{Prologue}
"The ranch is yours now, Toni. Whether it lives or dies rests on your shoulders alone" Fifteen-year-old Toni Curtis watched her uncle mount his horse as rain beat down around him and all over the ranch yard. He looked back down at her. "Don't trust anyone, you hear me? They'll do nothing but try to take away what you've rightfully earned. Do you understand?"
No, she didn't understand. She was being abandoned by the only family she had, and with no explanation at that. "I don't understand why yer runnin' off and leaving me with this place as young as I am, Uncle Mark" Toni folded her arms across her chest and stared at him. "You promised Ma that you'd take care o' me. Didn't you promise her that?"
"One day you'll understand, Toni. I'll be back for you, this I can promise" Uncle Mark assured her before turning his horse toward the front gate of the ranch and spurred it into a run. All without as much as a backward glance.
Toni had a good mind to go to the barn to get her horse and ride out after her no-account uncle. So much so that a knot formed in her stomach and threatened to make tears spill from her eyes. She turned and looked around the ranch.
Her very own ranch in the middle of Texas.
Uncle Mark had taken care of the place, but how was she going to do this alone? Sure, she had the three hired hands he had left to help her, but she hardly knew the men. She had no idea of how much she could trust them.
Of all the things in the world to do with her, he had to run off and leave her on her lonesome. Oh, she would sure take the words he said to heart. She would never trust another human ever again if she could help it. Especially not a man.
She would definitely be changing the ranch name to something normal, not "Faithful" like her uncle had named it. "The broken F" suited the place just fine, since her faith in her uncle and in all mankind was broken from now on.
Rain splattered around her and soaked her through and through as she stood, bewildered, in the middle of the ranch yard. Caught between her past and her future.
"I ain't Toni Curtis, orphan, anymore. I'm Toni Curtis, owner of the finest spread in Texas."
ΔΙΑΒΑΖΕΙΣ
The Boss Lady's Man
Ρομαντική"Look, Toni. Not everyone who comes into your life is there just to use you. Some people are there because they really do care about you" Erik's calmed voice only made her anger worse. "Why do you not trust anyone?" Toni lost it. She was tired of ho...
