by Barb Han
Rancher to the Rescue
Barb Han
TorJake Publishing
Copyright © 2021 by Barb Han
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Editing: Ali Williams
Cover Design: Jacob’s Cover Designs
To my family for unwavering love and support. I can’t imagine doing life with anyone else. I love you guys with all my heart.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Also by Barb Han
About the Author
1
The first day of June in South Central Texas had been without a cloud in sight, a rare occurrence. Thunderstorms were known to light up the skies and dump water on the earth out of seemingly nowhere this time of year, though the recent drought promised they wouldn’t any time soon.
Adam Firebrand stood on the edge of Angel Pass, staring out across the land he loved. After yesterday’s news, he couldn’t help but be reminded of how fragile it all was and, just like the sky, how quickly everything could change.
As if Mother Nature could hear his thoughts, a cloud rolled in and a light sprinkle dusted his face. He stood there anyway, taking it all in.
Firebrands had been standing on this land for three generations before him and had weathered a lot of storms in the process. Bad luck didn’t discriminate, and they’d had their fair share even though few families had done better financially. Their successful cattle ranch extended as far as the naked eye could see.
Now that the Marshall had died, the fate of their family legacy was up in the air. Adam had no idea what to expect from his grandfather’s last will and testament. The two of them weren’t exactly two peas in a pod. But then no one got close to Marshall Firebrand, so Adam had never taken the snub personally.
His grandfather had, however, stoked the fire between his sons at every turn. Two brothers had never fought so hard or so often as Adam’s father and uncle, Brodie and Keifer.
Case in point, the Marshall hadn’t been buried yet, and Adam’s father and uncle were already in a lather over the will. All Adam knew for certain was that neither his father nor his uncle seemed pleased when he’d passed them in the kitchen at the main house last night. Not one of their combined eighteen sons had been invited to the meeting with the family lawyer either. His mother wasn’t saying much, which was most definitely a bad sign. Another look at both of them this morning said all Adam needed to know. The Marshall had pulled something. So Adam was in no hurry to get back to the main house.
Only half of his brothers and cousins worked the successful cattle ranch and they’d been in a mood this morning at the barn too. The ones who were out of town or overseas had been notified of the Marshall’s passing, so Adam figured it was only a matter of time before each made their way home to pay respects. No matter how much of an old grouch their grandfather had been, the guys would honor tradition. Once a Cowboy Code was ingrained in a person, the ideals weren’t easily shed. No matter how much Firebrands might disagree with each other, they followed the same ideals.
What should be a green field in front of him was plagued with brown patches, thanks to twin years of drought-like conditions. Looking onto the vista that was normally nothing but miles of green hills dotted with bluebonnets, he realized how interdependent nature was. Family bonds were no different. Much less had ripped them apart forever. He would hate for the precious land and cattle to get caught up in a legal battle. Not to mention the fact that Adam’s father and uncle were gasoline on fire anytime they were in the same room. All it took was one match to devastate the countryside.
He shook his head and made a tsk-tsk sound. The Firebrands had stubborn streaks a mile long, which wasn’t going to help. Heels would be dug in. Lines would be drawn. All bets would be off for the family who hadn’t been able to get together for a Sunday barbeque in more years than Adam cared to count. And that was under the best circumstances.
Despite practically dripping sweat from nearly fifteen hours straight of repairing fences, Adam wasn’t quite ready to call it a day. His stomach growled, reminding him how long it had been since lunch. He’d eaten a power bar to get him through to supper, but the energy from that was wearing thin. The barn was half an hour ride from Angel Pass on horseback. While most ranching operations had moved to using trucks to move cattle and ATVs to run fences, Adam still rode horseback. Call him a renaissance man, but it was the only way to go in his book.
Besides, Luna needed the exercise and there wasn’t much better than spending a day out here with his Appaloosa by his side. She was all the company he needed. Hell, she was the only one he’d spent any amount of time with since Libby refused his proposal and walked out of his life. What was it with the first of June bringing events that wreaked havoc on his life?
He’d been blaming his mood on the fact he’d lost his grandfather. Did it also have something to do with this being the ten-month anniversary of losing the woman he’d been intent on spending the rest of his life with?
He’d adored her. Too bad she hadn’t felt the same. Or was it? He couldn’t help but think he’d dodged a bullet now. There was no way he wanted to spend the rest of his life with someone whose I love you meant something totally different than his.
Lost in thought, Adam couldn’t be sure how long he’d been standing there when he heard the first noise. It sounded a whole lot like a baby’s cry. But that didn’t make sense out here.
He shook his head and cleaned out the earwax. He couldn’t possibly be hearing right. Maybe there was a small animal in trouble. None of the ranch hands would be on this stretch of land and Bronc, the foreman, had claimed the west side of the property in the meeting this morning. Plus, the fact they were all grown men while the sound he kept hearing mimicked a baby.
