A Hero To Count On. Linda Turner

“I don’t know you anymore. I’m beginning to wonder if I ever did. Who are you? How can you be so cold and unfeeling?”

      “I never wanted to hurt you,” he growled, stung. “You know that.”

      “You hurt me—and your wife and son—the first time you flirted with me. You betrayed us all when you had sex with me without telling me the truth.”

      “It wasn’t just sex—”

      “Of course it was,” she snapped. “What else could it be? You vowed to love and honor another woman till death do you part.”

      “But—”

      “Don’t you dare say that didn’t mean you couldn’t love someone else,” she cut in coldly. “The only person you love is yourself. Does your wife know who you are? Does she have a clue what kind of man you are?”

      “She loves me,” he retorted. “That’s all she needs to know.”

      “No,” she corrected him, “she loves the man she thinks you are. If she ever discovers the truth, she’s going to hate your guts. Just like I do.”

      He winced, and reached for her. “Katherine, sweetheart, I know you’re hurt, but don’t do this. Give me a chance to make it up to you—”

      “Get out!”

      “Sweetheart—”

      “We’re done,” she told him coldly. “There’s nothing else to say.” And without another word, she stepped over to the bedroom door and jerked it open. Left with no choice, he walked out. It wasn’t until she heard him slam the front door of her flat that she let herself cry.

      Chapter 1

      “I still can’t understand why you went to Scotland, of all places,” Priscilla grumbled. “I know you wanted to get away from everything that reminded you of Nigel, but what’s wrong with Nice?”

      “France? Are you serious?”

      On the other end of the phone, Priscilla winced. “Sorry. I wasn’t thinking. Obviously, anything connected with France is out of the question. But there’s always Monaco or Greece. Or Brazil. Now, there’s a change of scene! You could find yourself one of those fantastically good-looking Brazilians and have a good time. Trust me, you’ll forget all about Nigel. And who knows? The new guy might have a brother you can introduce me to. We could end up being sisters and sisters-in-law—”

      “Will you stop? I’m not looking for a man and neither should you. They’re nothing but bad news.”

      “They’re not all like Nigel,” Priscilla said.

      “Really?” Katherine scoffed. “You couldn’t swear that by me. Remember Sam? And Thomas? And don’t forget Lucas. He was worse than Nigel. He took me home to meet his parents and forgot to mention the little fact that he had another girlfriend. His parents were totally confused.”

      “Jackass,” her sister retorted. “If I could punch him and the others in the nose, you know I would. But it wouldn’t change anything, and it certainly wouldn’t make you feel better. The only thing that’s going to do that is getting on with your life.”

      “I’m not jumping back into dating, Cilla. Not this time.”

      “Buck said the same thing, and so did Elizabeth, and look what happened. They both found love when they least expected it. You can, too.”

      “No, thank you,” Katherine said, shuddering. “Just the thought of putting myself through that again turns my blood cold.”

      “You’re cold because you’re in Scotland,” her sister said bluntly. “Has the sun even been out since you’ve been there? It hasn’t, has it?”

      “I didn’t come for the sun,” she reminded her. “I just wanted some time for myself.”

      “Time for what? To mourn? To slip into depression? Being alone now is the worst thing you can do. You need family. Why don’t you go to Colorado and see Elizabeth and Buck?”

      She had to admit, she’d thought about it. But then she remembered she wouldn’t just be visiting her brother and sister. Buck had Rainey now, and Elizabeth was head-over-heels for John. Regretfully, she shook her head. “I can’t. Everyone’s in love there. I’d only bring them all down.”

      “Hogwash! They love you. And none of us want you to go through this alone. We’re all here for you if you’ll just let us.”

      Katherine knew she was right, but she didn’t know if she was ready to face anyone. She felt like such an idiot for not seeing Nigel for the lying dog he really was. “I’ll think about it,” she promised. “Just give me some time.”

      Time was something she had plenty of, and Katherine should have used it to her advantage. After all, she had plenty to do. She was an illustrator for one of the most well-known publishers of children’s books in England, and she’d brought her latest project with her. It was due in a month, and she would need every second of the next thirty days to finish her illustrations on time.

      But three days after her telephone conversation with Priscilla, she still found it impossible to focus on her work. The silence of her own company was driving her mad, and just when she thought she was getting her emotions under control, images of Nigel would float through her head uninvited, and tears would once again flood her eyes. Scotland obviously wasn’t working for her. She had to get out of there.

      For all of thirty seconds she considered going to a tropical island far, far away, somewhere where the language and food were so foreign that she wouldn’t think twice about him. In the end, however, she knew there was only one place where she would find solace, and that was the Broken Arrow Ranch, near Willow Bend, Colorado.

      She hadn’t spent much time at the ranch, and six months ago, when she and her sisters and brother had inherited the place from their long-lost American relative, Hilda Wyatt, leaving London for a cattle ranch in the wilds of Colorado was the last thing she’d thought she’d ever be interested in. It was too far away, too rugged, too different from the kind of life she’d led in England, and she’d wanted nothing to do with it. She had gladly let her brother, Buck, move to Colorado and she’d stayed in London.

      Her feelings about the ranch, however, changed drastically when her family came under attack. And it was all Hilda Wyatt’s fault. She hadn’t left the ranch to them outright, with no strings attached. Instead, through the terms of her will, she’d required someone from the family to spend every night at the ranch for a year. Buck or Katherine and her sisters could be absent from the house for one night, but not for two in a row. If they failed to meet the requirements of the will, then the ranch would go to an unnamed heir.

      Katherine appreciated the fact that Hilda respected family heritage enough to include her and her siblings in her will even though she’d never met them. She’d obviously wanted the British branch of the Wyatts to inherit the Broken Arrow, if possible.

      Unfortunately, she’d probably never suspected that once the citizens of Willow Bend learned of the conditions of the will and the unnamed heir, they would attack the legal heirs in order to drive them away from the ranch so someone else could inherit. They’d harassed Buck and Rainey, made their lives miserable. Then, while the newlyweds were gone on their honeymoon, someone had terrorized Elizabeth when she’d taken Buck’s place at the ranch. If John, the ranch foreman, hadn’t been there to protect her—and fall in love with her—she could easily have been seriously hurt, even killed, during her stay at the ranch. Someone had shot out the windshield of the vehicle she was driving and even set the hunting cabin she and John had escaped to on fire.

      Over the past few weeks, however, things had calmed down considerably at the ranch, which wasn’t surprising. Buck and Rainey had returned home from their honeymoon, and Elizabeth and John were engaged and busy rebuilding the cabin where they would live once they were married. When she arrived, three-fourths