The Rancher's Surrender

What had that been over dinner, that strange connection between them? For a long, uncomfortable amount of time, she hadn’t been able to tear her gaze from his. Not that the big, lean, muscular man was a hardship to look at, but it unnerved her, this attraction she didn’t want.

Just the thought had her walking faster into the night. Behind the shack of a barn, and nearly a hundred yards away, was another building, a second barn. With all her energy, it was no problem to cover this distance quickly. She was oddly unafraid of the dark, even with all the night sounds echoing around her. In fact, she felt more at home here in the wilderness than she ever had on the crazy streets of Los Angeles.

This barn was much nicer than the one closer to the house, and she knew why. It wasn’t used by Constance’s ranch, it was part of the land leased by Ty. This part of Constance’s land was closest to his, and at certain times of the year, such as now, when it was still cold at night, he kept horses stabled here.

Through a thicket of trees and up a gentle slope she thought she could see the lights of his own ranch house. But because she didn’t want to imagine his life there, she turned away and opened one of the heavy double barn doors.

“Well, hello there.”

Zoe nearly jumped out of her skin at the unexpected voice, which was mixed with the sounds of the horses within the barn, stomping impatiently at the late intrusion.

“It’s just me. Cliff.” The man turned his flashlight on himself as he dismounted from his horse. “How‘ya doing tonight, ma’am?”

Zoe recognized him as one of Ty’s men. He was young, late twenties at the most. He smiled easily, laughed just as easily, was sweet and kind to a fault; altogether the opposite of his boss.

“I’m just checking the horses,” he said, as if he needed to put her mind to rest. “We’ve got one close to foal.”

Zoe’s troubles fell away at the thought. “Really?” She pictured a brand new baby horse, all awkward and adorable, struggling to stand next to its mother, and went warm and fuzzy inside. “I’ve never seen a pregnant horse before.”

“Can’t have that,” Cliff drawled, smiling at her. He walked past her into the barn and hit one of the switches on the wall. Soft light filled a small portion of the barn. So did an intriguing mix of scents that Zoe hadn’t gotten used to yet, but liked. Sweet hay, horse...man.

Even here, she thought with wonder, she could smell Ty.

She told herself that was dumb and concentrated on looking around. There was a double row of stables here, and a couple of curious horses peeked out over the doors. A sable-colored mare stood closest in her stall, staring over the wood with large, melting eyes.

Zoe moved closer, mesmerized. In the past few days she hadn’t had time for this, with getting the house cleaned and everything situated. She reached out with a slightly nervous hand, charmed when the horse pushed her big head closer, stretching her long neck.

Then Cliff was there, right next to Zoe, holding an apple. He pulled out a pocketknife and sliced off a piece. Gently, he took Zoe’s hand in his warm, callused one, put the wedge of apple on it and held it out. Zoe went still at Cliff’s touch and waited for that burst of awareness, the same one she got whenever Ty inadvertently touched her.

Nothing.

Disappointed, she looked up into Cliff’s handsome face, wondering why. It didn’t seem fair in the least that this man did nothing for her. It wasn’t unusual, she’d gone most of her life without being tempted in the slightest by the more rugged male species. She’d managed to lose her virginity early due to pure curiosity, but a shrugging disinterest in the activities had assured her she wasn’t missing anything.

Here she was at twenty-six, a woman who didn’t seem to lust as most normal women did. So why was she suddenly doing just that with Ty of all men?

Well, if she had to be experimenting, then it should be with someone kind and gentle like Cliff. Maybe if she tried just a tad bit harder...

Oblivious to her thoughts, Cliff held the apple up to the eager horse. “Watch,” he whispered conspiratorially, winking when Zoe beamed up at him, giving it her best shot.

The beautiful animal, whose sides were bursting, obviously filled with pregnancy, reached its sniffing, hopeful face toward them and...bright light flooded the place.

The horse snickered, annoyed. Zoe blocked her eyes from the bright glare.

“This is certainly cozy.”

Zoe blinked until she could see. Ty leaned negligently back against the wall, arms loose, fingers hooked into his belt loops, legs crossed in a deceptively casual pose. Every switch on the wall had been flipped on. “Sorry if I interrupted anything,” he said, looking anything but.

Cliff smiled at him and shook his head. “Just giving Abby a bedtime snack.” But he dropped his hand from Zoe’s.

Ty nodded, his expression inscrutable. “You’re all done for the night?”

Cliff’s smile faded some and he shuffled his feet slightly. “Well...”

Ty lifted a brow, all stern and unrelenting, none of the sharp wit that Zoe had come to think of as innately part of the man in evidence now. “Well, what?” he snapped.

Zoe opened her mouth, but not sure what to say, she shut it again.

Cliff shifted his weight. “I didn’t have time to—”

“You had time to come on to Ms. Martin.”

Now Zoe opened her mouth again, suddenly positive she did indeed have plenty to say.

Before she could, Ty pushed away from the wall, and when he did, Cliff shot Zoe a half-sheepish, half-apologetic glance, moving clear from her.

“Ah...gotta go,” he mumbled.

With enough bright lights shining that she could see every line on his tanned face, Zoe had no trouble detecting Cliff’s blush, or his embarrassment. She glared at Ty, who didn’t appear to notice. When Cliff had fumbled his way out of the barn, leaving the door open in his haste to escape, Zoe ground her teeth and turned to Ty. “Well, that was...nice.”

His eyes flashed. “Don’t flirt with my help.”

“Flirt?” A shocked laugh left her. This had to be a joke. But it wasn’t, she realized, looking at his furious face.

“If you want to flirt,” he growled, “you do it with me.”

Carefully she closed her dropped jaw. “You’re the last man in Idaho—No, the last man on earth that I’d flirt with.” Tossing her hair back, she stormed over to him. That her chin didn’t even come to his tense shoulder didn’t stop her; she wasn’t afraid of him. “And don’t you ever tell me what to do.”

“I’ll tell you whatever I please when it’s my business.”

“This is just because I refused to take you on as our partner.”

“Believe me, it has nothing to do with that—”

“You flirt with Shirley.”

He laughed then, some of the tension leaving him as she stood him down. “I do not.”

“I saw you.”

“What you saw, Zoe, was me turning her down. I don’t mix business and pleasure. Usually,” he added, taking the last step between them.

The breath backed up in her throat at the look on his face. The shadows covered some of his expression, making it difficult to tell if all that heat was anger or arousal. She preferred the former.

“Did you hear me, Zoe? Stay away from my ranch hands.”

“You’re a...a bully!”

He laughed again. “Is that the best you can do?” Before she could come up with better, he’d taken her shoulders and pressed her back against the stall. Zoe was sandwiched between the hard, cold wood and Ty’s equally hard but warm body, and her mind went blank. He surrounded her, and it wasn’t a threatening sort of feeling at all, though it should have been. His broad shoulders blocked the light, blocked out everything but him.