Chapter 3
The newly built, single story ranch
style house sat close to the dead center
of the fifteen hundred acres Austin had
purchased a couple of months ago under
the disguise of one of his obscure
companies. Austin knew he couldn't stay
hidden here forever, but this first twenty
four hours of solitude rocked and he just
wasn't of a mindset to let it go easily.
He'd arrived yesterday about noon
and as he'd driven up the property, he'd
been pretty much blown away by the
modernized architecture of his new
home. He'd sat through plenty of
conference calls and planning sessions
over the last few months, but to see the
structure come to life was more than
he'd ever expected. The original plan
had been to throw the media off his
tracks by flying North to the Cape Cod
area after the Academy Awards. He'd
stay a few weeks before secretly making
his way back here. As it turned out, he
couldn't wait to be back home, and came
straight to Texas.
Nothing was ready for his arrival. The
compact, yet spectacular house he had
built was in the final stages of finishing.
The touch up work was just now being
done. The house was a beautiful
combination of pine, stone and brick.
The workers were diligently hammering
away at the oversized tin roof covering
the large wraparound porches on both
the front and the back of the house.
Austin had his driver pick up a blow
up mattress for him to sleep on until his
furniture would begin to arrive over the
next few days. He planned to have
everything arrive on a slow scale so not
to draw too much attention to who might
be taking up residence in this small
farming community. He had opted for a
three bedroom, one-story ranch style
house. The rooms were large and
designed to be used, nothing like the
show places he'd lived over the last ten
years. The one thing he loved most about
his new home was the large floor to
ceiling windows. They ran the entire
length of the living room along the back
of the house. He could see everything for
miles and miles and would never feel
caged again.
The icing to his cake was the
completely covered, full length back
porch complete with a fireplace and a
stone walkway leading down to a barely
started deck and brand new swimming
pool. Austin loved to swim, but rarely
got the time or chance. All that would be
changing now.
To the left of the back door, a few
hundred feet away from the house, sat a
brand new horse stable about four times
the size of his house. Apparently in
today's farming world, horses and cattle
no longer mixed, and the cattle barn sat
straight out in the distance, much further
away. Both were in the same design as
his home. The place was the most
beautiful he'd ever seen. In his heart, he
knew that wasn't true, but he was so
happy to be here, alone in all this quiet.
Yesterday, during his first meeting
with his new ranch foreman, Austin had
been told several hundred head of mixed
breed cattle were currently en route to
the farm. He'd also purchased five
purebred Appaloosas scheduled to
arrive later next week. His new ranch
foreman, Mike Cisneros, had a plan for
the farm, and after he got past the initial
shock of finding out the new ranch
owner wasn't actually a rancher from the
North, he sat Austin down and explained
it all to him.
Mike was young. Newly graduated
from Texas A&M and ready to put his
new agriculture degree to good use. He
seemed a kid to Austin, but came highly
recommended by the previous land
owner, and Mike came more than ready
to bring his expertise to the farm. The
new foreman took his job seriously and
wanted this place to thrive, and to
Mike's credit, he'd only been
momentarily startled to see Austin.
From the beginning, Austin gave
Mike carte blanche on everything. All
Austin required was a productive
working farm that he could jump in and
work when he felt like getting his hands
dirty. Well, he cared about that and the
iron clad confidentiality agreement he'd
made everyone in his employment sign.
He'd also had the same confidentiality
agreement in the contract when he bought
this land. If he ran into the neighbors, no
one was allowed to talk about who lived
here.
Austin also had security cameras
installed around the entire place with his
security guards posing as ranch hands.
Housed in a newly built building on the
Southeast end of the ranch's property
line, they monitored every angle of the
farm. The outside of the building looked
very much like every other building on
the property, but the inside housed a hitech
security control panel that rivaled
that of NASA's in its ability to monitor
every inch of his land. No one knew they
were here, including Mike up until
yesterday.
To help with the oddity of being so
fully staffed without much more than a
couple of horses on the property, the
ranch hands spent their time fencing the
place, separating the different pastures
and installed more surveillance devices.
Mike unwittingly helped the security
team by designing a pasture system
perfect for rotating cattle, horses,
growing hay and providing extra
surveillance from every angle.
Austin's persona for the area, what all
his staff were required to say if asked,
was that he was a wealthy older
Northerner who never planned to live on
the ranch, but might visit once or twice a
year when he felt like playing cowboy.
