Rich, Rugged Ranchers

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Sophia rose from her seat and came over to his side of the table, brushing his shoulder to reach for his plate.

Her long tresses flowed onto his lap as she brought her face inches from his. He smelled of earth, rawhide and musk, and her breathing quickened as their eyes met. He was a beautiful man who hated her, but right now, she saw desire darken his eyes. She whispered gently, blowing her breath over his lips, playing the vixen he thought she was, “I’ll clean this up and then we’ll get right to work so you won’t have to stay any longer than necessary.”

Logan stared at her, their gazes linked and then his hand touched the ribbon of exposed skin at her waist. Her breath caught in her throat and her senses heightened as he splayed his fingers along the rim of her shirt.

It was unexpected magic.

Dear Reader,

I’m beyond thrilled that Sunset Surrender is the first book in Mills & Boon®’s new RICH, RUGGED RANCHERS promotion. Rich and rugged (and gorgeous) describes my hero, Logan Slade, to the letter. He owns and operates Sunset Ranch, raising prized horses on land the Slade family has owned for generations.

In Sunset Surrender, you’ll also meet Sophia Montrose, the beautiful Las Vegas showgirl turned hotel manager who has inherited half of Sunset Lodge located on Slade property. She’s a thorn in Logan’s backside and a woman who can hold her own against a man who bitterly opposes her return to the ranch. But Sophia isn’t the woman he thinks she is—she’s more—and she sets out to prove that Logan has always been wrong about her.

Sparks fly between Logan and Sophia and the sizzle is evident from page one. I hope you enjoy seeing Logan’s ultimate “surrender” in the first installment of the SLADES OF SUNSET RANCH series. Luke’s and Justin’s stories are coming soon.

My motto: the bold, passionate, heart-stopping cowboy always gets the girl!

Happy reading!

Charlene Sands

About the Author

CHARLENE SANDS is a USA TODAY bestselling author of thirty-five romance novels, writing sexy contemporary romances and stories of the Old West. Her books have been honored with the National Readers Choice Award, the Cataromance Reviewer’s Choice Award and she’s a double recipient of the Booksellers’ Best Award. She belongs to the Orange County Chapter and the Los Angeles Chapter of RWA.

Charlene writes bold, passionate, heart-stopping cowboys and always real good men! She knows a little something about true romance—she married her high school sweetheart. When not writing, Charlene enjoys sunny Pacific beaches, great coffee, reading books from her favorite authors and spoiling her new baby granddaughters. You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter. Charlene loves to hear from her readers. You can write her at PO Box 4883, West Hills, CA 91308, USA, or sign up for her newsletter for fun blog posts and ongoing contests at www.charlenesands.com.

With all my love to Everley Frances and Kyra Nicole.

You are my sweet little wonders!

One

Sunset Ranch, Nevada

Sophia Montrose stared into the cowboy’s cold black eyes. His mouth was hard and a twitch away from a sneer.

“Couldn’t wait to show up here, now could you?”

It was not a sunny welcome back to Sunset Ranch. Not that Sophia really expected one from Logan Slade. She’d decided long ago that she would stand her ground and refuse to let him intimidate her. But she hadn’t crossed paths with him since she’d left Sunset Ranch as a girl of fifteen, and had forgotten how his rugged good looks could make her heartbeat speed up. Yet even though maturity had done him justice in a dangerously sinful way, she wouldn’t lose sight of how Logan Slade resented her being here, just as much as he had when she’d lived on Slade land before.

“Is Luke home?” Standing on the doorstep of the ranch house, Sophia hoped to see the friendly face of Logan’s younger brother soon.

“No. He’ll be home tomorrow. You want to come back?”

She shook her head. She had nowhere else to go. She’d given up her small Las Vegas apartment and had driven for hours to reach the ranch this afternoon. She didn’t want to take a room in Carson City. She was ready to start her new life, now. This minute. “I came for the keys to the cottage.”

He leveled an unforgiving look at her. “You’ll get them.”

