Page 16 of Penny & Royce

4

ROYCE

“Seriously? Another one?” Morgan grumbled as she dropped down beside Royce. The cushion dipped, and she cut him a pointed look. “Please tell me you think this is ridiculous, too.”

Royce’s arms were folded as he slouched back against the couch. Lincoln was the oldest and the one most like their father. He was set in his ways, and he took it upon himself to remind everyone why their family had to keep holding a grudge against the Taylor family.

Royce was second born, and he couldn’t bring himself to care.

His grandparents’ decisions didn’t hold weight in how he viewed the world, but heaven forbid he say anything.

Bentley was the next youngest, and if anything, he followed the rules because he didn’t want to rock the boat. Morgan had the opposite mindset. She was the most vocal about theirfamily’s feud. But for some reason, her opinions about stopping the nonsense weren’t important enough to cause change.

Royce glanced around the room at his youngest siblings. Technically, they were half siblings from his father’s second marriage. There were four of them—two sisters and two more brothers—and he couldn’t tell which side of the line they stood on. For all he knew, they were all for the feud because their father had taught them to be.

He blew out a breath and shrugged at Morgan’s quiet grumblings. “Just let Lincoln do his thing. It’ll be over shortly, and then we won’t have to deal with another family meeting for a whole month.”

Morgan huffed. “There’s nothing wrong with the Taylors. The only bad thing about them is that they were born into the wrong family. I bet they don’t even care that our great grandfather stole the affection of their great grandmother.”

Royce arched a brow. “I don’t know. George was her grandson. I bet when his grandmother left their grandfather for Gramps, it shook him up.”

“Yeah, okay, but…”

“And then they got hit by that drunk driver, and she was the only one who didn’t make it. I get why George Taylor hates our family.”

Morgan groaned again. “I can understand him holding a grudge against Gramps, but Dad? Us? There’s no rhyme or reason.”

Royce shrugged again. “You can’t control feelings like that. Love. Hate. They’re near impossible to control. All we can do is try to keep the peace.”

His sister rolled her eyes. “You’re wrong. What we could do is convince Lincoln to drop this whole feud regardless of how Dad reacts. What will Dad do, anyway? Not pass down the farm to us? We’re his only family.”

“You know that’s why Lincoln won’t back down. This farm is his birthright. And besides, that Rose woman doesn’t exactly make it easy on him. Did you know she let her goats roam free through the new crops that border our properties?”

Morgan made a decent attempt to cover up her amusement, but she still failed. Royce couldn’t help but grin right along with her. If there was anyone who could hold her own against his oldest brother, it was Rose Taylor. She might not care a lick about the family feud, but she was more than happy to antagonize Lincoln for refusing to back down.

One day, those two were going to either destroy a fence, a crop, or each other’s last nerve.

Maybe all three.

Lincoln marched into the room, the epitome of seriousness. He had his arms folded tightly across his chest and his trademark scowl in place. “I called you all here today to inform you that they’re at it again.”

Morgan snickered and shared a knowing look with Royce. That earned her a sharp look from Lincoln.

“What happened again?” Royce asked. “Did Rose’s goats file another formal complaint against your fence?”

Lincoln pointed a finger in his direction. “Another word from you, and I’m adding chores to your list.”

Normally, Royce would have continued to egg Lincoln on. One thing he had in common with the oldest Taylor sister was his love of pushing his brother’s buttons.

But the last two weeks had been torture. Lincoln had followed through with a similar threat, and Royce had been stuck doing more work than was fair, which meant he hadn’t had nearly enough time to get his plans for Penny in order.

And if he’d shown up at her house without warning, he was fairly certain Penny would never speak to him again.

Yes, he knew her address, but she didn’t know that, and he wasn’t about to make himself sound worse than he already did. He had asked around more than he should have. He knew that. The last thing he needed was to prove every cautious instinct Penny had ever had.

Lincoln watched him for a long moment. If Royce wasn’t mistaken, there was a flicker of surprise in his eyes when Royce didn’t snap back. There was definitely a ripple of surprise from his other siblings. He caught Bentley looking at him and winked.

His younger brother rolled his eyes. At least he wasn’t adding fuel to the fire. He was already suspicious that Royce was crossing a line into enemy territory with his interest in Penny.