It was annoying as hell. But Cody was lacking that easy charm that Walker had. So, he was outsourcing that too.
Cody turned his horse away from Walker and encouraged him into a gallop as he took off across the vast expanse of land, toward the barn. The sun was just getting up over the mountains, all the sharp, angled blue, capped with snow so beautifulit could easily take your breath away. Even if you had looked at that view every day for most of your life.
And he had.
But this land had been off-limits to him. At least, while his dad was living.
Because he’d had kids and then wanted nothing to do with them. He had sent money, sometimes, and their mother had hung on for every crumb that asshole was willing to offer her.
It killed him. Just thinking about it killed him even now.
But the land was his, and he was going to focus on that.
Focusing on the future.
The barn was freshly painted, bright red, standing out against the pine trees on the periphery of the property line, short, scrubby sagebrush dotting the landscape in front of it.
He rode the horse inside and dismounted, working quickly to get her put away.
He was walking out about the time that Walker was headed in.
“Got anything you need me to do?”
Cody nodded. “Yeah, we have a whole host of new requests for venue tours for weddings.” They’d be opening the place up in the summer, offering wedding packages that would include a ceremony and reception spot, local wine, cake, dinner, and a photographer. “Can you get those scheduled. And then also… do them when they actually happen.”
“Sure thing. I’d like to meet the new arrivals at some point.” Frankly, Walker should be the welcoming committee, but Cody was the Director of Operations, which meant overseeing everything. Ranch, resort, and any gray area between.
“Well, they are moving onto the ranch. So, I think we’ll have ample time to meet them.”
The husband-and-wife team would have an apartment in the hotel. The facility had forty-five rooms, and they had five additional cabins down bythe river.
It was a massive undertaking. Right now, they had around sixty employees between the ranch and the resort, and it was going to grow. They weren’t just doing something quaint and small. He had gone and visited hotels in Wyoming and Montana, getting a good idea of how they ran so that he could bring that sensibility here.
He’d hired an architect who had done a place out in Jackson to do the plans for the hotel, and he had a designer who did a place in Livingston to outfit the interior.
It was a huge investment. Luckily, his past life as a rodeo cowboy had netted him a substantial chunk of cash. It was the same with his brother, Walker. Walker was a tiedown roper, Cody had been a bull rider, and between the two of them, they had won over a million in prizes. It was a strange thing, coming into land, which was better even than coming into money. This property was worth way more than they had ever earned, and getting it as a jumping-off point had really set them up.
He would never have imagined that he could have come close to being anything like a nepo baby. Growing up on the wrong side of the tracks in Mustang River was an inglorious thing.
It wasn’t like the town had been anything special, not when he was a kid.
It had grown a lot in recent years, as tourism in Bend had expanded, it had spilled over into smaller places like Mustang River.
It had developed quite a bit.
But back then? It had barely been anything. All the shops on Main Street had been empty, and now, with a return to people wanting to patronize these small, cute towns, they had new boutiques, restaurants, and bookstores. He was going to have a bakery and a restaurant in the hotel. It was the sensible thing to do. They’d found a chef who had been looking tomove out of the Bay Area, looking for a slower pace, and she was going to be heading up the kitchen.
His new resort manager, Marlowe-with-the-sexy-voice, had suggested her sister-in-law for the bakery. The little building set aside for the shop was quaint and cute. Closer to the main road than the hotel itself, but walkable still.
So, he sure as hell hoped that worked out, because it all felt like a package deal, and if her baked goods sucked, he was going to be in a bad way.
He walked up toward the house, which was about half a mile away from the barn. He could’ve driven, but he liked getting the exercise.
Plus, he needed to walk off the tension coursing through his body.
Because he shouldn’t be panting after a married woman, based on a phone conversation about work experience.
He didn’t know what she looked like. But in his mind, he had decided that she was beautiful.
