Her Renegade Rancher EPB

by Jennifer Ryan

  “No. You’ve earned this, Simon.”

  “What exactly is this?”

  “You now own your home outright. The deed is in your name. Free and clear. The warehouse and this piece of land is yours, too.”

  “You bought this property?”

  “The money you used to pay rent can be put back into the business now.”

  Simon raked his free hand through his blonde hair. “Wow, I don’t know what to say.”

  “There is also a check in there. It’s not the ten million you’d have gotten if I sold the ranch, but I think you’ll be happy with the sum.”

  “Go ahead.” Colt coaxed him to open the envelope.

  Simon gaped at the check he pulled out. “Two million?”

  “Don’t spend it all on your wedding. Save some for the honeymoon,” Luna teased.

  “Wait, what is this other contract?”

  “Sign that and you own the Rambling Range brand. You’ll continue to buy the ingredients from the farm, but you will own that piece of the business.”

  “So I own a piece of the ranch after all.”

  “In this way, yes.”

  “You mean in a way that suits me, the businessman.”

  “One of these days you’ll realize your father never meant for you to be a cowboy. There’s a lot you could have done on that ranch. You just didn’t see it. You didn’t see the potential of what that place could be in your life. Now you do. In this way, you are still a part of what your father built, but you’ve made it your own.”

  Simon shook his head. “I never saw that one coming.”

  “I know. You’ll be kicking yourself for that one later.”

  “I am right now. But I do have some ideas to expand the line into cereals.”

  “Great. We’ll discuss it next week when you come to the ranch to pick up your order. I’m sure between you, me, Colt, and Artie we can come up with a few different ideas.”

  “I’m looking forward to it.” He held up the check and the envelope. “Thank you. This means a lot. Especially when I know you didn’t have to do this.”

  “Yes, I did. It’s what your father wanted. Since you kept your hands off the accounts and did something with your life, I decided it was time to reward you. Keep it up, you never know if I’ll do it again.”

  Simon gaped at her. “You knew about that?”

  She smiled slyly. “The FBI has been watching and so have I,” she warned just to get his goat. She didn’t think he’d try anything now.

  “Too late, huh, you changed all the passwords, I bet.”

  “Yes, I did. And I deleted the spyware. This morning before we drove over here.”

  “You left them all the same just to see if I’d steal the money?”

  “Yes. But you passed with flying colors. If only the rest of your family had come to their senses the way you did.”

  “I talked to Kelly last week. She loves school. Anne is loving her job, and running her own business. I never thanked you for what you did for my aunt and uncle. They may be in jail, but the lawyer you hired got them a fair deal.”

  “I never wanted everything, Simon. Wayne didn’t want me to keep everything. But he did end up bringing the most important thing back into my life.”

  “Colt,” Simon guessed.

  “Yes.”

  “I’ll see you at my wedding?” he asked.

  “We’d love to come.” Luna hugged Simon goodbye, feeling like they’d let the past go and forged a new friendship. She’d done what her friend asked of her. It felt done. Settled.

  But she still had one thing left to do to tie up the loose ends of her past.

  “Come on, cowboy, I owe you a beer.” Instead of heading for the truck, she tugged Colt’s hand and pulled him toward the bar at the end of the street.

  “It’s about time you paid up,” he teased about their running joke.

  “What? It’s only been a year.”

  Colt held the door for her when they got to the bar. She walked in and took a seat. Work hadn’t quite let out at the surrounding businesses, so the place wasn’t that full. She and Colt had relative privacy, with only two other guys at the other end of the bar and a few people occupying some of the tables.

  “What can I get you?” the bartender asked.

  “I’ll take whatever dark beer you’ve got on tap. She’ll have . . .”

  “A Sprite.”

  Colt’s gaze narrowed on her. “You don’t want a beer?”

  She shook her head. “I can’t.”

  Colt picked up his frosted glass and took a sip. “Why?”

