Loe raamatut: «The Rancher's Fake Fiancée»

CHAPTER ONE

“FOR THE LOVE of all that’s good in the world, would you please call your brothers back?”

Tyler Blackwell glanced up at his obviously infuriated employee. Tucking her wavy blond hair behind her ears, Hadley Sullivan scowled. That meant she was serious this time.

Tyler’s gaze returned to his computer screen. Regardless of her ire, finishing the presentation for Lodi Organics was a bit higher on the priority list than his bothersome brothers. “Which one?”

Hadley let out an exasperated sigh. “Take your pick. That was Ethan just now, but Ben has bombarded the office with at least a dozen calls this week and Jonathan phoned yesterday while you were at lunch. I know you know this. We put all the messages on your desk.”

Tyler had seen the notes and promptly tossed those slips of pink paper in the recycling bin because he was nothing if not ecologically minded.

“The next time they call, tell them I can only be reached on my cell.”

“The same cell they’ve called five hundred times already?” Hadley paused even though it was a rhetorical question. “They’ve caught on to the fact that you’ll decline their call, Tyler. They’ve resorted to harassing the people in this office who actually answer their phones.”

Clicking Save on the Lodi Organics file, Tyler ran a hand through his thick hair. He’d successfully made himself too busy to return a hundred phone calls from his overreacting brothers but also too busy for a much-needed haircut.

“I’ll talk to Kellen about hiring a real office manager who will help us screen all of our calls.”

Hadley wasn’t appeased. She mumbled something about how she’d love to talk to Kellen.

Tyler wasn’t Hadley’s favorite person at 2K Marketing. He wasn’t sure why that was. He thought she was competent at her job and often asked her to do things for him because he knew she’d get them done. It seemed strange that she was so bothered by his brothers’ constant calls. They weren’t really her problem. They were all his.

“They’ve got to be close to giving up,” he said.

“Ethan said it was an emergency.”

“That’s what they keep telling me.” For the last three months. He dropped his chin to his chest. These calls were literally a pain in the neck. He gave it a rub.

First, their grandfather ran away from home. The way Tyler saw it, Big E was a grown man with every right to go where he pleased. That was hardly an emergency.

Jonathan and Ethan came to the rescue and managed to get the guest ranch ready for the summer rush. Obviously, they wouldn’t be able to manage it forever. Jonathan had his own ranch to run and Ethan couldn’t do it on his own. If that meant they had to get rid of the Blackwell Family Ranch, so be it. Tyler wouldn’t shed any tears over the end of it.

“Maybe they haven’t been able to get things settled with the water,” Hadley offered. She’d been privy to more information than she needed because she didn’t have the option of hanging up the phone when they called. “Maybe they need your help with that.”

Emergency number two had to do with water rights and bad deals Big E was most likely responsible for orchestrating. Tyler had replied via text that he was way too busy at work to talk about something he had no control over. “Ben’s the lawyer, not me. From what I heard, they got it settled.”

“Knock, knock.” Tyler’s business partner pushed open the door. Kellen Kettering clearly had more time on his hands and less stress than Tyler did given his perfectly coiffed hair and easy smile. “Is this a bad time?”

Hadley sighed as if relieved. “You’re back.”

Kellen gave her a crooked smile and adjusted his black-framed glasses. His salt-and-pepper hair was damp from the morning rainstorm that had swept in. “My flight got in early. I hear I’ve been missing all the fun around here.”

“If by fun you mean work, you are correct,” Tyler said, leaning back in his chair.

Kellen had the title of company president while Tyler was the executive creative director. When they started the business five years ago, the two of them worked on every project together. In the last year or so, their accounts had almost tripled. It could have been more, but it seemed the harder Tyler worked, the more Kellen pushed him to slow down.

“Well, I will let you two catch up,” Hadley said to Kellen before turning her baby blue gaze on Tyler. “Call your brothers back, Ty. I’m begging.”

Kellen picked up the shadowbox of arrowheads Tyler had on display on his bookshelf. Tyler resisted the urge to wrestle them away. They had belonged to his father, one of the few mementos he had from either of his parents.

“I heard you accepted a meeting with Rockwell’s Hardware,” Kellen said, setting the box down. “I thought we agreed we weren’t going to take on any other clients until we cleared a couple projects.”

“It’s a simple rebrand.”

“I’m not sure Eric’s ready to take on another rebranding account. He’s still trying to get his bearings here.”

“I’ll do most of the work.” If he didn’t bother sleeping, he’d get it all done easily. Tyler didn’t have any other choice. Eric would most likely never find his bearings.

