Back At The Barnyard Duke Novels & Stories

"Seriously, did you hear about Lorraine Matthews? She was ditched and left penniless by the Matthews. They're ruthless, I tell you. They just move up to another state and live off with their other families and left her behind." A woman in a pink tennis skirt was gossiping over her ice tea while flirting with her tennis instructor. "I've just bought off her horse actually. Lucy the keeper ground at the stable told me that I got a very good deal since she couldn't afford to keep her horse anymore." Another woman joined in on the conversation and smiled triumphantly at her little group.

That made me groan internally. No matter, Duke Ruther will be living, so it is solved at this point. “Thank you, Duke Ruther. For keeping your promise to my grandmother, and for looking out for me.” Giving him a smile, Duke Ruther bowed his head and I did the same. After that, he left without another word, and I let him. I showed him out and no word was spoken from then. With a last look and wave of goodbye, Duke Ruther’s carriage drove off into the horizon and that signaled me to return to my office to start my work as the Duchess of Fortress dukedom. But even then, my mind lingers to the unusual things that happened just this morning.

She had already given half of her assets to me during the settlement agreement, and now, after getting sucked dry by Devin, the company was plunged into a financial crisis. She was kept busy on her toes, overwhelmed with work, and as such, Tammy wasn't exactly having an easy time either. What should have been a harmonious family was now falling apart and thrown into chaos. … The new semester started, and Daryl's school was organizing a student performance. I encouraged Daryl to try out for the singing performance. He had been improving massively at school lately, and his language skills were also getting better as he lost his thick countryside accent. He did still need a bit of a confidence

The moment I looked up, I saw Chelsea lounging lazily on the couch in my nightgown, watching TV like she owned the place. Her daughter, Sadie Miller, was running barefoot all over my white carpet. Mom had stayed up night after night making that carpet for me, her eyes bloodshot from exhaustion. Now, it was covered in dirty black footprints from Sadie's feet. What made my blood boil was seeing my carefully collected figurines scattered all over the floor. Several of them had their arms and legs snapped off. Furious, I snatched one of the figurines back from Sadie's hands and questioned, "What are you people doing in my house?"