LITMIR.BIZ

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      “You know another Townsen?” Roy asked. “Dave said the Jacksons had defaulted on their loan, and Gill offered to assume the payments and pay the startup costs if they’d allow their ranch to be used as the home base for a new business idea he had.”

      “A business idea he stole!” Josh growled. “Along with stealing our employees!”

      Zane shook his head. “He didn’t steal Townsen. After we let him go, Karl was free to go where he wanted.”

      “I’m not surprised he took the opportunity to put the screws to us, considering how ticked he was over the theft accusations and his firing,” Josh said, grinding his back teeth.

      “So what do we do?” Brady asked, veins standing out on his neck.

      “Nothing we can do,” Zane said, far too calmly.

      “Nothing?” Josh repeated, aghast. “You want us to roll over and play dead? Are you telling me this doesn’t piss you off in the first degree?”

      Zane faced his twin, his nose flaring and his jaw tight. “Of course I’m pissed. But we have guests in there.” He aimed his thumb over his shoulder to the stable. “Guests whom it is more important than ever that we impress. And by nothing, I mean there’s nothing we can do about Gill opening a competing business. What we can do is offer a better product. We out-perform him. We bring our A game and kick his sorry ass. Our success is all the vengeance we need.”

      Josh exchanged a glance with Brady, his lifelong friend, new business partner and future brother-in-law. If possible, Brady hated Gill more than the McCall siblings did. Josh could see the roil of disgust in Brady’s expression morph into sheer determination. Brady finally jerked a nod of agreement and raised a fist. “Yeah. Let’s kick some ass.”

      Zane cracked a grim smile and bumped Brady’s fist with his own.

      Sucking in a cleansing breath, Josh joined the fist bumps. “Let’s do it.”

      As he turned to go back in the stable to check on Kate, Josh felt a weight settle on him. His family had already needed the adventure ranch he and Zane had dreamed up to be a success to save them from financial ruin. Now they needed to succeed as a matter of pride. A feat made more difficult thanks to the competing efforts of Gill Carver, slime bag extraordinaire.

      The triplets’ history with Gill was as dicey as it was long. Gill had been a thorn in their side from the day in fourth grade when Zane had beaten Gill in the spelling bee, and Gill, ever the sore loser, had arranged a posse of his friends to waylay Zane on the playground. That was the first time of many that Gill learned that if he picked on one McCall triplet, he got all three and Brady to boot.

      A bitter rivalry had been born and fed throughout high school. Salt had been added to the wounds when Gill’s father fell on hard times, like many of the ranchers in the area. The bank had foreclosed on the Carvers’ holdings and at the foreclosure auction, the triplets’ father had purchased not only a top breeding bull for the Double M, but had added a parcel of the Carvers’ land that abutted the McCalls’ property. Gill had turned his spite up to DEFCON 1, not just toward the McCalls and Brady, but most of the town. He’d made clear to the triplets that his career path, becoming a loan officer at the local bank, having the power to foreclose on homes, ranches and small businesses of the townspeople he’d grown up with, was part of his plan to seek revenge against the people of Boyd Valley.

      Josh had just stepped back into the shaded stable alley when a figure moved out of one of the stalls and issued a quiet “Psst.” He blinked, his eyes adjusting to the dimmer light, and Dawn Fetzer came into focus, waving him over to her.

      He shook off his bad mood, knowing he couldn’t let the dark cloud of bad news affect his dealings with their first customers. Pasting on a smile, he strode over to her and nodded a greeting. “What can I do for you, Dawn?”

      “Listen,” she started in a hushed tone and drew him into one of the empty stalls. “I need a favor.”

      “Okay...” he whispered back, matching her volume.

      “Kate is—how should I put it?—trying to overcome some personal issues, some fears based on a childhood trauma.”

      Josh arched an eyebrow, intrigued. What sort of childhood trauma? This insight to the woman he found himself so powerfully drawn to fueled his curiosity about her.

      “She’s probably going to need a little cajoling and special encouragement to go the extra step on most of the adventures this week.” Dawn bit her bottom lip and glanced guiltily out of the stall as if afraid her collusion with him would be discovered. “She’d kill me if she knew I was telling you this. She only told me because I asked her flat out why she was acting so freaked out on this trip.”

      “I see.” Josh poked his fingers in his front pockets and rocked back on the heels of his boots. “So, what is it exactly you want me to do?”

      “Well...” Dawn fidgeted with one of her hoop earrings. “If it isn’t as obvious as I think it is...she’s into you. You’ve definitely turned her head, and I think you can use that to our advantage.”

      “Um...” Josh shifted his weight, uneasy with the track of the conversation. While it pleased him to know his attraction to Kate was mutual, he was wholly uncomfortable with any ploy to trick her based on that attraction.

      When he hesitated, Dawn rushed on to say, “Nothing untoward. But...I think she’d find it harder to tell you no. She’s not going to participate in the riskier activities, I fear, without a great deal of motivation and encouragement all around.”

      “I’d be happy to encourage her and help ease her anxieties any way I can.”

      “Good!”

      “I just...” He paused and glanced away for a moment, trying to put into words the tickle of uneasiness in his belly. “I don’t like the idea of manipulating her or using her interest in me against her.”

      “It wouldn’t be using it against her!” Dawn grabbed his wrist. “Helping her face her fears is in her best interests. Don’t you think?”

      “Well...” Knowing that Kate had a childhood trauma to blame for her fears made Dawn’s suggestion feel even more intrusive. As much as he wanted to help Kate, he didn’t want to use illicit tactics to sway her feelings. But to satisfy Dawn, he said, “I’ll do what I can.”

      The first day on the ranch passed pleasantly, with horseback riding out into the pastures, roundup and knot-tying demonstrations, a roping contest (which Jake the former SEAL with his athletic talent predictably won), and another cookout with bountiful food and good company. That evening each guest prepared a backpack with spare clothes for the three-day camping and hiking excursion, and the ranch staff added basic camping, hiking and safety supplies to each pack and saw to it that the packs were delivered to the base camp for the next night.

      Despite the fun first day, Kate knew the challenges that lay ahead, and she had a kink of apprehension in her gut as she piled into bed that evening. She stared at the ceiling much of the night, then had no appetite for the pancake and sausage breakfast the others feasted on before dawn the next morning. Her coffee gnawed her stomach as she faked enthusiasm at the breakfast table with the couples who’d be traveling with them.

      At the appointed time, Brady met their party at the door of the guesthouse. He showed them to the SUV that would drive them to the starting point of the horseback ride into the mountainous terrain where the adventures would begin. Zane and Roy had transported the horses by trailer to the start point a half hour earlier.

      The married couples, Piper and Dawn loaded into the SUV first, leaving Kate to squeeze into the middle seat between Jake and Josh.

      From the front seat, Dawn sent a sly grin to Kate over her shoulder, chirping, “Look at you, Katie! In the middle of a hunk sandwich.”

      Kate returned a raised-eyebrow glare that told her friend she knew exactly what Dawn was up to. Then, throughout

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