Kellen sat down across from him. “Tyler, you know I appreciate your drive. It’s why I partnered with you. But we can’t overextend ourselves. We run the risk of choosing quantity over quality.”

Tyler tried to sound reassuring. “I got this. Don’t worry.”

“You sent me thirty-two emails between the hours of nine at night and six in the morning. I hate to say it, but you’ve got to slow down.”

This was how Tyler worked. People appreciated hard work. If he wanted to get noticed in this competitive world of marketing, he had to rise above the rest. “All of this will be worth it. We’re going to be the number one advertising agency in Portland this year.”

“Tyler.” Kellen rested his elbows on his knees. “Maybe after the Lodi Organics presentation, you should take some time off. Relax. Get away for a couple weeks.”

Tyler’s brow furrowed. He must not have heard Kellen correctly. “Are you suggesting I take a vacation?”

“I’m not suggesting. More like telling you. You need a break. We all need a break.” Kellen sat back and seemed to struggle with the right words. “Let me be straight with you. There’s been some grumbling. People are feeling...stressed.”

“Like who?” Tyler looked out at the office cubicles. The eight-person staff all scurried around, refusing to make eye contact.

“Like everyone.”

They had planned this. They had gone to Kellen behind his back. He felt his blood pressure rise, which made it difficult to control his volume. “Stressed about what? Having a job?”

* * *

THE GLASS WALLS of Tyler’s office were far from soundproof. It wasn’t surprising that he was taking Kellen’s feedback poorly. Hadley had warned Kellen that Tyler was on a mission. A mission to work himself into an early grave. The main problem with that was he was taking the rest of the office with him.

“On a scale of one to ten, how mad is he going to be with us?” Veronica was the web designer and one of the biggest complainers over the last couple of weeks. She fidgeted with her oversize gold hoop earrings.

“Fifty-seven,” Lee, one of the project managers, guessed as he made his way over to Hadley’s desk. He stroked his goatee. “Look how red his face is.”

“Fifty-seven?” Hadley shook her head at the random number choice. “I don’t know if it’s that bad.”

She glanced over at the two of them having it out, secretly hoping Tyler was stubborn enough to dig his heels in. Maybe the two of them would realize that Tyler had too much on his plate for a reason. Perhaps they’d admit the real problem was that they had given the brand strategist position to someone so woefully unqualified instead of her.

Hadley could manage a hundred more accounts than Eric. She had deserved that job and hated Tyler for not going to bat for her. She blamed him even more than his partner. Had Tyler called Kellen out on his nepotism and fought for her, Kellen would have backed down and given the job to Hadley.

“Look at how tight his jaw is. That is not a good sign,” Lee said.

“Don’t worry,” Eric assured them. “My uncle will get Ty to chill. I made it clear we could not work under these conditions any longer, right?”

Hadley bit her tongue and tried not to roll her eyes. Eric couldn’t work under any conditions. He was so far over his head, it was ridiculous. He probably asked her close to fifty questions a day, trying to get her to do his job as well as hers.

Tyler’s glare zeroed in on her. The open layout of the converted warehouse left nowhere for people to hide. He pushed open his door and folded his arms across his chest. Even though Hadley may have had her issues him, she couldn’t deny that Tyler Blackwell was attractive. Broad chest, dark hair, denim-blue eyes and a jawline that could make Hollywood’s A-list leading men jealous.

“Anyone here want to tell me they’re unhappy to my face? Are some of you unhappy with...I don’t know...having a job? Because last time I checked, without clients there’s no work and with no work there’s no jobs. Anyone out here who doesn’t want a job?”

“Tyler, come on,” Kellen said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, everybody. No one is losing their job!”

Tyler shrugged him off. “I hope you enjoy the amount of work you’re all going to have while I’m on vacation.” He pointed at Hadley. “I need you.”

This was her chance. If she could convince Tyler he could trust that the work he’d started would be finished to his standards while he was on his forced getaway, maybe she could make him see she should be the brand strategist instead of Eric.

He dropped into his chair and shuffled through some papers on his desk. His frustration came off him like smoke from a fire. “Did you talk to him about being overworked?”

“Me? No,” she asserted. “I think all this business is great. I wish I could do more to help.” She had to be cautious about how she proceeded. She needed Tyler’s help if she was going to convince Kellen to get rid of his nephew. Kellen always preached about the importance of family, but giving a job to someone who didn’t know what he was doing was bad business.

