Owned (3 page)

“Of course you’ll marry me,” he yelled, getting in my face. “I’m disappointed in you, Kate, and your grandpa would be too. You should be thrilled that I’m even willing to take you as my wife and finally had an offer. I mean you’re getting up in years and all—” I couldn’t help it, I burst out laughing. It wasn’t a happy laugh, more an outraged laugh when someone said something so ridiculous you just couldn’t help yourself. “What is so fucking funny, girlie?”

“You!” I yelled and before I could even continue, I felt the white-hot pain on my cheek where he backhanded me.

“That’s for disrespecting me,” he informed me, looking happy with himself for putting me in my place.

“Oh goodie. Now when you’re bleeding on the ground, I can say you hit me first,” I replied, dropping my purse. He started to open his mouth again and I slugged him. I put everything I had into it and he ended up on the ground, blood coming out of his nose and mouth. I tossed my smartphone to the closest guy. “Call the Sheriff.”

“You fucking bitch! Who do you think you are?” Sean yelled, spitting out some blood. “I’m going to teach you who’s boss around here!”

“I’m the bitch?” I asked, laughing. “You fucking backhanded me. You bitch slapped me, so you’re the one who’s fighting like a girl!”

He stood up, fists at his side, and I turned and landed the most beautiful roundhouse kick right in his face before he could make a move.

“You’re going to regret that, girlie,” he gasped, clutching his head. “I’ve got eyes and friends everywhere around here and you’re just the outsider who’s going to take the ranch from me and their jobs. They won’t stand for it. You should have said yes. Instead you have a target on your back now.”

And then he slumped to the ground, out cold. Before I could feel the satisfaction of kicking his ass, I saw someone rush me out of the corner of my eye. I bent down and used his own momentum to flip him and land him faceup on the ground.

“Stay down,” I yelled at him. Beating up Sean was one thing, but this guy was about my age and scrawny. He must have been one of Sean’s lackeys, but he was weak and I didn’t fight someone weaker than me unless I had to.

“Fuck you. Sean is going to teach you some respect,” he said, getting back up and charging at me. He tried to land a punch at my face that I easily dodged. After landing one of my own and hitting him with an uppercut, he was back on the ground. He wasn’t moving anytime soon, and he was crying.

“Anyone else have a problem with me being in charge?” I asked with anger in my voice, but keeping my tone level.

“No, ma’am,” the guy who I tossed my phone to said, handing it back to me. “I called the Sheriff, he’s on his way, and Sean’s an asshole.” I took a deep breath then, relaxing out of my attack stance, and smiled.

“Good to know. Thanks for calling,” I said, noticing all the other guys were nodding that they didn’t like Sean either. “What’s your name?”

“Nick Collins, ma’am,” he told me. “And I’ll tell the Sheriff what I saw here.”

“Nice to meet you, Nick,” I said, extending my hand. “And you guys can all call me Kate.” He smiled widely at me, and if nothing else, I could see I had one ally.

“I’m really sorry about your grandpa, Kate. He was a nice man.” He dropped my hand then and a few of the guys agreed with him.

“Thanks, Nick. How about you stick around and help me hand over these clowns to the Sheriff. The rest of you guys head back to your work, and when you’re all done come over to the house. We’ll get some grub and get a chance to get to know each other.” They started heading back to their work, just as the Sheriff’s car pulled in the drive.

“Just to give you a heads-up,” Nick said, leaning in so no one else could hear. “The Sheriff is Sean’s cousin.”

“Shit, well this could go bad,” I bitched as the Sheriff got out of his car and headed over.

“Ms. Boyle, what seems to be the problem?” Sheriff Swick asked as he got closer.

“These two men accosted me and I had Nick give you a call,” I explained as I extended my hand.

“What did my dumbass cousin do now?” he asked, shaking my hand and rolling his eyes.

“Oh good, you think he’s a dumbass too,” I said with relief. “It seems he got it in his head that now that my gramp has passed he’d be marrying me. That I’d be handing everything over to him and the ranch is his.”

