Today I'm showcasing Book two in the Texas Kings series, Cowboy Take Me Away. I love western romance and this is for all of you who do too!
Enjoy!
ISBN-13: 9781250060099
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: 12/29/2015
Length: 320 pp
Buy It: B&N/Amazon/Kobo/Indiebound
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: 12/29/2015
Length: 320 pp
Buy It: B&N/Amazon/Kobo/Indiebound
Overview
The King brothers are three of the wealthiest, most hard-riding heartbreakers in the great state of Texas. And it takes a rare breed of woman to lasso one of their hearts...
NEVER SAY NEVER
As a veterinarian and single mother, Hope Walker knows how to handle most emergencies, inside and out. But when she shows up at the sprawling cattle ranch belonging to Chase King.Hope finds herself in a state of panic: How could Chase be even hotter after all these years? And why does Hope feel more attracted to him than ever?
As a veterinarian and single mother, Hope Walker knows how to handle most emergencies, inside and out. But when she shows up at the sprawling cattle ranch belonging to Chase King.Hope finds herself in a state of panic: How could Chase be even hotter after all these years? And why does Hope feel more attracted to him than ever?
WHEN IT COMES TO LOVE
Chase can't believe that Hope-the gorgeous, brilliant woman who disappeared after one blazing night of passion-has walked back into his life. After all this time he still thinks of her as the one who got away. ..and he's not about to lose her now. But is Hope ready to get back in the saddle and ride into the sunset with the cowboy of her dreams? Or will a long-buried secret rise to the surface-and tear the two reunited lovers apart?
Chase can't believe that Hope-the gorgeous, brilliant woman who disappeared after one blazing night of passion-has walked back into his life. After all this time he still thinks of her as the one who got away. ..and he's not about to lose her now. But is Hope ready to get back in the saddle and ride into the sunset with the cowboy of her dreams? Or will a long-buried secret rise to the surface-and tear the two reunited lovers apart?
Read en Excerpt courtesy of St. Martin's Press:
“Are you guys sure this isn’t one of you trying to prove your dick’s bigger than the other’s?” Nate asked, arms folded across his chest as he surveyed Ryder’s new house.
Chase laughed and slapped his younger brother on the back. “Hey, I win that contest hands down.” Ryder shrugged off his hand and scowled at him. “Besides, I think you’ll find he’s had no say in the size of this place. That’s all Chloe’s doing.”
“Ha-ha, very fucking funny,” Ryder said. “At least I have a wife.”
Chase held up his hands. “You got me. No ball and chain attached here.”
Nate shook his head and walked around the house. “For all the shit we give you about Chloe, you know we love her, right?”
Ryder glared at them both. “Oh, I know. Haven’t you noticed that’s why I never let her see you guys without me around?”
“Damn,” Chase teased, raising his eyebrows. “Guess I’ll have to stop having coffee with her every morning. Your bedroom’s so sunny late morning…”
Ryder shrugged, but Chase could tell he’d pissed him off. The only thing Ryder was sensitive about now that he’d given up rodeo was Chloe, and they loved to tease him. After being on his back for years about giving up his career as a bull rider, they didn’t get many excuses to boss him around anymore.
“Enough,” Nate scolded. “I need a shower then I’m off to Houston for a few days.”
“You taking the jet?” Chase asked.
“Yeah.” Nate stretched his arms above his head, flexing his muscles. None of them were wearing shirts after their early morning run, the air a refreshing blast of cool now they’d caught their breath. “I’ll be back to kick your ass again on Saturday.”
“If we can move our legs by then,” Chase said with a chuckle.
“I ain’t running with you guys again. I prefer my mornings nice and lazy with Chloe, if you get my drift,” Ryder told them.
Chase and Nate both laughed. When they ran together, neither he nor his big brother wanted to come last, which meant their early morning jogs always turned into a competition, one that Nate had won today. Chase grinned. Next time he’d beat him—he’d train every morning he was gone to make sure of it. Ryder hadn’t even come close to keeping up with them.
“So you guys do like the place, right?” Ryder asked, leaning against the timber framing, eyes trained on Chase.
“I think it’s awesome,” Chase told him, all jokes aside. “The difference between you and me is that you’re building a home and I’m building a house. You’ll be hearing the pitter-patter of little Ryders before you know it.”
Ryder raised his eyebrows but didn’t say anything. Chase loved Chloe and he was looking forward to being an uncle one day, but there was no way he was settling down any time soon. His brother getting hitched was one thing, but it wasn’t for him.
“You manage to get an appointment with the new artificial insemination specialist?” Nate asked, taking a swig from his water bottle as they all made the short walk back toward the main house, the homestead they’d been raised in on the sprawling King estate.
“Yeah, she’s heading here this morning. A new vet based in Dallas, someone they’ve just recruited to join the team.” Chase tucked his T-shirt into the waistband of his running shorts. “We’re gonna have the best damn organic beef cattle in Texas, just you wait and see.”
“I thought we already did.” Nate grunted. “Anyway, I’m counting on it. You’d think we were breeding cows made from gold at that price.”
“I’ll catch you guys later. Have fun in Houston,” Ryder called over his shoulder, walking back toward the small guesthouse he was sharing with Chloe until his new place was completed. “Chase, I’ll come down and meet the new vet later on.”
Chase nodded and followed Nate. He grimaced as he stretched out his legs. “I might have to postpone that ride I was planning on today.”
Nate laughed. “You going soft in your old age?”
“Me, old?” Chase shoved Nate and sprinted up the stairs ahead of him, howling in pain when he reached the top ahead of his brother.
“Calves burning?”
“Like a motherfucker,” Chase groaned, collapsing against the wall.
“I’m gonna hit the shower. See you Saturday.”
Chase headed for his room and stripped down to take a quick shower in the adjoining bathroom. He reemerged with a towel slung around his waist, his entire body aching as he found underwear, jeans, and a shirt. Training with Nate six days in a row was pure punishment—they’d always run, then do burpees and crunches until they were almost crippled. He got dressed, rolled his sleeves up to his elbows, and made his way back downstairs again, stopping in the kitchen to grab a coffee and something to eat.
“Morning.”
He glanced up, smiling when he saw Mrs. T, the housekeeper they’d had since he was a little boy. Nate still had her coming over every few days to keep the house tidy and food in the pantry, and they loved her like she was family.
“Morning.” He grinned when she pointed to the kitchen counter. “Have I mentioned how much I love you lately?”
She laughed and flapped a hand at him. “Don’t try to flatter me, Chase. I’ve known you since you were in diapers and you can’t fool me with that nonsense.”
Chase pressed a kiss to her cheek as he passed and grabbed a bagel, slicing it open and slathering cream cheese all over it. He grinned when she turned on the coffee machine, knowing she was about to make him the perfect espresso.
Nate appeared as he took his first sip, dressed in an open-necked shirt and suit pants, and shrugging into a jacket.
“And you wonder why you can’t keep up with me,” Nate muttered, raising an eyebrow and trying to smack Chase’s bagel out of his hand.
“I don’t care. I’d rather eat cream cheese than beat you.” It was a lie—he hated Nate kicking his butt, but he did love his food. Hell, if he wasn’t living here he’d be frying up eggs and bacon every morning like he usually did before heading out for the day. Nate, on the other hand, wouldn’t dream of scoffing down half the stuff his brothers did. They were only living together temporarily—up until recently he’d been living in a little place near the front of the property, which he’d pulled down to make way for something new.
“You need to kick the coffee habit, too,” Nate told him. “Start drinking green juice.”
Chase almost choked on his mouthful, swallowing down a piece of bagel and staring at Nate. “You’ve got to be shitting me? Ain’t no way anyone is ever gonna convince me to drink kale. Or eat sushi for that matter.” He laughed. “We could put in a crop and cash in on the whole green juice revolution but that’s where I draw the line.”
Nate grabbed a bagel and stared at it for a few seconds. “Aw, what the hell. It does look good. Mrs. T, can you do my coffee in a to-go cup?” He laughed quietly. “And for the record, sushi is freaking amazing. Pity you’re such an old school douchebag.”
Chase finished his bagel and started another as Nate wolfed half of his bagel down, before he grabbed his coffee and took the other half to go. His brother could call him all the names in the world—it was like water off a duck’s back.
“I’ll see you later,” Nate said. “And yeah, none of that green shit for me, either. The juice I’ll pass on, but one of these days I’m taking you out for sashimi at that new place in the city.”
Chase laughed. “Not a chance. But you do realize I might never move out of here, right? I never realized how good you had it.”
Nate held up his bagel in the air in a wave. “Later.”
Chase surveyed the kitchen now that he was alone, and smiled when he thought about how many mornings they’d all sat around together when they were kids. There were a lot of things that had been crappy about their childhood, but they’d been damn lucky, too. He never tired of hanging out with his brothers, even if they did give one another a hard time. Maybe losing their mom so young, then their dad walking out and leaving them with their grandparents had brought them closer together, but he had a feeling they’d have always been close regardless.
Chase finished his breakfast, gulped down the rest of his coffee, and headed for the back door to pull on his boots and head out to the barn. He checked his wristwatch; the specialist veterinarian would be pulling up in less than half an hour, and he wanted to get his foreman over to listen to what she had to say.
Damn. A cloud of dust in the distance told him that she was way ahead of schedule. The last guy they’d sent out had kept him waiting for an hour, so he hadn’t been expecting early.
Chase jogged to the barn, calling out to Randy. He ducked into the feed shed, had a quick look around the yards, but didn’t see him. The shiny white pickup had pulled up now, and he wiped his hands on his jeans and headed over to meet her. From everything he’d read in the company’s latest brochure, there was no one more qualified with modern artificial insemination techniques, and he was looking forward to meeting the new recruit from Dallas AI.
He raised a hand to shield his face from the sun, squinting as she pushed open her door and stepped out. Wow.He hadn’t expected the vet to have long blond hair or be dressed in skin-tight jeans and cowboy boots.
“Hey,” Chase called out, dropping his hand and walking closer to the vehicle.
“Morning!” The blond vet turned around, a big smile on her face that quickly turned into a look of surprise. “Chase?”
“Hope?” Holy mother of God.
“I, um, well…” she stuttered, and he just stared, speechless for the first time in his life. “I can’t believe it never clicked that this was your ranch.”
