Rough Ride CV4 by Carol Lynne

Ezra and smiled. “And? Are you going to tell me where this land is?” Ezra asked, getting frustrated.
    “Overlook Mountain.”
    Ezra thought of the mountain rising at the edge of Cattle Valley.. He looked back down at the blue prints. “A ski lodge? That’s brilliant.”
    “I happen to think so,” Quade said and buffed his nails on his shirt.
    “So, once again, what does this have to do with me?” Quade flipped through a few of the rolled drawings and put a different one on top of the stack. “See this area right here? We were trying to figure out what to do with it. We could invite another restaurant in, but the lodge already has the main dining facility so it’s kind of pointless. A dance club, however, would be perfect.” Ezra tried to picture a club in the rustic looking lodge. Yeah, he could definitely see the success in it. Without a word, he reached over and pulled Quade into a bear hug. “I knew there was a reason we made you mayor.”
    He released Quade and looked at the plans again. “When do you plan to start construction?”
    Quade cleared his throat. “Officially, we have to have a town meeting about it, but unofficially, I’ve already made several calls. It looks like we can start as soon as it’s voted on.”
    “Now, is the city building paying for it, or an individual?”
    “The town trust is having it built. We’ve already been in contact with someone who’s interested in a long-term lease for the building and the land.”
    “Will Wyn and I be leasing the club space from the trust or this individual?” ROUGH RIDE
    Carol Lynne
    75

    “You’ll have to lease it from Guy, but I’ve already talked to him and he’s all for it,” Quade answered.
    “Guy?”
    Quade covered his face with his hand. “Sorry, that slipped out. Between us, Guy Hoisington is the man who approached us several years ago with the idea.”
    “The Olympic downhill gold medallist? Why would he want to live in Cattle Valley?” Quade gave Ezra a slight grin. Shit. “Guy’s gay?” Ezra asked, shocked.
    Putting his finger to his lips, Quade grinned. “Shhh, you didn’t hear that from me.
    Guy’s looking for a place to be himself and retire from competition.” Ezra chuckled. Guy was only in his early thirties, must be tough to be able to retire so young. “It all looks really good, Quade. I’ll have to talk it over with Wyn and get back to you.
    When do you plan to hold the town meeting?”
    “Word is going out in the bulletin this week. The meeting is set for the week after.” Ezra nodded and glanced back down at the plans. It would probably be a huge money making opportunity. He wondered how Richard would enjoy living on the side of a mountain. Coming from Tulsa, he imagined it would be quite an adjustment.
    “I’ll get back to you in the next couple of days, but my instincts tell me to grab on and hold tight.”
    Quade started rolling up the plans. “I think your instincts are dead on.” ROUGH RIDE
    Carol Lynne
    76

Chapter Twelve

    As Ezra took his normal seat at the ranch hands dinner table, he had the distinct impression everyone was worried. “Relax,” he said, biting of a chunk off his dinner roll.
    Jax cleared his throat and looked around the table. “Um, is Smokey gone for good?
    Because we’ve got a lot of work on our plates and we’ll need another hand.” Ezra swallowed and took a drink of his tea. He didn’t like discussing his personal life, but he’d known these three men for years, well, except Neil who was his newest hand.
    “Yeah, I think Smokey’s gone for good.”
    He set his fork down and leaned his arms on the table. “Smokey said and did some things to Wyn that I couldn’t tolerate. You all need to understand that Wyn’s a part of my life now, and he’s to be treated with respect.”
    The hands looked back and forth between each other. “What?” Ezra asked.
    One of his youngest hands, Neil bit his bottom lip. “We know what Smokey did and we know why. We should’ve