The Rancher's Surrender

Zoe imagined the truck, the horses of her childhood dreams, maybe even a boat...and gave a hearty laugh.

Which died in her throat when she got her first look at the house.

“Damn,” Delia said eloquently.

Maddie, in between the two of them, hugged their arms closer to her. She remained silent, though Zoe had no trouble detecting the anxiety running through her.

She understood the feeling as she flickered her light over the ranch house. It was old and falling apart at the seams.

“Not good,” Delia said in a huge understatement. “Not good at all. Let’s go back.”

Zoe knew that was the city girl talking. But the truth was, they had nothing to go back to. They’d packed up their meager belongings, which would be delivered in the next few days, and given up their apartment and jobs.

And this...decrepit old place, for all it was worth, was theirs. All theirs. At the thought, a burst of territorial pride overcame Zoe. She hadn’t had much in her life to feel territorial about, so she enjoyed the feeling. Nothing was going to get in the way of that, not even if the house blew over on the next wind. “We’ll be okay.” She’d make sure of it. “Come on.”

Together they walked toward the house, which was nothing more than a large shadow looming over them. The wooden porch creaked warningly, making Zoe wonder just how safe it was. The front door, crooked on its hinges, looked as though a light kick could knock it in. She fumbled through her pockets for the keys she’d been given.

Her flashlight wavered and went out.

Maddie’s breath caught, the only audible sound in the ensuing blackness.

Before Zoe could so much as form the swearwords coming to her brain, two headlights gleamed, wavering up and down in the rough road as they came closer and closer. A moment later she could hear the sound of a truck, and her heart lodged in her throat.

They were three women out in the middle of nowhere, sitting ducks, and here she stood, frozen in the oncoming headlights like a deer.

The truck stopped directly next to their rental car, and blinded by the glaring twin lights, Zoe threw a hand up in front of her face.

The driver left the headlights on—to torment them? Zoe wondered frantically—as he stepped out.

The crunching of the stranger’s booted feet on the gravel of the driveway propelled Zoe into action. “Down,” she whispered, pulling her sisters out of the path of the bright lights. They ducked low, tumbling into one another as they shifted to the side of the patio, only to find themselves cornered by the wooden railing.

“Hey,” a deep male voice called out. “Who’s there?”

“Don’t move,” Zoe instructed, holding on to her sisters’ hands tightly. “Don’t even breathe. Maybe he’ll leave.”

“He saw us,” Maddie whispered frantically, her voice wavering, making Zoe hug her closer. “I know he did.”

“Maybe it’s just a neighbor?” Delia suggested hopefully.

Maybe, but Zoe didn’t plan on taking any chances. Not with her sisters. She weighted the meaty flashlight in one hand, considering it a weapon now.

“Can’t believe you didn’t check your batteries,” Delia hissed. “You always check them. You’re anal-retentive about that stuff.”

Zoe considered testing her weapon on her sister’s pretty head, but changed her mind when the stranger called out again, much closer this time.

“Hello?”

For some reason, the husky, grainy voice tickled Zoe’s tummy, and she clutched Maddie and Delia in a vise grip.

“I know you’re here, I saw your headlights from my house.”

When no one answered, the man’s wide shoulders rose and fell sharply with a sigh, as if he were annoyed. “Cade sent me out to check on your arrival. I’m your neighbor, Ty Jackson.”

Delia shot Zoe a triumphant glare, pulled her hands free, adjusted her still-perfect hair and stood, only to fall back down to the patio when Zoe yanked hard on her arm.

“Are you crazy?” Zoe demanded in a harsh whisper. “You can’t just blindly trust him.”

“But he knows Cade—”

“Honest to God, Delia, I have not a clue as to how you managed to survive in Los Angeles.” Furious, Zoe clenched both sisters now with fisted hands. Fear did that to her, kicked up her temper.

Fear and regret, for if anything happened to either Delia or Maddie, it would be her fault because it had been she who had insisted they go on this crazy adventure. Crazy, stupid adventure.

The man stepped up onto the patio, looking larger than life with the yellow lights of his truck highlighting him from behind. He stood on the rickety old porch, his easy, loose-limbed stance revealing a tall, rangy body with legs and arms that seemed to stretch forever.

None of the women budged, or even breathed, but he turned unerringly toward them, allowing the light to fall over him.

“See?” He lifted his hands, apparently to show he meant no harm, but his irritation was unmistakable. In one of his hands was a heavy-duty flashlight, which he left off. “Just your friendly neighbor, not the boogeyman.”

Zoe recognized his name, knew that he was the caretaker of this property, and due to the terms of Constance’s will, he was to remain manager for one year. Still...her fingers dug into her sisters’ arms, silently daring them to move.

When they didn’t come forward, the man crouched low on the protesting wood planks, as if he instinctively understood how overwhelmingly male he seemed. His unbuttoned plaid shirt spread wide over a white T-shirt that revealed an expanse of well-muscled chest and shoulders. His faded jeans encased powerful legs that strained taut in his hunkered position. The light fell over his face, casting his dark, chiseled features in bold relief.

“Come on,” he said. “It’s late. Let’s do this.” He blinked into the darkness, his glittering eyes somehow landing directly on Zoe. “Maddie and Delia, right? And... Zophina?”

Delia snorted, and Zoe, masked in the dark patio, pinched her.

“Look, would I know your names if I wasn’t telling the truth?” he asked, exasperation clear.

Good point, Zoe supposed, but she didn’t move.

His head dropped between his shoulders for a moment, his frustration tangible. Then he tried again. “You know that I’ve been working part of this land with mine, leasing it from Constance for years. And you know who Constance was...your grandmother, or one of yours, anyway.”

In the dark, the women looked at one another. Certainly he had to be who he said, for what stranger could know all this?

“Quite the mystery, isn’t it?” He shook his head, then glanced over at them as if to make sure he had their attention.

He’d never had anything but.

At their lack of motion, he looked around him at the land. “Constance tried like crazy to find her granddaughter over the years. It’s hard to believe she didn’t live long enough to see it through.”

Would a bad guy really show such insight? Zoe didn’t know and refused to take a chance. But his voice mesmerized her as he continued to speak into the dark night.

“She didn’t even know her granddaughter’s name, only the month and year of birth and approximate last sighting of her son’s girlfriend.”

Los Angeles.

Emotions tumbled through Zoe, and she knew it was no less for her sisters, for each of them wanted to know more about Constance, more about where they had possibly come from. Delia nudged her, and even in the darkness, Zoe had no trouble deciphering Delia’s glare.