Ashley was a beautiful woman. All he could remember was that skinny kid with pigtails, years younger, all awkward arms and legs.
“Mr. Brant, get off my ranch,” she said, not bothering to hide the fury in her voice. “I have an appointment with a lawyer, one Prentice Bolton. Did you put him up to calling me so you could get on our land?”
“As a matter of fact, I did.”
“It’s a wonder lightning isn’t striking,” she snapped.
“Yeah, it’s a wonder it isn’t,” Gabe replied for a far different reason. He was doubly shocked at himself and his reactions because it was the first time since losing Ella three years ago that he could remember even noticing a female beyond the most cursory awareness.
“You can get right back in your truck and go.”
“Hear me out, and I think you’ll let me stay. Give me ten minutes.”
“No! I don’t want to spend ten seconds with a Brant! Get off our property!”
“Look. I have a deal I want to make, and it’ll benefit you as much as me. You can’t be so closed-minded and bullheaded that you won’t give me ten minutes,” he said patiently.
Her eyes narrowed as she considered what he said. Still in shock, Gabe waited. He hadn’t thought of her as a person, just a nebulous nonentity—the only image that had ever come to mind was that scrawny teen she used to be. He was facing a beautiful woman who was poised and determined. And she was going to be trouble.
“Ten minutes is all you have.” Ashley stood in the driveway with her arms crossed.
He looked past her across thick, green grass to a porch with clay pots of bright yellow bougainvillea and planters of ivy hanging from the rafters. Chairs, rockers, lounges and a swing stood along the shady, inviting porch. He took a deep breath. “We’re just going to stand here and talk and not sit on the porch?”
“That’s right. I don’t want a Brant on my porch now or anytime.”
“Where’s your dad?” Gabe inquired.
“You’re lucky he isn’t home or he would be out here with a shotgun. I would have been myself if I’d known it was you coming up our road.”
“Frankly, I’m glad he’s not here. I can’t imagine telling mine that I’m here—but I won’t have to. He died almost two years ago.”
“You’ve already wasted the first minute. What’s on your mind?”
She was prickly as cactus, Gabe reflected, but easy to look at. Her skin was flawless. Ashley Ryder was probably half a foot shorter than he was. That made her almost six feet tall. As his gaze ran over her, he speculated that she must be about five months along.
He leaned against the front of his pickup and crossed his long legs.
“Your ranch is nice. Looked like I passed some fine horses when I drove in.”
“The finest. We both know that,” she said, sounding calmer and slightly pleased by his compliment. “Now what do you want?”
“You believe in getting right to the point, don’t you?” Usually he got along with pretty women, although he knew why she was acting so prickly.
“I certainly do when I want to get rid of someone. I think this is the first time in my life I’ve ever talked to a Brant and I don’t particularly like it.”
“You don’t know me,” he reminded her.
“I don’t have to know you. You’re a Brant. That’s enough,” she retorted.
Her legs were bare, smooth and shapely and it was an effort to keep his eyes away from them. Of all females to notice, this one was not only a generations-old enemy, but pregnant.
“There are a lot of rumors going around town about why you’re back home on the ranch.”
“I’m sure there are,” she said, looking away, but not before he glimpsed a glacial chill in her blue eyes. “That’s no deep secret, though, because there’s no hiding the reason.” She met his gaze with a lift of her chin. “I’m pregnant, single and I came home to take care of my dad and have my baby.”
“That’s what I’ve heard. I also heard you were very successful in Chicago, and you left a thriving advertising business behind.”
She nodded. “That’s right, but life changes. My values changed. Now the advertising world doesn’t seem as important as family. Do you ever get to the point, Mr. Brant?”
“I’m getting to it,” Gabe said, trying to keep the purpose of his visit firmly in mind, because Ashley was becoming more interesting than his proposition. Crossing his arms over his chest, he took a deep breath. “I’m building up our ranch and I want more land and more cattle. I can get the cattle, but I can’t get land in this neck of the woods.”
Her brows arched. “If you think we would ever sell you one inch of this land, you’re dead wrong. Never! Now—”
“I know you don’t want to sell. I didn’t come to buy.”
Her eyes narrowed. He realized he could gaze into her blue eyes indefinitely. Why did the woman have to be so damned pretty? He hadn’t considered that possibility.
“What do you want Mr. Brant?” she asked.
“First thing I want is for you to call me Gabe,” he said.
“Your time is running out.”
“All right. I’ve heard your father’s health isn’t as good as it used to be. And I’ve heard that before you came home from Chicago, your ranch had slipped into debt.”
“Maybe it has, but none of that has anything to do with you.”
“Maybe it does. You need help and your dad needs help. You can’t afford to go out and hire the help.”
“We’ll manage,” she said with a frosty tone and a lift of her chin that he had to admire. “That’s strictly a family problem.”
“I came to offer you a marriage of convenience. It would join our ranches and benefit both of us.”
“Marriage!” Her jaw dropped and her brows arched. She placed her hands on her hips and then to Gabe’s surprise she threw back her head and laughed. It was a peal of merry laughter that held no rancor and piqued his interest even more. She shook her head. “You’re loco! Get in your truck and go home, Mr. Brant. Thanks, but no thanks.”
She had been gorgeous with sparks in her eyes. Now, with laughter, she was irresistible. “Forget it,” she said, turning to walk away.
“Just listen to me,” he ordered, catching her lightly by the arm to turn her around. The moment he touched her an electric current rippled through him. “You’re being stubborn.”
“Stubborn!” she said, spinning around to glare at him, yet her tone of voice softened.
“Yeah.
