They’d grown up together.

He’d spent summers at his uncle’s ranch, and she and her brothers had become friends with him. He’d been tall and thin, a bit gangly and a little on the quiet side. She’d found a hundred ways to make his life hell because of it, and he’d done the same to her.

But the Jake Canfield standing by her now was far from a thin, quiet boy. The image of him in the pond had been burned into her memory as permanently as another memory of him. If she’d realized it was him she was watching from the tall grass— She shook her head. She should have known, instead of convincing herself she’d dreamed that he’d spoken to her.

“Right, Erin?”

Lost in thought, she glanced up at him. “Hmm?”

“We were just talking about what a scrawny, ornery tomboy you were when we were growing up.”

“No more scrawny than you,” she said, but it lacked the bite it needed. She had to be careful. If she let him, he’d tear her heart out. Again.

The Cowboy

Meets His Match

Roxann Delaney

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ROXANN DELANEY doesn’t remember a time when she wasn’t reading or writing, and she always loved that touch of romance in both. A native Kansan, she’s lived on a farm, in a small town and has returned to live in the city where she was born. Her four daughters and grandchildren keep her busy when she isn’t writing or designing websites. The 1999 Maggie Award winner is excited to be a part of the Mills & Boon® Cherish™ line and loves to hear from readers. Contact her at roxann@roxanndelaney.com or visit her website, www.roxanndelaney.com.

For all those who are a part of the adoption triad—adoptees, adoptive parents and birth parents—may your lives be filled with love, understanding and acceptance.

Contents

Cover

Introduction

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

Stretching out her legs in the tall grass, with her eyes closed and her back against the rough bark of a tree, Erin Walker smiled at the sound of a fish breaking the surface of the water. Content, she pulled in a breath of warm, June afternoon air and started to toe off her boots. But the sound of a second, a third and then a fourth splash followed, all louder and each sounding closer than the one before.

That was no fish.

She sat up straight, her heart rate increasing as she looked out onto Lake Walker, the large pond on the ranch near Desperation, Oklahoma, where she’d grown up. That was when she spotted the naked man, standing not twenty yards away in the pond.

Erin felt an eerie flash of déjà vu but blamed it on the shock of the moment. Surely he hadn’t seen her. If he had, he would have left immediately. Instead, he stood hip deep in the water, his back to her, his arms stretched above his head, flexing muscles that would have caused a half-blind ninety-year-old spinster to suffer a case of the vapors.

If only he’d turn around.

Just as she finished the thought, he started to do exactly that. She quickly but carefully scooted down to lie on the ground, while praying he was too busy enjoying his skinny-dip to notice her. From her prone position, all she could see was the very top of his head—and that was only if she stretched her neck uncomfortably. She was also aware that if she moved, he might notice her. With a silent sigh, she lowered her head, settling in to wait him out.

Closing her eyes so she could concentrate on any sounds, she yawned, her previous late night catching up with her early morning. After a few minutes, she heard the sound of movement in the water. He was leaving. Or maybe coming closer. She couldn’t be certain, but the sound seemed to be getting farther and farther away, until it stopped. Straining to listen for confirmation, she thought she heard the soft whinny of a horse, but she couldn’t be certain.

More time passed, as she waited for some kind of indication that he was no longer in the area. When she heard nothing else, she finally felt relatively safe.

“Did you enjoy the view?”

She froze. She knew that voice, would never forget it and was trapped by the person it belonged to. She suspected he was waiting for an answer, but she needed time to settle the slamming of her heart and attend to her need to breathe. The first was impossible; the second was achieved by forcing air into her lungs.

She refused to open her eyes, her heart pounding in her ears as she struggled to gain control. When she finally opened them, there was no one there. No person, no horse, no evidence that what she’d heard had been real. For all she knew, she’d fallen asleep and dreamed it. If so, it had been her worst nightmare.

In spite of being fairly certain she’d imagined the whole thing, she remained cautious as she got to her feet. The first thing she did was check to make sure no one was lurking behind her in the bushes, but there was nobody there.

“No, it didn’t happen,” she muttered.

She used the walk back to her childhood home—now her brother’s house—to clear her head. She’d been dreaming. That had to be it. But why? It had been years since—

Unwilling to think about what had happened long ago, she forced her thoughts to something else. When she first decided to visit Lake Walker, she’d thought she would do some riding, but the idea of saddling and mounting the horse that had replaced Firewind only made her miss him that much more. Erin prided herself on not being particularly emotional, and she didn’t want to give herself any reason to get that way, so she’d chosen to walk instead. She welcomed the exercise. She hadn’t been sleeping well for weeks, and she’d been so tired lately—it made sense that she’d imagined someone had spoken to her, although the man in the pond had definitely been real.

Back at the house, she stepped inside the screened porch, then opened the door that led into the kitchen, where she found both of her brothers seated at the table. “I see you took—”

“It’s about time you got back here,” Luke, the youngest, announced.

She looked first at him and then at Dylan, who scowled at her. “What?” she asked. “I’m not allowed to get some exercise?”

Dylan leaned back in his chair, his scowl deepening. “We have somewhere to go. We meaning you, too.”

“Did you forget?” Luke asked.

She had forgotten, but they didn’t need to know that, now that they’d reminded her. “Of course not. We’re meeting up with the others at Lou’s Place.”

“Right.” Dylan crossed his arms on his chest. “And we’re expected to be there in thirty minutes.”

“No problem,” she replied. “It won’t take me long to get cleaned up and—”

“Dean is expecting to meet you there.”

She stared at Luke, hoping her confusion appeared believable. “Dean? Dean who?”

“You know damn well who,” Dylan said. Pushing away from the table, he stood and walked over to her, his six-foot-plus body towering over her. “Dean Franklin. You remember him. We introduced you to him at the fall festival last October.”

“I have no idea who you’re talking about.” No way would she let herself be set up with another man her brothers had chosen for her. And if they insisted, she would pack up her motor home and leave. She had plenty of friends on the rodeo circuit who would be happy to give her a place to park until she found somewhere permanent to live. For that to happen, she needed money, and she refused to ask her brothers for it.

“You agreed to meet him,” Luke said.

Erin shook her head. “No. You—both of you—set it up and told him I’d be there. I never had a say in it or in the other men you’ve tried to marry me off to since the leaves started falling from the trees last October. Give it up, boys. I’ve had enough of your game. You act like I can’t get a man on my own. No, let me rephrase that. You act like I can’t even attract a man. Let me assure you right now, that isn’t the case.”

“Did I say it was?” Dylan asked.

“You didn’t have to. It’s as plain as the noses on your faces that you’re trying to fix me up with somebody. With anybody.”

“You’ve got this all wrong.”

“Do I? I think it’s you two who have it all wrong, and you need to butt out of my life.”

This time it was Luke who spoke. “We’re only trying to help, Erin.”

“Well, don’t,” she said. “If I decide I need a man—which I don’t—I can find one on my own. Understand?”

“We’re concerned. We want to make sure you have someone to take care of you.”

Her mouth opened and words came tumbling out. “Take care of me? You both seem to forget that I’ve been on my own for almost fourteen years. I’ve traveled the rodeo circuit across this whole country and even into Canada...by myself. Nobody was holding my hand. Nobody was keeping me company or taking care of me.”

Dylan nodded. “Which is all well and good. But you’re older now. Don’t you want a family?”

She felt the twinge of regret that always hit her when she thought of what she’d done, nearly seventeen years before. But they didn’t know, and she wasn’t about to tell them. Ever. She’d had her reasons for staying away from the ranch and for remaining single. And at the age of thirty-four, she wasn’t about to get tied down now.

“I have a family,” she replied. “I have you two. But if you don’t stop insisting that I marry the first yahoo that comes along, you’ll give me no choice but to leave. Do you understand that?”

Luke looked at Dylan, who shrugged. “You always were stubborn.”

“Bullheaded,” Luke added.

“No more than the two of you. Shall we talk about your lives before I stepped in to fix them? If it hadn’t been for me finding you the perfect women to marry, there’s no telling what would have happened to you.” She looked pointedly at Dylan, who had come close to losing his share of the ranch, barely a year earlier, until she’d devised a plan to set him up with a former classmate, which had ended in an engagement and an upcoming wedding.

He looked down at her, his green eyes full of a gratefulness she wished he would move beyond. “All right. You’ve made your point, Erin.” He looked at Luke, who nodded, then back at her. “We’ll leave you alone, if that’s what you want.”

She wasn’t sure if she should feel relieved. She knew better than to trust them, but they both appeared sincere. “Thank you.”

