Safe With A Stranger. Linda Conrad

land grant for the ranch belonging to a family named Delgado. But about twenty-five years ago, hadn’t the last Delgado died and left it to his son-in-law? Now what had been that new owner’s name, anyway? With a jolt, she remembered. The son-in-law’s name was Ryan.

      She jerked her head around to stare at Josh. It would be too much of a coincidence that he came from Zavala Springs and had the last name of Ryan if he didn’t belong to the same family that owned the ranch. Drawing in a breath, she stared at his camo pants and beat-up old Stetson, while at the same time listening to the wheezing noises of his fifteen-year-old pickup rumbling beneath her bottom. Clare figured he must be a distant cousin or a black sheep or something. This tough but regular guy just couldn’t come from the Delgado wealth.

      It wouldn’t matter to her one way or the other if he was rich, of course. That wasn’t anything she ever noticed about people or really cared about at all. No, wait. She amended that. If Josh was wealthy, it would mean another strike against him. She’d already done the wealthy lover thing once. Oh, yeah. His being one of the Ryans would just seal the deal for her—and not in his favor.

      She looked at Josh again and noticed the grim lines set around his mouth. They told the tale of long hours spent behind the wheel, driving straight through the night. Wealthy or not, the man had saved their lives and was continuing to go out of his way to help secure their freedom.

      That gave him points in his favor. Enough to make him a friend in need. But not nearly enough to cause her to change her mind. There wasn’t a chance in hell she would ever let herself get romantically involved with Josh, no matter how much being close to him might turn her on.

      She stretched her arms and yawned. “Is there anyplace up ahead where we can get coffee and maybe breakfast for the baby?”

      Josh started when he heard her voice, but recovered quickly enough and turned to her. “You’re awake. Good thing. I’ve been hearing Jimmy stirring in his car seat.

      “And to answer your question, yeah, there’s a last-chance convenience store in a few miles and I was going to stop for gas anyway. It’ll be the only place to get gas or anything else for the next couple of hours of driving into Zavala Springs.”

      “What? No stores of any kind for two hours? It can’t be that remote in this part of Texas. Not really. Even the vast stretches of nothingness in West Texas don’t go on for over two hours of dead driving time.”

      He slanted a half smile at her. “Ah, but in this part of Texas there’s just a few large ranches, and most won’t allow any other businesses on their land. The state of Texas is lucky the ranchers let them put public roads through in the middle of the last century. Otherwise, the folks living along the Mexican border might have to pay a toll in order to reach their homes—or go by boat.”

      Clare tsked at the very idea. But then she stopped, biting down on her lip at the very real fact of such open and remote space and of the enormously wealthy families who controlled all the land.

      Josh finished pumping the gas while Clare stood beside the truck, bending over to change Jimmy’s diaper as he lay in the front seat. When that was done, she pulled a clean T-shirt over the baby’s head.

      Turning from the sight of the sexy mother leaning over her child, Josh took a deep breath to clear his mind. The air here was drier than it had been in Houston, and full of the hay and sage smells like he remembered from when he grew up in these parts. He hadn’t been home in nearly fourteen years, and he wasn’t particularly happy about going there now.

      Well, that wasn’t strictly the whole truth. He was happy for the chance to see his sister again. It had been much too long since that time she’d come to visit him in the hospital when he’d first returned to the States from the “’Stan.” Josh hadn’t been all that glad to see her then, as he thought about it now. But bless Maggie, she never took offense at his ornery moods. Guess that was due to her occasionally having a few blue moods herself.

      God, he’d been missing her. And his brother, Ethan, too. And Grandpa Will. Ah, Grandpa Will. Seemed like you never knew how much someone meant to you until it was too late.

      Josh heaved a heavy sigh. He could scarcely believe there would never be another opportunity to visit with his grandfather, Will Ryan. It didn’t seem possible that his father’s father could really be gone for good. It made Josh think of his own mortality, and that did nothing to help his melancholy.

      One more arrow of guilt punctured Josh’s heart. He’d never made it back to tell the only grandfather he could remember how much he meant to him. Or how much Josh appreciated it when his grandfather and grandmother stepped up and took in Maggie when their mother died.

      After their mother had been killed in that freak plane accident, Josh had thought their father should’ve been the one to step in and become both father and mother for his own teenage children—especially fifteen-year-old Maggie. But the mighty Brody Ryan would never bend enough to become a real parent. It was one of those memories from his past that Josh had never settled in his mind. One of the many things he’d wanted time alone to consider.

      “Okay, we’re ready to eat now if you are.” Clare picked up her son and turned to face him. “I could sure use a hot shower and Jimmy needs a bath in the worst way. But I guess we’re presentable enough to go for fast-food.”

      Josh supposed his alone time would just have to wait. “Why don’t you go on over and get in line while I move the truck away from the pumps.”

      A half hour later, they were fed and Jimmy had been allowed a few free moments to toddle around in the restaurant’s indoor playground under his mother’s hawkish gaze. Back outside beside the truck, Josh stood against the open door next to Clare while she tried to ease Jimmy into the car seat. No luck.

      “Anything I can do?” he asked as she pulled her boy back out of the pickup and began speaking to him in a soft but stern tone.

      She shot Josh a quick “don’t interfere” glance and then turned her attention back to Jimmy. “Please do what I say, honey. Your mama needs you to be a good boy and help her out. We have to work together here.”

      Jimmy wasn’t having any of it. “No!”

      Clare’s patience at first seemed endless as she tried cajoling and then bribing her child. She was everything he ever remembered about a mother. Josh had to hold back his smile before it threatened to undo what she was trying to accomplish with her son. The woman was something else. She reminded him of his own mama. Strong-willed, firm but loving and unendingly patient with her child.

      Maggie was going to love her.

      After standing around in the hot Texas sun for a full ten minutes, biding time while Clare fought to get Jimmy settled down, Josh couldn’t wait any longer. He eased around Clare’s body and pulled Jimmy from her arms before either the mama or the boy knew what had happened.

      “Heyuuup, boy,” he snapped in his best drill sergeant’s cadence as he swung the kid around and dropped him into the seat. “A—tennn—shun!”

      Jimmy gaped up at him with his mouth wide-open and easily slid down into his seat with no fuss. Guess even a baby recognized authority when he heard it.

      “You pay attention when your mama speaks,” Josh said firmly as he locked the kid into the restraints. “There you go.”

      When Josh turned back around, Clare was glaring at him. Uh-oh. Had he overstepped some boundary without thinking and made her angry? He knew her well enough by now to see that she wanted to feel in charge of the parenting duties with her own son, and he admired her for it. But, hell, there came a time when enough was enough.

      “I’m sorry if I did anything…” He stopped talking and stared down into that beautiful face, captivated by the tiny glint he caught in her eyes.

      The first real sign she wasn’t mad came as the corners of both her eyes and mouth crinkled up. Pretty soon she was smiling at him with what turned into a full grin.

      Josh couldn’t remember the