RESCUED BY THE RANCHER (10 page)

She traced his jaw with her fingertips,
wriggling even closer so that their noses were almost touching. “I doubt that
very much,” she whispered.

“You don’t have to worry about Phil or anyone
else like him ever again, Faith.
And the sheriff?
He
was just protecting his son, and I honestly don’t believe he was involved other
than trying to cover for him. He won’t be a problem, and if he is? I’ll deal
with it.” He laughed. “You
do
have to
worry about me asking you to marry me, though. Because one day, when I know
you’ll say yes, I’ll be asking you. And that’s a promise.”

“You’re keeping something from me, aren’t you?”
she asked, tucking her arms around his neck so she could be as close to him as
possible.

He needed to tell her, to be honest with her.
Because if he didn’t he might lose his chance to keep her, to have her here
with him.

“Phil won’t be bothering you anymore.”

Her hold on him tightened, her face buried
against his chest. “Did you hurt him?”

He
would have liked to hurt him.
“No, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to wanting to.”

“He did it, didn’t he?”

Jake swallowed hard when he heard the emotion
choke in her throat. But he owed her the truth if he was serious about making
something happen between them. “Yeah, he did it.”

“But he won’t be a problem now?” she asked, her
voice barely a whisper.

Jake ducked his head to kiss her forehead,
moving to her lips when she raised her head. He looked into her eyes, not
blinking.

“I promise you that you’ll never have to see
him or think about him ever again.”
She caught her lower lip between her teeth – it always made him want to protect
her when she looked so vulnerable, made him want to snarl at anyone who came
near and hold her safe in his arms.

“I’m your person, Faith. I know you haven’t had
one of those before, but now it’s me. You don’t have to worry about looking
after yourself anymore, because that’s what I’m going to do.”

She laughed, a smile taking over her lips. “I’m
not some pathetic woman who can’t take care of herself. You know that, right?”

He laced her fingers with his. “That’s exactly
why I want to look after you,” he said, kissing the tips of her fingers. “Because
it’s about time someone did.”

“You know what?” she asked.

Jake raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“I just might have said yes, if you’d asked
me.”

His teeth closed over her finger this time,
making her squeal.

“When I do ask you? I don’t want any maybes.”

She laughed and so did he.

“Baby, when I ask you to marry me,” he
whispered, eyes locked on hers, “it’s going to be when I’ve earned your trust
so much that you never even think of leaving here.”

“I’m already there,” she whispered back,
kissing him, lips painfully soft against his. “There’s not a bone in my body
that wants to leave you or this place. I don’t know why or how, but it’s the
truth.”

He pushed her back down onto the sleeping bag,
covering her body with his, pinning her down so he could kiss her all over
without her being able to wriggle away.

“Sounds to me,” he said, tracing kisses down
her neck as he nudged her tank top down lower, “like I might need to try you
out. You know, before I make a lifelong commitment or anything crazy like
that.”

“Oh really?” she teased back. “Well, it just so
happens that I’m a woman of very high morals. No sex before marriage and all
that jazz.”

“We’ll see about that,” he growled, biting the
soft skin of her breast.

She opened her mouth to shriek but he covered her
lips with his hand so she couldn’t make a noise, at the same time letting her
break free
of his hold and flip him so she was sitting
astride.

Jake grinned as she glared down at him.
He’d never had so much fun in all his life.

THE END

Want to read another great book by
Soraya
Lane?

Montana Reunion

Special
preview enclosed
!

Best friends reunited… into a
marriage of convenience?

Jack and
Maddison
were best friends growing up, but when
Maddison
moved away from the ranch they struggled to stay
in touch.

When
Maddison
returns home after years away, Jack is all grown
up and in need of a best friend again. And so is
Maddison
…
trouble is, she needs more than a friend. So when she suggests that a marriage
of convenience could solve both their problems, it seems like everything is
falling into place. Until Jack finds out that she wants a baby.

Their friendship is too
important to ruin, but after a night of unexpected passion, everything changes.
Because
Maddison
is pregnant, and
suddenly she’s keeping one very big secret from Jack.
And when he finds
out, it’s more than just their friendship at stake.

The
Navy SEAL’s Promise

(Amazon #1
Bestseller)

Click
here
to buy!

With only 48 hours back on home soil for Christmas, United States
Army Corporal
Saskia
Cullen is desperate to spend
every minute with her young son. So when heavy snowfall closes JFK airport and
she misses her connecting flight, she’s devastated. Until Navy SEAL Luke Gray
offers to keep her company… and then does everything within his power to get
her home.

Luke is back in the US on leave, waiting to hear the details of his
next mission, and
Saskia
proves to be a pleasant
distraction. And when he hears that she needs to get home to see her son, he’s
prepared to do anything to help the sexy single mom. Trouble is
,
he hadn’t planned on falling for anyone, let alone a
beautiful soldier about to return overseas.

CHAPTER
ONE

JACK Gregory closed his fist over the crumpled piece of paper he
held, smothering it.
He hated him
. He
hated his father with a passion he hadn’t even realized he was capable of.

All these years of putting up with him, of trying to stay civil for
the sake of their land, and now he was finally gone and the man was
still
trying to punish him.

