Wrangling the Rancher

by Jeannie Watt

  It’s a thin line between aggravation and...attraction!

  She was definitely not part of Cole Bryan’s lease agreement. The rented farm is Cole’s only chance for peace and quiet...until his landlord’s gorgeous, city-livin’ granddaughter, Taylor Evans, shows up looking for a place to stay. With nowhere else to go, Taylor isn’t taking his “no” for an answer.

  Cole plans to wait her out. Taylor’s obviously not made for rural life, and she can’t get out of Montana soon enough. But he never counted on her grit and determination—or the unexpected pull between them. Now the only way Cole can keep to himself is by compromising his heart...

  “I think you don’t want to like me.”

  Cole stilled. His first impulse was to deny it. His second was to admire Taylor’s instincts. His third was to back up fast. “I have nothing against you.”

  “But...”

  “No ‘but.’”

  “Liar.” She spoke softly, holding his gaze in a way that warned him not to underestimate her.

  She could have easily moved away, but she didn’t. Her expression shifted ever so slightly, then she reached up to touch his face as he’d touched hers in the SUV the day she’d taken him to the doctor.

  She leaned closer. “If we kiss—”

  He didn’t wait for her to finish the sentence, didn’t wait for her to set goals or outline parameters. He made the “if” a reality, sliding his hand around the back of her neck as he brought his mouth down to hers.

  Taylor met him halfway.

  She was dynamite in his hands.

  Dear Reader,

  There’s nothing I love more than an opposites-attract story, so when I wrote Wrangling the Rancher, I decided to triple down. My hero and heroine, Cole and Taylor, have opposite temperaments, lifestyles and goals. He’s an introvert; she’s an extrovert. He wants to work alone; she wants to be part of a major business. He’s a country guy; she’s a city girl.

  I had so much fun writing these two. After working on a guest ranch where he catered to the whims of the often-rich patrons, all Cole wants is to be left alone to farm. After being laid off from her firm, all Taylor wants is another high-powered job. Instead she ends up on her grandfather’s Montana farm, which Cole is leasing. Cole has to deal with yet another privileged city girl and Taylor has to work on the farm to earn her keep. In the process, both Taylor and Cole learn a lot—about themselves.

  I hope you enjoy Wrangling the Rancher. If so, please check out the other books in The Brodys of Lightning Creek miniseries, as well as All for a Cowboy, in which Cole is first introduced. I also hope you’ll stop by my website, jeanniewatt.com.

  Thank you, and happy reading!

  Jeannie

  JEANNIE

  WATT

  Wrangling the Rancher

  Jeannie Watt lives on a small hay-and-cattle ranch in Montana’s beautiful Madison Valley with her husband, dogs and cat, horses and ponies. When she’s not writing or dealing with animal matters, Jeannie likes to work on her almost-finished house (is a house ever really done?), horseback ride, read and sew.

  Books by Jeannie Watt

  HARLEQUIN SUPERROMANCE

  The Brodys of Lightning Creek

  To Tempt a Cowgirl

  To Kiss a Cowgirl

  To Court a Cowgirl

  Molly’s Mr. Wrong

  The Montana Way

  Once a Champion

  Cowgirl in High Heels

  All for a Cowboy

  Harlequin Western Romance

  Montana Bull Riders

  The Bull Rider Meets His Match

  The Bull Rider’s Homecoming

  A Bull Rider to Depend On

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  To Rachel, my new daughter.

  Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  EPILOGUE

  EXCERPT FROM MONTANA UNBRANDED BY NADIA NICHOLS

  CHAPTER ONE

  FAILURE DID NOT sit well with Taylor Evans, which was why she did her best to never fail. And she hadn’t...until exactly eight weeks ago today.

  Taylor lifted her glass of chardonnay and sipped. It was her last bottle, and she needed to savor every drop. She also needed the false courage if she was going to call her grandfather and confess that she, who’d nailed down full-ride scholarships and been courted by three different companies upon graduating, had been a victim of downsizing—and no one else would hire her.

  The truth hurt.

  Okay, maybe she’d been a bit vain, thinking she was so integral to her organization that it couldn’t function without her—but in defense of her vanity, how many eighty-hour weeks had she worked for the good of the company? Her cheeks grew warm as she recalled laughing when, after rumors of the reduction in force had started, a colleague stated that everyone was replaceable. She’d rather vehemently disagreed. There were several people in the company, including herself, who were so necessary to the operation that even in this economic climate, they had to be safe. It would be detrimental to the company to cut them loose.

  She’d been the first person let go. When she’d been called into her supervisor’s office, she’d assumed that it was to let her in on what was about to happen so that she could help shore things up once the layoffs were announced. Uh...no. Don Erickson had thanked her for her dedication to the company, for the extra time she’d spent working on projects, and then directed her to the next office to discuss severance and the fate of her excellent insurance plan.

