For Always (The Donovan Friends #7) - A.C. Arthur Page 0,1

into your car and make a left instead of a right at the end of the driveway, you’ll run right into the back parking lot.”

She was tall, somewhere around five feet eleven inches in those heels. He was six feet four and a half inches, his height being a big part of the reason that fashion scout had approached him twenty years ago. The slim fingers of one hand clutched the straps of a Noe Saint Laurent tote, while the other rested confidently at her side.

“I’ve already met with Dessie and her husband Clyde, who I believe is the West family attorney.” She stopped and lifted her free hand to tuck dark hair behind her ear.

Tyler followed each movement and took in each detail and then frowned because he couldn’t figure out why.

“I was told to speak to you about a tour of the ranch house and how best to stage the place before the listing goes public.”

“I haven’t decided whether or not I’m selling the ranch,” he snapped and turned back to his horse.

The horse he’d inherited three weeks ago when his parents were found dead in a burning truck. His fingers tightened on the pick as he struggled for composure.

“He’s a beautiful Appaloosa. Do you get the chance to ride him often or is he part of the shows that take place at the resort?”

In response to her question Tyler looked back at GG’s chestnut blanket coat. It wasn’t strange that he knew what type of horse GG was without a second thought because he’d grown up on a ranch. As for the woman with the perfectly manicured nails and silky hair, well, she didn’t look like the type to get dirty riding horses, let alone hanging out in stalls long enough to learn the names of the breed.

“They have quarter horses down at the resort. Nevil Snyder is the new head wrangler, he handles all the horses and other animals for the show. This is Golden Glory. He was my dad’s horse.”

“Oh.”

The one quick reply wiped the smile from her face and simultaneously increased Tyler’s irritation.

“Look, I’m kind of busy right now.”

She nodded. “That’s fine. Is there a better time for me to come back? Dessie and Clyde stated that they’d like to have the ranch on the market in the next month. Considering I’ll be working on the staging of the main house, employee residences and the resort, I’ll need to get started pretty quickly.”

“What?”

She’d just said a lot, most of which he hadn’t deciphered because he’d been stuck on the part where the ranch would go on the market for sale in the next month. That decision was his, and well, Jagger’s. But who knew when, or if, his younger brother would decide to make an appearance. He hadn’t been able to pull himself away from his “important business deal” three weeks ago when Tyler called to let him know about their parents’ death. So Tyler had returned to Hobbs Creek to handle everything himself, just as he used to do when they were kids.

“No,” he said when she looked like she was about to speak again. “I can’t do this right now. Come back later.”

“If you’d like to give me a specific time so I’ll be sure to not interrupt you again,” she said.

“Right,” he replied with a curt nod. “Tomorrow. In the evening, around six I guess.”

“That will work. In the meantime, I can draft some ideas for the resort and visit the employee residences. So when we meet, all I’ll need to do is tour the ranch house. Then we can schedule another time to go over my thoughts and hopefully get started.”

Again, she was saying a lot and Tyler just did not want to hear it. He didn’t want to hear anything but the sounds of the ranch, the periodic whine of horses, the bleat of Spanish goats, squeal and grunts of the pigs. The Longhorn cattle would be out to pasture, releasing an occasional bellow or snort. And at night, after dinner when he sat on the porch, staring up to the starry sky the memories came. The ones he loved and would forever miss and the ones that still brought fresh pain.

“Fine. Tomorrow at six. We’ll have some dinner and sit on the porch to talk about your plans,” he said and waited for her to walk away.

She didn’t and he wanted to frown or possibly yell. He did neither. Instead, Tyler did what he always did instead of