“You’re flirting with me? Why?”

Caleb debated for a moment before answering. But then he reminded himself he was in Colorado. People were forthright around here. And he owed Mandy no less than she was giving him.

“Because you’re real,” he told her. “When you laugh, it’s because you’re happy. When you argue, it’s because you have a point to make. And when your eyes smolder, it’s because you’re interested in me.”

“I’m not interested in you.”

“But you are.” He smoothed a stray lock of her hair and tucked it behind one ear. “That’s what’s so amazing about you. Your body language doesn’t lie.”

“And if my body language slaps you across the face?”

“I hope it’ll be because I’ve done something to deserve it.” Because then the slap would be worth it.

Dear Reader,

Welcome to the first book of the COLORADO CATTLE BARONS series from Desire. I have a deep fondness for cowboy heroes, and this series will allow me to indulge myself by writing a whole string of them.

In book one, millionaire Caleb Terrell returns to his family’s Colorado ranch, following the death of his abusive father. There, he meets sexy, down-to-earth neighbor Mandy Jacobs, the key to finding Caleb’s missing twin brother, Reed. While Mandy opens the door to painful childhood memories, she also shows Caleb the pathway to love and forgiveness.

I sincerely hope you enjoy A Cowboy Comes Home. And I hope you’ll look for Caleb’s brother, Reed, along with Mandy’s siblings, in future COLORADO CATTLE BARONS books. I’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to drop me a line through my website, barbaradunlop.com.

Barbara Dunlop

About the Author

BARBARA DUNLOP writes romantic stories while curled up in a log cabin in Canada’s far north, where bears outnumber people and it snows six months of the year. Fortunately she has a brawny husband and two teenage children to haul firewood and clear the driveway while she sips cocoa and muses about her upcoming chapters. Barbara loves to hear from readers. You can contact her through her website, www.barbaradunlop.com.

A Cowboy
Comes Home
Barbara Dunlop

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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For Carla Daum and Jane Porter

One-Hundred Books Later

One

Dust plumes scattered beneath Caleb Terrell’s loafers as he approached the front steps of his former home, looking for the brother who’d despised him for ten long years. A copy of his late father’s will was snapped into his Bulgari briefcase, and a million, disturbing questions swirled inside his brain. The Terrell Cattle Company hadn’t changed much. The two-story brick house had been meticulously maintained, while the crisp, northern-Colorado mountain air still held the familiar tang of wheatgrass and ponderosa pine.

The soles of his shoes met the smooth wood of the wide, front porch, and for a fleeting moment he wished he’d stopped in Lyndon and changed into blue jeans and boots. But he banished the impulse. He was a businessman now, not a cowboy. And the last thing he wanted to do was feel at home.

His brother, Reed, wouldn’t be remotely happy to see him, but outrageous times called for outrageous measures. Reed would have to deal with it.

Caleb briefly toyed with the idea of bursting in unannounced. He owned the place, after all, and Reed had been dodging his calls for over a week. To be fair, Caleb hadn’t tried to contact his fraternal twin brother in ten years. Then again, in all that time, Reed hadn’t tried to contact Caleb, either.

But now, their father was dead. Caleb wouldn’t have set foot on the Terrell ranch in any other circumstance. He’d probably have been shot if he’d tried. Which made the contents of the will that much more baffling.

He gave three short, sharp knocks.

In the moments of silence that followed, he glanced around the ranch yard, refreshing his memory and bracing himself for the conversation to come.

The main barn had been recently painted a dark green. The square horse corrals were still meticulously maintained, their straight rails gleaming white in the afternoon sunshine. He knew every angle was precisely ninety degrees, and the posts were exactly six feet apart, rail centers at twenty-four-inch intervals.

Beyond the yard, black angus cattle dotted the summer green, hillside meadows between groves of aspen and pine. And the snowy peaks of the Rockies rose up to the misty sky. Caleb blinked against the blinding sun, refocusing closer in.

Half a dozen pickup trucks were backed up in formation in front of the equipment sheds. A freshly washed combine, cultivator and hay truck sat on the far side of the barn, and a few dozen chickens were pecking the ground around the tires. In one of the pens, a black horse whinnied and bucked, tossing its glossy mane as it ran the length of the enclosure before stopping short at the fence, nostrils flaring in annoyance.

Caleb didn’t recognize the animal. No surprise there. Though there had been a time when he’d been able to name every one of the fifty plus horses at Terrell. He inhaled once more, this time catching the sharp scent of manure. His spine stiffened with a latent memory of his father’s quick temper. Yeah, most things had stayed the same around here, and he didn’t care to revisit any of them.

