Rancher's High-Stakes Rescue

by Beth Cornelison

  Kate took a gulp of coffee, then plunked her mug down. “I’m gonna dress and go catch up with him.” As she headed back to her guest room to change into jeans, she called over her shoulder, “And when I see Dean again, I’m going to tell him what you said!”

  “I’ll deny everything!”

  Once dressed, Kate fortified herself with one last sip of java before heading out to the stable. The morning was chilly, but the sun was beginning to peek through the last of the rain clouds, promising a brighter, warmer day to come.

  With the earworm planted in her head, thanks to Dawn, Kate found herself humming Josh Groban as she crossed the ranch yard. Ironic that Dawn had picked that song to sing...or rather to screech. Many of her restless thoughts about Josh had centered around how he’d encouraged her, challenged her, pushed her to face down her childhood fears.

  Would it sound patronizing if I said I was proud of you?

  When the stakes were high, when someone needed you, you acted without reservation.

  He had given her a lot to think about. Assuming she could stop thinking about him and their kisses, about his warm body curled around her when they slept by the river, about the way he looked at her and could make her toes curl with just his sexy grin.

  She stepped into the stable and paused to let her eyes adjust to the dimmer light, then followed the sound of voices down the alley to one of the back stalls.

  “Damn it, Josh, I told you to wait at the campsite! I told you we’d pick you up there,” Zane said, his voice tight with anger.

  “And I chose to keep going. You’re not my boss or my father. You’re my partner and brother. I decide what I do.”

  A jolt of shock streaked through Kate. What was this? Josh was told to wait at the campsite? She held her breath as she continued listening, stunned by what she was hearing.

  “Not in business you don’t. Did you not hear me when I said the insurance company told me to suspend operation? We are without coverage until an investigation of the accident is conducted to exonerate us of fault and a new safety inspection of the equipment is completed. Not only were you working without the safety net of insurance, the fact is, none of the rest of the crap that happened to you would have happened if you’d followed my directions!”

  “I had my reasons for continuing. I couldn’t accept failure as an option.”

  “You put the business, our family’s livelihood at risk because of your stupid pride?”

  “That’s not what—”

  “What happens if she sues us, Josh? We lose everything! The insurance company won’t back us, because you went off the grid!”

  “Maybe I was trying to make sure she didn’t sue!”

  Kate stiffened, a numbness overtaking her limbs even as nausea built in her gut.

  “If we’d quit when we did,” Josh continued, “Kate would have only known the terror of that zip line falling. That’s what she would have taken away from the trip. I wanted her to have better memories to hold on to.”

  “Better memories...such as you seducing her? You thought you could employ your charms on her, because it’s harder to bring yourself to file suit against someone you’ve slept with?”

  “We didn’t sleep together.”

  “Semantics. You still took her to the swim hole, got naked with her, made out...”

  “That’s not what—”

  “Come on, Josh. I know you and women. Are you gonna stand there and deny it?”

  Kate’s heart thudded against her ribs, and her eyes burned with tears. The intimacy he’d shared with her had been a ploy to win her cooperation in not suing the family over the zip-line accident? She’d had her heart broken by men in the past, men who promised commitment and easily changed their minds when the wind blew in a different direction. But Josh took things to a new level. His betrayal, his manipulation of her feelings cut her deeper than she’d ever been cut before.

  “So what? She was willing. It was mutual. What are you implying?”

  “Oh, I’m not implying anything, Josh! I’m saying it to your face. You were reckless and out of line. You took unnecessary chances and put Kate at risk for no reason but your own stupid, selfish agenda.”

  “And I’d do it again in the same situation!” Josh shouted back. “I won’t apologize, if that’s what you’re after. I told you I had my reasons, and I stand by them.”

  “Do you think you hold enough sway with her to get her to sign a settlement agreement? If we ask a lawyer to draw up an offer of some payment in exchange for—” Zane was saying, but Kate had heard enough. She was so ill with hurt and crushed by Josh’s deceit she thought she might vomit. She staggered out of the stable, not even being careful not to make noise.

