The Rancher's Surrender Page 7

  A motive.

  And motives were usually selfish.

  "It is a lot of caring," Cade agreed. "And because of it, you're here."

  With a quiet oath, Ty dropped the hammer and turned to face them, hands low on his hips in a stance of great irritation. "If you're all done having a nice little break, then scatter, would ya? I've got work to do and you're distracting me." He stalked to the truck, but before he could hop into the driver's seat, Cade spoke to him.

  "I think they should know who that benefactor was, Ty."

  "Well, I don't. There's no reason to tell them."

  "You're wrong." Zoe stepped closer, quivering with the need for answers. "We have every right to know, and I want someone to tell us right now what's going on."

  Cade shot Ty a sympathetic glance, but he spoke regardless. "It was Ty."

  Stunned silence met this remark. Zoe felt the shock bounce through her, which only deepened when Ty looked at her, his eyes bleak and miserable.

  "You," she whispered softly.

  "Me," he agreed, just as softly.

  "Delia said you were considering making him a partner in the ranch," Cade said. "So I thought you should know how responsible and trustworthy he is."

  "We're not considering a partnership," Zoe said, turning away, her shoes crunching in the dirt. She stared blindly at the gentle green slope that led down to the raging river.

  "Well, I think you should consider one," Cade told her back. "Because, frankly, I don't see how you'll do it without him. Ty is the best at this, you couldn't get anyone better."

  "Oh, Ty," Maddie murmured. "How incredibly wonderful of you to take care of Constance that way."

  "And expensive," said the pragmatic Delia, but even as cynical as she was, she looked very touched. "I'm not sure I know how to thank you."

  "I don't want thanks." His jaw was set, and hostility rolled off him in waves.

  "What you did meant the world to Constance," Cade said to Ty quietly. "And you deserve the proper recognition for that."

  Ty clamped his mouth shut as if too much of a gentleman to say what he thought about that. "I didn't do it for any of you," he said finally.

  Okay, Zoe thought, maybe he wasn't too much of a gentlemen to express his thoughts after all. "Why did you do it, then?"

  Ty slid into the driver's seat and snapped on his seat belt. "Your ride is leaving. You walking back?"

  Being ignored made her testy, and just a tad bit pushy, though even a small child would have had the sense to leave this man alone right now. "Maybe it was more simple than that," she suggested. "You wanted to buy this place."

  "I already told you that," Ty said through clenched teeth.

  Cade looked confused at Zoe's hostility. "I don't think you understand. If Ty hadn't paid for me to continue the search for Constance's granddaughter, and if Constance hadn't been satisfied with what I'd found, Ty wouldn't have had to buy this place."

  Ty started the truck and rudely revved the engine.

  "But of course he would have bought this place," Zoe said loudly, glaring at Ty. "He already told us he wanted it."

  Cade shook his head. "Over the years Constance got very close to Ty." He had to yell over the noise of the truck. "She felt as though he were her family, and indeed for a long time, he was all she had. She thought the world of him."

  The engine revved again. Music filled the air now, loud pumping, ridiculously upbeat music that was at a direct conflict with the tense atmosphere.

  It was hard to reconcile the brooding, terse male sitting in the driver's seat with the kind, caring warm man Cade was describing.

  Harder still to let go of her years of innate suspicion and wariness to admit that maybe, just maybe, she was looking at a man who was not as she wanted to make him out to be.

  He wasn't selfish.

  He wasn't sneaky.

  He wasn't out to hurt anyone.

  And maybe, just maybe, he could indeed be trusted.

  Even if he was ornery as a prickly bear at times. "What does this have to do with the land?" she yelled to Cade, at the precise moment Ty reached over and flicked off the earsplitting, pulsing music.

  Her voice echoed unnaturally, and she glowered at the back of Ty's still head as everyone looked at her.

  "It has everything to do with the land," Cade told her. "If I hadn't found you three lovely ladies, Ty himself would have inherited the ranch."

