Page 4 of River Legacy
The thought made him want to laugh, since he wasn’t worried about this cowboy she’d dug up to try to fool them. She’d thought that she’d one-upped her father and put Claude in his place. But no way was Wen Forester going to let his only daughter marry that saddle tramp.
Claude was looking forward to how fast Wen would get rid of this one. There’d been a long line of inappropriate boyfriends. None of them had even lasted through a meal. Those poor suckers never knew what hit them as they found themselves thrown out into the street.
He bet that the cowboy wouldn’t last long enough to check in to the hotel—let alone stay the weekend. Wen would see to that.
Claude chuckled to himself as the driver pulled up to the valet entrance and finished telling him the history of the hotel. “When built in 1902, it was to be the most modern hotel in Montana. After burning to the ground in 1940, it was rebuilt and in 2009 brought back to be one of the most modern and luxurious hotels in the state.”
“I can’t wait to see it,” Claude said, acting more interested than he was. At least interacting with the valet had passed the time and kept his mind off how angry he was. “Only the best for Wendell Forester,” he said under his breath. But wasn’t that what Claudewas doing here? Wasn’t that why Wen had invited him? He’d been handpicked for Victoria, he reminded himself as he climbed out of the SUV. There was no reason to feel as if he’d come in second best, because the best definitely wasn’t some Montana cowboy. He should be embarrassed for Ryder Stafford. He wasn’t even worthy competition.
Not that Claude expected there would be a competition. He’d gotten the impression the minute Wen invited him on the trip that when the weekend was over they would be announcing their engagement. Claude had already been her date once before. It hadn’t ended quite as he’d hoped, but he knew Wen was giving him another chance.
Everyone who had Wi-Fi had heard that one of the richest men in the country was looking for the perfect son-in-law. Honored, Claude told himself that he would make a hell of a son-in-law. Just the thought of the wealth and power that came with the position made him giddy.
All he had to do was stay in his boss’s good graces and put up with the man’s awful daughter long enough to get what he wanted: married into the Forester family.
But after today at the airport, he planned to make Victoria Forester’s life miserable until she cried “Daddy” and Wen agreed to a huge payoff to get rid of him and keep him from going to the media with stories about the infamous Victoria Forester. Then Claude would never have to see her or her father again.
Chapter Two
When Ryder walked into the lobby of the Northern Hotel, he wasn’t surprised to see Forester waiting for him. He figured the man wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible. Lucky for Wendell Forester, Ryder wanted the same thing. He couldn’t believe he was finally going to get to tell the man face-to-face what he thought of him before he threatened him if he ever came near his ranch.
“Mr. Stafford,” Forester said in greeting, a smile on his face.
“Mr. Forester,” Ryder said and touched the brim of his Stetson. He was ready for the brush-off, but he wasn’t leaving until he had his say, he thought, even as Forester said, “Please, call me Wen.” He motioned to one of his bodyguards standing a few yards away in the large lobby. The man stepped forward quickly as if ready to throw Ryder out of the lobby. But to Ryder’s surprise, the bodyguard handed Forester several packets of room keys.
“My treat,” he said as he handed Ryder one of the packets. “This way, we’ll all be on the tenth floor overlooking the city and the rock cliffs that border it. Locals called the rock formation the rims. It’sbeautiful at night as I’m sure you already know. No wonder they call Billings the Magic City.”
Ryder wouldn’t have taken the free room key under normal circumstances. He would have informed the man that he was more than capable of purchasing his own room for the night. Nor did he have any desire to stay on the same floor as the tycoon, let alone his daughter.
But since he had no intention of staying long enough that he would need a hotel room, he didn’t cause a fuss. He’d be headed back to the ranch as soon as he accomplished what he came here for. “Wen—”
“Let’s have a drink,” the man said, not giving him a chance to say more. Forester put a big paw on his shoulder as he motioned toward the bar with his other hand. “It’s early enough we should have the place to ourselves so just the two of us can talk. You have any luggage you need taken up to your room?”
Ryder shook his head. “I was planning to go back to the ranch tonight.”
Forester raised an eyebrow. “And that was all right with my daughter?”
“About your daughter—”
The man held up a hand to stop him. “Victoria is best discussed with a drink in our hands,” Forester said with a chuckle and led the way to the bar. Ryder went along, determined to end this charade, once the man gave him a chance.
Just before entering the bar, Ryder saw Claude Duvall talking to one of the bodyguards that heheard him call JJ. His expression looked menacing as he mumbled something under his breath to the man before grabbing a key package and storming off toward the elevator.
Forester led Ryder to a table in a back corner. A waiter appeared at once, and the tycoon ordered bourbon neat. Ryder ordered a beer, determined to keep this as civil as possible—until it wasn’t.
“There are a few things I need to clear up,” Ryder said the moment the waiter left to fill their orders. So far Forester had been calling the shots. “My ranch is not for sale,” Ryder said as plainly as he could. “I met your plane today to tell you that I don’t want to see another one of your...associateson my property trying to strong-arm me into selling, making veiled threats or throwing money at me. I haven’t shot one of your people yet, but I’ve come damned close. I’ll be running the next one off with a double-barreled shotgun loaded with buckshot. But I have plenty of real ammo if needed. Trespassing in Montana is a shooting offense—at least in my part of the state.”
Forester leaned back with exaggerated shock, then began to laugh heartily as he looked at Ryder as if just now seeing him.
“You find something funny about that?” Ryder demanded.
“You are nothing like I expected. My daughter normally has the worst taste in men. I say that with love, since she knows how I feel. But you... I actually think you might be the man to handle her.”He was still smiling and shaking his head as their drinks arrived. He grabbed his and held it up as if about to make a toast.
“Let me stop you right there,” Ryder said. “Your daughter—”
“What about his daughter?” Victoria said as she put an arm around Ryder’s shoulder and gently, but determinedly, shoved him over to sit on his side of the circular booth. Leaning toward him, she whispered in his ear, “Name your price,” just before she kissed him on the check.
“Victoria, you’re interrupting an important discussion between myself and Mr. Stafford,” her father said.