As soon as he straightened out the mess with the inheritance, he’d climb back into his rented Escalade, head for the Lyndon airport and take the Active Equipment jet back to his corporate headquarters in Chicago.

Sayonara Colorado.

He turned back to the door and knocked again.

This time, there was a sound on the other side. But it was a light, quick step crossing the living-room floor—so, not his brother, Reed.

The door swung full open, and Caleb came face-to-face with a beautiful, brunette woman. She was maybe five feet five, dressed in a cowl-necked, navy T-shirt with four buttons leaving an open V-neck. Her hair was long and glossy, her lips a dark coral pink, skin smooth, brows gently arched and her moss-green eyes clear and assessing.

She looked vaguely familiar. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking. Even in faded blue jeans and scuffed brown boots, she definitely looked like someone Caleb would like to know. His instantaneous attraction was quickly tempered by the thought that she might belong to his brother—a girlfriend, maybe even a wife.

His glance dipped reflexively to her left hand. No ring. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t Reed’s.

“Are you selling … something?” she prompted, glancing from his silk tie to his briefcase. Her melodic, slightly husky voice sent a vibration through the center of Caleb’s chest.

It took him a moment to respond. “I’m looking for Reed.”

Her delicate brows sloped closer together with curiosity. “Is he expecting you?”

“I called a few days ago,” Caleb offered evasively. He hadn’t spoken to his brother, only left voice-mail messages, and he wasn’t about to discuss his personal business with a stranger.

She crossed her arms over her chest and canted a slim, denim covered hip to one side. “Are you saying Reed invited you here?”

Caleb gave into curiosity. “Who are you?”

“Who are you?”

There it was again, that feeling that he’d met her somewhere before. “You live here?”

“None of your business.”

“Where’s Reed?”

She stilled for a split second, her soft, coral mouth pursing into a sexy moue. “Also, none of your business.”

He struggled to be annoyed, but he found himself intrigued. “Are you going to tell me anything?”

She shook her head.

“Have we met before?” he asked.

“Is that a line?”

“It’s a question.”

“It’s been my experience that most lines are delivered in the form of a question.”

Caleb felt himself crack a reluctant smile, and her green eyes sparkled in return.

He watched her for a few moments, then conceded defeat, shifting his briefcase from his right hand before holding it out to her. “Caleb Terrell.”

Her gorgeous eyes went wide and round. “Caleb?”

Before he could react, she squealed and threw herself into his arms. “You came home!”

His free arm automatically wrapped around her slender waist, returning the hug and holding her lithe body against his own. He inhaled the sweet scent of her hair and found himself desperately hoping she wasn’t Reed’s girlfriend.

She pulled back and gazed up into his eyes. “You don’t remember me?”

He was forced to shake his head, admitting he did not.

She socked the front of his shoulder with the heel of her hand. “It’s Mandy.”

Caleb felt his jaw go lax. “Mandy Jacobs?”

She nodded, and he pulled her into another hug. Not that they’d been particularly close. She’d been thirteen to his seventeen when he’d left home. He was twenty-seven now. And it felt astonishingly good to hold her in his arms.

He let the hug go on a little too long, then reluctantly let her go.

“You missed the funeral.” Her tone was half regretful, half accusing as she backed her way inside the house, gesturing for him to follow.

“I didn’t come back for the funeral,” he told her soberly as he took a step over the threshold. Reminded of his reason for being here, his mood swung back to determination.

“He was your father,” she chided, turning to walk around the corner from the foyer and into the big living room.

Caleb followed, letting his silence speak for itself. Unless Mandy was hopelessly naive, she knew the history of the Terrell family. Wilton Terrell might have been Caleb’s father, but he was also the meanest son of a bitch in northwestern Colorado.

Inside the startlingly familiar room, he glanced around, attempting to orient himself. Why was Mandy here, and where was Reed? “So, you and Reed are …”

She shook her head. “He’s not here.”

“I can see that.” It was a big house, two stories, four bedrooms, but if Reed had been around, Mandy’s squeal would have brought him running. Now, Caleb found himself impatient to qualify her role. “You live here?”

Her look went blank. “Huh?”

He enunciated his next words. “Do you live here?”

“Are you asking me if I’m sleeping with your brother?”

“I’m asking if you’re in a relationship with him, yes.” That was the most obvious answer for her presence.