  Taylor never, ever wanted to experience that cold, numb feeling again. Or to do the walk of shame back to her office, where her belongings had already been packed into a cardboard box. The bus ride home had been hell—until the anger hit. She would get another job with a competing company, and then who would be sorry?

  Those thoughts had sustained her for almost two weeks. But when the rent and utilities came due and she hadn’t been called for even one interview, when the headhunters had remained frustratingly unhelpful, she’d known a moment of panic—very similar to what she was feeling now.

  Call. Get it over with. Tell Grandpa the truth.

  But since Taylor had rarely given her paternal grandfather anything but good news, this was not an easy call. She needed his help.

  No. She needed to be bailed out.

  Taylor’s throat started to tighten up as she reached for her phone, which was wedged under sixteen pounds of sleeping cat. Max twitched an ear as she tugged the phone out from under him, and then he stretched out to his full length. Telling herself that Max was a big eater so she needed help as much for him as for herself, Taylor dialed her grandfather’s number. It rang four times, which was the norm.

  “Hello?”

  Taylor froze at the unfamiliar voice, deep and somehow commanding, then held
her phone out to check the number. The word Grandpa showed on her screen. Right number. Wrong voice. “Uh...hi. I’m trying to reach Karl Evans.”

  “He doesn’t live here.”

  Taylor blinked. “What?”

  “He’s been gone for almost three weeks.”

  “Who are you?”

  “I’m renting his place.”

  “Your name.”

  There was a brief pause, and then the man said, “What’s your name?”

  None of your business. Taylor bit her lip. In this day and age, how much information could she afford to give? “Could you please give me the number where I can reach Karl?”

  “You don’t have his cell number?”

  “My g—Karl doesn’t have a cell phone.”

  “He does now.”

  That was news. “Then give me the number.”

  “Tell me who you are—”

  “I’m his granddaughter.”

  “Then why don’t you know that your grandfather has a cell phone or that he moved?”

  “I—”

  “Tell you what...you leave your name and number, and I’ll pass along the message.”

  Taylor pressed her lips together to keep from telling this guy what he could do with his suggestion. “Tell my grandfather to call me. I’m his only granddaughter, so there shouldn’t be any mix-ups.”

  “That,” the man said softly, “doesn’t speak well for you.”

  Then, before she could suggest he take a flying leap, he ended the call, leaving Taylor staring at her phone.

  What had just happened?

  And more important, who was this guy and where was her grandfather?

  * * *

  KARL EVANS WAS not answering either his cell phone or his landline. Cole was just about to call his sister when his phone rang in his hand.

  “Is everything okay?” Karl asked instead of saying hello. “You called three times.”

  “Everything is fine, except that I just talked to someone who is probably your granddaughter, but I didn’t give her your phone number.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because she didn’t know you’d moved almost a month ago.” In his mind, relatives should know that kind of thing. “Which made me wonder if she was who she said she was.”

  “You think young women are in the habit of stalking me?”

  “In this day and age you can’t be too careful. Anyway, I told her I’d give you the message.”

  “I’ve been meaning to call her. I figured I had time because she hasn’t been in touch since Christmas.”

  Five months. That was a while to go without contact.

  “How’s everything else?” Karl asked.

  “I’m inspecting the equipment. So far, so good.” If all went well, he’d be seeding the fields he’d leased from Karl along with the house.

  “Keep me in the loop. I miss the place. And if Taylor calls again, give her my cell number.”

  “Are you going to call her?” Personal question, but Cole was curious.

  “I’ll try. A lot of the time she doesn’t answer but gets back to me when she can. I’ve kind of given up on being the one to reach out.”

  That smacked of family drama, and Cole was not a fan. He’d had enough family drama, which was why he was no longer managing the family ranch turned guest ranch. Drama sucked. “Gotcha.”

  “She’s a good kid, Cole. Just busy.”

  Too busy to answer her grandpa’s calls? That kind of behavior was flat-out wrong, but again, family drama. Cole wasn’t going to get sucked in.

  “Any other relatives I should know about?”

  “Taylor’s the only one other than my sister, and you know her.”

  “That I do. Tell her hi for me.” Cole hung up and then crossed the kitchen to the cast-iron pan he’d left heating on the stove. Karl had moved only a small amount of stuff to Dillon because he didn’t believe the move was permanent. That meant the kitchen was still well stocked with pots and pans and cooking needs. As near as Cole could tell from what was left behind, Karl was probably closer to camping than actually occupying his new home next door to his sister while she dealt with her husband’s death. Whatever, Cole had the farmhouse until Karl decided to move back to Gavin, which made life easier on him. When he’d left the family guest ranch after the last blowup with Miranda, his crazed step-aunt, he hadn’t owned much in the way of house gear. He’d lived in what was essentially a larger guest cabin on the ranch property, ate most of his meals in the guest facility and cooked as little as possible. He planned to continue that trend, but he could handle steak and store-bought macaroni salad.

