Winning Over the Rancher Read online

  “Small talk or business first?” she asked.

  Lance, the oldest son, barked a sharp laugh. “Well played, ma’am.”

  Most of the others nodded.

  Time was money—their money, not from the bank account of some big corporation—and she knew how they felt.

  “I think we pretty much laid out our position in the information we sent to you.” This was from Curtis Doyle. “Why don’t you show us what you brought?”

  KayLee donned her let-me-entertain-you smile.

  As she did a quick study of the group, the fire crackled and the sounds of children’s laughter filtered in from a distance. “Great then, I’ll get started.”

  She splayed open her leather shoulder bag and took out a half-dozen copies of her proposal, including samples of her past work, her work from her life before Chad. Her old laptop sat on the backseat of her car. Its age wouldn’t make her presentation cutting-edge, and she suspected these people were hard-copy types anyway.

  She kept one for herself and placed the rest on the large round wooden coffee table in the center of the room. “I apologize for not having enough.”

  “We can share,” Amy said, handing one to Holly. The husband-and-wife couples snuggled close and KayLee suddenly wanted to cry.

  Pregnancy hormones. She blinked, had several soothing swallows from the glass of water on the table in front of her and continued. “In the final plan there are the seven guest cabins you requested and I recommend they be of varying sizes. My proposal is to build one of the medium-sized and one of the smaller ones first. I believe beginning on all of them at once would put too much of a strain on the resources here in the valley. The sheer noise created by doing the project on such a large scale would be unpleasant for the people as well as the wildlife.”

  She saw a couple of nods and one slight smile. The smile was from Evvy. The rest had remained neutral, except Baylor, who just frowned harder. Tough nut. She wondered what it would take to crack him.

  KayLee took another drink of water and then checked to see that her smile was still in place. She’d made harder sales than this one and that was when she was a youngster compared to now.

  “I suggest, in keeping ahead of the curve, that all of the building materials be as green, as eco-friendly, as possible.” There were a couple more nods with this proposal. “But I also propose that the second medium cabin, when built, be constructed with the materials and ventilation needed to make that particular house a safe environment for anyone who, for health reasons, cannot tolerate what most of us consider normal indoor pollutants.”

  The faces of the group had all taken on a rather neutral countenance. She searched for a sign. Approval? Bewilderment? Boredom?

  Amy leaned forward and refilled the glass of water in front of KayLee. It wasn’t much, but she took it as a sign someone wanted her there.

  She nodded her thanks, took a drink and then drew herself up and pressed on with the details. She answered their questions as they asked them, giving a solid look of confidence and an honest response. She had built her premarriage business on integrity and expected to do the same now.

  As she explained the family area concept where two cabins were located near an all-natural play area, but not near the other cabins, she got nods and smiles from the three women.

  She had worked hard studying their wish lists, the absolutes of the landscape, aerial photographs, topographical maps and available supplies in the area. She had a decent idea of what she was facing. She hoped it showed. By the time she had spread out her design of the first medium cabin to be built in a stand of pines, near enough to the stream to hear the burbling water on a quiet night, but not close enough to pollute the water, and the second near the proposed play area, she was sure she had all of them in her corner. Well, all except Baylor.

  The more she talked, the more questions she answered, the more confident she felt she had sold herself and her ideas to the others, the more Baylor seemed to scowl. She wondered how much influence he had on the group as a whole.

  By the time KayLee was almost finished, it seemed as if the sun should be setting, but only about an hour and a half had passed. She hoped what she had to offer next would make even Baylor sit up and smile.

  “I know you all want this project started as soon as possible, and I can arrange my schedule to accommodate an immediate launch if you should choose to go with these designs.”

  She scanned each Doyle. Evvy and Curtis were the image of warmth and receptivity. The younger husband-and-wife teams held hands and expressions of approval. KayLee gave in to a small shiver of excitement. This was the first real hope she’d had since the accident that had taken her husband.

  And then her gaze landed on Baylor.

  He sat, arms crossed over his big chest, chin tucked, forehead creased. He had asked many questions, grilled her was more like it, and she’d met every query with knowledge and conviction. She wondered what he doubted now.

  The senior Mr. Doyle looked up from the written proposal. “You have been very thorough, Ms. Morgan,” he said as he squeezed his wife’s hand.

  “I like the play area for the children.” Amy smiled at her husband with hope and love. They must be parents to one or more of the giggling and chattering young voices she heard coming from another room.

  “What would we be talking about as far as a time frame for completion of the first two cabins?” Evvy asked.

  “I’ll have a better idea of that when we have materials and workers on hand, but with ideal conditions, the middle of summer would not be out of the question.”

  They all leaned in a bit toward Baylor.

  He leaned in as well and folded his hands over the papers on his lap.

  “It has been nice meeting you, Ms. Morgan. Thank you for putting so much work into your proposal. We have your card if we have any further questions.” Baylor’s words were polite, even regretful sounding, but she read body language well enough to clearly read “thanks, but no thanks.”