Could the wind to his back carry a noise all the way up here at Angel Pass? He doubted it even though the winds had kicked up a few notches as more clouds rolled in overhead. The light mist had dried up, which was unfortunate given the ground conditions. They needed rain.
Again, the cry pierced the air.
Was he dehydrated? Hallucinating? It had happened once after a long, sweaty day when he hadn’t kept up with his water. As luck would have it, his brother Brax happened to ride up in the nick of time. He’d saved Adam’s life that day by picking him up and tossing him onto Luna’s back. Brax had brought horse and rider home on that ground-cracking day.
Adam had barely passed his twentieth birthday at the time and had gotten cocky, thinking he could outlast the late-August heat. From then on, though, Adam respected the elements. Lesson learned.
The baby wailed. The desperate quality got Adam’s feet moving toward his horse. He hopped into Luna’s saddle and backtracked toward the noise coming from a patch of trees. He was an expert tracker since poachers were a threat to cattle ranches, but he didn’t need to call on any of his experience. All he had to do was follow the sound of the baby, who hadn’t stopped crying since Adam first heard the
sound.
Despite the urgency in the baby’s voice, Adam doubted there was any real crisis here. Babies sent up the alarm for various reasons, one of which was hunger. He’d seen a kid throw a full-on temper tantrum at the feed store once because he didn’t want to put on his coat in the dead of winter. Negotiating didn’t seem to do any good either. The parent got so flustered she threw her hands up and walked the little tyke outside and into the cold in his t-shirt.
Adam had very little experience around kids, and no desire to add to his resume. Libby had put the nail in that coffin. Now, he was content to date around and keep his options open. An annoying voice in the back of his mind picked that moment to remind he should get started on that liberated lifestyle instead of licking his wounds over his loss. It had almost been a year.
Thoughts raced through his mind as to what could be going on with the kiddo. It was highly possible a family was out here, lost. Campers who might not realize they’d wandered onto private land. No one dangerous like poachers would bring a baby along. They traveled incognito. He wasn’t worried about coming up on anything dangerous, so he didn’t try to hide his presence. Instead, he started whistling, though he doubted anyone could hear him over the baby’s racket. He’d also learned it wasn’t good to surprise people who normally carried some type of weapon on camping trips.
This was going to be a simple case of explaining the rules about being on private property. Someone probably needed an escort in order to find their way off the land. Adam was protective over his family’s legacy, and he didn’t mind helping folks out. It would be nightfall soon and there were all manner of wild animals on ranch property.
As the noise escalated, he couldn’t help but wonder why someone hadn’t been able to pacify the kid. Was it sick? Hungry?
The Good Samaritan feeling spread inside him. He was about to bail someone out of trouble, someone who had a family. And then an uneasy feeling followed, taking hold in the pit of his stomach as he neared.
The trees in his area were thicker. The scrub brush higher. Rather than risk Luna twisting an ankle, Adam hopped down and tied her to a tree so she wouldn’t get tangled in her own reins. He’d made that mistake in his youth too. He’d covered pretty much all of them in his thirty-eight years on the planet. The biggest one had been waiting to get married. He’d convinced himself Libby was different, special.
Adam changed the subject before he choked on the irony.
“Hello?” he shouted, trying to out scream the baby so he wouldn’t catch its caregiver off guard. Surprise out in these parts could be deadly.
From around a tree, the most intense set of blue eyes peered at him. Wheat-colored hair slicked back in a bun and Coke-rimmed glasses didn’t give the unfamiliar face away. Her full lips weren’t something he needed to focus on, so he forced his gaze to the pink bundle with a set of lungs in her arms.
“Help,” Blue Eyes said. The one word spoken in such an anxious voice, tightened the knot that had formed in Adam’s gut. She opened her left hand and a sharp stick tumbled out.
So much for desperate.
Prudence Owens stared into the most intense and beautiful pair of eyes she’d ever seen. “I’m Prudence.”
“Adam,” he said but she already knew his name. “What are you doing out here?”
He had every right to ask the question and she wished she had an answer for him. All she could do was shrug.
Adam had been five or six grades ahead of Prudence in school, so she knew him by name and reputation only. She’d been in the same grade as his younger brother Fallon, though she hadn’t known him personally either. It seemed like the Firebrands were all sports stars or popular kids, whereas as she would have been voted most likely to be found in the library.
He shot her a look of disbelief.
“I have no idea. I promise.” Prudence wasn’t lying. She couldn’t for the life of her remember much of anything that had happened today or how she’d ended up with this angel in her arms. She glanced down at the bundle. “I don’t know what she wants. Can you please help?”