“Is that a fact?” Sheriff Swick whistled, raising his eyebrow.

“Yes, Sir, and when I laughed at the idea and told him no way in hell, he backhanded me for my disrespect. It seems he also went to the bank today and had himself added to the ranch accounts. Wrote the funeral home a check, funny considering I’m in charge of all that and I didn’t tell anyone to add him to anything. I’m pretty sure that breaks several laws and makes me a bit concerned that the bank did that.”

“I should think so. I’ll head over to the bank and have a talk with Harry. I’ll make it clear in no uncertain terms what laws they broke.”

“I’d appreciate that, Sheriff,” I said, smiling at him. “I think both these guys will need to go to the hospital.”

“Your hands help you sort them out?” Sheriff Swick asked me, but then turned to Nick when he burst out laughing. “What’s funny, Nick?”

“We didn’t help her with anything, Sheriff. Kate did it herself without even breaking a sweat,” Nick replied.

“Is that a fact?” Sheriff Swick asked again, turning back to me. Apparently it was his go-to phrase.

“Yes, Sir.” I quickly explained what happened as the Sheriff studied me. “I don’t even know the second guy’s name,” I finished, shrugging.

“Well you’ve had quite a day, Ms. Boyle,” he said with a smirk. “You wanting to press charges on these boys?”

“No, Sir. I just wanted it reported, and someone else to drag them away. Oh, and if you could tell Sean he’s fired when he wakes up, I’d appreciate it. I’ll have the guys box up their stuff tonight from the bunkhouse, I’m sure they’ll know where to take it. I don’t want either one of these asses to step foot on my ranch ever again.”

“Understood, Ms. Boyle. Would you mind taking off your jacket?” Sheriff Swick asked me. I knew why. He could tell I had a shoulder harness and two guns under my jacket. Very few, even law enforcement, could tell from the way I had the rig designed for under my suit jacket.

“Good eye, Sheriff, most people can’t tell,” I said approvingly as I took off the jacket.

“You’re packing?” Nick asked with amazement.

“Yeah, I normally am,” I replied. “I have all the right permits and licenses, Sheriff, if you want to see them.”

“No need, Ms. Boyle. Your grandpa told me once about your line of work. Navy, right?” I was glad he was being discreet. If Gramp told him about what I do, he knew I was out of the Navy and owned my own business.

“Yes, Sir, been out three years. You?” I asked with a smile. Funny thing about people who were in or used to be in the military, we could always spot each other.

“Army Ranger. Used to be under your grandpa in my youth.”

“Explains why Gramp had such a high opinion of you,” I said with a laugh. “You were one of his.”

“He’s the one who got me into law enforcement when I got out. It’s a shame about him passing. I told the doc not to listen to Sean about the autopsy.”

“Thank you for that, you saved me an uncomfortable call. I was pretty pissed when Sean told me about that, only next of kin can make those decisions,” I reminded him.

“Yes, that’s how it’s
supposed
to go. I’m sorry it didn’t, Ms. Boyle.” It didn’t seem the Sheriff was too keen on how most things were going down concerning the death of my gramp.

“Kate. Please, call me Kate.”

“Well, Kate, I’ll get Nick here to give me a hand with these two. You’ve got enough to handle right now, I reckon,” Sheriff Swick said, nodding at Nick to help him.

“Thanks again, Sheriff.” He tilted his head at me as if to say
just doing his job
before they loaded them in the squad car.

I grabbed my purse and headed in the house. Looking around the living room and kitchen, I wished once again I hadn’t listened to Gramp and had gotten the house updated. He never wanted me to worry about anything, that he enjoyed living simply.

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t like the house didn’t have running water or they had to use an outhouse. But the house was still stuck in the ’60s or ’70s and probably hadn’t had any work done on it since then. I added talking to a contractor to my mental list of things to do.

“You okay, Kate?” Nick asked from behind me.

“I’m fine, thanks.”

“What can I do to help?”

