Hidden Treasure (3 page)

Chapter Three

H
e shouldn’t have
called her a rich bitch. He shouldn’t have gotten in her face. He knew he’d made an impression on the city girl, but he might have blown it all with that one careless remark. But she had been acting like a… Nope. Better not even think the word again. There was just too much at stake. His frown deepened as he looked around at the land that should have been his.

It was adjacent to his own ranch, and Arnold had promised him first option on buying the property when the old guy’s time came. But Arnold’s wife hadn’t, and Arnold had gone first. What was it with women?

Colt wanted to expand his 30,000-acre ranch, but Martin Whitman’s property sat to his right and there was no chance that man would part with a single acre of his spread. Nor would Colt ever expect him to.

But Arnold’s property was ideal. And it was supposed to be his, dammit. When Colt found out that Richard Storm had swooped in and purchased it, he’d been furious.
It was supposed to be his
.

Colt had heard rumors about what was going on in the Storm family. To look at Brielle Storm, it was no wonder — the man’s kids were obviously hopeless idiots. And that was a good thing. She was a city girl through and through and had no business running a ranch. No business at all. And that meant that Colt wouldn’t have to wait long to get the land.

The world would make sense again.

Or would it? What in the world were those shoes she’d been wearing? Sure, they were red and incredibly sexy, but they weren’t for Montana, and certainly not for a Montana ranch. Hell, no! They were more suited for a night on the town, or maybe for the bedroom — just the shoes, with nothing else on...

Nope!

He was thrusting…er…pushing…
removing
that thought right out of his mind. He was there to convince her she wasn’t suited to running a ranch, convince her to sell to him. And his task had just become a whole lot easier. The worthless little brat thought he was an employee of hers.

Though Colt hoped he wasn’t normally so cruel, even in thought, this woman had immediately burrowed under his skin, and in the wrong places. She’s just been so…stuck-up — or maybe something was stuck up her sweet backside — and she obviously had no justification for her arrogance. But the babe didn’t want to be here, so they could both win if he bought her out. He hated deceiving her, for even a short time, as he wasn’t usually dishonest. He’d grown up in the tiny town of Sterling, Montana, population negative two, he thought with a soft chuckle, and around here, neighbors were…well, neighborly. It was a tight-knit community, and they all helped each other, no matter what needed to be done.

Yes, there was more money floating through this section of Montana than they held at Fort Knox, but no one was arrogant; no one had a superiority complex. They might make megabucks off the rich land filled with good fields, healthy livestock, and oil — actually, good investments in the stock market had played a larger part for many of them — but at the end of the day, all they needed was a cold beer and a hot fire.

Colt’s idea of heaven was lounging around on the edge of his lake with a fishing pole, a cold bottle in his hand and his hat pulled low over his eyes. Once nighttime hit, of course, he didn’t mind having a fine body — like the one Brielle was sporting — to climb on top of him and take him for much longer than an eight-second ride.

Colt knew he could draw in the ladies. Hell, he’d learned that in second grade, when little Sally had come up and kissed him right on the lips and begged him to run away with her. He’d been horrified.

Then.

Now, well, now he just appreciated a fine woman on top
or
beneath him — either way, he didn’t mind. Or side to side, or standing up, or… He was equal opportunity all the way. And he
always
made sure the women in his bed left with a smile on their faces and him on their mind.

He wasn’t ready to settle down. Hell, he’d only just turned thirty-three. Who could possibly object to his bachelor life?

Okay, he knew three people who seemed to object mighty loudly. Those women! The terrible trio! Maggie, Eileen, and the worst one of all, Bethel!

They were somewhere in their sixties, he believed, not that anyone knew for sure, as the women didn’t speak of their age. They acted more like teenagers than grandmothers. Though he had a soft spot in his heart for each one of them, lately he and all the other single men in town had been running as fast as they could away from the three.

Those meddlers clearly wanted to see all the eligible men married and producing babies. Not for him — not yet, at least. Colt had done a damn fine job of steering clear of the trio, because every time they saw him they mentioned all the attractive single women around. It didn’t do a man any good to date a woman in Sterling, because sure as the sun rose every morning, the minute that happened, the poor sap would be heading down the aisle within a year.

That’s what was expected here. First comes love…and then a whole brood of rug rats biting your ankles and playing havoc with your sleep.

He hadn’t really meant what he’d said about making a lot of babies, but when he’d pressed up against Brielle, she had sent a surge of lust ripping through him that he hadn’t experienced since he was sixteen and Margie Thomas had thrust her newly developed breasts against him in the locker room. Damn, the feeling he’d felt with Brielle had been even stronger. And Colt hadn’t ever thought that was possible. No. But anyway, he had a few good decades in him before any woman made a fool out of him and his sperm.