Chase clamped his jaw shut instead of letting it fall to the ground, and closed the distance between them, opening his arms and giving Hope an awkward hug. “Howdy, stranger,” he managed, stepping back and staring down at her. “This is…”
“Crazy,” she said, shaking her head and leaning against the driver’s door of the pickup. “You look good, Chase.”
He laughed, dragging his eyes slowly up then down as he looked at her. “Straight back at you.” She looked a whole lot better than good.
Hope’s face was flushed, her cheeks a pretty shade of pink. He hadn’t seen her in years but she was just as gorgeous as she had been back then—blue eyes that danced when she spoke, full lips that framed a wide mouth, and a blond mane of that never looked too perfect to touch.
“So you’ve been busy these last few years, huh?” he asked, folding his arms and watching her, staring at Hope and wondering how the hell she was standing in front of him. He should have been able to come up with something witty, but seeing Hope had fried his brain. “When they said the new specialist was Hope Walker, it didn’t exactly send off alarm bells.”
She grimaced. “Married name, sorry.”
Chase shrugged it off, not even wanting to think about her being married. She was the one who’d gotten away, the girl he’d never gotten out of his system. And somehow she’d ended up on his property without him even realizing it. Not to mention she was taken, which meant he needed to stop thinking about how good she’d look in his bed. He glanced down, noticed she wasn’t wearing a ring. “So you’ve moved out this way for good?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I know I should have looked you up, but…”
“No need to apologize,” he said, shrugging. It ticked him off, but he got it. They’d been out of touch a long time. “I’d have only given your husband a grilling to make sure he was good enough for you, so it could have turned nasty.”
The look in her eyes made him feel like a complete prick. Hope turned away and opened a container in the bed of the pickup, sorting through some things. The girl he’d known had been able to take a ribbing—they’d teased each other mercilessly their entire time in college—but he was pretty sure he’d gone and said the wrong thing just now.
“I’d say I was kidding, but I kind of wasn’t.” He folded his arms across his chest, gazed down at her. “Hope?”
Hope turned back around, her smile sweet but not hitting her eyes like it used to. “I’m not married anymore,” she said, her tone somber as she told him. “And believe me, you’d be all fists blazing if you met him, I can promise you that.”
Chase’s fists balled at his sides when he unfolded his arms, his jaw tight as he stared at Hope. They might not have seen each other in years, but they’d been best friends all through college and there was nothing he wouldn’t do for her, even after all this time. They’d been through a hell of a lot together and it wasn’t just something he could forget.
“You need me to teach the asshole a lesson?” Chase asked, trying not to grit his teeth as he fumed inside.
“No,” she sighed, attempting a smile that did anything but convince him she was okay. “What I need to do is stop talking about my failed marriage and come see your cattle.”
Chase watched her long and hard, trying to read her face. She was brave, he knew that already, but something told him that she’d been to hell and back and then some.
“You want to talk work, let’s go,” he finally said, stepping closer to her and taking a metal kit she was carrying. Hope made a face like she was about to protest, but he took it off her anyway. “You’re not in Canada anymore, sweetheart. You’ve forgotten what good manners southern men have?”
She laughed, her head tipping back as she walked. “I’ve missed you, Chase. Man, have I missed you.”
He grinned back at her, wishing it hadn’t been so long since he’d seen her. It had only taken one night to ruin their friendship, and they’d hardly spoken since. She’d been his best friend for years, and now they were as good as strangers, although he could see how easy it’d be to fall back into step like no time had passed at all.
“So tell me what it’s like working with sperm all day.”
Hope scowled at him. “You haven’t grown up a bit, have you?”
“Nope.”
He matched her stride, not taking his eyes off her. She’d been beautiful back in college and now she was a knockout. Chase glanced around, checked they were alone and Ryder wasn’t about to come ruin their reunion. He’d fucked it up with Hope once, and if he had his chance, he’d make up for every second.
“So who’s Randy Smith? I have his name on my sheet.”
“Foreman,” Chase told her. “I had him book and confirm the appointment.”
“Ah,” she murmured. “Although if I’d looked farther down my chart instead of rushing to get here on time, I’d have noticed the words King Ranch. My bad.”
He stopped walking, locked his gaze on her when she turned. “Would you have come if you’d known it was me?”
Her expression didn’t change, her eyes warm as she stared back at him. “Of course I would have.”
Chase smiled and started walking with her again, even though he didn’t believe her for a second. Something had changed, something was different about her, and it wasn’t just the fact that they’d grown up. But if there was one thing he was good at it was being persistent, and if he had a chance to get Hope back in his life, then he’d make damn sure he didn’t miss the opportunity. If she were happily married he would have accepted the fact, but she wasn’t.
“That was a lie,” she suddenly said.
He raised an eyebrow as he turned to look at her. “What was?”
“If I’d seen your name I would have tried to get someone else to cover for me.”
He nodded. “Nothing beats the truth.”
She stopped and stared at him, her eyes locked on his. They weren’t touching, but she was standing close, her perfume filling his senses, strands of her hair being teased by the wind and blowing toward him. He was recalling exactly why he’d found it so damn hard to keep things platonic between them.
“How did things end up like this between us, Chase?”
He shrugged. “We really screwed up, didn’t we?”
“Yeah, we did.” She blew out a breath. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry I never stayed in touch. If it’s any consolation, I’ve missed you a lot.”
“Me too,” he grunted. “All these years and I’ve never found a drinking buddy half as fun as you.” The reasons he liked Hope were a whole lot more than having someone fun to drink with, but he was pretty sure she knew that without him having to spell it out.
Chase chuckled and slung an arm around Hope’s shoulders. She tensed slightly, shoulders bunching under his touch, like she’d stopped breathing for a beat, but he didn’t care. Before they’d slept together, they’d touched all the time, buddies but on the verge of flirting every time they hung out. Then after they’d been between the sheets, they’d barely touched again. Well, he was taking charge now and he wasn’t going to pussyfoot around.
“I might just take you up on that kicking-ass offer, you know,” Hope muttered, her body finally relaxing.
“You have my word,” Chase said, pleased to be talking instead of picturing her naked, because the moment he’d seen her he’d started thinking about their night together. “I don’t care how many years have passed. An enemy of yours is an enemy of mine. You say kill him, he’s dead.”
As they reached the barn, Chase reluctantly removed his arm, set the kit down, and hitched a boot against the nearby railing. He had a small herd of heifers waiting in the round pen for Hope to look over, and the sooner he got his mind on cows instead of the woman standing beside him, the better.
“So these are my girls,” he said.
He recognized the change in her face as she leaned over the railings to look them over. When they’d been studying she’d played hard and studied even harder, which was why his grandfather had always thought she was such a good influence on him. Now, he got the feeling that he was the only one getting time to play—the tiny lines around her eyes told him she was nothing short of exhausted.
“You’ve got quite the harem of ladies,” she joked.
“Best organic purebred cattle in the state,” Chase told her. “Now I just need to get them pregnant with the New Zealand sperm that cost me a small fortune.”
“And that’s why you called in the big guns.”
Chase laughed with Hope, but what he really needed was for them to stop talking about sperm. And sex. And insemination. His head was already in the gutter without any encouragement.
“I’m guessing you must be pretty good if you managed to get a green card,” Chase said, still leaning on the rails but watching her now instead of the herd.
“I’ve worked my butt off,” she told him. “But yeah, seems that I managed to specialize enough to be of value, and it didn’t take long for me to get approval to move.”
Chase nodded. He’d never doubted she would succeed at whatever she set her mind to, not for a moment.
* * *
Hope held up a hand to shield her eyes from the bright sunshine. Keeping it together in front of Chase wasn’t easy, and it was taking every ounce of her energy. Staring into his eyes was like … She clamped her jaw down, teeth grinding. Her problem was that she’d mentally left Chase in her past, and she sure as hell hadn’t been expecting to see him today. Or any other damn day for that matter.
“So did you ever practice?” she asked, ducking through the railings to get a closer look at the heifers. They’d graduated together after training as veterinarians, but he hadn’t been sure about his exact career plans when they’d parted ways.
“For a short time,” he said, following her into the yards. “After I graduated I came straight back here and started working alongside our foreman whenever I could, but I also worked with our local vet for a while to get some practical training in. Granddad liked the idea of me having a backup plan career wise in case ranching wasn’t profitable for our land one day, but the truth is all I’ve done since hearing him say that is come up with ways to make sure I can keep the ranching side of our business booming.”
She cursed as he moved near, wishing he’d just back the hell up instead of coming into her space. Having him so close—smelling him, seeing him, looking into his dark eyes as he spoke—it was too much. After trying to forget him for so long, suddenly every memory, every touch was rushing back so fast it was almost impossible to breathe.
Hope inhaled deeply, the smell of cow dung way more calming than the citrusy scent of Chase. She glanced sideways, noticed the wayward curl of his dark hair. He’d kept it shorter in college, and now it was more unruly, but it suited him. Just a little too long at the back and around his ears, almost black, and so hard not to touch.
Enough. She hadn’t thought about Chase in a long time and she didn’t need to start now. She was here for work and that was it.
“What I need to do today is give them a work-up, make sure everything’s in order, then we can go about getting them in calf. You know the drill.”
Chase cleared his throat. “I don’t want to sound like a jerk, but we only purchased a modest number of straws. Are we looking at a pretty high take rate?”
Hope met his gaze, but she kept her body angled so she hadn’t turned her back on the cows. She had enough experience to know how easy it was to land a sideways kick.
“Understood. Each insemination has to count, and I’ll only inseminate the ones that fit the criteria perfectly.” She nodded as she glanced over them all again, pleased with how they looked from the outset—a healthy herd of big young cows. “Although from looking at them I doubt we’ll find any obvious problems from the outset.”
“Nate’s riding me big-time over this so I need to prove it was the right decision,” Chase said. “He’d turn this whole place into an oil field if it wasn’t for me riding his ass to keep our stock numbers high.”
“Nate’s your oldest brother, right?” She was only making conversation, there was nothing about Chase she’d forgotten.