  * * *

  Chapter 6

  « ^ »

  "You could have told me."

  This from Zoe, and as they were the first words she'd spoken since Cade's untimely announcement, Ty considered himself lucky.

  "I can't believe you didn't."

  He tightened his hands on the steering wheel as they bumped and rocked in the truck over the rough road on their way back to the house. "It never came up."

  She gaped at him, shook her head and turned away, staring out the window. "You're something, you know that?"

  "Oh, really? Well, you're not much different." Anger felt good since it erased any lingering guilt he might have been wrestling with. "Ever since you came to Triple M you've been staring at me as if I were some sort of bug. A total creep. As if you expect me to hurt you—"

  "I'm not afraid of you."

  "I didn't mean a physical hurt." Arguing with her was like arguing with Ben, who'd been nearly as stubborn as she. Ty had never been able to win a verbal war with him, either, and suddenly he ached so much he was exhausted with it, which made him all the more furious.

  He pulled up the long gravel drive to the house and braked. In the confines of the truck, the air sizzled, and he assured himself it was all temper and nothing more. Zoe had been shooting him with mental daggers the entire drive and he'd had enough. "Look at you," he said. "You're braced for battle like I'm the bad guy."

  "If the shoe fits…"

  "Tell me, Zoe, what's so bad about me helping Constance?"

  She stiffened and he was tired of her silent hostility. "A woman that could have been your own grandmother? Does helping her make me a criminal?"

  She remained tense against the door, as far from him as she could possibly get, but then suddenly it was as if his words deflated her. Her shoulders drooped. She rubbed her temples, her hair falling forward out of her makeshift ponytail. "God, I always do that. I don't know why," she admitted quietly.

  "Always are a pain, you mean?"

  A smile tugged at her mouth, and she dropped her hands from her face to her lap as if she were too tired to hold them up any longer. "That, too. I meant, I'm always looking for trouble. Delia says it's my middle name."

  "Gee, I don't know what she's talking about."

  "I'm sorry for that."

  "But not for thinking the worst of me at all times, I guess," he said wearily. She was one of the most irritating women he'd ever met. And the most fascinating. "Do you have any idea how much you tie me up in knots?"

  "Me?" Now she looked up, clearly startled at his unexpected bluntness. "What do you mean?"

  He threw up his hands. "I don't know what the hell I mean. You have all these thoughts running through your head that I can only imagine, but I'm pretty sure, given your expression, they're not exactly flattering."

  She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. A tactful silent agreement.

  Because he couldn't help himself, he shifted closer, lifting a hand to the back of her seat, fighting his sudden urge to touch her glorious hair. "Yet only a little while ago," he continued in a low, unintentionally husky voice, "you were kissing me as if your life depended on it."

  She let out a little puff of breath, a sound that became erotic in the close confines of the car. Of their own accord, his fingers touched her then, just lightly on her cheek, trailing to her ear and sinking into that hair he'd been dying to touch again. "How do you think that makes me feel, Zoe?"

  She swallowed hard, closed her eyes at his touch. "As confused as I am, I imagine."

  Tempting as it was to just drop
her off and keep going, he turned off the engine. They had to work this out, although he would have rather gone back to his own place and buried himself in his own work. Hell, he would have rather gone anywhere than face this green-eyed, auburn-haired beauty he couldn't seem to stop thinking of. "I want you to understand something," he said slowly.

  "About the will?"

  "Yes."

  "About the little fact you didn't tell us you were in line to get this land?"

  "Yes, about all that. And more." He hesitated, willing her to believe. "It's true, I would have inherited this land from Constance if you hadn't been found. And yes, I would have combined this ranch with my own land."

  "Why the big secret, Ty? Why didn't you just tell us right away?"

  In truth, he didn't know. Other than he had never helped Constance for the possible glory. He hadn't even helped her because he wanted her land so badly. He'd helped because he knew what it was like to be frightened and desperate. He'd hated the helplessness of it all, and hated watching Constance fight it.

