What a Rancher Wants

by Sarah M. Anderson

  “Oh, I’m so sorry—I didn’t know where else to go. I don’t know who else I can trust.”

  At least, that’s what Chance thought she said. It was sort of hard to tell, what with the sobbing.

  “Slow down, honey.” Yeah, that small part of him might be happy watching her twist, but he pushed it back. They’d parted as friends—and she obviously needed a friend. He patted her on the back. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

  “It’s—” She didn’t get very far before she buried her head on his shoulder.

  Hell, not again. Chance managed to kick the door shut and guide her over to his couch. “There, there,” he said, rubbing her back as she cried her eyes out. It probably wasn’t the best thing to say, but he didn’t have any better ideas.

  He’d known Cara for a long time. They’d been friends before they were lovers, then back to friends again and she’d been crying on his shoulder about Alex for weeks now. But this was different. He’d never seen her this upset, and that worried him.

  When she finally seemed to have cried most of it out, he tried again. “What’s wrong? Are you in trouble?”

  She looked at him, her light blue eyes watery and red. “Yeah, you could say that.”

  It broke his heart, just a little. “Tell me what happened and I’ll try to fix it.”

  “You can’t.” Her eyes started to leak again, but she didn’t start crying. “I...I messed up, Chance. I messed up real bad.”

  “What happened?”

  “You know how worried I was about him, when he went missing.”

  “I know,” he said in his most patient voice.

  “And you know I never thought you were behind it.” She got that steely look in her eyes, which momentarily chased her sadness away. “I know you weren’t.”

  “I sure do appreciate that, honey. What happened now?” Because if this was just rehashing the past—again—well, he had a date to go on.

  “One of the times I went to see him and he didn’t remember me...” She dropped her gaze, suddenly finding her manicure very interesting. “So I...I had sex with him. To see if that would help him. Remember me.”

  “O...kay.” This was exactly the sort of information he did not need to know. Not now, not ever.

  “And now...” She covered her mouth with her hand, as if the words were cutting her on their way out. “And now I’m pregnant.” She started to sob again in earnest.

  “Oh, honey.” Chance put his arm around her shoulders. This was exactly the kind of mess he couldn’t fix. Alex was barely feeling “better,” according to Gabriella. Had he even remembered he’d loved Cara yet?

  Damn that man all over again. Why had he come up here and thrown a monkey wrench in all of their lives? Because as god-awful as it had been being guilty until proved innocent in Alex’s abduction, that was a temporary thing. Nothing like having a baby. Nothing.

  “I don’t know what to do.” Cara wept, pretty much trashing his date shirt. “I didn’t know who else to trust. What am I going to tell my daddy?”

  Oh, hell. It’s not as if there was any love lost between Chance and Paul Windsor—but even Chance could see that springing “pregnant with the amnesiac’s baby” on the old man would be a bad idea.

  So he tried to deal with first things first. “Have you seen a doctor?”

  She shook her head against his shoulder.

  “That needs to happen. You schedule an appointment and get all checked out and we’ll go from there, okay?” He tilted her head up to his and stared into her watery eyes. “You take care of you and that baby first. We’ll deal with the rest of it second.”

  She gave him a weak smile as she nodded. He’d thought he’d loved this woman once. Maybe he had, but it hadn’t been the same thing he felt for Gabriella. What he and Cara had shared was closer to a relationship borne of comfort and familiarity instead of passion and love.

  “You’re a good man, Chance McDaniel.” It came out sniffly. “I was afraid you might tell me I’d gotten exactly what I’d deserved for leaving you.”

  “I wouldn’t do that.” He meant it, too. He’d lost this woman, but maybe he’d never had her. Now that he had Gabriella—now that he had tasted true passion—he knew that it was for the best.

  “I know. I knew I could trust you.” She leaned up and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

  A sharp gasp cut through the room, making him turn toward the now-open door—and the woman standing in it.

  Oh, hell. Gabriella.