“I’m not.” Her left eye twitched. “Either of those things.”

“Okay.”

Good. Very good. Not that it mattered to Caleb. Nothing about Lyndon Valley or the Terrell ranch mattered to Caleb. This was a temporary glitch on the thoroughfare of his life. Mandy was irrelevant.

Her tone turned tart. “But how very polite of you to inquire about my sex life.”

“You’re here, and he’s not,” Caleb reasoned. She’d answered the front door, appeared very much at home. It wasn’t such a stretch to think she lived here.

She traced a finger along the beveled edge of a polished cedar side table. “I came up here to check things out.” Then a cloud of concern darkened her expression. “I got worried.”

“Why were you worried?”

“Because nobody’s seen Reed since the funeral five days ago.”

Mandy Jacobs had been Reed’s close friend for nearly ten years. Before that, she’d felt something close to hero worship for him in high school, ever since the day he’d rescued her when her bikini top flew off as she dove into the Stump Lake swimming hole. The boys in her own grade had howled with laughter, stopping her girlfriends from coming into the water to help her, waiting with wide-eyed anticipation for the numbing cold to force her from the lake.

Just as she was about to give in and cover her dignity as best she could manage, Reed had come along and read the younger boys the riot act. He’d stripped off his boots and waded up to his waist, handing her his own T-shirt. He’d never even peeked while, teeth chattering and toes tingling, she’d struggled her way into the shirt while under water. And then he’d threatened the younger boys with dire consequences if they dared to tease her about it in the future.

When she came home after two years in college in Denver, she and Reed had grown closer still. Over the years, she’d learned about his mother’s death, his father’s cruelty and the reasons behind his fraternal twin brother, Caleb, leaving the valley.

Reed had no siblings left at home, and Mandy’s two brothers did nothing but tease her. Her oldest sister, Abigail, had been a bookworm, while her younger sister, Katrina, had gone away to boarding school when she was only ten. If Mandy could have chosen a brother, it would have been Reed.

This morning, genuinely worried and determined to track him down, she’d let herself into the familiar house, listened to his phone messages, hunted her way through his letter mail, even checked his closet before realizing she wouldn’t know if some of his clothes were missing or not. She did know his wallet was gone. His watch wasn’t lying around and his favorite Stetson wasn’t hanging on the peg in the front entry hall.

She had to believe he had left the ranch willingly. The man was built like a mountain. She couldn’t imagine anyone forcing him to do anything he didn’t want to do.

Still, she was very glad Caleb had shown up when he did. Something definitely wasn’t right, and she could use his help to figure out what had happened.

Caleb clunked his briefcase down on the hardwood floor, interrupting her musings as he straightened beside the brown leather couch that sat in front of the picture window.

His gaze pierced hers. “Define missing?”

“Reed left the cemetery after the funeral,” Mandy explained, casting her memory back again to the events of last week, hunting for little details she might have missed that would give her a clue to what happened. “He drove off in one of the ranch pickup trucks. I assumed he was coming back here.”

She focused on the row of pictures along the fireplace mantel, zeroing in on a recent one of Reed at the Lyndon Rodeo. “We all came over to the house afterward for refreshments. I didn’t see him, but I didn’t think that was particularly odd. He’d just lost his father and, you know, he might have wanted to be alone.”

From behind her, Caleb’s voice was cool. “Are you trying to tell me Reed was mourning our father?”

She turned back to face him while she framed her answer. She couldn’t help contrasting the two brothers. They were about as different as two men could get. They’d both been attractive teenagers who’d grown into very handsome men. But where Reed was rugged and rangy, Caleb was much more urbane and refined.

Reed was nearly six-four, deep-chested, bulky in his arms and legs, and about as strong as an ox. His hair was dark, his eyes darker. While Caleb was closer to six-one, broad shouldered, but with leaner muscles, a chiseled chin and bright blue, intelligent, observant eyes. His hair was a lighter brown, his voice bass instead of baritone.

“Mandy?” Caleb prompted, and there was something about the sound of her name on his lips that made her heart thud an extra beat. Where on earth had that come from?

“I doubt he was mourning your father,” she acknowledged.

If anything, Reed and Wilton’s relationship had deteriorated after Caleb left. Wilton wasn’t capable of anything but criticism, no matter how hard Reed worked. And no matter how much Reed accomplished on the ranch, his father wasn’t satisfied and told him so on a regular basis.