Logan had instructed his attorney not to give her the keys in advance. He’d wanted her to come for them personally. It was Logan’s way. He wanted to see her squirm, or at the very least, make her feel uncomfortable the second she stepped foot on Slade property.

She put out her hand, palm up, and tried for civility. “Please. I’d like to get settled.”

He assessed her for one moment, then whipped around and entered his house, tossing a command over his shoulder. “Follow me.”

She was left on the threshold with her hand out. Quickly lowering it to her side, she tilted her chin up, and took a few steps inside the house.

The minute she entered, her throat tightened and good memories washed away Logan’s attempt to ruin this homecoming. The place was as beautiful as she remembered. She’d loved the warmth of the Slade home, the pretty earth colors, the cozily arranged furniture that faced a wide stone fireplace that reached the ceiling. Antiques, bronze statues and expensive artwork decorated the room. Hard wood and contrasting soft hues made the Nevada ranch house perfectly welcoming.

How many times had she played here with Luke? How many birthday parties and private Sunset Lodge events had she attended here with her mother? A stream of good feelings settled into her bones.

She followed behind Logan, his shiny black boots clicking against polished wood. His tall muscular frame ate up space as he sauntered down the long hallway toward his late father Randall Slade’s office. Logan was neat as a pin, looking crisp in a blue plaid shirt and brand-new jeans. Broad-backed and slim-hipped, he had a fine way of filling out his clothes. He made no attempt to speak with her. She didn’t expect small talk from him anyway.

Sophia could only imagine his tirade when the terms of his father’s last will and testament had been read by the Slades’ private attorney. It must have been a last-minute decision on Mr. Slade’s part to include her in the will, because when Luke had called—a voice from her past—she’d noted his surprised tone. But he was encouraging. He couldn’t wait to see her again after all these years, he’d said, despite the circumstances.

But no one could have been more surprised than Sophia when she’d learned she’d inherited half ownership of Sunset Lodge from Randall Slade. The only stipulation was that she had to manage the lodge for one year before she could sell her share.

It had been twelve years since she’d lived here. Her mother, as the manager of Sunset Lodge, had left abruptly, breaking all ties to the Slade family and asking Sophia to do the same. It meant losing Luke’s friendship and many other things, when they’d left Sunset Ranch.

“It’s for the best,” her mother had said. But Sophia hadn’t understood that, the way children couldn’t understand sacrifice and hardship and doing the right thing. Sophia had been yanked out of high school in her first year without any warning. She’d left girlfriends behind—and all of her dreams—and had cried herself to sleep every night during those first few months.

Now, with her mother gone after fighting a two-year battle with cancer, Sophia was here to claim her unexpected inheritance. Randall Slade had always been kind to her, showing her compassion, and Sophia thought him a good man. He had treated Sophia like family, had been a father figure to her when her own father had abandoned her at the age of three.

“In here,” Logan rasped, ducking into the office.

She followed him inside.

“Have a seat.” He pointed to a crimson leather sofa that looked stiff and new. As she gazed around the room, she noted that the entire room had been updated.

Instead of the paneled walls and golden curtains she’d remembered, the walls were clean, textured and stately. Wide electronically controlled windows opened to the grounds outside. Above, rustic chandelier lamps had been replaced with track lights that pointed down at the desk like a row of dutiful soldiers. It was as if all evidence of Randall Slade and his reign at Sunset Ranch had been removed.

“No, thank you.” Her decision to stand garnered a quick glance and then a grunt from Logan. Sophia smiled to herself. She’d cling to her small victories.

She wished Luke had been the one to greet her today. She would’ve liked him to be the first person she’d face upon her return to Sunset Ranch. But she’d moved up her arrival by a few days out of necessity, and maybe it was a good thing to get this confrontation with Logan over with first, rather than hold on to her dread. When she saw Luke again, there wouldn’t be worries about his older brother overshadowing their reunion.

