Сандра Паул – The Pregnant Proposition (страница 4)
It just takes time and a bit of money to find it. And then we’ll be richer than we ever dreamed of being.”
“So instead of putting in a new kitchen, you’re taking a gamble that we’ll find oil.”
“It isn’t a gamble, Ally,” Cole said firmly. “It’s an investment.”
“Fine. Whatever.” Ally refused to argue with him on a subject she knew he wouldn’t budge on. “The point is, Cole, you’re not being fair to me.”
“I said we’ll fix the stove—”
“Yeah, when someone gets around to it.” Her lips compressed. “Besides, it’s not just that. It’s other things, too.”
“Like what?”
“Like.” She tried to think of a recent example. “Like when you got the cell phones. You gave one to Kyle, one to each of the twins and kept the other one for yourself. Without discussing it with me at all.”
“I wasn’t trying to slight you, Al. The plan just came with four, so I handed them out to the boys, and figured you could share with me.”
“I don’t want to share with you. I want my own.”
“But why? Who are you planning on calling?”
“No one,” she admitted, giving up on the battle. “And there’s no one planning to call me.”
His face softened. “Sure there is. Tell you what—you can have the cell. I’ll share with Kyle.”
She looked at him helplessly. He just didn’t get it. The problem was, she didn’t want to always feel like Cole—or the others—were doing her a favor. She wanted them to recognize that she worked just as hard as they did. That she’d earned her share.
“It’s not the phone, Cole. It’s that you don’t treat me like an equal. You don’t discuss anything with me. Not anything concerning the ranch or the house. Not even Bride’s Price.”
Cole’s frowning eyes lifted to meet hers. “What about it?”
“Don’t you think you should have consulted me before refusing Troy’s offer?”
Cole shifted his gaze back to the cobbler. He gave it another poke. “No.”
“That’s my land, Cole.”
Setting his fork aside, he lifted his dark eyebrows as he met her eyes once again. “No one says it isn’t. But I’m the one Eileen put in charge to look out for your best interests.”
Ally folded her arms across her chest. “And that’s what you were doing today? Protecting my interests?”
“Of course. What else would I be doing? We need that grass for the herd.”
“Don’t give me that. We have more than enough range for the herd we’re running now. You know and I know that if anyone else had wanted to lease that land, you would have agreed in a red-hot minute. The only reason you refused is because it was Troy O’Malley.”
Cole’s stern mouth curled in a grim smile. “Seems like a good enough reason to me.”
“Well, not to me.”
His smile faded and his blue gaze narrowed on her face. “Since when have you become so concerned about Troy O’Malley?”
She gave a short laugh, waving a dismissing hand at the thought of mocking green eyes. “I’m not concerned with him at all. What I want—what I need—is that money he offered. To put my own plans into action.”
“What plans?”
“To move into Eileen’s house.”
Cole snorted. “You’re kidding me. Why would you want to move out there?”
“To be able to do what I want.”
Genuinely perplexed, Cole frowned at her. “That’s ridiculous. What can you do at Eileen’s house that you can’t do here?”
She was fed up with being the fifth, inferior Cabrerra brother, Ally realized tiredly. She just wanted to be by herself—run her own life, make her own decisions—without any bossy men telling her what she should and shouldn’t do.
But Cole wouldn’t understand any of that; he’d simply dismiss it as female nonsense. So Ally gave him a reason he could understand. “I want to start my own business. Breeding and training horses.”
Cole’s expression tightened. “That’s a dream, Ally. There’s no money in that.” Impatiently, he shook his head. “Cattle is our concern.”
“Our major concern. I want to start a side business, breeding and training Peruvian Pasos for working herds and pleasure riding.”
“Peruvian Pasos,” he repeated flatly. “What’s wrong with good old American quarter horses?”
She shrugged. “Nothing. But I want to develop Peruvians.”
