by Jaci Burton
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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
PO Box 2206
Stow OH 44224
Rescue Me
Copyright (c) 2006 by Jaci Burton
Cover by Scott Carpenter
ISBN: 1-59998-006-1
www.samhainpublishing.com
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
First Samhain Publishing, Ltd. electronic publication: March 2006
Rescue Me
Jaci Burton
Dedication
To my wonderful editor, Angela James, for your insights, for making me laugh, and for making Rescue Me a much better book. Love ya babe.
You're a true BB in the best sense of the word.
To the BB's... I love you guys for being there for me every day in every way, despite my daily whining.
To Crissy, the Diva Queen. You're the bestest. Sending chocolate kisses.
And to Charlie, with all my love. Thank you for helping me along the way with this one as with every one. Thank you for your love, your support and for putting up with me, which takes the patience of a saint on a good day.
Rescue Me
Chapter One
"I'm here to rescue you."
Kyle Morgan was so intent on what he was doing he thought the female voice above him was his sister Jenna, bugging him about coming in for lunch.
"I don't need rescuing right now. Get lost." Another turn of the wrench and he might actually be able to get the blasted oil pan loosened.
"That's not what this paper says."
Definitely not his sister's voice. Those weren't Jenna's legs either. But then he couldn't see much while lying in the dirt under the truck. He tilted his head sideways and saw red-painted toenails and slim, tanned ankles. Jenna wouldn't be caught dead in skimpy sandals like that.
Definitely not his sister.
He slid out from underneath the truck and squinted in the midday sun to see who thought he needed rescuing. All he could make out was a vague shadow attached to very shapely legs.
"Are you going to lie there and stare at me all day?" Her voice was deep and sexy, like skinny-dipping at midnight. Risky, forbidden, yet irresistibly appealing.
He so didn't have time for this. But he was damn curious and needed a break anyway, so he slid out and grabbed his shirt off the hood of the old blue Chevy truck, wiping his hands and sweat-soaked, dirty face.
Blinking to clear the sunspots out of his eyes, Kyle got his first look at the woman attached to the voice.
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Stunning, was his first thought as he gazed at her beautiful face.
Golden blonde hair hung in cascading waves over her shoulders and rested just above her full, high breasts. Eyes the color of amber ale stared levelly at him as she licked her lips nervously.
"Are you Kyle Morgan?"
I don't know. Am I? He seemed unable to think about anything except the vision standing in front of him. "I guess I am." Great answer, dumbass. Sunstroke, obviously. Normally he had a freakin' brain cell.
"Then as I said before, I'm here to rescue you." A smile that could light up the entire state of Oklahoma graced her face as she held out her hand. "I'm Sabrina Daniels."
Kyle was dimly aware of her slim, warm hand in his as she shook it with fervor. Her skin was soft, like sliding his hand over silk sheets, making him wish he'd had a chance to wash the grime off his.
Suddenly the name sparked recognition. "You're Sabrina Daniels?"
Shit. He sure hoped he heard that wrong.
She nodded enthusiastically. "Yes. I'm so glad to finally meet you, Kyle."
So this was the woman who was going to spend the next three months at the Rocking M Ranch. Three months, and he would have to work closely with her every day. He stifled a groan as his eyes washed over her cover-model looks and centerfold body, trying not to lick his lips at the way the blue silk dress hugged her womanly curves. Surely this woman was punishment for something bad he'd done in the past.
Maybe he should have asked for a picture first. She looked totally out of place and too damned distracting. Not good.
"I didn't expect you until tomorrow." Frankly he didn't expect her to show up at all. Hoped she wouldn't show was more like it.
"I know. I arrived this morning and thought about grabbing a hotel and waiting until tomorrow but I was so excited I decided to come out a
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day early. I didn't think you'd mind since we had an agreement and you were expecting me. You were expecting me right?"
The woman waved her hands around as fast as she was talking. He was already getting a headache and watching her swat invisible flies in the air was making him dizzy to boot.
"At first I planned to call, and then I thought if I called you might not let me come today and I really wanted to, so I decided to just show up and throw myself at you and here I am." She inhaled a huge breath of air.
Trying hard to recall if he'd had any whiskey for breakfast that could possibly be screwing with his clarity, he remembered he'd had coffee. So the reason for his confusion had to be the five-foot-six fast talking tornado standing in front of him.
"Yes I can see you're here." She might be here, but he'd be damned if he was going to be pleasant. No matter how good-looking she was, or how her voice reminded him of sex and sin, or how her face showed the enthusiasm of a child. This wasn't his idea in the first place. "So now what?"
She tilted her head, showing off a creamy expanse of slender neck.
Kyle inhaled sharply, trying to avoid thinking of her as a beautiful, desirable woman. He wanted to think of her as a nuisance. Which she was going to be for the next three months.
"Well, now I guess we can get started."
"Get started with what?" He must have had whiskey with his coffee this morning.
Sabrina smiled shyly. "With my training."