“Well, I need help figuring out how I can pretend to be on vacation while still getting things done.”

The main line rang, lighting up the buttons on Tyler’s phone. Hadley reached over and picked it up. “2K Marketing, this is Hadley. How may I direct your call?”

“Hi, Hadley. It’s Ben, Ben Blackwell. I know you told Ethan that Tyler was on another call, but I am done with this. Tell him he doesn’t need to call any of us back.”

Hadley couldn’t believe Tyler had been right. Rejoice! They had finally given up.

Ben continued, “He needs to get on a plane and get his butt out here or else he will be served a subpoena and forced to appear in court instead.”

“Wait, what? Hang on a second.” Hadley pushed the hold button. “Your brother is going to take you to court if you don’t take this.” She held the phone out.

Tyler folded his arms across his chest and rolled his eyes like a petulant child. “He’s bluffing. He can’t take me to court because I won’t answer the phone.”

“Please just talk to him. I will help you with anything you need if you answer this call.”

He narrowed his eyes and let out a gruff breath. Refusing to take the phone from her, he pressed the button to put the call on speaker. “What part of I am extremely busy are you three not understanding?”

“You need to come home, Ty. I know you don’t want to. I know you are so busy out there in Portland and your company will probably fold if you aren’t there for one second, but you need to come home.”

“Why? What do you need me to do that I can’t do from here?”

“We want to sell the ranch, but we need your help. We need you here to make it happen.”

Hadley scribbled a note: Perfect vacation! You should go. Tyler could go help his family, Hadley could prove she was worthy of the brand strategist job, and when he returned, he would have to convince Kellen to give it to her.

* * *

TYLER PICKED THE receiver up. He didn’t need Hadley hearing anything else. He definitely didn’t need anyone else trying to encourage him to go to Montana.

“Sell it,” he said. “Send me whatever you need me to sign. I’ll be happy when all my ties to the ranch are cut.”

“Can’t sell it unless it’s a profitable place.”

“I thought Ethan got the guest ranch booked through the summer.”

“Yeah, with Sarah Ashley’s friends. Not real, honest-to-goodness customers. We need your help with marketing. Ethan tried to revamp the website and it’s a disaster.”

“I wouldn’t call it a disaster,” Ethan could be heard saying in the background.

“The sooner you get out here, Ty, the sooner we can get this place for a fair price.”

“Or maybe you’ll realize that this place is worth keeping in the family!” Ethan shouted.

Tyler could picture the glare Ben was most likely giving his twin. “Stop dragging your feet, Ty. Ethan is in over his head. Don’t say anything,” he obviously said in warning to Ethan. “You know it’s true.”

Ethan knew everything there was to know about animals, but marketing and brand management had very little to do with animal biology. If Ethan’s only plan for getting customers in the door was to beg friends for a favor, the ranch was done for.

“You gave up your job in New York, Ben. Use your free time to help Ethan make things work.”

“I have my own ranch to take care of.” Ben had come home to solve the water rights dispute with their neighbors, the Thompsons, and somehow ended up giving them everything they wanted. He even married into their family. The Double T Ranch was Ben and Rachel’s responsibility now. “Get on a plane and come do your part.”

Tyler loosened his tie. His breathing became unsteady. He cleared his throat. “I can’t come back, Ben.”

“You mean you won’t. You could if you really wanted to.”

“I can’t. It’s not only work. I have other things going on, too.”

“Well, Jon and Ethan also have things going on. Both of them are planning weddings. On top of that, Jon has the girls and Ethan has a baby on the way. You, on the other hand, have no one to worry about but yourself.”

Something inside Tyler snapped. If there was one thing he couldn’t stand, it was being the last Blackwell to accomplish something. In the last three months, his three older brothers had fallen in love and gotten either engaged or married. Tyler’s twin, Chance, had been the first to get married years ago when they were only twenty. Jon had married next and divorced a few years later. Of course, Jonathan the overachiever had managed to find someone else before Tyler even met one woman he cared enough about to marry.

“Well, I’m busy...planning a wedding, too.”

Hadley giggled, quickly covering her mouth. He shot her a look that took all the humor out of the situation. The best way to get through to his brothers was to speak their language, and apparently love was the only language they spoke recently.

“Really? Whose wedding are you planning exactly?” Ben’s tone clearly suggested he wasn’t buying it.

Tyler locked eyes with Hadley and put a finger to his lips, hoping she’d stay silent. She tipped her head and her eyes narrowed in curiosity.

“Mine and Hadley’s.”