  And why should she have had to, when he had the means in which to step in and prevent it? Bottom line, he had helped because he had wanted to, because it meant something to him to be able to do it, and because it had been the right thing to do.

  But he didn't feel like spelling any of that out to Zoe, not when she was so sure he'd done it to get the land.

  "Why did you help her find us?" Zoe asked him. "Why would you do that if you didn't have to? You could have had everything you wanted, and for free. Instead you bought yourself right out of an inheritance."

  She thought he'd had an ulterior motive, which infuriated him. He was angry at himself for letting what she thought bother him, and angry at her for thinking so little of him in the first place. "How could you understand so little about loyalty and caring when you have two sisters?" he wondered. "I've seen how close you are."

  She dropped her gaze and turned her head away, but he'd had enough of her escapes and wasn't going to let her get away with it again, not when he needed answers. With a finger beneath her chin, he lifted her face. The signs of her discomfort were there in her flaming cheeks, her flashing eyes, but he didn't let up. "Tell me."

  Annoyed, she slapped his hand away and made a scoffing noise. "This isn't about me. I want to know why the big secret. You let us think you were nothing but a fellow rancher, but you were much more to her than that. You were more to her than…" She broke off abruptly, swallowing hard.

  "Than what?" He gentled his voice, his temper gone as he realized the truth.

  "I don't want to talk about it—"

  Too damn bad. "I was more to her than you?" he pressed. "Is that it? You're upset because a virtual stranger was in her life when her own granddaughter, possibly you, couldn't be?" He knew he'd hit the jackpot when she flinched as if he'd hit her. Some part of him, a part he'd been holding back from her, cracked open, allowing a rush of feelings to surge through, the first and foremost being a compassion he hadn't expected. "It's not your fault, Zoe."

  She tried to look away, but he wouldn't let her. "It's not," he repeated gently. "You didn't know where she was, or even that you might have been related to her. You can't blame yourself."

  But she did, he could see it in her eyes, and he realized she wasn't nearly as tough as she thought she was.

  "She was destitute," Zoe whispered, showing more emotion than he'd seen. "Alone."

  "And you know what that's like, don't you?"

  "I had my sisters."

  And he'd had Ben, thank God. "You know, maybe we're not quite as different as you think."

  That brought a smile. "I'm a city girl. You're a cowboy. How much more different can we get?"

  "Labels, Zoe?" he chided with a laugh. "I expected better from you."

  She looked pointedly at his boots. At his hat lying on the back seat.

  "The clothes don't make the man," he told her. "And I'm a horse trainer, not a cowboy. I'm more city than you think. I came from Chicago." He had no idea why he said it, he never said it.

  She was just as surprised as he. "How long have you been here?"

  "Forever," he said flatly.

  She nodded, understanding better than most he didn't like talking about his past. "You were so good to her. I don't know why I snapped before, I'm sorry. I think…" Her voice lowered as if she were ashamed. "I think about how often I've wondered about my family. About where and who they were—" She rubbed her face again, looking weary. "Never mind. It doesn't matter." She reached for the door handle.

  "Wait." He put his hand over hers, not wanting her to go, not when he was getting a prolonged glimpse of the Zoe she usually kept hidden from him. "It matters."

  "I don't know why I'm telling you these things, I hate to talk about myself."

  "You haven't told me much, except for what you think of me." He smiled. "You've been pretty clear on that score."

  She grimaced. "Yeah." She bit her lower lip. "Look, I often shoot off at the mouth, letting out the first thing that comes to me."

  "No. Really?"

  She smiled at his dry tone. "I should work on that, but…" She lifted her shoulder. "Truthfully, I haven't the foggiest idea how I feel about you."

  On that shocking statement, she got out, then bent slightly at the waist and looked at him.

  He looked back.

  "Did you know you were going to inherit when you went about helping Constance to find her granddaughter?" she asked.

  "No."

  The green in her eyes deepened. "Without us here, you'd be one happy camper."

  "But you are here."