Intimidated by the man, Mandy had visited the Terrell house only when Wilton was away. Thankfully, he was away quite often. The very definition of a crotchety old man, he seemed to prefer the company of cattle to humans, and he spent many nights in line shacks on the range.

She’d done everything she could to support Reed. When she was sixteen and Reed was twenty, Wilton had ended a particularly hostile argument by whacking Reed’s shoulder with a two-by-four. Mandy had impulsively offered to marry Reed so he could move to the neighboring Jacobs ranch.

But he’d had laughed at her and tousled her hair, telling her he loved her like a sister, not a wife, and he wouldn’t turn his back on his father ever again. And by then, he was big enough to defend himself against Wilton.

“He should have left when I did,” Caleb broke into her thoughts again, his voice brittle.

“You should have stayed,” Mandy countered, giving him her unvarnished opinion. If Caleb had been around, it would have been two against one, and Wilton would not have gotten away with so much cruelty.

Caleb’s eyes crackled like agates. “And rewarded him for killing my mother, by breaking my back for him day after day?”

“Reed saw it differently.” Mandy understood just how differently Reed had viewed the situation. And she admired him for it.

The Terrell Cattle Company had been the merging of both Wilton Terrell’s family holdings and those of his young wife, Sasha’s. After her death, through thick and thin, Reed had vowed to protect his mother’s heritage. He had plans for the ranch, for his future, ways to honor his mother’s memory.

Which made his disappearance, particularly now, even more confusing. Where was he?

“Reed was a fool,” said Caleb.

Mandy found herself taking a step forward, squaring her shoulders, hands curling into fists by her sides, her anger rising in her friend’s defense. “I love Reed.”

“I thought you said—”

“Like a brother.”

“Yeah?” Caleb scoffed, blue eyes glaring right back at her. “Why don’t you tell me what that’s like?”

His mocking tone was at odds with the trace of hurt that flashed through his eyes, and her anger immediately dissipated.

“Why did you come?” she found herself asking.

Did she dare hope Caleb had reconciliation on his mind? She’d be thrilled to see the two brothers bury the hatchet. She knew that, deep down, Reed missed his brother, and she had to believe Caleb missed Reed.

Suddenly, she remembered one of the letters she’d sorted this morning. Her heart lifted, and her chest hummed with excitement. That had to be the answer. “He was expecting you.”

“What?”

She pivoted on her heel and headed for the kitchen, bee-lining to the pile of correspondence that hadn’t yielded a single clue to Reed’s whereabouts.

Caleb’s footfalls sounded in the hallway behind her as she entered the bright, butter-yellow kitchen, with its gleaming redwood cabinets and granite countertops.

“Here it is.” She extracted a white envelope with Caleb’s name scrawled across the front. It hadn’t made sense to her at the time, but Reed must have known his brother would be here. Maybe this was the clue she needed.

She strode back across the big, bright kitchen and handed the envelope to Caleb. “Open it,” she demanded impatiently.

Caleb frowned. “I didn’t tell him I was coming.” The messages had been a cryptic “call me, we need to talk.” He hadn’t doubted for a second Reed would understand.

“Then why did he leave you a letter? It was sitting on the island when I got here this morning.” She pointed out the spot with her finger.

Caleb heaved a deep breath, hooking his thumb beneath the end of the flap and tearing open the flimsy paper.

He extracted a single, folded sheet and dropped the envelope onto the countertop next to the telephone. He unfolded the paper, staring at it for a brief moment.

Then he uttered a sharp, foul cussword.

Mandy startled, not at the word, but at the tone. Unable to control her curiosity, she looked around the paper, her head next to Caleb’s shoulder and read Reed’s large, bold handwriting. The message said: Choke on it.

She blinked and glanced up at Caleb. “I don’t understand. What does it mean?”

“It means my brother’s temper hasn’t changed one bit in the past ten years.”

“Do you know where he went?” The cryptic message didn’t help Mandy, but maybe Caleb understood.

Caleb growled at the paper. “You stupid, stupid idiot.”

“What?” Mandy demanded.

He crumpled the paper into a tight ball, emitting a cold laugh. “He doesn’t trust me. He actually thinks I’d screw my own brother.”

“Screw him how?” She’d been telling herself Reed was off on his own somewhere, reconciling what had to be conflicting emotions about losing such a difficult father. But now Caleb had her worried.

He stared down at her, blue eyes rock-hard, jaw set in an implacable line. She could almost see the debate going on inside his head.