She turned to leave, hoping they wouldn’t have to revisit this topic again. The men her brothers had introduced her to had been good men, but she’d never met a man who didn’t try to run her life. She suspected she never would.

She didn’t mind her solitary life. It was what she’d chosen, and the idea of getting married or anything close to it was out of the question. She liked being single and had no reason to change.

“Fifteen minutes, Erin,” Dylan called to her as she started for the door. “No more.”

She swallowed her sigh. They weren’t going to let her off the hook.

The mere thought of the word hook caused her to nearly trip on the threshold. That word reminded her of fishing and ponds and a naked man. A shower was exactly what she needed.

* * *

WITHOUT LOOKING, JAKE CANFIELD knew Erin had walked into Lou’s Place, Desperation’s local tavern. All he’d needed was to hear her voice.

He’d been surprised—no, make that shocked—when he’d spied her lying in the grass near the pond. If he’d known she’d come home, he never would have gone there. Two things had drawn him back. He’d inherited his uncle’s ranch, and he’d thought Erin was still on the rodeo circuit. At least he knew now that she wasn’t riding. And he was curious to know why. Becoming a barrel racer had always been her dream, much like his own dream of being a rancher. Hers had come true early, and from what he’d heard, she’d done well. Very well. He’d had to wait a while for his, but it had been worth it.

He shouldn’t have been surprised to see her at Lou’s. After all, she was a grown woman now, not the girl he’d known since he was eight and who’d stolen his heart when he was fifteen.

Had she known it was him at the pond? He hadn’t gotten a reply to his question, so he couldn’t be sure. He would solve that, though, soon enough.

Turning around, he saw her with her brothers and another man, who at that moment had her hand in his. A pang of jealousy shot through him, and he immediately shook it off. He had no claim on her. All they shared was their childhoods and a night he’d never forgotten. It still hurt to think about it.

He knew the minute she spotted him. Her eyes grew wide, and she took a small, stuttering step back, then quickly regained her composure and nodded in his direction. In reply, he touched the brim of his Stetson. She eased away from her brothers and the man with them, and walked toward him.

She stopped in front of him, and he couldn’t hide his smile when she had to tip back her head to look up at him. “I suppose I should have known,” she said.

“Good to see you again, too, Erin,” he replied. Her hello wasn’t as bad as he’d expected.

“Erin?” a woman said from the table behind him.

Erin raised her hand in a wave, but didn’t break the gaze that held her to him. “Apparently you’ve forgotten that Lake Walker is private property. Walker property.”

“So you did know it was me.”

“Not until a minute ago—”

“And you didn’t answer my question.”

She hesitated for a split second. “What question is that?”

“Did you enjoy the view?”

Her chest rose with a deep breath before she answered, “What little I saw wasn’t bad.”

He had to grit his teeth to keep from laughing. Same old Erin. “I wouldn’t use that word, if I were you.”

Her eyes narrowed, but the twinkle in them made a lie of it. “What word? Little?”

“That would be it. Have you even grown an inch since the last time I saw you?”

She opened her mouth, only to close it. Looking past him, she jerked her thumb in his direction. “You all may have met Jake Canfield, ne’er-do-well, years ago but completely forgot him. It happens a lot.”

She’d made her point, and he wished he hadn’t mentioned the past. She obviously didn’t want to revisit it. Had he hurt her that much?

She flashed him a triumphant smile, and he thought he saw a wink as she walked past him. With a shake of his head and a chuckle, he turned around to see a table where several women were sitting and instantly recognized them from his summers in Desperation.

“That name sounds familiar,” one of them said with a grin, as she offered Jake her hand. “I’m Kate—”

“Mrs. Dusty McPherson,” Erin finished for her, and looked pointedly at Jake. “You might remember Dusty.”

He responded with a smile and took Kate’s hand in his. He would play along, if that’s what Erin wanted. “I do remember your husband, Mrs. McPherson. Quite a bull rider, not long ago. I was sorry to hear he’d retired.”

“It’s Kate,” the woman said, frowning at Erin.

One of the other women from the table leaned in front of Erin, a confused look on her face. “I’m Trish, Kate’s sister. Trish Rule.”

He released Kate’s hand to take Trish’s outstretched one. “Sisters, huh?”

“Better behave, Jake. Her husband is the sheriff,” Erin announced.

“Is that so? He didn’t mention that he had such a pretty wife when I stopped in at his office the other day.”

Erin closed her eyes and shook her head, then moved away. Score one for him. They’d battled on a daily basis, all summer long, every summer he spent at his uncle’s ranch. Verbal sparring, he’d called it, and she’d been an expert at it. He learned from her and had gotten pretty good at him himself—until he’d realized she wasn’t a little girl anymore and lost his heart to her.

He felt a hand on his back and heard, “Good to see you again, Jake.”

Jake turned his head to see Erin’s youngest brother. “Luke, it’s been a long time. Thanks for returning my dog the other day.”

They shook hands as Dylan, the older of the Walker brothers, joined them. “We thought it might be yours, and sorry we missed seeing you. We’d been watching all the building going on at your uncle’s place and hoped you had something to do with it.”

Jake released Luke’s hand to shake his brother’s. “Everything to do with it, you could say.”

“We were sorry to hear about your uncle,” Luke said. “What’s it been? Two years?”

Jake nodded. “Close to it. Probate took longer than expected. Seems Uncle Carl owned more than we knew about, most of it on the other side of town. Some in the next county.”

“Yeah? I didn’t know.”

“Neither did I.” Jake’s mind flashed back to the day he’d received the news that his uncle had died and left the ranch to him, the only nephew. He’d inherited more than he’d ever thought possible and was excited to own his own spread. After turning his back on what his father had wanted him to do, he’d struck out on his own, working for others and learning the ranching business from the bottom up.

“I noticed you and Erin have reconnected,” Dylan said, glancing in the direction of his sister, who had taken a seat at the table with Trish and Kate.

“Reconnected?” Jake asked, and chuckled. “More like she was as surprised to see me as I was to see her. I thought she’d still be barrel racing on the rodeo circuit. Last I knew, she was.”

Luke shrugged. “We finally talked her into visiting more often, but never for very long. Then this past February, she pulled in with her motor home and horse trailer, saying she needed a rest.”

“With no warning?” Jake asked.

“Not a word,” Dylan answered.

“And she’s driving us crazy,” Luke added. “We’re beginning to wish we hadn’t encouraged her to come home.”

Shaking his head, he smiled. “Sounds like Erin. She still have her horse? Firewind?”

“He’s gone. That’s all we know,” Luke answered. “She has a new one, though. She set up barrels in the spare corral and runs them almost every day.”

“But she isn’t happy,” Dylan said. “She needs something more to do to keep her busy.”

Jake didn’t doubt he could keep her busy, but not in the way they were thinking. He hoped her brothers had never learned of what happened that Thanksgiving weekend of his first year in college, when he’d come back to visit. They didn’t need to know just how close he and their sister had once been, not to mention how he’d ended it without warning and taken off, never planning to return again.

He shook his head and smiled. “I don’t see her taking up knitting any day soon.”

Luke laughed. “No kidding.”

Dylan glanced at Luke, before saying, “She could use a job.”

“Job?”

Luke nodded.

With a glimmer of an idea that might or might not work, he asked, “What kind of job?”

Dylan shrugged. “You know her. When it comes to horses and cattle, there’s not much she doesn’t know or can’t do.”

Jake nodded and hoped they’d never know about the things he knew Erin could do.

“From what she’s said,” Luke continued, “she’s spent some of her downtime on her friends’ ranches, helping out when needed. She’s even worked with some of the ropers, ‘refining their skills,’ she calls it.”

Dylan leaned closer. “Why are you asking?”

It was Jake’s turn to shrug. “I just wondered.”

“Are you looking for some ranch hands?”

Jake didn’t want to commit to anything. The chances of Erin accepting a job from him were slim, at best. Then there was the question of whether he wanted her working for him. There’d be battles. She was strong-minded and could be as stubborn as the day was long. But he couldn’t deny that she knew her way around livestock. She would be an asset.

“Maybe,” he answered. “Not that she’d take a job on my ranch.”

Luke and Dylan looked at each other, and Dylan said, “She might.”

Jake was still skeptical.

Luke shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. We understand what a pain she can be.”

Jake didn’t even try to curb his smile. “I guess she never grew out of that.” He was glad she still had the spunk she’d had when they were young. And although he suspected she’d never forgiven him for ending what had barely started, it obviously hadn’t kept her down.

