The Rancher's Surrender

He was amazingly successful, but he’d maxed out at his own place, and Ben’s dream was just out of reach.

More land was crucial. Crucial to his promise to Ben, crucial to making sure he couldn’t ever feel claustrophobic again.

Yet how was he supposed to wrangle his dream land away from these women who also needed it? It was all they had, and was he really cruel and selfish enough to get it away from them?

He stood there, wrestling with his deeply woven morals and innate courtesy, as they both reared up and bit him. Across the room, his gaze met Zoe’s, and that strange electric current shot through him, the same one that he’d experienced when he’d accidentally touched her at the door. Looking at her only intensified the feeling.

Seemed he’d also been bitten by the lust bug, sharp and relentlessly. But why for the wildcat Zoe and not one of her infinitely more appealing and nicer sisters?

Delia swept across the room as if she’d lived there all her life instead of ten minutes. “Zoe, why don’t you do me a favor and check out the bedrooms? Figure out the arrangements, will you?” She turned to Maddie. “Sweetie, maybe we should make sure the kitchen is functioning.”

Maddie nodded.

When she was gone, Delia smiled at Ty. “The kitchen, any kitchen, is her favorite place in the world.”

“Do you think he cares, Delia?”

Delia lifted a shoulder and sent Zoe a long look. “Hon, you’re going to get some sleep and then feel bad about how you’re acting.”

“And then you’ll owe me an apology,” Ty added helpfully.

“Don’t hold your breath,” Zoe muttered, making him laugh, which earned him a glare.

“I’ll direct the luggage shuffle with Ty,” Delia said, wisely intervening. “Most of our things are coming by professional movers in a couple of days.”

Ty turned to follow her outside. At the door he stopped and flicked a glance over his shoulder at Zoe.

She was still standing there watching him, and if looks were any measure, she hadn’t taken to him much.

It wasn’t often he managed to tick off such a beautiful woman so quickly. His mischievous streak reared and he winked at her.

Her glower deepened, and he laughed for some reason. Things looked bad, they had his land. But Ty just shook his head and went out into the night, looking forward to challenging Zoe.

* * *

“Move out of the way, Slim, it’s pouring buckets.”

Zoe stood firm in the doorway of the ranch house as though butterflies hadn’t instantly ravaged her stomach at the sound of Ty’s unexpected low, husky voice. “Why should I?”

Ty groaned and lifted his drenched head, shoving back his dark hair. His eyes, the color of the storm wreaking havoc behind him, pierced her. “Because if you don’t,” he said with silky promise, “I’m going to drag you out here so you can see for yourself how icy it is.”

Though she didn’t know the man well, she already knew better than to challenge one of his dares, for it appeared he never spoke idly. He would do as he threatened without qualm. “Fine.”

With resentment, and a good amount of something she didn’t want to analyze, something that made her insides tingle and her head light, she moved back to let him in.

His big body brushed hers purposely, a body she knew from sneaking glances to be hard and toned and powerfully built And wet. He dripped on her clean sweater, the one she’d just changed into after scrubbing the inside of the house all day.

Actually, she’d been scrubbing for three days, and was exhausted, though in truth, most of that exhaustion came from worry. What would they do? For in the light of day, Triple M, deserted and financially stuck, was no more a ranch than their apartment had been. She’d been reading ranching books until late at night, but all the knowledge in the world wouldn’t help without money.

“Wipe your feet,” she said, even as he did it on his own. “And dry off, would ya?”

“Nice to see you, too.” As he slipped out of his soaked jacket, his hard mouth softened and he shot her a grin she knew most would consider irresistible.

Zoe didn’t consider anything about Ty Jackson irresistible. She would have said...cocky. Trouble-causing. Wild.

Which didn’t explain why his crooked smile wormed its way directly to the part of her that was barely controlling her temper, and shattered it. That she was so mad at him had nothing at all to do with how she’d caught him flirting outrageously with one of his ranch hands, who just happened to be a woman. A tall, leggy blond woman named Shirley who looked like a Barbie doll.

“So...did you miss me?” He straightened and sniffed hopefully. “Wait. Is that...God, is that pizza?”

“Yes, and don’t even think about it.” Slamming the door to shut out the late spring storm, she crossed her arms firmly and once again blocked his way. “We returned the rental car today and brought back supplies. Maddie’s whipped up homemade pizza. Her idea of roughing it,”

“You should have told me you needed to go into town. I would have taken you on my jet boat down the river. It takes less than half the time.”

She gritted her teeth and pretended she had loved that long, bumpy, hot ride because otherwise she might have been tempted to slug him. Triple M had a dock, too, which was an easy walk from the house down a beautiful green hill...but, not surprising, it didn’t have a jet boat. “Goodbye, Ty.”

His gaze took a leisurely trip down her petite frame, and though those sharp gray eyes heated in a way that made her breath catch in her throat, his smile remained cool and m control. “You think you can stop me from coming in? No one gets between me and pizza.”

“Watch it, pal. I know how to block.”

Darn his all-too-gorgeous hide, he looked amused. “Why don’t you play the nice little hostess for once and pretend you’re happy to see me?”

Pretend. She didn’t have to pretend, if the way her heart raced was any indication. But since that just irked her all the more, she ground her teeth. “You’re not staying.”

He crossed his wet arms over his chest, the look on his face reminding her he enjoyed a challenge. “Bet I can convince Maddie and Delia different,” he said.

No use arguing the truth. The man standing in front of her could convince a nun he was innocent, something he’d certainly never been. After a mere three days, he’d have to do nothing more than hug each of her sisters, and then he’d be sitting on the floor, joking and laughing with them as he polished off an entire pizza by himself.

No denying how much Delia and Maddie had both taken to him. Actually they’d done more than be taken. In the past nights that he’d come by, ostensibly to check on them, they’d practically adopted him.

No doubt, Ty Jackson was one of a kind. He marched to his own beat, and never did less than exactly as he wanted. And though it made no sense, Zoe resented his sexy hide for all she was worth. Resented the genuine, affectionate way he had of treating her sisters, resented how his smile could turn her inside out, resented everything.

Especially how he wanted their land. Delia and Maddie might have been able to forget that little detail, but she hadn’t.

For the first tune in her life, she had a home; shabby, yes, but it was a home. And she’d guard it with everything she had.

Ty hung up his jacket, clearly certain he’d be staying. The sleek muscles of his back stretched under his shirt, and for the first time, Zoe realized he must have come straight from work. His boots were dusty. His long, powerful legs were covered in frayed, worn jeans that had seen better days but fit him like a worn, soft glove. While she watched, he shoved up the sleeves of his shirt, revealing deeply tanned forearms, strong, firm, callused hands.

“See anything interesting?”

Her gaze jerked up to his laughing one, and she was thankful the room was dim enough to hide her blush. “Don’t count on it. But you’re holding up okay for an old man of...” She considered him with a frown, feigning indifference. “Forty.”

“Thirty-four,” he corrected her. He leaned forward, smelling of rain, wood and one hundred percent delicious masculinity as he tugged a loose lock of her hair. “But I’ll be sure to tell that to the geriatric warden tonight when I check in, thanks.”

Muttering to herself, she whirled away.

One of his hands caught her and held firm as steel. “Wait up.”

His eyes weren’t kind and sweet, the way they were when he looked at Delia and Maddie. They were...hot. “I’m busy,” she managed to say.