Page 68 of The Guy Who Stole My Ranch

He didn’t hesitate, but he did follow my suggestion about going slow. We lurched three times before settling into a rhythm.

Everything in the combine came to life. Hums and clanks filled the air, along with the scent of stirred-up dirt and dried barley stalks.

William was leaning forward, and he looked nervous, so I said, “The machine is doing everything we did out there, only in the next five minutes we’ll have processed more grain here than we did this morning.”

William nodded.

“Look behind us and see.”

William did so, and as he craned his neck, the combine lumbered off course.

I tapped William on the shoulder. His head snapped around, and he got us back in line.

“My daddy always tells people that looking behind you won’t get you anywhere in life.”

William’s lips twitched into a category-two smile. “Do you have everyone look back?”

“Of course. Even if they know about Daddy’s lesson, they still do it just to see what happens.”

William digested that as he kept the machine moving forward.

I’d first fallen for my dad’s little trick when I’d been twelve, and I’d laughed it off. Now, standing here, knowing that this might be the last time I would harvest this field or maybe even ride in a combine, I found a lump rising in my throat as I looked back on my own life.

I’d had a decent childhood. School hadn’t been hard for me. Dating had always been a challenge, as had my brothers, but nothing that I hadn’t been able to deal with.

College and then grad school had been good, until it fell apart.

My fingers tightened around the metal handle as I thought about Adam Fowler and how he’d shown me that there would never be a place for me in the world of law.

No, my place was here.

But this place wouldn’t be mine for much longer.

Tears tried to gather in my eyes for the second time in a few hours, and I was grateful that William was focused on driving and not on me.

Chapter 18

-William-

“So, how are things going with the woman?” Courtney asked.

I huffed as the front door of Robert’s house slammed behind me. He’d invited me to breakfast, and we’d chatted about the ranch, his life, and his first wife. He was a good man who was both nervous and excited to be stepping back from this place. I jogged down the stairs toward the four-wheeler with Frank on my tail. “I told you, there’s nothing going on.”

“Whatever, I can hear it in your voice.”

I gritted my teeth and took a breath before I spoke again. “Courtney, can we stay focused on the issues at hand?”

“So things aren’t going well?”

“Courtney!” I practically barked. Frank stopped in his tracks and stared at me with trepidation in his gaze. I reached down and scratched his head to let him know everything was okay.

Only it wasn’t.

Ever since the chaff incident, I’d been on edge.

Not because I thought Brooke would do something else to me, but because after one moment of strife, I’d started down a path that I knew I’d had in me but had hoped I’d quashed. I’d let my temper get the better of me. That hadn’t happened in years.

“Fine.” Courtney sighed. “The Luxury Holdings deal is still in flux. Dad keeps trying to help, but I’ve got mom watching him like a hawk, and whenever he’s about to contact them, she calls me and I call him.”

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