Page 84 of Meant for Her

“I’m getting there. This isn’t easy for me.”

Now, she understood. “Are you trying to say that you were wrong about Luke and Ryan?”

“Yes. That.”

“We understand, sir,” Ryan said.

“Call me Josh. I should have trusted Malia, but when she told me about the ranch, I jumped to some bad conclusions.”

“Dad, if it makes you feel any better, I had no idea the men came from the corporate world either or I would have mentioned it.”

Luke twisted toward her. “We didn’t think to tell you. That was in a different part of our lives. If you want to know about it, we’ll tell you.”

“I’d like to hear it.”

“Sure. It’s no secret. Ryan and I were good students. So good in fact, that we received full scholarships to Montana State University. Mine was for academics, but Ryan’s was both for academics and athletics. Anyway, we figured Dad would be running the ranch for years to come. It’s why we had to make a new life for ourselves.”

“I’m assuming Ryan has his accounting degree,” she said. “What about you?”

“Business. After college, I got my MBA and Ryan became a CPA.”

Her father whistled. “I could use a good accountant.”

Ryan smiled. “I have my hands full at the moment, but I specialized in forensic accounting if you ever need me to do a deep dive into anything.”

“I might take you up on that.” Her father walked over to the men and held out his hand. “Welcome to the family, boys.”

They were hardly boys, but Malia wasn’t going to say anything to spoil this moment.

“Thank you, Josh,” Ryan said.

“Malia, when your mom gets home, I’ll be sure to tell her. She will chastise me for not seeing the truth before, but it’s the price I have to pay.”

Malia hugged her dad. “You are the best.”

“I’m glad you think so. Did Trevor and Seth help you figure out your problem?”

She didn’t want to spend another hour hashing out what they decided. “Yes. But if we need any more help, we’ll be sure to ask you.”

“You do that, honey.”

As soon as they were outside, Ryan stepped next to her. “It never really occurred to me to brag that we were these corporate types. Who knew your dad would be so impressed?”

She knew. “It’s water under the bridge. Now, how about we see Sheriff Hanson about a murder?”

* * *

Ryan didn’t see what the big deal was about him and Luke having worked in the corporate world. They were ranchers now. He was more proud of what he and Luke had accomplished at the ranch than all of the errors he’d unearthed being an accountant. But as Malia said, it was water under the bridge.

She seemed happy that her dad finally accepted them as her mates, and that was all that really mattered.

At the truck, she turned to Ryan. “Luke should drive.”

“Why?” He’d driven there.

“You’re too weak, remember?”

“If I’m that weak, then I can’t claim I helped dig up the grave.”

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