April, Dani - Raven's Ranch (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme) Read Free Page A

boss of the Lazy L, one of the biggest private ranches in the state of Montana? That sounded crazy. Yet she also realized it must be true. Her grandfather had no family, and neither did she. They were each other’s family. Now that he was gone, she had no family left.
    “Oh, my God,” she exclaimed. “I don’t even know what to do on a ranch. I haven’t been back there in almost ten years. Anyway I’ve got my life here in the city.”
    “If you don’t mind me saying so, I think you’ll do just fine, Raven.”
    “No I won’t,” she protested. “I got my degree in computers, not animal husbandry. I don’t know the first thing about running a ranch.”
    “You got a degree,” Connor told her. “So that tells me you know how to learn.”
    “I wouldn’t be so sure about that. I don’t think I’m that good in computers. After all, I don’t even have a job.”
    “I’m not a man who likes to brag most of the time, but the Lazy L has the finest hands in ranching you’ll find any place. Mr. Spencer knew how to pick men, and they’ll all be willing to help you out any way they can.”
    Raven looked out at the traffic on the main thoroughfare outside the windows. The city looked cold and damp and dreary. The fresh air and the beauty of Montana did appeal to her. It had been so long since she had seen it, she felt she would barely remember what it was like.
    “That must be what grandfather’s attorney texted me about,” Raven told him. “He said it was so important it couldn’t wait. It must be about the ranch.”
    “I expect so.” Connor drained his coffee in one huge swallow with a satisfied sigh. “Coffee sure tastes good at this time of night, even here in the city.”
    “Look, Connor,” Raven said. “I’m going to think seriously about coming out to Montana to live and letting you and the other guys help me with the ranch. But I’d be lying to you if I said I wasn’t scared.”
    “Of course,” Connor offered. “You don’t have to stay on and run the ranch.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “There’s this big wholesale food corporation up here in the city that has been hounding Mr. Spencer to sell the ranch to them. I think they’re offering a real pretty penny. Way more than what she’s worth, even.”
    “Interesting.” Raven suddenly had visions of becoming rich dancing through her head. She realized at once these were pretty terrible thoughts to harbor only two hours after finding out her grandfather had died, but as far down as her life had fallen in the past few months, any news of a change, no matter what kind, was enough to give her cause for dreaming.
    “The other thing you should know if you decide to do this is that although Mr. Spencer truly did have the best ranch in Montana, he wasn’t much of a businessman. When you get there, you’re likely to find the financial affairs of the Lazy L pretty much up in the air.”
    “I guess they don’t use computers on the ranch?” Raven joked.
    “No, Miss White…I mean Raven,” Connor favored her with his beautiful but innocent smile once more. “Mr. Spencer was a good man, but he wasn’t very modern. Computers and the Internet and that sort of thing just sort of passed him by.”
    Raven sat back in her side of the booth and looked at Connor, really looked at him good for a minute. She realized that he was one of the most gorgeous guys she had ever seen, and so far, although she had just met him, he did not seem arrogant or like an a-hole, and not only did he not want to dominate her, but he deferred to her as the boss.
    “Connor?” she asked him. “How would you like having someone like me as a boss out there in Montana?”
    Connor smiled. “If you are anything like Mr. Spencer I think you’d work out just fine.”
    “That’s not exactly what I meant.” She adjusted her position on the booth and tried again. “I mean a woman. How would that work out?”
    Connor chewed his toast and didn’t answer her for a long while.