Trent’s reply was smooth, sure, and immediate. “I’m not in the business of kissing random women in front of a crowd.”
He downed the drink in one go, holding his glass out to Sterling for a refill. One word repeated over and over again in my head like it was stuck on an endless loop.
Random.
Trent hadn’t recognized me.Of course, he didn’t. I was a kid the last time he saw me, a tagalong little sister in braids, always two steps behindsixfreaking brothers and at least two cousins at all times.
I knew it shouldn’t bug me, but hurt bloomed anyway, doubling the sting of humiliation in my chest. As I watched him laugh at something Sterling had said, I wished I’d just gone home early. Or maybe that I hadn’t come to this party at all.
CHAPTER 2
TRENT
Months later…
Summer in Texas was hell boiled over, microwaved until burned to a crisp, and then shoved under a broiler just for the fun of it.
Sweat trickled down my back. I leaned against a fence post, wiped my brow, and looked out at the ranch. The hills on the horizon shimmered, the air thick enough to chew.
Out in the pasture, my crew bounced along in an old truck, following a herd of sleek black heifers and their spring calves.
“How many heads?” I called out.
Colby, my foreman sitting nearby, lifted a hand to block out the sun and flashed me a grin. “Four thousand and seven.”
I let out a long, slow breath, relief spinning through me.Four thousand and seven. Thank Fuck.
Colby’s grin widened. “Every damn one of ‘em is looking good, boss.”
I smiled and tugged my hat lower to hide my obvious relief. I couldn’t have my guys thinking that I’d had doubts about how this season was going to go.
After three years of trial and error, early mornings, too many nights sleeping in the damn barn, the breeding program had finally worked. This spring, every calf had made it. Every bull and heifer from last year’s cohort was strong and healthy.
Offering prime meat and perfect genetics, these cows weren’t just any herd. They were the best and they were mine.
Mybloodline.Myrisk.Mywork.
Ranchers from across the country and even a few overseas were calling, offering me money, land, or partnerships. All of them wanted a piece of what I’d built.
Not gonna happen. Not yet, anyway.
This was the first year the program had proven itself and I wasn’t about to hand it over. Not until I was damn sure it would stand the test of time.
“It was a good year,” Colby said, squinting at the pasture with one of his feet kicked up on the fencepost.
“Best I’ve had,” I admitted. “It was about dang time, too.”
Colby chuckled. “True that. Are you coming back this fall?”
“Yeah.” I nodded automatically, though my mind was already somewhere else as I kicked off the fence. “I’ll be here.”
The sun was dipping low, painting the land in copper and gold. From up here, I could see most of my spread, a thousand acres of pasture with fences running like veins across the land. My slice of the Shepard empire.
One day, when my dad kicked the bucket, it would all be mine, but that could be twenty more years. Thirty. The man was built of iron and sheer stubbornness.
For now, this piece was mine to run. My start. I kept telling myself it was enough. That I had time, but when I went back to the house I’d built on my slice of the land, the cicadas had started their evening chorus and that clock in my brain started ticking.
My brand new massive stone mansion rose up from the earth like it had something to prove. I had designed it myself. Nine bedrooms. Twelve bathrooms. A master suite the size of a three-bedroom apartment in downtown Dallas. A nursery right next to it just in case.
