Kissin' Tell: Rough Riders, Book 13 (28 page)

She shoved everything into her briefcase. The tattoo art on the inside of the glass case caught her eye. Some designs were really cool, especially the memorial tattoos. Some were portraits, some were just dates, some were crosses, or some were a combination of all three.

“See anything you like?” India asked.

“Are all these your designs?”

“Most of them.”

“They are amazing.”

“Thank you. Were you considering a memorial tattoo?”

Georgia looked up. “I never have before now. But it seems…”

India patted her hand. “It’s hard to mark a sad event. But if you decide to do it, I can design anything from gaudy to discreet.”

“I’ll definitely be back.”

That night as Georgia wrote her sales report for her boss and mapped out her plan for the businesses in Moorcroft the following day, she kept sneaking glances at her cell phone. Checking it like some smitten teenage girl, wondering if her phone was somehow…broken because another day had gone by and she hadn’t heard from Tell.

So call him.

Right. After hearing his family’s concerns that she was some sort of femme fatale heartbreaker? Now she was uneasy enough about the situation that she wouldn’t call him first. Not out of pettiness; out of self-preservation.

Chapter Eighteen

Early Thursday morning, Tell glanced at Dalton, standing on his left. Man. His baby brother looked like roadkill. Then he noticed Brandt yawning. They were a lively bunch.

Cord had called a meeting at the sorting pens, which was neutral ground and the center of the ranch.

Pickups were parked in a lopsided circle. His cousins were spread out in groups of brothers. Kane and Kade were in a deep discussion. Colby, Cord and Colt were laughing about something. Quinn and Ben were standing together, not talking at all.

He spoke to Brandt. “You have any idea what this meeting is about?”

“Nope. Wish I’d brought more coffee. I am draggin’ ass today.” He yawned again. “Tucker cried all night. Woke us up every hour.”

“That sucks.”

Brandt offered a small smile. “Oh, it ain’t so bad. It’s just frustrating when we can’t figure out why he’s cryin’. The only thing that calms him down is bein’ held, so me’n Jess take turns.”

Dalton leaned closer. “Either of you got any Tums? I’m about to blow chunks after way too much drinkin’ last night.”

“There’s some in the glove box,” Brandt said. When Tell gaped at him, he said, “What? Jess ate Tums by the handful when she was pregnant. I kept ’em in my truck since I was her chauffeur.”

“That ain’t what surprised me. It was the fact you didn’t go all ‘you’re a dumb-ass’ on our little brother.”

“I’m too fuckin’ tired to care.” Brandt shot him a smirk. “And I’m practicing not bein’ a dick.”

Tell snorted.

Cord stepped forward and all conversation ended. “We haven’t had a formal shareholders meeting since around this time last year, so I figured we’d get it out of the way.”

“So we’re doin’ this without the previous McKay generation in attendance?” Quinn asked.

“Technically, they’re shareholders, but they gave up voting rights when they passed us the reins.”

It went unsaid that none of them wanted to deal with Casper after what’d happened last year. An endless prayer followed by an endless litany of criticism and complaints.

“I don’t gotta go over the financials because you all got copies relating to your shares. We all had a record year last year and so far it’s lookin’ like this one might be even better.”

Heads nodded.

“That said, we’ve gotta replace a lot of equipment, and that’s expensive, but since it’s equipment we all use it, the purchase will come out of the main ranch account.”

“We’re payin’ cash?” Ben asked.

“That’s what we need to vote on,” Cord said. “Whether we wanna take out a loan or use the cash reserves.”

Colt spoke up. “I’d rather we used some of the cash, say thirty or forty percent, and finance the rest. If we’ve still got a solid amount of cash this time next year, then we can look at payin’ off the remaining amount. Or extending the loan another year.”

“I agree,” Kade said. “Who knows what the economy, the price of feed and the livestock market will do in the next twelve months? Better to play it safe.”

“Any other comments or suggestions?” Cord asked.

