“No disrespect, pa, but what does the house have to do with the promise you made Ma?” Beau asked.
“It’s not about the ranch, son. It’s about the Carson legacy.”
“Okay,” Beau drawled. “What about it?”
“There is none besides you boys. At least not yet. I promised your momma that I wouldn’t join her until one of you found a wife and brought a baby into this world to carry on our legacy.”
Austin’s heart skipped.
What. The. Actual. Fuck? A w-wife and…baby? He’s lost his damn mind! No. Hell no!
As unadulterated shock thundered through him, Austin lifted his glass, and drained the contents in one big gulp. Biting back a hiss he welcomed the burn sliding to his still-knotting stomach.
“You did what?” Houston barked.
“I promised—”
“It was a rhetorical question, Pa,” Houston bit out.
“Why?” Austin asked after sucking air into his lungs. “Why on earth did you make her such a crazy promise?”
“Weren’t you listening? To carry on the Carson lega—”
“Oh, we heard you loud and clear,” Dallas interrupted in a voice dripping with panic. “We’re asking why you promised her something like that.”
“Lucky for us you’re not planning to join Ma anytime soon,” Beau chuckled.
“That’s not the point, Beaumont,” Duke snapped with a scowl. “I made my girl a promise, and I intend to keep it.”
“I understand, but I ain’t gonna settle down. I’m too young.” he countered.
“And I’m too busy for marriage or kids,” Austin informed.
“I don’t even want to get married yet,” Dallas added.
“Ditto,” Houston seconded. “Just who are we supposed to marry, huh? All the pretty single girls in Haven have had their gardens plowed by the Grayson brothers.”
“I can send you a few of my buckle bunnies.” Beau chuckled.
“Like I’d want your sloppy seconds? No thanks, asshole,” Houston groused.
“Well, one of you is gonna have to bite the bullet,” Beau asserted. “I’ve got bulls to ride and money to win while I’m still in my prime.”
“Is that right?” Duke drawled, arching a brow. “How many bulls you figure you’ll have to ride to earn five million dollars?”
“I don’t know. Why? What’s five million got to do with anything?”
“I’m gonna give five million dollars to the first one of you boys who finds a girl, ties the knot, and gives me a grandchild.”
A whole new level of shock slammed Austin’s system before melding with the gasps of surprise from his brothers. One by one, they slowly turned their heads and gaped at Austin. Growing up they’d always come to him for advice and direction, but at the moment, he didn’t have a single word of wisdom to offer. Sparks of anger quickly ignited to a blistering inferno. Austin pressed his lips in a tight, thin line, narrowed his eyes, and pinned his dad with a seething glare.
“Have you lost your damn mind? You can’t bribe us into getting married.”
“No, I’m completely sane, and yes, I can…I just did. Not only marriage but babies, too,” his dad replied, trying to keep from smiling. “It’s either bribe you or order each of you a Russian bride. You pick.”
“Russian bride?” Beau scoffed. “You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, but I am. I’m as serious as a heart attack,” Duke replied. “I’ll do whatever it takes to keep my promise to your momma.”
“Sorry, Pa, but that’s one promise you’ll have to break,” Houston announced.
“Bullshit! A Carson never breaks a promise, boy. You know that.”
“I do.” Houston nodded. “But what you’re proposing is…crazy and wrong.”
“How so?”
“You’re going to pay one of us five million dollars if we promise to love, honor, and cherish some stranger, then knock her up just so you can keep your promise? If that ain’t crazy, I don’t know what is.”
“I’m not asking you to marry a stranger, son. I’m offering you boys an incentive to find a girl and court her. If you two happen to fall in love, then marry her, and start making babies.”
“Why now? What’s the rush for us to get hitched and become daddies now?” Houston countered. “You just said you’re fit as a fiddle.”
“I am. I ain’t dying any more than you boys are. I’m simply tired of waiting for y’all to start planning your futures. To start thinking more about women than running this ranch.”
“We do think about women. We might not spend as much time between the sheets with them as Beau does,” Austin scoffed, “but the rest of us have a few lady friends we visit from time to time who manage to take our minds off the ranch.”
“Then why haven’t you married any of them? If they’re good enough to get naked with, they should be good enough—”
“Getting naked with them and marrying them are two different things. Besides, they don’t want to get married any more than we do, Pa,” Houston announced. “They’re quite happy with our no-strings arrangements.”
“Maybe if you offered them more than your dick, they’d change their minds.”
“That’s it!” Dallas shouted. “I’m gonna go find me a baby momma and make her an offer she can’t refuse…cold, hard cash.”
“Don’t be an idiot. You can’t buy love,” Austin chided.
“Sure I can. Pa’s trying to buy a grandbaby. What woman wouldn’t want to marry a millionaire?” Dallas chuckled.
“Just make sure she signs a prenup before you go sticking a ring on her finger and your dick between her legs,” Houston grumbled disgustedly.
“I won’t need one. I plan to pay her up-front.”
Growing angrier with his dad’s asinine proposal and Dallas’s idiotic, impulsive plan to buy a bride, Austin clenched his jaw. Neither of them understood that the ends didn’t justify the means.
“Stop talking out your ass,” Austin growled, gnashing his teeth. “If Ma were alive we wouldn’t even be having this stupid conversation.”
“It’s not a stupid conversation,” his dad softly replied. “I’d walk through the gates of hell to keep the promise I made your momma.”
“I still don’t get why you made such a ridiculous promise in the first place,” Beau scoffed.