The Rancher's Surrender Read online

  She hadn't been able to put him out of her mind. The way he'd taken care of Constance. The way he'd helped them from the very beginning here at the ranch, even when their being here had destroyed his inheritance. The way he continued to remain civil when she'd continued to turn him down on his offer for a partnership.

  But it was far more personal, like the way he'd looked that night in the barn, all fierce and hot as he'd stared down at her mouth in a way that told her exactly what was on his mind. And then there was the way he'd kissed her today in broad daylight out in the middle of the field, how his hands had felt on her body, snugging her close to his hard, warm one.

  Heat seeped into her at just the memory, warming her from the inside out, and she didn't think the feeling was entirely uncomfortable.

  In fact, she sort of liked it.

  "Zoe?"

  It was a bit mortifying to realize everyone was staring at her, clearly waiting for some sort of a response, and she had not a clue as to who had even spoken. "Um … what?"

  "I was saying," Cade repeated with amusement, "that there is something else I wanted to go over with all of you."

  "Oh. Okay."

  He looked at each woman in turn, his expression kind but suddenly serious in a way that had them each leaning forward. "I have a small lead on Constance's son," he said. "Ethan Freeman."

  "Yes!" Zoe whispered in triumph.

  "Small lead," Cade qualified with real regret. "So don't get too excited yet. All I have is the fact he apparently stayed in a motel not far from your foster home on and off during the period in which the three of you arrived."

  "So he knew where his daughter was!" Zoe interrupted, unable to help herself. This was news indeed, for not one of them bad memories of their father, not even a name. Each of them—Maddie, Delia and herself—felt they'd been in the sole custody of their mother before they'd been left at the home.

  Now this, the news that one of them had had a father who did know where they'd been taken.

  "Did Ethan visit the foster home?" Delia asked.

  Cade sighed and sifted his fingers through his dark hair in frustration. "Still working on that. Those records aren't easily accessed."

  "Surely the Fontaines would tell you." Zoe couldn't imagine them holding back. The couple that had run the group home had raised countless kids with as much love and affection as they had available. Not easy when facing both financial and legal barriers on a daily basis, not to mention kids who didn't always respond well to their environment, having been shifted around too many times to count.

  They'd been lucky on that score, Zoe reminded herself, looking at her sisters. They'd been happy and well-cared for, and had gotten to stay in one home for their entire childhood.

  The Fontaines had been responsible for that, for fighting for long-term care. This is why Zoe knew they'd do everything in their power to help them now. No way would they purposely hold back information. Not when one of their kids could learn about their past.

  "Unfortunately, it's not so simple," Cade said. "The records aren't kept on the premises at the house. It's all in the system. It's got to go through the courts. And we all know what that's going to be like."

  "Like pulling teeth." With a soft, heartfelt oath, Zoe surged to her feet, unable to remain still. Delia joined her in the pacing, holding her hand, silently uniting them.

  Maddie remained frozen in her chair, quiet, and Zoe realized it had been some time since her sister had spoken. Concerned, Zoe stopped behind her, put a hand to her tense shoulder. "Maddie? You okay?"

  She nearly leaped out of her skin. "Fine." But she spoke quickly, and out of breath. Her skin had lost all color.

  Delia frowned at Zoe, lifting a questioning shoulder. "Are you sure, baby?" she asked Maddie, smoothing a strand of Maddie's hair off her forehead.

  She nodded, but remained quiet.

  It had always been this way, for as long as Zoe could remember. She and Delia curious for any dollop of information about their past that they could soak up.

  And Maddie, always stubbornly mute and miserable in the face of the memories; unable, or unwilling, to talk about them.

  Zoe had long ago figured out that Maddie didn't want her past dredged up. Zoe herself didn't remember much from her first years with the Fontaines, remembered even less of her life before them. But she did remember Delia and Maddie from the beginning.

  Remembered also that Maddie hadn't spoken, much less laughed or smiled, until she'd turned five, though to this day Delia and Zoe didn't know why or what Maddie had suffered to cause such a trauma.