“She has a good heart, though,” Dylan said. “After Pop and Mama died—”

“We appreciated the check you sent to the memorial fund, Jake,” Luke told him. “Your uncle, too.”

Jake nodded. “It was the least we could do. I remember when Uncle Carl called to tell me. I—” He swallowed hard at the memory and how he’d wished he could do something to comfort all of them. David and Ann Walker had treated him like one of their own. “I couldn’t imagine what you all were going through. They were great people.”

Both brothers nodded and were silent for a moment, and a shadow crossed Dylan’s face, before he spoke. “Did you know Erin postponed her rodeo career to stay home with us, until Luke graduated from high school?”

Jake shook his head but wasn’t surprised. She’d always been fiercely protective of the two of them. “I didn’t know, but that sounds just like her.”

“There’s nobody like Erin,” Dylan said.

After another brief pause, Luke put a hand on Jake’s shoulder. “It really is good to see you. We all need to get together again.”

“Soon,” Jake answered.

“We’ll do that. And if you hear anything about a job for someone with Erin’s qualifications...”

“I’ll pass it on,” Jake promised.

As they moved away, he noticed that Erin had left the table where she’d been sitting with the others. After a quick glance around the tavern, he saw her. On the far side of the room, she stood with her hands braced on the old jukebox as she leaned forward to read the list of song titles. He felt a surge of heat shoot through his body but did his best to ignore it. He suspected she wouldn’t accept if he approached her about a job. She had a lot of pride, but she had a lot of talent, too. If he hired her it wouldn’t be because he wanted to try to repeat the past.

Or did he? He’d never forgotten her. Hardly a day had gone by that he hadn’t thought of her. Would it hurt to see if she would take the job? What did he have to lose? He’d already lost her, but maybe he could change that.

* * *

ERIN TOOK HER time at the jukebox. She needed to pull herself together. She’d never expected to see Jake Canfield again and wondered if he’d thought the same about her. When she saw him talking with Dusty McPherson and Morgan Rule, she made her way back to the table where Kate and Trish were sitting. She felt light-headed, weak at the knees. She had to stay as far away from Jake as possible until she could regain her equilibrium. Seeing him again had been a shock, and she hadn’t felt this vulnerable for a long time. She knew she could handle it, but she wished she didn’t have to. She had enough to deal with already.

“You always pick the best music, Erin,” Trish said, as she approached the table.

Pulling out the empty chair across from them, Erin settled on it. “There’s not a lot to do when you’re driving around the country from one place to another.”

“And we’re so glad you’re not doing that anymore and have come home,” Kate said.

Even though she’d been home for several months, Erin felt overwhelmed by all the things she still needed to catch up on. “I’ve missed so much. I guess that’s one of the drawbacks of having only brothers. They can rattle off every statistic to do with cattle and crops, but anything else must instantly vaporize in their brains.”

“Typical men, then,” Trish said, laughing.

“I heard that.”

Erin turned and looked up to see Jake, whose frown made deep lines between his gray eyes. In an instant, he revealed the matched set of deep dimples she remembered so well that bracketed his smile. It was that smile and the look in his eyes that could turn her inside out.

She dipped her head to avoid him. She’d known him since she was almost six years old. They’d grown up together. He’d spent summers at his uncle’s ranch, and she and her brothers had become friends with him. He’d been tall and thin, a bit gangly and a little on the quiet side. She’d found a hundred ways to make his life hell because of it, and he’d done the same to her.

But the Jake Canfield standing by her now was far from a thin, quiet boy. The image of him in the pond had been burned into her memory as permanently as another memory of him. If she’d known it was him she was watching from the tall grass... She shook her head. She should have known, instead of convincing herself she’d dreamed that he’d spoken to her.

“Right, Erin?”

Lost in thought, she glanced up at him. “Hmm?”

“We were just talking about what a scrawny, ornery tomboy you were when we were growing up.”

“No more scrawny than you,” she said, but her reply lacked the bite it needed. She had to be careful. If she let him, he would tear her heart out. Again.

But when she saw his steel-colored gaze moving over her as if he knew exactly what she was thinking about, she resolved not to let him break her a second time. Still, it didn’t stop the flip-flopping of her heart.

Dusty and Morgan joined them, taking the seats on either side of their wives, and Erin decided it was time to escape. “I think I’ll get a snack. Anybody else want something?”

As she started to push her chair back, she felt Jake’s hands on the back of it. “A snack sounds good. I’ll go with you.”

“Oh, that’s all right,” she said, standing. “Just tell me what you want, and I’ll get it.”

His eyebrows shot up, accompanied by a killer smile. “No, that’s okay. I don’t mind.”

Not seeing a graceful way out of it, she nodded. But as soon as they were out of earshot of their friends, she stopped and turned to him. “Are you following me?”

“Could be,” he answered, that devilish smile of his reappearing.

“Well, don’t.”

When she started to walk away, he took her arm and stopped her. “If you’d give me a minute—”

The quick skip of her heart set off warning bells, and her old habits came back. “I think you’ve had more than a minute with me before.” She felt her face grow hot with embarrassment and ducked her head, hoping he didn’t notice.

“Can we put the past behind us?” he asked, keeping his voice low.

Hesitating for a moment, unsure of how to answer, she nodded, took a deep breath and looked up. Keep it friendly, she told herself. Pretend none of it happened. “How is the ranching business, Jake?”

“Good. That’s what I want to talk to you about.”

“Yeah?” She gathered her strength and asked, “Why are you here? You said you weren’t coming back. That’s what you told me—”

His expression revealed nothing. “I didn’t plan to, but Uncle Carl died and left me his ranch.”

“Lucky you. Not so lucky for me.”

He frowned. “I should’ve known that’s how you’d feel.”

The last words he’d said to her, almost eighteen years before, echoed in her mind. “You made your choice.”

“I didn’t—” He blew out a breath and glanced away. “I had other plans. You knew that.”

It hurt, and she didn’t want it to. “Not until you told me you were leaving. Not until after we—”

“Erin, it was a long time ago. We were young.”

He might as well have stuck a knife in her. “Right. I’d forgotten.” She hadn’t but wished she could. “Is this what you wanted to talk to me about? Because if it is—”

“No, it isn’t. I wanted to talk to you about ranch business.” He hesitated and then asked, “How much do you know about cutting horses?”

Taken off guard, she stared at him. “As much if not more than you do. I can rope with the best cowboys around, too. Why?”

Clearing his throat, he glanced around the tavern, then back at her. “I’m looking for somebody to fill an opening at the ranch.”

She peered at him through narrowed eyes. “Like who?”

He didn’t bother to beat around the bush. “Like you.”

Her mouth dropped open and she stared at him. “Me?”

He shrugged. “If you’re as good as I suspect you are, yes. I’d like to hire you.”

She didn’t want to believe him. Work for Jake? Impossible. “Have you suffered some kind of head injury?”

He smiled. “Not recently.”

She laughed. “You must be hard up to be offering me a job. If that’s what you’re doing.”

“It’s exactly what I’m doing.”

She shook her head. “I’m not interested.”

She moved away but not far enough to keep from hearing his reply. “Maybe you should think about it.”

“Nothing to think about,” she answered over her shoulder.

“If you change your mind—”

That stopped her. She took a deep breath and blew it out. Emotions tumbled through her. She needed a job. Money would allow her to get back to barrel racing, where she belonged. But working for Jake? She couldn’t.

The last person she wanted to be beholden to—no matter how broke she was, and she was pretty darned broke—was Jake Canfield. Turning to face him, she answered. “Thanks, but—” she broadened her smile and tried for indifference “—I have other plans.”

Chapter Two

Jake watched Erin cross the room, a swing in her hips that now had womanly curves. But she was the same Erin. Sassy and headstrong. And she knew horses and cattle. He could use her talents at the ranch, but he’d offered and she’d refused. Why had he even thought she might be interested?

He returned to the table with the others but kept Erin in sight in spite of knowing he shouldn’t. Taking his seat, he folded his arms on the table, wondering what he should do next. She obviously considered him the enemy. Too bad he couldn’t say the same about her.

Trish reached over and put her hand on his arm. “Next time, try flowers.”

“Or dinner at a nice restaurant,” Kate added. “Women like that. It gets them out of the kitchen.” She frowned at her husband.

Dusty smiled. “You like being in the kitchen. You own a bakery and catering business.”

“And I like going out—alone with you—once in a while.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Dusty said with a grin, then turned to Jake. “Try a rope. It worked for me.”

