Pursued By The Rich Rancher. Catherine Mann

it back to him. “How are you feeling, Gran? Do you want more tea?”

      He reached for the pitcher, noticing she’d only nibbled at the corner of a sandwich.

      “I’m fine, Alex, thank you. I have the sunshine, a glass of sweet tea and one of my grandchildren here. All is right in my world.”

      But he knew that wasn’t really true. She didn’t have long to live. Months. Maybe only weeks. She’d been getting her affairs in order, deciding who would inherit what. Not that he cared a damn thing about the McNair wealth and holdings. He just wanted his grandmother.

      He reached for a plate and piled on sandwiches, more to make her happy. His stomach felt as if it had rocks in it right now. “Thanks for lunch. It’s a chaotic day with all the campers coming in.”

      “Stone surprised us all by starting that camp instead of taking over the jewelry enterprises, but in a good way.”

      Alex touched his hat on his knee. “That he did.”

      “His new life fits him. Johanna helped him see that path while she helped him with his inheritance test.” Mariah set her plate of uneaten sandwiches aside. “Alex, I want to talk to you about your test.”

      “My test?” The rocks in his stomach turned icy. “I thought that was just a game to get Stone and Johanna back together.”

      At least he’d hoped so as time passed and his grandmother didn’t bring up the subject of putting her three grandchildren through an arbitrary test to win their portion of the estate.

      It wasn’t about the money. It was about the land. A mega-resort developer simply could not get a hold of Alex’s portion of the land. That, he definitely cared about.

      “Well, Alex, you thought wrong. I need to feel secure about the future of what we’ve built. All three of you children have a stubborn streak.”

      “One we inherited from you.”

      “True enough.” She laughed softly before her blue eyes turned sad. “Much more so than my two children.”

      Her daughter had been a junkie who dropped her child—Stone—off onto Mariah’s doorstep. Alex and his twin Amie’s father had been unmotivated to do more than spend his inheritance and avoid his wife.

      Mariah had been more of a parent to Alex than his own.

      He, Amie and Stone were like siblings, having grown up here at Hidden Gem together. Once they’d finished college, they all turned their attention to home, working to keep the McNair holdings profitable even after their grandfather died. Each one of them had a role to play. Alex managed the family lands—Hidden Gem Ranch, which operated as a bed-and-breakfast hobby ranch for the rich and famous. Until recently, Stone had managed the family jewelry design house and store. Diamonds in the Rough featured high-end rustic designs, from rodeo belt buckles and stylized bolos to Aztec jewelry, all highly sought after around the country. And Amie—a gemologist—created most of their renowned designs, even though the McNair jewelry company was now under new management, an outsider his grandmother had hired.

      Gran rocked slowly, sipping her iced tea, her hand thin and pale with spidery veins as she set the glass back on the table between them. “Now back to what I’ve planned for your test.”

      That damn test again. Stone had already passed his test to retain control of the jewelry business. Gran had made Stone work with Johanna to find loving homes for his grandmother’s dogs. Yet once Stone had finished, he surprised them all by proposing to Johanna and announcing he didn’t want to run Diamonds in the Rough after all. He didn’t want the all-consuming ambition. The camp had been Stone’s brainchild, shifting his focus to the family’s charity foundation, investing his portion of the estate into a self-generating fund to run the HorsePower program while a new CEO assumed command as head of Diamonds in the Rough.

      “Seriously, Gran? You’re still insisting on the test? I assumed since Stone backed out and opted to live on his own portfolio you would pass the company along to Amie.”

      “And leave the running of the ranch to you?”

      He stayed silent. The land. This place. He’d put his heart and soul into it. But that was his grandmother’s decision to make. Money wasn’t a concern. He had his own. He could start fresh if need be.

      Except he didn’t want to. He wanted his home to stay untouched by takeover from some mega-ranch theme park.

      Mariah set aside her tea. “Alex, it’s a simple test really. There’s a competitor—Lowery Resorts—that has been quietly buying up shares of the McNair empire through shell corporations.”

      Alarms went off in his head. This was the worst possible time for someone to stage a takeover. Stockholders were already on edge about his grandmother’s illness, concerned about the uncertain future of the McNair holdings. “A controlling percentage?”

      “Not yet. But between my illness, Stone’s resignation as CEO and his replacement still gaining his footing, some investors perceive a void. If our loyalties split or if they continue consolidating, we could be at risk of having our haven turned into a sideshow resort.”

      How the hell had this happened? His hands gripped the arms of the chair and he resisted the urge to vent his frustration. He bit back the words he wanted to spout and simply said, “How did they manage that?”

      “When word first leaked of my illness, they moved fast and took advantage of investor fears. I should have seen that coming. I trusted old friendships. I was wrong. I need to move faster now. Time’s too important.”

      He should have seen this coming. He should have thought beyond his part of the family holdings. “We could have Stone return as CEO until the crisis with the Lowery Resorts passes.”

      “No, he doesn’t want it, and I need to see the company settled with our new CEO, Preston Armstrong, in control before I can rest easily. The board and I chose Preston because we believe in him, but he will need time to gain investors’ trust. So in the meantime, I need your help.”

      “You don’t need to make it a test.” He patted her hand, then gripped it. “Just tell me what to do for you and I’m here for you, for the family.”

      Smiling, she gave his hand a squeeze back, before her eyes narrowed with the laser focus that had leveled many in the business world. “The Lowery family has a vulnerability in their portfolio.”

      “You want me to exploit it?” His mind churned with possibilities he wanted to discuss with Stone.

      “Convince the Lowerys to sell back a sizeable portion of those shares bought by their shell companies and I’ll transfer all my shares of the ranch into your hands effective immediately.”

      He waved aside the last part of her words. “It’s not about me accumulating a larger part of the homestead. It’s about our family. I will not allow our land to pass into anyone else’s hands.”

      She nodded tightly. “There’s that old competitive spirit of yours. I was wondering if you’d buried it completely under that laid-back air you carry around these days.”

      “Hmm.” He didn’t like reminders of that side of himself. He picked up his tea and drank. There was still a lot of dirt inside him to wash away from those rodeo days. Things he’d allowed his parents to push him to do. Things he regretted.

      “You need to be aware, the Lowery family is going to be resistant. You’ll need to be careful and savvy in gaining the trust of the one chink in their armor. I’ve even given you a head start.”

      He paused mid-drink, then set his glass back down carefully. “What do you mean by head start?”

      Her thumbs rubbed along the arms of the wooden rocker. “The vulnerable shares belong to the Lowery grandson. His widowed mother is the executor, and she needs to invest wisely for the boy’s future—long-term.”

      A kid? A widow? A creeping sensation started up his spine,