His thoughts strayed to the kind of training he'd like to give Sabrina Daniels. Damned if all the blood in his brain hadn't migrated toward baser pastures. His long dormant sex drive sure picked a fine time to spring to life again. Great--now he could add lack of sex to his already long list of frustrations.
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Maybe if he thought about all the negative things her presence represented he could get his mind off the fact Sabrina Daniels was a damned attractive woman.
It wasn't working. His mind continued on its wayward sexual course, heating his blood and tightening the crotch of his jeans. Maybe it was the weather. It was damn hot outside, way too hot for late April. He was dirty and sweaty and felt like a pig while she looked fresh and clean and smelled like peaches. He shuddered to think what he must smell like, but it was probably closer to rotted fruit.
He looked her over from head to toe. She crossed her arms across her chest, obviously uncomfortable with his scrutiny. Good. "I hardly think you're dressed to begin anything, other than maybe hosting a cocktail party. And gee, you just missed the one we hosted last night. All the Dreamwater elite were here."
Sarcasm obviously wasn't lost on her as she tapped her sandaled foot in annoyance. Maybe she'd be so irritated she'd leave. He should be so lucky.
"Kyle. I'm hot, I'm thir
sty, and I've driven a long way today. It's my understanding we had an agreement and you were expecting me. But if there's a problem with our contract we can discuss it. Is there some place out of the sun we could sit and talk?"
Well hell. If his mother were still alive she'd kick his ass for lack of manners. He finally noticed sheens of perspiration moistened her face, and the shadow between her breasts that kept drawing his eye was damp. She looked about ready to pass out.
"Sorry. Let's go inside where it's cooler."
She nodded gratefully and Kyle directed her toward the large brick ranch house, following behind her. Watching her perfect backside swaying as she walked, it became quite clear this bargain he and his family had struck was a huge mistake.
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Kyle didn't want to do business with Sabrina Daniels, but couldn't pinpoint exactly why. Maybe it was the instant attraction he felt for her, bringing to life feelings long held in check. More likely it was because she now held a financial interest in his family's ranch. That meant an outsider owned a part of the Rocking M.
When his parents died and he and his younger brother and sister took over the Rocking M, they vowed the Morgan's would retain ownership. And despite everything they'd been through, that's the way it had remained. Until now. Now Sabrina Daniels owned a portion of their ranch. At least temporarily.
If they didn't need the money so damn bad, if he hadn't been forced to pay his cheating ex-wife all that cash in the divorce settlement, they wouldn't be in this predicament now. This was his fault and an investor was the only way to dig the Rocking M out of the deep financial hole he'd put it in.
The sooner he finished his business with Sabrina Daniels and got her off the Rocking M, the happier he'd be. No one was ever going to own this ranch but a Morgan.
K K K
Sabrina gladly accepted the glass of iced tea Kyle offered, and tried not to drink too greedily as the cold liquid slid down her parched throat.
Standing outside in the hot sun almost had her swooning. Wouldn't that have made a great first impression? Here she was coming to Kyle Morgan's rescue, and he would have been the one picking her up off the ground when she passed out from heat exhaustion.
She stole glances at him while he fixed himself a drink. When she'd asked a ranch hand on her way up the drive where Kyle Morgan was, she had no idea she'd find the owner of the Rocking M lying in the dirt near the house, working under an old Chevy pickup truck.
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Her first look as he pulled himself out from under the truck had almost knocked her off her feet. He was tall, a bit over six feet, his bare chest covered with grease and dust which did absolutely nothing to distract from his well-muscled body. The old jeans he wore tightly caressed his slim hips and powerful, muscular thighs.
He was the classic picture of a rugged cowboy--tough, sexy, and hard muscled. His short hair was golden, a bit more brown than blond. A shadow of a beard covered his lower face, lending a dangerous look to his chiseled features. And those eyes. A compelling green with flecks of gold shot through them.
Sabrina sighed with pure feminine delight at the handsome looks of her new partner.
When her attorney recommended the Rocking M as an investment opportunity, Sabrina was so excited she couldn't sleep for weeks.
Everything she desired but had been denied was closer to realization than ever before.
And now she had three months. Three whole months on the Rocking M to learn ranching. Then she'd buy a spread and raise her own cattle and horses. A lifelong dream finally coming true. And this time no one was going to stop her, no one was going to tell her she couldn't do it.
Kyle sat next to her at the table. It was engulfed by the monstrous kitchen and looked straight out of the movie set of an old western. She could imagine the giant oak table crammed with ranch hands and family come mealtime, all hustling to grab a plate before the food was gone. As she traced her fingers over the worn grooves in the wood, Sabrina felt the history of family. Something she'd never felt before, at least not in her own life.
In fact, the entire ranch was huge. As she'd approached the entrance gate to the Rocking M, the tall brick ranch house loomed above her at the top of the hill, reminding her of the sweeping panoramas of the Southfork Ranch in the old television show Dallas. Sabrina's expectation
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of a charming little four room ranch dwelling was blown away by a house the size of the mansion she used to live in.
