The SEAL's Secret Heirs

Johnny looked at him cockeyed as if Kyle had started speaking in tongues and thrown around a couple of snakes in the baptismal on a Sunday morning. “We just round ’em up and aim toward the barn. Nothing more to it than that.”

“Maybe not before. But today, we’re going to make sure we have full inventory before we make the trek.” Kyle couldn’t do it more than once. There was no way. “Liam didn’t happen to invest in GPS, did he?”

Slim and Johnny exchanged glances. “Uh...what?”

“Satellite. RFID chips. You embed the chips in the cow’s brand, for example, and use a GPS program to triangulate the chips. Technology to locate and count cattle.” At the blank looks he received in response, Kyle gave up. “I’ll take that as a no.”

That would be Kyle’s first investment as head of the cattle division at Wade Ranch. RFID chips would go a long way toward inventorying livestock that ran tame across hundreds of acres. That was how the military kept track of soldiers and supplies, after all. Seemed like a no-brainer to do the same with valuable livestock. He wondered why Liam hadn’t done it already.

“All right, then.” Kyle sighed. “Let’s do this.”

The three men rode hard for a couple of hours, driving the cattle toward the gate, eventually feeling confident that they had them all. Kyle had to accept the eyeball guesstimate from Slim and Johnny, who had “done this a couple of times.” Both thought the number of bodies seemed about right. Since Kyle wasn’t experienced enough to argue, he nodded and let the experts guide them home.

It was exhausting and invigorating at the same time. This was his land. His cattle. His men, despite the lack of welcome.

But when he got back to the cattle barn, Liam was waiting for him, arms crossed and a livid expression on his face.

“What now?” Kyle slid from his horse, keeping a tight grip on the pommel until he was sure his leg would support him.

“Danny Spencer quit.” Liam fairly spat. “And walked out without even an hour’s notice. Said he’d rather eat manure than work for you. Nice going.”

“That’s the best news I’ve heard all day.” God’s honest truth. The relief was huge. “He doesn’t want to work for me? Fine. Better that he’s gone.”

Liam pulled Kyle away from the multitude of hands swarming the area by the barn, probably all with perked-up ears, hoping to catch more details about the unfolding drama.

“It’s not better,” Liam muttered darkly. “Are you out of your mind? You can’t come in here and throw your weight around. Danny’s been handling the cattle side. I told you that. This is his territory and you came in and upset the status quo in less than five minutes.”

Kyle shook his head. “Not his territory anymore. It’s mine.”

“Seriously?” Liam’s snort was half laugh and half frustration. “You don’t get it. These men respect Danny. Follow him. They don’t like you. What are you going to do if they all quit? You can’t run a cattle division by yourself.”

Yeah, but he’d rather try than put up with dissension in the ranks. Catering to the troops was the fastest way to give the enemy an advantage. There could only be one guy in charge, and it was Kyle. “They can all quit then. There are plenty of ranch hands in this area. I need men who will work, not drama queens all bent out of shape because a bigger fish swam into their pond.”

“Fine.” Liam threw up his hands. “You have at it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Just keep in mind that we have a deal.”

His brother stomped to his truck and peeled out of the clearing with a spray of rock. Kyle resisted the urge to wave, mostly because Liam was probably too pissed to look in his rearview mirror and also because the hands were eyeing him with scowls. No point in being cocky on top of clueless.

His girls were worth whatever he had to do to figure this out.

Johnny approached him then. Kyle had just about had enough of cattle, his aching leg, difficult ranch managers and a hardheaded brother.

“What?” he snapped.

“Uh, I just wanted to tell you thanks.” Johnny cleared his throat. “For your service to the country.”

The genuine sentiment pierced Kyle through the stomach. And nearly put him on the ground where a day of hard riding hadn’t. It was the first time anyone in Royal had positively acknowledged his time in the military. Not that he’d been expecting a three-piece band and a parade. He’d rather stay out of the spotlight—that kind of welcome was for true heroes, not a guy who’d gotten on the wrong end of a bullet.