Cowgirl In Love

“The will stipulates that the three sons shall inherit the ranch and the surrounding property provided you all live on the ranch for one year.”

Ty Hartman stared at the lawyer as the older man ran a thin, bony finger along the lines of the will, reading out the stipulations in a monotone, blissfully unaware that he had just hammered a nail through all of Ty’s dreams.

There was no way this was real.

He was the one who stuck around the ranch. Colton left. His mom left. He stayed.

He was the one who kept it going. The one who kept the animals alive and the fences mended even after his father had given up on everything and fallen into a depression. Beau had laid off all the ranch hands and reduced the herds to nothing. Despite that, he stuck around to make sure what little was left was up and running. And he did it all because this land was his legacy. He wanted to pass it on to his kids, and their kids, and keep it right where it belonged—in the family.

It was his dream to not only carry on the legacy, but to set up his vet practice on the ranch, eventually expanding to the point that he could hire more vets, take on specialty cases, and build a reputation as a cutting-edge operation.

And this was how his father thanked him for sticking around when no one else had? By making him share the ranch with two people who didn’t want to be there so that he was at risk of losing it? Colton had walked away a decade ago with no plans to return. Hell, Ty hadn’t even known that Jace—a half-brother—existed until two weeks ago. Jace had no knowledge of their legacy and to date had shown no interest.

“Our father is trying to manipulate us, even from the grave, and I’m not falling for this bullshit,” Colton snapped. He shoved forward in his chair, gripping the armrests.

Ty barely heard the words over the roar in his ears. He’d thought Beau had changed. That his father had finally acknowledged him. And instead, he passed two-thirds of the ranch to his brothers, who would no doubt want to sell. He knew that Colton was practically counting the seconds until he could get on the next plane out of Montana, and, despite not knowing Jace all that well, there was no denying that Jace looked at his watch more times than was necessary.

Ty shifted in the chair, the old wood and leather creaking under his weight.

“Is there a period of time that we can leave for and not break the will?” Again it was Colton, his voice carrying that tense note he always had when he spoke about their father.

The lawyer glanced over his glasses, taking time to stare at each of them in turn. “You can leave for one month, at most, during this one-year probation period. If you leave for longer than a month, you forfeit your right to the inheritance, and the estate will be donated to the University of Montana’s agricultural department.”

Ty held his breath as the lawyer glanced back at the document and continued to lay out the rules in the same monotone as before. Essentially, they all three needed to stay on the ranch, or they would lose the property.

The lawyer would stop by intermittently to check on them, and he only lived about a couple miles away, which was not that far in rural terms.

One thing was for certain, there was no way in hell Ty was leaving this ranch. His boots were staying firmly planted in Garnet Valley and the Rocking H land. He was going to follow the rules. However, he wasn’t so sure about Colton or Jace. Neither of them wanted to stay on the ranch and both had been pretty clear about it.