Finally, he made a decision and spoke. “Wilton Terrell, in his infinite wisdom, has left his entire estate, including the Terrell Cattle Company, to his son … Caleb.”

Mandy braced herself on the edge of the island, her breath hitching inside her chest. “He left it to you?”

“He left it to me.”

A thousand emotions burst through her. This was colossally unfair. It was ridiculously and maliciously, reprehensibly … Reed had given his blood, sweat and tears to this place, and now Caleb was simply going to ride in and take over?

Her voice was breathless with disgust. “How could you?”

“How could I—” He gave a snort of derision. “Wilton did it.”

“But you’re the one who benefited.”

“I’m here to give it back, Mandy. But thank you for the faith in my character. Your low opinion of me is matched only by my idiot brother’s.”

“You’re going to give it back?” She couldn’t keep the skepticism from her tone. Caleb was simply going to walk away from a ranch worth tens of millions of dollars?

“I live in Chicago now. Why in the hell would I want to come back to a place I hated, that holds nothing but bitter memories? And he’s my brother. We hate each other, but we don’t hate each other.”

Judging by his affronted expression and the passion in his tone, Caleb truly was going to do the honorable thing. But Reed must have been as skeptical as Mandy. The anger in the note was plain as day, and he’d obviously hightailed it out of there before he had to watch his brother come in and take over.

Fresh worry percolated to life inside her. “We have to find him. We have to explain and bring him home.”

“He’s not a lost puppy.”

“He’s your brother.”

Caleb seemed singularly unmoved. “What exactly does that mean?”

His brother’s house was the last place Caleb wanted to be. He didn’t want to eat in this kitchen or sit in that living room, and he definitely had no desire to go upstairs and sleep in his old bedroom.

He’d had enough déjà vu already.

The kitchen might as well have been frozen in time. A spider plant sat in the middle of the island, serving utensils upside down in a white container next to the stove, a bulletin board above the phone, a fruit bowl under the light switch and the coffeemaker beneath the built-in microwave.

He knew the sugar would be on the third shelf of the pantry, the milk in the door of the stainless-steel refrigerator and the coffee beans on the second shelf in the pantry next to the dining room. He’d kill for a cup of coffee, but there was no way he was making himself at home.

Mandy, on the other hand, seemed to feel completely at home. She’d perched herself on one of the high, black-cushioned chairs at the center island, one booted foot propped on the cross piece, one swinging in a small arc as she dialed her phone.

“Are you here often?” He couldn’t help asking. He didn’t remember anyone ever looking relaxed in this house.

She raised her phone to her ear and gave a small, wry smile. “Only when your father was away. Reed and I used to drink cheap wine and play poker.”

“Just the two of you?” Caleb arched a brow. He didn’t yet have a handle on the relationship between his brother and Mandy.

She raked her loose hair back from her forehead. “I told you I wasn’t sleeping with him.” She left a deliberate pause. “When I stayed over, I slept in your bed. Oh, hey, Seth,” she said into the phone.

Absurdly rattled by her taunt, Caleb withdrew into the living room to clear his head. This trip was not going even remotely as he’d planned.

It was two hours to the Lyndon airport. He could drive there and fly back to Chicago tonight. Or he could get a hotel room in Lyndon. Or he could stay here and figure out what on earth to do next.

His gaze strayed to the staircase at the opposite end of the living room. His old bedroom was up there. Where, apparently, Mandy had been sleeping. Of course, she could have been lying about that, simply amusing herself by messing with his head.

Then again, even if she had slept in his bed, why should he care? He didn’t. The woman could sleep wherever she wanted.

Her footfalls sounded on the kitchen tiles. Seconds later, she strode through the archway between the kitchen and the living room, tucking her phone into the front pocket of her jeans. “Seth’s going to send a couple of hands.”

“Send them where?”

She did a double take. “Here, of course.”

“Why?”

“To help you out.”

“I didn’t ask for help.” Caleb didn’t mean to sound ungrateful, but he didn’t need Mandy waltzing in and making decisions for him. He didn’t know what happened next, but he knew he’d be the guy calling the shots.

She blinked. “I know. I did it as a favor.”

“Next time, please ask permission.”

“You want me to ask for permission to do a favor?”

“I want you to ask permission to meddle in my business.”

“Meddling? You call lending you two highly qualified hands to take care of your ranch while we look for your brother meddling.?”

Caleb took in the determined tilt of her chin, the squared shoulders that said she was ready for a scrap and the animated flash in her jewel-bright eyes. He decided it wasn’t the right time for a fight.

