Unbridled and Unbranded (11 page)

The familiar voice sent a sudden streak of unease straight to her stomach. “Kincaid?”

“That’s right, honey. Hope I didn’t interrupt anything too important.”

Callie wasn’t in the mood to be polite or chatty with her archrival. “What do you want?” She crossed one arm over her bare breasts in self-preservation.

“Well, I was just studying the survey of the shared border between our two properties and I noticed that two lengths of your fence are on my property.”

“So? Even if that were true, and I know it isn’t, what do you expect me to do about it at ten in the evening?” Callie tried to think furiously about which fence lengths he referred to in his delusional mind.

“Well, I guess that’s up to you. I had my men remove the fence rails. So now it’s open.”

Callie closed her eyes as cold dread circled her body. “You did what?” Visions of her cattle spread far and wide on his property and the problems of having to recapture them made her go a little faint.

“I took your fence rails down. I’m only calling as a courtesy to tell you to keep your fence on your side of the line. Also if any of your cattle wander onto my property, I’ll rebrand them as my own label. You have until dawn.”

Bastard
.

Callie uncovered her breasts, pushed her purse from the seat of the chair to the floor, and sat down before she fell down. “You’ll hear from my lawyer before dawn for malicious destruction of property.”

He laughed. The grating sound flayed her nerves. “I hope nothing happens to any of your cows wandering around on unfamiliar territory so late at night. Newly inseminated cows can be so fragile.”

“Bastard,” she said out loud this time.

“No, but the man you were embarrassing yourself with yesterday in your office is a real one. I can’t believe you’ve lowered your standards so far.”

Rafe had returned from the kitchen. Concern was etched in his features as he approached her. Callie ignored Kincaid’s insult and the desire to defend Rafe’s character regardless of his birth status.

“I’ll be right out to collect my cattle. If any of them end up hurt over this, I’ll bring a lawsuit against you.”

“Oh good, then we would be in the courthouse together. Want to get married and have a two event for one visit day there? Although if we get hitched, we could leave the fence down. It would be such a time saver.” Callie rolled her eyes.
Is he crazy? Doesn’t matter
.

“It will be a cold day in hell before I share so much as a square foot of space with you willingly, let alone a bed.”

Bo had made his way downstairs to stand next to Rafe. They each took a step closer the second she said the word “bed.” She shook her head as if that might keep them both at bay. They leaned closer anyway.

“Do not do anything you’ll regret, Kincaid. I guarantee you’ll never call my land yours. Not ever.”

“Don’t be so hasty, Callie. We could have one of the largest properties in the area if only you’d cooperate.”

“Well, I won’t cooperate.” She disconnected and threw her phone down into her purse. Callie stood and realized again that she was stark naked. Pushing out a sigh of frustration, she marched past Bo and Rafe straight upstairs to the bedroom to get her clothes.

She was mad enough to spit nails. It was patently unfair, after the near life-changing evening she’d spent in the company of two men she was falling in love with, to now have to go round up cattle because her archenemy was a prick and playing stupid games with her.
Fuck
.

Callie needed to call the ranch and get what remaining hands she had left in the area of the property fence breach to put the rails back to the posts. Her mind spun a thousand miles an hour making a list of what needed to be done.

But she didn’t want to call her ranch hands without having any clothes on. A foolish worry given everything else going on, but valid for her just this moment. She searched Bo’s room for her clothing. She found her bra first and put it on haphazardly. The two of them had followed her back into the bedroom.

“Are you planning to tell us what’s going on or do I have to tackle you to the bed and torture you with my tongue?”

Callie slipped her now wrinkled skirt up over her hips and zipped it up. “I have a problem with Kincaid. But I don’t want to involve you directly.”

Rafe offered her a drink from his icy, frosted water bottle. She shook her head and grabbed her shirt off the end of the footboard. “You don’t need to worry about my battles with Kincaid.”

“Even if this relationship is not a permanent one, and it pains me to say that out loud, we will always be your friends, Cal.” Bo slung an arm around her shoulders as she searched the floor for her panties.

“Friends, fine. Champions, no.”

“Why not?” Rafe bent over and collected the remnants of her torn panties and handed the useless garment to her. Hooking one finger in the remaining leg hole, Callie stared at it and sighed.

“Having the two of you get involved in my border dispute seems too much like permanence. Sex is one thing, but continual rescue is another.”

“Border dispute?” Bo asked.

She sighed. Given the lengths that Drew Kincaid was willing to go, maybe Callie needed all the help she could get. “Okay. Fine. That call was from Drew Kincaid. He owns the land south of mine. He wants me to sell my property to him because he’s overused his water and now he wants my ample supply. I’ll never sell to him. However, he continues to harass me. He proposes to me. Now he’s visiting me. And the most recent call tonight was to tell me he’s pulled part of my fence down that he feels was on his property.”

Bo and Rafe exchanged a concerned look. “He pulled part of your fence down?” Rafe asked.

