“Sierra is cool with it?”
“She seems to be. Sierra’s been a bit of a humble Tigger since the accident, if you know what I mean.”
“I’ve been there, as you well know.”
He looked Dalton in the eye. “I don’t hold that intervention with Ben against you, Dalton. You did what you thought was right. You were looking out for someone you cared about.”
Dalton turned his lowball glass on the cocktail napkin. “It sure opened my eyes about a lot of things.”
“Mine too, to be honest. Anyway, Sierra and Rielle get along well. They like each other and spend time together, but I don’t force the issue. Might sound obvious, but I’m Sierra’s parent, Ree is not. It’d be easy to put expectations on her since we’re living together and because she’s a woman who’s been a single parent. We’re still figuring out boundaries.”
“How did Rory react to Rielle being in a relationship with you?”
“Not so well. Why?”
Dalton shrugged. “I ain’t surprised. Bein’ an only child, she’s always been spoiled by havin’ all her mom’s attention. She ain’t gonna be happy sharing it, even when she’s old enough to know better.”
That just reminded Gavin of how big a step it’d been for Rielle to keep her daughter out of the intimate relationship in her life.
“Plus, it’s gotta piss Rory off that Rielle is involved with a McKay.”
“Why’s that?”
“Oh, I suspect the McKays offering to buy the Wetzler’s land over the years had some to do with it.” Dalton sipped his drink. “I suspect I had a lot more to do with it.”
“Yeah? What makes you say that?”
“It’s…complicated. I’ve always considered Rory a friend. But after that night in Laramie, she’d rather punch me—and she usually does—than look at me.” He paused. “Me’n Rory got into it the night she was at the Golden Boot with Sierra.”
“Sierra didn’t mention it.”
Dalton laughed. “That surprises me since your girl had to put Rory in a headlock to keep her from goin’ after me.”
Gavin decided he’d be better off not knowing what else had gone down that night. “So you really called me up because you’re looking for a drinking buddy?”
“Partially. Feelin’ sorry for myself. The other part is to ask if you’ve got any plans for the land you own that abuts your brother’s section?”
“I’ll be honest, Dalton, after what happened before, I suspect it’s in my best interest to keep the family peace, to change the subject now, before you ask me something or tell me something I don’t want to know.”
“How about if I share what’s on my mind but we’ll keep this discussion between us for the time being. That way, both our asses are covered.”
“Deal.” Gavin leaned back in his chair. “So what’s going on?”
“This fall we agreed to lease Charlene Fox’s place for two years, and at the end of those two years, we have first purchase option. Do you know what piece of land I’m talking about?”
“Does it make me a greenhorn if I say no?”
Dalton offered a wide smile. “Nope. The land is adjacent to your creek access.”
Gavin frowned. “My creek frontage is only about thirty yards. Rielle’s section has most the creek frontage.”
“Yeah, I know. But she’s—or rather Rory has—made it plain she doesn’t want cattle close by. But with your section adjoining Ben’s, there’s a chance Ben and Quinn will address leasing grazing rights from you.”
“Leasing?”
“Yes. Ben and Quinn are your brothers, and they wouldn’t expect to get the rights for free—but bein’s you are a greenhorn, their brother and rich in your own right, they’d try to get a deal and tie up the lease rights for years. The chunk you own isn’t the ideal piece of dirt, and it’s undeveloped, which means it’d be a lot of work on their part to get it cleared. So I’m wondering if that work load is beyond your brothers’ capabilities, since it’s just the two of them running things and they don’t have extra time or hands.”
“But it’s not beyond your capabilities?”
Dalton leaned forward. “No. We’ve got two extra set of working hands in Jessie and Georgia. Libby don’t help Quinn out as much as she used to on the ranch after their kids were born, and Ainsley ain’t the type to devote a month to clearing brush.
“What I’m asking is to keep in mind we’re interested in leasing that land. We’re willing to do improvements on it—on our dime. We’re not at that point yet where we can consider signin’ a lease with you. But we will be in the next year. So it’d be a serious blow to us if you’d already signed a long term lease with Ben and Quinn. Me, Tell and Brandt will pay the highest going rate. I know your brothers won’t offer you that, so I’m pointing out ahead of time that doin’ business with us will be the better deal for you. And since it appears you’re in Wyoming for the long haul, we wanted to state our…offer—for lack of a better term—up front.”
He allowed a moment to digest the information. But he had to admit Dalton impressed the hell out of him. Not playing on any type of family connection, laying out the facts. Appealing to Gavin’s practical side. “Out of the original 140 acres Rielle owned, she has forty. One hundred acres is a piss-ant amount in the scheme of McKay Ranches.”
“Maybe, but the right hundred acres, adjacent to our four thousand acres, with creek frontage ain’t nothin’ to sneeze at.”
“How many people underestimate you?”
Dalton grinned. “A lot. Especially when I’m playin’ cards. They see my baby-face and assume…well, not many of them assume I’m a rookie anymore.”
“Is that how you funded your land purchases? Through gambling?”
Dalton hung his head. “Yes sir.”
“Don’t even try to pull off contrite, Dalton.”
He laughed. “Sorry. So as long as we’re swapping stories about how we made our millions—ha ha—I gotta know if all of yours was inherited.”
Strange to think his brothers hadn’t asked him this question. But since Dalton had been honest with him, he owed his cousin the same courtesy. “My dad started a real estate development company in the 1960s. He did very well in the 70s, 80s and lost more than half when the credit market collapsed. He recovered, but never like during the heyday. He died when I was twenty-eight and I was already VP of the company, so I took over.” Gavin sipped his drink. “My father was a great guy, but I found out a few things he’d done that were shady and I worried his mistakes would come back and bite me in the ass.