Page 34 of The Guy Who Stole My Ranch

William, who had been looking out the window as if he’d never seen this much sky before, turned to me.

Like always, he spoke in his soft, deep voice. And, like always, he gave me one hundred percent of his attention. “Patrick is renting a car and getting us checked into the hotel. He’s got Frank.” William’s lips quirked into an appreciative category-three grin. “I was going to ask you if I could bring him to the ranch tomorrow.”

“Of course.” I waved a hand. “Our dogs are back, and they love new friends.”

“Your dogs?”

I came up fast on a little, pink compact car and checked my speed. We needed to get to the ranch, but we didn’t need to do it at Mach ten. I went around the jellybean, which is what I called the tiny vehicles, but slowed down. “They’re herding dogs, and my dad loaned them to his buddy so they could drive some sheep from their winter pasture back to the summer pasture.”

“You mean, like the movieCity Slickers?” I could hear William’s frown.

If this guy thought ranching was going to be fun, like it was portrayed by films, he was in for a rude awakening. “It’s not usually that dramatic. There are thirty miles between pastures, so it took them a day or two. A couple of guys go on horses or four-wheelers. They have a support truck that follows. The group that does it loves it.”

“Do you do any of that?”

“We leave our animals at the ranch in the winter. Here in Texas there’s not a burning need to move them. This fella has several big stretches of land, so he likes to utilize them.” We’d come up on the back of a semi. My blinker clicked as we got into the fast lane and went around.

William didn’t answer, so I glanced over and found him looking at the horizon.

I was about to let the silence settle in when he cleared his throat. “Have you always worked on your family’s ranch?”

“Not always.” I weighed the consequences of telling him about college and decided he’d probably hear it from someone else if he didn’t hear it from me. “I went to a university in Texas, then to Harvard for law school.” Before he could ask me anything, I went on. “It took me far too long to figure out that law wasn’t for me before I came back to run the ranch.”

“You started running it right away?”

“Basically.” My fingers tightened around the steering wheel. “My mom had died, and my dad was struggling. I’ve always loved it here, and I sort of swooped in and took over so he could grieve.”

“I see.” His tone held curiosity, but he didn’t pry any farther.

I needed to remind him how far apart our worlds were so I asked, “How do you like running one of the most profitable conglomerates in the country?” There was a slight pause, and my eyes darted to the passenger seat. I found William frowning just a little.

“I’ve always had a good head for business. My dad is still in charge, but I’ll be taking over soon.”

He hadn’t answered my question, so I decided to come at it from a different angle. “Where did you go for school?”

“Oxford and MIT.”

That took me a moment to process.

He’d gone overseas for college? To Oxford? I’d done some reading on the Harris’, and they were in the top fifteen most wealthy families in the country. It stood to reason that they could get their kid into any university that they wanted to.

“Did you like Oxford?”

William shifted. I noticed he’d kept the bag of clothes on his lap, and even now, he had one hand on it. “I did. I found the culture fascinating and the education robust.”

Now I looked at him for a few seconds. “Fascinating and robust?”

“Yes.”

I remembered his red alert ring tone and figured he’d probably get this reference. “You sound like a Vulcan.”

“Indeed,” he said.

“So you are aStar Trekfan.” It was going to be hard to be mean to a fellow Trekkie.

William let out a low, quiet chuckle. “My roommate at Oxford made me watch every episode of every series.”

That didn’t sound like the man sitting next to me. “How did you get any work done?”

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