Page 21 of Parading the Cowboy Billionaire (Bluegrass Ranch 4)

It would allow him to take it off and sling it over the back of the chair before the meeting started. Something like that gave him time to assess the crowd, read faces, and bask in the energy so he’d know what to say and what not to say.

He wore his cowboy boots, of course, and he’d put his hat on the moment he left the building and keep it there through the duration of the meeting. He’d bypassed the belt buckle this morning though, as that was usually the first thing he did to de-cowboy himself for meetings like this one.

With everything set at the office, he settled his cowboy hat on his head and left the building to get the refreshments. When he returned with far too many cream cheese Danishes and filled doughnuts, he saw Lawrence’s truck parked outside the administration building.

Cayden left the juice and yes, the milk, in the back seat and took the pastry boxes inside first.

“There you are,” Lawrence said when Cayden entered the conference room. “This all looks great.” He looked around at the papers, the flowers in the middle of the table, the screen all lit and ready to go. “I don’t see why you need me.”

Cayden smiled at Lawrence and put the boxes down on the end of the table. “I need you, because this is too much for me to handle.”

“I’m not you,” Lawrence said, looking directly into Cayden’s eyes. “Promise me you’re not going to yell at me when I don’t do things the way you would.”

Cayden blinked, not expecting Lawrence to demand such a thing. “I won’t,” he said.

“You probably will,” Lawrence said with a sigh. “You save your best self for the press.”

“Lawrence,” Cayden said. “Am I mean to you?”

“No,” he said. “You usually handle all of this so flawlessly. I’ll mess it up, and then I’ll hear it from Mom, and Spur, and probably you too.”

“I don’t expect you to know what I know,” Cayden said. “If you have a question, ask me. I’m happy to answer it.” He swallowed too. “I’m not even sure how this will go. I’ve never done a race here. We’ll all learn as we go.”

Lawrence reached up and touched his hat. “All right,” he said. “I want to do a good job. I just don’t know how.”

“You’re here,” Cayden said. “You’re already doing a good job. You’ve got…who’s coming from The Gemini Group?”

“A woman named Mariah Barker,” Lawrence said. “She’s not particularly nice, I’ll say that up front. She’s been difficult on the phone.”

“She’s probably overworked,” Cayden said. “That’s one of the first things I learned when working with people and not horses. They do things they don’t necessarily want to do, because they’re tired or stressed or overworked.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Come help me with the drinks.” Cayden retraced his steps out to the truck, where he and Lawrence carried in the juice and milk. He looked around again. “Okay, what else?”

“I talked to Spur, and he said we probably have eleven horses he’d race in this.”

“That’s only enough for one race,” Cayden said, frowning. “We need more than that.”

“That’s where our marketing execs come in, right?”

The blipping panic in Cayden’s bloodstream quieted. “Right,” he said. “That’s why we’ve hired them.” He didn’t have to do everything. Sometimes it only felt like he did.

Knocking on glass met his ear, and Cayden spun back to the hallway. “I thought I kept that unlocked.”

“I’ll get it,” Lawrence said. He ducked out of the room, and Cayden took a deep breath. He should be right here to greet them anyway. He tugged on the hem of his jacket and drew himself to his full height.

Voices spoke down the hall, and Cayden couldn’t discern the words as they echoed in the lobby. It was Lawrence and a woman, so probably his rep from the marketing firm. Their voices increased, and Cayden realized that they weren’t having a get-to-know-you chat, but an argument.

“Are you kidding me?” he grumbled to himself. He started down the hall, his heart pounding hard in his chest. They needed these people on their side. With a firm as big The Gemini Group, they’d work on the accounts of the people they liked first, and then Bluegrass Ranch would get little attention, or the efforts of the stressed, overworked woman Lawrence had already described.

He strode int the lobby to find Lawrence and a pretty blonde woman facing off. Her fingers were clenched in a fist, and Lawrence looked like he could shoot fire from his eyes. He normally had a pretty sunny disposition. He always had a joke to tell at Sunday dinners, and he was the quickest to laugh at anything anyone else said, even if it wasn’t all that funny.

“Good morning,” Cayden said, making his voice as pleasant as possible. He went right up to Lawrence and stepped between him and the blonde. “I’m Cayden Chappell. You must be Mariah Barker from The Gemini Group.”

He grinned and stuck out his hand, feeling the tension in his brother start to drain away. The blonde woman couldn’t see past him, so she had no choice but to look at Cayden. Her anger drained away too, and she finally blinked.

“Yes,” she said. “I’m Mariah Barker.”

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