A Rancher's Redemption. Ann Roth

always, the sight of the rolling fields filled him with pride and made him think of his father, a man who had died way too soon. Nick Senior had taught Nick that land was the most important thing a man could own, but his actions had jeopardized everything.

      Kelly Ranch had belonged to the family for generations, until Nick’s parents had fallen on hard times—thanks partly to the vagaries of Montana weather, but mostly because of his father’s lavish spending habits. Nick remembered the jewelry, fancy appliances and high-end new car his father had bought his mother. He’d been so wrapped up in keeping her in luxury that he’d neglected the ranch. Neglect that had cost them all in the worst way possible.

      Before long, unable to keep up with the mortgage and credit card debt, the family had been forced to sell. Nick’s parents had moved with him and his older sister, Jamie, to the east side of Prosperity. The poor side of town.

      Both his parents had soon found jobs that paid regularly and provided a much-needed steady income that helped stave off the bill collectors. But no one had liked living in the city. Nick’s parents had fought constantly, and his mother started working late. She’d taken up with a man at work, someone else’s husband. The affair had ended, but not before it destroyed both marriages and broke up two families.

      Breathing in the crisp air, Nick started down the back steps. He’d always wondered what his life would have been like if his parents had managed their debt better and had held on to the ranch. Would they have stayed together? If they had, his life would have been totally different.

      But playing the what-if game was an endless circle of unanswerables. Nick didn’t want to remember that time, or the bitterness that had clung to his father like a shroud afterward and until the day he’d died.

      He headed across the yard toward the shed where he stored tractors and other large ranching equipment, the cold earth crunching under his boots. The only positive thing to come out of his dad’s untimely death was the insurance policy he’d left Nick. Thanks to that unexpected gift, Nick had suddenly had the funds for a down payment on the family ranch, which had just happened to be on the market. It was rundown and had come dirt-cheap, and he’d been able to put down a decent amount. Using what remained of his inheritance, he was slowly making much-needed improvements.

      Unfortunately, the cost of the new irrigation would eat up the last of the money. And there was so much yet to do before Kelly Ranch finally turned a profit. Several outbuildings still required repairs, and the ranch needed a new hay baler. Nick also wanted to add more cattle to his herd. While those things would have to wait, Nick was proud of the fact that the ranch should be fully restored and profitable within in the next two years—as long as he kept his eye on his goal. He wouldn’t slip up like his father, who’d lost everything. All for a woman who’d ended up leaving him, anyway.

      At least the land was back in the family, where it belonged.

      From the direction of the trailers that housed his ranch crew, a rooster crowed as if in approval. Nick had three permanent ranch hands. Two were married, and their wives raised chickens.

      With an eye to cutting costs, he’d commandeered two of the men to help with the grunt work on the irrigation system.

      They were waiting for him at the shed. Nick nodded at Palmer, the foreman who’d agreed to stay on when he’d bought the ranch, and Clip, a brawny twenty-five-year-old who wasn’t afraid of hard work. Jerome, the third member of the crew, was tackling the regular chores today.

      “Morning,” he greeted them. “Kenny Tripp, the irrigation specialist I hired to install our new system, should be here soon.”

      While they waited, they stood around, sipping coffee from thermoses and talking about their weekends.

      “Hey, how’s Dani doing?” Clip asked.

      She occasionally visited the ranch, and the crew knew that Nick had gone to her place Saturday evening, to console her after her breakup.

      Unsure how to best answer Clip’s question, and preferring not to discuss about what had happened between him and Dani, Nick took a long pull on his coffee. He wasn’t often confused by his own actions, but kissing her...

      What the hell had gotten into him?

      Yeah, he’d been half-asleep when it happened, but that was no excuse. Over the years they’d fallen asleep beside each other plenty of times without him ever making a move on her. She meant too much to him to wreck their relationship by getting physical.

      But then, he’d never guessed that kissing her would be so mind-numbingly powerful or that she’d get under his skin the way she had. The feel of her lips under his, the sweet press of her breasts against his chest...

      “She’s doing okay,” he said gruffly.

      He drained the last of his mug, screwed the cap on the thermos and gave himself a mental kick in the butt. Dani was his best friend. Kissing her or anything beyond that was off-limits. He’d had no business pulling her as close as he could, and no business wanting to strip her naked and get even closer.

      At the mere thought, his body tightened. Turning away from Palmer’s narrow-eyed scrutiny, he set his empty thermos on a shelf near the door. Tonight he would call Dani and assure her he wouldn’t be crossing the line with her ever again.

      Clip grinned. “Now that she’s single again, I just might ask her out.”

      The bachelor cowboy was full of himself.

      Nick gave him a warning look. “I wouldn’t.”

      “Why not? She’s available.”

      “Because she deserves a man who’ll stick around and build a life with her.”

      “Heck, I’ll stick to her.” Clip chuckled at his joke until Nick glared at him. The cowboy sobered right up. “Chill out, Nick, I’m only funnin’ around.”

      The sound of a truck rumbling toward the shed drew Nick’s attention. “That must be Tripp now. Let’s go.”

      He opened the door and Palmer and Clip followed him out.

      * * *

      ON MONDAYS, BIG MAMA’S CAFÉ was closed. As much as Dani loved going in to work, a day off was always a welcome relief. A chance to relax, read the newspaper from cover to cover and sleep in....

      Scratch sleeping in. She’d been getting up before dawn since high school, and the habit was hard to break. Plus, she had a lot on her mind, first and foremost the meeting at Big Mama’s house this morning. Her mother didn’t handle change well, but today, Dani was determined to persuade her that making needed alterations was critical to the restaurant’s survival.

      The very thought of that conversation gave her hives.

      Then there was Fluff, who expected his breakfast no later than five-thirty. Sitting on her chest, all twenty pounds of him, he batted her chin with his paw and meowed. Loudly and plaintively. “Oh, all right, Mr. Alarm Clock,” she muttered, moving him aside so that she could flip on the reading lamp on the beside table. Yawning and stretching, she fell back against the pillow again.

      She’d spent a long, restless night, and not just because she was stressing over the upcoming conversation with Big Mama. Nick Kelly had played a big roll in the tossing and turning.

      They didn’t get together all that often, but they touched base frequently, either by phone, text or email. But since Saturday night, Nick hadn’t called or texted her once. Dani hadn’t contacted him, either. Their friendship was hugely important to her, and she hoped those unforgettable kisses hadn’t made things between them all wonky.

      Key word: unforgettable. A man didn’t kiss a woman as thoroughly as Nick had kissed her without making a huge impact. And what an impact it had been. Dani wanted more of the same. A lot more.

      Which was just too bad, because she wasn’t about to kiss Nick like that again. Ever. The smartest thing to do was to forget the other night had ever happened.

      Fluff