Rancher’s Woman

Excerpt

“I was thinking about going for a ride. I don’t get to ride as much as I used to. Just ride for the hell of it instead of to get from point A to point B.”

Her lips twitched. “My father says you’re a busy man.”

“That I am.”

It used to amuse him when she was in high school and flirted with him, but once she started getting her college degree online and gradually taking over running The Red Stone, he hadn’t been able to deny his attraction to her.

He reminded himself often that she was too young for him.

Too inexperienced.

Too innocent.

Knowing that his hard edges would slice her to pieces, he did his best to avoid her.

For the first time, he realized that she hadn’t hunted him down in months.

She inclined her head. “I’m sure those women in Dallas kept you busy while you were there.” Without giving him a chance to answer, and before he knew how he would, she continued as if not expecting an answer or not wanting to hear it. “Duff going crazy getting ready for your Fourth of July party?”

Randy Duff, a man with a heart of gold and a temper like lightning, was the cook on the Branson Ranch.

Beck allowed a small smile. “He’s mostly bossing the caterers around. It wouldn’t be so hard on him if he didn’t insist that he was the better cook. If he didn’t have such an issue with having to be in control all the time, things would be a hell of a lot easier for him.”

Caroline raised a brow at that. “That’s rich coming from you.”

Her smile turned him inside out in a way he didn’t want to look at too closely.

Firming his voice, he wished he could see her brilliant green gaze, fighting to ignore the fact that she excited him like no other woman.

She teased him, criticized him, and argued with him, while other women bent over backward to get close to him.

At times, she irritated him.

At times, she inflamed him.

But she always challenged him and never, ever bored him.

Wishing he could stroke her, he did the closest thing and stroked a hand down the silky coat of her favorite horse, Storm.

He smiled and looked up at her. “I remember when I asked you why you named him Storm. You were right about him. He’s powerful, fast, strong, and just a little mean and unpredictable.”

“Sometimes he can be very mean and unpredictable.”

Her tone worried him, and he wished once again he could see her eyes. “What’s wrong, baby?”

She stared out at the horizon for so long he figured she wasn’t going to answer, but finally she shrugged. “Nothing. Don’t call me that.”

Reacting before he could stop himself, he laid a hand on her thigh. “You’ve never lied to me before, Caroline.”

Caroline drew a steadying breath, the rock in her stomach and lump in her throat bringing tears to her eyes. “You haven’t paid enough attention to me to know that. I need to ride. I’ll see you at your party.”

He watched her ride away, angry as hell that she’d lied to him.

Confused and surprisingly hurt that she wanted to get away from him, he strode to the stable and hurriedly saddled his horse.

Something was wrong, and he wouldn’t be able to rest until he found out what it was and fixed it.

Suspecting it had something to do with her stepmother and Mona’s two spoiled brats, both in their thirties and with no visible means of support other than living off of others, he clenched his jaw, inwardly cursing.

“Problem, boss?”

Beck continued to saddle his horse, glancing at Wes Roberts, his foreman. “Not sure. I’ll be at the watering hole. Make sure no one goes in that direction.”

Wes frowned. “Somethin’ wrong with Miss Caroline?”

Surprised, Beck turned. “You know that Caroline goes there?”

Wes smiled humorlessly. “The night her mother was diagnosed, she and Mr. Cobb came home from the hospital and she disappeared. It was already dark, and everyone was worried. No one knew where the hell to find her. No one knew if she was hurt. We knew she couldn’t get lost. Hell, that girl knew the ranch like the back of her hand, but what if she’d wandered off or if she’d run into some unsavory character?”

“Christ.”

“Mr. Cobb was beside himself, and we were ready to send out a search party when Bull got back from Fort Worth where he’d gone to a sale and called off the search, said he knew where she was. I was already there and ready to go out and went with him. Found the poor thing just sitting on one of those rocks and staring out in the dark.”

Shaking his head, Wes blew out a breath. “I never felt such relief in my life. Bull just stopped there where she’d tethered her horse and waited. Hell, we must have waited an hour before she came to us. I’ll never forget how she looked. Barely a young woman, with tears in her eyes and her little shoulders slumped as if she carried the weight of the world on them.”

Wes wiped a hand over his eyes. “Turned out she did.”

Beck wished he’d been there at that time, but although he’d bought the property before her mother’s death, he hadn’t moved in until months afterward.

If he’d known her and what she’d endured, nothing would have kept him away.

And nothing could keep him away now.