  Her eyes cut between Chance and Cara at an alarming rate of speed. “Babe,” he got out, trying to pull free of Cara’s arms and stand all at the same time.

  But before he could do any of that, she turned and marched right back out.

  “Was that...Alex’s sister?” Cara let him go, thank God.

  He didn’t answer. He flat-out ran to catch up with Gabriella, but he was too late. Joaquin was shutting the back door.

  “It’s not what it looked like,” Chance said, putting his life on the line to keep walking toward the car. “I need to talk to her.”

  Joaquin gave no sign that he’d heard Chance. “Joaquin! ¡Vámonos!” came a muffled cry from the backseat.

  Shit. She was already crying. “I need to talk to her,” he demanded as he kept walking toward the car. “I didn’t do anything.”

  Joaquin pulled his piece on Chance in one smooth motion, leveling the barrel at Chance’s guts.

  Cara appeared in the doorway. “What’s going on?” Then she squeaked. “Chance! He’s got a gun!”

  He didn’t take his eyes off the weapon. “Go inside, Cara. Joaquin, I’d never hurt her. Never. You know I wouldn’t.”

  “Joaquin! ¡Llévame a casa ahora!” Gabriella’s voice was close to hysterical.

  The weirdest thing happened. Joaquin’s mouth opened and he said, “Stay away from her.” He holstered his gun and walked around to the driver’s side of the vehicle. With a final cutting look, the big man climbed in and peeled off, leaving Chance in a cloud of dust, wondering if he’d actually heard Joaquin talk.

  He couldn’t do anything but watch the vehicle disappear down the road at a high rate of speed. It felt as though his heart was being dragged along behind it, tied to the bumper. The pain almost doubled him over. He wanted to go after her—but he didn’t want to die. Even if not going after her felt a little bit like dying anyway.

  “Chance?” Cara came out and put a hand on his arm. “Are you okay? Did he shoot you? Do you want me to call Nathan?”

  “No.” Involving the local sheriff in this would only make everything a million times worse. Yeah, he could have Joaquin arrested—and yeah, he’d like to see the big man rot in jail for a couple of years—but what would that get him?

  It wouldn’t get him Gabriella. He knew damn good and well that he’d never see her again.

  He had to see her again. If he could explain what had happened, this whole misunderstanding would melt into nothingness. Because that’s what it was—nothing.

  He’d explain that Cara was in a bit of trouble—that she’d come to him for advice, that was all. All she wanted from him was a shoulder to cry on. No one had been seducing anyone.

  “That was Alex’s sister, wasn’t it? Oh, God, Chance. Did I mess something up?”

  “No, honey. Just a misunderstanding.” He patted her on the hand. “Something I’ve got to get cleared up.”

  “I didn’t know that you were seeing her.” Cara’s eyes were watering with more vim and vigor now. “I’ll go talk to her.”

  He couldn’t see that going well, either. He’d seen Gabriella turn on Joaquin enough to know she had a lot of fight in her. What would she do to Cara? “Let me handle this. Her bodyguard is a mean sucker. I don’t want you in harm’s way, okay? You focus on you, Cara. You and your baby. Let me worry about
this.”

  She gave him that weak smile. “Will you tell Alex? About me? And the baby?”

  “That’s not my place, honey.”

  They stood there in pained silence for a moment, watching the cloud of dust stirred up by Joaquin’s driving settle back over the land. Before long, there wouldn’t be any sign that they’d been here at all. The land had a way of doing that—taking whatever it’d seen and returning it to the dirt. The land had taken in all of his family, his hopes for a family of his own, all of his blood, sweat and tears. It would continue on long after he’d left.

  No. He wouldn’t let his feeling for Gabriella settle. This wasn’t over. He wasn’t going to let Gabriella go without a fight the way he’d let Cara go.

  He had to go after her.

  Fourteen

  By the time Chance got Cara on her way with the promise to call her doctor first thing Monday morning, almost forty minutes had passed. Damn it all.