  A shock wave of failure overtook her. She hadn’t expected a go-ahead, but she hadn’t expected outright rejection, either. She knew getting accepted or declined was a combination of personality, design and dollars, but Baylor Doyle didn’t even want to give her a chance. He clearly had the power of decision here and she supposed there must be a family reason for that.

  She pushed to her feet, rebalancing her weight carefully.

  Curtis rose from his seat and so did everyone else.

  “You’ve given us a lot to consider with your proposal. What we’re going to have to do now is to talk among ourselves.” The patriarch’s words seemed to abate the finality of Baylor’s pronouncement, but not by much.

  Evvy gave her a warm smile. KayLee suspected Evvy was kind to everyone, even a rejected designer. “Your plans are elegant and resourceful, KayLee. You won’t be heading for home yet today, will you?”

  Home? She almost laughed. She didn’t have a home.

  “I’ve got a room at the inn in town. I thought I’d get a good night’s sleep and I’ve always wanted to get to know Montana better.” Oh, blab and dither. Stay professional. “Anyway, thank you so much for the opportunity to share my ideas with you. It’s been a pleasure. I hope to hear from you soon.”

  She gathered her bag and the papers she would need, leaving her proposal and credential information for the Doyles, hoping she had a reason to stay in town and not flee back to…where?

  Well, she was competent and strong. She’d find something, if not here, somewhere else. That was her anthem and her prayer, and she was sticking to it.

  “Anyone in town will help you with whatever you need.” Amy’s tone seemed to offer an apology for the group, and her smile their regret.

  Her husband, Seth, put a hand on Amy’s waist and nodded his agreement. “If you need anything, you can call out here, too.”

  They truly were good people and from what Mr. Doyle had said, when completed, this project needed to boost the ranch’s income, not
be a drain on it. Besides cattle and summer cabins, KayLee wondered what income ranches in Montana used to stay afloat.

  She really didn’t know as much as she thought about the area where she proposed to work.

  Her inadequate coat seemed to appear from nowhere and Baylor held it up for her to slip into. When they walked her as a group to the front door, she wanted to grab each one of them and ask what more she could have done. Instead she nodded to each in turn. “Thank you all. You’ve been very kind.”

  And then she fled.

  When she paused at the bottom of the wooden steps, it seemed as if she were about to leap off with no possibility of knowing if she would ever land, let alone land safely.

  She lifted her chin, sucked in a breath of clean Montana air and patted her belly. It’s okay, Baby, she thought, Mama’s got your back.

  She stepped into the oblivion called the rest of her life.

  AFTER K. L. MORGAN DROVE away in her tiny blue Ford, Baylor herded the rest of his family back to the den. Though they had come docilely enough, none took their seats.

  Standing was a better fighting position.

  He shoved the hair away from his face, leaned forward and placed his hands on the back of an upholstered chair. Deliberately, silently, he held the gaze of each one of them. When none of them so much as blinked, he spoke quietly. “Have you all gone nuts? Did you all not notice K. L. Morgan is pregnant? I’m only a good judge of cows and horses, but I’d say very.”

  “And you’d hold that against her?” Amy challenged as she moved over to stand next to his mother and Holly.

  “I think you know me better than that, but we need someone who can get the whole job done and get started yesterday.”

  “She can do the job, Bay,” Holly said as she approached him, Amy and his mother at her side. “And she said she could start right away.”

  “I don’t doubt she believes she can start this job. She might even believe she can get it done, but that doesn’t make it so.” Baylor took a seat on one of the couches, but none of them followed his lead.

  “She graduated from the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at UCLA and she presents herself nicely.” His mother gave him a benign mother smile when she spoke. “And her bid was lower than any one else’s.”

  His sisters-in-law glared at him and his father and two brothers were in a tight knot, no doubt trying to figure out how to handle him. Just why he needed handling, he had no idea. They all knew that every single one of their futures rested on this project. He had promised himself and all of them, he’d see to the development of the Shadow Range Eco Ranch, and he was fairly certain K. L. Morgan was not going to be part of that promise.

  Now they formed a semicircle around him with arms crossed over their chests, except his mother. She had picked up a stack of papers from the coffee table.

  “And what about the baby’s father?” Baylor asked.

  CHAPTER TWO

  “SHE GOT HERE BEFORE you got a chance to read the background report on her.” Baylor’s father pointed to the stack of papers his mother held. “You should read the information before you make any decisions.”

  What could possibly be in the report? Something that would make K. L. Morgan less pregnant? The pleading on the faces of the women and the blank I’m-not-moving-an-inch looks on the faces of the men made it pretty mandatory he at least take a careful look.

  “I’ve obviously missed something big,” Baylor said as he took the report and straightened it—as if his mother would let anything be messy, “because you people have all but given her the nod for the work.”

  “We thought you’d be happy when you found out she could start straight away.” Lance stated what must have been the family opinion because every one of them nodded. “No one else could offer that. She gets the job underway and you’re out of here.”

  “And if she gets the job started and then falters, or doesn’t get the job started at all, that’s a lot of wasted time and money we don’t have.”

