Pleasure, Montana 5
Taming Tammy
Tammy Richards is about to lose her ranch, and the bank sends Tank, the one man she’s always wanted, to start foreclosure proceedings. When her horse needs medical help, she turns to Tank’s best friend, Aiden, the sexy town vet. Too bad she can’t afford his services. In spite of her need for independence, she barters for his aid.
Tank enlists the help of his cousin, Jake, to rebuild her half-burned-down home in exchange for Jake’s room and board. Those two come up with a solution to help solve her financial problems. When she finds out they’ve gone behind her back to save her ranch, she’s furious they don’t think she can manage alone. How will she be able to find love and have a fulfilling ménage relationship with these three hunky men when her pride and need for independence get in the way?
Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre
Length: 44,098 words
TAMING TAMMY
Pleasure, Montana 5
Melody Snow Monroe
MENAGE EVERLASTING
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting
TAMING TAMMY
Copyright © 2012 by Melody Snow Monroe
E-book ISBN: 1-61926-376-9
First E-book Publication: February 2012
Cover design by Les Byerley
All art and logo copyright © 2012 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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DEDICATION
To my amazing husband who is a master at seeing the big picture and pushing me to achieve.
TAMING TAMMY
Pleasure, Montana 5
MELODY SNOW MONROE
Copyright © 2012
Chapter One
Ten months ago
“Come on, Tammy. One more drink. It’s my birthday.” Her good friend was great at convincing everyone to stay around and party. “You need to wait until the storm passes anyway. It’s too dangerous to drive.” Jan’s pout almost convinced her to stay.
She glanced at the wall clock. “I gotta go.” It was already close to 1:00 a.m. “I know my mom. She’ll be waiting up for me.” The guilt was already eating at her.
As if her mom was sending her a message, a loud burst of thunder quickly followed a bolt of lightning and nearly stopped her heart.
“That was close.” Her friend waved a hand. “Okay, go.”
Tammy hugged Jan good-bye and raced out, hoping to get to her van before another bolt struck. Fall thunderstorms could be dangerous, but this one didn’t come with any rain, so driving shouldn’t be tricky.
Maybe it was time to get a place of her own so her parents wouldn’t worry every time she was a few minutes late coming home. One time, she’d fallen asleep on Aiden’s sofa after helping him with a sick animal, and she never heard the end of that. It didn’t seem to matter she was twenty-six.
Tammy pulled out her cell and dialed home, hoping the call wouldn’t wake them. When the answering machine clicked on, she left a message in case they woke and wondered where she was. Since no one was on the road, she sped up. Another bolt of lightning streaked across the sky. The thunder instantly rattled her van, and she swore the hair on the back of her neck stood up from the electrified air.
Tired and apprehensive, she tore down the dirt road that led to her half-mile-long driveway. A bright light caught her attention to the side of her house. Her mind couldn’t comprehend what she was seeing.
Sweet Jesus. The barn was on fire, and the grass leading to the house just burst into flames. She stopped the vehicle and jumped out.
“Mom! Dad!” Her throat turned dry. She charged into the house, thinking maybe her parents were still asleep.
When she saw the their bedroom was empty, she ran outside, her heart in her stomach. Two horses ran out of the barn, galloping toward the range. Others inside whinnied. As she sped toward the inferno, heat blasted her.
“Mom? Dad?” She prayed they weren’t inside saving the animals.
No answer. Tears streamed down her face. Then she heard voices. Her mind screamed. “Mom?”
Dear God, they’d never survive in those flames. She raced as far as she could go until smoke clogged her throat and blurred her vision. She’d gotten partway in, when the roof collapsed fifteen feet in front of her. Her knees nearly gave out at the blocked path. She searched for a way to help the animals and her trapped parents, but she couldn’t get to them. She screamed their names then coughed, gasping for air. The hair singed on her arms and her chest couldn’t expand.
The few standing beams creaked. She had to get out of there. Using her arms to cover her face, she turned around. Just as she reached the outside, the rest of the barn collapsed, sending sparks and flames everywhere.
The grass had caught on fire and had reached the house.
Everything was going to be lost. Tammy pulled out her phone and dialed 911.
“What is the nature of the emergency?”