“I’m sorry about your father,” Sophia said out of reverence to Randall Slade’s memory. “He was a decent man. I’m sure you miss him very much.”

From behind his long plank desk, Logan’s stony expression didn’t budge. “We’re not here to discuss my relationship with my father.”

“You won’t even allow me to offer my condolences?” Sophia spoke softly, injured that Logan wouldn’t grant her that much. “He was always kind to me.”

Leather creaked as he lowered down in a swivel chair behind his desk. “He was kind to Montrose women at the expense of my family.”

She stood five feet seven inches tall in bare feet and yet Logan, sitting behind his desk with penetrating eyes locked on her, appeared the more imposing. She swallowed past a lump in her throat. Her mother’s death was still painfully raw to her. She knew Logan resented her mother. Maybe he hated her, but she wouldn’t allow him to speak ill of her. “My mother died several months ago, Logan. I miss her, just as I’m sure you miss your father. I will ask you to keep your thoughts to yourself about what you think you know.”

“I know the truth, Sophia. And there’s no way to sugarcoat it.” His voice held conviction. “Your mother had an affair with my father, right under my mother’s nose. Louisa wanted his money and he was too blinded by her beauty to see what she was doing. Our family was never the same after that. It nearly destroyed us.”

Sophia glanced out the window at the beautiful grounds and the stables where exquisite horses were raised to be sold to the highest bidder. The lodge beyond was a private resort designed to house elite guests who wanted a ranch-type experience with all the trimmings.

The Slade brothers—Justin, Luke and Logan—had endured their mother and father’s deaths but they had each other, and they’d always have Sunset Ranch, whereas Sophia was completely alone. For whatever pain the Slades went through, she was truly sorry, but what had happened between her mother, Louisa and Randall Slade was complicated and not so easily explained.

“My mother saved your parents’ marriage.”

Logan shot back, “You’ve worn too many headdresses in your day, Sophia. All that strutting around half-naked on Las Vegas stages has gotten to you.”

His triumphant gaze penetrated straight through her. She shouldn’t have been surprised that he knew about her profession as a showgirl. She’d managed to keep under the radar for most of her adult life, but when her mother had taken ill Sophia had tough choices to make to provide for both of them and she wasn’t ashamed of it. Nearly everyone within earshot in Nevada had learned about her scandalous marriage to an aging millionaire. What was to be a private union had ended up becoming fodder for the tabloids once the news of her marriage got out. Even in Las Vegas, a twenty-six-year-old showgirl marrying a seventy-one year old oil magnate on the sly was big news.

“So you know?”

“I read, Sophia.”

“My marriage and my last profession aren’t any of your business,” she said softly. Her heart was full of grief and she had no room left for more. Not from Logan and not on her first day back here. There would be more battles to come, she was sure, but she didn’t want to argue with him today.

He swept his eyes over her again, this time more precisely, as if he were ranking her on some kind of male scale. He scanned over the long wisps of black hair that had escaped from the severe knot at the back of her head and then his gaze traveled from her amber eyes to her full lips. He lingered there, and she wondered if he remembered the kiss they’d shared in high school. The one that had left Sophia breathless and wanting more. The one that Logan had used to humiliate her. She’d never gotten over her first real kiss or the pain that it had caused her.

“You’re beautiful, Sophia,” was all seventeen-year-old Logan had had to say as he’d taken her into his arms behind the gymnasium. He’d pressed his body close and kissed her lips as if he were born to do so. It had been glorious and sweet and passionate, all rolled up into one. Sophia had been taken by the sweeping, unexpected feelings stirring around in her belly. On instinct, she had wrapped her arms around his neck and he’d kept on kissing her, Sophia giving in to the older boy’s practiced mouth until laughter, from the other side of the brick wall, interrupted them. Logan had abruptly broken off the kiss and stared solemnly into her eyes for a brief moment frozen in time, before he took off, leaving her standing there dumbfounded as he joined his friends.

News of Logan’s bet with their three high school classmates—that Sophia wouldn’t push him away if he kissed her—had been the buzz all around school the next day. Sophia was easy, just like her mother.

