Page 30 of The Guy Who Stole My Ranch

I waved her away and spoke to my mother. “I’ve got meetings scheduled through next Tuesday.” Before she could ask about Wednesday I said, “And then I’ll be in California again.”

Courtney bounced her manicured eyebrows and grinned at me. “Is she cute?”

A frustrated hiss sounded from my phone.

I braced for the impact of maximum maternal disappointment.

“William.” My mother’s tone now resembled a librarian with a tight bun and horn-rimmed glasses. “You need to make time for a social life.”

Courtney began saying things before my mother did. “She’ll start with the fact that you’re not getting any younger, then bring up the inheritance dispute.”

Our mother often made it sound like we lived in medieval England where we needed a prince to crown before the king died, or the empire would crumble.

Unsurprisingly, the conversation went exactly as Courtney had predicted.

There wouldn’t be an inheritance dispute. I’d looked over the documents myself, and if my father and I suddenly died—myself perhaps by being tossed out of a red truck by a feisty, beautiful, and somewhat deadly Texan woman—there was a pool of new CEOs to choose from. Before that, things would be decided by a committee made up of several family members.

“I had the perfect woman for you all lined up for this weekend, but she’s only in town from Paris for a few days, and you’re going to miss her.” My mother was like a toddler, if you let her get going there was no stopping her. “You should hop on a plane Friday night so you can make it back. Nothing you could have to say to anyone in Colorado is more important than meeting a woman and settling down.”

Courtney waved a hand. “We’re landing.”

My mother was still going. “Your father and I had both you and Courtney by the time we were your age and—”

“Mother.” I cut her off. “We’re landing. I need to go. I’ll see you next week.”

“William, you need to—”

I hit the cancel button and closed my eyes.

“Isn’t she fun?” Courtney asked.

Dealing with my mother was exhausting, and because I was nervous about Brooke anyway, I verbally fired at Courtney. “It might help if you could keep a hold of a good man for more than a few weeks.”

For a moment, Courtney said nothing.

“Sorry,” I muttered.

She took a breath and waved a hand. “You’re not wrong, but the point of settling down is to have kids, right?” She pointed at herself. “Do I look like mom material to you?”

“You’d do better than our mother.”

“Would I?”

“If you wanted to.”

Courtney let out a huff. “You should meet a nice Texas girl while you’re here.”

I raised my eyebrows.

“Unless that’s why you’re here.” She smirked.

I shook my head.

“For the amount of work I’m taking on because you’re going to be off investing for a week, there should be a woman.” She put air quotes around investing.

Did she really think that this was about a secret rendezvous?

Surely she knew that I’d pick somewhere besides rural Texas for that.

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