by D. L. Roan
He needed to end it for them both, put it all behind him. He couldn’t do that at the ranch, so he’d flipped his email to vacation mode and driven north. What the fuck he was thinking when he thought he could get away from her at the top of a turbine in New Mexico he’d never know, but he was there now, and he wouldn’t be leaving until the maintenance job he’d put the rest of his life on hold for was done.
“Incoming,” Leo, his partner said, nodding to something in the distance.
Clay shielded his eyes and peered out over the surrounding desert to see a truck barreling down the maintenance access road toward the wind farm, still miles away. “That will be our new gasket,” he said, setting the wrench onto the next lug. “Better get this thing off or we’ll be spending the night up here.”
Sweat dripped into his eyes as he strained against the wrench, the lug popping loose with ease this time. They’d just removed the last one when his radio clicked. “Either of you guys expecting company?” Jasper, the worksite safety inspector’s voice called out from below.
When Leo shrugged, Clay swiped his forearm across his brow and walked to the edge of the housing platform. “That should be the gasket for the hatch,” he radioed back, peering down to get a look at the truck that was now almost at the fork in the road that led to their row of turbines.
“Negative,” Jasper answered. “Just scanned the tracking and they’re running two hours behind. Was just about to radio you.”
“Fuck!” Clay dropped the wrench and it hit the deck with a thud. He knew he shouldn’t have started the repair until he had the part in his hand. If they didn’t get that gasket soon, they wouldn’t be able to get the hatch or the upper platform reinstalled before nightfall. They’d be stuck there until midday tomorrow.
“Get on the phone and find out what the hell is taking them so long,” he shouted into the two-way.
When he looked out again, the dust trail behind the approaching truck had cleared. “What the—” He squinted harder against the sun until the logo on the front door came into focus, not enough to read it, but he’d know the Sterling Eagle brand anywhere. What in hell was Levi doing there?
Fear gripped his spine. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. Levi wouldn’t have driven all the way to New Mexico unless it was urgent. Had something happened to Jackson? Or Pops? He reached for his phone, but the pocket he usually kept it in was empty. “Shit!” With no one to call, he’d gotten into the habit of leaving his phone in his truck.
“That’s my brother,” Clay radioed down to Jasper. “Give him your radio the second he gets there.” He paced the platform like a caged animal, the safety lines getting tangled with every pass. His skin crawled with anxious alarm as he watched the speck of Levi’s truck get larger and larger until he pulled up to the base of the turbine. “Come on,” he growled, clutching the radio, waiting for Levi to get out. When the passenger door opened instead, it didn’t take but a second to recognize the feminine figure.
“Dani?” He couldn’t believe his eyes.
Jasper met her at the truck and Clay waited for her reply, but then realized he hadn’t spoken into the radio. He clicked the button. “Dani?” His hand was shaking so violently he almost dropped the radio. What was she doing there?
“Clay! Is that you?” she shouted back a few seconds later, waving up at him.
When he heard the tears in her voice, his entire world exploded. He shoved his radio into Leo’s hand, unhooked his safety harness, and headed for the ladder, only to remember it was disconnected and unusable without the gasket they were still waiting for.
“Fuck!” He reached for his tool bag and pulled out a heavy coil of climbing rope.
“Are you seriously going to repel down?” Leo asked, his eyes wide with disbelief.
He hadn’t repelled in years, but he remembered the basics and had the standard equipment. “Tell her I’m on my way,” he ordered, working fervently to unfurl the rope and tie it into his harness.
“But what about me? If that gasket doesn’t come…shit! Even if it does, you can’t get back up to put it in. This isn’t a one-man job, Clay.”
“We’ll figure it out,” he said as he clipped the last carabiner into place. There really wasn’t a solution he could think of, not off the top of his head, but he didn’t give a damn about Leo or the gasket, or anything but getting to Dani.
“Holy shit,” Leo stammered as Clay tossed the rope over the side and tested his anchor, then backed over the rounded edge of the platform housing. “You’re really doing this.”
Once he reached the bottom edge and dropped his feet, he descended a few feet at a time, a tedious rhythm that blistered his palms and took too damn long, but he never let Dani out of his sight until his feet reached the ground.
“Are you crazy? You scared me to death!” Dani shouted in a broken cry as she rushed into his arms.
Shaking with fatigue and adrenaline, he nearly collapsed. God help him, she felt so good. “Not as scary as that look on your face.” When she loosened her grip around his neck, he cupped her face and held her away, still not believing what he was seeing, or what he was thinking to try to walk away from her. One touch and he knew he’d move to the fucking moon to be with her. “What are you doing here?”
