Taking Charge (Lone Star Burn #4)(7)
“I understand.”
Anger entered his voice again. “I don’t know what you learned in those years you spent up north, but around here we treat people better. I should be grateful to discover your lack of character now instead of after the wedding vows.”
If he thinks this will make me feel worse, he has no idea how much I already hate myself. “I never meant to hurt you.”
“I’ll be fine,” Ted said, with coldness in his tone. “You’re the one I feel sorry for. That ranch is as good as gone now. You won’t find anyone else willing to help you. No one besides me gives a shit about you. You and your brother always thought you were better than us. All either of you ever wanted was to leave. Well, here’s your chance.”
Long after he’d hung up, Lucy stood there shaking. They say when you hit rock bottom, there is nowhere to go but up. So how do I keep sinking?
There was very little left that Lucy recognized about herself. The strong independent woman she’d been was now near giving up and so alone, she ached.
She walked over to one of the boxes the postman had delivered and rested a hand on top of it. Am I an idiot to think I can do this? Or that I should do this? My mother would say she raised me better.
But she left me, too.
Sorry, Mom, you forfeited the right to lecture me.
She ripped one of the boxes open and took out the tablet that rested on top. After researching the profit margins of many online franchises, she’d come across a start-up that had been looking to partner with a woman willing to market their inventions. The opportunity had everything she was looking for. There was very little up-front investment required; it had substantial potential for large monthly earnings, depending on how well she marketed the items; and the orders would be filled directly from the company. She would be both a partner and a salesperson working on commission. The goal of the company was to be cutting-edge, revolutionizing the market, and to gain a strong following of female clients.
Lucy picked up a bra that had been fashioned to look like a remote control for a video game. Both sides hosted colorful controls that looked functional as well as decorative. She held it to her chest and tried to imagine not slapping a man’s hands away if she actually wore it during sex. A laugh erupted from her, but more from nerves than humor.
I can call Ted and tell him my grief confused me. He’d probably take me back.
Or I can do this and prove to myself that I am the person I was back in New England.
I’m smart and I am not beaten yet.
Not by a long shot.
She replaced the bra and took out a set of glow-in-the-dark dildos. Assorted colors and sizes. She read the label. Three settings for light options: “Constant,” “Flashing,” and “Disco”?
Disco?
She shook her head and tossed the package back in the box. Then she picked up the tablet.
If I leave this ranch, it will be because I choose to, not because I don’t have what it takes to hold on to it. You hear that, Mom and Dad? I might not have been the daughter you dreamed you’d have, but you always told me to get up when I fell down. Well, this is me getting up.
She turned the tablet on. An icon for Technically Anonymous Pleasure filled the screen. Lucy scrolled through the table of contents: Company History, Company Contacts, Tax Forms, Product Description.
She took a deep breath and pressed the link to the last section. If I’m going to sell high-tech sex toys online, I’d better figure out what the heck people do with them.
Lucy shook her head at her own thought.
Of course I know what they do with them; I just need to learn the particulars of how.
David led a quarter horse through the center aisle of a barn and handed him off to Lucas, who was trying to hide a smile but wasn’t quite succeeding. “Lucas, an intelligent man knows when his thoughts are best kept to himself.”
Revealing his youthful overconfidence, Lucas tipped his hat back and looked his boss in the eye. “Just not sure why we bother saddling horses when we know they won’t be ridden.”
David didn’t answer the question because he didn’t have a polite answer. He liked Lucas. Over the years, the young man had proved himself to be both reliable and good-natured. David’s present situation, however, was too much for even those who respected him to contain their amusement. “I’ll be in my office.” David walked away, retreating into the small, hot barn office he now considered a haven of peace every Thursday.
Life had changed drastically on the Double C Ranch in Fort Mavis. In years past, the ranch had been closed to all outsiders. Tony Carlton, the man who owned the ranch, had purchased it as a place to hide and drink himself to death. After taking over as his ranch manager, David had talked him out of the second part of that plan, but it had taken a sweet Yankee to change Tony’s stance on the first part. The pair had married and participated in a variety of high-profile fund-raising events that had opened the doors of the ranch to people of all walks of life. On paper, it sounded like it was for the best, but in practice it had put David into more uncomfortable situations than he cared to reflect on.
A few of the public events had involved Kimberly Staten’s father. Regardless of how civil he was, there was nothing pleasant about looking into the eyes of a man who had once fired David for trying to protect his daughter from the horse that ultimately—even being trained by Tony—had killed her. Funny how life tended to circle back to something, no matter how much a person didn’t want it to.