“That’s what he said. And to come and get my cows that will wander over the line.”

Rafe shook his head. “Your cows won’t wander.” He seemed very certain.

Callie wished she was as confident. “How do you know that?”

“I was with Delbert yesterday. He corralled them on the north side of your property to keep an eye on them after he did the inseminations.”

“Really? Are you sure?”

He bent over and grabbed his pants from the floor, fished his cellular out of a pocket, and made a call. “Delbert, this is Rafe. Did you leave all of Callie’s cattle in the north range of her property?” He listened for a few seconds and then started nodding. “And they are all corralled, correct?” He nodded again. “Thanks, Delbert.” He hung up his phone.

Callie pushed out a sigh of relief. She called her own ranch house and spoke to the newly promoted foreman, who was only twenty-three years old, named Kenny.

He answered with a sleepy hello. Callie shouldn’t have called after ten. The hands went to bed before then. Damn, Kincaid.

“I hate to do this to you, Kenny, but I need you to go out to the south edge of the property and check the fence line.”

“Now?”

“Yes. I just got a call that a couple lengths of the fence have been removed.”

“Can’t it wait ’til mornin’? The herd is all put up in the northern part of the property.”

“I’d hate for any cattle from Kincaid’s to wander in. You’ll have to chase them out.”

“And not something I’m particularly wanting to do in the middle of the night. Tell you what, Miss Callie. I’ll get my best boys up early. We’ll head out there at sunup and take care of this.”

“Okay. You’re right. Thanks, Kenny.”

“Yes, ma’am. Have a good night.”

She hung up the phone, walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge. Bo followed and sat next to her. Rafe also came over, but remained standing. “What now?”

Callie had never felt like an overly emotional person. She rarely cried, but right this second she wanted to not only cry, she wanted to rage and rant and express her fury over being in the center of this deplorable situation. A place she never wanted to be in. Not even for a minute.

“I never wanted to run a ranch, you know?”

Bo reached for her hand. “I know.”

“But I put my dreams on hold when my dad got sick and I’ve done the best I could all this time. But I don’t want to do it anymore.

“It was an agonizing decision to sell a property that’s been in my family for literally generations, but I don’t want to be a rancher. I’ve never wanted to be a rancher. And yet here I sit, owner of a ranch anyway. Some days I feel like I’ll never get to live my dreams.” Callie couldn’t help the sob that came next. She hated to be that kind of female. The weepy, needy kind of girl who always needed a man to solve all her problems and rescue her from the drama of her own making.

Callie vowed not to let Bo or Rafe help her solve any more of her ranch-related issues. It was too easy and it would only hurt more when she said good-bye.

And she
would
say good-bye.

Chapter Seven

Bo reined in his fury over Kincaid fucking with Callie. He put a smile on his face and vowed to crush her southern neighbor. The man had gone too far. The call had been malicious. For now he would do his best to keep her safe and happy.

“Tell me more about how you plan to leave Colorado, Callie.”

“What?”

“If you aren’t selling to Kincaid, who are you selling to? I know you. You’re a planner.”

“There are two out-of-town buyers who’ve contacted me. They are from two different states and I’m fairly certain they don’t know each other. Each of them is interested in having a smaller cattle ranch to manage. A place that is already up and running and successful business with profits would be great. Each buyer wanted a larger herd of cattle to run than I currently have. That has been my primary goal. The cows being inseminated and a good number of pregnancies from the session is all that stands between me and my dreams.”

Rafe asked, “Are they interested in the bull you have?”

“Yes. Dragon was also a very big purchase for me. But he comes from great bloodlines and I was lucky to get him. I’m also trying to get top dollar for his semen. He is already a great asset to this ranch. We let him loose with the cows and he impregnated just under a dozen the old-fashioned way. But I need more and Dragon can only do so much. How do you know about my bull?”

“Delbert said he was a good bull and from good stock. He’d know better than anyone.”

“I just need for this insemination to go well this year. I spent a lot of money on additional straws of semen to get more calves in the spring. I need a good number of pregnant cows. And I need healthy, above-standard calves to be born next spring to increase my herd. It’s all in making the ranch look good. My water supply on the north end is great also. Basically whichever buyer gives me the best offer and is willing to sign a paper not to ever sell to Kincaid, I’m taking the money and leaving town as fast as possible.”

Rafe laughed. “You make
me
want to buy the place. And I already have enough to manage with the Double R Ranch.”

“That wouldn’t be practical at all. Your land isn’t close enough to mine. I won’t sell to you, either.”

“I know. But if we could help you, I’d love to find a way.”

“You’re already helping me. Let’s hope my cows are knocked up. That’s all I’m willing to let you help me with right now.”

“Okay then, I have an idea. Maybe we should practice more fertility rituals to bring good juju to your cattle.”

Callie allowed a smile to shape her lips. “You just want to have sex again.”