The Cowboy Who Wouldn't Sell
Damien Black hated losing.
As CEO of Blackstone Industries, he had built a reputation on winning.
Winning contracts.
Winning negotiations.
Winning battles before they even started.
Yet for the last six months, one man had been humiliating him.
Ethan Hayes.
Owner of Hayes Ranch.
Owner of two thousand acres of land that Damien desperately needed for his newest development project.
And the most stubborn man Damien had ever encountered.
The first offer had been rejected.
The second offer had been ignored.
The third offer had been returned with a single note.
Not interested.
No greeting.
No signature.
Nothing.
Damien hated him already.
"Another rejection?"
Damien looked up from his desk.
His assistant nodded.
"Mr. Hayes said he isn't selling."
Damien clenched his jaw.
"Double the offer."
"We already did."
"Triple it."
"He still said no."
Damien stood and walked to the window.
The city stretched beneath him.
Glass towers.
Traffic.
Money.
Power.
Everything he had worked for.
And somewhere hundreds of miles away, a cowboy was making his life difficult.
"Fine."
His assistant looked nervous.
That word usually meant trouble.
"I'm going myself."
---
Three days later...
Texas.
Dust covered Damien's expensive shoes.
The sun was unbearable.
His phone barely had signal.
Everything about the place irritated him.
Especially the man waiting by the fence.
Ethan Hayes.
Tall.
Broad.
Weathered by years of ranch work.
A cowboy hat shaded his face.
His expression was hard.
Unfriendly.
Completely unimpressed.
Unlike the photograph Damien had seen, the real Ethan looked even less approachable.
He wasn't smiling.
Wasn't welcoming.
Didn't even bother offering a handshake.
His blue eyes swept over Damien once.
Dismissively.
Then he went back to repairing the fence.
As if Damien wasn't worth his attention.
Damien immediately disliked him.
"Mr. Hayes."
Nothing.
The cowboy kept working.
Damien's irritation grew.
"Mr. Hayes."
Ethan finally looked up.
"What?"
Not hello.
Not welcome.
Just what.
Damien forced a professional smile.
"I'd like to discuss your property."
"No."
The answer came instantly.
Damien blinked.
"You haven't heard my offer."
"Don't need to."
Ethan returned to his work.
Conversation over.
Or so he thought.
Damien stepped closer.
"I can pay you enough money to retire."
Ethan hammered another nail into the fence.
"I don't want to retire."
"I can build you a larger ranch."
"I don't want another ranch."
"I can—"
"No."
Damien's eye twitched.
Ethan finally looked at him again.
Cold.
Impatient.
Annoyed.
"You city people always think everything has a price."
Damien folded his arms.
"And you country people enjoy wasting time."
The temperature between them instantly dropped.
Neither looked away.
Neither backed down.
Then a truck pulled into the yard.
A woman stepped out.
Claire.
Ethan's fiancee.
She was pretty.
Sharp-eyed.
And almost as unfriendly as Ethan.
She looked Damien up and down.
Clearly unimpressed.
"This him?"
Ethan nodded.
"The CEO."
Claire snorted.
"Looks expensive."
Damien decided he didn't like her either.
Wonderful.
An entire ranch full of hostile people.
Ethan tossed his hammer into a toolbox.
Then finally walked toward Damien.
For the first time, Damien realized how big the man was.
The cowboy stopped directly in front of him.
"You're not leaving, are you?"
"No."
Ethan sighed.
Like Damien was a headache.
Then something strange happened.
A slow smile appeared on his face.
Not friendly.
Dangerous.
The kind of smile a man wore when he had an idea.
"I'll make you a deal."
Damien narrowed his eyes.
"What kind of deal?"
Ethan crossed his arms.
"You stay here."
Damien frowned.
"Here?"
"At the ranch."
"For how long?"
"One month."
Silence.
Damien stared.
Claire stared.
Even the ranch hands nearby stopped working.
"A month?"
Ethan nodded.
"You work like everyone else."
Damien laughed.
Surely this was a joke.
Ethan didn't laugh.
At all.
The realization slowly sank in.
The cowboy was serious.
"If you last the entire month..."
Ethan's voice was calm.
"I'll sit down and discuss the contract."
Damien narrowed his eyes.
"And if I don't?"
A smirk touched Ethan's lips.
The first genuine emotion Damien had seen all day.
"Then you get the hell off my property and never come back."
Silence.
The challenge hung in the air.
Damien looked around.
The dusty ranch.
The grumpy cowboy.
The hostile fiancee
The endless fields.
A month here would be torture.
Absolutely miserable.
Which was exactly why Ethan suggested it.
The cowboy thought he'd quit.
Thought he'd run back to the city.
Thought he'd lose.
Damien slowly smiled.
Big mistake.
"Fine."
Ethan's smirk disappeared.
For the first time all day, the cowboy looked surprised.
"I'll stay."
The war had officially begun.
