conversation was done.

So maybe Priya keeping to herself was a good thing. She didn’t make promises that she had no plans to keep and she wasn’t trying to change him. He had no interest in climbing any corporate ladders, just a regular one to repair a leaky barn roof. Working for his family, being accepted for himself instead of what he could be changed into, was all he wanted. Any woman who tried to alter his little patch of paradise would have to leave.

If anyone had told her that she’d be lounging in Justin Walker’s living room, chatting with his twin sister like they’d been besties since they were toddlers, Priya might have never left Moore.

Which wouldn’t have been a good thing. Neither was her crush on Justin when her best friend had been hot and heavy with him. She’d gone off, gotten her education, and always planned to settle back down in Moore and do the whole family thing. She’d done all that without being guaranteed a shot with Justin.

Her life hadn’t revolved around a man then and it didn’t now.

But maybe she wanted it to. A tiny bit. Her world didn’t have to revolve around a guy, just travel next to it.

Which was kind of what it was doing. But for how much longer? Was there a length of time past which it wouldn’t look bad to announce she had feelings for him?

“I heard something the other day.” Brigit stopped cooing at Isaiah and directed her bright gaze at her. Isaiah cartwheeled his legs and looked around.

“Oh?” Priya curled her legs under herself. A pit cracked open in her stomach. Brigit wasn’t one to gossip and this sounded serious.

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