Fake Marriage Box Set

“Okay,” she said with a smile.

We left Riley sleeping off his breakfast on the porch and walked out to the equipment and storage barn beyond the stables. I rode the trailer out of the building and paused to let her climb up next to me. I already knew better than to offer my hand. She knew her way around a farm and didn’t need my damned help, or so Lacey’d said when I complained that Emma always looked at me sideways if I tried to help her with something around the ranch. She went off on me about feminism and how I needed to get with the times. But it wasn’t my fault Daddy raised me to be a gentleman.

We rode out to the far field where I’d been baling hay to sell in town. I pointed out the northern boundary of the property.

“Daddy bought the two farms around us when the families pulled up their stakes and left Round Rock behind. That added another hundred acres to what he already had.” I steered us around the field to an overgrown portion of grass that I sorely needed to mow today before I did anything else. “My parents used to grow a lot more than just hay. But I don’t recall Daddy growing a thing out here in all the years I was a kid. I mostly just keep it mowed. I could bring the horses out here, but the last time I did, Lacey and I had a bitch of a time getting them corralled again.”

Emma giggled, probably at the thought of Lacey blowing her top, which she did pretty regularly when I was around. Like most brothers and sisters, we could get along great or fight like cats and dogs.

We circled around back of the overgrown field, driving the long way around the western side of the house and back to the storage barn. I didn’t want the drive to end, but I could see Emma getting antsy in the seat next to me. She was snuggled in close, her shoulder and leg pressed into mine as her eyes roamed the property.

“If I don’t get those horses fed soon, they’ll be screaming,” she said. She kept doing that — reading my mind.

“What if I just kept driving and didn’t let you get off?”

She looked up at me with narrowed emerald eyes, her smile as bright as the sun rising over yonder. “You think I’ve never jumped from a moving tractor before?”

I had to laugh at that. I couldn’t quite get used to the sharp edges of her attitude. Just when I thought I had her figured out, she knocked me flat again. I loved it.

I dropped her off at the stables and because we were still alone, she gave me a soft kiss on the cheek.

“See you after work,” she said and jumped off the tractor. I watched her swinging hips as she walked to the sliding door. Once she went inside, cutting off the view, I got to work. That back field wasn’t going to mow itself, I told myself.

Emma had to

leave a little early that evening to make dinner for her daddy and sister, so I stayed working until just before dark, ending the day dripping in sweat. I walked up to the house, ready for a shower and an early night. Lacey was waiting on me, her feet up on the porch railing and a cold beer in her hand. She handed me one, and I reworked my plan for the evening. Beer, shower, scrounge something easy for dinner, then bed.

I sat down, screwed the top off my bottle, and clinked necks with Lacey. I took a nice long swallow before pulling off my hat and wiping the sweat from my brow with a damp handkerchief. Nothing beat the taste of a cool beer after a day of working hard out in the sun. I closed my eyes, just enjoying the taste and the breeze drying the sweat on my skin. The only thing that could make the evening better was having Emma here. But I’d take Lacey, too.

“I was pleased with the rodeo,” she said.

I opened my eyes and swung my head over to look at her. But she was looking out at the property line, her beer resting on her thigh.

“I was, too,” I said, and took another swallow of my beer. “You did great racing. How much did you bring home?”

“A thousand,” she said. “Not too shabby for a few minutes’ work.”

“No shit.” I laughed, shaking my head. “I’d take that damned near any day.”

“You could compete anytime you liked.”

We both knew there was no way in hell I could do that. Not that I hadn’t tried a few events as a kid. I just didn’t have what it took. I could ride and rope, but my patience was in pitifully short supply. It didn’t just take time to get as good as Lacey was — I had all the time in the world here on the ranch — it also took dedication and focus. I’d never been able to focus on a thing in my whole damned life. If I had to sit still or knuckle down, that thing just wasn’t for me.

I snorted at the thought of me riding and roping in the rodeo. “Nobody competes like you do, Lace. We only need one rodeo star on the farm.”

She laughed at that, shaking her blonde head. “I don’t know about star, but I’ll take that money, that’s for damned sure.” She took a swig of her beer. “I was a little surprised we sold both Max and Tucker.”

“Yep,” I said. “I couldn’t turn that money down.”

“I know that. It just puts us low, is all. And with Emma here, we can take on a few more horses if we wanted.” She turned to glance at me, her dark eyes even darker in the disappearing sunlight. “Did you ever talk to that rancher about taking a look at the foals he has available?”

I nodded, and Lacey looked suspicious. I wasn’t good at getting things done if it wasn’t on the farm — they just slipped right from my mind. But I’d actually taken care of this. Emma’d reminded me a few times, so I couldn’t really take the credit, but I didn’t plan on telling Lacey that.

“Actually, I did. You can drive out there any time this week.” I took a few seconds to bask in the cool glow of her blatant disbelief before continuing on. “I’d like you to take a good long look at the five or so he has available and decide which’ll be the best for what we need. I trust your judgment.”

She made a haughty face, her eyes wide and lips pressed together.

“I trust your judgment on horses,” I corrected, grinning as her face fell, setting into the pissed off expression she saved just for me. But she couldn’t hold back her giggling. We’d been ribbing each other for more than twenty years. I didn’t see a reason to stop now.