The Maverick Meets His Match by Anne Carrole Read Free Book Online Page B

JM would have wanted me to do. So if you want to run Prescott in six months and keep the ranch house, seems the solution is easy.” There was that devastating smile again. “We’ll probably end up in bed together anyway, even if we don’t marry. Marriage would be in keeping with your grandfather’s wishes, is all.”
    His audacity was only equaled by the smug smile on his face. Yet she feared his prediction had more truth to it than was good for her emotional health.
    “Just so you’d get an additional fifteen percent of the company, and I’d come away without controlling interest. And what’s to say you wouldn’t sell the business within that six months’ time frame anyway. Where would I be then?” Willow stretched her neck for some grass, and Mandy gave a tug on the reins, then lightly petted Willow’s neck. The horse’s weight shifted, but Willow obeyed.
    “A very wealthy woman. But it won’t be easy, especially at this time, to find a buyer in six months, if the analysis warrants that. But I won’t lie to you. It is possible.”
    “So why would I marry you? It’s like you’re asking me to prostitute myself to save the ranch house.” Although at the moment, staring into the eyes of tall, dark, and handsome, the prospect wasn’t as insulting as it should have been.
    “How about the fact you’d still hold the majority of shares and, with the family votes, you’d have de facto controlling interest? And marriage has its benefits.” His gaze traveled from her eyes, down her throat, past her neck, to the top button of her shirt…and back up again with an intensity that made the beats of her pulse reverberate clear to her heart. “Just to be clear, I’m not asking anything of you. I didn’t write this will. I’m only exploring options. But I can guarantee you a pleasurable time if you’re open to it.”
    He sat back in his saddle. “Think about it, Mandy. Six months, you’d be head of Prescott Rodeo Company. I could accept marriage as long as it’s understood we divorce at the end of six months. And you agree to a prenup, of course. I just think it’s something you should consider.”
    The man was an arrogant, egotistical sidewinder who brought out the worst in her. Except for that long-ago summer.
    She looked past the creek, over the plain, and toward the point where the land sloped gently up to the foothills. This was her land. PRC was her company. And this was her life.
    “It will be a cold day in hell, Martin, before I’d marry you, much less sleep with you.”
    He arched an eyebrow as if he doubted her.
    There was only one thing to do to preserve her sanity. Reining Willow to the right, she gave a light kick. Her horse lurched into a gallop, heading north up the stream and away from Ty, away from the creek, away from bad memories, and overpowering lust. Mandy gave the horse its head, leaving, she hoped, Ty in the proverbial dust.

Chapter 4
    “Well, I can think of worse things,” Sheila said as she poured Mandy another cup of coffee from the glass pot.
    Dawn was just breaking over the eastern sky, streaming dusky light into the oversized kitchen of Mandy’s mother’s house. Granite counters gleamed, stainless steel appliances shined, and the travertine-tiled floor glistened in the light. Though Mandy lived in her mother’s house, somewhere along the way she’d stopped thinking of it as her home. More like a way station on the road to her real life. Yet she hadn’t taken any steps to find her own place since getting her master’s degree in business. Maybe because it would mean leaving the ranch—the one spot where she belonged.
    Dumping two teaspoons of sugar and at least a quarter cup of cream into the strong brew, Mandy took a huge gulp hoping the caffeine would jump-start her body—and her mood. Given her sleepless night, she’d barely been conscious enough to shimmy into her jeans and the white shirt with the embroidered PRC logo of a riderless bronc in midkick.
    Sitting at