  Growing up in a group home with lots of people had been rough for Maddie, but with Delia and Zoe sticking by her, eventually she had come out of her shell. If Maddie was Constance's granddaughter, that also meant Constance's son could have caused Maddie's early emotional problems.

  Zoe drew a deep breath and straightened. No reason to feel this murderous toward a man who might be innocent. A man who might be her father, not Maddie's at all.

  Cade sighed. "I'm sorry I can't tell you any more, that's all I have. But I'm going to get those records and I'll do what I can to figure out if and when Constance's son visited the home. And which of you he visited. At the moment, it's our only lead."

  "Why are you doing this?" Delia still held on to both of her sisters in an unconscious gesture of unity.

  Zoe felt that unity and was thankful for it, but knew Delia needed this togetherness even more than she did. She thrived on bossing them all around. And on loving them.

  "I would think the why of it is obvious," Cade said quietly. "I'm trying to solve the mystery of the inheritance."

  That silenced Delia for a moment, but not Zoe.

  "You said Constance was happy with knowing it was one of us." What if there was a catch? What if all this could all be taken away from them?

  "She was," Cade said firmly. "I told you. When she learned about the three of you, about your past and how close you were, how you considered yourselves true family, it didn't matter to her which of you it was. She wanted this land to go to the three of you."

  "Then why does it matter to you which of us it is?" Delia asked, eyes narrowed, voice cool as a cucumber.

  "Because it should matter to you," he replied calmly.

  "It doesn't." Maddie's voice was surprisingly strong as she lifted her head and spoke for the first time. "I think maybe it's best if you just leave it alone, Cade."

  Leave it alone. The words echoed in Zoe's head. She couldn't, God, she couldn't. She had to know where she came from.

  Cade looked at Zoe, as if he instinctively knew the inner battle she waged.

  Was she willing to let it go to ease her sisters' minds? he asked silently.

  No. No, with every fiber of her being, she had to know. Not because she wanted to be owner instead of her sisters, but because for the first time in her life she wanted to truly belong. She wanted a past.

  She felt the weight of her sisters' thoughts, felt, too, the weight of the guilt of her own selfishness.

  Could she let it go? For them?

  Truth was, she could and would do anything for her sisters, though her heart ached at the prospect of dropping it. Of never knowing the truth. A truth she'd been wondering at her entire life.

  What had happened to her mother? If she let it go, she would never know.

  And then there was another matter entirely, one that couldn't be ignored. "We can't pay you," Zoe said finally, with immeasurable sadness. "It's kind of you to want to solve the mystery, but we don't have the means to pay you. We're hardly above water here as it is."

  "I know." Cade looked at her with understanding. "But the fee is taken care of, Zoe. That's one thing you don't have to worry about."

  Ty.

  He showed up everywhere, even here, in the most private part of her life.

  She drew a deep breath and faced yet another problem. The fact that she was far more indebted to that man than she ever wanted to be. She owed him, a perfect
stranger, and she hated that.

  "My job is to find out the truth," Cade said quietly, watching her.

  Delia and Maddie could turn their backs on this and be happy, and she wanted their happiness more than anything, but she just couldn't let it go.

  Zoe was tempted to keep her eyes on Cade's so she wouldn't have to see her sisters' response, but that was the chicken way out. She turned to them. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. "God, I'm sorry. But I have to know."

  Maddie's eyes filled with love. "Oh, sweetie, of course you do. Don't be sorry for that."

  "No, don't be," Delia agreed, reaching over and wrapping her arms around Zoe, too. "It's okay with me if it's okay with Maddie."

  "It is," Maddie insisted. "I promise."

  Zoe's throat was thick with emotion when she looked over Delia's head at Cade. "Do it," she said softly, hope and fear and a thousand other emotions drilling her. "Find out the truth and tell us. We'll be here."

  * * *

  Chapter 7

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  "Find out what?"

  Zoe whipped around to face the doorway of the dining room, but she would have known that rough, velvety voice anywhere now. It invaded her thoughts, her dreams.

