A Family For The Rancher. Allison B. Collins

long undulating howl. Chills snaked down her back, and she climbed into the car quickly and started it, making a mental note to make sure Maddy never went outside alone.

      Once she’d reached the cabin and gotten her daughter settled, she made a cup of tea and carried it to the porch. She sank into one of the rocking chairs and sipped. What a perfect night. Well, perfectly confusing. Memories of the episode with Nash crashed into her mind, and her blood ran hot. “Why the heck did I do that? He’s a grown-ass man, doesn’t need me to come to his rescue,” she muttered.

      “So why did you?”

      She shrieked and bolted from the chair, dropping the mug, and it smashed on the wooden floorboards. A shadow detached from the corner of her cabin, and Nash appeared in the dim light shining out the window.

      “Don’t do that!” she snapped at him.

      “Do what?”

      “Sneak up on me and appear out of the darkness.”

      “I figured you’d have heard me coming a mile away.”

      “Well, I didn’t,” she griped, looking at the ruins of her favorite mug on the floorboards.

      “I guess you were too busy castigating yourself to pay attention to the hitch in my gitalong.”

      A laugh burst out before she could stop it. In fact, she couldn’t stop laughing and had to bend double to catch her breath.

      “What in tarnation are you laughing about?”

      She plopped down in the rocking chair and wiped her eyes. “I can’t quite figure you out. One minute you’re twanging up your speech with cowboyisms, then you go and use castigate.”

      The light caught his face as he frowned. “I’m not a hick. I may not have graduated from college—”

      “That’s not what I meant at all. Your dad came up to us at the party and he pretty much did the same thing when I introduced him to my mom.”

      The scowl on his face deepened, and he muttered something under his breath.

      “I didn’t hear you.”

      “I said he’s always been a flirt, even before my mom died.”

      She sobered instantly, uncomfortable. “I’m sorry.”

      He shook his head. “Never mind. Forget I said anything.”

      She picked at a loose thread on her shirt. “So why are you out here? Checking up on us?”

      “Now why would I do that? You’re a grown-ass woman, ain’t ya?” The corner of his mouth lifted as he threw the words back at her.

      “Ha ha. Why are you here?”

      “Couldn’t sleep, needed some air. Forgot this was the cabin my dad put you in.” He pushed off from the post he’d been leaning against, looked around. “Y’all settle in okay?”

      “We’re just fine. It’s a gorgeous cabin. Hard to believe something like this is out in the middle of nowhere. I’m surprised it was sitting empty and not snatched up by some tourist.”

      “Plenty of cabins to go around.”

      “It’s an amazing ranch. I’ve always thought dude ranches were small, with rickety, dusty cabins and city slickers wanting to experience a cattle roundup.”

      “It used to be that way. But my mom was a dreamer, and she wanted to build this place up into a five-star guest ranch. So, here we are.”

      “How come you left here, joined the Army?” His shoulders tightened, and she almost regretted asking him, but the question had been rolling around her head all evening.

      He shrugged. “Restless, I guess.”

      “I get restless, I take up a new hobby, or go on a trip. Joining the Army is pretty drastic.”

      “College wasn’t doing it for me, and Dad and I kept butting heads, so, I left.” He shifted, leaning against the railing. “Did y’all have a good time tonight?”

      “Yup. Maddy had a blast dancing with Hunter.”

      He grinned. “He’s got a way with kids. Has three of his own.”

      She laughed. “The triples. I got a kick out of Toby’s name for them.”

      “They’re good kids. So’s Toby.” He looked up, and she followed his gaze to the stars.

      The longer he stood there silent, the more she wondered why he seemed to be drawing out his visit. “Do you need anything? How’s your leg?”

      He glared at her, the corner of his lip curling up. “I’m fine,” he said, his words clipped. “’Night.” He walked away, his limp more pronounced.

      Instead of calling after him, she bit her tongue. He wouldn’t appreciate her treating him like an invalid. Best just to leave him alone.

      But now she knew what he tasted like.

      Felt like.

      How could her body know his so quickly?

      Crave it?

       Chapter Four

      Several days later, after a grueling session with Kelsey, Nash had snapped at her to leave him alone. All he wanted was a soak in a cool tub. But he needed to be outdoors, not cooped up in his cabin. His mind flashed to the pond where he used to go skinny-dipping. The cool water would feel good on this abnormally warm July day.

      He grabbed a towel and climbed into the truck, his leg aching like a sonovabitch. He drove to the hidden spot, cursing a blue streak. Good thing his momma couldn’t hear him now, or she’d take a spatula to his backside. He’d loved her a lot, and it nearly broke him when she died. He’d only been ten, and Hunter was barely a year old, with the other three ranging in age between them. No-nonsense, good Christian, but a lot of fun. The light left their house that day.

      Seeing the split in the trees that led to the pond, he pulled over and parked. Out of all his brothers, he’d been the only one to consider it his sanctuary. Why hadn’t he come back here before now?

      He tried to get out of the truck, and had to lift his left leg out. Yeah, that was why. Damn leg.

      Throwing his Stetson on the dashboard, he slammed the door, then picked his way across the uneven ground. About a hundred feet through the trees, the path opened up to sparkling blue water. He wanted in that pond so bad he could taste it. Yanking off his T-shirt, he threw it on the flat rock that sat a few feet up from the water. Leaning against it, the trapped warmth heated his backside, and he stripped off his jeans as fast as he could. Hauling himself onto the flat rock wasn’t as easy as he’d hoped, but he made it.

      A flash of light blinded him for a minute, and he realized it was the sun glinting off his leg. He punched the prosthesis, and was rewarded with stinging knuckles.

      Rustling from the bushes about six yards to the left caught his attention, and he squinted in the sunlight. Didn’t see anything. Probably some animal coming for water. As long as it wasn’t a bear or a mountain lion, he didn’t care. Unwrapping the binding on the leg, he pulled it off, held it up in the air, tempted to pitch it into the pond.

      A bloodcurdling scream split the quiet afternoon, scaring him so much he almost fell off the rock. He looked around for a predator crouching to attack. Standing near the water’s edge was a little girl with dark curly hair.

      Screaming.

      He froze. What the hell should he do? He was naked, holding a fake leg in the air, with a little girl screaming bloody murder. He grabbed his T-shirt and clamped it to his privates.

      “It’s okay. I won’t hurt you. Who are you?”

      The screaming