Page 21 of Texas Made
“Very funny.” But he was certainly worth mooning over. “I’m ready.”
They rode out toward the pastures with the two studs. “Tell me about the horses,” Jaclyn asked Damaris.
Damaris launched into a description, clearly pleased to be talking about her favorite subject—horses. “The original stud, Cappuchino, is a black and white paint. The other horses in with him are a mixture of mares and geldings.” She pointed out a few, naming them and telling a bit about them. “That’s Chase’s foundation mare for his line of bucking horses, Sugar Lips,” she said, pointing to the mostly white mare. “She’s a sweetheart except when she’s working. She’s the one who threw Chase and pretty much put an end to his career.”
“You’re kidding. He bought the horse that ended his career?”
“He says she’s great and will be a wonderful foundation for his herd. Now that he’s going to marry Ella, I think he’s content not to compete himself, but leave that to his horses.”
They moved on to the next pasture. Pointing out a stallion, Damaris said, “That’s Thunder. He’s our new stud. Isn’t he gorgeous? He’s called a grullo paint.”
The horse was a dark silvery-gray color, interspersed with large patches of white. He was both striking and beautiful. Not that Cappuchino, with his black and white coat wasn’t beautiful as well. “I can see why you fell for him. And why Marshall fell for Cappuchino.”
“We’re proud of them,” Damaris said simply.
Raising horses was a complex business that required a lot of knowledge about a great number of things. They had to wear many hats to run a successful operation. Although the Walkers had a ranch manager, Chase’s fiancée, Ella, taking care of the animals and the ranch was very much a group effort.
“Just out of curiosity,” Jaclyn asked Damaris, “do y’all ever see Cole and Jedidiah?” Jaclyn had only met Cole once, and she hadn’t seen Jedidiah since college.
“They were both at Gabe’s wedding and supposedly will be at Chase’s, but I’m not holding my breath.” She added, “Neither one comes home much, though. Cole is always working—you know he has an oil well maintenance company—and Jedidiah’s always doing whatever it is she does.”
“Whatdoesshe do? I’ve always wondered.”
“She works on computers. Some kind of troubleshooting I think, but she’s always vague about it. She goes all over the U.S. mostly but does some international as well.” She laughed and added, “If I didn’t know better I’d think she was a spy or secret agent or something. Honestly, I can’t figure out why she’s so mysterious.”
“Maybe it’s so esoteric she doesn’t know how to explain it.”
Damaris shrugged. “I guess.”
“Thanks for bringing me out here and telling me more about the ranch workings. Marshall introduced me to Cappuchino but he didn’t go into detail about anything.”
“My pleasure. It’s always fun when I get to show off our babies.”
*
Working long distanceturned out to be easier than Jaclyn had expected. At least for now, since nothing crucial that needed her presence was going on. Once a week she held a Zoom meeting with her COO and her CFO, as well as all the managers of the various departments. Research and development, shipping, manufacturing, advertising and market research, internet sales, website, and everything to do with the online portion of the business, which was huge.
She also video chatted or talked on the phone with Rachel as needed since her COO was in charge of daily operations and Jaclyn was a very hands-on boss. She purposely did not have a brick-and-mortar storefront. Her products were available through her website and wholesale through various stores that sold her line of cosmetics. She had started out selling lipstick, then quickly added eyeshadow. As her sales had grown, she’d added more and more products until now, several years after startup, she manufactured a solid array of beauty products.
But she was anxious for more. It wasn’t in her nature not to strive to be better. Or to not have a goal she hadn’t accomplished yet. So she’d been thinking, especially since she’d come to Whiskey River, that she wanted to expand. Oh, she’d considered it before, but hadn’t had a chance to begin thinking it through. In Whiskey River she had more time to think. She wasn’t deluged with problems, as she was when she was in Dallas. By necessity she’d had to stop micromanaging.
Which was a good thing, she told herself, though she wasn’t positive she believed it. Still, she had a good group of managers—all very capable of handling quite a bit on their own. And of course, Rachel, who was amazing. She was going to have to do something soon about her COO. Giving her a raise and allowing her more stock in the company would be a good start. Rachel owned a little stock but not a lot. It might be a good idea if she allowed Rachel to have stock options tied to her performance. Perhaps if she had a bigger stake in the company itself she’d be content to stay with Divinity.
Sure, Rachel was her best friend, but business was business. Jaclyn couldn’t expect her to stay at the same level indefinitely without some kind of advancement. Especially since she knew Rachel had had other offers since Rachel had told her about them.
It was all something to think about.
Chapter Nine
Marshall and Jaclynwere lying in her bed, recovering after making love. Jaclyn lay on his chest, running her fingers over him. Stroking him. Not really in a sexual way. It was more soothing than sexual. Although if she went much lower all bets were off.
“You have beautiful muscles,” she said. “You don’t even need to go to the gym, do you?”
Marshall chuckled. “I’ve never set foot in a gym around here. And not many anywhere else. Most of the jobs I’ve had have required a lot of physical labor.” Plenty to keep him in shape without having to resort to gyms. He had nothing against gyms, he just didn’t like to go to them. He’d much rather muck out a stall than lift weights in a gym. He undoubtedly got more exercise working on the ranch than he ever could in a gym.
“Most of your jobs? Oh, you mean the jobs you took when you were traveling around?” she asked, obviously curious.
He debated about what to tell her beyond the bare facts he’d already spoken of. He was so used to keeping the details of the year he was gone to himself, he hadn’t thought about sharing it with anyone. But for some reason he didn’t mind if Jaclyn knew. Some of it, anyway.
