The Rancher Next Door. Cathy Thacker Gillen

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      “I think you just like looking at me.”

      The humour left Rebecca’s eyes. “Don’t flatter yourself.”

      If Trevor hadn’t struck a nerve, she wouldn’t be half this upset. “Someone’s got to.”

      She tossed her head. “You can leave anytime now.”

      “Not,” Trevor continued, answering the challenge in her golden-brown eyes, “before I do this.”

      She had time to get away. They both knew it. Even as they both realised she didn’t really think he would do it. And it was the dare that had him stepping forwards and wrapping an arm around her waist. He heard her soft gasp of surprise – and delight? – as he cupped his other hand beneath her chin and tipped her lips up to his.

      The first contact was brief, like the flash of a sparkler.

      “What was that for?” Rebecca asked, dazed.

      “Blowed if I know,” he murmured, bending his head once again.

      This book is dedicated to

      Lukas Frederick Gerhardt, the “Third Musketeer,”

      and the proof that wishes do come true.

      Welcome to the family, little guy.

      The joy you’ve brought us is indescribable.

      And one more thing: if your two older brothers try to

      give you the business…you give it right back…

       CATHY GILLEN THACKER

      married her school sweetheart and hasn’t had a dull moment since. Why? you ask. Well, there were three kids, various pets, any number of cars, several moves across the country, his and her careers and sundry other experiences (some of which were exciting and some of which weren’t). But mostly there was love and friendship and laughter, and lots of experiences she wouldn’t trade for the world.

      Dear Reader,

      All parents want their children to be happy and have a good life. For Texans Luke and Meg Carrigan, this means marriage and a family. They didn’t plan to become involved in their offspring’s romantic lives, but, after years of watching their three daughters and one son lose in love, Luke has decided to become more proactive, and Meg is reluctantly putting in her contribution, as well.

      Rebecca Carrigan, arguably the most headstrong and independent of the lot, is the fi rst to get the full attention of her parents when she comes back to Laramie to start her own alpaca ranch.

      Rebecca tells Trevor McCabe there is no way she is going to date him, no matter what her matchmaking parents have – or have not – arranged. That’s fine with Trevor – there is no way he is going to date Rebecca, either!

      Unfortunately, life has a way of happening when Rebecca and Trevor are busy making other plans. Before they know it, their lives and fortunes are hopelessly entangled, and their emotions soon follow suit.

      I hope you enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed writing it. For information on this and other books, please visit me at www.cathygillenthacker.com.

      Best wishes,

       Cathy Gillen Thacker

      The Rancher Next Door

      CATHY GILLEN THACKER

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      Chapter One

      “I take it you’ve heard the rumors,” Luke Carrigan said as he ushered Trevor McCabe into the study of his Laramie, Texas home.

       Who in the county hadn’t?

      Tired of his three daughters’ well-known aversion to commitment, Luke Carrigan had vowed to take a hand in introducing them all to “suitable” men, in what Trevor figured was a vain hope they would soon settle down and have families.

      What was it about their parents’ generation, Trevor wondered, dropping down into the wing chair Luke indicated, that made them think marriage was essential to a person’s happiness? He was content living the single life, and saw no reason to change his own circumstances.

      “Don’t worry, that’s not why you’re here,” Luke continued.

      Trevor held back a sigh of relief.

      Luke sat down behind his desk. “I did want to talk to you about Rebecca, though.”

      Trevor tensed. Luke’s second-to-oldest child had been two years behind him in school. The two of them had nothing in common then—or now. He vaguely recalled Rebecca Carrigan as a rah-rah type who had always been busy organizing something.

      “She has a tendency to go off on—well, let’s just call them tangents.”

      Trevor didn’t know what Luke was getting at, but he was willing to hear the noted family physician out and settled more comfortably in his seat. “Last I heard Rebecca was in Asia.”

      “Actually, she’s been all over the world with the tour company she worked for.”

      Trevor shrugged his broad shoulders. “That’s one way to travel the globe.”

      “Don’t get me wrong. I’m very proud of how hard Rebecca has worked since she graduated college. Even more delighted with the staggering amount of money she has saved in the past six years.” Luke paused and looked at Trevor, his eyes full of parental concern. “What worries me is what she plans to do with it.”

      Trevor grimaced. “Dr. Carrigan, I really don’t think this is any of my business.”

      “You may change your mind when you hear what my second-to-oldest daughter has planned.”

      Trevor doubted it. Honorable men did not step in the middle of other families’ contretemps.

      “You know that small ranch you’ve had your eye on?”

      Trevor tensed at the mention of his neighbor to the west. The fifty-acre tract was definitely in his sights, along with the much larger property on the other side of it, The Circle Y. “I gather you’re talking about The Primrose?”

      Luke dipped his head in acknowledgement. “Miss Mim is planning to sell it to Rebecca.”

      Trevor swallowed a curse. His jaw set. “That can’t be right.” He and Miss Mim had an understanding.

      “I’m afraid it is,” Luke replied. He didn’t sound happy.

      Trevor forced himself to put emotion aside and think about this rationally. “Your daughter doesn’t have a background in ranching,” he pointed out. Growing up, she’d never been a member of any of the agricultural groups such as 4-H. She’d selected SMU instead of Texas A&M, where all the agricultural students went, for college.

      Luke shrugged. “That won’t stop Rebecca. She wants The Primrose. She’s leveraging everything to get it. And that’s what has me so worried, the lengths to which she’s willing to go.” Luke paused before continuing. “I need someone who’s been there to talk some sense into her, make her realize that buying and starting up a ranching operation is no game. It’s grueling, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, work.”

      And probably harder than anything she had ever done before, Trevor thought. He wondered how long it would take her to give up and sell out, like every other dilettante who had a romantic instead of practical view of the ranching life. Hell’s afire.

      Trevor exhaled in slow deliberation. “What makes you think she would listen to me?”

      “Nothing, except you’re her age and well respected in the ranching community.”

      “Are you sure your daughter is planning to work the property? Or just reap the financial rewards? After all, Miss Mim has never actually managed it. She’s leased it out to me, and other ranchers who needed extra land to