Everything about the Rocking M was big. Including the man sitting next to her at the table with a big scowl on his face.
"I really appreciate you agreeing to my terms," she said.
"I didn't agree to your terms."
"Yes you did. I have the contract right here." She started to look through her briefcase but Kyle grabbed her hand and stopped her.
Sabrina looked down at her slim hand covered by his much larger one. He made no attempt to remove it, letting it rest on hers. Her eyes swept up and scanned his face, looking for a sign of his intent but unable to read what she saw there. She felt a jolt of awareness as he finally slid his palm away from her hand.
Whatever reaction Kyle had to that brief touch was masked by his irritated look. "I know what the agreement says. I signed it, remember?"
"Yes, I remember. That's why I don't understand what you're saying.
You agreed to this. It was clear you didn't want an investor to have permanent ownership in your family's ranch. I don't want that either. We struck a bargain, signed a contract. So what's the problem?"
Kyle blew out a breath. "There isn't one. You're here, and we'll have to make the best of it. I'll go find Brady and Jenna and we'll get this over with."
She watched as he rose from the table and slammed out the back door, leaving her alone in the kitchen.
Well thank you so much for the warm welcome. This wasn't what she'd expected. Maybe she didn't need a big family greeting with open arms, but an attempt at making her feel comfortable would have been nice.
Sabrina definitely didn't feel comfortable right now.
He was trying his best to annoy her. But why? Her attorney assured her the Rocking M was desperate for a capital infusion to avoid foreclosure. The death of Kyle's parents several years earlier along with
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Kyle's divorce and subsequent settlement payout placed the Rocking M
in dire financial straits. The ranch was struggling to merely break even, despite its location on prime Oklahoma land with enormous cattle potential. Its plight had already raised the interest of several local buyers.
One of the things Sabrina knew about the Morgan family was their unwavering commitment to retaining ownership of the Rocking M. That's why they agreed to her offer. Actually it was one of the things that excited Sabrina the most. She could come to the Morgan family's rescue and take the first step toward her own independence at the same time.
Maybe she'd handled this all wrong. No, that was Mark talking.
Mark's influence. That was one of the primary reasons why she divorced him. She'd finally had enough of him controlling her, telling her what to do, how to think, how to dress, how to act. Always making her feel like she'd made the wrong move or said the wrong thing.
No one ever built her confidence, told her she was worthwhile or competent. Not even her mother. But then neither Mark nor her mother had loved her. She was a pawn, both of them using her for their own selfish reasons. No love, no feeling of permanence. Never feeling at home.
And from the looks of things, she wasn't going to feel it at the Rocking M either. This wasn't her home. She didn't have one.
Oh get over yourself, Sabrina. You made this move for a damn good reason, and it was to grow a backbone. Feeling sorry for yourself isn't the way to do it. She wasn't here to win a popularity contest. If they didn't like her, tough. She was here, the contract was signed, and like it or
not, she was going to stay and they were going to teach her to run a ranch.
The back door opened and Sabrina stood. She watched with increasing anxiety as Kyle came in with two other people. One was a slightly younger version of Kyle, the other a very obviously pregnant brunette.
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"You must be Sabrina. I'm Brady, the good looking Morgan brother."
Brady grabbed her hand, shaking it furiously. His easy grin was infectious, and Sabrina liked him immediately.
Brady was almost the spitting image of Kyle except his hair was darker and his eyes more bluish-green. And he smiled a lot more than Kyle did.
"Nice to meet you, Brady," Sabrina said, returning his smile.
"And I'm Jenna White, the sister and caretaker of these two cowboys.
Welcome to our ranch." Jenna was as friendly as Brady, her hazel eyes sparkling.
"I'm pleased to meet you, Jenna." As Sabrina looked down at Jenna's swollen belly, she smiled. "Congratulations. When's your baby due?"
Jenna grinned like a kid in a candy store and rubbed her stomach.
"Less than two months."
"Oh that's fairly soon, then." Sabrina was in awe of the happiness reflected in Jenna's eyes and wondered how it would feel to know you were carrying a new life inside you. That familiar ache of regret made her want to rub her own stomach. But she knew what she'd feel there.
Emptiness. Knowing she'd never feel that life kicking inside her. She pushed those thoughts aside, burying them as always.
Jenna rolled her eyes. "Not soon enough for me," she answered as she grabbed a chair and sat down. Brushing her long brown hair behind her shoulders, she smiled at Sabrina. "Sorry. I've been shopping this morning by myself--big mistake in my condition, I know. Had to carry the damn bags too. My back is killing me and my legs are swelling up like tree trunks."
The woman was still quite slender, with a petite body that most women who weren't pregnant would envy. "You don't look swollen to me,"
Sabrina said. "You look great."
"Thanks. This unseasonably warm weather is doing a number on me, though. I'm puffing up like a balloon. By the time the baby comes I'll look
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like an orca." Jenna glared at her two brothers. "Don't say a word about me already looking like a beached whale or I swear I'll kick you both in the butt."