Page 8 of For Always
In true Jagger fashion the conversation shifted completely to him regardless of the fact that they were standing on their deceased parents’ land.
“Glad you could finally make an appearance,” Tyler said and accepted Jagger’s extended hand for a shake.
“Did you want me to drop everything and fly here from Paris? Come on, man. You know how it is in the business world. At least you should, considering how good you’re doing.”
Jagger West was shorter than Tyler by two inches. His hair was black, but they both had close cut beards and blue eyes. They were also similarly built, even though Tyler sensed by the way Jagger’s suit hung on him, that he was more on the muscled side than his younger brother.
“We have a situation here, Jagger,” Tyler told him and turned to make the introduction. “This is Stephen Garret. He’s the ranch manager. Stephen, this is my brother Jagger.”
Stephen stepped up and Jagger shook his hand too.
“Are you about to go horse riding?” Jagger asked. “I expected to find you at the house, but I saw the truck stopped here when I was driving up so I pulled over.”
“That’s because something happened here last night,” Tyler said.
“Actually, I think it may have been earlier this morning,” Stephen interrupted. “I was here until around seven last night. I used to stay at the staff barracks, but I got married last month, so my wife and I have a place just fifteen minutes down the road.”
“That’s great,” Tyler said. “Congratulations.”
Jagger shrugged, his easy smile spreading across his face. “Yeah, congrats. Seems like wedding bells are in the air.”
Tyler didn’t get a chance to ask what that meant before they were joined by someone else. A woman, tall—probably near five feet six or seven, without the heels she was wearing—brunette, dark eyes and a pouting mouth that instantly shifted to a smile as she drew closer.
“Tyler, meet Brook Radison. Soon to be Brooke West,” Jagger said.
Brooke extended her left hand to Tyler, turned upward so he had no choice but to notice the large diamond on her ring finger.
“Nice to meet you, Brooke,” Tyler said and shook her hand. “I wish it were under better circumstances.”
He looked to Stephen quickly then and continued, “The sheriff was scheduled to meet me out here later this morning. Why don’t we give him a call and let him know we need him here now. I’ll ride back up to the house with them and we can meet in the den as soon as the sheriff arrives.”
Stephen nodded. “Got it,” he said. “I’ll get Nevil and let him know what’s going on. Sheriff’ll probably want to speak to him too. Staff’s up and moving about already, so we’ve got coverage. I’ll just make it clear we don’t want any of them touching anything until the sheriff’s had a chance to look around.”
“Good. You have my cell number. Call me if anything changes,” Tyler said.
“Will do,” Stephen told him.
Tyler turned back to his brother and his fiancé. With an inward sigh he began walking toward the front doors. “Let’s get back to the house.”
“Yes. I can’t wait to see it,” Brooke said from behind. “We can get an idea of how much it’ll make during the sale and plan from there.”
Tyler remained silent until they were at the house. The moment he entered the living room and watched as Jagger and his fiancé came in too he said, “We’re not selling the ranch.”
“Of course we are,” Jagger replied. “I live in New York and you live in L.A. Neither of us want anything to do with this ranch, or we would have come back to it before now.”
Tyler didn’t like that Jagger wasn’t totally wrong.
“I was here five years ago for Christmas. You couldn’t make it because you were…I don’t even recall where you were. Anyway, this place has been owned and operated by a West for more than fifty years,” Tyler told him.
“And look where that’s gotten us,” Jagger snapped. He’d walked across the room to the bar where he wasted no time fixing himself a drink. “I received the letter from the lawyer about the will. I’m here so he can read whatever my part is to me and then I’ll be heading back. It makes more sense that we sign whatever needs to be signed to get this place unloaded as quickly as possible.”
Tyler leaned against the back of one of two leather upholstered sage green couches. He crossed his arms over his chest and resisted the urge to yell at his brother for being an inconsiderate jackass. He knew a better way to deal with Jagger.
“5.6 million dollars,” he began. “That’s what this property is worth. But the business, it’s pulling in close to a million dollars in profit every year.” At least it had been for the last two years. Before that, they’d been very close to operating at a lost.
Jagger paused, the glass halfway to his mouth, and glanced at Tyler. “You’re lying.”
“For what reason?” Tyler asked with a shrug. “I’ve spent the last three weeks walking every inch of this place, reading every piece of paper here, talking to the staff, watching the day-to-day operations. Sales from the cattle alone could carry the place, but Dad was always thinking bigger. Expanding into horse breeding, offering riding lessons and training. And then there’s the resort. All of these elements are boosting revenue. The place was doing extremely well.”