Everyone laughed, causing Jake to wonder what they were talking about. “A rope? Surely you didn’t rope this nice lady.”

Dusty shrugged one shoulder. “It was the only way to keep her from running away from me.”

Jake looked from one to the other. “I have to hear this story.”

Leaning back in his chair, Dusty put his arm around his wife. “Let’s just say she was resistant to my charm...for too long.”

When Kate gave a soft snort, Morgan pointed at Dusty. “He roped her on Main Street on the Fourth of July, in front of the whole town.”

“Did you arrest him?” Jake asked the sheriff.

“What for? He wasn’t breaking the law.”

“I’m telling you,” Dusty said, “when you’re dealing with a stubborn woman, you do whatever it takes.”

Jake smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind if I should ever need it. In the meantime, I’ll just use simple torture.”

Kate’s eyes narrowed and the corners of her mouth lifted in a smile. “So it’s like that, is it?”

“Nope. Not a bit. But if I didn’t give her a hard time, she’d be disappointed and make it tougher on me.”

Across the table, Dusty chuckled. “You sure don’t want that to happen.”

“I was just saying earlier that I was sorry to hear you’d retired from riding,” Jake said.

Dusty leaned over to nuzzle his wife’s neck. “She didn’t give me a choice. Don’t tell her how glad I am that she didn’t, though,” he added with a wink.

Kate’s smug smile pulled a laugh from Jake, but it was clear that the two of them were happy together. He wished he’d had the same luck, but life hadn’t worked out that way for him.

He turned to Trish’s husband. “How did you manage to end up here in Desperation?”

Morgan chuckled. “I came here from Florida ten years ago to visit my uncle Ernie, and the crazy people in town elected me as their sheriff.”

“You’ve missed a lot,” Trish told Jake. “It’s been a long time.”

Jake caught a glimpse of Erin, who’d pulled up a chair at another table. She sat with her back to him, and he wondered if she’d done so on purpose.

He turned back to the group at his table. “Sounds like a lot has changed in the time I’ve been gone,” he said.

“Are you staying here for good?” Dusty asked.

“I plan to,” Jake told him.

“Your uncle’s ranch is yours now?”

He nodded, thinking of all the paperwork and court motions it had taken to work out the details of his inheritance.

“What do you plan to do with it?” Dusty asked.

“Raise horses and a few cattle, train cutting and roping horses, mostly. I’ve learned a lot since those summers I spent here.” His dream hadn’t happened overnight, but he had stuck with it and now he had it all. Or did he? There was still one thing missing.

He let his gaze wander around the room. Dylan and Luke had gone, leaving Erin behind. If she needed a ride— No, he wouldn’t offer. She would only refuse that, too, and he wasn’t in the mood to be turned down again.

As the evening grew later, the crowd began to thin. Other people he’d known drifted over to the table to say hello. He enjoyed the company and the evening and looked forward to more of the same in the future.

He liked Desperation. He hadn’t spent a lot of time in town when he was young, and yet the people had always been friendly and gone out of their way to make him feel welcome. He’d made friends with several of them and valued those friendships. But the night was nearly over. Even Dusty and Morgan had started talking about going home.

“Kate needs her sleep,” Dusty said, putting his arm around her waist when they both stood. “I’m surprised she’s managed to stay awake past seven.” He placed his other hand on her belly and smiled at her. “Only six more months to go.”

Jake saw the look they shared, and then it dawned on him what Dusty had said. “You’re expecting?” he asked Kate.

She nodded. “December for this one.”

“This one?”

“We have twin boys who’ll be three next month,” Dusty said. “And we did tell Aunt Aggie that we wouldn’t be late, so we need to get going before she starts calling and begging us to come pick them up.”

Kate gave him an elbow to the midsection. “Aunt Aggie has never complained about the boys, or Krista, so don’t you have Jake thinking she has.”

“I remember your aunt well, Kate,” Jake told her. “But who’s Krista?”

“Krista is ours,” Morgan said, helping his own wife with her chair.

“And we’re not adding another one soon,” Trish said, a gleam of determination in her eyes. “I have a feeling when we do, Morgan will be getting his boy, and considering how energetic Kate and Dusty’s twins are, I want to rest up a little longer.”

“Another girl is fine with me,” Morgan said, helping her with her jacket. “Krista liked that Miami Dolphins jersey I bought her, so it’s all good.”

“She was a newborn,” Trish said, laughing. “She didn’t know the difference.”

The two couples continued their bantering as they gathered their things, and Jake was sorry to see them leave. Nearly everyone had gone, except for Erin and the man he’d seen earlier, who was probably taking her home. He decided to stay where he was. He’d noticed that she’d left her hat nearby and knew she wouldn’t leave without it.

It wasn’t long before she walked over to where he sat at the table, her hat on the chair next to him. “Calling it a night?” he asked.

She didn’t look at him directly as she held out her hand. “Morning comes early on a ranch. You should know that.”

He shoved to his feet, then picked up her hat, but didn’t immediately hand it to her. “What brought you home?”

“I decided to spend some time with my brothers.”

“So you’re staying around?”

Her gaze moved slowly over him, until she looked directly into his eyes. “Are you?”

Feeling uncomfortable in places he shouldn’t, he shifted his attention from her eyes to her mouth. Another mistake. He remembered the feel of it on his far too well. Hoping she couldn’t read his thoughts, he managed to answer. “I plan to.”

“I should have known.”

She took her hat from his hand and started to move away, but he wasn’t finished. “Don’t go away mad.”

With a smile, she looked back over her shoulder. “Not mad. It’s just nicer around here when you’re gone.”

Before she could take another step, he had a comeback. “Is that why you’ve been gone from here almost as long as I have?”

Facing him, she settled her hat on her head. “I’ve done just fine.”

“So have your brothers, but they stayed.” He knew he’d hit the mark by the way she glared at him. “They’ve done some great things with the ranch.”

“So now you and my brothers are good buddies?”

“We’ve always been friends.”

She put one hand on her hip and smiled at him again. “I’m not my brothers.”

As she’d done to him, Jake let his eyes move slowly over her. “No, ma’am, you’re definitely not.” He held her gaze another moment, then looked down to pick up his glass of beer.

When he looked up again, she was walking out the door. Walking out on him the way he’d walked out on her. He knew she hadn’t forgotten, no matter how much she might want to. He’d hated that he’d had to hurt her—still did—but he hadn’t been given a choice. He’d paid for it then, and now he was paying for it again.

* * *

AFTER A DISTURBING and restless night, Erin decided to join her brothers for breakfast. In her case, that would be coffee. She hoped it would clear her mind and sweep out the remnants of the confusing and erotic dreams that had starred none other than Jake Canfield.

“Did you have a good time at Lou’s Place last night?” Luke asked, as Erin lifted the carafe to fill her cup.

When she finished, she leaned her hip against the counter behind her and nodded. “It was nice getting together with old friends, but it would have been better if Hayley and Glory had been there and the two of you hadn’t ducked out. What was that all about?”

“We didn’t tell you we weren’t staying?”

She glared at Luke, knowing for certain what they’d been up to. “Of course you didn’t tell me, because you knew I wouldn’t go if you did. And then you left me with that...man.”

“You mean Dean Franklin?”

She opened her mouth to tell him that Dean Franklin had been kind enough to take her home, in spite of the fact that she’d only spent a few minutes with him, and that the man she’d been referring to was none other than their former—and now current—neighbor. Luckily, the words didn’t spill forth. Her brothers would immediately demand to know what Jake had ever done to her, other than be a good friend, and she wouldn’t be able to tell them. Not in this lifetime, anyway.

Instead, she said, “Maybe you’ll learn not to try to hand me off to someone I share absolutely nothing in common with.”

“Broaden your world, Erin. Learn new things,” Dylan told her.

“The man wouldn’t know a quarter horse from a thoroughbred,” she said with a sniff, “and you expect me to make some long-term commitment to him?”

Dylan put his coffee cup on the table and grunted. “Nobody said you had to marry him. Just go on a date.”

“People still date?” she asked as innocently as possible.

“Well—”

“Did you take Glory on a date?” she asked, pinning him with a look she hoped would wither him on the spot.

His brow wrinkled in thought. “We—” He made a face she took as a concession. “Not a real date. But that doesn’t mean that—”

“How about you and Hayley, Luke? Did you go on a date?”

He smiled with superiority. “As a matter of fact, I did take her out to dinner. A real nice restaurant in the city, as I recall.”

“How did it go?”

His smile vanished, and he muttered.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“She got sick.”