  Leave. She had to leave.

  She ran on wobbly legs back to the guesthouse, determined to pack her bag and be gone within the hour.

  As she stormed into the guesthouse, she made a beeline for the bathroom before she lost what little food was in her stomach. The taste of bile, the sourness her vomit left in her mouth paled compared to the bitterness of her heartache and disillusionment. Josh’s kisses had been a lure to win her favor. His soft looks and tender caresses had been tools to earn her trust...so he could manipulate their relationship to save his skin.

  I had my reasons.

  Selfish reasons. Deceitful reasons. Heartbreakingly painful reasons.

  “Kate? What—Good grief!” Dawn came to the door of the bathroom where Kate was heaving dryly. “Are you all right?”

  She shook her head and choked on a sob.

  “Of course you’re not. I can see that.” Dawn stepped closer and rubbed a hand on Kate’s back. “Stupid question. Sorry.”

  Kate stretched out a hand. “Will you hand me th-that towel?”

  Dawn snagged the facecloth from the rack and passed it to her. “What in the world happened?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about it. I just... I have to get out of here.”

  “You’re leaving?” Dawn sounded startled. “Now? But our flight isn’t until tomorrow.”

  “I don’t care.” She straightened, wiping her mouth, and pinned a pleading look on Dawn. “Will you call a cab for me? I want to be gone as soon as possible.”

  “I don’t understand. Tell me what happened? Kate, maybe this is PTSD. You went through a trauma and—”

  “It’s Josh. He betrayed me. I fell in love with him, but it was all fake for him. A ploy. And I have to get out of here before I—”

  “That sonofabitch!” Dawn’s back stiffened, and she narrowed an angry look on Kate. “What did he do?”

  Kate pushed past her friend and stumbled into the guest room she’d been using. “I said I don’t want to talk about it. Will you call me a cab or not?”

  “I will. If you’re sure that’s—”

  “I’m s-sure,” she stuttered through her tears. Kate tossed her suitcase on her unmade bed and began throwing her clothes in, clean and dirty jumbled together. She raked an armful of toiletries from the dresser top and threw them on top of the clothes without putting them in her zippered pouch. Everything in her suitcase was a chaotic jumble—just like her heart.

  * * *

  “Please, at least tell me the sheriff found something at the campsite that tells us who the saboteur is,” Josh said, once Zane had finished reaming him out over defying his directions.

  “No. Nothing they’ve shared anyway. Dad’s getting especially pissed off with the sheriff. They’re still implying with each new incident that it’s an inside job. A hoax to scam our insurance company.”

  Josh kicked at the dirty straw on the stable floor. “If we don’t find the person behind the sabotage soon, the guy will ruin us.”

  “Tell me something I don’t know.”

  Josh gave his brother a side glance and scowled. “How sure are we that the cops inv
estigating this aren’t dirty?”

  Zane blinked his surprise. “We’ve known the sheriff and his deputies most of our lives.”

  Now Josh gave his brother the tell me something I don’t know look.

  “I’m just saying...Boyd Valley is a small town. Wouldn’t there be talk if the sheriff or someone in the department was crooked?” Zane asked.

  Josh smacked his good hand on the railing of the nearest stall. “Well, maybe it’s because we are too small and short on the latest resources and training that they can’t find the vandal.”

  Zane shrugged. “Maybe. And he doesn’t have to be crooked to have a blind spot.” When Josh frowned at him, Zane added, “You know, divided loyalties or self-interests.”

  “So what do we do about it?”

  Zane shook his head. “Not much that I can see.”

  “Well, that’s not good enough for me. If the sheriff won’t do his job, I say we take matters in our own hands.”

  “Josh,” Zane said in a warning tone.

  “Damn it, there has to be something more we can do to stop this guy!”

