Prologue

      Houston, Texas

      “I won’t believe for a second that I’m finished,” Rafe Whitten growled as he catapulted his six-foot-two-inch, wide-shouldered frame out of the brown leather chair in his accountant’s office. “Defeat is not in my vocabulary, Matt. You of all people should know that.”

      Matt Leads instantly hung his head and shook it in frustration “It’s this ‘die-hard’ attitude of yours that’s gotten you into this financial black hole, Rafe. Tele-Cept was your brainstorm and probably would have gone on forever. Embezzlement is not easily recoverable.”

      Raking his hand through his thick dark hair, Rafe placed his booted feet wide apart, folded his arms across his expansive chest and glared at Matt. “Don’t I know it. But bankruptcy? Matt, I can’t do it. It’s not the Whitten way of doing business. My clients believe in me. I’ve made promises I must keep.”

      Matt was only a year younger than his thirty-three-year-old friend, Rafe, but it was at times like these he felt as old as Methuselah and twice as wise. “If you’d listened to me—”

      “The ranch is all I have left,” Rafe interrupted him. “When my parents died they intended for me to keep it for their grandchildren.”

      “Considering fatherhood is one of your least favorite topics, why are you letting the ranch and a bunch of horses keep you from making good at least the majority of this debt?”

      Rafe ground his jaw and shoved his hands into his pockets. “They’re not just horses to me, Matt.”

      “Sorry,” Matt apologized. He knew how close Rafe was to his menagerie of horses, bulls, cats, dogs, ducks, birds and any other animal that was smart enough to recognize a sucker