Page 47 of Come Home to the Cowboys

“I’ll miss you, but, Stacy, this is where I belong. I’ve learned so much about my family.”

Kalie returned to the big house and sank down on the couch. She glanced around the room and knew this was home. Yes, she would make some changes, but here was where she wanted to be.

“Your life is going to be so different,” Stacy said.

“Yes,” she replied. “If I lose my job, my grandmother left me about a hundred thousand dollars plus the ranch. I’m hoping with the cattle and horses, I’ll make enough to survive. If not, I could be in trouble.”

“Are you in love with Colby and Preston?”

“Yes,” Kalie answered, a tear trickling down her face. “That’s why them not believing in me hurts so much. All they had to do was ask me, but instead they accused me of selling to Jim White who is the biggest dirtbag in Texas. And then they quit. They quit the ranch and me. How can I get over this?”

There was silence. “Maybe you have to give them the benefit of the doubt. After all, they have been afraid that they were going to lose their jobs. Believe me, when employees know the place is closing, it can get ugly. I’ve seen it.”

Stacy was an employment director at a large manufacturing plant. She’d been laid off at least twice when plants closed.

“But…I love them and I hoped they were falling in love with me as well,” she said, realizing how much their defection hurt.

“Maybe they were and that’s why they reacted the way they did. Love is not easy, especially when you’re afraid.”

Kalie thought about her comments. She had planned on a great evening and now it was ruined.

“Stacy, I want you to come visit me,” she said. “After I get the house fixed up and all, come out to Texas and stay with me.”

The woman laughed. “What are you going to do with your stuff here?”

She sighed. “I don’t know yet. I’ve got some time to make decisions. Right now, I just have to get over feeling like I lost the best thing I’ve ever had.”

“Are you going to be all right?”

“Yes,” she said. “No matter what happens with Preston and Colby, I’m staying here.”

“Don’t welcome them back with open arms,” she said laughing. “Make them work for it whenever they return.”

There was no problem with that. Kalie was still so mad, she couldn’t see straight. And yet, she wanted her men. They were the reason she was staying. That, and the ranch.

“Call me tomorrow and let me know how things are,” Stacy said.

“I will. For now, I think I’m going to go to the bedroom and just wait to see what happens.”

CHAPTER16

“Iwas falling in love with her,” Preston said as he drove down the highway away from the ranch.

“I’ve never been in love, but damn, my heart hurts,” Colby said. “You had been talking about marriage and I was beginning to think it might be possible. And then this. I’m never marrying.”

Unfortunately, it was going to take a long time for Preston to get over Kalie. The memory of her being tied up, hanging in the barn overcame him, and damn, he wanted her. He wanted her to spend every day of her life at his side.

As they pulled into town, Preston glanced over at Colby. The man’s jaw was locked tightly and he could see he was just itching for a fight.

“Don’t leave tonight,” he told him. “Wait and go in the morning.”

“I’m not staying at the ranch,” he said. “I can’t take a chance on seeing her again and thinking how she sold us out. It wouldn’t be pretty.”

With a sigh, Preston understood. “Let’s sleep at my parents’ home. They have the room and we can stay out in the barn and get drunk.”

“No, I want to put some road between me and Blessing,” he said. “I’ve had it so good here that it’s just killing me to know she let Jim White, that asshole, have the ranch we love.”

It was killing Preston as well. The look on her face had been furious that she caught them gazing at the contract. She thought they were going to fuck her tonight and then she would tell them that she’d sold the property and was leaving town.

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