Ben raised his hand. “At the risk of ruffling some feathers, I suggest we make sure we’re getting the lowest rate from Settler’s First Bank before we commit to borrowing money from them.”

“Sez the competing bank president’s husband,” Tell said dryly.

Everyone laughed.

“I agree with Ben,” Brandt said. “It wouldn’t hurt to talk to American West Bank to see what they’ll offer to get some of our business.”

“And just to be clear, I won’t be involved one way or the other. I just wanted to mention it,” Ben added.

“So, show of hands on usin’ a partial down payment?”

All hands went up.

“Good. Show of hands on me, Kade, Brandt and Quinn finding the lowest loan rate?”

All hands went up.

Cord stroked his goatee. “Motion passes and all that shit. What’s next?”

Kade said, “As long as we’re talkin’ about joint expenses, something’s gotta be done with that bunkhouse. Over the last few months, me’n Colby found a ton of beer cans inside and outside. All the wood we had stockpiled has been burned, so someone has been livin’ there. Or more likely, kids have been usin’ it as a party house.”

“Once it becomes party central, it’s gonna be hell to get them kids to stop goin’ there,” Colby added.

“And Cam can’t patrol that area all the time because it’s abusing his position,” Colt pointed out. “Any ideas on how we oughta handle it?”

“I say all ten of us sit inside. When the little shits show up, we reinforce with ten loaded shotguns that they’re trespassing on private property,” Dalton suggested.

Chuckles.

“I vote for burning it down,” Tell said. “Ain’t like we use it all that much anymore anyway. Not during calving season, and we haven’t played poker there in well over a year.”

Everyone looked at Tell like he was holding a can of gasoline and a blowtorch.

“Jesus, Tell, can’t you be serious for one fuckin’ second?” Kane demanded.

Tell hated how his face heated. “I
am
serious. It ain’t like we can move it, since we poured concrete footings. We used cheap materials to build it and we haven’t been takin’ care of it, so it is gonna fall into ruin. Better we torch it ourselves than to wait for some dumb fucking teenagers to accidentally light it on fire, as well as the damn grass surrounding it.”

“Just torch it?” Kade said. “Seems wasteful.”

Discussion broke out. Tell knew nothing would be decided today. He whistled and everyone stopped talking. “I believe there are two options on the table. Cord? Let’s vote.”

Cord cocked his head. “You’re pushy today, Tell. What’s up? Got someplace to be?”

“Maybe he’s volunteered to walk a group of senior citizens across the street,” Colt said.

“Or maybe he’s gotta polish up his comedy routine for Wyoming’s Funniest Person contest at Cheyenne Frontier Days,” Colby quipped.

“Or maybe he’s judgin’ a swimsuit contest in his bedroom,” Kane said.

“I’ll bet he wants to get out of here because he’s got a hot date with Hot Lips,” Dalton said slyly.

Tell pushed him. “Fuck off.” He looked at his cousins. “All of you can just fuck the fuck off.”

“Speaking of… I met your woman at India’s shop. She is a knockout. Indy says she’s sharp.” Colt paused and smirked. “So what in the hell is she doin’ with you?”

Laughter.

“Really funny, cuz.”

“You know, AJ mentioned that your latest squeeze had shown up at Healing Touch. Evidently you were a main topic of conversation,” Cord said.

Tell muttered, “Fuckin’ awesome. Now I have to wonder if India tattooed Georgia before or
after
her massage with AJ.”

Colt shook his head. “She wasn’t getting a tat. She was selling advertising.”

“Come to think of it, Skylar told me about this charming little bombshell from Sundance who stopped in to the Sky Blue manufacturing plant and dropped your name.”

Tell’s gaze zoomed to Kade. “When was this?”

“Wednesday.”

“Sounds like your lady was makin’ the rounds,” Kane drawled. “She showed up at Ginger’s office too.”

“Wanna take bets on whether she approached Domini at Dewey’s? I’m guessing she hit Keely up for ad sponsorship too.” Dalton looked at Ben. “How about Ainsley?”