  He’d just set his steak square in the middle of the cast-iron pans when he heard a knock on the door. Surprised, since the farm didn’t get that many visitors, he crossed the kitchen, opened the door and found himself face-to-face with two deputy sheriffs.

  “Hi. Can I help you?”

  One of them met and held his gaze while the other looked past him into the room as if expecting to see a trail of blood or stacks of stolen cash.

  “We’re checking on the whereabouts of Karl Evans. Are you Mr. Evans?”

  Karl’s granddaughter had called the cops on him. Well, at least she cared enough to do that—or maybe she didn’t take kindly to not getting what she wanted. Whatever the circumstances, Cole was fairly certain that the deputies knew that he wasn’t Mr. Evans. “I’m Cole Bryan. I’m leasing the place from Mr. Evans.”

  “Do you know how to get in contact with Mr. Evans?”

  “Just got off the phone with him, so I can give you his number and his sister’s number in Dillon. Neither of them are any good at answering their phones, but you might get lucky.”

  Neither deputy smiled. “Do you have identification?”

  Cole jerked his head toward his wallet that sat next to his keys and sunglasses at the end of the counter. “I do.”

  “Get it, please.”

  Cole did as the other deputy dialed the number Cole had provided and stepped out onto the porch. The first deputy inspected Cole’s driver’s license.

  “You’re close to expiration.”

  “Yes.”

  He held the license out and waited for his partner to finish his call. Cole was thankful that the guy had gotten through on the first try.

  “Do you have a copy of the lease agreement?”

  Cole glanced over his shoulder at his steak that was starting to snap and pop in the hot skillet. “I do. Can I turn that down?” The deputy nodded and Cole stepped over to the stove and flipped the steak, the cop watching him as if he was going to use the piece of meat as a defensive weapon.

  After he carefully put down the fork, he pulled the towel off his shoulder just as the second deputy came back into the kitchen and gave his partner a nod.

  “Do you need to see a copy of the lease?” Cole asked.

  The deputy who’d made the phone call shook his head. “Mr. Evans established his identity as well as yours to my satisfaction.”

  “Good to know.”

  “Sorry to intrude on your evening.”

  “Not a problem,” Cole said. “I, uh, assume that you got a call from Mr. Evans’s granddaughter?”

  “She requested a wellness check, yes.”

  “Sorry you guys had to come all this way.”

  “It’s our job.”

  It was also a five-mile drive that could have been avoided if...whatever her name was...had called her grandfather every now and again. Cole went back to the steak. Hopefully the granddaughter was now satisfied that Karl was safe and sound. She’d call him more often after this scare, and all would be well.

  * * *

  TAYLOR WAS HOT—the angry kind. Nothing like driving through the night for eigh
t hours, stewing, to get the blood up. By the time she hit the Montana border, she’d reached a decision. She was going to see her grandfather, but first she was stopping by his farm to meet the guy who’d somehow talked him into leasing not only the land, but his house. That didn’t sit right with her.

  In fact, there wasn’t one thing about this situation that seemed right. Her grandfather had sworn he would never leave his farm. Taylor’s aunt had tried to get him to Dillon more than once, but he always refused. He’d even gone so far as to say that he wanted to be buried on his property. Yet he had left.

  Taylor yawned as she pulled off the freeway onto the state highway toward the Eagle Valley. Dawn was breaking. She’d driven all night, but all night was a way of life with her. It was how she’d become the most productive member of her team. And where had that gotten her?

  Her throat started to tighten. Eight weeks in and she still felt hurt, betrayed—thoroughly screwed. The business part of her said that it wasn’t personal.

  That didn’t change the fact that it felt personal.

  Her job had been such a huge part of her life, her identity—it was impossible not to take the layoff personally...especially when they’d kept Kent McCoy on staff. The guy did half the work she did...

  Stop.

  Taylor did her best, although stop was not a well-used word in her vocabulary. If anything, she pressed on, but for the last eight weeks she’d been pressing against...nothing. It was exhausting having no goals other than getting a job. Not that she hadn’t thrown herself into it—

  Stop.

  Think about something else...like where you’re going to live once you give up your apartment.

  Arrow to the heart, that. Her lease, which was up in three weeks, didn’t allow subletting, and she certainly couldn’t afford her rent without a job. The rock and the hard place were squeezing her hard, and the thing that most angered her was that for her entire life she’d plotted and planned so that these kinds of things would never happen.

  Argh.

  Taylor slapped a hand on the steering wheel. What she needed was someone to talk to. Most of her Seattle friends were work acquaintances who now seemed to feel totally awkward around her. Her real friends—Roselyn and Katherine—lived on the other side of the country, working in fields unrelated to her own. She hadn’t talked to them since the layoff. It wasn’t solely a case of not wanting to share her misery—Taylor didn’t know how to share misery.