“You wouldn’t take my calls, and I didn’t know anyone else’s number, so I called Nann at the Bulzeye and she picked me up at the airport in Midland. But you weren’t at the ranch, and by the time Virgil tracked you down, I was already on the plane and Levi—”
“Whoa, beautiful. Slow down.” He didn’t give a damn how she got there. She was practically vibrating. If she didn’t take a breath he was afraid she’d hyperventilate. “What are you doing here? Are you okay?”
“No, I’m not okay!” She glanced up. “You just jumped off a two-hundred-foot tall wind turbine!”
“Are you hurt?” He held her away, raking his gaze over her. “Did your uncle pass away?”
“No, he’s okay. I mean, he’s not, but I just…” She finally paused and took a breath, shaking her head. “You were right, and I’m sorry I didn’t see it before. I was just so confused and surprised, and—”
Clay pulled her to him and crushed his mouth to hers. He couldn’t wait another second. Their tongues met in a desperate duel and she melted in his arms, a feeling he could only describe as completeness filling the gaping hole in his chest. She tasted like heaven, with a twist of lime soda.
“God, I’ve missed you,” he said when they finally parted. “I’ll move to Montana, right now, today. We don’t even have to get married if you don’t want to. I just need to be with you.”
“Me, too,” she said, pulling him into another kiss.
“Christ, Dani. I’m so sorry I didn’t call you. I wasn’t thinking straight.”
Dani placed a silencing finger over his lips. “It’s okay.” She loosened her grip, but didn’t let him go, fingering his dimples as she smiled up at him. “I’m kind of glad you didn’t.”
“You are?”
Dani nodded. “My mom and I talked through some things last night, and I had a lot of time to think on the flight to Midland. When you didn’t call me back, and I couldn’t talk to you, I was miserable. I don’t want any part of a life without you. I love my family and Falcon Ridge, but if you’re not there…”
Clay’s chest began to ache with hope.
“I love you,” she continued, the three words like a balm to his raw heart. “And you were right. This isn’t a choice. I don’t care where we live.” She shielded her eyes and looked around at the barren mudflats surrounding them. He grinned when she wrinkled her pert little nose. “I’ll even move here, wherever here is,” she said with an exhausted sigh. “With the layover in Oklahoma, I lost track of how many states I’ve been in today.”
“New Mexico,” Clay chuckled with disbelief. “But what about your uncle, and taking over your family’s ranch?”
Dani cupped his face and looked back up at him, her smile tainted with sadness
. “I’ll need to be there, at least for a little while until Uncle Cade is gone. But after that, I don’t care. We can figure it all out later. I’ll move to Texas if you want, anywhere, as long as you’re there. I want to build my forever with you.”
Clay kissed her again. Forever had never sounded better in his entire life. “I love you,” he broke away only long enough to say, then crushed his mouth to hers again. Lost in his relief and the feel of her in his arms, he barely heard his brother clear his throat.
His lips still pressed to hers, he glanced over at Levi, who held a small black box between his fingers. Clay broke the kiss and held out his hand, catching it when Levi tossed it to him.
“From Pops,” Levi said.
Clay opened the box and pulled out his mother’s ring. Dani danced nervously on her toes as she held out her hand and he slipped the ring onto her finger.
“Dani McLendon, will you ma—”
“Yes!” She threw her arms around him and he twirled her around, wrapping them in the rope that was still attached to his harness, and they fell to the ground in a tangled heap of laughter and love and kisses. “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!”
A True Love Story Never Ends
Don’t miss the conclusion of The McLendon Family Saga
The Legacy of Falcon Ridge
Coming Fall 2017
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The McLendon Family Saga Reading Order
The Heart of Falcon Ridge
A McLendon Christmas
Rock Star Cowboys
Rock Star Cowboys: The Honeymoon
The Hardest Goodbyes
Return to Falcon Ridge
Forever Falcon Ridge
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About the Author
USA Today and international bestselling author, D.L. Roan, loves combining fantasy with the real world, giving her readers more than just a romantic story, but an adventure in true love.
She's a native Floridian, a rare breed in a land of snow birds. Scuba diving and hunting for shark's teeth on the beach are two of her favorite things. She loves rainy days, thunderstorms, and is an avid dog lover. Yes, size matters. She hopes to one day add a big ol' floppy Great Dane to her family of hounds. For exclusive details and free stories by D.L., please visit her website and subscribe to her newsletter.
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