“Not sure what I can do,” he said, his words spoken with the same hopelessness she felt. “Do you have a bottle? Milk? Some sort of bag to carry diapers in?”
“No. None of those things,” she admitted, as panic made it hard to breathe. Panic she had no intention of giving into, despite the tight feeling in her chest.
Adam offered a hand up. She took it, ignoring the jolt of electricity that came with contact. He met her gaze and held a second longer than she figured was appropriate. Was he studying her? Trying to figure out if she was mentally unstable or a baby thief?
“How did you get out here?” Adam studied the area like it was midterms, and he was trying to pass English.
“I already said that I have no idea.” The baby’s cries literally caused Prudence’s heart to ache. “Any chance we can figure all that out after we find a way to feed her? She must be starving since she keeps trying to suck on her fist.”
Adam locked gazes for a long moment. A squirrel got loose in her stomach.
“I promise to explain everything once she’s settled.” It was a deal Prudence knew she couldn’t make good on. She couldn’t afford to feel bad about fudging the truth while the baby was suffering.
“Luna is nearby,” Adam said.
“Let’s go.” Prudence wasted no time moving in the direction of what she figured must be his horse. Luna would be an unusual name for a truck.
He led her to a gorgeous Appaloosa.
“I can hold her while you climb in the saddle.” He motioned toward the baby.
Prudence shook her head, unsure why she refused the offer. She searched her brain for an answer and came up empty. All she knew was this baby would have to be pried out of her hands. “Can you pick me up? I’d rather hold onto her.”
Adam was as strong as an ox. He managed to lift her up like she weighed nothing. Both hands on her waist, he hoisted her high enough for her to throw a leg over the animal’s back without further disturbing the little girl.
He was in the saddle a moment later and they were headed toward salvation.
Halfway through the ride, the little angel found her fist again, stuffing it in her mouth and sucking. The calm respite did little to slow Prudence’s galloping heart. It was impossible to think clearly with Adam’s strong arms wrapped around her, securing her and the child in the saddle.
Luna carried them to the steps of the back porch of an impressive house. The two-story brick and stone home was the biggest Prudence had ever seen. Grand wasn’t quite big enough a word to describe the exterior, but it was a good place to start. Charm was another word that didn’t quite do it justice. And yet, it was charming. They’d already ridden past an impressive set of barns, which was where she began to notice the place had everything in pairs. She made a mental note to ask about that later. Right now, all she could focus on was finding a bottle and…what?…milk?
One of Adam’s brothers came bolting out of the house with a concerned look on his face.
“What’s going on?” he asked. “Bronc phoned when he saw you.”
“Brax, have you met Prudence?” Adam asked as he hopped off the horse.
Brax shook his head before tipping his hat by way of introduction. “What can I do to help?”
“Take Luna to the barn. Make sure she’s well cared for,” Adam said. After that run, she would be lathered up. He turned to Prudence. “Lean toward me.”
She did and he caught her. More of that electricity coursed through her. She mentally shook it off.
“I’ll take care of Luna myself,” Brax said, taking the reins. It was obvious the brothers were close. It also seemed to be understood Brax would be filled in later.
Adam seemed to thank his brother by way of a bear hug.
“Any chance we have baby’s milk inside the house?” Adam asked. “Pantry?”
Brax shot a clueless look. “You got me.”
“Thanks anyway, man,” Adam sa
id.
Brax nodded before heading toward the red barn. He shouted back, “Nice to meet you.”
“Same.” Prudence had passed him in town half a dozen times. This didn’t seem like the time to bring it up. Plus, she had a way of blending into the woodwork when she wanted to. Crowds of people had never been her thing.
“This way.” Adam held the door open for her. The man was sheer perfection with black as a night sky hair that was just long enough to curl. By contrast, his eyes were the palest blue and he had the thickest, longest lashes she’d ever seen. Make-up companies would kill to photograph them. Not to mention the man was six-feet-three-inches of solid muscle. He had the kind of cheekbones that looked good on a billboard with someone in their underwear and had the smokin’ hot bod to pull it off, with just enough scruff on his face to be sexy and a set of the most piercing eyes.
Her throat dried up as she walked by him and onto the screened-in back porch, complete with flat-screen TV, a fireplace, and a sitting area larger than her entire house. If this was any indication of what she was about to walk into, she needed to take in a deep breath. And probably a few more for good measure.
Adam’s cell buzzed. He fished it out of his pocket as he held the backdoor open for her. She walked into the kitchen that would be a professional chef’s dream as he answered the call.
“Luna okay?” were the first words out of his mouth. His concern for his horse struck her in a deep place. He said a few uh-huhs into the phone before glancing at Prudence. “How old do you think the baby is?”
“No idea. She can’t be too old. She doesn’t have any teeth,” Prudence supplied.