True Love Ranch

“Is it impossible to imagine he might have had other reasons?” Joe asked. “Like maybe he cared about us both and couldn’t decide what else to do?”

She leveled her gaze on Joe again. “It’s no secret that my family isn’t exactly what you’d call close.”

He nodded. “I always thought that was a shame.”

“It suits us,” she answered. “We don’t like to be encumbered with familial responsibilities.”

He nodded again but said nothing. Darcy thought she saw pity in his eyes. He knew too much about her, even that her mother had run off with a polo player when Darcy was ten, and that they’d never heard from her again, except for the odd impersonal Christmas card. Darcy had told that story to Joe ages ago in a moment of weakness, but she could see he was thinking about it now and, worse, feeling sorry for her.

Oh, who was she kidding? Darcy was the one feeling sorry. Sorry that the man who had meant so much to her as a child was dead, and that there was no way she could pull back the years that had been wasted. She’d tried to contact him, certainly, but maybe she could have tried harder. Maybe she should have tried longer. Maybe, maybe, maybe....

“Are you in agreement with the terms?” the lawyer asked sharply. “I do have another appointment to make.”

Joe looked at Darcy and cocked his head. “Do you think you can put your job off for a couple of months?” He paused. “I think I can.”

She sighed. “I can too.” She looked at the lawyer. “I guess we’ll give it a try.”

With a nod, the lawyer made some scribbles on the papers in front of him.

“It’s going to be worth it,” Joe said.

Worth it or not, I’m not ready to give it up, Darcy thought. But she didn’t voice it. Instead she said, “I want to take a look around.”

She glanced at her watch so that Joe wouldn’t see the tears in her eyes. “Excuse me.”

She had barely reached the hall when she felt Joe’s hand on her arm. “Darcy, what’s the matter?”

She took a quick swipe at her eyes with the back of her hand. “Nothing. I’m just tired.”

He cocked his head. “Really.”

“I’m fine.” She gave a quick sniff. “I told you, I have allergies.”

“I think you’re upset that Ken left part of this place to me.”

“That’s not true! I’m not—”

“Come on, who wouldn’t be?”

The melancholy left her and she was once again riled at Joe. “You always think you can read my mind.”

“I usually can.”

“It’s been years since you’ve even had the chance to guess. How could you possibly know what I’m thinking?”

He remained irritatingly calm. “Because what you’re thinking is usually written all over you face, for anyone with eyes to see.”

“Then maybe it’s time you think about getting some glasses, because you’re wrong.”

“I am?”

“Completely. You really want to know what I think?”

“Yeah.”

“I think there’s no way this could work. I don’t see how we can live here together. Maybe we should consult another lawyer, maybe find out if there’s some loophole that would enable one of us to live somewhere else.” She looked at him and added quickly, “Oh, don’t worry, I’m not trying to get your half for myself. It’s right that Grandfather should have left you something. I just wish he’d done it a little less awkwardly.”

Joe gave a nod but said nothing.

“Anyway, if I get another lawyer—”

Joe stopped her. “If you get another lawyer involved, that’s going to cost money and time that I don’t think either one of us can spare.”

“But, Joe—” she shook her head “—we can’t seriously entertain the idea of living here together.”

“We have to.” His voice softened fractionally, but she heard the anxiety in it. “This is an amazing opportunity, at least for me.”

“I need it, too,” Darcy said softly.

He hesitated for a moment. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t have time to monkey with long-shot loopholes. Two months isn’t that long.”

“I don’t know...”

He eyed her with suspicion. “What are you so worried about? You think your virtue is at risk with me?”

But she wondered if she could resist him, if it ever came to that. At close quarters, he still turned her insides to melted butter. And living together on the ranch, they’d be in close quarters much of the time. “I’m not worried about anything. I just don’t think we’re ideally suited as roommates—”

“Listen.” This time his voice had a definite edge to it. “You’re going to have to get used to this—and fast. So here’s what I propose. We stay on for the two months and fix the place up as inexpensively as possible—that’s going to mean getting a little dirt under those manicured fingernails of yours—then we sell it at the end of the term. We’ll split the profit fifty-fifty, less expenses. Do you agree?”

“I—I—”

“You’re not very good with commitment, are you?”

“I do.” Her head was swimming. She stood and walked a small circle in front of her chair. “I mean, I am. I mean, I do agree to the deal, and I am good with commitment. Not that it’s any of your business.”

“It is now,” he said easily. “We’ll have to draw up a contract, of course.”

“A contract?”

“You’d prefer a handshake, I suppose.”

“You’d prefer blood, I suppose.”

“Let’s stick with a contract.”

“And what, exactly, will it say?”

“It will say that we will both stay on for two months to meet the terms of your grandfather’s addendum, so that you don’t leave and mess everything up for me. Then, at the end of the term, we sell the ranch and go our separate ways. For good.”