He almost swaggered into the large horse barn on Brielle’s property. He knew he’d find her foreman, Tony, coddling the horses. Tony had worked on the Ponderosa Pines Ranch since before Colt was born. What little hair the man had left was now completely white, but his skin was leathery and his body was slim.

“Hello, Colt,” Tony said with his typical scowl. “What are you doing out here?” A stranger would consider Tony intimidating, but Colt knew that beneath the gruffness, the man had a heart of gold. He was a big baby when it came to kids, little old women, and newborn animals. Tony didn’t smile much, but when he did, even more wrinkles appeared around his eyes and mouth.

“You know I had to show up and check out my competition,” Colt said with a laugh.

“What did you think?” Tony asked.

“Ha.” Colt didn’t elaborate. He stepped up on the rail and stood next to Tony as they looked out at the men training a new horse that Arnold’s widow, Candice, had bought right before she passed away.

“Aw, hell, Colt. No city girl will know how to run a ranch. It won’t be long before she sprints out of here crying, and then the land’s all yours,” Tony said with his version of a chuckle. Then he turned his head and spit out a long stream of tobacco-colored saliva.

“Yeah. Well, I still wanted to meet her.” Colt remembered the shock in her almost translucent green eyes. Shaking his head to clear it, he turned back to Tony just in time to catch his friend’s words.

“What’s she like?”

“Exactly what we expected, Tony. A city girl, one who showed up in tight jeans with sparkly little jewels on the ass so every man has no choice but to look down, and a silk blouse that will be destroyed by the end of one day here in the country. Red hair, and even redder high heels, and those fancy nails city girls like to wear. I don’t think she’s ever so much as rinsed her own plate before.”

“Yeah. That’s what I thought.” Tony turned back toward the horse just in time to see him rear up on his hind legs in all his glory.

“He sure is a beauty,” Colt said with a low whistle as the ranch hand got the horse to settle back down and began walking him in circles through the training ring.

“Yeah, he is. That was a good move on Candice’s part. I just wish she’d stayed with us long enough to ride him one time.”

“Yeah. This one is taking a lot longer to train. I hate that he was abused.”

“He’s doing much better now. The hands have been working with him a little bit more each week. It won’t be long now,” Tony said with no little pride.

Tony had more patience than most people could ever dream of, but when he did finally lose his temper, watch out. He might have been getting up there in years, but it wasn’t his fault the Ponderosa Pines Ranch had been failing. Arnold and Candice had just run out of funds, and instead of asking a bank for help, they kept silent, making Tony do the same.

By the time Candice had departed the world, the ranch was in serious need of cash and an owner who was willing to invest time and effort into replanting the wheat, bringing in more cattle, and doing much-needed repairs.

When Richard Storm had shown up and scooped up the property, Colt had been surprised and then furious, in part because no outsider could give the Ponderosa Pines what she needed. But at least Richard had ensured that Tony would stay on by increasing his pay. Richard had also asked the foreman to see that his daughter learned how to run a ranch.

Colt had just so happened to be in on that meeting and he’d ended up walking out. Raising Richard’s child wasn’t Tony’s job. Tony had laughed at the request, though. He’d seen city girls come to Montana before. Then he’d watched them leave quicker than a tornado that had destroyed all it was prepared to destroy.

Brielle Storm would be no different. Colt didn’t give the girl a single week of ranch life before she was begging him to buy the land.

“Brielle thinks I work for her.”

It took a couple of moments before Tony’s lips turned up. Then he was laughing outright. At first, Colt was in shock, but he couldn’t help but join in the laughter.

“Well, don’t that just work to your advantage?” Tony asked when he was done chuckling.

The ranch hand in the ring with the horse turned their way and stared for a minute before getting back to what he was doing. When Tony laughed, it did tend to stop traffic, considering it was more of a coughing spasm than real laughter.

“Yeah. It does,” Colt replied. “Make sure you tell the hands not to give anything away — not that I expect her to speak much to them, if she speaks to them at all. I got the impression she thinks she is far above any of us rednecks out here in Montana.” He lowered his voice and intensified the drawl.

“Yeah, people who aren’t from around here tend to judge us pretty quickly. Let them make all the assumptions they want. You know that only makes them the
ass
of our jokes.”

“All right. I better head home. Jackson is stopping by later for a beer.” Colt didn’t bother sticking out his hand. Tony didn’t shake them — not ever.