His family bought the land as an
investment. Mike ran the show, and
that's all the town needed to know.
Austin hadn't been back in this part of
the world since he'd left right out of high
school. It was the biggest reason he'd
chosen to come back in the first place.
No one would suspect it. He'd never
spoken highly of the years he grew up on
a farm.
The back breaking hard work and hot
summer sun were what pushed him away
to begin with. Yet he knew these roads
like the back of his hand. The wide open
range would allow his security team to
easily catch anyone coming in while
letting Austin roam freely within its
borders. They all went out of their way
to make Austin fully secure here. He had
check points installed and monitored
along the only two routes leading up to
his farm. To get this far back, a person
would either have to come through town
or come in the back through miles and
miles of nothing but rugged terrain. That
would require a trained tracker and none
of the soft paparazzi he knew could
tough it out in the Texas wilderness.
Yesterday, while Austin drove
through the small town, it had struck him
funny how things hadn't changed since
he left well over fourteen years ago. His
parents moved to far Northern California
soon after he'd made some real money
getting them out of the hot desert of
Texas that they still called home.
Growing up, Austin had always felt a
little stifled here. When he was young he
resented the hell out of everyone
knowing his business, always telling his
dad when he'd done wrong. But now that
he'd been on the true side of hateful,
mean spirited gossip, he knew these
people down here were the salt of the
Earth and never meant him any harm.
They were just trying to keep him from
making too many mistakes, even if their
interference sometimes caused his father
to take it out on his hide.
There was a time Austin knew what it
meant to shine in this town. He'd been
the local sports hero, for as much as that
said at the time. Their little Division
Two school district was for kids as far
as sixty miles away. There had been less
than forty kids in Austin's graduating
class. To play football, basketball as
well as baseball was nothing for the
boys out here, and to do it well didn't
really mean much except to the older
population who took pride in their
school sports. It was the only real
entertainment around. They considered
Austin a star even back in his high
school days, betting he'd make it to the
Pro's someday. It was those accolades
that gave Austin a false sense of
confidence, making him think he could
handle Hollywood. That he could even
belong there. The entire time he grew up,
he'd baled his fair share of hay and
woken up hours before school to help
feed the animals. It had taught him the
work ethic that made him the movie star
he was today.
Now as he stood out on his back
porch, breathing in the clean dry air,
something from the corner of his eye
caught his attention. He took the steps
down two at a time. Yesterday he'd
found out that he'd apparently bought
several four-wheelers and now two of
his crew came driving from behind the
barn toward him. He'd agreed to ride
out today with his foreman to check the
property lines.
The one rule he'd made clear last
night: he didn't want to be treated any
different from anyone else on the ranch.
He wanted to be held responsible and
his goal was to work alongside them. A
frown furrowed across his brow. If he
was going to pull his own weight just
like everyone else, his ride wasn't
supposed to be made ready and brought
to him. He'd do it on his own.
The scowl Austin wore said it all as
he stalked toward to the two riding up.
One of the ranch hands jumped off a
four-wheeler, tossing him the helmet and
took off running back to the barn.
"Mike, I told you, no special
treatment!" Austin yelled over the
engine.
"Then catch me if you can, old man!"
Mike yelled back and tore off on the
four-wheeler. It was then Austin knew
he'd hired the perfect foreman. He slid
on his ride, fastened the helmet and took
off. He was a little rusty in controlling
the vehicle, but quickly got the hang of it,
barreling after his foreman.
The fence line looked good. It wasn't
the standard hand stretched barb wire
surrounding the property line like on
other ranches. Instead they'd used a rod
iron design, snaking surveillance
equipment all along the way. There was
a definite difference in the look, but
Austin hoped anyone who might see it
would think 'successful rancher', not
that Austin Grainger hid inside. Austin
took a long drink from his water bottle.
It was early October, but still hot as hell,
and he wiped his bandana across his
face, ignoring his foreman's mocking
laughter.
"You know, it's only eighty seven
degrees out here. I think someone got
soft out there in Hollywood." Mike
yelled over the hum of the engine of the
idle four-wheeler.
"Yeah, what the fuck ever," Austin
yelled back and just in case Mike
couldn't hear him, flipped him the bird
while resisting the urge to dump the
contents of the water bottle directly on
top of Mike's head as he walked by.