“Yep, that’s him.” Chase took a step back and leaned on the railings, his elbows pushed down, legs relaxed as he kicked them out, one ankle crossed over the other. “My granddad’s stepped down from the day-to-day running now, and Nate’s handling the business side of things with me in charge of the ranches. We have a couple other places nearby, too.”
“So you’re living the dream, huh?” she mused, ducking beneath the timber so she was no longer in the yard.
“I guess, yeah.” Chase followed her back through, frowning when she turned to look at him. “What about you? What the hell are you doing living and working so far from home anyway?”
Damn. She’d walked into that question all on her own. “Ah, things didn’t work out quite as planned.” Hope tried to look unconcerned, her natural reaction to make up an excuse and get the hell out of dodge to avoid Chase’s questions. But he didn’t know, couldn’t know, any of it, which meant she just needed to avoid the topic for as long as she could. If not forever. She could tell him about her ranch one day if she had to, but that was it. She’d moved on, dealt with what had happened, and what he didn’t know wasn’t doing him any harm. Hell, he’d probably forgotten all about her the day they graduated—she was a quick blast from the past for him and that was it.
“So your family…”
“Chase, have you thought about how many heifers you want me to do in the first round of inseminations?” she interrupted, desperate to get the topic off her and back on work. “We could do a few first, monitor the results before continuing on? Then we could let Nate see for himself how good these New Zealand straws are. I’m guessing that quality is more important than speed given what you’ve told me.”
If Chase was surprised by how rudely she’d changed the subject, he didn’t show it. “Whatever you think. I want to leave this up to the experts, but we don’t need to be overly cautious. I just want to make sure we’re focused on the end result.”
“Good, sounds like a plan. I’ll talk to my boss, discuss the results from my prelim work-up with the girls here, then we’ll get them in calf as soon as we can.” She laughed. “You’ll have unruly calves to worry about before you know it.”
“Yeah, ones that owe us so much money we’ll be keeping an eagle eye on them twenty-four-seven.” He grinned at her. “Just give me one good bull calf and I’ll be indebted to you forever. It’ll make all this worth my while.”
She looked from the yards back to Chase and saw his face change, his jaw go from soft to hard as stone as he scowled past her. When she turned she saw who he was staring at—a man as blond as Chase was dark, a big smile greeting her when she locked eyes with him. It might have been a long time, but she recognized Chase’s little brother straight away.
He grinned when he reached them, holding out his hand for her to shake. “Man, you’re an improvement on the last vet.”
“I’m not sure whether to be flattered or offended,” she replied, laughing more from the look on Chase’s face than the joke.
“He was about seventy and bald, so yeah, take it as a compliment.”
“Hope Walker,” she said, taking her hand back when he released it, his eyes never leaving hers as what she guessed was recognition flickered in them.
“Ryder King,” he replied, shaking his head as he folded his arms, like the penny had slowly dropped. “And you’re…”
“Hope, just like she said,” Chase interrupted. “As in my old friend from college. Ryder, Hope. Hope, Ryder. We’ve got some business to attend to, so if you don’t mind…”
“No fucking way,” Ryder swore, completely ignoring his brother.
“Small world, huh?” she said.
“So do you mind my asking what the hell you’re doing here? When Chase was all miserable and pining for you, I’m sure he said there wasn’t a chance of you leaving your ranch in Canada and heading back to the US.”
Hope fought the grimace threatening to take over her face. She glanced at Chase but decided to focus on Ryder—it was easier looking at his brother. Maybe she hadn’t been the only one missing what they’d had.
“My family doesn’t own the ranch anymore,” she said, keeping her voice as devoid of emotion as she could. Hope worried the timber behind her, digging her nail in so hard that it hurt. “To cut a long story short, I wanted a fresh start, and I was recruited by Dallas AI. It was too good an offer to turn down, so here I am.”
“Your dad sold the ranch?” Chase asked, his gaze so intense he could have burned a hole through her skin.
“Not exactly.”
Hope smiled at Ryder and bent to take some things from her kit, purely for something to do, wishing Chase would stop staring at her and change the subject. When she looked up, both men were watching her, but neither pushed her further.
“So instead of being the beautiful heiress to your family ranch, you’re staring at semen through a scope and inseminating unsuspecting heifers? Sounds like fun.”
She had to give Ryder credit—he’d made her laugh when she’d been about to burst into tears only moments before.
“Let’s just say that I’m better off on my own.” And with my son. The silent words echoed through her head, her eyes dragging toward Chase and seeing the familiar dark-brown gaze meeting hers. Only it wasn’t Chase’s chocolate-hued gaze she was used to seeing on a daily basis, it was her son’s. “So you boys going to help me put these ladies in the crush?”
Ryder shook his head, holding out his hand and clasping hers. “It was lovely to meet you, Hope, but I’m off to see a man about a horse. I’ll leave you two to reminisce and sort out the cattle.”
“You still riding rodeo?” she asked.
Ryder went to answer before Chase nudged him hard in the side, making him grunt.
“That was in the days before he was whipped,” Chase said. “My baby bro is all grown up and married now.”
Hope smiled. “Congratulations.” Just because she was cynical about marriage herself didn’t mean she couldn’t be happy for someone else.
“She’s fucking amazing,” Ryder said, giving her a mischievous wink and slapping his brother on the back before starting to walk away. “I’m one lucky son of a bitch and I damn well know it.”
A shiver trawled Hope’s spine as she turned to face Chase, his mouth smiling but his eyes still creased with concern. She knew he’d have questions, it wouldn’t be natural for him not to, but she didn’t want to go there. Not without thinking through what she would tell him first, figuring out how much to say. It wasn’t like she’d been expecting a reunion with him.
“So how do you want to do this?” Chase asked.
She sighed and squared her shoulders. “Can we just focus on work today?”
He flashed her his gorgeous dimple, the one that always creased when he grinned, a dimple that had made almost every girl in her dorm swoon on a daily basis, including her.
“I was talking about using the crush,” he told her.
A warm flush worked its way up her neck, but she refused to let the blush hit her cheeks. He’d always known how to get under her skin, how to reach her like no other guy had, and being around him now was scaring her. Because it was dredging up thoughts long forgotten, memories she’d forced away so many times they’d almost completely disappeared from her mind. But the fantasy had never died, and being with him, here and now, she wished she’d chosen Chase over everything else. It had been the stupidest decision she’d ever made, and one day maybe even her son would find it hard to forgive her.
Chase touched her arm when she walked past him on her way toward the cattle again.
“You don’t want to talk, we don’t need to,” he said, his voice husky.
“Okay,” she managed, refusing to glance at him, her gaze firmly ahead on the first glossy black Angus heifer in front of her.
“But you do owe me dinner,” he said, raising one eyebrow as he stared at her, making it impossible for her not to look back into eyes the most delicious shade of milk chocolate in the sunlight.
“I…”
His hand squeezed over her forearm, the heat in his touch making her flush. His face showed how serious he was, eyes boring into her, the hint of smile crossing his lips the only attempt he made at concealing his determination.
Hope took a deep breath. “Only if I can find a babysitter on short notice.”
“Are you guys sure this isn’t one of you trying to prove your dick’s bigger than the other’s?” Nate asked, arms folded across his chest as he surveyed Ryder’s new house.
Chase laughed and slapped his younger brother on the back. “Hey, I win that contest hands down.” Ryder shrugged off his hand and scowled at him. “Besides, I think you’ll find he’s had no say in the size of this place. That’s all Chloe’s doing.”
“Ha-ha, very fucking funny,” Ryder said. “At least I have a wife.”
Chase held up his hands. “You got me. No ball and chain attached here.”
Nate shook his head and walked around the house. “For all the shit we give you about Chloe, you know we love her, right?”
Ryder glared at them both. “Oh, I know. Haven’t you noticed that’s why I never let her see you guys without me around?”
“Damn,” Chase teased, raising his eyebrows. “Guess I’ll have to stop having coffee with her every morning. Your bedroom’s so sunny late morning…”
Ryder shrugged, but Chase could tell he’d pissed him off. The only thing Ryder was sensitive about now that he’d given up rodeo was Chloe, and they loved to tease him. After being on his back for years about giving up his career as a bull rider, they didn’t get many excuses to boss him around anymore.
“Enough,” Nate scolded. “I need a shower then I’m off to Houston for a few days.”
“You taking the jet?” Chase asked.
“Yeah.” Nate stretched his arms above his head, flexing his muscles. None of them were wearing shirts after their early morning run, the air a refreshing blast of cool now they’d caught their breath. “I’ll be back to kick your ass again on Saturday.”
“If we can move our legs by then,” Chase said with a chuckle.
“I ain’t running with you guys again. I prefer my mornings nice and lazy with Chloe, if you get my drift,” Ryder told them.
Chase and Nate both laughed. When they ran together, neither he nor his big brother wanted to come last, which meant their early morning jogs always turned into a competition, one that Nate had won today. Chase grinned. Next time he’d beat him—he’d train every morning he was gone to make sure of it. Ryder hadn’t even come close to keeping up with them.
“So you guys do like the place, right?” Ryder asked, leaning against the timber framing, eyes trained on Chase.
“I think it’s awesome,” Chase told him, all jokes aside. “The difference between you and me is that you’re building a home and I’m building a house. You’ll be hearing the pitter-patter of little Ryders before you know it.”
Ryder raised his eyebrows but didn’t say anything. Chase loved Chloe and he was looking forward to being an uncle one day, but there was no way he was settling down any time soon. His brother getting hitched was one thing, but it wasn’t for him.
“You manage to get an appointment with the new artificial insemination specialist?” Nate asked, taking a swig from his water bottle as they all made the short walk back toward the main house, the homestead they’d been raised in on the sprawling King estate.
“Yeah, she’s heading here this morning. A new vet based in Dallas, someone they’ve just recruited to join the team.” Chase tucked his T-shirt into the waistband of his running shorts. “We’re gonna have the best damn organic beef cattle in Texas, just you wait and see.”
“I thought we already did.” Nate grunted. “Anyway, I’m counting on it. You’d think we were breeding cows made from gold at that price.”
“I’ll catch you guys later. Have fun in Houston,” Ryder called over his shoulder, walking back toward the small guesthouse he was sharing with Chloe until his new place was completed. “Chase, I’ll come down and meet the new vet later on.”
