The Rancher's Surrender

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  Contents:

  Prologue

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

  Epilogue

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  Prologue

  ^ »

  Zoe Martin squeezed her foster sisters' hands tightly, but only because she thought Delia or Maddie might be scared of the dark.

  She wasn't scared, she was scared of nothing. Nothing at all.

  A cricket burst into melody, and she nearly leaped out of her skin.

  Delia and Maddie scooted closer, until they were practically in one another's laps, reminding Zoe she wasn't alone. They were all the same age: the quiet withdrawn Maddie, the bossy Delia, and herself. And they were all very different. But the three of them had pledged to be sisters forever, and that was all that mattered now.

  Cranking her neck back, Zoe stared at the city sky littered with fog and pollution, and forgot her six-year-old bravado. Forgot that her eyes burned from lack of sleep due to bad dreams, her cheek burned from where she'd been smacked by an older child in their group home, one of the bullies.

  She forgot everything but what she and Delia and Maddie had crept out here for—their dream.

  As they huddled on the damp grass, holding on to one another, she stared at the faint stars and offered up her one and only wish—that they would be kept together, forever.

  * * *

  One thousand miles away in Idaho, Constance Freeman hung up the phone and sighed deeply with painful regret. If her heart felt as though it were cracking open, she knew it was no one's fault but her own.

  She'd let her son get away, though that wasn't what tore at her now, for he'd been mean, dishonest and selfish. A bad seed.

  What she regretted with all her heart was that he'd gone without telling her the one thing she so desperately needed to know.

  Where her young granddaughter had been taken. For six years, since the birth of the child, Constance had been begging her son for information. Cruelly, he'd withheld it, saying only that his ex-girlfriend, the child's mother, had vanished. And so had the child. Tracing her was difficult, for her son hadn't married the girl's mother, and Constance had no idea what the mother's name was. Heaven only knew what name was on the birth certificate.

  But Constance would find her, she vowed with renewed determination. She'd search everywhere if she had to, spend every last penny she had. It would be worth it.

  She'd find that child and shower her with all the love and attention Constance was so certain she wasn't getting now.

  She'd leave that child her legacy, though she knew others might not see it as a legacy so much as a burden. Certainly her own son had felt that way.

  But Constance's ranch, Triple M, was her one true love, and she wouldn't be happy until she knew she'd taken care of both its future, and her granddaughter's.

  * * *

  Chapter 1

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  Twenty years later

  In the dark night the mountains rose like giants. Three giants. And excitement ripped through Zoe so that she could barely contain herself as she parked.

  "We're here!" she cried, leaping out of the car first. Not because she was the oldest; she wasn't. They were all close enough to the same age that it didn't matter.

  But Maddie-the-Worrywart had pretended to fall asleep in the back seat on the long ride from the airport, and Delia-the-Know-It-All still couldn't believe what they'd done.

  And Zoe was so thrilled to be at Triple M Ranch, she couldn't stand it. Her dreams were about to come true, after a lifetime of uncertainty and nowhere to belong, she was home.

  Everyone that mattered to her was in the car. And she wanted them to be as happy. "Come on, you two," she whispered in the absolute darkness, her feet crunching in the dirt beneath her as she turned and peered back into the open rental car. "Let's go."

  "It's … black out there" came Maddie's hushed reply. Her pale, sleepy face popped up from the back seat. Rumpled and tired as she was, her creamy skin glowed and her sable hair curled around her face, giving her the look of a precious china doll.

  "Yes, night is usually pretty black," Zoe agreed with a little laugh. "Come on."

  "Darker than Los Angeles," Delia decided, speaking from the front passenger seat and peering out into the night. She flipped back a blond tress. "I can't believe we've done this. I bet there's not a Thai takeout within three hundred miles."

  "Well, it's not every day we just inherit a ranch," Zoe pointed out. "We couldn't not come."

  "We could have waited for daylight." The face that usually inspired grown men to beg for attention now creased in stubbornness, a look that Zoe knew all too well. Delia wasn't budging for anything less than a shopping spree.

  "Oh, and I suppose you have money for a hotel room." Suddenly willing to stall, Zoe clung to the side of the car, because after all, her sisters were right … it was pretty dark.

  And the fact that they were here at all, in the middle of the Idaho wilderness, one thousand miles away from their comforting city of Los Angeles, was mostly her fault.

  "We'll be fine," Maddie said, her voice quiet. "We're together, that's all that matters."

  "We could have stayed together at the airport hotel until morning," Delia pointed out calmly. "Might have been a whole lot smarter than rushing out to the middle of the boondocks without even the moon for company. And I bet the hotel had a hot tub."

  If there was something Zoe had a hard time with, it was taking the blame, especially when she was in the wrong. Because their ranch supposedly came with two trucks, they had sold her car and Delia's. Maddie hadn't owned one. They'd flown into Boise from L.A., and then rented a car to take them to the ranch one hundred and fifty miles away, excited and hopeful about their future.

