Page 67 of Wrangling Hearts
“Golden Circle,” Tess said softly. “Represents both ranches equally, and it sounds nice.” When she noticed all of us staring at her, she flushed. “Or not. Forget I said it.”
I smiled warmly at her. “I like it.”
“I do, too, bug,” Claire said, giving Tess’s hand a squeeze.
Everyone else joined in agreement, and just like that, our new ranch was named. Despite what I said before, it felt fitting that we agreed on a name here, now. Almost as if everything we had gone through led to this moment.
“Mom would’ve loved it,” Savanah added.
“I think so, too,” Emmett said.
I looked at Claire, squeezing her hip. “Should we tell them now?”
“Don’t tell us you’re pregnant,” Delilah groaned. “It’s been like a month.”
“Oh my God, no!” Claire laughed. “Nothing like that.”
Now that it had been brought up, I pictured Claire with a baby bump like Anna’s, and my stomach fluttered with excited anticipation. And while it was definitely too soon to even be thinking about babies, I knew Claire would be the most incredible mother to my kids, whenever that time came.
“We don’t want to be the sole owners of the ranches anymore,” Claire continued, leaning into my side. “We want to own it equally with y’all. We want this to be a true family business. That’s if y’all want ownership in it. If not, that’s okay too.”
“We all know I do horribly with being bossed around, so sign me up,” Delilah said, making everyone laugh.
“We’re in,” Anna added for her and Joseph.
And one by one, the rest of our siblings agreed, even Tess. “It’ll be a fresh start for Luke and me,” she said with the boy on her hip. They both seemed far less timid today than they were last night, and that gave me hope that being home would be good for them.
“There’s just one problem,” I said, turning to Claire.
Her brows furrowed. “What?”
I took her hand in mine. “Last week, the night your mom died, Preston Hollis texted you.”
The crease between her brows deepened. “I never saw a text from him.”
I looked down at our hands and swallowed. “Because I deleted it.” I winced as the words came out, knowing her reaction wouldn’t be good.
She ripped her hand from mine. “What? Why would you do that? What did it say?”
“He offered his condolences and, in the same breath, offered to buy Golden Bridle from you. I didn’t want you to wake up to that the next morning, so I deleted it. I was always going to tell you, I promise.”
“That wasn’t your choice to make, Beaumont.” Her voice cracked. She turned away from me as if she couldn’t trust herself not to say more. Something she couldn’t take back. “We’ll talk about it later.”
I glanced at everyone. “I think the Hollises are going to be a bigger problem than we thought. A much bigger problem. For whatever reason, they want the ranches. I don’t know if it’s for the land, the ranches themselves, or what. But they want something, and they aren’t taking no for an answer.”
“Shit,” Colt hissed under his breath, resting his hands on his hips. He ran a hand over his mouth. “Maybe we should get Levi to help Savannah with this after all. I know Weston was pretty outspoken about it, but I don’t think anyone else had a problem with it, right?”
“Levi, as in your cousin?” Tess asked, and Colt nodded. “He’s a lawyer?”
“Yeah, he practices family law,” he replied.
She gave everyone a wary glance. “I might actually need to meet with him,” she said quietly.
“About what?” Claire asked, her face going from angry to concerned, that mama bear side of her coming out.
“Custody for Luke. It doesn’t matter right now, I just”—she looked at Colt—“can you give me his number later?”
He nodded once. “Of course.”
