Page 20 of The Guy Who Stole My Ranch

One knee popped as I rose from the squat. I didn’t bother to wipe my hand off as I extended it. “Nice to meet you, William.”

Not one muscle in his face or body twitched as he said, “Nice to meet you too, Brooke.”

I was in the middle of a silent sigh of relief when William’s fingers slid along my palm, then gently, but firmly, encased my hand.

Had that been unnecessarily slow?

Was his skin warm, or was mine cold?

Had his eyes always been that blue?

When had I started breathing so hard?

William’s lips stretched into a smile.

I rated smiles like hurricanes, only one through ten instead of one through five. Categories one, two, and three were like the outlying wind of the storm, there but barely noticeable. When you got to categories four, five, six, and seven, things got more interesting. Break into the top three and you could see into people’s souls and it would make your knees go weak.

If I had to put William’s smile on a scale from one to ten, one being a softening of his expression and maybe a hint of upturned lips, and ten being a full-blown grin that practically split his face in half, I’d say this was a two. Maybe a two and a half.

I wondered what a ten would look like.

Then I realized I’d probably been shaking his hand for too long and pulled away.

Rick, who now stood behind William, wiggled his eyebrows at me like this guy was the new man in town that everyone expected me to date and fall in love with.

Not today, Ricky.

William was here to steal my ranch. No matter how handsome he was or how much I liked his dog, William Harris was the enemy.

I just needed two minutes with my dad to get this sorted out. He probably hadn’t realized how much I wanted the ranch or how many plans I’d made. Once I explained, all of this would be over.

“Let’s go inside and talk while Kathline finishes dinner,” Dad said.

William blinked at that, the closest thing to surprise I’d seen on his face yet. The poor guy had just been ambushed into a meal with my family. I kind of felt bad for him. My dad pointed at the driver. “You too.”

The driver shook his head. “No, sir. I’m on duty.”

My dad’s eyes narrowed for a moment. Most people gave in when he did that, but the driver stared right back as if to say, “Do you really want to do this?”

After a long moment, my dad’s expression softened, and he shrugged. “We’ll bring a plate out for you. Everyone else, inside.”

“Dinner!” Xavier cried as he bolted up the stairs and threw the door open.

Rick rolled his eyes and went after his youngest, closely followed by the rest of his family.

“I think we have a problem.” William pointed down.

I blinked. Why was he still standing so close to me? I glanced at our feet and found that Frank had gone around us a couple of times, and one good pull from him would tighten the noose of his leash and yank us together.

As if.

“Frank.” I used my disapproving voice.

He sat and looked up at me with an impressively innocent expression on his little face.

“Naughty dog,” I said under my breath as I carefully stepped out of the trap with one foot.

What I hadn’t accounted for was the stairs being only inches behind me. Instead of moving away from William, my heel hit the wood with a thunk, and I teetered backward.

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