Page 13 of One Summer Day (Prosperity Ranch 1)

“Your mother said I’d find you back here,” Briggs continued, “but who’s this?”

Holt had never felt the need to size up Briggs before, yet suddenly, he was. Briggs was in his mid-thirties, divorced, no kids. He walked with swagger, wearing his usual cowboy hat, but his body had seen better days. And he was looking at Macie like she was a tall, cold glass of lemonade.

“I’m Macie,” she said.

“Macie, huh?” Briggs said. “Pretty name. You a friend of Holt?”

“I’m his sister-in-law,” she said without any hesitation. “I was married to Knox for a while.”

Holt decided that Macie was quite talented with putting on a casual face after she had been so upset only moments before.

Briggs’s smile widened in the direction of Macie. “Is that so? His loss. Can’t say I cared much for Knox anyway. He was a punk of a kid.”

“Briggs,” Holt said, his tone a warning.

Briggs chuckled. “Well, none of that matters now, does it? How long you in town for, sunshine?”

Was Macie really going to put up with this man’s flirting? Apparently, she was. She smiled. “I’ll be here all summer. Brought my little girl to visit her grandparents.”

“Well, rope me a calf, I’ll bet she’s as pretty as her mother,” Briggs continued. “You’ll have to come visit the other side of Prosper. It’s where the real cowboys are. None of this fancy ranch stuff.”

Holt folded his arms and gave Briggs his best glare.

“These your horses?” Macie asked.

“Sure are.” Briggs moved between Macie and Holt and leaned on the fence. “You ride, sunshine?”

“Never been on a horse,” Macie said.

Briggs’s eyes about popped out. Holt had to admit he was surprised himself. The former wife of a rodeo star hadn’t ever been on a horse?

“Well, well,” Briggs said with a chuckle. “I can help remedy that.”

Macie smiled. “I’ll let you know if I need help.”

Briggs swept his cowboy hat off his head and gave a mock bow. “At your service anytime, ma’am.”

The sight of his sweaty hair and receding hairline didn’t do Briggs any service, but to each man his own.

“Did you get my quote?” Holt asked, because it was time to steer this conversation away from Briggs hitting on Macie.

Briggs swung his gaze to Holt. “I did get your quote, and you’re asking a steep price. Y’all know that these horses just need a little retraining. They’re not first years.”

Holt held the man’s gaze. Briggs was known for not always paying his debts, and instead bartering on trade. But there was nothing Briggs had that Holt wanted or needed. “I can discount you twenty percent, but that takes us to the line. Can’t go lower than that, and we require fifty percent down before training starts.”

Briggs rocked back on his cowboy boots as if he were considering the offer. “You drive a hard bargain. Lance charges half your rate.”

“Lance doesn’t have an arena, so the training is subpar.” It irritated Holt to have this conversation at such a basic level. Briggs knew Prosperity Ranch was the best in the entire county, and the prices were fair.

“All right, then, whadd’ya say? Twenty percent off?”

“He said ten percent off,” Macie cut in.

Both men looked at Macie.

She set her hands on her hips. “Ten percent, or you can load up your horses right now and take them to Lance.”

Holt’s mouth twitched. She didn’t even know who Lance was.

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