Now she angled her chin down to stare at him, combating the sensations swamping her and wishing she’d never been attracted to Luke’s older brother in the first place. She hated that the heat of his gaze did things to her. Hated that she hadn’t forgotten that one surprising kiss. It was as if Logan had stamped her for life.

He continued his visual assault with a gaze that traveled along the neckline of her conservative summer dress and lingered on her ample bustline. For as much as she tried, her clothes simply couldn’t hide the fullness of her breasts. They were evident no matter what she wore, and she’d actually considered a reduction at one point in her life when putting food on the table and paying hospital bills hadn’t yet been a priority. But her body and her exotic Spanish looks had paid the bills when it mattered most. She had to be grateful for that.

Logan’s gaze finally scoured over her legs, which were almost in full view from his place behind the desk. She wished she’d sat down when he’d given her the opportunity, rather than be studied this way. Now, under his scrutiny, she tensed.

When he was through eyeing her, he said, “What’d you do, give the old guy heart failure in the bedroom?”

Sophia gasped at the notion and took the comment as an insult, because that’s exactly how Logan had intended it. He’d rather think the worst of her than offer her even the slightest ounce of respect. “He’s not dead, thank goodness. We’re … divorced.”

Logan contemplated her for a second. “Short marriage. Was Gordon Gregory smart enough to get a prenup?”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I was the one who demanded it.”

Logan leaned back in his chair and laughed. “You don’t fool me, Sophia. You’re just like your mother.”

“Thank you. I’ll take that as a compliment. My mother was an amazing woman.”

The smile left Logan’s face. He came forward in his seat to brace his hands on the desk. Serious now, he stared straight into her eyes. “Look, I’ll make you a deal. I’m willing to buy out your half of the lodge. You won’t have to stay on and run the place for a year. I can have my attorney get around that stipulation somehow. I’m prepared to make you a mighty generous offer.”

“No.”

“You don’t want to know the amount?” He had a pen in hand, ready to write down a sum.

“No amount of money will do.”

Logan didn’t seem convinced. He shrugged, and thought she was negotiating. “Let’s cut to the chase, Sophia. I’ll pay you twice what it’s worth.”

He took a knife and stabbed her in the heart with that offer. He wanted to get rid of her, and now she knew just how much. But she wouldn’t allow that to stop her. She had legal rights to the lodge and no matter what he offered, Sophia wasn’t going to leave. “No. I’m staying. I will run Sunset Lodge.”

Sunset Ranch had been her home for twelve years. She’d loved living at the cottage next to the lodge. It was the only place she’d ever wanted to live. The only place she’d ever regarded as her home. And she wasn’t about to let Logan Slade run her off.

She would stay.

And she would be as successful a manager as her mother had been.

“Now please, Logan. Hand over the keys.”

Logan walked Sophia outside to her car. The old dented Camry looked the worse for wear with nearly bald tires and paint getting thin. The scrap of metal was fifteen years old if it was a day. Hardly the kind of wheels he expected a Las Vegas showgirl who’d been married to a loaded old geezer to drive.

He held on to the cottage keys, wishing his dang father hadn’t seen fit to put Sophia in his will. She was too beautiful, too perfect. Every feature on her face was flawless. She had golden eyes, inky black hair and skin that glowed in the Nevada sunshine. She was the kind of woman that made men do stupid things. He didn’t want to think about what kind of trouble she would stir up around here. His men would bend over backward for her, he was sure. They’d done the same for Louisa. All that woman had to do was smile pretty, and the ranch hands would do her bidding. She’d had them eating out of the palm of her hand.

Sophia had grown into the spitting image of her mother and then some. In fact, Logan hated to admit it but Sophia Montrose was even more stunning than her mother had been.

“So, refresh my memory. Why in hell do you want to live way out here with the dust and the flies and horse dung?”