  Ty stood propped against the jamb, his lean face unreadable at first glance. His day-old growth of beard only added to the mystery, hiding his face in a dark shadow, but the lines around his eyes spoke of exhaustion, reminding her that he'd put in a long day here, and then more hours at his own ranch.

  He lifted a shoulder in lieu of an apology. "I knocked, no one answered."

  "I suppose you followed your nose, then," Zoe said, gesturing with her head toward the table laden with food.

  "I suppose I did," he said with a cocky grin meant to disarm, and it did.

  Maddie, ever the hostess, rose and went for another plate. "Come sit," she said in a subdued voice to Ty. "We have plenty."

  He hesitated, his hand on the plate as he dipped his head down and studied Maddie's drawn, tight face. "No smile?" His voice was gentle in a way that Zoe never heard directed toward her. "You don't laugh enough, Maddie, you know that? And you look so pretty when you do."

  "Oh, you…" Maddie waved him off and blushed.

  Ty lifted his nose and sniffed theatrically. "Smells terrific. I'm starved."

  "Well, that's new," Zoe said sarcastically.

  "Please sit, Ty. We have plenty," Maddie said again, as Zoe knew she would. The more people Maddie got to feed, the happier she was.

  Ty filled his plate with obvious pleasure. He took a big bite of pot roast and sighed deeply, rubbing his stomach as though he were in heaven. "Oh man, this is amazing. I'm not kidding, Maddie. Your cooking is unbeatable."

  Maddie relaxed under the attention and actually opened up enough to smile shyly.

  "Well, that's better," Ty said, smiling, too, and reaching over to give her a quick squeeze around the shoulders. His eyes found Delia next, narrowing in on her in mock seriousness and said, "Don't tell me. Man trouble. No guy within five hundred miles good enough to take on, is that right?"

  Delia laughed. Laughed. "You got that right."

  Ty shoved an unbelievable amount of food down his throat as he considered. "How about Cade here?" he asked Delia, gesturing with his fork, grinning when Cade pretended to choke on his water. "He's not a bad-looking guy. And as a private investigator, he probably makes okay money, too. A bonus for a woman who appreciates the finer points of shopping."

  "Oh, please," Delia said, sniffing disdainfully. "A private investigator? I can do better than that with my eyes closed."

  "Yeah," Ty said, grinning widely now because Cade looked so absolutely insulted. "Probably can."

  "Hey!" Cade protested, waving his fork. "I'm a major catch, you know."

  Everyone laughed.

  And that was it. Zoe shook her head in amazement as everyone continued to talk easily. That simply, the tension-filled mood was broken, and Ty had done it single-handedly, where she couldn't possibly have managed it.

  In fact, she'd caused it.

  It was hard to resent a man who could do that. How could the dark, explosive rancher be such a softy, so intuitive as to know how to draw out her sisters? He was so gentle with the quiet, withdrawn Maddie, so funny with the intense Delia.

  But with her he was fierce and passionate. He was bold and wicked and uninhibited and rowdy.

  And suddenly, just thinking about it, her insides started to tingle.

  What was that about?

  Women wanted him, there was no mistake about it. She'd seen Shirley watch him. She'd been into town with him to pick up supplies and she'd seen strangers on the street, normal women, just melt away at the sight of him.

  It made her feel startlingly … jealous. Jealous! God, she hated that. She had no hold on the man, no future with him.

  She had no future with any man.

  Zoe was so lost in her own thoughts on this matter, it took her a moment to realize Ty's attention had centered on a new subject. Her.

  "What!" she snapped.

  The corners of his mouth twitched, but his eyes remained serious. "So defensive." Then, right in front of her sisters and Cade, he reached out and tugged on a lock of her hair, completely unaware of how it turned her heart to fluttering wildly in her chest. "Why is that, Zoe?"

  She slapped his hand away, scowling to cover her confusion about her reaction to him. "I don't know what you're talking about."

  He let his grin show now. "Sure you do. That's why you're so mad." He took a bite of his food and studied her. "Takes a lot of energy to remain as defensive as you always are."