  He didn’t have much of anything that resembled a plan, beyond finding Gabriella. That was it. It would have to be enough. It had to be. He wasn’t going to let it end this way. Maybe it would end, sooner or later, but to have her think he’d been cheating? To have her think he didn’t love her? Nope. Not happening. She could still end it, but she was going to know the truth of the matter.

  So when Alex del Toro’s red Ferrari went zooming past him on a deserted road at the edge of Royal, Chance slammed on the brakes. All he could think was, Alex?

  Alex had clearly thought the same thing—he’d turned his Ferrari around and pulled up behind Chance’s truck.

  Both of them got out at the same time. “Alex?” Chance said first. “Man, where have you—”

  That was as far as he got before Alex reared back and punched him. Pain exploding around his eye, Chance stumbled to the side, barely managing to keep his feet under him. “What the hell, man?”

  “Stand up so I can punch you again, McDaniel,” Alex growled.

  “Not without a damn good reason,” Chance replied, blinking through the pain. He did stand, but he made sure it was out of swinging range.

  Then he realized that Alex called him McDaniel—just as he’s always said it after Chance had beaten him in a race out to the swimming hole. “You know who I am?”

  “Of course I know who you are, you ass. You broke my sister’s heart.” Alex took a few quick steps, his fist balled up and ready to swing.

  “Damn it, knock it off! I didn’t break anyone’s heart!” Chance sidestepped his former friend. He didn’t want to hit the man with amnesia. If he still had it.

  He caught Alex’s arm on the swing-through and pushed, backing him into his Ferrari door. “Who was she?” Alex sneered. “A guest? Or an old girlfriend?”

  He charged again. Chance had no choice. He ducked down and caught Alex around the waist. This time, it wasn’t a defensive push. This time, Chance slammed Alex into the side of his car with enough force that the man groaned.

  But he let go and stood back. “Shut up and listen, you idiot. It was an old girlfriend—Cara Windsor. Remember her? You stole her from me and she fell in love with you.”

  “Cara?” Oh, yeah—the way Alex hissed that? He knew exactly who Cara was. “You’re screwing around on my sister with Cara? I’m going to kill you, McDaniel.”

  “The hell you are. Shut up and listen for a moment.”

  “To what? You explain how you made a move on my woman while I was sick?”

  “Yeah, because you’re so damn sick right now you can hardly throw a punch.” He touched the side of his face, which was already swelling. But, miracle of miracles, Alex didn’t charge him again.

  “Fine. You have two minutes.”

  Chance took a breath, hoping that would help his now throbbing head. It didn’t. He’d promised Cara not an hour ago that he wouldn’t tell Alex about her and the baby— Alex’s baby. But he couldn’t have the man thinking Chance would step out on Gabriella.

  “Think, man—why would Cara come crying on my shoulder? Because that’s what she was doing—crying to me because she’s been worried sick about you, you lying, thieving bastard.” There. That was almost the truth. Cara had been worried for weeks and she’d probably been feeling sick. Alex was the root cause of both problems. Not a lie.

  Plus, it felt damn good to call Alex out. “Or do you believe the same lies about me that everyone else believes? That I kidnapped you to win her back? No, wait—I forgot. The only liar here is you, Alejandro.”

  “Don’t call me that,” he replied in a low voice.

  “Why not? It’s your name, isn’t it?”

  “Not anymore.”

  Chance threw his hands up. “And I’m supposed to take you at your word, right? Because you’ve never lied to me? You’ve always been an up-front guy? Wrong. Hell, I don’t know who you are or why you came to Texas. All I know is that, by being your friend, you screwed my life up pretty damn bad and that I’m in love with your sister.”

  He hadn’t actually meant to say that last part about Gabriella, but he’d built up a head of steam and it had slipped out.

  The two of them stood there for a moment, the shock of Chance’s words tripping them both up.

  When Alex didn’t take another swing at him, Chance hung his head. “Look—I don’t know who you are or why you strung me along for close to a year. And right now, I don’t much care. I’m going to go talk to Gabriella. I would never hurt her and I sure as hell would never cheat on her.”