  Zoe had always wanted a truck, but there hadn't been much reason for one in L.A., not to mention cost. Because of that, her secret fantasy of driving a truck and owning a horse had never materialized.

  Until now.

  "You know we're on a tight budget," she said with more defense than was necessary, but she was out on a limb and couldn't afford to fail. "And anyway, I don't see the difference between arriving at our new property now or in the morning."

  "In the morning it would have been light."

  An owl hooted, or at least it sounded like an owl. Zoe hugged the car door to her side, glancing warily over her shoulder. Man, the night was noisy here. Water rushed nearby, which she knew to be the Salmon River. Crickets blared. She could hear the sound of trees rustling in the wind.

  Something howled.

  "What was that?" Maddie whispered in terror, their bickering forgotten as they reached for one another through the open window.

  "A coyote?" Zoe guessed.

  "Let's hope coyotes don't eat city women for dessert," Delia said in her usual calm voice, but she squeezed Zoe's hand so hard the bones cracked.

  The goose bumps that rose on her flesh had nothing to do with the late spring cool air.

  "Sounds different from Los Angeles," Maddie whispered.

  "Yeah," Delia whispered back. She wasn't a worrywart, but she wasn't too tough to admit to a good, healthy fear. "Never thought I'd miss all the sirens."

  "At least the land is ours," Zoe said. "Ours."

  "Supposedly ours."

  Zoe couldn't blame Delia for the doubt. After all, the whole inheritance thing was a bit spooky, considering the twist of fate that had left them unsure as to which of the three of them had actually inherited. Which in turn was due to the fact that since all three of them had been born out of wedlock, with birth certificates void of a father's name, not one of them knew any more about themselves except their mother's maiden names.

 
But a woman, Constance Freeman, had located them just before her death last month. Through her private investigator, Cade McKnight, who had matched the dates of their arrival at the group home to the approximate date of Constance's granddaughter's disappearance, Constance had been convinced that either Zoe, Maddie or Delia had been her long-lost granddaughter. The one she'd been looking for over the past twenty years. It was enough to boggle Zoe's mind. "We've come this far, right?"

  "Right," Maddie agreed. Both she and Zoe looked at Delia.

  "Right," Delia admitted warily.

  "And we all agreed we wanted a new life together, no matter which of us is heir, right?" Zoe asked.

  "Right."

  "So stop whining." That said, Zoe straightened and glared into the dark toward the house. "Let's just do this. The faster we get inside, the faster we'll be able to flip on every light in the place."

  "Good plan." Delia hopped out, looking city chic in her black pantsuit. She held the seat back for Maddie, whose long floral dress caught on the door.

  Zoe rolled her eyes heavenward. Her foster sisters were day and night, yet after hours and hours of traveling, they still looked incredibly beautiful. No one would ever guess that they were only one step ahead of the poverty line. That Delia designed and hand-sewed their clothes because that's all they could afford. That they depended tightly on one another for security, and had for twenty-odd years.

  Zoe glanced down at herself, even though she knew what she would see—secondhand jeans and a T-shirt. Her shoulder-length auburn hair, full of natural curls that were the bane of her existence, had rioted. Compared to her lovely sisters, she was a disheveled mess, but that was nothing new. She'd been the ugly duckling for longer than she cared to remember, though she rarely obsessed over it since it was her own fault. Makeup and hairstyles had never been as important to her as survival.

  Delia moaned theatrically. "Oh Lord, have you ever seen such a black night? Where's the flashing neon billboards? The floodlights? The—"

  "Get over it, Delia. You're not in Kansas anymore."

  "No kidding."

  Zoe flipped on her flashlight Turning, she aimed it down the road they'd just come from. Road being relative, off course. From the airport in Boise they'd driven north for hours, to Riggins. There they'd gone west, down narrow curvy roads that had eventually turned to dirt. Zoe considered it a miracle they'd even made it. Her meager light disappeared a few feet into the inky darkness. She shivered, wondering how they'd managed to find their way, but Cade had left excellent step-by-step directions.

  Still, Zoe hadn't expected it to take so long, or to be so far from civilization. They were really isolated out here, and the thought brought an even mix of surging excitement and grim reality.

  A whole new beginning.

  "Triple M Ranch," she whispered reverently. Their new home.

  Maddie nodded, her eyes glued to the night and the shadows of the mountains so far above. "Fitting, isn't it? Three distinct mountains … three sisters."

  Turning, Zoe lifted the light, accenting a long, circular drive. Three peaks for three sisters. She liked the sound of it.

  They couldn't see it clearly now, but according to Cade, Constance's will had left them a large piece of property nestled between the base of the mountains and the Salmon River. Zoe knew the Salmon River was reputed to be as wild as the greatest imagination. Around them were the eighteen million, even wilder acres of Idaho. On their property sat a ranch house, two barns and a series of cottages, even a dock.

  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 hi
m 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.