Beth Cornelison - Rancher's High-Stakes Rescue

“Here’s the turn,” Dawn said, leaning forward to direct the driver with a pointing finger as well as her verbal cue.

The driver eyed her via the rearview mirror, his look clearly disgruntled.

“Thanks,” he replied dryly and reached up to shut off the turn-by-turn directions on his cell phone in the dashboard mount.

Dawn took the hint and sat back again with a sheepish “Oh. Sorry.”

Kate hid a grin behind her hand, pretending to scratch her cheek. She was well familiar with Dawn’s bossiness but knew her coworker didn’t mean to be controlling. Dawn simply had a high-energy, highly organized, highly efficient type A personality, and she let it get the best of her sometimes. Dawn got results, because she didn’t take no for an answer. She did her research, knew her business and had a plan for everything.

If you hesitated or wishy-washed around her, you were likely to get swept along by her tidal wave of persuasion and direction. Case in point—Kate’s presence on this trip.

When Dawn had brought the public relations firm’s new client campaign to her and told her about the trip to gather firsthand knowledge and have in-depth, in-person strategy meetings with the ranch owners, Kate had balked.

“So they want us to go on one of these adventure excursions?” she’d asked, the contents of her stomach curdling.

Dawn’s eyes had been bright with excitement and enthusiasm. “Yes! No charge. Isn’t it great?”

“Um...”

“The trip includes rappelling, white-water rafting, zip-lining, camping, a hands-on ranch experience—meaning they’ll show us roping and riding—and if we want, they’ll even take us BASE jumping!” Dawn had laughed and smacked the palm of her hand on the desk. “How cool is that?”

Cool hadn’t been the word that came to Kate’s mind. Terrifying was more like it.

“Um. W-wow,” she’d stuttered as her hands began to shake.

“We leave in two weeks. It’s gonna be awesome!” Dawn had gushed.

And no excuse or expressed reluctance had convinced Dawn to find another staff member to go in Kate’s place.

“No way! I want you . Don’t be a chicken. This trip is the perfect way to shake up your staid life and get your adrenaline pumping!” Then Dawn had made Bambi eyes at her, adding, “You’re my friend. I want to experience this with you , not Frank or Hattie. We’ll have a blast.”

Gauntlet thrown down. Friend card played. Pleading look employed. Yes, Dawn was good at getting her way.

So here Kate was, in the back of a tiny Uber, her heart in her throat as they bounced down the rutted drive to a beautiful Colorado ranch. She took a deep breath and squeezed the straps of the purse she held in her lap as if they were a lifeline. Maybe she could wrangle her way out of the more dangerous activities. Even as the anxious thought crossed her mind, a niggle of something long dormant kicked in her soul.

Ever since the incident at the silo when she was eight years old, she’d waged this internal battle. Her innate curiosity and longing for adventure got shouted down by the pervasive terror, the lingering memory of two gut-wrenching, pain-filled, nightmare-inducing days at the bottom of the abandoned silo.

As they pulled to a stop in front of the building with the sign that read Check In Here, the scents of manure and fresh hay greeted her. And made a cold sweat pop out on her upper lip that had nothing to do with the warm May weather. She hadn’t lived on her family’s Missouri farm for ten years, but just a whiff of the smells inherent to agribusiness stirred memories both bitter and sweet.

While Dawn spoke to the Uber driver, Kate climbed out and stretched her back. She could only partly blame her tight muscles on the narrow airplane seat and hours of sitting. Her heart beat an apprehensive tattoo as she took in the rural setting and filled her lungs with the fecund, late spring air.

“Hello there!” a male voice called, and she pivoted to face the tall, broad-shouldered rancher striding toward them with a sexy grin. “Welcome to the Double M! Can I help you with your bags?”

“Sure.” She smiled at the cowboy, whose black hair was neatly trimmed and whose bright blue eyes stood out against his tanned complexion and dark eyebrows. “We’re checking in. For the adventure excursion.”

He paused, looking confused. “Wait. Are you Dawn Fetzer?”

Dawn strode over to him with her hand out. “I’m Dawn. This is my colleague, Kate Carrington.”

He stuck out his hand to Dawn. “I’m Zane. We’ve talked several times.”

“Of course. Nice to meet you in person.”

He shook Kate’s hand as well before turning a look of dismay to Dawn. “Did I miss a message about a change in your flight schedule? I was going to pick you up.”

He hurried to the trunk of the small coupe, where the Uber driver was unloading their suitcases. Hoisting one suitcase in each hand, he moved the bags out of the driveway while Dawn explained about the opportunity to take the earlier flight.

“We had to hurry to board, and I completely forgot to call you before we turned our phones off for the flight. I’m sorry!”

Zane waved off her apology. “Forget it. Just glad to have you here safely. Let me show you to your rooms.” He pulled out a small two-way radio receiver and held it to his mouth. “Hey, I need you out front. The reps from the PR firm are here.”

A voice on the radio answered, “Already? They’re early!”

Zane flashed an embarrassed grin to them. “Yeah, I know. Get out here.” Then to Kate and Dawn, “This way, ladies.”

He led them across the hard-packed dirt yard toward a freshly painted clapboard building with a wooden sign over the front door that read Guest House.

As they followed their host, Dawn leaned close to Kate and whispered, “This trip just gets better and better. High-adrenaline adventures and a hot cowboy as our host.”

Kate grinned and elbowed Dawn in the ribs. “Flirt.”

Dawn waggled her eyebrows. “You know I’m faithful to Dean. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a nice fling.”

Kate’s pulse tripped. “What?”

Dawn sent her a sly grin. “Look at him, Kate. Don’t tell me you don’t want a little bit of that cowboy action.”

Kate shifted her gaze to the admirable posterior encased in blue jeans and square jaw of their swoon-worthy host. “I admit he’s good-looking—”

“Mmm-hmm.” Dawn’s hum of agreement held a lascivious overtone.

“—but I’m not a fling kinda girl, vacation or otherwise.” Two mistakes of that nature in three years cured her of that bad habit. She had a talent, it seemed, for allowing herself to get hurt in more ways than just physically.

“This used to be the bunkhouse for our hands when the ranching operation was bigger,” Zane said. He set their suitcases down and swept a hand toward the front room. The living room had been decorated with shabby-chic ranch decor and homey furniture in warm shades of beige and chocolate with brightly colored accent pillows from red to rust. “This is a community area for relaxing. The TV remote is on the coffee table just there.” He pointed it out then, rubbed his hands together and continued, “No room assignments. Just pick whichever one you choose. We do have two other small parties coming later in the day who’ll be in the last two rooms. Dinner will be—”

His spiel was interrupted as another cowboy burst through the door they’d just entered, lugging the last of their bags. “Hi, ladies! Welcome,” he said, sounding winded.

Kate caught the frown Zane directed at the other man, and she turned toward the new arrival. She eyed the cowboy in surprise, understanding Zane’s displeasure. The out-of-breath cowboy wore dusty jeans and a stained white T-shirt, and his boots had definitely seen better days. He removed his hat to rake his fingers through shaggy black hair that grew past his earlobes with wisps that drooped messily over his eyes. He was the opposite of neat and trimmed Zane in so many ways...and yet he was a carbon copy. Same startlingly blue eyes, same ruggedly cut jawline—though this cowboy’s chin was dusted with a couple days’ worth of stubble—and the same broad-shouldered, muscular-legged physique.