  He turned and started walking back to his truck.

  “Wait,” Alex called out behind him. “Joaquin will kill you. I’m surprised he didn’t earlier.”

  Yeah, that made two of them. He looked back over his shoulder at Alex. “If it’s all the same to you, I’ll risk it.”

  “No,” Alex said again. He moved, but instead of throwing another punch, he grabbed Chance’s arm. “It would destroy her.”

  Chance turned to look at Alex—a hard look. The man dropped his hand from Chance’s arm. “Oh, so you remember who she is now?”

  Alex couldn’t meet his eyes. “She is my sister. I would do anything to protect her.”

  Suddenly, Chance had the urge to deck Alex and it had nothing to do with the black eye he was working on. “Stop protecting her, for God’s sake. She’s a grown woman. Let her do whatever the hell she wants. That’s all she wants, you know.”

  “Let me talk to her,” Alex went on, almost as if Chance hadn’t spoken. “She’s upset. She said she saw another woman kiss you. She’s never had her heart broken before.” He looked up at Chance but instead of his earlier rage, he was more confused this time. And less violent. “Was Cara kissing you?”

  “On the cheek, damn it!” He grabbed the collar of his shirt, still messed up from Cara’s crying, and held it out for Alex to see. “The literal shoulder to cry on! And what the hell are you doing out here, worried about your sister? Do you have any idea how worried Cara is about you? How ‘seducing’ me is the very last damn thing she’s thinking of? How, even if there was a shot in hell that she was trying to seduce me I’d never let it get that far because, unlike some people, I respect my friends.” Alex had the freaking nerve to look wounded by this statement, which only made Chance madder. “Mind your own damn business, Alex, and for the love of everything holy, let me mind mine!”

  He turned and stomped off toward his truck, wrenching the door open with more force than was technically necessary.

  “Joaquin will kill you if you show up at my house,” Alex called after him.

  “I’m not letting her go. Not like this,” Chance called back, one foot in the truck.

  “Let me talk to her. I owe you that.”

  Chance glared at the man. “You owe me a crap-ton more than that, amigo. Or did I forget to mention that the whole town thinks I tried to ki
ll you?”

  Alex had the decency to look ashamed at this. “Let me talk to her. I’ll tell her what happened. She needs to calm down—once she calms down, Joaquin will calm down.”

  Chance didn’t move. He wanted to be the one to talk to Gabriella, but...Joaquin would kill him without blinking an eye. “And you expect me to take you at your word like the same old sucker, huh? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

  Now it was Alex’s turn to hang his head. “I do not want your blood on my hands, Chance.” He looked up and Chance thought he saw something honest in the man’s eyes. “You have always been and will always be my friend. That part was real.”

  Or was it another lie, added to a pile of lies? “I don’t believe you.”

  “Believe this—I’ve never seen Gabriella as happy as she is when she comes back from her time with you. It’s like...it’s like she’s become the woman she always wanted to be but never had the courage to try before. I know what our father’s like—I’ve tried so hard to step out of his shadow... She never had the chance. Until she met you.”

  Damn it, was Chance going to fall for this line of bull?

  Yeah, he was. Because he could see the truth of the words. Rodrigo del Toro was a monster of a man. Plus, Gabriella had said as much—when she was with him, she was the woman she wanted to be. He’d believed her then.

  He believed Alex now.

  “You screw me over again and we won’t have to worry about Joaquin. Do I make myself clear?”

  Alex sighed, looking as if that was what he’d expected, but somehow it was still disappointing. “Crystal. I’ll call you tomorrow. We’ll have to work around my father. Hopefully, she can get out for dinner. Is that okay?”

  No. But what other plan did he have? He didn’t trust Alex but he believed Joaquin would shoot him and it would destroy Gabriella. Besides, he didn’t particularly want to die today. Or tomorrow, for that matter.