She wasn’t sure how she detail
ed what happened, but the dispatcher assured her she’d send not only the fire department, but an ambulance and the vet to check on the remaining animals. Fearing she’d be trapped in the house if she went inside, she watched it burn.
A blast of cold air crept up her shirt as a torrent of rain arrived. The water shed was too late. Her parents were dead and the ranch destroyed. She didn’t even have the presence of mind to get out of the cold. Tammy stood there as the roof on part of her house fell. The barn smoldered.
She honestly didn’t remember much after that until the paramedic ushered her into the ambulance.
“I’m fine. I didn’t go into the house. If I had come sooner I could have helped my parents.” Tears cascaded down her cheeks. “They died because I was at a party.” She dropped her head in her hands and sobbed.
Aiden Stanton, Pleasure, Montana’s vet, cradled her in his arms. They’d been friends since high school, and he was always her rock. “It’s going to be okay, Tammy.”
“No. No, it’s not.”
He must have nodded to the paramedics, because they released her. Aiden led her into his truck. He wrapped her in a blanket, and once she stopped shivering, got in and drove her away.
“You’re coming home with me. I don’t want you to be alone tonight.”
Alone. She’d always be alone. She should have died in the fire, alongside her parents.
Supporting her by the waist, Aiden ushered her into his house. She realized she couldn’t sit on his lovely furniture and not ruin it. She was covered in soot and probably smelled.
“Can I have a towel to sit on?”
“Just use the blanket. I’ll get us some tea.”
She hadn’t even realized she was still wrapped in the blanket. Her mind wasn’t functioning.
She remembered the soothing tea he’d prepared and how he held her all night, but the emotional toll erased most of what happened.
“You’ll rebuild the ranch,” he said.
She had no idea how she was going to accomplish that fact. She’d have to let the ranch hands go and start anew. But how? For her parents’ sake, she was damn well going to try to rebuild everything they’d spent their lives creating.
* * * *
Present day
“Sorry, Tank, but you got the short straw.” Bill Ransdyke, his boss at Chase Bank of Pleasure, Montana didn’t look the least bit sorry. Bill no doubt chose him to deliver the bad news because he was the new guy.
Tank Harrison wanted to give his plea one more try. “We all know times are tough. Can’t you give her a break?” He might have been gone when Tammy Richards’s barn, and then her house, caught on fire, but he’d heard about it as soon as he’d returned home to Pleasure.
“Sorry. The bank’s a business. We’re here to make money, and she’s four months in arrears on her mortgage payment. You know the rules.”
“Yeah.” He’d hope a bank in Pleasure would give someone like Tammy a break. She’d been through so much.
Bill dropped his gaze back to his computer screen. Dismissed like some rookie, he left Bill’s office, wracking his brain for a way to help Tammy out of her dilemma. If he’d had the money, he’d have chipped in something, but with his dad’s illness, there’d be medical bills to pay. He’d grown up believing the people of Pleasure helped their neighbor. Apparently, Bill never got the memo.
Might as well get this over with.
He hopped in his truck and headed down Route 247 toward Tammy’s ranch. He debated giving her a heads-up he was on his way, but he feared she might make herself scarce. Maybe if they hadn’t dated in high school, this meeting might go easier, or if he’d treated the then sixteen-year-old with a little more respect and not dropped her right before his senior prom, he wouldn’t feel like such a shit.
He hadn’t seen her since he left for college. Add on the four years he spent in the military and two more working in Philadelphia, and he calculated they hadn’t crossed paths in about ten years. Maybe she’d forgotten all about him, or better yet, wouldn’t remember him at all.
Fat chance of that happening. He’d heard from friends that she’d been royally pissed he’d broken their date so he could take someone else. Man, had he been a jerk or what?
He brushed lint off his monkey suit. He probably should have gone home and changed to make him appear less intimidating, but Bill would want an in-person report at the end of the day.
Her ranch sat about ten miles outside of town. During the trip, he rehearsed what he wanted to say to the girl who’d gotten away, but all the phrases that filled his mind sounded too insincere. Before he could figure out a good approach, her driveway appeared. As he turned down the bumpy, dirt path to her place, he rolled down his windows. While he couldn’t smell the fire, the remains of the devastation were visible. The charred side of her house was boarded up. Tank expected to see more activity for a one-thousand-acre ranch, but except for some cattle milling about and the free-range chickens in the front yard pecking the ground, the place looked abandoned.