He took a deep breath, clearly summoning patience. “Fine. But we can’t afford to support two households right now, or invest in more horses. Maybe in a few years—”
“I don’t want to wait a few years, any more than you want to wait years to find out if there’s oil on our land. Not if I don’t have to. And leasing to Troy means that I don’t have to.”
“I’m not leasing Bride’s Price to Troy O’Malley.”
Ally’s spine stiffened, and her gaze narrowed on her brother’s stubborn face. “No?” she asked softly. “Is that because he’s an O’Malley? Or because he stole Misty from you?”
She shouldn’t have said it; Ally regretted the comment as soon as it left her lips. Cole jerked as if she’d slapped him and his expression turned to stone.
When he finally replied, he didn’t answer her questions but stated in a flat, hard voice he’d never used to her before, “O’Malley is not getting that lease. And there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Not waiting for her reply, he stood and strode from the room, slamming the door behind him.
Ally sat for a moment, frozen in place by the force of his anger, hurt constricting her throat and causing a prickly burning behind her eyes.
Then an answering anger rose up inside her. Blinking the pain away, she glared at the closed door.
“Oh, yes, there is something I can do, brother dear,” she said softly. “I can get married.”
“During the breeding season, it is wise to observe the cattle from a distance, using field glasses if necessary, to remain unseen and thus avoid influencing their natural behavior.
“Don’t hesitate to enlist the aid of other experts in this endeavor. They may have knowledge that you lack…. ”
Resolving to marry was one thing; finding a husband quite another. Especially if all the single men in town were intimidated by your four older brothers.
Well, she simply had to overcome that obstacle, Ally decided, lying in bed that night, pondering the problem. What she needed to do was get close enough to her prospect—once she had a prospect—to explain her proposition of a temporary marriage before her brothers could chase him off. Getting dressed up would help her get close. Every woman over the age of five knew that men—like bulls—were easily distracted and attracted by clothing. Flutter a red cape—or a sexy red dress—in front of them, and they almost couldn’t help chasing it.
The trouble was, she didn’t have a red dress—or any sexy clothes—nor the money to buy some. The only decent dress she owned was her bridesmaid dress from Cole’s canceled wedding … a dress she’d never worn.
Yes, that was the answer, she decided, settling down to get some sleep. She’d return the dress and get something new.
Her brothers headed out at dawn the next morning. After they left, Ally hurried to clean up the breakfast dishes, feed the chickens and start a load of laundry—sparing a few extra moments to flush the cigarettes she found in Kyle’s pocket. Bad enough that he risked his life riding bulls; he didn’t need to risk cancer, too.
Anxious to reach Tangleweed when the stores opened, she was on the road at nine. By ten, she was arguing with Tammy Pitts, owner of Tamara’s Treasures.
“I’m sorry, I can’t refund your money,” Tammy said.
“But I’ve never worn it,” Ally told her. “It’s like new.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Tammy insisted. “Not only has it been six months since you purchased the garment, it was altered. It can’t be returned.” She pushed the dress across the store counter, adding with patently false regret, “Store policy, you know. One my
The condescending glance she swept over Ally’s worn jeans and John Deere T-shirt—clean and green and bought on sale at the feed store—made Ally lift her chin. Ally had known Tammy Pitts (née Peale) all her life. After trapping William Pitts, a man twice her age, into marriage, Tammy had convinced her henpecked husband to let her open a boutique which—since most of the town refused to pay the prices Tammy charged—primarily served as a front for Tammy’s shopping addiction.
But when planning her wedding to Cole, Misty’d been determined to give her hometown as much business as possible. So she’d herded her bridesmaids to Tamara’s Treasures. Although the others had been dismayed by Tammy’s “hick-town slim pickin’s,” as one anorexic redhead had put it, Ally’s only dismay had been the cost of the final selection. Emptying her small savings account for a dress she’d probably wear once had scandalized her thrifty soul. But she’d bitten back her protests, not wanting to embarrass either herself or Cole in front of the other women, for whom price was obviously not a consideration at all.