The Rebellious Rancher. Kate Pearce

I really did get trapped on the set because Dylan Palmer locked me in. It was terrifying. If my mom hadn’t realized I was missing, and hadn’t come back to look for me, I would’ve been stuck there all night.”

      “That sucks. I never liked that Dylan guy much.”

      “You had good taste, because most of the fans went crazy over him, and he was the vilest, most awful person imaginable....” She shuddered. “I was so glad when he left the show.”

      “Can’t say I blame you.” Ben gathered his reins. “Seen enough?”

      “Yes, let’s keep going.” She waited for him to ride off in front of her and followed him out, with one last glance back over her shoulder at the abandoned mine. “I can’t wait to see what’s next.”

      * * *

      Silver raised her arm and coughed into her elbow as the dust kicked up by Calder and Ted the mule swirled around her. She eased back on the reins and contemplated the high walls crowding in on them. It felt like she was in a different silent world and it was getting way too narrow for her liking. The sun was right above the gully and beating down on her head, which didn’t help. She contemplated calling out to Ben and asking how much farther they had to go, but he was probably too far ahead of her.

      Not that he’d answer her anyway. He’d already shown a distinct lack of interest in jumping when she snapped her fingers. She tried to tell herself that it was refreshing to be treated like a normal person, but she wasn’t really convinced. Being a star, being on show all the time, was almost as natural to her as breathing, and she wasn’t used to being ignored.

      Just as the silence was beginning to get to her, the path widened out into a level plane with the sign PARKING FOR MORGANSVILLE. NO UNAUTHORIZED VEHICLES BEYOND THIS POINT.

      Ben had stopped ahead, and was already dismounting and tying up the horses on the hitching post. She aimed Ladybug toward him and he caught hold of the bridle.

      “We’ll have lunch here, and then you can take a walk through the ghost town if you’d like,” Ben offered.

      Silver nodded and swung her leg over the horse to dismount. When she reached the ground, her knees buckled and Ben reached for her elbow to steady her. Her feet felt like they were made of lead and she had no idea how she was going to move them.

      “Muscles locked up?” Ben crouched beside her and dug his fingers into the back of her knee. “Hang in there.”

      She grabbed for his shoulder as he massaged her leg and groaned somewhere between delight and agony as he expertly stretched out her cramped muscles.

      “Better?” He looked up at her, his brown gaze totally professional.

      “Much.”

      “It happens all the time.” He rose to his feet. “There are a couple of picnic benches over here so we don’t need to unpack more than the lunch Mrs. Morgan made for us.”

      “Great.” Silver managed to take a step and then another one and suddenly everything started working again. For the first time in her life she was glad of the strenuous workouts her personal trainer made her go through every day. “Can I help?”

      He was doing something with her horse and spoke without turning around. “Sure. Look in Calder’s left saddlebag and grab the food while I check the table out.”

      Silver approached the huge horse somewhat warily, but he paid no attention to her as she unbuckled the saddlebag, only to reveal a medical kit, three pairs of hand-knitted socks, and four pairs of black boxers. She hurriedly shut the flap and went around to the other left side where she found the packs of sandwiches and a flask of what she hoped was coffee.

      She brought everything up to the table where Ben was sitting staring out at the ghost town and placed it in front of him.

      “You do wear underwear.” The words fell out of her mouth before she considered their impact.

      His head jerked up. “Were you checking?”

      “No, I opened the wrong saddlebag.” Silver sat opposite him. “Although I would think that not wearing underwear when you are riding long distances could cause all kinds of issues.”

      He studied her cautiously. “Yeah, I guess so. How are your calves now?”

      “Much better, thanks.” She opened the container of food and her stomach growled. “Oh my God, my dietitian and trainer would kill me if they knew what I was just about to eat.”

      “It’s just a sandwich.” Ben waited until she’d made her selection and then helped himself. “What’s wrong with that?”

      “It’s white flour, full-fat mayonnaise, and salted chicken.” Silver studied the bread. “If I was going to be good, I’d just eat the chicken and lettuce.”

      “Then it would be a salad and not a sandwich,” Ben commented as he poured them both some coffee. “Are you really not allowed to eat whatever you want?”

      “If I want to continue to get film roles, then yes.”

      He snorted and helped himself to his second sandwich. “I wouldn’t last five minutes.”

      “You wouldn’t have to,” she pointed out. “Guys get away with a lot of things that girls can’t.”

      “Double standards, right?” He chewed for a while. “My sister, Daisy, who works in tech, says it’s hard for her to be taken as seriously as her male colleagues.”

      “Daisy, the one you watched my TV show with?”

      “Yeah, my one and only sister.” His smile was fond. “For some reason she liked me looking after her the best, so I’d get my homework done while she watched her TV shows and Auntie Rae made dinner for the rest of us.”

      “Do you have a big family?”

      “There are six of us, so I suppose that’s a lot. I’m the second son. My older brother, Adam, basically runs the ranch—”

      “Your older brother is Adam and you’re Benjamin?” She interrupted him. “Don’t tell me you have a Caleb next?”

      “Nope, a Kaiden.” She grinned at him and his brow creased. “What’s so funny about that?”

      She set down her sandwich and shook her head. “And then?”

      “Danny and Evan.”

      “Was your mom by any chance a Howard Keel fan?”

      Ben frowned. “I’ve no idea. Why does it matter?”

      “Have you ever seen Seven Brides for Seven Brothers?”

      “Can’t say I have.”

      “It’s a musical which came out in the fifties about seven brothers looking for seven brides. The boys are named alphabetically from the Bible, starting with Adam and Benjamin.”

      She looked at him expectantly.

      “I doubt there’s a Kaiden in the Bible,” Ben said. “What do these guys do?”

      “Well, it’s all a bit politically incorrect these days because they decide to follow the advice of the Romans and steal their brides from the local town just like the Romans took the Sabine women.”

      “That’s not good.” Ben paused to consider what she’d told him. “I can’t see us galloping down to Morgantown and kidnapping women somehow. Not that any of them would let us, since BB started those female-only self-defense classes. We’d probably get our asses kicked all the way back to the ranch.”

      He finished his second sandwich while she still nibbled at her first.

      “Did the women in the movie get away?”

      “No, they end up falling in love with the brothers.”

      Ben shook his head. “That’s