Page 75 of Parading the Cowboy Billionaire (Bluegrass Ranch 4)

Would love an emergency meeting at your earliest, she said.I have a new business idea I need help with, and Mother stopped by Cayden’s office this morning and gave me the land deed to Sweet Rose. Need help with that, obviously.

She read over the text and then sent it. Her phone had barely bleeped to indicate that the message had gone through before Drake entered the dining room. “You have the deed?”

Not five seconds later, Elliot rose from his chair overlooking the track. He leaned down as he said something to his wife, kissed her forehead, and came toward her. Coats and jackets were required in this suite, and he buttoned his as he walked inside.

“I didn’t mean right now,” Ginny said as she took another bite of her pudding. “Have you guys had this? It’samazing.”

“Where’s Harvey?” Elliot asked, ignoring her question about the pudding.

Drake said, “I’ll get a snack and be right back.” He went straight to the pudding, and Ginny smiled as her oldest brother came in from the hallway. He brought Sullivan, his fifteen-year-old son with him, and neither of them looked very happy.

As soon as Drake returned with his banana pudding and a plate overflowing with oversized cookies, Harvey asked, “Where’s the deed?”

“In Cayden’s office,” she said, thinking of how she’d just walked away from it. She quickly relayed the story of Mother being in his office and the hug and then the envelope. “I don’t know what to do with it.”

“You own it now,” Harvey said. “There’s nothing to do. She not only gave you control of Sweet Rose, but she gave the whole thing to you.”

Ginny swirled the spoon through her pudding. “Is that what the estate lawyers will say?”

“It doesn’t matter what they say,” Harvey said. “They won’t have anything to do with it, because your name is on the deed. It’s not part of Mother’s estate anymore at all.”

“The part about who Sweet Rose goes to in the will is null,” Drake said. “Right?”

Everyone looked at Harvey, because he’d been a lawyer for the company forever. “Right,” he said. “That’s right.” A slow smile started to seep across his face. “Congratulations, Ginny. I don’t think I’ve ever known someone who beat Mother.”

Elliot chuckled, but Ginny didn’t feel an ounce of happiness in her soul. She couldn’t even put another bite of pudding in her mouth. “What if I don’t want it?” She looked up then, employing her bravery and remembering the countless times she’d stared down men just like her brothers. Suited, polished, and smart, her brothers were the businessmen Ginny had been working with for years.

“What?” Elliot asked. “Why wouldn’t you want it?”

“I’ve been thinking about something else,” she said. “Though maybe without Mother’s constant picking, I’d enjoy my time at Sweet Rose more.”

“What’s the something else?” Harvey asked.

“Events,” Ginny said. “I’ve loved planning a few simple things in the past couple of months, and I’m really,reallygood at event-planning.” She tapped on her phone and swiped to her gallery. “Here’s a cake I made for Cayden’s brother’s vow renewal.” She turned the phone so they could see the entire table that had transformed into the cake.

“I want to do that kind of stuff. I want to plan elite events, with spectacular showcases no one has ever seen before.” As she spoke, the ideas came, as she’d hoped they would. “I’ve been helping Cayden with the Smash a lot the past couple of weeks, and I really enjoyed it.”

“Because of the event or because of him?” Harvey asked, no trace of teasing in his voice or face.

“Both,” Ginny admitted. “I’ve been thinking about asking him about doing events here at the ranch. I’m going to live here, you know.”

“You won’t come back to the Avenue?” Elliot asked, and he did look very surprised by that.

“No,” Ginny said. She ducked her head, though she didn’t need to hide from her brothers. “I belong here.”

The bell sounded, and Drake jerked his attention toward the wall of windows showing the track. That bell signaled five minutes until bets had to be placed, and then the next race would start immediately after that.

“I’ve been thinking about partnering with Olli,” Ginny said. “For when she has her baby. There’s so much more I can do than run Sweet Rose.” She’d pledged her time and talent to the Lord, and she wanted to do what He wanted her to do. Somehow, she felt Him gently leading her away from the distillery.

“We can talk more about it on Tuesday,” she said, smiling around at the lot of them. “Go get your bets in, Drake.”

“I can do it from right here,” he said. “I just left my program out there…”

“I think I’m going to bet on this one too,” Ginny said, standing up. “Let’s go.” She led the way outside, retaking her seat on the front row of the balcony. She tapped on her phone to get to the current race, seeing there was only one more after this one.

Then the Smash would be over. Done.

It had been a roaring success, and if there had been any problems, Ginny didn’t know about them. That was always a good sign, because things could be falling apart but as long as the customers didn’t know, it was fine.

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