  “Because we’re having a baby.”

  Colt’s hand fell to the bar. Beer sloshed over his glass and hand, but he didn’t notice. His gaze locked on her, then dipped to her belly, and back up to her face. “Are you serious?”

  They’d only started trying two months ago. Turns out they only needed to try once to make it happen. “I’m two months along.”

  He cupped her face in his hands and pulled her close. His lips met hers again and again with a dozen soft kisses. His hands swept down her arms to her hips. He held her close. He pushed her back and looked down at her belly again. “You’re pregnant.” The words held a wealth of wonder and so much excitement that she smiled at him.

  “Yes.”

  “I’m going to be a dad,” he announced to the bar. “Next round’s on me.”

  A cheer went up from the dozen patrons in the bar. The bartender started pouring drinks for everyone.

  “I thought I was buying you a beer,” she teased. “At this rate, I’ll never get it done.”

  He kissed her again. “I love you. I can’t believe we’re having a baby.”

  “Wait until Grandpa Sammy finds out he’s getting another great-grandbaby.”

  “He’s going to be so damn happy. But not as happy as I am.” Colt held up his beer and handed her the glass of Sprite. “To Wayne for bringing us back together.”

  They clinked glasses. “You know, he told me you’d be crazy not to fall for me.”

  “I’m not crazy. I’m yours.” He kissed her softly, then stared at her, something definitely on his mind. “When I saw the two of you together, I thought it’d be nice to have a beautiful woman like you doting on me in my old age. Then I thought I’d rather just have you by my side.”

  “Then it’s a good thing I’m yours.”

  His Cowboy Heart

  Keep reading for an exclusive excerpt from New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Ryan’s sixth Montana Men novel,

  HIS COWBOY HEART

  Ford never expected the woman he gave up so many years ago to come home a hero. The haunting look in Jamie’s eyes tells him she’s been to hell and is still trying to claw her way back. Ford is determined to see her happy and well again—even if that means he has to use some tough love to nudge her in the right direction—and back into his arms.

  After a terrifying bombing and shootout sends Jamie home from the Army wounded in both body and mind, she’s hoping to find a little peace and quiet. Instead, her PTSD and the black hole of missing memories are slowly driving her insane. But her erratic behavior and short temper don’t deter Ford, the man she loved and hated to leave.

  When a dark truth is revealed that leaves Jamie reeling, she’ll risk everything, including her future with Ford, to save herself and avenge her fellow fallen soldiers.

  Prologue

  Eleven years ago . . .

  Ford stared down at his listless grandfather in the hospital bed, trying to hold back the tears stinging his eyes. Granddad’s pale face and sunken cheeks warned of his tenuous health. They didn’t know what was wrong, only that he’d collapsed in the house and lay motionless on the floor for God knows how long before Ford walked in and found him several days ago.

  The same fear and crushing pressure squeezed his chest tight just thinking about it.

  He and his brothers, Rory and Colt, had been taking turns staying by his side since the doctors admitted him t
o the hospital. Ford needed to get back to the ranch to cover for Colt so he could have his turn.

  “He’s going to be fine,” the nurse assured him. “The doctors said it’s the concussion from hitting his head on the floor that’s the worst of his ailments. They’re working to get his blood pressure down and to make sure there isn’t anything else wrong with his head or heart.”

  “When do we get the results of the echocardiogram and MRI?” Ford asked.

  “The doctor should know in a couple of hours,” the nurse answered, touching his arm in comfort before she left the room to check on another patient.

  He didn’t feel any better for it and worried more about what the results might tell them. He and his brothers feared the worst and didn’t want to admit that this brought the death of their parents too close to the surface. If they lost their grandfather and the failing ranch, what would they have left?

  “It’s not your time to go.” He patted his granddad’s leg. With his heart in his throat, Ford left the room, hoping he got to see his grandfather again.

