The Maverick Meets His Match (Hearts of Wyoming Book 2)(16)

Mandy sighed. Her mother was just being a romantic, a perspective Mandy didn’t share. “How can I give up controlling interest in the company and endure a sham of a marriage just to save the ranch house? No, JM has actually made it an easy decision. One year, even two years, is not such a long time. I’ll just have to tolerate having Ty around until then.”

I can guarantee you a pleasurable time if you’re open to it.

Sheila slipped into the chair beside her. “Can you? From what you’ve told me, Ty’s going to have full authority to sell the business if the numbers don’t work. I don’t care much if the business is sold, except for the fact I know how upset you’d be.”

“If I am to believe Ty, and I don’t entirely, we’d be well off if we sold out. But it’s not just about me or you, Mom. What about everyone who depends on Prescott for their paycheck? For several families, we are their livelihood. Fathers and sons and even daughters. We’re like a family at Prescott. And Daddy? It was his dream to have a premier stock company. What about that dream?”

Sheila shrugged. “That was your father’s dream. You could make your own dream. But if you really are against selling, then I think you should consider doing what JM proposes. It’s obviously what he wanted you to do. Wouldn’t it make it tougher for Ty to find a buyer if he only has six months?”

“I don’t know if I could marry a man I don’t respect, much less like, even if it is only a few months.” Mandy closed her eyes, hoping she could block out the whole idea. “And he could still sell it within six months anyway. Then what? The best this marriage may allow is for me to keep tabs on him. It’s not enough.”

“Mandy, look at me.” Mandy opened her eyes and stared at the familiar gentle smile on her mother’s face. It was the same smile her mother used when telling Mandy she’d feel better soon or getting a B in math wasn’t the end of the world. “You’ll be working with him for even longer if you don’t marry him. Suppose you do fall for him, you fall for each other? If you think there’s any chance you two will have an affair of some sort, why not go with this proposal?”

We’ll probably end up in bed together anyway, even if we don’t marry.

By the time he’d uttered that sentence, she’d been ready to wrap her fingers around his throat and squeeze. True, she doubted she’d be able to spend a year or more working with the man, but not because she was tempted by him. Because she didn’t like what he stood for. So how could she stand six months living with him?

“I’m not worried about falling for a man I don’t like.” Even if she had a history of falling for the wrong kind of guy.

Her usual type was a guy with a ready smile, easygoing attitude, and no thought of the future. Unfortunately, that combination usually came with a dearth of ambition and a wandering eye.

Regardless, she would never lose her heart again to a man as cold and arrogant as Ty Martin. Six months. That wasn’t enough of a reason to do it, and there were 180 reasons, called cohabitation, not to do it.

“What are you worried most about?”

“Losing Prescott. That’s all that matters to me.”

“Well, why not go with the marriage and at least lessen the odds of selling? And there’s always the potential for using womanly wiles to change the course of events.” Shelia cocked her head to the side and winked.

“Shouldn’t marriage vows be taken seriously? I never thought you’d encourage me to be a loose woman, Mom.”

“I’m just trying to be practical about this.”

Mandy rose and hugged the papers to her chest.

“Would you place your cup in the dishwasher?” her mother asked.

Mandy dutifully complied. Returning to the table, she gave her mother a kiss on the cheek and caught a whiff of her mother’s Channel No. 5. “I best be going. They’re leaving at seven.”

“I know. I’m coming with you,” Shelia announced.

“To see us off?” That would explain why her mother was so put together at this ungodly hour.

“No, I’m coming to Greenville with you.”

Mandy leaned her thigh against the table. “Why?” Sheila hadn’t come on a rodeo excursion in the two years since Mandy had returned from grad school.

Her mother bit her lip. “Because I want to. Because Harold wants me to.” Her mother brushed a wayward strand of hair behind her ear.

“What does Harold have to do with this?” Mandy said, crossing her arms and pressing the papers to her chest.

“Harold and I are…well, we are a couple. Have been for a while.”

How many shocks could she stand? “Come again.”

“While JM was alive, we were discreet. But now, well, there’s no reason to be.”

Mandy felt like the floor had shifted under her boots. Discreet? She hadn’t had a clue. And apparently, neither had her grandfather. “Grandfather wouldn’t have approved?”

Sheila lifted her chin. “Neither Harold nor I wished to cause him any consternation on that score. He was good to both of us. I think, on some level, he may have suspected. But I never wanted him to think I wasn’t in love with your father. I always will be. Just, Harold has a place in my heart too. We plan to marry after the season.”

Her mother and Harold? “He’s so different from Daddy.” Her father had been a hard-charging stockman with focus and determination. Harold was laid back, content to be second banana.