Climbing down from the rail, Colt strolled from the barn with a whistle on his lips and plans in his head for what he was going to do to improve this property once it was in his hands. It was early June now, so the wheat crop would soon be growing high, and as the weather was cooperating so far, by late July or early August the fields would be ready to harvest. He hoped it was his land by then.

Without a care in the world, Colt walked to where he’d left his horse, climbed on, and made his way at full speed toward his beautiful spread and sprawling ranch house. This was going to be another very good year for him.

At least that’s what he thought…

Chapter Four

C
rew! I don’t
have time for this. I’m in way over my head, have no idea what I’m doing, and to top all of that off, I was attacked yesterday by a monster of a man!”

“What?”

Finally, she’d managed to say something that was getting her brother’s attention. She’d been on the phone with him for the past half hour, furious with her father, with having to be in Montana, and just plain annoyed with the way her life was going.

“At least
that
got your attention. This man who showed up slightly after I arrived here was rude, snarky, and had the nerve to call me a rich bitch. Then he trapped me against the house — well, sort of trapped me. He didn’t actually touch me…no, scratch that, he did press against me when I threatened him, but the point is that this guy, this
Colt
…” Brielle said the name like a swear word before continuing. “He’s one of my employees. How the hell do I deal with that?”

The steam died down as she finished speaking. She hadn’t exactly felt
threatened
, but that wasn’t the point. The point was… She didn’t really know the point. She just needed to vent, and Crew was a willing ear to vent to. Though she didn’t realize it, her father’s plan
was
working.

Even though she hadn’t forgiven her father, and had only spoken to him when she absolutely had to, she was uniting with her brother again, reaching out to him, and asking for advice.

“Um…sis. That doesn’t exactly sound like you were attacked.”

“Oh, what would you know? You don’t even care. I actually called you for advice, and all you’ve done is mock me.”

“That’s not true,” he said and a hush fell between them. “Look, Brielle. I know we’ve drifted apart. I know I haven’t been there for you, but I have to tell you, this year has…” He had to search for the right words before continuing. “It’s just been an eye-opener. At first I hated Dad. Hated what he was doing, hated that he was controlling us. But I realize now that he has given us a gift,” he said with another long sigh. “Don’t you dare tell the old man I said that, though!”

“Like I’m ever speaking to him again!”

“Brielle, you
will
get over the horror. I was feeling just as bad as you when I got to Catalina, but now I find myself taking pride in what I’m doing. Dad was right. We were getting pretty entitled. It’s felt good to work with my hands again, just like I used to when I was a teen.”

“Oh, what would you know? You’re in sunny California — on a resort on a freaking island. I’m in the backwoods of Montana. Two entirely different situations.”

“Aw, Montana will grow on you,” he assured her.

“What about the money? I told you about the ridiculously little bit I have.”

“I made my budget work. You can do it. Just no fancy clothes or salons.”

“You never did understand me, Crew Storm, or why I do what I do. The only nice clothes I have are now more than a year out of season — I sold off what I could. And I hate you,” she said, but without any heat.

“I miss you, Brielle.”

That stopped her short. She couldn’t remember the last time one of her brothers had said those words to her. She found her throat tight with emotion, but she absolutely refused to show such a weakness to her big brother. She fell silent until she got herself under control.

“Well, since you aren’t being any help at all, Crew, I’m going to try to figure this out on my own. I guess I have a foreman who runs things around here.”

“That’s a start. Keep me updated on what you’re doing.”

“Fine. But only so you know how miserable I am,” she said, unwilling to admit to him that she missed him, too. If she admitted that, she would have to think about the past, think about what had torn them apart in the first place, and that was a place she never wanted to revisit again.

“I’ll speak to you soon, Peaches.”

Before she was able to snap at him about that damn nickname, he hung up the phone. The thing was that she wasn’t angry about hearing it now, just a little sad that it had been lost in the first place. What was this place doing to her? She didn’t even know who in the hell she was anymore, let alone what she was going to do next. She was supposed to be here for a full year at a minimum. She’d never survive it.

Returning her vulnerability to the shelf in the back of her mind, Brielle decided it was time to find her foreman. She was going to do what she had to do and then she was getting as far from this stupid state as she possibly could.

Hell, maybe she’d even leave the country once her trust fund was back in place. That thought should have made her smile. It didn’t. Everything seemed to make her feel empty these days.

But then Colt appeared in her head. There had been nothing empty about what that man had made her feel in the few minutes they’d been together.

Sick! That thought appalled her, so she left the house and began walking. Ready or not, her foreman was about to find out just how stubborn Brielle could be.