Sophia rolled her eyes, and the deep breath she sucked in lifted her ample chest, stretching the material of her dress to its limit. Logan’s groin tightened. He didn’t like his immediate reaction to her one damn bit.

“Sunset Ranch was my home, too, Logan. For twelve years of my life. It was a happy time, and I loved working alongside my mother at the lodge, which—thanks to your father’s kindness—is half mine now. So why would I not want to live here?”

Logan rubbed the back of his neck. He still didn’t get why his father put Sophia Montrose in his will. “It’s hardly an exciting life.”

Sophia repeated his words. “It’s hardly an exciting life.”

Logan’s brows lifted. “You telling me you didn’t like living in Las Vegas? A woman like you?”

Sophia narrowed her eyes. “You have no idea who I am, Logan.”

He knew she was the kind of woman who wasn’t above sleeping with an old man to get her hands on his money. The old codger must have come to his senses before she cleaned him out, prenup or not.

“I can’t change the past,” she said. “But I’m here to make a life for myself.”

“On Slade land.”

“Yes, on Slade land. Now, are you going to keep jingling those keys in front of me or are you going to hand them over?”

Logan looked at the keys in his hand. “No one has lived there since you left.”

Sophia’s brows gathered. “Are you saying that the cottage is exactly the same?”

He nodded. “My father wouldn’t allow anyone else to live there. Another victory for Louisa. You can bet that decision didn’t set well with my mother. I used to hear them fighting about it late at night.”

“That’s hardly my mother’s fault. Or mine, for that matter.”

“You’ll have to let the current manager at the lodge go.”

Sophia met his smug stare. “Go? What do you mean?”

“I mean, she’s out of a job now. The thing of it is, Sophia, you’re going to replace her as manager. Last I checked the place can’t have two full-time managers. Mrs. Polanski has to be notified.”

“You don’t honestly expect me to go in there and fire her, do you?”

“Well, if you don’t want to, she can stay on and I’ll buy you out. That’ll solve your problem.”

Sophia crossed her arms under her breasts and glared at him. “You go straight to hell.”

Logan grinned. He couldn’t help it. He’d succeeded in rankling her. Up until this point, she’d been a cool customer. But he’d be darned if the woman didn’t just get prettier with her face heating up and her eyes shooting sparks. “I’m just telling you like it is, Sophia. Mrs. Polanski has managed the place going on eight years now. She’s good and the guests like her.”

“And you left it up to me to fire her. How sweet of you.”

“Something has to give. It seems my father didn’t think of everything when he gave away our lodge.”

“I only have half ownership. He didn’t give it all away.”

“I bet you wish he had.”

She lifted her perfectly sculpted chin and replied without pause. “Yes, sure. I wish I had full ownership.”

Logan eyed her. He hadn’t expected her to admit it.

“Maybe then I wouldn’t have to deal with you … or fire an employee.”

Now, Logan’s blood boiled. “That lodge has been in the Slade family for generations. It was a little hole-in-the-wall inn for drifters and penniless soldiers after World War II, until my grandfather came along and built it into the fine establishment it is today. You tell me how you figure into that picture?”

Sophia raised her arms into the air, her temper flaring. “I don’t know why your father was so generous with me, Logan. I don’t know what you want me to say, but obviously your father had faith in me to do the job right. I’m here now and I am going to manage the lodge. If I have to let someone go, I’ll do it. But,” she said, pointing her finger at his chest, “I can assure you, I will not forget that you placed me in this position the very second I stepped onto the ranch.”

“That’s the way I want to be remembered, Sophia. As the guy who is going to test you, time and again. You don’t belong here, but I won’t stand in your way, either, if you do a good job. And don’t worry, I’m relinquishing my duties at the lodge to Luke. You’ll deal with him from now on.” He dropped the keys into her hand. “Starting tomorrow.”

She closed her hands around the keys. “I didn’t want to start out like this, Logan.”

He opened the car door for her and spoke with as much civility as he could muster. “Half a mile down the road. I’m sure you remember how to get there.”