The Maverick Meets His Match (Hearts of Wyoming Book 2)(88)

“Were you planning on getting Mandy and Tuck’s agreement to develop the ranch now that the business will be sold?”

“That had been the plan once. It’s not now.”

“You know it’s unlikely she’ll ever speak to you again. Awkward, seeing you two will parent a child together. Congratulations, by the way. I assume she’s pregnant by now.”

Ty shook his head. He hadn’t even been able to give her that. He’d take everything from her and leave her with nothing. “No congratulations. She’s not pregnant, at least not yet that I know.”

Brian harrumphed “Once you tell her you are selling her company, I’m pretty sure that will end any trying. But you’re within a few weeks of the end anyway.”

Why did it feel like someone had taken an egg beater to his brain? He wanted to do the right thing—if he could just figure out what the hell that was. If it was up to him, he’d choose Mandy over anything else. But that was being selfish. That was making the decision with his heart, not his head, the very thing he’d been critical of others doing. The very thing he’d always been so proud of not doing.

“So what’s next for you?”

“Start my own development firm, I guess.” What had once been his dream seemed more like a jail sentence now. A sentence of isolation and separation from the woman he’d grown to love. With all his heart.

“No interest in the rodeo stock business, huh?” Brian grinned as if sure of his answer.

“Actually, I’ve enjoyed it.” A lot. “I can see why JM loved it.” And why Mandy does.

“Really? I’d never take you for a man who worked with livestock.”

Yet for the majority of Ty’s life, he’d been a ranch kid, working alongside his father and brother, scratching out a living.

Ty thought of Trace, of what his brother had been going through these past years. Working hard and getting nowhere but still persisting. Because he loved it. Ty had never understood that type of drive. Now he did.

“Me either,” Ty confessed.

“You want me there? When you tell Mandy?”

Ty nodded. She might be more controlled if there were other people around, though he doubted it. Still, it couldn’t hurt. “Can you do it this afternoon? Tucker’s at the ranch now. I’m sure I can track down Sheila and Harold. I know where Mandy is. We can meet in the library at the ranch house at say…two o’clock?”

Brian glanced at his calendar. “I’ll move some things around and see you there.”

Ty unfurled from the chair. His muscles stiff, his heart sore like it had been pummeled in a boxing match. “I just hope she doesn’t shoot me.”





*


Ty leaned against the doorjamb of what was to have been the baby’s room and stared at a barren crib set against the faded yellow walls. Here he was again, looking in at something that could never be his. He hadn’t been able to give her a baby or give himself a family. The crib was as empty as his life was about to become, made worse by the realization of how full it could have been. Like a tree being hollowed out by a swarm of termites, his life was being destroyed by events he could not control.

When Mandy had agreed to extend their time together, he’d been certain he could make her happy. She’d be able to keep the company. He’d be able to give her a child. She already had claimed his heart and he hoped she’d see him as good enough to claim hers.

Now, he would lose everything…and give her nothing. That crib and all it represented would be abandoned. Might never be filled…and certainly not by him.

Empty crib, empty life, empty future.

“No. No. No.” Mandy blasted out the one-syllable word like she was firing bullets.

Ty could see the moisture collecting in her eyes, the horror on her face as she realized her dreams had died. And he had yielded the murder weapon.

“Mandy, it’s a good offer.” But he knew the futility of those words.

She rose from the overstuffed library chair and looked at her mother, Tucker, Harold, and Brian in turn, but not at Ty. “Don’t let him do this. Don’t let him destroy everything JM built. There must be some other way.”

Her voice cracked. Her body visibly trembled with anger. Ty wished he could have spared her this. But that would have entailed breaking his promise to the old man—a man who had trusted him to make the hard decisions.

When she finally turned her face toward him, it was blotched with red like someone had punched her. “All this time you made it seem like you were building Prescott into something with me. But you were just getting it fattened up so you could sell it. The AFBR…” She waved her arm. “The contract sweeteners, they were just to make it more attractive to a buyer. And you found him. The one you’ve been courting since day one—Stan Lassiter.” She practically growled out the name like a caged dog sighting the warden.

“You’re a cold, calculating coward,” she seethed. “Afraid to give life a chance. I can hardly believe I wanted to have a child with you.”

Tucker choked, Harold blew out a breath, and Sheila gasped, her expression torn between delight and sorrow at the realization it wouldn’t happen now.

“How could you? After everything.” A sob escaped from Mandy and the chain her words had been wrapping around his heart tightened.