“Yes,” I spoke up.
“I will not have the integrity of this Ranch threatened.”
“Understood,” Everest said.
Master Derek waited for Atlas and me to acknowledge his statement, then continued, “Now, while I was told that you lied and that it has to do with Penny, I don’t know the full details. Who wants to give me a very brief rundown of the facts?”
Damn, apparently the Littles had been paying attention and knew exactly who we’d been talking about.
Atlas stepped forward. “Penny is our stepsister, and we didn’t tell her.”
“She’s the one the three of you are interested in, correct?” Samuel asked.
“Yes.”
“How does she not know she’s your stepsister?” Master Derek’s brow furrowed.
Atlas continued, “Because our parents have some weird secret relationship, and we’ve never even met her mom, and she’s never met our dad.”
“How did you know she was here?”
“Her mother asked our father to ask us to keep an eye on Penny.”
Master Derek looked at Samuel then back at us. “Keeping an eye on someone is very different than engaging in a relationship.”
“We understand. We didn’t intend to do anything more than protect her.”
“That’s not necessary at the Ranch.”
“We realize that now that we’ve seen the amazing community you’ve built.”
“Are the relationships the three of you are pursuing real? Or is that the lie? Have you deprived her of a chance to have the true Rawhide Ranch experience?”
The three of us interrupted each other. “It’s real.”
“I didn’t expect to fall in love with her.”
“We intended to watch from a distance to make sure she was safe.” I tried to bring coherency to the rush of words. “She’s reserved, and her mother worried someone might take advantage of her.”
Master Derek cocked his head. “That would be unacceptable—grounds for removal from the Ranch.”
The three of us nod in understanding.
He paused for a moment, then said, “I read her file and each of yours. Did you know she was looking for a Dom?”
We each nod.
Samuel said, “I’ve had a conversation with you, Atlas, about the importance of honesty and openness.”
Master Derek took back over. “How can you expect a relationship to work when it’s based on a lie this big?”
I cleared my throat. “It’s a terrible starting point, Master Derek. It all happened so fast, we were torn by the possibility that if we told her, she might leave the Ranch. That would have deprived her of the experience and all of the amazing classes she’s been so excited about.”
Everest added, “And we talked about us leaving instead, but didn’t want to leave you shorthanded.”
“Aside from the fact that you never should have come under false pretenses, neither of those were your choices to make.”
I hung my head in shame. I should have stood up to my older brothers. “We honestly thought we were doing the right thing to put her mother’s mind at ease. We were going to keep our distance. We didn’t expect any of this to happen.”