He pulled to a stop and cut the engine, dirt billowing up behind him. From behind the house, an old man emerged carrying a bottle of water. No way that would be Earl. The guy should have retired years ago.
Tank pressed the brake pedal and got out.
“Earl? That you?” He shielded his eyes from the glaring sun.
The man took off his hat and looked around. His eyesight must not be too good, or maybe it was his hearing, because it took him a moment to locate who’d called.
He hobbled on over and studied him a bit. “That you, Tank?”
“Sure is. How are you, old man?”
Earl shook his hand and slapped him on the back. “Don’t you old man, me.” He ran a gaze from head to toe. “You lookin’ good, boy. Heard you got a few medals overseas.”
He did what any soldier would have done. “I earned a few.”
“You here to court Ms. Tammy again?”
He wished. No, he’d burned that bridge a long time ago. “Just need to speak with her.”
“She’s out in the barn. But be careful. Her mare’s about to give birth, and Tammy’s as antsy as a proud mama.” Earl handed him the bottled water. “She asked me to get this for her.” He looked around. “Since you’re here, I might as well get going.”
Tank waved the water. “Good to see you.”
He’d heard she’d sold most of her cattle to rebuild the barn. Good for her. This was definitely not a good time to be giving her bad news, but if he came back without making contact, his new job might be history, and he couldn’t afford to look for another one. Pleasure was too small to have a lot of job openings, and his dad’s failing health dictated he needed to be here.
As he stepped into the barn, the familiar scent of hay and horse took him back to the good times growing up. He missed living on a ranch. Too bad his dad sold the place a few years back. He said without his wife, the ranching life held no appeal. That was one of the reasons Tank hadn’t come back to work here. Without the ranch to run, he figured he’d be better off in a big city.
Once he neared the stalls, he stopped and listened. Locating Tammy was easy since she was cooing at a horse. He peered over the stall door. Wow. He held still and was able to study her profile since she hadn’t noticed him yet. Though still petite, Tammy Richards was now all woman. He couldn’t tell from her crouched position, but from the length of her legs, she still couldn’t be much bigger than five foot two.
There might be some straw in her long, brown hair that she’d pulled back into a ponytail, but from the way those jeans hugged her body, the girl he’d known had grown into a beauty.
He must have made some noise because she jerked her head up then whipped around.
* * * *
“What are you doing here?” Tammy’s skin bristled.
She’d heard Tank had returned home and had gotten a job at the bank, but this was the first she’d come face-to-face. Much of Tank’s physical appearance had changed, but there was no mistak
ing those chiseled cheeks and that strong jaw he was known for. Given that he’d served in the military, it came as no surprise that he’d packed on a ton of muscles. Most would say he was better looking than any cover model. To her, he was the ass who stole her virginity then dumped her.
She knew why he was here. News of all newcomers traveled faster than the Internet. He was the bank messenger, come to harass her about the late mortgage payments. The bank didn’t seem to care that her parents had bought the property twenty years ago, and that this was her home now. She’d already explained to Mr. Ransdyke that she would pay them back just as soon as Jasper Cummins paid her.
Ransdyke wasn’t swayed by the fact it hadn’t been her fault lightning struck the barn and caught it on fire. The knowledge she could have helped her parents save the animals before the barn crushed her folks still haunted her. She had yet to come to grips with the fact her parents died because she’d wanted to have a good time.
“You look good, Tammy.” He had that damned cheeky grin that still caused lust to shoot straight between her legs. Not good.
“What do you want, Tank? This isn’t the best time for me.” Good. Her comment came off confident but not completely bitchy.
Dixie, her prized mare, whinnied and rolled onto her side. The poor girl had been struggling to give birth for hours, and Tammy feared that if her rapid breathing was any indication of distress, she might not make it this time.
Tank’s demeanor changed faster than a bullet. He was on his knees next to her. “How long has she been in labor?” His concern cut through her anger.
Monroe, Melody Snow - Taming Tammy [Pleasure, Montana 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 1