  He drove home without remembering the drive at all, his thoughts on family, the ranch, and the decisions he had to make.

  Some decisions had been made for him by circumstances and family obligations and love.

  Jamie sat on the tailgate of her brother’s truck, sun-kissed legs swinging her tiny feet back and forth. Her face lit up when she spotted him pulling into the yard. She hopped off the end of the truck and ran to him. His heart did that funny flutter thing it did every time he saw her.

  Ford slipped out of his truck and stood before the most beautiful girl in the world, her golden-red hair luminous in the sunlight, soft green eyes squinting against the harsh light beating on her pale skin. He desperately wanted to hold on to her, but knew he had no choice but to break her heart. They stood in the middle of the yard on his family’s ranch, horses roaming in the pastures, his brothers out chasing stray cattle they couldn’t afford to lose past the river. His gut tied into knots of worry about his hospitalized grandfather, sagging cattle prices, and what it all meant for his future with Jamie.

  They didn’t have one.

  The ache in his chest throbbed.

  God, how he’d miss her pretty smile that lit up his world.

  Her head tilted in that cute way it did when she studied him too closely and saw too much. “What’s wrong?”

  I miss you already.

  Deflecting, he asked, “What are you doing here?”

  “Escaping.”

  He read the hurt in her eyes too easily. “What did she do this time?”

  “Same thing, different day.” Jamie huffed out an expressive sigh. “She’s impossible. And delusional. She accused me of throwing myself at my stepdad. Again.” Jamie’s lips scrunched into a sour pinch at the distasteful thought.

  Her mother read into simple, innocent interactions with a twisted jealous eye, heart, and mind that had no basis on Jamie’s part or whatever guy was in the picture before Jamie’s mother drove him away. According to Jamie, it started when she was eleven after her real father left her mother for a much younger woman, never to be heard or seen again.

  “She kicked me out. Shoved me out the front door more accurately.” Jamie pulled up her sleeve and showed him the red marks on her arm.

  Things were getting worse if her mother was putting her hands on Jamie. Though she wished for her family to be loving and close, it would never be. Jamie had been left to her own devices practically her whole life and done well in school and taking care of her little brother. She’d taken care of him for more than a year. No one cared about him the way Jamie did.

  She only knew how to pull it together and forge onward even when her choices were limited and none of them particularly good. He like the way she made the best out of everything.

  “I think she actually meant it when she said, ‘Don’t come back.’” Fear and anger darkened her eyes.

  He wanted to comfort her, but didn’t because he was about to hurt her far worse than her mother’s warped taunts, accusations, and empty threats. Some women weren’t meant to be mothers. Too selfish and self-centered.

  Jamie was sweet, kind, and sensitive. Her mother’s disapproval sliced away at Jamie. One cut stung. A thousand made you bleed and ache and wish for it to end.

  She needed it to end. Now. Before it made her as angry and bitter as her mother.

  He didn’t want that for her. Jamie didn’t deserve such poor treatment. He wanted her to be happy. Always. He wanted to be the reason she was happy.

  Never going to happen now.

  He tried to keep her away from her mother as much as possible. He drove her into town and home from her job at the day care center. One less thing to ask of her mother. One less thing for her mother to use against her and demand she be grateful.

  Jamie loved the job, playing with the children and rocking babies. Nothing made her happier than sharing all the love in her heart with those kids. She lavished that love on him too.

  She squirreled away her paychecks. She dreamed of leaving her mother’s house and living the life she wanted—a life with a bright future without the storm cloud of her mother’s negativity darkening her world.

  A life that wouldn’t include him. Damn, it hurt like hell. Deeper than the ache in his chest, it ripped a searing path to his soul.

  He wanted to beg her to stay here, give up everything she wanted, but he couldn’t do it and watch her happiness shrivel and die along with the love she felt for him.

  Some things can only be fixed by doing the hard thing, even if it wasn’t what you wanted to do.