Erin couldn’t stop her smile. “Food poisoning?”

He shook his head. “Too much to drink.”

“Well, there you go.”

They both sat and stared at her, until Dylan pushed away from the table. “What’s on your agenda today?”

When Luke didn’t answer, Erin looked at Dylan. “Me? Are you asking me?”

“I already know what our plans are.”

He’d said it as if she was twelve again and he was trying to prove that bigger meant smarter. It didn’t. Being only eleven months older than him gave her an advantage.

“Nothing special,” she answered. Her lack of having something to do was beginning to get on her nerves. She’d always been self-sufficient and kept busy, and she couldn’t tell them that she was as broke as anyone could get without being completely homeless. Between entry fees and living expenses, with money going out faster than it had come in, she’d had to take a break, regroup and hoped to find a way to earn enough money to get back on track. But she wouldn’t take a penny from her brothers.

“You need to do something,” Dylan said.

What she needed was a job, but the only offer she’d had was from a man who’d broken her heart. She quickly searched for something to say. “I thought I might drop in at Glory’s shop later and see if there’s anything I can help with.”

“She’s at the Big Barn at the Commune, finishing the last of the painting.” Dylan got to his feet and looked down at her. “She probably wouldn’t mind if you stopped by. I’m sure she could use some help.”

Erin nodded but didn’t commit herself. She really liked her brothers’ fiancées and hoped they would become good friends. But that would probably come later, when she didn’t feel as if she were living in some kind of limbo.

Luke had left the table and joined Dylan at the door, where they both grabbed their hats from the rack on the wall. “We’ll be down at the barn, in case you need anything.”

She told them goodbye and waited until they were gone, then closed her eyes and let out a long sigh. Going into town for her own coffee to make in her motor home would solve the problem of feeling useless. At least it was something to do.

Two cups later, she was out the door and headed for her motor home, thinking she’d make a list of groceries she should get. It wouldn’t be much, but enough to get her by, until she had a job. Even though she’d asked everywhere she thought might be hiring—even the day care center that was run by a friend of a friend—she’d come up empty-handed.

She wasn’t particularly looking forward to a trip into town. Driving her gas-guzzling home-on-wheels in Desperation had proved cumbersome, at best, but unless she borrowed Dylan’s pickup, she was stuck driving it. The thought didn’t thrill her.

As she reached for the door handle of her small but comfortable home, she stopped at the sound of something rustling in the nearby line of trees. Maybe a rabbit. Probably a skunk, with her luck. Hopefully not anything bigger. Her shotgun was inside in the back of a cabinet.

She immediately saw she’d been wrong, when the big, hairy dog pushed through the undergrowth and shot into the open. “Well, hello,” she called softly, being cautious so as not to frighten it.

The dog froze when she spoke. Its long, gray-and-white coat nearly reached the ground. Even its eyes were partially hidden. Lifting its nose higher, it sniffed in her direction.

Hoping the dog wouldn’t bite, she snapped her fingers and called again. “Come on, pup. Come here. Let’s see what you’re about.”

She barely had the words out of her mouth, when the dog came running toward her, its furry tail wagging back and forth. Bracing herself for what she suspected might be a lunge—although a friendly one—that would knock her over, she was surprised when the dog came to a skid in front of her, all four feet still on the ground. Most dogs would jump up. This one obviously had some training.

Kneeling, she put her hand on the back of the dog’s neck, feeling for a collar. “Good dog,” she whispered. “Now let me see if you have a tag or some kind of identification to go with this.”

She was rewarded with a tag dangling beneath the dog’s neck but had to brush away the thick, long coat of hair to see it. “Solomon?” She leaned back to take a closer look at the dog. “Is that your name?”

The dog’s tail wagged so hard when she spoke the name that she had no doubt it was his. But she couldn’t find a phone number or anything else that would give her an idea of who the owner might be. Solomon appeared to be well fed and fairly clean, considering the thick brush he’d walked through, and he’d probably come from somewhere nearby.

“Let’s go talk to my brothers,” she said, getting to her feet. “Come on, Solomon. Stick with me, and we’ll get you home in no time.”

He walked beside her to the barn, where she found her brothers helping with the birth of a new calf. Luke looked up as Erin and the dog entered, and he shook his head. “Sollie, are you out visiting again?”

“So you know who his owner is?” she asked, relieved that the dog wasn’t a stray. “Should I call someone?”

Dylan glanced at them quickly. “No. Just take him home.”

“Take him home where?”

“Sollie belongs to Jake.”

She narrowed her eyes and looked at the dog. Traitor. Even though her brothers were working, she didn’t want to deal with the dog...and especially his owner. “Why can’t I leave him here with you?” she asked. “Jake can come get his own dog.”

“Just take him home, Erin,” Dylan said without glancing her way again. “Can’t you see we have our hands full?”

“Of course I do. Can I take your pickup? I don’t want him in my motor home.”

“Walk.”

She started to ask why, but it was clear Dylan’s patience was wearing thin. This obviously wasn’t the first time the dog had come visiting, and her brothers had taken him home. That meant they’d known Jake was back. Why hadn’t they mentioned it?

“Let’s go, Sollie,” she said, heading outside and blinking at the bright sunlight.

The walk wasn’t as long as she wanted to make it out to be, and the dog stayed by her side. At one point, not far from the ranch that Jake now owned, Sollie came to a dead stop, sniffing the air, his ears on alert.

“It’s a rabbit, I’m sure,” she told the dog. “We’re almost home, so don’t you go running off after it.”

As if he understood what she’d said, Solomon loped along beside her, but now and then he would look off in the distance. She was surprised that anything that had been around Jake could be so well behaved.

Approaching the ranch from the back side, as she’d always done, she spied Jake on a small tractor with a forklift attached to the front, struggling to move a large stock tank. As she and the dog got closer, she heard the frustration in Jake’s voice, and she laughed at the words he shouted at the galvanized metal tank that kept tipping to one side. She understood frustration well. She’d bought an extra horse, hoping to train it to be as good as Firewind. But she’d had to have Firewind put down, and MacDuff’s training hadn’t gone well. Just one more reason she’d left the circuit.

“Get under it again,” she shouted over the noise from the tractor. “A little more to the right.”

Apparently he heard her, because he turned to look in their direction. He shook his head as if in disbelief, and then switched off the tractor before jumping down to the ground.

“Sollie, you rascal,” he said as he walked toward them, his mouth pulled down in a frown. He glanced at Erin, but his gaze didn’t linger. “Sorry he caused you the trouble of bringing him home. He knows better than to roam.”

She ran her hand down the dog’s back and patted his rump. “He’s a good dog. Smart, too.”

“Too smart sometimes. I guess I’ll have to tie him up when I’m working so he doesn’t bother you.”

“Oh, don’t do that!” She bit her lower lip, wishing she’d kept quiet. It wasn’t any of her business what he did with his dog. Besides, she wasn’t crazy about the idea of having to return Sollie after every visit. “He wasn’t bothering me,” she hurried to say. “I brought him back because I thought you’d wonder where he’d gone.”

“I had a pretty good idea.”

“What kind of dog is he?”

“He’s a bearded collie. Herding dog, both sheep and cattle. He’s pretty good at it.”

She nodded, not knowing what else to say. Wishing she had insisted her brothers return the dog themselves, she took a step back and realized she’d just met up with her past. If she’d thought there’d been too many memories at home, a single memory of one night here was even bigger than all of them.

“I guess I’ll be getting home,” she said, feeling uncomfortable.

“Hang on a minute.”

She slowed, then stopped and looked back at him. “Why?”

He stuffed his hands into the pockets of a pair of well-worn jeans that hugged his hips and muscled thighs. No smile broke the serious expression on his face, when he said, “Because we need to talk.”

Her heart stopped beating and her throat tightened. The moment she’d realized he was back, she’d been afraid he would want to talk about the past. The words fight or flight flitted through her mind, but she was frozen to the spot.

* * *

JAKE SQUINTED INTO the morning sunshine, watching Erin closely. Her curly, dark blond hair had been captured in a braid, but pieces of it had escaped around her face, and the sun behind her caused a halo effect.

This was the first chance he’d had to get a good look at her. The day before, the tree at the pond had cast shadows on her sleeping form—if she’d actually been asleep. And the tavern last night hadn’t provided the best lighting, either. But now he didn’t miss how pale she’d become when he’d mentioned they needed to talk.

