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.
Kate’s mouth dried as she studied him, unsure why his disheveled appearance unsettled her.
Zane cleared his throat. “Ms. Fetzer, Ms. Carrington, this is my brother, Josh.”
Dawn stepped closer to Josh with her hand out. “Nice to meet you, Josh. Call me Dawn.”
Josh flashed a lopsided grin and held both hands up out of Dawn’s reach. “I’m gonna pass on the handshake for now. When you arrived, I was in the stable with one of our first-calf heifers, overseeing the latest birth for our herd. I’ve mostly washed up, but I’m still kinda grimy.”
“Aww,” Dawn cooed. “A baby?”
“Yes, ma’am. We’re a working ranch, and replenishing the herd is our livelihood.” Josh spared Kate a glance, and his boyish grin slipped a little before returning to full wattage. Holding her gaze, he added, “If you want to meet the new calf, I’d be happy to take you to see him once you get settled.”
Kate swallowed the flutter of disquiet that she could feel pulsing in the vein in her neck. “That sounds great.”
Dawn wagged a finger between Zane and Josh. “You two are...identical twins?”
Zane nodded. “We are. And we have a sister, who rounds out the set. Triplets.”
Kate blinked and goggled at Zane. “Triplets! Wow. Does your sister live here, too? Will we meet her?”
“She does now. Just moved back from Boston. You’ll meet her at the welcome dinner tonight. Which, I was saying when Josh stormed in, is at six p.m. Out in the side yard.” Zane directed them with a finger pointing out the window. “That way. Can’t miss it.” He clapped his hands together. “Well, we’ll get out of your hair, let you unpack. The refrigerator has soft drinks and bottled water. Help yourself. Can we do anything else to get you settled before we scoot outta here?”
“I’m good, thanks,” Kate told Zane, and when she glanced back at Josh, his piercing gaze was still riveted on her, the playful twitch of a grin tugging the corner of his mouth.
Her heart bumped, and her breath snagged in her throat. His stare was unnerving, both because of the intensity of his sky blue eyes and because of the mysterious smile he gave her. As if he knew a secret about her. As if he were undressing her with his eyes. As if he could read her fears and reluctance about being there and was privately mocking her.
She calmed her edginess with a deep inhale and slow exhale, the way her therapist had taught her after the trauma of being trapped in the silo. Center yourself by focusing on something near you, something real, something safe.
Kate tore her gaze away from Josh’s and concentrated on a whimsical rooster figurine above the kitchenette