Chase nodded and followed Nate. He grimaced as he stretched out his legs. “I might have to postpone that ride I was planning on today.”
Nate laughed. “You going soft in your old age?”
“Me, old?” Chase shoved Nate and sprinted up the stairs ahead of him, howling in pain when he reached the top ahead of his brother.
“Calves burning?”
“Like a motherfucker,” Chase groaned, collapsing against the wall.
“I’m gonna hit the shower. See you Saturday.”
Chase headed for his room and stripped down to take a quick shower in the adjoining bathroom. He reemerged with a towel slung around his waist, his entire body aching as he found underwear, jeans, and a shirt. Training with Nate six days in a row was pure punishment—they’d always run, then do burpees and crunches until they were almost crippled. He got dressed, rolled his sleeves up to his elbows, and made his way back downstairs again, stopping in the kitchen to grab a coffee and something to eat.
“Morning.”
He glanced up, smiling when he saw Mrs. T, the housekeeper they’d had since he was a little boy. Nate still had her coming over every few days to keep the house tidy and food in the pantry, and they loved her like she was family.
“Morning.” He grinned when she pointed to the kitchen counter. “Have I mentioned how much I love you lately?”
She laughed and flapped a hand at him. “Don’t try to flatter me, Chase. I’ve known you since you were in diapers and you can’t fool me with that nonsense.”
Chase pressed a kiss to her cheek as he passed and grabbed a bagel, slicing it open and slathering cream cheese all over it. He grinned when she turned on the coffee machine, knowing she was about to make him the perfect espresso.
Nate appeared as he took his first sip, dressed in an open-necked shirt and suit pants, and shrugging into a jacket.
“And you wonder why you can’t keep up with me,” Nate muttered, raising an eyebrow and trying to smack Chase’s bagel out of his hand.
“I don’t care. I’d rather eat cream cheese than beat you.” It was a lie—he hated Nate kicking his butt, but he did love his food. Hell, if he wasn’t living here he’d be frying up eggs and bacon every morning like he usually did before heading out for the day. Nate, on the other hand, wouldn’t dream of scoffing down half the stuff his brothers did. They were only living together temporarily—up until recently he’d been living in a little place near the front of the property, which he’d pulled down to make way for something new.
“You need to kick the coffee habit, too,” Nate told him. “Start drinking green juice.”
Chase almost choked on his mouthful, swallowing down a piece of bagel and staring at Nate. “You’ve got to be shitting me? Ain’t no way anyone is ever gonna convince me to drink kale. Or eat sushi for that matter.” He laughed. “We could put in a crop and cash in on the whole green juice revolution but that’s where I draw the line.”
Nate grabbed a bagel and stared at it for a few seconds. “Aw, what the hell. It does look good. Mrs. T, can you do my coffee in a to-go cup?” He laughed quietly. “And for the record, sushi is freaking amazing. Pity you’re such an old school douchebag.”
Chase finished his bagel and started another as Nate wolfed half of his bagel down, before he grabbed his coffee and took the other half to go. His brother could call him all the names in the world—it was like water off a duck’s back.
“I’ll see you later,” Nate said. “And yeah, none of that green shit for me, either. The juice I’ll pass on, but one of these days I’m taking you out for sashimi at that new place in the city.”
Chase laughed. “Not a chance. But you do realize I might never move out of here, right? I never realized how good you had it.”
Nate held up his bagel in the air in a wave. “Later.”
Chase surveyed the kitchen now that he was alone, and smiled when he thought about how many mornings they’d all sat around together when they were kids. There were a lot of things that had been crappy about their childhood, but they’d been damn lucky, too. He never tired of hanging out with his brothers, even if they did give one another a hard time. Maybe losing their mom so young, then their dad walking out and leaving them with their grandparents had brought them closer together, but he had a feeling they’d have always been close regardless.
Chase finished his breakfast, gulped down the rest of his coffee, and headed for the back door to pull on his boots and head out to the barn. He checked his wristwatch; the specialist veterinarian would be pulling up in less than half an hour, and he wanted to get his foreman over to listen to what she had to say.
Damn. A cloud of dust in the distance told him that she was way ahead of schedule. The last guy they’d sent out had kept him waiting for an hour, so he hadn’t been expecting early.
Chase jogged to the barn, calling out to Randy. He ducked into the feed shed, had a quick look around the yards, but didn’t see him. The shiny white pickup had pulled up now, and he wiped his hands on his jeans and headed over to meet her. From everything he’d read in the company’s latest brochure, there was no one more qualified with modern artificial insemination techniques, and he was looking forward to meeting the new recruit from Dallas AI.
He raised a hand to shield his face from the sun, squinting as she pushed open her door and stepped out. Wow.He hadn’t expected the vet to have long blond hair or be dressed in skin-tight jeans and cowboy boots.
“Hey,” Chase called out, dropping his hand and walking closer to the vehicle.
“Morning!” The blond vet turned around, a big smile on her face that quickly turned into a look of surprise. “Chase?”
“Hope?” Holy mother of God.
“I, um, well…” she stuttered, and he just stared, speechless for the first time in his life. “I can’t believe it never clicked that this was your ranch.”
Chase clamped his jaw shut instead of letting it fall to the ground, and closed the distance between them, opening his arms and giving Hope an awkward hug. “Howdy, stranger,” he managed, stepping back and staring down at her. “This is…”
“Crazy,” she said, shaking her head and leaning against the driver’s door of the pickup. “You look good, Chase.”
He laughed, dragging his eyes slowly up then down as he looked at her. “Straight back at you.” She looked a whole lot better than good.
Hope’s face was flushed, her cheeks a pretty shade of pink. He hadn’t seen her in years but she was just as gorgeous as she had been back then—blue eyes that danced when she spoke, full lips that framed a wide mouth, and a blond mane of that never looked too perfect to touch.
“So you’ve been busy these last few years, huh?” he asked, folding his arms and watching her, staring at Hope and wondering how the hell she was standing in front of him. He should have been able to come up with something witty, but seeing Hope had fried his brain. “When they said the new specialist was Hope Walker, it didn’t exactly send off alarm bells.”
She grimaced. “Married name, sorry.”
Chase shrugged it off, not even wanting to think about her being married. She was the one who’d gotten away, the girl he’d never gotten out of his system. And somehow she’d ended up on his property without him even realizing it. Not to mention she was taken, which meant he needed to stop thinking about how good she’d look in his bed. He glanced down, noticed she wasn’t wearing a ring. “So you’ve moved out this way for good?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I know I should have looked you up, but…”
“No need to apologize,” he said, shrugging. It ticked him off, but he got it. They’d been out of touch a long time. “I’d have only given your husband a grilling to make sure he was good enough for you, so it could have turned nasty.”
The look in her eyes made him feel like a complete prick. Hope turned away and opened a container in the bed of the pickup, sorting through some things. The girl he’d known had been able to take a ribbing—they’d teased each other mercilessly their entire time in college—but he was pretty sure he’d gone and said the wrong thing just now.
“I’d say I was kidding, but I kind of wasn’t.” He folded his arms across his chest, gazed down at her. “Hope?”
Hope turned back around, her smile sweet but not hitting her eyes like it used to. “I’m not married anymore,” she said, her tone somber as she told him. “And believe me, you’d be all fists blazing if you met him, I can promise you that.”
Chase’s fists balled at his sides when he unfolded his arms, his jaw tight as he stared at Hope. They might not have seen each other in years, but they’d been best friends all through college and there was nothing he wouldn’t do for her, even after all this time. They’d been through a hell of a lot together and it wasn’t just something he could forget.
“You need me to teach the asshole a lesson?” Chase asked, trying not to grit his teeth as he fumed inside.
“No,” she sighed, attempting a smile that did anything but convince him she was okay. “What I need to do is stop talking about my failed marriage and come see your cattle.”
Chase watched her long and hard, trying to read her face. She was brave, he knew that already, but something told him that she’d been to hell and back and then some.
“You want to talk work, let’s go,” he finally said, stepping closer to her and taking a metal kit she was carrying. Hope made a face like she was about to protest, but he took it off her anyway. “You’re not in Canada anymore, sweetheart. You’ve forgotten what good manners southern men have?”
She laughed, her head tipping back as she walked. “I’ve missed you, Chase. Man, have I missed you.”
He grinned back at her, wishing it hadn’t been so long since he’d seen her. It had only taken one night to ruin their friendship, and they’d hardly spoken since. She’d been his best friend for years, and now they were as good as strangers, although he could see how easy it’d be to fall back into step like no time had passed at all.
“So tell me what it’s like working with sperm all day.”
Hope scowled at him. “You haven’t grown up a bit, have you?”
“Nope.”
He matched her stride, not taking his eyes off her. She’d been beautiful back in college and now she was a knockout. Chase glanced around, checked they were alone and Ryder wasn’t about to come ruin their reunion. He’d fucked it up with Hope once, and if he had his chance, he’d make up for every second.
“So who’s Randy Smith? I have his name on my sheet.”
“Foreman,” Chase told her. “I had him book and confirm the appointment.”
“Ah,” she murmured. “Although if I’d looked farther down my chart instead of rushing to get here on time, I’d have noticed the words King Ranch. My bad.”
He stopped walking, locked his gaze on her when she turned. “Would you have come if you’d known it was me?”
Her expression didn’t change, her eyes warm as she stared back at him. “Of course I would have.”
Chase smiled and started walking with her again, even though he didn’t believe her for a second. Something had changed, something was different about her, and it wasn’t just the fact that they’d grown up. But if there was one thing he was good at it was being persistent, and if he had a chance to get Hope back in his life, then he’d make damn sure he didn’t miss the opportunity. If she were happily married he would have accepted the fact, but she wasn’t.
“That was a lie,” she suddenly said.
He raised an eyebrow as he turned to look at her. “What was?”
“If I’d seen your name I would have tried to get someone else to cover for me.”
He nodded. “Nothing beats the truth.”
She stopped and stared at him, her eyes locked on his. They weren’t touching, but she was standing close, her perfume filling his senses, strands of her hair being teased by the wind and blowing toward him. He was recalling exactly why he’d found it so damn hard to keep things platonic between them.
“How did things end up like this between us, Chase?”
He shrugged. “We really screwed up, didn’t we?”