He knew he’d hurt her in the past, but he’d hoped that time might have taken care of that. He’d been young, although not as young as she’d been, and he hadn’t had a choice. Sooner or later she would have gotten hurt, and he’d believed at the time that sooner would be better.

He wasn’t some kind of ogre, out to break her heart again. He really did need the help that she was more than qualified to give. And he suspected she could use the money. He could help her with that, and in turn she would be helping him. Sleep had evaded him for most of the night, as he’d thought about his long-ago dream of them working side by side at a ranch. It could come true now. Even if it was only as employer-employee, it would be something.

But he also knew he had to tread carefully. “I apologize for Sollie causing trouble. If it happens again, give me a call, and I’ll pick him up.”

She avoided looking directly at him. “It’s not a problem. I—I don’t get enough exercise as it is, so he did me a favor.”

Sollie had done them both a favor by getting her on his territory. Now he had the advantage. “Not exactly the kind of exercise you’re used to, but it’s always good to stay active.”

She nodded, shifting from one foot to the other. “The boys talked me into coming home more often, and here I am.”

He knew she meant her brothers. The Walkers had always been a close family. “How long do you plan to stay?”

“I haven’t decided.”

It was his turn to nod, and he thought hard about what he could say next that would keep her there long enough for him to repeat his job offer. She might turn it down again, but if he could calm her nerves first, she just might consider it.

Then he remembered what Luke had said about her horse. “What happened to Firewind?”

She lowered her head. “He had to be put down.”

Jake felt a heaviness in his chest. He could only imagine what that had done to her. She’d loved that horse. The two of them had won events across the country. He still remembered the day she’d gotten him for her fourteenth birthday.

“I’m sorry, Erin. I know how much he meant to you. Was he sick?”

Without looking up, she shook her head. “Just old. Tired and worn out. Putting him down was the kindest and best thing to do for him.”

Every cell in his body urged him to take the few steps needed to pull her into his arms and comfort her. But he knew it would be wrong. Instead, he simply said, “It’s a hard thing to do.”

Slowly lifting her head, she met his gaze. “I’ve been training another horse. It’s slow going, though.” She breathed a tired sigh. “We haven’t connected the way Firewind and I did.”

“It can take time. Do you miss him?”

A sad smile lifted one corner of her mouth. “Every day.”

She’d relaxed some, but he wasn’t quite ready to bring up the job yet. “You always had a good eye when it came to horses.”

Looking down again, she shrugged, as if the praise embarrassed her. “Maybe. But I must’ve misjudged with Lord MacDuff.”

Jake chuckled at the name. “Do you call him Lord or Your Grace?”

She glanced at him, wrinkling her nose. “Neither. It’s MacDuff, and His Grace is questionable.”

So she’d taken a break because her horse didn’t respond the way she needed it to. That would have made sense to him, if she had been anyone else. When it came to animals, Erin had a gift that few people possessed. Sollie had obviously taken to her immediately, and he wasn’t always that way with strangers. Horses, though, had always been her specialty. Maybe she’d misjudged this new horse because she’d been mourning Firewind, and that had brought on a lack of belief in herself.

Would working with other horses help? He was willing to let her try...if she was. “Have you worked with other horses?”

She tilted her head to one side. “Since Firewind?” she asked, and he nodded. “Some.”

“How did it go?”

“Good.”

Hope sank its hooks into him, and he had to hold back a smile. “No problems? They responded to you well?”

“Yes, very well, in fact.”

“Maybe working with a few more horses would give you some distance and then working with MacDuff would go better.” He waited, watching her press her lips together.

“I suppose it could,” she finally said. “But—”

“I have plenty of horses here you could work with. In fact, the ranch needs someone like you.” He’d made sure he hadn’t said that he needed her. “With your talent...”

He knew the instant she realized what he was doing and was certain he’d blown his chance.

She tugged at her ear as if weighing the pros and cons of working for him, then looked him square in the eye. “You pay pretty well, right?”

He searched for the right words, knowing he couldn’t push. “No one’s complained.”

“Cutting horses and roping?”

His heart beat faster. This might work, after all. “Yeah.”

“You’re offering me a job. Again.”

Hoping he didn’t sound desperate, he answered, “I am.”

Seconds that seemed like hours ticked by as a range of emotions moved across her face. Indecision, apprehension and then capitulation. “All right,” she said. “I’ll take it.”

He looked down, fighting a smile of victory. When he had it under control, he looked up. “You’re sure?”

She locked her gaze with his, determination turning her blue-green eyes darker. “I’m sure.”

Nodding, he allowed a small smile. “Welcome to the team, then. When can you start?”

“Whenever you want me.”

His imagination ran wild, but he kept a straight face. “Is that so?”

She seemed to be fighting a snappy comeback and then sobered. “There’s just one thing.”

“What’s that?” he asked, shoving lusty images from his mind.

“Treat me the same as you do the other wranglers.”

This time, he didn’t try to hide his smile. “You mean we shouldn’t be intimate friends?”

She drew herself up and looked him in the eye. “Don’t start, Jake, or I’m gone.”

Ready to agree to just about anything, he dipped his head in a quick nod. “Whatever you say.”

After telling Sollie goodbye, while pointedly avoiding making eye contact with Jake, she turned for home.

“Monday morning, eight o’clock,” he called to her. “And don’t be late.”

She waved a hand without looking back and kept going.

He watched her, hardly believing she’d accepted. He’d won. But how long would his victory last? Only time would tell, and he had plenty of that.

Chapter Three

Erin’s boots felt as if they were filled with cement as she walked across the neighboring pastures to the Morris ranch. Or the Canfield ranch, she corrected, since it now belonged to Jake, Carl Morris’s nephew. By Saturday night, after she’d told Jake she would work for him, she’d come to the conclusion that she’d made a dangerous error by accepting the job he’d offered her. Sunday found her feeling fifty-fifty about it, with half her time spent reminding herself that she hadn’t found work anywhere else and this was the best she could do for the time being. The other half had been spent wondering if she’d lost her mind. By this morning, when her alarm went off, she’d come to the point of not caring. She had a job. One she might even enjoy, in spite of her employer.

Now that she was halfway to the ranch, her nerves had stretched as tight as a size eight girdle on an elephant. She was crazy. Work for Jake? He’d always been her biggest weakness. She’d thought she’d outgrown that, but apparently she hadn’t. Nonetheless, it wouldn’t stop her from doing the best job she could, if only to prove to Jake that she was even better than he thought.

As she approached the ranch, she could see the other cowboys arriving. What would they think of working with a woman? Her apprehension grew with each step she took, until she found herself at the edge of the largest of the corrals, behind an obviously new barn. To the right of it was the sprawling two-story house with the wraparound porch, where Jake had spent his summers. Without thinking, her gaze moved beyond it to the big gambrel-roof barn that held the memory she’d put behind her. Or tried to. Everything that happened after that, except the accident that had taken her parents’ lives, had been affected by the decision she’d made that night he’d come back from college.

She took a deep breath and looked away to see several smaller, new corrals encircling the large ranch yard—strong indications that he planned to stay. If she gained nothing else from this crazy need to prove she could be strong and face down anything thrown at her—including working for Jake—at least she would earn the money she needed. He obviously had plenty.

Lost in her thoughts, she nearly jumped out of her boots when she heard him say her name. Slapping her hand over her suddenly racing heart, she spun around to find him standing only a few feet away.

“You made it,” he said, a hint of surprise in his gray eyes.

Proof, she thought, that he’d expected she wouldn’t show up. “Of course I did. Why wouldn’t I?”

“No reason.”

He looked her over from top to bottom and back again, sending a warm flush through her, until her clenched teeth made her jaw ache. No one could affect her the way Jake did, and she wished he would stop.

“Come meet the others,” he said, turning around and leaving her to cool down and collect her wits.

She nearly had to run to keep up with his long strides. Ahead of them, she saw the other ranch hands greeting each other. “Is this all of us?” she asked. “Three men and me?”

“For now, it is. I could use one more. Maybe two,” he answered. “As the ranch grows, so will the crew.”

Impressed, she had to smile. “That business degree is paying off.”

They’d almost reached the others when he stopped and looked down at her. “There’s no degree.”

When he moved on, she stumbled as she hurried to catch up with him, her mind stuttering on what he’d said. “Why not?” she asked, curious why he hadn’t finished the college degree he’d seemed to want so badly. Badly enough to leave her behind.

“Why not what?” he asked, keeping his attention straight ahead.

“Why don’t you have that degree?”

Several steps later, he answered. “I quit school in the second semester of my sophomore year.”