Jack walked to the window and looked out over the fields – across
the parched, yellowed grass and out to the cattle roaming in the distance.
He loved it here
. He loved every tree
that shaded his stock, every animal that grazed on his land, and the house that
had been in his mom’s family for generations.

The one mistake he’d made
was
honoring
his father’s wish of burying him on the
ranch in the family plot.

His father had been true to his word, he just hadn’t expected there
to be a clause attached to his will, a note that was read out aloud in his
lawyer’s office, like a final serving of punishment to ensure he suffered even
now that he was on his own. It wasn’t binding, would never hold up in a court
of law to stop him from inheriting, but it sure made his father’s thoughts
clear.
That his eldest son had failed him
as much as his youngest had.

Jack collected his hat, slipped it into place on his head, and
walked out the door. He whistled for his dog, asleep in the cool shade beneath
the veranda, and headed for the barn.

He had no intention of marrying, his father had known that, but
running this ranch was something he was determined to do. With every beat of
his heart, he would prove to himself that not everything about their old life
had died when his mom had.

Maddison
Jones
reached for her sister’s hand and squeezed her fingers.

“Have I told you how good it is to be back?”

Charley laughed, retrieving her hand and placing it back on the
wheel.
“Only a few times since you got in the car.”

Maddison
touched
her head to the cool of the window, watching as the world she’d left behind so
long ago sped past. “I know I was desperate to leave, but maybe I never
realized how special it was here.”

Growing up in Montana
had been amazing, she realized that now. But as a teenager it had seemed like
there was nothing here for her. Now it was like she’d come full
circle,
and getting back home had been the only thing she’d
been able to focus on lately.

“I’ve been trying to tell you that for the last five years,” Charley
said, slowing as they approached the turn off to their ranch. “Clean air,
horses, real people… what’s not to love?”

It wasn’t that she hadn’t loved it years ago, but there had been
other things she’d wanted to experience. Places she wanted to go. People she
wanted to meet.
Except she probably could
have done without some of the people she’d met.

“So tell me about dad? How is he really?” she asked.

Her sister didn’t take her eyes off the road, but
Maddison
didn’t miss the tension that dragged her eyebrows
together. “He’s okay, I guess, but he just won’t slow down. Doesn’t seem to
think I can handle things on my own, even though I’m the young, able bodied one
and he’s technically supposed to be on bed rest still.”

“Or maybe he just doesn’t want you to do it alone?”
Maddison
suggested. “Mom’s concerned about you doing so
much, and dad probably can’t stand the thought of not working the land every
day. Rest isn’t exactly something he’s used to.”

Charley’s face lost the frown and her mouth turned upwards into a
smile instead. “Do you know who’s been helping out lately?”

Now it was
Maddison’s
turn to raise her
eyebrows in question.
“Who?”

“Jack.”

Oh
. Now that was a name that still made her smile, even if it had
been… She shut off the question in her mind.
Way too long was how long it had been
. “How’s he doing on his own?”

“Fine, I think. But then his dad’s only been gone a month.”

Maddison
nodded,
suddenly feeling claustrophobic in the vehicle. Just looking outside at the
land rolling past the window was making her want to stretch her legs. And
thinking about Jack had made her take a very fast trip down memory lane. To
what seemed like centuries ago, but was little more than a decade.

“I should have kept in touch with him.”

Charley shrugged. “Yeah, you should have.”

Not what she’d needed to
hear
. “It wasn’t that I didn’t want to, but things
change. People change.” Sounded corny but it was true, and Jack
had
been her best friend. She’d never
intended on losing contact with him, it had just happened.

“Speak of the devil.”

Maddison
looked up
so fast she practically gave herself whiplash.
“Where?” she
asked.

“Top of the ridge.”

She followed the field in a straight line up as Charley slowed.
Riding down towards them, mounted on a black horse with four white socks and a
striking white blaze, was a man way bigger than
Maddison
remembered Jack to be.
 
“Are you sure that’s
him?”

Why the hell had no one
told her what the grown up Jack was like?

“No, it must be another lone cowboy riding out on the Gregory land.”

Charley’s voice was sarcastic.
But
it didn’t make
Maddison
look away.

“It just, doesn’t, well…”
Maddison
held up
her hand in a wave as the rider did the same. Geez, it really was him. “Jack’s
kind of changed.”

“Has he? I haven’t noticed.” Charley laughed. “Bet you’re regretting
not staying in touch with him now, huh?”

Maddison
ignored
her. She had no intention of rising to the bait. But as the car slowed, her
stomach started to flip. If she’d been alone,
Maddison
might have been tempted to restart her childhood habit and bite her nails
again.

“We should say hello,” Charley insisted.

Before she could respond, their vehicle slid to a halt and Charley
was jumping out of the driver’s seat.

“Hey,” her sister called to Jack.

Maddison
took a
breath.
Then another deep one.
She had nothing to feel
weird about – nothing at all. Jack had been her best friend, her partner in
crime, and they’d grown apart.
So why was
her heart hammering so hard at the idea of seeing him again?

She couldn’t delay the inevitable any longer.