"Where's this pond I bought that jacked
up the price so much higher than any
other land in the area?"
"We're on our way to it. It's on the
West side of the property. Runs the
length of that pasture. You share it with
the Kelly's." Mike turned off his engine
to help be heard as Austin came to stand
in front of him.
"That's right… We bought it from old
man Kelly." A smile tore across
Austin's face as he remembered his
father and Kelly had been sale barn
buddies. His dad didn't always like Mr.
Kelly but he sure had loved haggling
with him.
"Mr. Kelly died a few years back. His
son has the property now. I went to
college with Kitt. He's who you bought
the land from." Mike set the story
straight for Austin.
"Mr. Kelly died? He couldn't have
been that old." Austin stopped in midmotion
of getting back on the fourwheeler.
"Nah, he wasn't more than fifty five,
maybe younger. It was a heart attack. It
wasn't that bad, but we're so far out. No
one found him for a while and that's
what killed him."
"That's too bad. He owned lots of
land if I remember right. They were kind
of the top dogs in the area." Austin
secured his water bottle back in place.
"Yeah, they still are. Kitt's trying to
restore things, bring in the new practices
these old timers around here reject. It's
been a struggle."
"And I've been told that's why I pay
you so much to bring these new practices
in... To help streamline my ranch or
some shit like that." Austin reached
around for his helmet.
"Pretty much. Now, if you're rested
enough let's get back on it. We're killin'
daylight," Mike yelled louder as he
started his engine.
"Lead the way!" Austin yelled,
already loving the guy. Mike could no
more care about his fame than his agent
did.
The terrain leading to the pond was
tricky and required Austin to navigate
closely for fear of flipping. As he drove
and jerked over deep ruts, he couldn't
see how anyone thought this land was
worth double the price of the normal
acreage in the area. He actually got a
little pissed off as he realized he'd been
cheated. As the anger built he tried to
talk himself down. It was only money
and he had too much of that to even deal
with, but damn, he hated to be taken
advantage of. It wasn't until they drove
over the second hill, half a mile or so
from his house, that he saw a crystal
blue spring pond stretched over several
acres sitting in some of the greenest
pastures he'd ever seen.
He'd been told it was a natural pond,
not man-made, and it sat in a small
valley. It was more like a small hill
surrounded three quarters of the pond,
but for this flat land it was considered a
valley. His new fence reached across the
water separating his part of the pond
from the Kelly's. A log cabin sat just on
the other side of the pond.
Austin's men who worked the fence
were in a heated discussion with three
other men on the opposite side of the
fence. One a muscular, shirtless cowboy,
the other two were smaller and stood
behind him. It was the cowboy who
caused Austin's eyebrows to rise in
unexpected speculation.
The guy looked good. Real good.
All of the sudden this land purchase
seemed to have turned out to be a far
better deal than he'd ever expected, and
if that was what lived on the other side
of the fence, life was getting better by
the second.
The cowboy hat was pushed back on
the shirtless guy's head and his hands
gripped the sides of his hips as he
listened to Austin's security team. Austin
watched his facial expressions and body
language and finally clued into the
conversation. It didn't seem to be going
too well.
"Does the fence separate the
property?" Austin asked bringing the
four-wheeler to a stop at Mike's side.
Mike turned off the engine and
unbuckled his helmet before speaking.
"Yep. And I think your men have just
met the immoveable object named Kitt
Kelly."
"Mr. Kelly's son?" Austin followed
Mike's move as he stood.
Normally he'd sit back, stay hidden
behind the helmet, but the show going on
in front of him was just too good, and the
hard body across the fence from him
needed to be fully surveyed. Austin had
been pretty certain he'd given up regular
sex by moving out here, but one thing
he'd learned over the last few years, you
just never knew who was who until you
tested the waters.
"Yep. Most people think Mr. Kelly
was a hard, unmoving man, but they
hadn't met Kitt. He gets something in his
head and that's how it's gonna be." Mike
swung his leg off the four-wheeler.
"Huh. So what's this about?" Austin
followed Mike as they walked the
distance between them and the men still
in battle. All completely ignored their
arrival.
"Don't know, but we should probably
intervene if you wanna maintain a
friendly neighbor relationship. And trust
me, you want that. We need him. Shit,
Kitt's brow just lowered, he's pissed.
They're about to see…" Mike jogged the
last few steps to the men, drawing their
attention toward him.