This time she didn’t stumble. She came to a stop, unable to take another step. He quit school? But before she could say it aloud, he’d joined the others and stood waiting for her.

“Erin, these are your coworkers. That’s Bobby Ray,” Jake said, pointing to a tall, lean, forty-something cowboy, who tipped the brim of his hat with his finger.

“Ma’am,” he drawled.

“Hello, Bobby Ray.”

Jake barely gave her a glance, his focus on his employees. “That over there’s Gary. We’ve worked together for several years. And this here’s Kelly, our most recent employee.”

And the youngest, she thought. Mid-twenties, she guessed when Kelly smiled at her. Gary was close to Jake’s age, in his mid-thirties, with light blue eyes framed by deep crinkles at the corners.

“This is Erin Walker, boys,” Jake finished. “And before you think there isn’t a whole lot to her, I can assure you she not only knows what she’s doing, she’s a lot tougher than she looks.”

“It’s nice to meet you all,” Erin said, looking at each of them.

Before any of them spoke, Jake issued duties for the morning. The men hurried off to do their work, and he turned back to her. “Think you can handle it?”

“I don’t see why not.” None of the other hands had made her feel out of place, although she sensed they weren’t sure what to think of her. Not a new reaction. She’d lived most of her life in a man’s world, and it happened regularly. “I’m pretty sure that if you hired them, they know what they’re doing.”

“They do,” he answered.

“So what’s my job? What is it, exactly, that I’ve been hired to do?”

“We’ll talk about that later. After you’ve had a chance to see the operation, we can decide. Until then, why don’t you go observe each of them? You have a good eye, and I’d be interested to hear what you think.”

She noticed he’d said “we can decide” instead of “I will decide” and was surprised. Deep down, she knew she shouldn’t be. When they were growing up, he’d always shown interest in her riding and had constantly asked her and her brothers questions about horses, livestock and ranching in general.

“I can do that,” she answered, only a little nervous that she would be observing, not working, at least for now. “In the meantime, I look forward to getting to know my fellow employees.”

That brought a smile from him. “Just treating you like the others.”

“Thanks.”

He moved away, and then stopped. “If you have any questions, let me know. I have some other things to take care of, but I’ll be around.”

When he headed in the direction of the big barn where she’d seen Kelly disappear, she blew out a breath. So far, so good.

For the next few hours, she watched the other wranglers, making mental notes of how they handled the animals and of their strengths and weaknesses. What that had to do with the job she would be assigned, she didn’t know. But she guessed Jake would tell her before the day ended.

Leaning against the corral fence, she felt someone walk up behind her and she turned to see the object of her thoughts.

“How’s it going?” he asked.

“Good. Not that I know why I’m doing it, but you’re the boss.”

“You always were a fast learner.”

No way would she answer that. She couldn’t be sure what he was referring to, but it was better that she didn’t try to guess.

He must have picked up on what she was thinking, because she caught a ghost of a smile on his lips before he spoke. “What do you think of them?”

“As a whole?”

“Yeah.”

“They seem to get along with each other,” she said. “There aren’t any slackers, so nobody is forced to do anyone else’s job. They each do their own thing, but they seem friendly toward each other. It’s a good group, at least from what I’ve seen.”

“And individually?”

She didn’t know how to answer. “Do you want an honest assessment?”

“Nothing but.”

Nodding, she glanced around the big ranch yard, where the men continued working with the livestock and focused on what they were doing, not on Jake. “Bobby Ray is good. It’s easy to see that he has a lot of experience. But I also see a little weakness in his roping.”

“All right. Go on.”

“Gary seems to know what he’s doing and is doing it right. At least that’s my observation.”

“I expect that.”

He wasn’t giving her much to go on, but she continued. “I didn’t see much of Kelly.”

“Kelly’s helping me with some updates in the barn.”

“Have you given any thought to hiring a few high school boys to help with those kinds of things?”

“No, I haven’t. Should I?”

He was being far too reasonable and it made her nervous. “Glory hired a few last year to help with work on the house.”

“I’ll think about it.”

She waited for him to say more, and when he didn’t, she looked up at him. It was the wrong thing to do. He was watching her closely, his eyes smoky and half-lidded. She knew that look all too well. It had always made her feel as if her bones were turning to liquid. It still did.

She needed to get away, have a little time to herself. Thirty minutes. An hour, at the most. But how?

He blinked, clearing his eyes, and stepped back. “Lunch is at noon.”

Her knees weakened at the reprieve. “I’ll go home for that,” she answered, with effort. “What time do I need to be back?”

“We all go to the café. Together.”

So much for getting a little time to herself to put some space between them. But she’d insisted on being treated as one of them, so she couldn’t complain now.

* * *

JAKE STUDIED THE ice in his glass of tea, wondering if he’d done the right thing by hiring Erin.

The five of them were nearly finished with their lunch at the Chick-a-Lick Café. He’d noticed immediately when Erin chose the seat farthest away from him. She’d even insisted on sitting in the backseat of his crew cab pickup on the way into town. He reminded himself that this was only the first day. There would be plenty of time to fix things between them.

He heard her laugh and moved his chair a little more to the left, hoping to get a better view of her. As he did, Darla, their waitress and the café manager, placed the bill next to him. He looked up with a smile. “Great meal, as always, Darla,” he told her.

“Thanks, Jake,” she replied, and then turned to look down the table. “It’s good to see you again, Erin,” she said with a friendly smile. “You probably don’t remember me. I was finishing eighth grade when you graduated from high school.”

“Of course I remember you,” Erin answered. “You have three brothers. Patrick was in my class.”

Darla’s smile widened. “Yes, he was.”

“What’s he doing?”

“He moved to the city. He’s a doctor. My mother is thrilled.”

Erin laughed, and Jake wished she would laugh at something he said. She’d spent the morning staying out of his range, and he’d played it smart by keeping his distance, as much as possible.

“Eat up, boys,” he said, purposely not mentioning Erin’s name. After all, she wanted to be treated like them. “We need to be getting back soon.”

“Well, I’ll be danged!”

Jake looked down the table at Bobby Ray, sitting across the table from Erin and staring at her.

“I knew there was something about you,” Bobby Ray continued, “but I couldn’t put my finger on it. It just came to me like a lightning bolt. You’re Erin Walker.”

Putting her glass aside, she leaned back and crossed her arms, her face calm and straight. “That’s my name.”

Bobby Ray glanced at Jake, who smiled. He had an idea where this was going and knew it would be interesting.

Shaking his head, Bobby Ray leaned forward. “No. I mean yes, you are, but I mean the Erin Walker, the barrel racer. I’ve seen you compete.”

She didn’t say anything at first, then spoke directly to him. “Did you rodeo, Bobby Ray?”

His nod was short and quick. “I did, back in the day. Team roping. By the time I really got the hang of it, the younger cowboys were catching up. I decided it must not be for me.”

“He’s not being honest,” Jake said, from his end of the table. “He and his partner won several competitions.”

Bobby Ray shook his head. “Not enough to keep me in it. It’s a tough life. And an expensive one, if you aren’t on the winning side more than the losing.”

Erin didn’t respond at first, leaving Jake to wonder what was going through her head.

“It takes more than talent,” she finally said, giving Bobby Ray a smile Jake wished she’d bestowed on him.

“Well, you’ve got that, for sure,” the wrangler answered.

“What’s it like, Erin?” Kelly asked. “Traveling around the country.”

She gave a little one-shouldered shrug. “It’s like living life as a gypsy. Sometimes exciting. Sometimes just a lot of driving. This is such a beautiful country, and I’ve been lucky to see so much of it. But the rodeo circuit, like everything else, has its ups and downs, pros and cons.”

Jake had never thought her life had been easy, but this was the first time, except for when she’d talked about Firewind, that he’d caught a note of loneliness in her voice. Most of the time it was spit and fire. The years had changed her, at least a little.

Standing, he announced, “We’d better be getting back.”

The others started moving, and while he walked on to the cash register, they left the café. When he finished paying the bill, he found them waiting on the sidewalk in front of his truck and joined them.

“Maybe Erin should sit in front, this time,” Gary said, opening the front passenger door.

“I’m fine in the back,” she answered quickly. “You and Jake need the extra leg room.”

“Less crowded with you in the front,” Jake pointed out.

“Maybe another time,” she said, without looking at him.

His gaze lingered on her for a moment, and then he walked around the front of the truck and climbed in. “Let’s get a move on, boys.”

They’d reached the outskirts of town when Bobby Ray leaned forward. “Were you going to look into that cattle sale down in Wichita Falls?”