  “The last thing we need now is for you to go off half-cocked and get in trouble with the law.”

  He grunted. “Where has the law gotten us so far?”

  “I swear, man. If you do something to screw up the investigation...”

  “At least I’m willing to act.” Spinning away, Josh stormed out of the stable, fuming at Zane’s unwillingness to hear him out. For Zane, everything was black-and-white. Every choice had to follow the rules, had to toe the mark. Business trumped personal choice. In the vandalism investigation and with McCall Adventures.

  Josh had dared to break the rules, because he saw something in Kate, a spark that needed to be fed kindling and given oxygen. Did he regret the choice he’d made to keep going, despite Zane’s directive to stay at the campsite? Hell, no. Because Kate had shown her fire when tested. And he couldn’t have been prouder of her.

  Lost in his thoughts, he stalked toward the main house.

  Kate. Beautiful, fierce, passionate Kate. What would happen now that the adventure trip was over? Would they—

  A strong set of hands shoved his bad shoulder, and he staggered a step sideways.

  Dawn stood next to him, glaring at him, hands on her hips. He hadn’t seen or heard her approach, and her demeanor had him instantly on alert. “Dawn? What—”

  “You prick! What did you do to Kate? What did you tell her?” Her eyes were bright with rage, and Josh gaped for a moment, trying to process the out-of-the-blue attack.

  “Um...excuse me?”

  “She’s in there packing to leave!” Dawn waved a hand behind her in the general direction of the guesthouse. “She says you betrayed her. She had me call an Uber out here to take her to the airport.”

  Josh blinked, his pulse accelerating as her accusations and assertions penetrated the fog of his disbelief. “Betrayed her? How? I don’t—”

  “She wouldn’t talk to me about it, but she was incredibly distraught after talking to you this morning. Throwing up, crying, shaking... What the hell did you say to her?”

  Josh gave his head a little shake. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I haven’t seen her since she left the clinic yesterday with Piper to come back here.”

  “Oh, really?” Dawn said, her voice sarcastic and highly skeptical.

  Josh spread his hands, and he sent a concerned look toward the guesthouse. What was going on with Kate? Should he go talk to her? “I swear.”

  His expression must have convinced her because her tone changed to surprise and doubt. “Really?”

  “I haven’t talked to Kate today. I’ve been down at the stable with Za—” A cold, prickly suspicion raised the hair on the back of his neck. “Aw, crap. Did she overhear me talking to Zane?”

  Dawn drew her shoulders back. “I don’t know what she heard. I just know she left about a half hour ago to talk to you and came back within fifteen minutes in tears and in a rush to leave. When I asked her about it, the most she’d say was that you betrayed her.”

  A rock settled in his gut when he thought of what she might have heard. Josh ran his good hand through his still shower-damp hair. “This is bad. She wasn’t supposed to hear th—”

  Dawn issued a harsh barking laugh. “Spoiled your little ploy, did it?”

  “What ploy? Dawn, I don’t—” Josh cut his plea off. Dawn was not the one he needed to convince, not the one who needed to hear his explanation. He started toward the guesthouse with long strides. “She’s in there now? Packing?”

  Dawn grabbed him by his belt and brought him up short. “Whoa, cowboy! You’re the last person she wants to see right now.”

  “I haven’t done anything! Not like she thinks.” He balled his hands in fists. “I have to tell her why I made the choices I did. She has to know the whole story.”

  “What story? What happened out there these last few days?” Dawn asked, her narrowed eyes full of accusation.

  “Plenty. But right now Kate has a wrong impression about things, and I have to talk to her before she leaves.” He pried Dawn’s hand off his belt and started back toward the guesthouse. The crunch of tires on gravel stopped him this time. He turned to the main entrance to the ranch to find a dark sedan pulling up the drive.

  “Better talk fast,” Dawn said. “That’s her ride to the airport.”