“Yeah, we did.” She blew out a breath. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry I never stayed in touch. If it’s any consolation, I’ve missed you a lot.”
“Me too,” he grunted. “All these years and I’ve never found a drinking buddy half as fun as you.” The reasons he liked Hope were a whole lot more than having someone fun to drink with, but he was pretty sure she knew that without him having to spell it out.
Chase chuckled and slung an arm around Hope’s shoulders. She tensed slightly, shoulders bunching under his touch, like she’d stopped breathing for a beat, but he didn’t care. Before they’d slept together, they’d touched all the time, buddies but on the verge of flirting every time they hung out. Then after they’d been between the sheets, they’d barely touched again. Well, he was taking charge now and he wasn’t going to pussyfoot around.
“I might just take you up on that kicking-ass offer, you know,” Hope muttered, her body finally relaxing.
“You have my word,” Chase said, pleased to be talking instead of picturing her naked, because the moment he’d seen her he’d started thinking about their night together. “I don’t care how many years have passed. An enemy of yours is an enemy of mine. You say kill him, he’s dead.”
As they reached the barn, Chase reluctantly removed his arm, set the kit down, and hitched a boot against the nearby railing. He had a small herd of heifers waiting in the round pen for Hope to look over, and the sooner he got his mind on cows instead of the woman standing beside him, the better.
“So these are my girls,” he said.
He recognized the change in her face as she leaned over the railings to look them over. When they’d been studying she’d played hard and studied even harder, which was why his grandfather had always thought she was such a good influence on him. Now, he got the feeling that he was the only one getting time to play—the tiny lines around her eyes told him she was nothing short of exhausted.
“You’ve got quite the harem of ladies,” she joked.
“Best organic purebred cattle in the state,” Chase told her. “Now I just need to get them pregnant with the New Zealand sperm that cost me a small fortune.”
“And that’s why you called in the big guns.”
Chase laughed with Hope, but what he really needed was for them to stop talking about sperm. And sex. And insemination. His head was already in the gutter without any encouragement.
“I’m guessing you must be pretty good if you managed to get a green card,” Chase said, still leaning on the rails but watching her now instead of the herd.
“I’ve worked my butt off,” she told him. “But yeah, seems that I managed to specialize enough to be of value, and it didn’t take long for me to get approval to move.”
Chase nodded. He’d never doubted she would succeed at whatever she set her mind to, not for a moment.
* * *
Hope held up a hand to shield her eyes from the bright sunshine. Keeping it together in front of Chase wasn’t easy, and it was taking every ounce of her energy. Staring into his eyes was like … She clamped her jaw down, teeth grinding. Her problem was that she’d mentally left Chase in her past, and she sure as hell hadn’t been expecting to see him today. Or any other damn day for that matter.
“So did you ever practice?” she asked, ducking through the railings to get a closer look at the heifers. They’d graduated together after training as veterinarians, but he hadn’t been sure about his exact career plans when they’d parted ways.
“For a short time,” he said, following her into the yards. “After I graduated I came straight back here and started working alongside our foreman whenever I could, but I also worked with our local vet for a while to get some practical training in. Granddad liked the idea of me having a backup plan career wise in case ranching wasn’t profitable for our land one day, but the truth is all I’ve done since hearing him say that is come up with ways to make sure I can keep the ranching side of our business booming.”
She cursed as he moved near, wishing he’d just back the hell up instead of coming into her space. Having him so close—smelling him, seeing him, looking into his dark eyes as he spoke—it was too much. After trying to forget him for so long, suddenly every memory, every touch was rushing back so fast it was almost impossible to breathe.
Hope inhaled deeply, the smell of cow dung way more calming than the citrusy scent of Chase. She glanced sideways, noticed the wayward curl of his dark hair. He’d kept it shorter in college, and now it was more unruly, but it suited him. Just a little too long at the back and around his ears, almost black, and so hard not to touch.
Enough. She hadn’t thought about Chase in a long time and she didn’t need to start now. She was here for work and that was it.
“What I need to do today is give them a work-up, make sure everything’s in order, then we can go about getting them in calf. You know the drill.”
Chase cleared his throat. “I don’t want to sound like a jerk, but we only purchased a modest number of straws. Are we looking at a pretty high take rate?”
Hope met his gaze, but she kept her body angled so she hadn’t turned her back on the cows. She had enough experience to know how easy it was to land a sideways kick.
“Understood. Each insemination has to count, and I’ll only inseminate the ones that fit the criteria perfectly.” She nodded as she glanced over them all again, pleased with how they looked from the outset—a healthy herd of big young cows. “Although from looking at them I doubt we’ll find any obvious problems from the outset.”
“Nate’s riding me big-time over this so I need to prove it was the right decision,” Chase said. “He’d turn this whole place into an oil field if it wasn’t for me riding his ass to keep our stock numbers high.”
“Nate’s your oldest brother, right?” She was only making conversation, there was nothing about Chase she’d forgotten.
“Yep, that’s him.” Chase took a step back and leaned on the railings, his elbows pushed down, legs relaxed as he kicked them out, one ankle crossed over the other. “My granddad’s stepped down from the day-to-day running now, and Nate’s handling the business side of things with me in charge of the ranches. We have a couple other places nearby, too.”
“So you’re living the dream, huh?” she mused, ducking beneath the timber so she was no longer in the yard.
“I guess, yeah.” Chase followed her back through, frowning when she turned to look at him. “What about you? What the hell are you doing living and working so far from home anyway?”
Damn. She’d walked into that question all on her own. “Ah, things didn’t work out quite as planned.” Hope tried to look unconcerned, her natural reaction to make up an excuse and get the hell out of dodge to avoid Chase’s questions. But he didn’t know, couldn’t know, any of it, which meant she just needed to avoid the topic for as long as she could. If not forever. She could tell him about her ranch one day if she had to, but that was it. She’d moved on, dealt with what had happened, and what he didn’t know wasn’t doing him any harm. Hell, he’d probably forgotten all about her the day they graduated—she was a quick blast from the past for him and that was it.
“So your family…”
“Chase, have you thought about how many heifers you want me to do in the first round of inseminations?” she interrupted, desperate to get the topic off her and back on work. “We could do a few first, monitor the results before continuing on? Then we could let Nate see for himself how good these New Zealand straws are. I’m guessing that quality is more important than speed given what you’ve told me.”
If Chase was surprised by how rudely she’d changed the subject, he didn’t show it. “Whatever you think. I want to leave this up to the experts, but we don’t need to be overly cautious. I just want to make sure we’re focused on the end result.”
“Good, sounds like a plan. I’ll talk to my boss, discuss the results from my prelim work-up with the girls here, then we’ll get them in calf as soon as we can.” She laughed. “You’ll have unruly calves to worry about before you know it.”
“Yeah, ones that owe us so much money we’ll be keeping an eagle eye on them twenty-four-seven.” He grinned at her. “Just give me one good bull calf and I’ll be indebted to you forever. It’ll make all this worth my while.”
She looked from the yards back to Chase and saw his face change, his jaw go from soft to hard as stone as he scowled past her. When she turned she saw who he was staring at—a man as blond as Chase was dark, a big smile greeting her when she locked eyes with him. It might have been a long time, but she recognized Chase’s little brother straight away.
He grinned when he reached them, holding out his hand for her to shake. “Man, you’re an improvement on the last vet.”
“I’m not sure whether to be flattered or offended,” she replied, laughing more from the look on Chase’s face than the joke.
“He was about seventy and bald, so yeah, take it as a compliment.”
“Hope Walker,” she said, taking her hand back when he released it, his eyes never leaving hers as what she guessed was recognition flickered in them.
“Ryder King,” he replied, shaking his head as he folded his arms, like the penny had slowly dropped. “And you’re…”
“Hope, just like she said,” Chase interrupted. “As in my old friend from college. Ryder, Hope. Hope, Ryder. We’ve got some business to attend to, so if you don’t mind…”
“No fucking way,” Ryder swore, completely ignoring his brother.
“Small world, huh?” she said.
“So do you mind my asking what the hell you’re doing here? When Chase was all miserable and pining for you, I’m sure he said there wasn’t a chance of you leaving your ranch in Canada and heading back to the US.”
Hope fought the grimace threatening to take over her face. She glanced at Chase but decided to focus on Ryder—it was easier looking at his brother. Maybe she hadn’t been the only one missing what they’d had.
“My family doesn’t own the ranch anymore,” she said, keeping her voice as devoid of emotion as she could. Hope worried the timber behind her, digging her nail in so hard that it hurt. “To cut a long story short, I wanted a fresh start, and I was recruited by Dallas AI. It was too good an offer to turn down, so here I am.”
“Your dad sold the ranch?” Chase asked, his gaze so intense he could have burned a hole through her skin.
“Not exactly.”
Hope smiled at Ryder and bent to take some things from her kit, purely for something to do, wishing Chase would stop staring at her and change the subject. When she looked up, both men were watching her, but neither pushed her further.
“So instead of being the beautiful heiress to your family ranch, you’re staring at semen through a scope and inseminating unsuspecting heifers? Sounds like fun.”
She had to give Ryder credit—he’d made her laugh when she’d been about to burst into tears only moments before.
“Let’s just say that I’m better off on my own.” And with my son. The silent words echoed through her head, her eyes dragging toward Chase and seeing the familiar dark-brown gaze meeting hers. Only it wasn’t Chase’s chocolate-hued gaze she was used to seeing on a daily basis, it was her son’s. “So you boys going to help me put these ladies in the crush?”
Ryder shook his head, holding out his hand and clasping hers. “It was lovely to meet you, Hope, but I’m off to see a man about a horse. I’ll leave you two to reminisce and sort out the cattle.”
“You still riding rodeo?” she asked.
Ryder went to answer before Chase nudged him hard in the side, making him grunt.
“That was in the days before he was whipped,” Chase said. “My baby bro is all grown up and married now.”
Hope smiled. “Congratulations.” Just because she was cynical about marriage herself didn’t mean she couldn’t be happy for someone else.
“She’s fucking amazing,” Ryder said, giving her a mischievous wink and slapping his brother on the back before starting to walk away. “I’m one lucky son of a bitch and I damn well know it.”
