How To Rope A Rich Cowboy (Silver Springs Ranch #2) - Anya Summers Page 0,72
the pain. “No. It can’t be. I just closed my eyes for a minute.”
Amber rolled her eyes. “Colt, my dear sweet big brother, you were already shit-faced when I returned last night at seven, and kept drinking steadily through the night.”
“You passed out, is what you did,” Duncan commented. “Mind enlightening us as to why? We’ve never known you to blow off work the way you did yesterday and today.”
“It’s that woman who came to the stables the other day, isn’t it? Avery, I think her name was,” Maverick said.
“That was her, wasn’t it, at registration? The one you’ve been seeing secretly. What did you do to mess it up?” Amber asked him.
“I didn’t do anything. She found out I owned the place, and then it was talk of love. It’s over, so what does it matter?” In between that, he’d experienced one last taste of heaven before being shot into hell.
“You think she wanted your money like Carly did?” Duncan asked with a frown.
Colt nodded and then regretted the action immediately. “Yep.”
His sister sighed. “Mom told me in confidence that she dropped him on his head a few times when he was a baby. That’s why he’s so dense.”
Colt glanced about the living room at the crowd, feeling like he had alcohol oozing out of his pores. “What are you talking about?”
“Carly was a fucking moron, Colt. And you’re an idiot if she’s the yard stick by which you’ve been measuring women. Not all women want your money,” Lincoln said, like Colt was a few beers shy of a six pack.
“And if I have? Carly said she loved me, just like Avery did yesterday. I’ll go apologize to Avery once I sober up a bit. But that doesn’t mean she isn’t interested because of my money.” Although his logic on that—in the light of a new day, with the drumbeat pounding at his skull—was thin when he thought about the days before Avery knew he owned the ranch.
Amber glanced at his friends like she wanted their input first. Then she looked at Colt with pity clouding her eyes. “The thing is, when you were still passed out this morning, I took it upon myself to drive up to cabin B42. I was being nosy because you seemed upset, and wondered if there was something I could do to help you out.”
“I’m sure Avery loved that, having you butt in that way.” Colt snorted, adding that to the list of things he had to apologize for.
“Well, that’s the thing, Colt. Perhaps she would have, if she had been there. But she’s not,” Amber stated.
His heart stopped in his chest. “What do you mean? Is she all right? Was she out hiking?”
The four of them looked at each other, and it was Duncan who finally replied. “She’s gone, man.”
“Gone? As in dead?” The room spun.
“No. As in she left the ranch, brother. The cabin was empty, apart from this.” Amber handed over two envelopes.
She’d left him. Left the ranch. It was what he had wanted, right? Never to see her again, never touch her, or save her from danger. He looked at the envelopes she had left behind as if they were rattlers waiting to strike him down.
Amber arched a brow.
Colt’s heart thumped madly in his chest as he reached out and took them from his sister. On the white envelope, in Avery’s penmanship, it said:
Payment for cabin rental and groceries.
He raised the flap and glanced inside. There was a full stack of hundred dollar bills. He swallowed, his throat dry.
“It’s all there and then some for the cost of the rental, Colt,” Amber murmured.
There was a buzzing in his ears as he looked at the second envelope. It was one of those fancy, thick-papered envelopes. It had just his name scrawled across the front. He opened it and drew out an elegant invitation. He scanned it.
The Morgan Science Foundation cordially invites you to attend our Annual Charity Auction in support of STEM training for Middle School Children in underprivileged school districts…
The invitation continued with the date, time, and place, but Colt was too stunned to continue reading. He looked up at his friends and sister. “I don’t understand.”
He feared he had made the biggest mistake of his life.
Amber sat beside him on the couch. “I think what it means, Colt, is that she wasn’t with you for your money. Looks to me like she has money herself.”