The Cowboy's Stolen Bride by Cora Seton

Author:Cora Seton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance
Publisher: One Acre Press
Published: 2020-03-08T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

The following morning, Liam decided he’d done all he could to prepare for the inspection. Now it was out of his hands. This was just a preliminary one, he reminded himself, to make sure the Flying W was set to proceed via organic principles. It would still be three years before the ranch could start labeling its beef organic. If he got it wrong this time, however, it would take even longer for that three-year stint to start. He was impatient to get going. He hadn’t heard again from Tory, and he hadn’t texted her, either, not wanting to crowd her. She was a woman who valued her independence. He respected that.

He stepped out of the barn and scanned the surrounding pastures. Maybe the grass was yellowing and the dirt was cracked, but Liam didn’t think there was any place on earth more beautiful. This was his home. The land was in his blood. Always would be, no matter what happened next.

Still, he felt jittery as a cat being stalked by a coyote. When he’d led his football team years ago, only one thing had helped him calm his nerves before a game, but he wasn’t about to reach for a bottle now. Maybe a nice long walk would have the same effect. At the very least, he’d get a good reminder of what he was working so hard to save.

Liam let his feet lead him where they would, and twenty minutes later he found himself at the fence that separated the Flying W from the Ridley property. Getting organic certification was an important step, but the only thing that would stop his mother was giving her something other than the Flying W to sell. Uncle Jed would kick up a storm of protest if they did, but he’d leave Jed and Mary to fight that out between them.

One thing at a time.

Liam opened an old gate in the fence and kept walking, letting the unfamiliar terrain take his mind off his own ranch. He could afford to spend an hour or two thinking about something other than the Flying W.

Couldn’t he?

Liam sighed as doubts crept in. He picked up his pace, trying harder to relax. It didn’t seem to help. He passed the ramshackle house and followed a track to the bridge that spanned Pittance Creek. He paused for a moment to take in the sluggish trickle of water beneath. Surely it had to rain soon. Eager to put those worries behind him, he kept going toward the old outbuildings. Only their roofs were visible over all the brush and trees that had grown up around them.

Who had he inherited this tendency to overthink things from? Certainly not his father. William Turner didn’t have that gene. He’d been an implacable and steadfast man, whether leading his high school football team to victory, if the stories Liam had heard were right, or organizing the ranch hands to overcome some crisis.

Nothing like him, as Jed was all too quick to point out.

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