  Chapter 16

  Kate was shoving the last of her belongings into a carry-on duffel when she heard the toot of a car horn. Her Uber had arrived, and not a moment too soon. The sooner she could get away from the Double M and Josh’s memory, the sooner she could start patching her broken heart back together.

  She glanced in the mirror over the dresser as she shouldered the duffel strap and hoisted her suitcase. The wet, bloodshot eyes that stared back at her looked as haunted, as bereft as she felt. She shook her head and scolded her image. “Stupid, stupid, stupid!”

  She’d known better than to fall for a hotshot, lothario cowboy. She was such a cliché. A vacation fling? Had experience taught her nothing? With a grunt of disgust, she stomped out through the front door of the guesthouse and across the ranch yard to the waiting sedan.

  “Kate!”

  Josh’s voice slammed into her with the force of a wrecking ball. She froze, unable to draw a breath or raise her head to look for him. Only her heart seemed able to function, thrumming and thrashing like a drunken hummingbird.

  He appeared beside her from the direction of the main house, Dawn on his heels.

  She found the strength to stumble forward. She only had to reach the Uber, and she could escape. “I have nothing to say to you,” she grated through clenched teeth.

  “Then listen to me.” He caught her arm, and she shook him off. From the corner of her eye, she saw Dawn heading toward the waiting car.

  “Kate, I didn’t—”

  “No! I’ve heard enough of your lies. You have done nothing but deceive me for your own gain for the last two days.” She struggled to hold back a fresh wave of tears as she continued marching toward the Uber. The driver took a step toward her, as if to help her with her bag, then stopped and hung back with a dubious look as he took in their spat.

  “My own gain? Wh—No!”

  “Oh, yes. Please don’t make it worse by denying it now. I heard you, Josh. I heard you telling your brother that you defied his directions so you could use your charms on me to convince me not to sue your company over the zip-line failure.”

  Josh was shaking his head. “That’s not what I said. If you’d give me a chance to—”

  “To what? Manipulate my feelings some more? To seduce me for the good of the business?” She felt the hot sting of a tear leaking from her eye, damn it. She swiped it away with an angry flick of her fingers. “My own fault, I guess.”

  “No,
Kate.” He tried again to slow her down with a hand on her arm.

  “I told myself not to fall for you. I knew you weren’t a forever kind of guy. But somehow I let myself believe that I sensed something more in your kisses. That I—”

  “Come on, Kate!” Josh reached for her suitcase, and she pulled it away. “Give me a chance to ex—”

  “No. I don’t want to hear a bunch of justifications for what you did.”

  He took a couple of long steps to get in front of her and block her path. He wrenched her suitcase from her hand, growling, “Just stop for five minutes and listen to me. Please!”

  She stopped. Lifted her chin. Glared at him. “Do you deny that Zane told you to stay at the campsite after the first night? That we were going to be picked up in the morning, but you told me we had to keep going in order to be rescued?”

  Guilt shaded his face, and he wet his lips. “Yes and no.”

  “How can it be both?”

  “Yes, he told me to stay put, and no, I didn’t say we had to keep going.”

  She stiffened in shock. “So you’re saying I’m a liar? ’Cause I’m pretty sure I lived it, and I know what happened.”

  “Think about it, Kate. I never said we couldn’t quit.” He aimed a finger at her, and she slapped it away. Raising both palms to her, he continued, “I asked you to trust me. I asked you to let me help you face your fears, and you did! You were awesome!”

  She blinked hard and gave her head a shake. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Are you putting this on me? Like I was some charity case you had to save from myself?”

  His shoulders drooped. “God, no, Kate. You’re no charity case. You’re a bright, dynamic woman with so much life and potential. I could see your inner struggle, and I wanted to help you break free from—”

  She shoved at his chest. “So you appointed yourself my shrink? My savior? Who asked you to fix me?”

  “Um...well, Dawn sorta mentioned—”

  She snorted her disbelief and disdain, and he quickly added, “I’m not saying this is her fault! I take responsibility for my choices.”