The Taming of the Bachelor by Jane Porter

Author:Jane Porter [Porter, Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 25676559
Publisher: Tule Publishing
Published: 2014-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

It wasn’t hard to find Sam Melk’s office on Main Street. Sam had gone to work for his father’s residential real estate company a couple years ago with a vision for the future: buy available and struggling Paradise Valley ranches, subdivide them into mini-ranches, and sell these ranchettes to affluent city folks who fantasized about owning a piece of rugged Montana.

Melk Realty wasn’t the first to chop up pastures and farms in Paradise Valley, and wouldn’t be the last, but it still rankled old ranching families that some of the best grazing land was going to folks who didn’t care about cattle, horses, or Montana’s history.

Dillon had made a point of avoiding the controversy surrounding the development of Paradise Valley. When he left Montana for college, he knew he was pretty much gone for good. He’d come back only to tide things over, but in working the ranch these past three years, he’d developed a bond with the ranch that he hadn’t felt before.

Fortunately, Trey was back and committed to Sheenan Ranch, so the family spread was protected. Hopefully, it was protected. He’d hate to see the ranch go the way so many others had gone.

Parking his truck on Main Street, he pocketed his keys, walking north a block, passing Java Café, where Lucy was clearing a window table and spotting him, smiled and waved.

He smiled back, and crossed the street before the light, knocking snow, salt and ice from his boots before pushing open the door to Melk Realty.

It might be thirty degrees outside with a good gusty wind, but the real estate office’s reception was toasty warm, glowing with rich woods, bronze art pieces, and sleek, subtle lighting. Dillon was all too aware that the expensive designer touch was not for the locals house hunting, but for tourists who’d wandered in, smitten with the idea of owning a bit of Marietta’s historic charm or one of the ranches lining Paradise Valley.

The front desk was empty when he opened the door but seconds later a beautiful blonde emerged from a back office, eyes lighting as she spotted Dillon.

“Hey, stranger,” Charity Wright said, grinning. “What brings you in? Not thinking of selling the ranch, are you?”

Charity was the middle Wright sister and a couple years younger than Dillon. He knew Jenny best—she was just a year older than he—she had married champion bullrider, Colton Thorpe, last year.

“No,” he answered emphatically, popping open the thick snaps on his heavy sheepskin coat. “How long have you been working here? I thought you worked for Stan Joplin?”

“I did. But he sold his business. He’s heading back to Missoula.”

“Really? Why?”

She gave him a pointed look.

And then Dillon got it.

Stanley had been engaged to McKenna Douglas and had a big Christmas wedding planned, but then Trey returned to town the day before the wedding, and showed up at St. James, interrupting the service, and more or less kidnapping McKenna and their five-year-old son, TJ, from the church, leaving Stanley to deal with the shocked guests, and his broken dreams, on his own.

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