A shiver trawled Hope’s spine as she turned to face Chase, his mouth smiling but his eyes still creased with concern. She knew he’d have questions, it wouldn’t be natural for him not to, but she didn’t want to go there. Not without thinking through what she would tell him first, figuring out how much to say. It wasn’t like she’d been expecting a reunion with him.
“So how do you want to do this?” Chase asked.
She sighed and squared her shoulders. “Can we just focus on work today?”
He flashed her his gorgeous dimple, the one that always creased when he grinned, a dimple that had made almost every girl in her dorm swoon on a daily basis, including her.
“I was talking about using the crush,” he told her.
A warm flush worked its way up her neck, but she refused to let the blush hit her cheeks. He’d always known how to get under her skin, how to reach her like no other guy had, and being around him now was scaring her. Because it was dredging up thoughts long forgotten, memories she’d forced away so many times they’d almost completely disappeared from her mind. But the fantasy had never died, and being with him, here and now, she wished she’d chosen Chase over everything else. It had been the stupidest decision she’d ever made, and one day maybe even her son would find it hard to forgive her.
Chase touched her arm when she walked past him on her way toward the cattle again.
“You don’t want to talk, we don’t need to,” he said, his voice husky.
“Okay,” she managed, refusing to glance at him, her gaze firmly ahead on the first glossy black Angus heifer in front of her.
“But you do owe me dinner,” he said, raising one eyebrow as he stared at her, making it impossible for her not to look back into eyes the most delicious shade of milk chocolate in the sunlight.
“I…”
His hand squeezed over her forearm, the heat in his touch making her flush. His face showed how serious he was, eyes boring into her, the hint of smile crossing his lips the only attempt he made at concealing his determination.
Hope took a deep breath. “Only if I can find a babysitter on short notice.”
Chase laughed and slapped his younger brother on the back. “Hey, I win that contest hands down.” Ryder shrugged off his hand and scowled at him. “Besides, I think you’ll find he’s had no say in the size of this place. That’s all Chloe’s doing.”
“Ha-ha, very fucking funny,” Ryder said. “At least I have a wife.”
Chase held up his hands. “You got me. No ball and chain attached here.”
Nate shook his head and walked around the house. “For all the shit we give you about Chloe, you know we love her, right?”
Ryder glared at them both. “Oh, I know. Haven’t you noticed that’s why I never let her see you guys without me around?”
“Damn,” Chase teased, raising his eyebrows. “Guess I’ll have to stop having coffee with her every morning. Your bedroom’s so sunny late morning…”
Ryder shrugged, but Chase could tell he’d pissed him off. The only thing Ryder was sensitive about now that he’d given up rodeo was Chloe, and they loved to tease him. After being on his back for years about giving up his career as a bull rider, they didn’t get many excuses to boss him around anymore.
“Enough,” Nate scolded. “I need a shower then I’m off to Houston for a few days.”
“You taking the jet?” Chase asked.
“Yeah.” Nate stretched his arms above his head, flexing his muscles. None of them were wearing shirts after their early morning run, the air a refreshing blast of cool now they’d caught their breath. “I’ll be back to kick your ass again on Saturday.”
“If we can move our legs by then,” Chase said with a chuckle.
“I ain’t running with you guys again. I prefer my mornings nice and lazy with Chloe, if you get my drift,” Ryder told them.
Chase and Nate both laughed. When they ran together, neither he nor his big brother wanted to come last, which meant their early morning jogs always turned into a competition, one that Nate had won today. Chase grinned. Next time he’d beat him—he’d train every morning he was gone to make sure of it. Ryder hadn’t even come close to keeping up with them.
“So you guys do like the place, right?” Ryder asked, leaning against the timber framing, eyes trained on Chase.
“I think it’s awesome,” Chase told him, all jokes aside. “The difference between you and me is that you’re building a home and I’m building a house. You’ll be hearing the pitter-patter of little Ryders before you know it.”
Ryder raised his eyebrows but didn’t say anything. Chase loved Chloe and he was looking forward to being an uncle one day, but there was no way he was settling down any time soon. His brother getting hitched was one thing, but it wasn’t for him.
“You manage to get an appointment with the new artificial insemination specialist?” Nate asked, taking a swig from his water bottle as they all made the short walk back toward the main house, the homestead they’d been raised in on the sprawling King estate.
“Yeah, she’s heading here this morning. A new vet based in Dallas, someone they’ve just recruited to join the team.” Chase tucked his T-shirt into the waistband of his running shorts. “We’re gonna have the best damn organic beef cattle in Texas, just you wait and see.”
“I thought we already did.” Nate grunted. “Anyway, I’m counting on it. You’d think we were breeding cows made from gold at that price.”
“I’ll catch you guys later. Have fun in Houston,” Ryder called over his shoulder, walking back toward the small guesthouse he was sharing with Chloe until his new place was completed. “Chase, I’ll come down and meet the new vet later on.”
Chase nodded and followed Nate. He grimaced as he stretched out his legs. “I might have to postpone that ride I was planning on today.”
Nate laughed. “You going soft in your old age?”
“Me, old?” Chase shoved Nate and sprinted up the stairs ahead of him, howling in pain when he reached the top ahead of his brother.
“Calves burning?”
“Like a motherfucker,” Chase groaned, collapsing against the wall.
“I’m gonna hit the shower. See you Saturday.”
Chase headed for his room and stripped down to take a quick shower in the adjoining bathroom. He reemerged with a towel slung around his waist, his entire body aching as he found underwear, jeans, and a shirt. Training with Nate six days in a row was pure punishment—they’d always run, then do burpees and crunches until they were almost crippled. He got dressed, rolled his sleeves up to his elbows, and made his way back downstairs again, stopping in the kitchen to grab a coffee and something to eat.
“Morning.”
He glanced up, smiling when he saw Mrs. T, the housekeeper they’d had since he was a little boy. Nate still had her coming over every few days to keep the house tidy and food in the pantry, and they loved her like she was family.
“Morning.” He grinned when she pointed to the kitchen counter. “Have I mentioned how much I love you lately?”
She laughed and flapped a hand at him. “Don’t try to flatter me, Chase. I’ve known you since you were in diapers and you can’t fool me with that nonsense.”
Chase pressed a kiss to her cheek as he passed and grabbed a bagel, slicing it open and slathering cream cheese all over it. He grinned when she turned on the coffee machine, knowing she was about to make him the perfect espresso.
Nate appeared as he took his first sip, dressed in an open-necked shirt and suit pants, and shrugging into a jacket.
“And you wonder why you can’t keep up with me,” Nate muttered, raising an eyebrow and trying to smack Chase’s bagel out of his hand.
“I don’t care. I’d rather eat cream cheese than beat you.” It was a lie—he hated Nate kicking his butt, but he did love his food. Hell, if he wasn’t living here he’d be frying up eggs and bacon every morning like he usually did before heading out for the day. Nate, on the other hand, wouldn’t dream of scoffing down half the stuff his brothers did. They were only living together temporarily—up until recently he’d been living in a little place near the front of the property, which he’d pulled down to make way for something new.
“You need to kick the coffee habit, too,” Nate told him. “Start drinking green juice.”
Chase almost choked on his mouthful, swallowing down a piece of bagel and staring at Nate. “You’ve got to be shitting me? Ain’t no way anyone is ever gonna convince me to drink kale. Or eat sushi for that matter.” He laughed. “We could put in a crop and cash in on the whole green juice revolution but that’s where I draw the line.”
Nate grabbed a bagel and stared at it for a few seconds. “Aw, what the hell. It does look good. Mrs. T, can you do my coffee in a to-go cup?” He laughed quietly. “And for the record, sushi is freaking amazing. Pity you’re such an old school douchebag.”
Chase finished his bagel and started another as Nate wolfed half of his bagel down, before he grabbed his coffee and took the other half to go. His brother could call him all the names in the world—it was like water off a duck’s back.
“I’ll see you later,” Nate said. “And yeah, none of that green shit for me, either. The juice I’ll pass on, but one of these days I’m taking you out for sashimi at that new place in the city.”
Chase laughed. “Not a chance. But you do realize I might never move out of here, right? I never realized how good you had it.”
Nate held up his bagel in the air in a wave. “Later.”
Chase surveyed the kitchen now that he was alone, and smiled when he thought about how many mornings they’d all sat around together when they were kids. There were a lot of things that had been crappy about their childhood, but they’d been damn lucky, too. He never tired of hanging out with his brothers, even if they did give one another a hard time. Maybe losing their mom so young, then their dad walking out and leaving them with their grandparents had brought them closer together, but he had a feeling they’d have always been close regardless.
Chase finished his breakfast, gulped down the rest of his coffee, and headed for the back door to pull on his boots and head out to the barn. He checked his wristwatch; the specialist veterinarian would be pulling up in less than half an hour, and he wanted to get his foreman over to listen to what she had to say.
Damn. A cloud of dust in the distance told him that she was way ahead of schedule. The last guy they’d sent out had kept him waiting for an hour, so he hadn’t been expecting early.
Chase jogged to the barn, calling out to Randy. He ducked into the feed shed, had a quick look around the yards, but didn’t see him. The shiny white pickup had pulled up now, and he wiped his hands on his jeans and headed over to meet her. From everything he’d read in the company’s latest brochure, there was no one more qualified with modern artificial insemination techniques, and he was looking forward to meeting the new recruit from Dallas AI.
He raised a hand to shield his face from the sun, squinting as she pushed open her door and stepped out. Wow.He hadn’t expected the vet to have long blond hair or be dressed in skin-tight jeans and cowboy boots.
“Hey,” Chase called out, dropping his hand and walking closer to the vehicle.
“Morning!” The blond vet turned around, a big smile on her face that quickly turned into a look of surprise. “Chase?”
“Hope?” Holy mother of God.
“I, um, well…” she stuttered, and he just stared, speechless for the first time in his life. “I can’t believe it never clicked that this was your ranch.”
Chase clamped his jaw shut instead of letting it fall to the ground, and closed the distance between them, opening his arms and giving Hope an awkward hug. “Howdy, stranger,” he managed, stepping back and staring down at her. “This is…”
“Crazy,” she said, shaking her head and leaning against the driver’s door of the pickup. “You look good, Chase.”
He laughed, dragging his eyes slowly up then down as he looked at her. “Straight back at you.” She looked a whole lot better than good.
