Page 4 of A Rancher's Bride
That was about the only positive thing he could think of—
And this wasn’t where he wanted his brain to go. He didn’t want to dwell on the fact he’d spent a lot of time and energy on a relationship that had failed.
Didn’t want to think too hard about building a house on land that, unless things turned around, might not belong to the Stone family by the end of the year.
Luke stomped through the door of his almost finished mudroom. He was starving. Plus, Walker had been right. His body ached from head to toe after getting bucked far too many times.
He was also filthy, which Kelli had been so eager to point out. But the roar emerging from his belly said it was food first, then a shower. Then he’d have to figure out something to pass the rest of the evening.
It was just not right that the rest of his brothers had people to spend the evening with and he didn’t—hewas the charming one in the family, dammit.
Luke walked through the kitchen, plugging in his phone and turning on his laptop. He grabbed leftover pizza from the fridge, pulling a stool over with a foot and dropping onto it to check his emails. He ate one piece of pizza cold while the rest reheated in the microwave.
It was incredible how much crap email a person got daily. There were a couple of messages from his sisters that he marked to read once he had cleared out the mess when his eye fell on a far more interesting subject title.
Triple Crown Gala.
A laugh burst free, and he nearly choked on the piece of pizza in his mouth. “Yeah, me and a gala. Good one.”
Except something twigged in his brain. Why did this sound familiar?
The message was from a trusted friend. Bertram Cooper was a go-between. He found horses for buyers, or suggested stud placements or training opportunities. Silver Stone had been lucky to count Bert as a friend, and some of their top deals over the years had been brokered by him, so Luke opened the message, curiosity, suspicion and that echo of importance he just couldn’t remember vying for top billing.
With Bert’s twisted sense of humour, the man was probably setting Luke up for an all-you-can-eat chicken-wing night and pulling his leg.
Yet when the microwave beeped another reminder the time was up, Luke continued to ignore it because the email was not a tease or a joke or bullshit.
Bertram had gotten wind of a spectacular event happening in the area and had wrangled Luke an invite. Itwasa gala. A buyers-and-sellers, by-invitation-only gathering of the elite in horse breeders of North America.
Not a time with actual horses and cash exchanging hands, but a meet-and-greet with spouses and families, and—
Luke’s mind raced at the possibilities. For the past while, Silver Stone ranch had been going through some rough weather. They were nowhere near out of the woods yet, even though Walker had topped up the family coffers last fall after some amazing rodeo payouts. The ranch had to take the next step, which should involve the horses Luke had been working on diligently over the years. It was their best shot, and this invitation was a golden ticket falling into his lap.
He glanced through the information more thoroughly, shuddering at the price tag attached to the event. Thank God it was being held just hours away in Kananaskis Country, which meant they’d be able to drive and not have to fly to Texas or Kentucky.
A few quick calculations and it was clear that even one new sale would cancel out the oversized price tag, and this gala wasn’t likely to trigger a one-off transaction. These events were king makers.
Holy shit.
That’swhy this sounded familiar. His ex-fiancée, Penny, and her family had been in a similar situation years ago. The right place at the right time at a gathering very similar to this—and they’d never looked back.
The gala was exactly what Silver Stone needed.
The message from Bert was clear and concise.
Got word of this shindig. Organizers asked me for a couple of recommendations of up-and-coming breeders, and I thought of you. I don’t have to tell you this is a Big Deal event. If I had an operation like yours, I’d be drooling at the opportunity. Feel free to send me a bottle of the good stuff down the road.
Heads up on a couple of things: the group is a bit old school, which doesn’t mean they expect you to bring a wife, but a fiancée is better than a girlfriend. And while they’re up-to-date enough they won’t make you sleep in separate rooms, they do want to deal with family operations. So for fuck’s sake, be sure you bring your fiancée. Don’t let her give you grief on this one.
Best of luck, and I’ll see you soon. I’ve got a couple of requests I’ll send your way come the spring. Touch base if you need anything sooner.
Part of his brain was analyzing and considering, but Luke’s hands were already moving because this wasn’t something he needed to think about too hard. The gala could save the ranch, so he absolutely had to be there. It wasn’t his fault Bert wasn’t up-to-date on the fact he and Penny had called off their engagement.
The tip aboutfamilyoperations, though—that was a good piece of intel.
Luke clicked through the invitation to a Google doc to fill in the required information. The name of the ranch, their top horses and studs to date.
He got a lot of pleasure out of being able to list animals he’d been instrumental in raising. He wasn’t just blowing smoke out his ass. Silver Stone was one of the top ranches at their size of operation. They just needed a break to move to the next level.