  "She's always been that way," Delia said lightly, only her eyes showing her concern as she looked at Zoe.

  Zoe had always been a little guarded, and since she couldn't deny it, she tightened her jaw. Anyone who'd been dumped in a home with a heart full of broken promises would be an expert in self-preservation, she told herself.

  Besides he was only being so nice and funny and cute because he was banking on them leaving.

  He watched her while he continued to eat. Stifling the urge to squirm, she pretended a great interest in her glass of water. She listened to the conversation between Maddie and Cade about the type of spices Maddie liked to use in cooking.

  Zoe studied the ceiling pattern, but it was no use. She could still feel the weight of Ty's gaze on her, waiting.

  Finally she couldn't stand it any longer and sighed, facing the man whose singular ability to render her a nervous wreck was really getting on her nerves. "What now? Is there food between my teeth?"

  "Nope. Just looking at you." He shoveled another bite into his mouth and chewed slowly, his eyes never leaving hers.

  His eyes weren't solid gray as she'd thought, they had little specks of blue in them, and long, thick black lashes that any woman would give her right hand for. They were far too pretty to be wasted on a man. "It's rude to stare," she pointed out.

  "It's also rude to glower at your guest," he pointed out right back. He smiled. "I understand glowering is your favorite expression, but did you know if you keep doing it, your face will freeze like that?"

  Everyone laughed, even Maddie, who was grinning. Grinning.

  Even Zoe found herself having a hard time continuing to frown under the circumstances, with Ty looking at her so innocently.

  He'd drawn them all out, she realized. Effortlessly.

  It should bug her, she wanted it to bug her, but even she wasn't that selfish.

  What really got to her was that she was feeling, feeling for him, in a world where she didn't want to feel at all.

  * * *

  Days later, under an early morning gray sky, surrounded by Idaho wilderness, Zoe was dangerously silent. This was unusual because Ty could see the steam coming out of her ears, and a mad Zoe wasn't usually a quiet one.

  He bad no idea what had set her off this time; it could have been any of a thousand things. Worry about getting the ranch running again must be forem
ost. Frustration at the condition of the place might be another. Money, or lack of, yet even another.

  He only knew that her eyes were hot and her face miserable, a combination that did something to him he didn't like.

  It softened him.

  The day darkened as heavy clouds moved across the sky. A storm was coming in fast. They stood outside the old barn, a clipboard in Zoe's hands as they made a list of repairs. The necessary repairs only, because stubborn as Zoe was, she wanted to do this alone with her sisters, without his financial help.

  Which meant money was scarce, very scarce.

  Ty had been rattling off items an operating ranch couldn't do without, and Zoe had been silently writing everything down, until now. She stood there, braced against the wind as if preparing to ward off her archenemy. They could hear the river waging its timeless battle. Around them the green lushness of the land seemed to darken with the oncoming summer storm. Far in the distance came the roll of thunder. A large drop of rain hit Ty on the arm, but he ignored the beauty around him to stare at the pensive woman standing before him.

  What gave her that look? he wondered. The one that made his arms itch to hold her?

  "The door has got to be replaced," he repeated for the third time, and once again, her pen didn't move, she just stared—or glared—off into the impending storm, lost in her own world. Her hair, loosened by the wind, whipped around her face. A booming crack of thunder didn't even faze her.

  "And the pigs that you'll purchase can fly," he said softly.

  Under other circumstances he might have laughed when she didn't react, but there was something haunting about her expression, as if all that pent-up anger was really just a front and beneath it was a lonely, frightened woman. "Zoe?"

  She jumped a little and narrowed her eyes, glaring at him as if he'd just let off a firecracker in her ear. "What?"

  "Are you okay?"

  "Of course."

  "Of course," he repeated with a little laugh. "If you weren't, would you tell me?"

  She was silent. Lightning flashed sharply.

  Zoe's lips tightened as she shifted the pen in her fingers. The wind had layered her shirt against her body like a second skin, revealing tight, toned curves.