  “And you’d feel stuck in the valley with the rest of us,” Seth said, following up Lance’s defense.

  Baylor took a patient breath. “We might none of us be ‘stuck’ in this valley. This ranch has to make enough money to pay the bills.”

  “I could work more at the attorney’s office,” Holly volunteered.

  “And I could go back to the diner.” Amy glanced at her sister-in-law.

  “If it comes to that—” Lance started.

  Baylor looked up at all of them from the couch and held up a hand. “Wait, just wait. We’ve been through this more than once. With everyone here working as much as they do on the ranch, we’re already falling behind on the work that needs to be done.” They needed to get the calving finished and the shed in good repair for the following spring, the branding had just started, the barn needed a new roof, there was a lot of fence to ride before the cattle could be moved and the new stock had to be integrated into the herd when it arrived. There wasn’t an end to the list, but they all loved it. “Trey needs you, Amy. And, Holly, the more hours you put in off the ranch, the more we’ll have to replace you here.”

  “What about me?”

  Baylor shook his head at his mother. “Mom, even if you hadn’t just had your knee replaced, I’m sorry, but there aren’t jobs in this valley big enough to bail out the ranch. If we get this project going with the livestock and the lumber, we can pay off debt and provide a decent living for all of you. And then maybe there’ll be Doyles on the Shadow Range for another hundred and twenty-five years.”

  “We hear what you’re saying, Baylor, and we’re not afraid to look the truth in the face anymore, thanks to you,” Lance said as he took Holly’s hand. “And we think this woman is what we need to get the project up and running.”

  “How does she plan on doing that? How long will it be until she can’t even make the trip here?”

  “We think she plans on living in the valley during the project, instead of commuting,” Lance continued. “That gives us her constant attention during the whole thing.”

  “She plans on living here?”

  There were several nods.

  “Why would she do that? Isn’t there a husband or at least a man who cares about his baby involved in that decision?”

  “She moved out of her home two weeks ago and she’s been staying in a motel since,” Holly said as she tugged a strand of her long red hair.

  “And you’re all dodging the topic of the baby’s father. Why?”

  “Six months ago, her husband died unexpectedly,” his mother said in a gentle tone.

  “And you’ll soon find out, it was a week after he had moved out of their home,” Holly added.

  He tried not to glare at the bunch of them. “She loses her home and her baby’s father, so you think we should give her a place in this valley? Why don’t we throw in a family, too?”

  They had the presence of mind not to snicker at that one. It would please them all if he thought this valley was a place to have a life and a family and not a place to flee from.

  “Bay, she needs us and we need her. There’s a match meant to be here.” His mother took a seat beside him as she spoke and patted his knotted forearm.

  “What about the rest of her client list?” Baylor asked.

  “We’re it right now. The whole kit ’n’ caboodle,” Seth said as he hooked his thumbs in the belt loops of his jeans and rocked back on the heels of his boots.

  “I have to ask you again, are you people nuts?”

  Amy stepped forward. “Baylor, Holly and I were talking and we knew you’d be concerned, but we can tell you having a baby isn’t any sort of disability. Holly helped birth a calf three days after Matthew was born.”

  “We also suspect,” Holly said as she stepped up beside her sister by marriage, “one of the reasons you want out of this valley so badly is you don’t want to bring a wife and a family into this situation, to put more strain on the ranch.”

  Holly was mistaken
about his reasons for leaving, but he wasn’t going into that right now.

  “You know we’re behind you, Baylor,” Amy added. “No matter what you decide.”

  Baylor let his hands relax on his thighs. “I’m not sure there’s a third woman in the world like you two—”

  “Baylor, you’re full of crap,” Seth said.

  “No language like that in my house, please,” Evvy Doyle insisted. They might wade in the muck on a regular basis, but that didn’t mean they were uncivilized.

  Baylor glared at his brother as he continued. “But someone has to think of what’s best for all of us. You all chose me for that.”

  Lance, always the peacemaker between his two younger brothers, gave a conciliatory wave. “So, do we call her and tell her she has the job or do we wait a day or two so she doesn’t think we’re too eager?”

  “Wait a minute. Wait a minute.” Baylor waved both hands in the air. “If she has nothing, then why—”

  His father interrupted. “When her husband died six months ago, he owed a lot of money.”

  “And two weeks ago they threw her out of her home.” Amy tapped in what should have been another nail in the coffin of failure for K. L. Morgan and Associates.

  But all faces looked, if not hopeful, at least mulish.

  “This is even worse.” Baylor put his hands behind his head and glared at each one of them in turn, except his mother. He hadn’t been able to give her impatience since he was in middle school and he was old enough to know she would never harm a fly. “We’re going to bail her out after she made too many bad choices in her life.”

  “It was more like bad luck.” Lance defended her in the name of peace and harmony, of course.

  “She seemed to be playing straight with us. Her proposal is more along the lines with what we wanted and she thinks she can bring the project in under the costs of all the others.” This was his father again.