“I plan to,” Jake answered.

“I hear they’ll have some nice horses, too.”

“It’s two weeks away, so I’ll check into that more closely before I go. Can’t have too many horses,” Jake said, and glanced in the rearview mirror. Erin didn’t seem to hear him as she stared out the window. If only he knew what she was thinking. Or maybe it was best that he didn’t.

The rest of the ride back to the ranch remained quiet. As he turned the truck into the ranch yard, he tried to think of something he could have Erin do that would keep her nearby.

He’d just gotten out of the truck and closed the door, when he saw her catching up with Bobby Ray, heading for the large corral. The nearly windless day helped carry her voice, so he watched and listened.

“I noticed you were having a little trouble this morning, Bobby Ray,” she said, matching his stride.

“Slow reaction speed,” he answered.

“I think we can fix that.”

He turned his head to look at her. “You think so?”

“Yeah, I do. Would you mind if I gave you a few tips? I learned a lot doing ranch work during breaks.”

He stopped, still looking at her, and Jake waited. Bobby Ray was a good ol’ boy, and Jake wasn’t sure how the cowboy might take her offer.

“You’d do that?” Bobby Ray asked.

“Only if you want me to,” she answered.

He pulled off his battered cowboy hat and scratched his head. “Well, now, ma’am, I can’t say it would hurt me, if you know what I mean.”

“We all started at the beginning and had to learn,” Erin said. “Sometimes more than once.”

“That’s the truth.” He replaced his hat and then offered her his arm. “I’d be honored if you’d give me some tips on what will make my ropin’ better, Miz Walker.”

Her smile was bright, and she looped her arm through his. “Then let’s get to it. And it’s Erin.”

Jake watched them enter the corral and thought again about what she’d said at the café. He’d followed her career for many years and knew she’d had several good wins, almost making it to the National Finals a few times. But he also knew it took money to get from rodeo to rodeo. Considering the cost of gas, entry fees, food, feed and vet care for her horse, and everything else, it could get expensive. Was that why she’d come home? She’d admitted that her new horse was in need of more training. If she hadn’t been winning and had paid out more than she’d won, it made sense that she’d left. The question now was whether she intended to return to her rodeo life or if she’d left it behind and wanted to move on to something else.

He didn’t know if he wanted to hear the answer. When he did, maybe he would ask her. Until then, he would wait and see how things worked out—or didn’t work out—between them.

At quitting time, he stood in the yard, praising his men for a good day as they climbed into their vehicles. When they started their engines and began to drive away, he noticed that Erin had already started for home.

“Can I give you a ride?” he called to her.

Facing him, she walked backward and kept going. “I don’t mind the walk, but thank you.”

When she turned back, he lengthened his stride, catching up with her, before she’d gone too far. “More exercise?” he asked, stepping up to walk beside her.

“It can’t hurt.”

“You look fine to me.” As soon as it was out of his mouth, he regretted saying it and was thankful she didn’t have a quick comeback. “It was nice what you did with Bobby Ray today.”

“He strikes me as a good man,” she said, glancing up at him. “The talent is there. He just needs a little practice on some of the things I showed him.”

“You didn’t have to do that.”

She stopped. “Isn’t that why you hired me?”

“Sure. Some of it.” He wouldn’t tell her that he’d also had personal reasons. Very personal. She would figure that out on her own, soon enough.

“Then there’s no need to talk about it,” she said, then hesitated. “All you have to do is tell me the job you want me to do, and I’ll do the best I can. That’s how I work.”

He knew that. She’d been born into ranching—one big reason he’d hired her. But he’d worked hard at it. Spent years on other people’s ranches, starting at the bottom. Things were different now. He was the boss. He just hadn’t adjusted to it yet.

“It’s only your first day.”

She shifted from one foot to the other. “And I can’t keep wandering around, watching others. I need to work with the rest of them. It’s pretty clear you need me, or at least someone. And it wouldn’t hurt to hire another person, especially if you plan to add more livestock.”

He couldn’t argue with that, but it wasn’t as easy as she might think. He’d worked with Gary, so that had been easy. He’d found Bobby Ray through a friend, and Kelly had answered an ad.

“I intend to. There’s a flyer in the café, and I put ads in several ranching papers and magazines,” he explained. “It doesn’t happen overnight. Not with experienced men.”

She nodded but didn’t say anything.

When he heard a bark, he turned to see his dog and welcomed the interruption. “Looks like Sollie’s coming to tell you goodbye.”

“Tell him I’ll see him tomorrow.” When she walked away, she moved fast.

“Same time in the morning,” he shouted as she gained ground.

She waved at him, without looking back.

Sollie stopped beside him, giving his hand a nudge. “Yeah, she’s gone for the day. But she’ll be back.” Scratching Sollie’s head, he watched her until she disappeared from his sight. He looked down at the dog. “We have to keep her here, Sollie. I know you don’t understand, but we have to.”

* * *

JONAH BUTTERFIELD WINCED at the beginnings of a blister on his heel, inside his nearly new boots. He’d done more walking in the past day than he had in half of his almost seventeen years. He hadn’t, really. It only felt as though he had. But it didn’t matter. He was on a mission.

Kicking up dust from the shoulder of the road, he looked again to see if the ranch he needed to find was close by. No house, yet, but he did spy a large, country mailbox set on a post and hoped his journey might be nearing its end.

Another dozen steps, and he could make out the name on the mailbox. JAKE CANFIELD, it said, in bright blue letters. He’d finally made it to his destination, and with nothing but the name of a town, some initials and that name.

He reached the box and stood staring at it for several seconds. No one knew him or knew why he was there. They would learn soon enough.

Taking a deep breath, he started up the long drive to a large two-story house. Nice. Not some old place like a few he’d seen. Behind it were what looked like a couple of barns and some white fences. Corrals. He’d seen them in pictures.

As he walked closer, he saw two cowboys, each leading a horse. He needed to find the one who owned the ranch.

No one seemed to notice him, so he had a chance to run through what he planned to say. He would just tell them he’d been traveling through on the way to visit a friend and stopped at the café in town, where he’d seen a help-wanted flyer. Not exactly the truth, but good enough. He had seen the flyer, but he’d already known to look for a guy named Jake at the Canfield ranch. That much he’d learned while thumbing through a ranching magazine at the library.

He felt pretty safe. No one would be looking for him yet. In a day or two, maybe, but he had some—

“Hey, kid.”

Jonah looked to his right and saw a sandy-haired man walking toward him. “Mr. Canfield?” he asked, hoping he had the right guy.

“Hang on,” the man said, and turned around. “Hey, Jake! Somebody’s here looking for you.”

“Send him over,” the man who answered to the name said.

So that was him, Jonah thought, as he thanked the first guy and walked over to where Jake stood talking to a woman. A cowgirl, he guessed, by the jeans, boots and hat. Jake’s wife?

“Mr. Canfield?” he asked again.

The guy looked at him. “Yeah, that’s me.”

No turning back now. “A man gave me a ride—”

“Are you here about the job?”

How lucky could a guy get? He didn’t even have to ask or anything. But he would have to wing the rest of it. He hadn’t thought much beyond this. “Yeah. Could you use another hand?”

The woman next to him started to move away, but Jake stopped her. “Stay. We’re not through.” Then he turned back to Jonah. “What’s your name?”

“Jonah. Jonah Butterfield.”

“How old are you, Jonah?”

“Eighteen, sir.” Okay, that was a stretch, but did it matter?

Jake looked him over. “You have identification?”

Heart plummeting, Jonah reached around to his back pocket, juggling the backpack he wore, while keeping a tight grip on his duffel bag. “Right here.”

“No, that’s okay,” Jake said, stopping him. “I can get that later. How much do you know about horses?”

“Not a whole lot,” Jonah answered, truthfully this time. “But I’m willing to learn.” When Jake started to shake his head, Jonah hurried on. “I’m a quick learner.” Even his dad said so, not that he cared what his dad said.

Jake glanced at the woman, who shrugged, and then he asked another question. “Do you live around here, Jonah?”

“No, sir. Up north.”

Jake looked at him, his eyes squinting a little. “Where, exactly, would that be?”

Jonah hoped he didn’t have to get too specific, or the whole thing might blow up. He wasn’t ready to walk away, not until he found who he’d set out to look for, got a few questions answered and then said what he’d come to say.

“I’m from Kansas,” he answered.

The woman took a small step back but didn’t say anything. He pretended he didn’t notice, but then she pinned him in place with a look that would have frozen anyone with half a brain.

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