“Ainsley approved an ad for American West yesterday. And she took out a personal ad for my furniture business after Georgia mentioned she loved the coffee table I’d made that she’d seen at Tell’s place.”

Tell could just see Georgia sauntering into his cousins’ wives’ businesses and cranking the charisma on high. His gut seized and his heart stopped. Jesus. Georgia hadn’t shared any private stuff about them, hoping it would spur a sale?

“Sounds like this juicy Georgia peach you’re banging is beautiful, smart and on her game. How long you think you’ll last with her?” Colby asked with a grin.

More chuckling.

“At least until she’s sold ad space to all of Tell’s relatives for the rodeo program guide,” Dalton said. “Then she’ll probably dump his ass.”

“Ha. Fuckin’. Ha.” The teasing pissed him off. It shouldn’t be a surprise his cousins were still doing what they had always done; making him feel like he wasn’t up to McKay standards. Like it was a miracle a sexy, smart, savvy woman like Georgia would be interested in him.

But maybe…there was a grain of truth to that. Georgia had made it plain on Sunday she’d be busy working this week.

Evidently she’d been busy all right… Busy hitting up all his goddamn relatives for money.

“Back to the business at hand, let’s vote on the bunkhouse,” Cord said. “Who wants to torch it?”

Tell raised his hand and looked around. Not even his brothers backed him on the idea? That sucked.

“Who wants to discuss this at a later date?”

The majority of hands went up.

Kade shook his head. “Fine, we can table it for now, but we need to do a daily check until we make a final decision, since we’re headed into fire season. And that means everyone will do his part. I’ll write up a schedule and give everyone a copy. In the interest of fairness, we’ll take one-week shifts and go from oldest to youngest.”

Colby playfully punched Cord in the arm. “That means you’re up first, old man.”

The meeting broke up. Brandt, Tell and Dalton were the last to leave. And because Dalton had opened his big mouth, he was about to get an earful.

“Thanks for bein’ a dick in front of everyone.”

Dalton frowned at him. “What was I a dick about?”

“Bringing up Georgia.”

“Come on, Tell, don’t be such a fuckin’ girl. We give each other shit like this all the time. And if it’d been somebody else, you’da jumped in too.”

Tell knew his brother was right, but it still stung to be on the receiving end.

“You oughta be glad I did, ’cause it sounds like you didn’t have a clue about what she’s been doin’.” Dalton gave him a curious look. “You haven’t heard from her at all since we saw her on Sunday?”

Damn annoying to admit, “No.”

“I’m not surprised. She was awful damn detached that morning. Like adios sucker, I got what I wanted from you—a date to the reunion—and now I’m gone.”

“And she couldn’t possibly want more from me than that?” Tell demanded.

Dalton rubbed a spot between his eyebrows. “Look. I don’t know why you’re shocked that she’s takin’ advantage of her connection to you to sell advertising to our family members. Georgia Hotchkiss is a user. She always has been. She always will be. Them type of people don’t change, Tell.”

“Bullshit.”

“You’ve always jumped through hoops for her. No matter what she’s asked you. You didn’t moon over her like a lovesick fool, but you were a damn sight giddy whenever she asked for your help with some stupid school project.”

Tell fumed, but he didn’t lash out, which Dalton took as a sign to keep talking.

“Who ended up filling a thousand helium balloons for junior/senior prom? You. Was Georgia there after she begged you to help her? Nope. Who had to work the concession stand at the Fellowship of Christian Athletes events? You. And you never was the churchy type like her. Was Georgia there? Nope. Who ended up doin’ all the research and work for the history project senior year? You. Did your partner Georgia help at all? Nope.”

“None of that shit from the past matters. She has changed. And none of us can be held accountable for who we were in high school.” Jesus. He was beginning to sound like a broken record.

Dalton started to open his mouth, but Brandt elbowed him, warning, “Leave it be.”

“No. If Dalton’s got something else to say, let him, because God knows he ain’t held back so far.”