  "Yes, we are. You never told me why this land is so important to you." She leaned on the door, and her light scent came to him on the breeze, wafting through the window. It was soft and sexy. Exciting.

  But she was asking him a very personal question. He breathed through his mouth instead of his nose and concentrated. "My land is too small. I want to expand."

  "Uh-huh. And…?"

  "That's a pretty good reason all by itself."

  "But it's not the only reason."

  "Maybe not," he allowed.

  "We're not going to give up."

  "I realize that."

  "And you're not going to … get mad?"

  "Mad?" He shook his head. "You're going to make me mad just asking that ridiculous question. It's your land, Zoe. And Delia's and Maddie's. Yes, I want it. Yes, I'll buy it when and if you want to sell, but that's it. There's no trick, no ulterior motive, no nothing."

  And that genuinely confused her, he could tell, which went a long way toward tempering his anger. She couldn't possibly comprehend what his attachment was. And if she knew about Ben, she'd understand even less.

  "There's more you're not telling me," she insisted.

  "Okay, let's make a deal," he suggested. "I'll tell you my deepest, darkest secret and you tell me yours."

  "Fine." She crossed her arms tightly over her front, a defensive pose if he ever saw one. "My secret is I don't think I like you very much."

  This made him laugh. "Well, we share that." He was strangely relieved that she wasn't going to push, because it was too personal, too deep, watching Ben's dream die.

  And like Zoe, he trusted no one, not even this woman and her sisters, who were already worming their way into his weary heart.

  He was certainly not prepared to open that heart up for inspection. Not with Zoe, a woman he'd just discovered had the unsettling ability to hurt him.

  Zoe sighed, then turned on her heel and walked toward the house.

  Ty watched her go, wondering why he felt so off the hook and yet discontented at the same time.

  * * *

  Cade shoved in the last bite on his plate and moaned with pleasure. "God. Maddie, you're a genius. It's wonderful."

  Delia eyed his scraped clean plate with a lifted brow. "Well, thanks for coming, and now that your plate is empty…" She glanced meaningfully toward the front door. "Don't let us keep you."


  Cade grinned instead of leaving and lifted his plate toward her. "Why, yes, thank you, Delia. I'd love seconds. Kind of you to notice."

  Delia inhaled deeply, as if searching for her calm. Maddie laughed and got up from the table, taking Cade's plate to refill it with another steaming helping of pot roast. "Cade, Cade," she said with a smile. "You're learning the hard way."

  "Most definitely," Zoe agreed. "The last man who teased Delia disappeared."

  Maddie handed Cade his plate, shaking her head when he laughed. "It's true."

  "And he was never seen again," Zoe added helpfully. Cade dug into his second helping with as much gusto as he had the first. Undaunted, he winked at Delia as he spoke to Zoe. "So she's a real witch, huh?"

  "You should see her when there's a full moon." Zoe grinned when Delia lost all semblance of cool and sputtered.

  "Zoe, I liked it better when you were all sullen and pissy over Ty," Delia decided. "Being grumpy makes you silent, my all-time personal favorite mood of yours."

  Cade laughed. "Ah, the love in this room is heartwarming."

  "Don't say we didn't warn you," Zoe murmured to him as Delia shoved back her plate and stood.

  "There must be a reason you're still here," Delia said coolly.

  "Yes," he agreed smoothly, meeting her annoyed gaze. "Because you're so sweet and kind. It warms my heart." He lifted an innocent brow.

  Delia rolled her eyes, and for the first time all day, Zoe found herself starting to relax. Being with her sisters did that for her, she thought with an unusual burst of affection, even when they were happily bickering and snarling.

  Family togetherness at its peak.

  But more than ever she was thinking about her other family. Her mother, wishing for answers, yearning for the truth, bowing she was looking at that truth and just not wanting to face it.

  She had been purposely and cruelly deserted. Not orphaned. Not stolen.

  Deserted.

  But lately she'd had other things that occupied her mind every bit as fully as that. Ty Jackson, for one.