Dirty Sweet Cowboy

I may have just made the biggest mistake of my life so far .

Parrish

Present Day

“P arrish! Parrish, where are you? I need you in the office now !”

I roll my eyes as my father-in-law, Sam, is shouting at me from the front door of the main office like he doesn’t know exactly where I am. Whenever I get stressed, or overwhelmed with my work as office manager on the ranch, I always disappear into the stables to spend time with my favorite horse, Moonfire. She hasn’t been in competition for a while now, given the fact she’s reached the ripe-old age of twenty, but Sam agreed to keep her on for me. It was a kindness far greater than he was usually capable of, but when his son, my husband, died two weeks before our daughter was born… it seemed like the least he could do .

I run the brush through Moonfire’s mane as I remember that horrible day, two years ago October. I didn’t think I would survive it. None of us did. He’d been driving home from a meeting with a breeder in Helena when a storm snuck up, and between the pouring rain and slippery roads, it seemed like the universe was conspiring to steal my heart away. Gracie had been born barely two weeks later, and the McCormick family had vowed to protect us for as long as we needed them .

Not a day goes by where I don’t think about my Matt .

I never in a million years imagined that things would end up the way they did. The summer after the graduation party, long after Hawk had disappeared into the ether again, Matt McCormick came into animal shelter when I was working to adopt a new barn cat for the ranch. We started talking and the rest, as they say, is history. We discovered we were bound for the same small college in September; he was majoring in veterinary sciences, and I was planning to focus in business. Matt knew about what had happened with Hawk, and he didn’t care .

“If I ignored every woman my brother slept with, I’d have to move to Kathmandu to find a girlfriend,” he said with a grin .

We got married as soon as we finished college, and had a beautiful wedding on the ranch. We moved into the little carriage house at the edge of the property while Matt finished his schooling, and Sam and Candy gave me the job of office manager. Before we knew it, Matt had his DVM and our first daughter was on the way. And then, in a flash …

He was gone .

I never thought I’d be a single mother at twenty-eight-years-old. But at the same time, Gracie and I are never really alone. Anna still works here, taking care of the stables, and the other brothers, Mason, Jasper, and Carter, are almost always around. We eat dinner in the ranch house as a family every night, and G

racie only knows this life. I am happy that she has a loving family to surround her, but at the same time, I regret that my little girl will never get to know her father .

“Parrish! Quit daydreaming and get back in the office. The phone is ringing off the hook and you know I’m not answering it .”

Sam walks into the stable and completely startles me. I drop the brush and spin around, causing Moonfire to bristle up. “Sam, you can’t sneak up on me like that. You know how easily I freak out .”

Sam gives Moonfire an affectionate pat on the butt, then shakes his head at me with a smile. “You’re jumpier than a jack rabbit on a busy highway and I’ll never understand why. Anyway. The phone keeps ringing and it’s driving me bonkers. Can you please go deal with it? I think it’s the people from the bank about the Canyon Crest Farms merger .”

I groan and set my forehead against Moonfire’s haunches. Without my input, Sam approached a farm in California about combining our assets, and buying all of their horses. It’s not that we can’t afford it; McCormick Ranch is doing more business now, and winning more competitions, than it ever has before. I just don’t like when Sam completely bypasses my role as manager and does whatever he wants .

“Explain to me again why we needed to do this? We don’t have the stable space for an entirely new team of horses. And what exactly will we gain from merging with a farm in California ?”

Sam shakes his head with a sigh. “You’re full of questions, ain’t you girl ?”

“It’s my job to be full of questions, Sam. I’m the ranch manager .”

He holds up his hands defensively. “Fine! The reason I picked Canyon Crest is because they have a collection of young colts, a mix of Paint horses and Friesians, and I want to start training them for competition. I think a few of them have real potential. As far as the space, I’ve already been in touch with an architect about building a new, state-of-the-art stable on the back part of the property that we haven’t developed .”

My jaw drops. “Sam! Do you have any idea how much that will cost ?”

“With all of the upgrades I asked for, the architect estimated around $750,000, but he’s using his connections to get us a steal at five-hundred .”

I have to lean against Moonfire to keep from collapsing. “Sam. I’m going to say this very slowly and I need you to hear me. Five-hundred-thousand dollars is a year’s worth of upkeep and salaries on this place. Please process that. You’re going to spend almost our entire slush fund on something we don’t remotely need, for what? A few more wins? A feature in Horse & Rider ?”

“Parrish, honey. It’s already a done deal. I just need to sign the check. I appreciate your concern but at the end of the day, this is still my ranch, baby. You’ll see it’s the right call once those stables are built, new and shiny. Maybe I’ll even let you move old Moonfire over there .”

I scowl at my stubborn-as-nails father-in-law. “You think you can buy me off ?”

“You said that, I didn’t .”

Sam starts to walk out of the stable and I give Moonfire another pat as I follow him toward the office. “Who is this architect anyway? There is no one in Dylan I would trust with a project like that .”

“He’s from out of town,” Sam says without looking back at me .

“Does he have a name ?”