Hope’s face was flushed, her cheeks a pretty shade of pink. He hadn’t seen her in years but she was just as gorgeous as she had been back then—blue eyes that danced when she spoke, full lips that framed a wide mouth, and a blond mane of that never looked too perfect to touch.
“So you’ve been busy these last few years, huh?” he asked, folding his arms and watching her, staring at Hope and wondering how the hell she was standing in front of him. He should have been able to come up with something witty, but seeing Hope had fried his brain. “When they said the new specialist was Hope Walker, it didn’t exactly send off alarm bells.”
She grimaced. “Married name, sorry.”
Chase shrugged it off, not even wanting to think about her being married. She was the one who’d gotten away, the girl he’d never gotten out of his system. And somehow she’d ended up on his property without him even realizing it. Not to mention she was taken, which meant he needed to stop thinking about how good she’d look in his bed. He glanced down, noticed she wasn’t wearing a ring. “So you’ve moved out this way for good?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I know I should have looked you up, but…”
“No need to apologize,” he said, shrugging. It ticked him off, but he got it. They’d been out of touch a long time. “I’d have only given your husband a grilling to make sure he was good enough for you, so it could have turned nasty.”
The look in her eyes made him feel like a complete prick. Hope turned away and opened a container in the bed of the pickup, sorting through some things. The girl he’d known had been able to take a ribbing—they’d teased each other mercilessly their entire time in college—but he was pretty sure he’d gone and said the wrong thing just now.
“I’d say I was kidding, but I kind of wasn’t.” He folded his arms across his chest, gazed down at her. “Hope?”
Hope turned back around, her smile sweet but not hitting her eyes like it used to. “I’m not married anymore,” she said, her tone somber as she told him. “And believe me, you’d be all fists blazing if you met him, I can promise you that.”
Chase’s fists balled at his sides when he unfolded his arms, his jaw tight as he stared at Hope. They might not have seen each other in years, but they’d been best friends all through college and there was nothing he wouldn’t do for her, even after all this time. They’d been through a hell of a lot together and it wasn’t just something he could forget.
“You need me to teach the asshole a lesson?” Chase asked, trying not to grit his teeth as he fumed inside.
“No,” she sighed, attempting a smile that did anything but convince him she was okay. “What I need to do is stop talking about my failed marriage and come see your cattle.”
Chase watched her long and hard, trying to read her face. She was brave, he knew that already, but something told him that she’d been to hell and back and then some.
“You want to talk work, let’s go,” he finally said, stepping closer to her and taking a metal kit she was carrying. Hope made a face like she was about to protest, but he took it off her anyway. “You’re not in Canada anymore, sweetheart. You’ve forgotten what good manners southern men have?”
She laughed, her head tipping back as she walked. “I’ve missed you, Chase. Man, have I missed you.”
He grinned back at her, wishing it hadn’t been so long since he’d seen her. It had only taken one night to ruin their friendship, and they’d hardly spoken since. She’d been his best friend for years, and now they were as good as strangers, although he could see how easy it’d be to fall back into step like no time had passed at all.
“So tell me what it’s like working with sperm all day.”
Hope scowled at him. “You haven’t grown up a bit, have you?”
“Nope.”
He matched her stride, not taking his eyes off her. She’d been beautiful back in college and now she was a knockout. Chase glanced around, checked they were alone and Ryder wasn’t about to come ruin their reunion. He’d fucked it up with Hope once, and if he had his chance, he’d make up for every second.
“So who’s Randy Smith? I have his name on my sheet.”
“Foreman,” Chase told her. “I had him book and confirm the appointment.”
“Ah,” she murmured. “Although if I’d looked farther down my chart instead of rushing to get here on time, I’d have noticed the words King Ranch. My bad.”
He stopped walking, locked his gaze on her when she turned. “Would you have come if you’d known it was me?”
Her expression didn’t change, her eyes warm as she stared back at him. “Of course I would have.”
Chase smiled and started walking with her again, even though he didn’t believe her for a second. Something had changed, something was different about her, and it wasn’t just the fact that they’d grown up. But if there was one thing he was good at it was being persistent, and if he had a chance to get Hope back in his life, then he’d make damn sure he didn’t miss the opportunity. If she were happily married he would have accepted the fact, but she wasn’t.
“That was a lie,” she suddenly said.
He raised an eyebrow as he turned to look at her. “What was?”
“If I’d seen your name I would have tried to get someone else to cover for me.”
He nodded. “Nothing beats the truth.”
She stopped and stared at him, her eyes locked on his. They weren’t touching, but she was standing close, her perfume filling his senses, strands of her hair being teased by the wind and blowing toward him. He was recalling exactly why he’d found it so damn hard to keep things platonic between them.
“How did things end up like this between us, Chase?”
He shrugged. “We really screwed up, didn’t we?”
“Yeah, we did.” She blew out a breath. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry I never stayed in touch. If it’s any consolation, I’ve missed you a lot.”
“Me too,” he grunted. “All these years and I’ve never found a drinking buddy half as fun as you.” The reasons he liked Hope were a whole lot more than having someone fun to drink with, but he was pretty sure she knew that without him having to spell it out.
Chase chuckled and slung an arm around Hope’s shoulders. She tensed slightly, shoulders bunching under his touch, like she’d stopped breathing for a beat, but he didn’t care. Before they’d slept together, they’d touched all the time, buddies but on the verge of flirting every time they hung out. Then after they’d been between the sheets, they’d barely touched again. Well, he was taking charge now and he wasn’t going to pussyfoot around.
“I might just take you up on that kicking-ass offer, you know,” Hope muttered, her body finally relaxing.
“You have my word,” Chase said, pleased to be talking instead of picturing her naked, because the moment he’d seen her he’d started thinking about their night together. “I don’t care how many years have passed. An enemy of yours is an enemy of mine. You say kill him, he’s dead.”
As they reached the barn, Chase reluctantly removed his arm, set the kit down, and hitched a boot against the nearby railing. He had a small herd of heifers waiting in the round pen for Hope to look over, and the sooner he got his mind on cows instead of the woman standing beside him, the better.
“So these are my girls,” he said.
He recognized the change in her face as she leaned over the railings to look them over. When they’d been studying she’d played hard and studied even harder, which was why his grandfather had always thought she was such a good influence on him. Now, he got the feeling that he was the only one getting time to play—the tiny lines around her eyes told him she was nothing short of exhausted.
“You’ve got quite the harem of ladies,” she joked.
“Best organic purebred cattle in the state,” Chase told her. “Now I just need to get them pregnant with the New Zealand sperm that cost me a small fortune.”
“And that’s why you called in the big guns.”
Chase laughed with Hope, but what he really needed was for them to stop talking about sperm. And sex. And insemination. His head was already in the gutter without any encouragement.
“I’m guessing you must be pretty good if you managed to get a green card,” Chase said, still leaning on the rails but watching her now instead of the herd.
“I’ve worked my butt off,” she told him. “But yeah, seems that I managed to specialize enough to be of value, and it didn’t take long for me to get approval to move.”
Chase nodded. He’d never doubted she would succeed at whatever she set her mind to, not for a moment.
* * *
Hope held up a hand to shield her eyes from the bright sunshine. Keeping it together in front of Chase wasn’t easy, and it was taking every ounce of her energy. Staring into his eyes was like … She clamped her jaw down, teeth grinding. Her problem was that she’d mentally left Chase in her past, and she sure as hell hadn’t been expecting to see him today. Or any other damn day for that matter.
“So did you ever practice?” she asked, ducking through the railings to get a closer look at the heifers. They’d graduated together after training as veterinarians, but he hadn’t been sure about his exact career plans when they’d parted ways.
“For a short time,” he said, following her into the yards. “After I graduated I came straight back here and started working alongside our foreman whenever I could, but I also worked with our local vet for a while to get some practical training in. Granddad liked the idea of me having a backup plan career wise in case ranching wasn’t profitable for our land one day, but the truth is all I’ve done since hearing him say that is come up with ways to make sure I can keep the ranching side of our business booming.”
She cursed as he moved near, wishing he’d just back the hell up instead of coming into her space. Having him so close—smelling him, seeing him, looking into his dark eyes as he spoke—it was too much. After trying to forget him for so long, suddenly every memory, every touch was rushing back so fast it was almost impossible to breathe.
Hope inhaled deeply, the smell of cow dung way more calming than the citrusy scent of Chase. She glanced sideways, noticed the wayward curl of his dark hair. He’d kept it shorter in college, and now it was more unruly, but it suited him. Just a little too long at the back and around his ears, almost black, and so hard not to touch.
Enough. She hadn’t thought about Chase in a long time and she didn’t need to start now. She was here for work and that was it.
“What I need to do today is give them a work-up, make sure everything’s in order, then we can go about getting them in calf. You know the drill.”
Chase cleared his throat. “I don’t want to sound like a jerk, but we only purchased a modest number of straws. Are we looking at a pretty high take rate?”
Hope met his gaze, but she kept her body angled so she hadn’t turned her back on the cows. She had enough experience to know how easy it was to land a sideways kick.
“Understood. Each insemination has to count, and I’ll only inseminate the ones that fit the criteria perfectly.” She nodded as she glanced over them all again, pleased with how they looked from the outset—a healthy herd of big young cows. “Although from looking at them I doubt we’ll find any obvious problems from the outset.”
“Nate’s riding me big-time over this so I need to prove it was the right decision,” Chase said. “He’d turn this whole place into an oil field if it wasn’t for me riding his ass to keep our stock numbers high.”
“Nate’s your oldest brother, right?” She was only making conversation, there was nothing about Chase she’d forgotten.
“Yep, that’s him.” Chase took a step back and leaned on the railings, his elbows pushed down, legs relaxed as he kicked them out, one ankle crossed over the other. “My granddad’s stepped down from the day-to-day running now, and Nate’s handling the business side of things with me in charge of the ranches. We have a couple other places nearby, too.”
“So you’re living the dream, huh?” she mused, ducking beneath the timber so she was no longer in the yard.
“I guess, yeah.” Chase followed her back through, frowning when she turned to look at him. “What about you? What the hell are you doing living and working so far from home anyway?”