  She pressed her palm to his chest. “Let’s do it, Ford. Let’s leave this place behind and buy that house with the wraparound porch on the ranch you want. You’ll run the cattle. I’ll help you with the horses. We’ll raise our own family.” She smiled sweetly, thinking of the kids they’d never have now. “I’ll plant a garden just like your mother and my grandmother had when we were kids. We’ll pick tomatoes and zucchini, cook them up, and eat together on the porch and watch the sun set.”

  Her enthusiasm and the picture she painted sounded like everything he’d ever wanted, especially with her by his side. He saw her on the porch swing, a blonde baby in her arms, her smile so bright he wanted to join her rather than do anything else.

  “I can’t leave.”

  Her grin dimmed. “I know we talked about leaving in a couple of months, but I don’t want to wait. I can’t. I want to start my life with you. I don’t have all the money I wanted to save, but I’m close, and you’ve got what you saved. We can do it. Together.”

  They’d talked about leaving. Him because he wanted her away from her mother and to start his own ranch one day. Something of his own. To take what his father taught him from birth and run his own business outside the one Rory ran for them on their parents’ ranch. He thought to take her to Wyoming. Far enough away they’d have their own life, but not so far he couldn’t come home to his family whenever he wanted. She could visit her brother, Zac.

  He didn’t even consider it, because he couldn’t leave. But she needed to go.

  She needed a guy who could go all in, hold nothing back. As much as he wanted to be, he couldn’t be that guy right now.

  “I can’t go to Wyoming.”

  “It doesn’t have to be there. We could visit my cousin in Georgia. Her husband is in the military. She said we could stay with them as long as we need. Her husband has a ton of friends. He can help us get jobs until we find the perfect place to settle down.”

  Georgia seemed a million miles away.

  “I didn’t know you were close with your cousin.”

  “I’m not really now, but when we were little girls, you’d have thought we were sisters.” Excitement for her new plan filled her bright green eyes.

  “Sounds like you found the perfect fresh start. I’m happy for you.”

  “You’re happy for us,” she corrected, narrowing her gaze. Confusion dimmed her en
thusiasm.

  He gave into his need to touch her, knowing it may be the last time he ever did, and traced his fingers down her long blond hair. The streaks of copper shimmered in the sunlight.

  Her head tilted to the side, rubbing against his palm. “Let’s leave today. I’ll go home and pack. You pack and finally tell your brothers we’re leaving.” Her eyes pleaded with him to say all the things she wanted to hear.

  He’d held off saying anything to Rory and Colt because it had been the three of them since their parents died. They did everything together, including keeping this ranch running and a roof over their heads. Yes, they had their grandfather, but this place had been left to them. Now, they might lose their grandfather and their home. He couldn’t walk out on them. Not when they needed him the most.

  Rory would push on, working himself into an early grave. He’d take care of Grandpa Sammy and make sure he got the medical care he needed. Colt would step up, take his share of the load. But Ford couldn’t add his burden to his brothers’ shoulders and ask them to carry it for him so he could run off with his girl no matter how much he wanted to make a life with her.

  Some things just weren’t meant to be. This wasn’t meant to be right now. Maybe one day, he’d find a way to make it right.

  “I’m sorry, Firefly, but I’m not going with you.” He’d given her the nickname the first time he saw her. Glowing with golden energy, it was a wonder she didn’t take off and fly.

  He stuffed both hands in his pockets to keep from holding on to her.

  Her brows drew together, crinkling her forehead. “What do you mean? What’s changed?”

  Ford sucked it up and said what he had to say. “You want to go. You need to go. I get that, but my place is here.”

  “I can wait.”

  No, she couldn’t. She’d endured her mother’s torment her whole life. She deserved every happiness, but she’d never find it here.

  “It’s not about when.”

  “You really don’t want to go with me?” The crack in her voice tore open his heart and made it bleed.

  He didn’t know if he could endure the pain before he gave in and told her the truth.