Austin followed keeping his set pace
as he monitored the situation. His men
looked relieved to see him. He'd been
forced into the role of an Alpha for too
many years and was known for being a
hard-ass himself. Funny how that man
inside him had already begun to fade
away since he moved back here.
"Hey, brother, what's goin' on?"
Mike called out speaking directly to
Kitt.
"These your men?" Kitt's tone held a
hint of threat as he asked the question he
already knew the answer to. The words
were more an accusation than a question,
and in that moment something happened
to Austin. His heart picked up a beat, his
body hardened and his eyes focused
fully on Kitt's face. He remembered Kitt
from high school. Kitt had played on the
Varsity baseball team during Austin's
senior year. His dick stirred to life as
Kitt turned his angry gaze toward Mike.
No one but his security men paid Austin
any attention and he could clearly see
they were waiting for him to take control
of the situation. An arrogant assumption
on their part and after being treated like
an elitist for so many years, Austin liked
being ignored.
"They are. What's goin' on, man?"
Mike repeated calmly as he came to the
fence line separating them.
"This pond feeds all my animals. I
can't have it destroyed with a fence built
from the bottom up. That's just fuckin'
ridiculous! And absolutely no electrical
wirin's gonna run across it. I'm not
takin' the chance of any of my heard
gettin' electrocuted after the first fuckin'
storm exposes a live wire to that damn
water. Mike, you need to get a hold of
these people and teach them right from
wrong. Some dumbass citified pretend
cowboy's not gonna fuck up everything I
own because they're a stupid
motherfucker!" Kitt sneered the last
sentence out aiming his furious gaze
toward the group of men who pissed him
off. It was said as a challenge and Kitt's
shoulders involuntarily rolled as his fist
clenched. He was ready to take them all
on, no questions asked. He was fuming
mad, no mistaking it. Mike held up his
hands, trying for calm, and began to
walk a little more cautiously as he
moved forward to the water's edge.
"Kitt, buddy, I'd like you and Jose to
meet the new owner." Mike turned his
eyes back to Austin who finally made his
presence known stepping out from
behind Mike.
Kitt, the cowboy was sweaty, covered
in dust, and hot as freaking hell. His
chest was bare, showing broad sculpted
shoulders leading down to thin waist and
a tight six-pack. The dusty blue jeans he
wore rode low on his hips revealing a
hint of the waist band of his underwear.
Andrew Christian underwear! Austin
immediately lifted his gaze while trying
to hide his smile.
The brand was greatly favored by gay
men; they proudly wore their Andrew
Christian's. Of course straight men wore
them too, but Austin's gut told him the
man standing fuming in front of him was
gay, thereby automatically making him
the perfect neighbor, and Austin's day
just became fan-fucking-tastic.
Recognition hit the two men standing
beside Kitt, but he didn't see any change
of expression in Kitt's face. Those red
hot angry eyes were focused in on him,
and he seemed to be prepared to do
whatever necessary to stop such a
clearly ludicrous act. At least it was
ludicrous to Kitt.
"I'm Austin Grainger, nice to —"
He was cut off as Kitt began to rage at
him, all control on his temper gone. "I
don't give a fuck who you are! You
aren't gonna put my herd in danger for
any reason. Our contract was very clear.
You aren't to mess with the integrity of
this pond for any reason. Period!" Kitt
bellowed as he stalked toward both
Austin and Mike with just the current
barbed wire fence separating the three of
them. Kitt's hand was moving in
Austin's face, a finger pointing directly
at him. Kitt was very clear in both word
and action as to what would happen to
this piece of land and how he planned to
back it up. Austin held up a hand to his
men who were paid to protect him.
"You know, your dad got me in some
serious trouble when he found me and
Wanda-Sue Atkinson parked somewhere
back here smoking pot and having se…
fun. If I remember correctly, it was
probably right here at this pond. She
brought me out here and I didn't know
where we were until your dad showed
up. You sound just like him. I appreciate
that memory..." Austin said, looking
down for a minute with a small smile
spreading on his face. Unlike like
everyone else around, he wasn't
intimidated by Kitt's outburst at all. His
wet dream in a pair of Wranglers had his
dick rigid, almost dripping with
anticipation. Austin needed to diffuse the
situation.