Damn. She’d walked into that question all on her own. “Ah, things didn’t work out quite as planned.” Hope tried to look unconcerned, her natural reaction to make up an excuse and get the hell out of dodge to avoid Chase’s questions. But he didn’t know, couldn’t know, any of it, which meant she just needed to avoid the topic for as long as she could. If not forever. She could tell him about her ranch one day if she had to, but that was it. She’d moved on, dealt with what had happened, and what he didn’t know wasn’t doing him any harm. Hell, he’d probably forgotten all about her the day they graduated—she was a quick blast from the past for him and that was it.
“So your family…”
“Chase, have you thought about how many heifers you want me to do in the first round of inseminations?” she interrupted, desperate to get the topic off her and back on work. “We could do a few first, monitor the results before continuing on? Then we could let Nate see for himself how good these New Zealand straws are. I’m guessing that quality is more important than speed given what you’ve told me.”
If Chase was surprised by how rudely she’d changed the subject, he didn’t show it. “Whatever you think. I want to leave this up to the experts, but we don’t need to be overly cautious. I just want to make sure we’re focused on the end result.”
“Good, sounds like a plan. I’ll talk to my boss, discuss the results from my prelim work-up with the girls here, then we’ll get them in calf as soon as we can.” She laughed. “You’ll have unruly calves to worry about before you know it.”
“Yeah, ones that owe us so much money we’ll be keeping an eagle eye on them twenty-four-seven.” He grinned at her. “Just give me one good bull calf and I’ll be indebted to you forever. It’ll make all this worth my while.”
She looked from the yards back to Chase and saw his face change, his jaw go from soft to hard as stone as he scowled past her. When she turned she saw who he was staring at—a man as blond as Chase was dark, a big smile greeting her when she locked eyes with him. It might have been a long time, but she recognized Chase’s little brother straight away.
He grinned when he reached them, holding out his hand for her to shake. “Man, you’re an improvement on the last vet.”
“I’m not sure whether to be flattered or offended,” she replied, laughing more from the look on Chase’s face than the joke.
“He was about seventy and bald, so yeah, take it as a compliment.”
“Hope Walker,” she said, taking her hand back when he released it, his eyes never leaving hers as what she guessed was recognition flickered in them.
“Ryder King,” he replied, shaking his head as he folded his arms, like the penny had slowly dropped. “And you’re…”
“Hope, just like she said,” Chase interrupted. “As in my old friend from college. Ryder, Hope. Hope, Ryder. We’ve got some business to attend to, so if you don’t mind…”
“No fucking way,” Ryder swore, completely ignoring his brother.
“Small world, huh?” she said.
“So do you mind my asking what the hell you’re doing here? When Chase was all miserable and pining for you, I’m sure he said there wasn’t a chance of you leaving your ranch in Canada and heading back to the US.”
Hope fought the grimace threatening to take over her face. She glanced at Chase but decided to focus on Ryder—it was easier looking at his brother. Maybe she hadn’t been the only one missing what they’d had.
“My family doesn’t own the ranch anymore,” she said, keeping her voice as devoid of emotion as she could. Hope worried the timber behind her, digging her nail in so hard that it hurt. “To cut a long story short, I wanted a fresh start, and I was recruited by Dallas AI. It was too good an offer to turn down, so here I am.”
“Your dad sold the ranch?” Chase asked, his gaze so intense he could have burned a hole through her skin.
“Not exactly.”
Hope smiled at Ryder and bent to take some things from her kit, purely for something to do, wishing Chase would stop staring at her and change the subject. When she looked up, both men were watching her, but neither pushed her further.
“So instead of being the beautiful heiress to your family ranch, you’re staring at semen through a scope and inseminating unsuspecting heifers? Sounds like fun.”
She had to give Ryder credit—he’d made her laugh when she’d been about to burst into tears only moments before.
“Let’s just say that I’m better off on my own.” And with my son. The silent words echoed through her head, her eyes dragging toward Chase and seeing the familiar dark-brown gaze meeting hers. Only it wasn’t Chase’s chocolate-hued gaze she was used to seeing on a daily basis, it was her son’s. “So you boys going to help me put these ladies in the crush?”
Ryder shook his head, holding out his hand and clasping hers. “It was lovely to meet you, Hope, but I’m off to see a man about a horse. I’ll leave you two to reminisce and sort out the cattle.”
“You still riding rodeo?” she asked.
Ryder went to answer before Chase nudged him hard in the side, making him grunt.
“That was in the days before he was whipped,” Chase said. “My baby bro is all grown up and married now.”
Hope smiled. “Congratulations.” Just because she was cynical about marriage herself didn’t mean she couldn’t be happy for someone else.
“She’s fucking amazing,” Ryder said, giving her a mischievous wink and slapping his brother on the back before starting to walk away. “I’m one lucky son of a bitch and I damn well know it.”
A shiver trawled Hope’s spine as she turned to face Chase, his mouth smiling but his eyes still creased with concern. She knew he’d have questions, it wouldn’t be natural for him not to, but she didn’t want to go there. Not without thinking through what she would tell him first, figuring out how much to say. It wasn’t like she’d been expecting a reunion with him.
“So how do you want to do this?” Chase asked.
She sighed and squared her shoulders. “Can we just focus on work today?”
He flashed her his gorgeous dimple, the one that always creased when he grinned, a dimple that had made almost every girl in her dorm swoon on a daily basis, including her.
“I was talking about using the crush,” he told her.
A warm flush worked its way up her neck, but she refused to let the blush hit her cheeks. He’d always known how to get under her skin, how to reach her like no other guy had, and being around him now was scaring her. Because it was dredging up thoughts long forgotten, memories she’d forced away so many times they’d almost completely disappeared from her mind. But the fantasy had never died, and being with him, here and now, she wished she’d chosen Chase over everything else. It had been the stupidest decision she’d ever made, and one day maybe even her son would find it hard to forgive her.
Chase touched her arm when she walked past him on her way toward the cattle again.
“You don’t want to talk, we don’t need to,” he said, his voice husky.
“Okay,” she managed, refusing to glance at him, her gaze firmly ahead on the first glossy black Angus heifer in front of her.
“But you do owe me dinner,” he said, raising one eyebrow as he stared at her, making it impossible for her not to look back into eyes the most delicious shade of milk chocolate in the sunlight.
“I…”
His hand squeezed over her forearm, the heat in his touch making her flush. His face showed how serious he was, eyes boring into her, the hint of smile crossing his lips the only attempt he made at concealing his determination.
Hope took a deep breath. “Only if I can find a babysitter on short notice.”
Publishers Weekly
11/02/2015
Lane’s unsatisfying second Texas Kings contemporary (after The Devil Wears Spurs) plays out on the vast King Ranch, run by the three King brothers. Hope Walker and Chase King were best friends in college, mostly because they were both filthy rich: neither had to worry about the other being a gold digger. Their final night in college turned into a good-bye night of hot sex, and he yearns for her as the one who got away. Five years later, Hope is the divorced single mom of a four-year-old son, and she’s lost her family ranch and fortune. She winds up working as a veterinarian for Chase, who wants organic purebred cattle and needs to inseminate his heifers with expensive New Zealand sperm. As much as Chase still desires Hope, he feels wary when he learns she’s broke, and when he discovers her secret, his reaction turns him into an unsympathetic character. A subplot involving the mysterious destruction of the cattle sperm further explores the theme of trust, but feels tacked on. Agent: Laura Bradford, Bradford Literary Agency. (Jan.)
Lane’s unsatisfying second Texas Kings contemporary (after The Devil Wears Spurs) plays out on the vast King Ranch, run by the three King brothers. Hope Walker and Chase King were best friends in college, mostly because they were both filthy rich: neither had to worry about the other being a gold digger. Their final night in college turned into a good-bye night of hot sex, and he yearns for her as the one who got away. Five years later, Hope is the divorced single mom of a four-year-old son, and she’s lost her family ranch and fortune. She winds up working as a veterinarian for Chase, who wants organic purebred cattle and needs to inseminate his heifers with expensive New Zealand sperm. As much as Chase still desires Hope, he feels wary when he learns she’s broke, and when he discovers her secret, his reaction turns him into an unsympathetic character. A subplot involving the mysterious destruction of the cattle sperm further explores the theme of trust, but feels tacked on. Agent: Laura Bradford, Bradford Literary Agency. (Jan.)
The Texas Kings Series
Out Now out July 2016
Meet Soraya:Soraya loves spending her days thinking up characters for romance stories, and her home is a constant source of inspiration. She lives with her own real life hero and two sons on a small farm in New Zealand, surrounded by animals and with an office overlooking a field where their horses graze.
Soraya loves hearing from readers. Go to the Contact page to send Soraya a message! Or you can follow her on Facebook or Twitter
Soraya Lane is represented by Laura Bradford of the Bradford Literary Agency.
I love a good cowboy read from time to time! Thanks for this Debbie. :D
ReplyDeleteYou're Welcome! xo
DeleteHmm, a big secret to break them up. Those can be iffy with me depending on the secret. But I do love a second chance romance and cowboy heroes. :)
ReplyDeleteMe too Sophia Rose!
DeleteDarn it..this sounds awesome and I have book one *winks* I need to start it sometime this month!
ReplyDeleteOoh I have read book one Kim, can't wait to start this one!
DeleteI haven't enjoyed much western romance here lately but it used to be a favorite of mine. Definitely a sign I need to read more in 2016!
ReplyDeleteHere's to a little Yee Haw in '16 Sarah ;-)
DeleteI enjoy a western romance but may side step this one. I know NZ author and all. Publishers' Weekly aren't very enthusiastic about it! However may try one of her books at some point to get a personal take on them.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kathryn!
DeleteDamn, if I win even a portion of this lottery jackpot, I can be so like her! lol
ReplyDeleteBraine I bought my first PowerBall ticket today, one a day until Wednesday gives me three chances to win and I'll share with all my blogger friends!!
DeleteOh oh cowboy! Yes, please!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome!
DeleteI've yet to try cowboy romances. I hesitant because when watch movies with horses in them, I pick apart the horse parts. I know where they swap out different horses and where they change things up. It's like a nurse who can't read books about nurses.
ReplyDeleteHa Melanie the horse whisperer speaks ;-)
Delete