Hidden Treasure(9)

She’d made it into Brown, after all. Did these guys have any idea how much of an accomplishment that was? They had only a 9 percent acceptance rate for undergraduate applicants.

Perhaps her major hadn’t been the most practical: she’d studied English. But if anyone thought that was easy, far from it. She’d worked her tail off, and she’d planned on going into journalism, and working for a paper or magazine at some point. No, things didn’t end up working out, but it wasn’t over yet.

She’d ended up mixing with some people who partied hard after that first year, and fallen off a bit, but when she’d slipped up in a few classes, she’d manned back up and done better the next year. Everyone might think she didn’t have a care in the world, but she did take pride in accomplishing a difficult task. She would finish her degree!

But she’d never imagined she’d be doing something as difficult as running a ranch, especially when no one at the Ponderosa Pines Ranch would allow her to do anything involving the day-to-day operations. It wasn’t as if she could fire them all and start over.

She wouldn’t even know where to begin. She couldn’t say she want to wrestle around with the few livestock they had, or mend the fences, but she did want to see how it operated, wanted to understand it, wanted to know why it was failing, and how she could turn it around.

If she was stuck in this place for an entire year, then she was going to walk away with at least some knowledge. She might not like that her father had thrown this at her, but she had accepted the challenge. Still, that wouldn’t stop her from grabbing her calendar and marking off each day she was trapped here.

“The little woman here wants someone to take her out on the land,” Tony said, rolling his eyes in disbelief.

“And there’s nothing wrong with that,” Brielle said. What sort of a chauvinist was he? “Tony just said no. He didn’t explain why, just told me no.” She lifted her head and met Colt’s gaze.

Dammit. It had taken only about thirty seconds before she was making eye contact. The man really did muddle her brain. She seriously wanted to stamp her feet. But she was trying to grow here, and throwing a tantrum was the opposite of growth.

So Brielle just stood there, hating that her eyes were pleading for one of the two men to listen to her. She needed to inspect her property.

At least that’s what her brother Crew had told her to do. And since Crew was all happy with his project and kicking ass at it, she’d decided she’d better listen and check out the land she now owned.

Her father had called several times and left messages, but she was still angry with him and had refused to take his calls, refused to call him back. Let him sweat. She hoped he was worried that wild coyotes were going to drag her off into the hills at any minute. Wait. That thought stopped her cold.

“There aren’t wild coyotes who eat people here, are there?” she asked, and felt like a fool when both men grinned.

“Not usually,” Colt said, the start of a chuckle evident in his throat, though he was doing his best to keep his mirth at bay.

She wanted to imitate her last name and storm from the barn. The only thing that stopped her was that she knew both men would be a whole hell of a lot happier if she did just that. Well, tough. She wasn’t going anywhere.

“Again, I want to explore my land. I need to know why the operation is failing. Who is going to take me?”

This time Brielle faced Tony with her shoulders back and a determined glint in her eyes. She wasn’t going to back down again, even if he did intimidate the hell out of her.

This time, she was going to get her way, and she was going to learn something about all these acres of land she’d unwillingly inherited from her father. She would make this damn ranch successful even if it killed her. And it might just.

“I’ll take you,” Colt said, surprising not only her but Tony as well, if his expression was any indication.

“You sure you have time for that, Colt?” Tony asked, making Brielle want to slug him.

“Yeah. I’ve got my projects done for the day,” he said with a shrug before turning back to her. “But there’s no way you’re getting on a horse wearing that ensemble. You need to change into jeans and boots. A hat wouldn’t hurt either. It will shield your face from the sun.”

“I don’t need fashion advice from a cowboy.” What was wrong with the cute shorts and tank top she was wearing? It was an unusually warm summer, she’d been told. And that was okay with her. She loved hot weather, and she hadn’t gotten enough of it in Maine.

“I’m not giving you fashion advice, Princess. I’m just stating how it is. You’ll break your neck if you even attempt to get on a horse in those heels. And your thighs will be scraped raw if you wear shorts on the long ride.”