The Bad Boy of Redemption Ranch - Maisey Yates Page 0,99

you can always make a home.”

She started to tell her story. Of how her parents died and of how she and her siblings had made a family. About the responsibility she felt to Gold Valley.

What surprised her was that they paid attention.

Tragedy respected tragedy, and she could see that. That once they realized she wasn’t just another person lecturing them from her easy, perfect life, they thought she might have something worth listening to.

And then West stepped forward. “I was in prison for four years,” he said. He didn’t elaborate. “I’m here now. I’m Emmett’s guardian. I’m starting my own ranch. I like to think that I’m going to be part of the community.” He said that last part with a bit of a smirk. “But the point is that it’s never too late. Especially for you. Because you’re young. And starting over is a lot easier now. Don’t wait until you’re my age. It’s a hell of a lot harder.”

* * *

THE REST OF the morning was spent on ranch chores and general conversation. West watched as Pansy maneuvered her way around the crowd of boys and talked to each and every one of them.

She was something, this woman. So strong after everything she’d been through.

He had thought that his attraction to her had to do with the fact that he wanted a little bit of carnal revenge on the system, but that just wasn’t true.

He was drawn to her inner strength.

That certainty in who she was.

Because he had spent...he had spent a life holding back parts of himself. He wasn’t enough for his mother, so there was no point giving her everything he had.

He had brought that into his marriage. He had twisted himself, altered himself to fit the life that he thought he should want. Prison had stripped him of all of that. There had been no pretense, and there had been no status that could make him matter in that environment.

All he had was himself. Brought right back to basics he had spent a whole life denying.

And that had led him here. To her.

Her and Emmett.

He turned to his half brother, who was busy tacking his horse for the midmorning ride they were going to take.

“Pretty decent school, right?” he asked.

Emmett shrugged. “Pretty decent.”

“I’m glad that you’re here,” he said.

He looked at him suspiciously. “Really?”

“Yeah. I’m going to go talk to our mom on Saturday. Get some guardianship paperwork signed off on just so it’s all kind of official and whatever. We’ll have to do some court proceedings later I suppose. I had my lawyer draw some stuff up.”

“You actually want me to stay?”

“Yes,” West said again.

And he looked at his brother, that boy he’d been. He had given him lectures. About how he should do better. Because he had been trying to be an older brother.

But the poor kid needed a parent. He never had one. Not really.

And West didn’t know why it had taken until this moment to realize it.

Not only did he need a parent, he needed someone who wasn’t going to hold back parts of himself.

West couldn’t afford to protect himself. Not now. Not when Emmett needed guidance. Not when Emmett needed somebody who was all in.

He reached out and pulled his younger brother in for a hug, clapping him on the back. “I want you to stay with me. And that’s going to mean going to school, going to bed on time, getting up when I tell you, watching football with me and doing ranch chores.”

“That...sounds like it sucks,” Emmett said, but he could see pleasure behind his eyes.

“Yeah, well tough. Because you’re a kid. I’m going to treat you like one. That means I’m going to tell you what to do. I’m going to pay your bills. I’m going to make sure you’re not hungry. So, if you think you can handle all those trade-offs...”

“Yeah,” Emmett said, his voice hoarse.

“Good,” he said. Emmett finished tacking up the horse and mounted him.

West cleared his throat as Emmett headed off in the same direction as the other boys. This whole having family thing weighed on a man in strange ways.

And he didn’t hate them.

Not at all.

West looked back and saw Pansy, who was getting in her car. Heading down to work, he knew. But also maybe avoiding him a little bit.

Things had been intense between them. They’d spent the last two nights together, and he’d stayed all night. He could tell that she was uncomfortable with that aspect of it. With him