Free The Maverick Meets His Match by Anne Carrole

place for a woman. A very young woman at that. This is a tough industry, with lots of facets. I’ve seen her work the chutes, and I’ve watched her at meetings with her grandfather, and she’s in over her head.”
    Something flared inside Ty, bringing with it a need to defend her. “She’s a good businesswoman, Stan,” he said, resting his clenched fists on his hips. “Has some viable plans for the company’s future.” JM had told him that expanding into the AFBR had been her idea. But having a good idea wasn’t the same as making it happen.
    Stan leaned back and looked at Ty with cold, ash-gray eyes. “If that were the case, why are you running the company and not her? JM was a smart man, one whose judgment I respected. Word is you’re now a partner with controlling interest. He wouldn’t have done that, given it to someone outside the family, unless he wanted to sell it.”
    “I am a partner,” Ty allowed. He wasn’t about to admit to more.
    Stan’s eyes narrowed. “You’re not a stockman, Ty. And odds are you don’t want to be, or you’d have bought Prescott outright from JM. All I’m saying is that I’m interested. But now, while you’ve still got contracts and before Prescott loses its good name. JM was the brains and the shine of Prescott. Without him you’ve got nothing.”
    “I’ll keep that in mind.”
    Stan looked frustrated as he let out a sigh. “I’ll tell you something, Ty. Something I don’t have to share, but I will. Already rodeos are calling me and asking if I can take them on if they pulled out of Prescott.” He arched his eyebrows, waiting for Ty’s reaction.
    Having learned the lessons of hiding his feelings early in life, Ty held his face expressionless. “Thanks for the heads-up.”
    Stan ran a hand through his hair. “Think on it. But not too long. Once the rodeo committees get jittery about a supplier, that supplier isn’t going to be worth much. I’d like to do right by JM’s family, but if the company loses value, I won’t be charitable about the price. So maybe you and I should catch up later and have a drink while you’re here.”
    “Maybe.” Something about Stan Lassiter rubbed Ty the wrong way. He couldn’t put his finger on why, but just like JM, Ty didn’t trust him. In any event, Ty wasn’t about to appear too eager for the sale. In truth, he needed to see the numbers before he took any steps. Until then, there was no sense in fanning rumors of selling and getting rodeo organizers more nervous than Stan suggested they already were.
    Clearly waiting for a reaction that Ty had no intention of giving, Stan stared a bit longer.
    “I’ll see you around,” he finally said and thrust out a hand. Ty shook it with a firm grip.
    After a slight hesitation, Stan turned and ambled away with an arthritic gait that no doubt came from being in the saddle too long and stepped on one too many times.
    Ty looked back at a group of rodeo cowboys huddled at the far arena gates, and took a deep breath. He wouldn’t be surprised if Lassiter was initiating those calls to the rodeo committees. JM had warned him about that. It was one of the reasons he’d asked Ty to step in. Ty may not have supplier experience, but he had a reputation of being a tough businessman. Yet determining what was right for Prescott, for the Prescott family, for Mandy, would not be easy. But he’d promised JM he’d do his best to ensure the family members would have the means they needed for the future, whether from company income or proceeds from a sale, and he would keep that promise. And he’d start by finding the head of the Greenville Rodeo.

Chapter 5
    Mandy watched Ty kick up gravel as he cleared the pens behind the arena and walked straight toward the stable area where she had been currying her horse, Willow. When his text message said he would travel separately, she’d hoped that meant he’d arrive later, much later. Seemed like he’d actually arrived early. She wondered