“If you wouldn’t mind too much, grabbing my luggage from the car and putting it all in my room would be a big help.”

“Not at all. Keys?” he asked, giving me a smile. I turned and tossed them to him. When he left, I pulled my cell out of my pocket and decided to be smart and make a call I normally wouldn’t when threatened.

“Hey, our flight leaves in an hour,” Nate, one of my best friends, and self-appointed big brother, said by way of greeting.

“I need to ask you for a favor,” I hedged, not used to having to ask for help and I didn’t want this to be an order since it was personal. Since his company was a subsidiary of mine, I didn’t like asking him for favors that straddled the line. Though since they were both security companies, I’m sure he would have smacked me for my hesitation. It’s not like Nate hadn’t always been there for me and vice versa.

“Sure, anything,” he replied immediately.

“You got any buddies who can spend some time on the ranch?” The goal was to hint at what I needed because neither of us could talk openly, him at the airport and for me Nick could come back in at any moment. “Ones who could handle a potentially volatile situation, and help me out with it. Maybe they just got out of the service, but they need to know about cattle and horses, or at least enough to fake it. I’m not asking for you to send a couple of your employees. Just if you know a couple of guys who can work here until they figure out their next step?”

I wanted him to know that I didn’t want to hire any of his bodyguards, because they’d never fit in to be believable ranch hands. I wanted guys that could blend, maybe work the other crew for information, see who was loyal. They needed to be able to handle themselves, since it wouldn’t help me any if I had to worry about protecting them too. I needed people to watch my back, not probable collateral damage.

“What the hell is going on, Kate?”

“I’ll explain everything when you get here, but right now we both can’t speak freely,” I answered calmly. I couldn’t help but smile when he had some choice phrases he muttered under his breath. He sighed and I pictured my friend scrubbing his hand over the back of his neck in thought, like he did when he was annoyed.

“Actually, I might know two guys who fit the bill,” Nate said after a few moments.

“Who?”

“Jared and Dean Acker.”

I groaned. The Acker brothers were infamous enough that even I’d heard of them when I was in the Navy. “You mean the Horn Dog Twins? Jesus, Nate. What help would they be? They chase after anything that looks halfway decent in a skirt.”

“That was
years
ago and didn’t we all used to act like that,” he drawled. “I wouldn’t have suggested them if I didn’t trust them. We all grow up, Kate.”

I thought about that and he was right. I wasn’t the same person I was seven years ago either. “Okay, if you trust them, I trust you.”

I
did
trust Nate, but I still had reservations. According to some of the girls on base, the Acker twins lived up to their reputation. As long as emotions weren’t involved, just one night with either of them was well worth it. That was the rumor anyway. I had no intentions of finding out firsthand.

“Cool. They’re not far from you so I’ll call them and have them drive down as soon as they can. I’ll be in touch.”

“Thanks, Nate, you’re the best pretend big brother ever,” I cooed playfully. He snickered at that and we said our good-byes before hanging up.

Then I moved on to my next call. I could feel the tension building in my head. This was going to be a massive migraine kind of day.

“Adam Rose’s office. How can I help you?” a young lady greeted when she answered the phone.

“Hi, this is Kate Boyle, is Mr. Rose in?”

“No, Ms. Boyle, he’s attending to a few things, but he did leave a message should you call. He said he’ll stop by the ranch at about six to discuss some things with you.”

“If he checks in later, let him know I appreciate it,” I told her.

“Will do, have a nice day,” she said, hanging up. I guess my gramp’s lawyer didn’t tell her why he was coming by later, or she would have known having a nice day was impossible.

“Anything else?” Nick asked me a few minutes later when he was done.

“Actually, if you don’t mind hanging out here and holding down the fort, that would be great. I’ve gotta head into town to handle some of the details. I figure some people will be stopping by, pay condolences. It’s really not my kinda thing,” I told Nick, hoping he’d get the idea that I didn’t really want to talk to anyone.

“Sure thing. Give me your cell number in case something pops up and I need to call you.”