The Rancher's Surrender Read online

  Oh, she knew. She knew all too well, but she didn't have the strength to reach out and get it. Didn't know how, even if she'd wanted to.

  And a little part of her really, really wanted to.

  "Zoe," he whispered, just that. Just her name in a voice thick with yearning, and even in her panic she recognized it wasn't a physical yearning, but something much, much deeper. "Don't miss this. Don't turn away from the best thing that's ever happened to either of us."

  Her eyes filled but she didn't speak, didn't have the words.

  He waited for an eternally long moment, but when she didn't say a word, he opened Abby and Danny's stall and slipped inside.

  Abby nickered softly and Ty bent his head close, stroking her face. Abby blew at him.

  Ty stood there with his back to Zoe, a tall, powerful man and an equally powerful horse, easily showing their affection for each other.

  Zoe nearly broke down.

  Then Ty hunkered low, speaking softly to Danny, who tossed his head, drawing a quiet chuckle from his owner. Zoe watched him put his arms around the foal, watched Ty's lean strength shelter Danny in a way that made her ache all the more.

  She wished she were in Danny's position, being securely held safe.

  Ty would never desert them, and the horses knew it. They were more secure than she, and that was pathetic. That's what she hated most of all, that in spite of her bravado she wanted promises, too. Once upon a time she'd waited years and years and years for her mother's return, finally accepting it would never happen.

  She had vowed never to put herself in that position again. She would renew that vow now, instead of moping around the gorgeous man murmuring with love to his horses.

  At the sound of the barn door quietly shutting behind her, Ty swore in frustration. Danny pushed at him with his head to Ty's stomach, clearly wondering why he'd stopped being stroked.

  Ty hugged Danny close, feeling more lost and alone than he had since Ben had first died.

  * * *

  Zoe walked through the night, just as alone, just as full of grief. The house was dark and silent, and it suited her mood.

  On her bed was a big brown bag, just like the one her gloves had come in, and in it was a new pair of boots in her exact size.

  Overwhelmed, Zoe sank to the mattress and fingered the good, expensive leather. The thought of Delia hoarding her pennies and spending them on such a necessity had the tears she'd been struggling with rise back to the surface.

  With the precious boots in her lap, she sat down, kicking off her beat-up tennis shoes.

  What was the matter with her? She never cried. Crying was a useless emotion, hadn't she learned that well? As a child, she'd often plastered herself up against the window of the group home, tears rolling silently down her face as she'd waited for her mother to come back.

  She never had.

  And eventually Zoe had stopped crying.

  But as she laced up the new boots, affection for her sisters causing her chest to be tight and uncomfortable, she cried now.

  * * *

  One week later, Cade came to Triple M. He sat at the table with the three women, inhaling another of Maddie's meals, and making everyone laugh.

  It was a nice change from the stress, Zoe admitted to herself. Thanks to Ty, they had money to start the ranch, and indeed they'd been looking into specific plans to acquire horses and a small herd of cattle, but it had been far more difficult than she'd ever imagined.

  She loved it. They all loved it, but there wasn't much time for fun and relaxation in the face of all that had to be done. Zoe eyed the last muffin, considering. Her jeans would be too tight all day if she succumbed, but a girl needed her energy, didn't she?

  With that ready excuse, she reached for it, freezing when Ty walked in.

  He had on his climbing gear, and a dark scowl.

  She knew that scowl, knew its origin. He'd been wild and cranky and unapproachable all week, even since that night in the barn where she'd nearly bared her soul.

  At the sight of him now, and his clear-cut plans to go climb a mountain to relieve his tension—tension that she'd caused—she felt her stomach tighten with unease.

  She hated fearing for his life, hated worrying that she'd never see him alive again.

  "Going climbing?" Cade asked Ty.

  Ty nodded curtly, his gaze still on Zoe. His gaze ran slowly over her, from her unbound hair all the way down to her new boots, which given the way his jaw relaxed, seemed to give him great pleasure.

  Maddie handed Ty a bag bulging at the seams. "Take this," she insisted, pressing it into his hand. "It's food."

  His face softened as he looked at her. "I have food, Maddie."

  "I made it just for you."

  Touching surprise flitted across Ty's face first, then pleasure at the gentle but inexorable sisterly pressure. "Thank you," he said, looking down at the package in his hands as if it were made of the finest bone china.

  "Don't stay out there too long," Maddie said.

  Delia wasn't nearly as subtle. "If you're gone more than two days, I'm going to send for search and rescue. So don't get embarrassed, because I've warned you." She grinned and kissed him goodbye. "Take care," she whispered.

  Ty accepted the embrace with the same quiet surprise, clearly unused to someone thinking of him, and Zoe felt a strange stirring watching his struggle. Was he also unused to someone worrying about him? Too bad if he was, she couldn't help it. "Be careful," she said softly.

  His head came up and their gazes met yet again, all of the heat still very much there but much of the animosity drained. "I always am."

  She nodded, and bit her tongue before she could beg him not to go. Before she could tell him how much he'd started to mean to her, and how much that frightened her.

  When he was gone, when those wide shoulders had disappeared out the kitchen door, Zoe sagged and sentenced herself to a long day of worrying.

  "He'll be okay," Cade said, touching her arm. "I'm not concerned." Because that sounded awful, and was so blatantly untrue, she gave in. "Much."

  Delia was watching her with frank curiosity. "What's going on with you two, anyway? Whenever you guys are in the same room it's like watching a fireworks display."

  "There's nothing going on."

  "Right."

  "There's not!" Zoe tossed up her hands when everyone just stared at her. "Jeez, can't a person just plain not get along with another person without drawing all sorts of suspicion to themselves?"

  "A normal person maybe," Delia conceded. "But since you dislike everyone equally, you don't count."

  "It's unlike you, Zoe, to be so hard on someone," Maddie said. "What's wrong?"

  "We just don't get along, okay?"

  Delia shook her head in disgust. "That's a sin, hon. To be at odds with a man like that."

  Cade grinned and looked at Delia hopefully. "If it's such a sin … you ought to be far nicer to me."

  "Don't count on it."

  The two of them started their typical verbal sparring, and Zoe breathed a sigh of relief. Her little fantasy was safe. Even more shameful was how that dream of hers had grown. No longer was it a harmless little sexual escapade involving Ty's incredible mouth and body. It had become deeper, and therefore a darker secret. A ridiculous one.

  She wanted him to fall in love with her.

  But how could he when she didn't even know who Zoe the woman was? She knew nothing about herself, about her heritage, and while it shouldn't matter, it did.

  Too much.

  * * *

  Later Zoe was alone, standing in one of the arenas she'd recently weeded. It was exciting to stand there in the center of the property and look at the land, even if it was empty of animals.

  It was breathtaking, so different from where they'd come from. Here, no one ever asked for the time of day. Here, a desk job was a four-letter word. Here was, no matter what happened, an exhilarating, unforgettable, one-of-a-kind adventure.

  Hopefully, they'd soon