"He told my dad about it, but honestly,
I still think I was more scared of your
dad than mine. I knew my dad wouldn't
physically kill me, but your dad… Yeah,
I wasn't quite so sure about him." Austin
said it still smiling with his real grin, not
the fake one he always put on his face.
He hadn't thought about that memory in
years and years. He'd been fifteen to
Wanda's eighteen and she'd taught him
well… Well enough for him to know he
didn't like girls at all.
"You know what? I'm real fuckin'
glad for your trip down memory lane,
but your men have me good and pissed
off. This barb wire fence is the only
thing I'm allowin' over this water and
I'm only allowin' it because I live right
there. I can monitor it and fix it before
anything bad happens to any of our
animals." Kitt stepped up closer to Mike
and Austin hooking his thumb toward the
log cabin while he spoke. The barb wire
had to be cutting into his jeans, but Kitt
didn't even seem to notice it. Once he
was done speaking, Kitt turned back to
glare at Austin's security men. Austin
got the distinct impression Kitt was
ready to throw down with them all right
now. End all discussion and duke it out.
The idea of this sexy ass man going to
blows to protect his animals turned
Austin on like nothing ever had before.
"There's no problem with that. We
can work within those guidelines,"
Austin said easily. He lifted his hand as
Sam, his head security guard, started to
speak. "I think we need to get together
though. Go over things. See what we can
work out. I have a high-end security
system designed to keep—"
"To keep my cows from crossin' this
pond? It's about fifteen feet deep and an
acre wide. The barb wire's enough."
Kitt said as if Austin was stupid, but his
focus was back on Austin. Exactly
where Austin wanted it to be.
"As I was saying, it's designed to
keep trespassers off my land, and as a
result, off yours too." Austin never took
his eyes off Kitt as he spoke.
"I've never had a problem with that
this far back," Kitt shot back. The look
on his face was clear: he thought Austin
was a first rate nut job.
"You haven't lived next door to me
before now, have you? They're just here
trying to keep us both private. For now,
no one knows I'm here. If that changes,
they need to be ready. Why don't you
come over, tonight, tomorrow or
whenever, and we can talk through it all.
See what we can do to keep anyone off
your land. What do you say?"
"There has never been a problem with
anyone gettin' back here. We butt up
against Hunt's twenty thousand acres and
the National Forest after that. I can't see
where it's a problem or why it needs any
further discussion. If you weren't set
with the terms, you shouldn't have
signed the damn contract." Kitt refused
to back down, his anger clearly fueled
him.
"Really, Kitt, Austin's on the up and
up. Come listen to what he has to say.
He's extending the olive branch, man,
and just told you the barb wire was
enough," Mike reiterated Austin's
words.
Kitt turned his heated gaze to Mike
then cocked his head to the security men
who looked disgruntled as hell. Lastly,
he looked back at his own men who
stood a little further back behind him.
One of them nodded at him and Kitt
looked as if he visibly forced himself to
calm down. Then he did something no
one had ever done to Austin before: he
turned around, not saying another word,
and walked away. Kitt just dismissed
's eyes riveted to the
Wranglers. He watched Kitt's ass swing
with each step he took as he let the
moment settle inside him. He
appreciated being treated normal, he
liked to not always be the center of
attention, but dismissed? He wasn't so
sure about that one. Kitt's men followed
him. They all made their way to the log
cabin sitting a few hundred feet away.
"He's a good guy, I promise. It's been
a while since I've seen him like this.
Really not since college, but he came
over and helped me set up your barn.
He's also the AI specialist I told you
about." Mike was clearly trying to sell
Austin on Kitt's finer points.
Austin's gaze stayed glue to Kitt's ass
until he stepped up on the porch. He let
everything go and focused on his choice
of underwear. The brand was more
pronounced as he walked up each step.
Austin realized his heart was pounding
and his dick jerked, begging him to go
after Kitt. It had been a while since he'd
had sex and he desperately wanted some
of that hot, angry cowboy, to work him
over in all the right ways.
"It's fine, I get it. He's protecting
what's his. Can't blame him for that. I'll
give it a day or two and try to talk to him
again. Mike, if he'll listen to you, please
ask him not to tell anyone that I'm here.
It's in the contract we signed, I just want
to make sure he remembers the clause."
Austin didn't wait for Mike's reply, but
turned back to his four-wheeler and rode
back to the barn. His mind stayed on Kitt
the entire way back.