{Chapter 1}
“Git outta here a’ fore I blow you across the county, mister” Toni Curtis pulled off a shot and hit a tree near Harlan Downs, who was holding a fat wallet in his hands.
“Please think rationally Miss Curtis. It’s obvious that you aren’t using the land!” Downs tried to reason.
“Maybe not, but I’m using this rifle if you don’t mount yer ride and burn the breeze!” Toni said through clenched teeth.
“I’ll up my offer my ten percent!” Downs offered.
“My answer’s still the same. I ain’t sellin’ one acre of my land to no one. Especially someone like you” Toni pulled off another shot, a little closer to Downs.
He finally took the hint and fumbled to mount his ride. “I’ll give you a few days to think on it, Miss.”
Toni shook her head and set her rifle in the rocking chair on her little porch.
“What’s the shootin’ about, Boss?” Her foreman, Wade Dylan, came from the barn where he had been saddling their horses. “Is Downs back again?”
“The man can’t take a hint, Dylan. He’s a dumb as a… well, he’s just dumb,” Toni sputtered.
“One day he’ll give up on ya. He’s just stubborn” Wade walked toward the horses and Toni followed.
“Two can play at that game,” Toni muttered.
“Rawhide, Ben, and Tiny are all out takin’ the herd to that south pasture already” Wade grabbed the pommel and swung up into the saddle.
Toni nodded and mounted her own black stallion, Storm. “Any more missing?”
“Three head. A mare and her colt and--- and Scottish Thunder” Wade’s voice faded at the last words.
Toni’s heart sank. Surely not her prized stallion. She had bought him from an old Scottish man, hence the horse’s name, who was looking to get out of the breeding business.
“Please tell me you’re joking,” she breathed.
“I’m sorry, but it’s true” Wade put his head down.
Toni growled out a few choice words that would have made any other woman blush. “I’ll kill ‘em all when I find ‘em.”
“We’ve gotta get these rustlers under control, Boss. There aren’t very many more horses worth rustling,” Wade said.
“I know. I ain’t cryin’ to the law, though. You know how that Sheriff feels about me runnin’ this place, he ain’t gonna do squat diddle about it” Toni grumbled.
“A Sheriff who doesn’t do his job ‘cuz of personal preferences deserves to be in the calaboose along with his prisoners,” Wade said.
Toni shook her head. “Any luck on finding a bronc rider? I need that new mustang broke more than ever now. We need the money.”
“Nothing has shown up. I’ll ask around in town tomorrow when I go to pick up that mare,” Wade said.
Toni nodded. Seemed like she was spending a lot of money but not getting any in return these days.
**********
“Fired? How am I fired?” Erik McBride asked the foreman of the KD Ranch.
“I’m sorry, McBride. I really need a man like you, but Boss said you had to go” Elliot Samuels shook his head.
“Why?”
“It’s Carlie,” Elliot groaned.
“No, No. She’s a twelve year old girl!” Erik couldn’t believe his ears.
ŞİMDİ OKUDUĞUN
The Boss Lady's Man
Romantizm"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...