“Next time,” he told her more softly, “please ask first.”

“I wouldn’t worry about there being a next time.”

Fine. No problem. He’d dealt with everything else in his life without help.

He’d find his brother. He’d find him fast and get his life back to normal.

He couldn’t help thinking about how his financial lawyer, Danielle Marin, was going to react to him being stuck in Colorado.

Active Equipment was at a critical point in setting up a new division in South America. Danielle was wading her way through Brazil’s complicated banking and accounting regulations.

Mandy moved in closer. “What are you going to do now?”

“Find Reed.” And drag him home.

“And in the meantime? The ranch? The animals?”

“I’ll deal with it.”

A mocking lilt came into Mandy’s voice. “Sure would be nice if you had a little help.”

“Sure would be nice if you minded your own business.”

“I’m only doing my duty as a neighbor.”

“Are you going for the good-neighbor merit badge?”

She perked up. “There’s a badge?”

“Were you always this much of a smart-ass?”

“You don’t remember what I was like?”

“You were four grades behind me. I barely noticed you.”

“I thought you were hot.”

Caleb went still.

“Schoolgirl fantasy,” Mandy finished smoothly. “I didn’t know your true character back then.”

“You don’t know my true character now,” he retorted.

But her words triggered some kind of hormonal reaction deep inside him. He thought she was hot, right here, right now, right this very minute. And that was a complication this situation definitely didn’t need.

“You married?” he asked her hopefully. “Engaged?”

She wiggled her bare left hand in front of his face.

“Seeing someone?” he pressed, praying for the yes that would make him honor bound to quit thinking of her naked in his arms.

“Why do you want to know?”

“I wondered who I should pity.”

Despite the insult, their gazes locked. They flared, and then smoldered. He couldn’t seem to tamp down his unspoken desire.

“No,” she told him flatly.

“I didn’t ask you anything.” He didn’t want to kiss her. He wouldn’t want to kiss her.

She tipped her head to a challenging angle, her rich, dark hair flowing like a curtain. “I’m helping you find your brother. Don’t get any ideas.”

“I didn’t ask for your help.” What he really wanted was for her to go away and stay away so he could keep him emotions on an even keel.

“You’re getting it, anyway, neighbor.”

“There isn’t actually a badge, you know.”

“I want him back, too.”

It wasn’t that Caleb had an interest in ferrying Reed back to Lyndon Valley. He had an interest in the Terrell ranch no longer being his problem. And there was more than one way to accomplish that.

“I could sell the place,” he pointed out.

She stiffened, drawing back in obvious astonishment. “You wouldn’t.”

“I could.”

“I won’t let you.”

The threat was laughable. “How’re you going to stop me?”

She lifted her chin. “I’ll appeal to your honor and principles.”

“Fresh out,” he told her honestly, his desire for her starting a slow burn in his body. There was certainly no honor in lusting after his brother’s neighbor.

She shook her head in denial, the tip of her tongue touching her bottom lip. “You’re here, aren’t you? You came all the way out here to give the ranch back to Reed. You can’t undo all those good intentions because you’ve been slowed down by a day or so.”

Caleb hesitated. The faster the better as far as he was concerned. “You think we can find him in a day or so?”

“Sure,” she said with breezy conviction. “How hard can it be?”

Caleb wasn’t touching that one.

But the flash in her eyes told him she’d heard the double-entendre as clearly as he did. She held up a warning finger. “I told you not to get any ideas.”

“You have a vivid imagination.”

“And you have a transparent expression. Don’t ever play poker.”

“Well, not with you.”

“So, you admit I’m right?” Her expression held a hint of triumph.

“I can control myself if you can.”

“There’s nothing for me to control.”

“You think I’m hot,” he reminded her.

“When I was thirteen and underage.”

“You’re not underage now.”

She pointed to him and then back to herself. “You and me, Caleb.”

Sensual anticipation shot through his chest.

But she wasn’t finished speaking. “Are going to find your brother, give him back his ranch and then go our respective ways.”

Caleb squelched his ridiculous disappointment. What had he expected her to say?

Two

Having escaped to the Terrell’s front porch and perched herself on the railing, Mandy tried not to think about the sensual awareness that flared inside her every time Caleb spoke.

And when he’d hugged her.

Hoo boy. She fanned herself with her white Stetson, remembering the tingling sensation that flowed across her skin and the glow that had warmed the pit of her stomach as he’d pressed his body against hers. Though the brothers were twins, she’d never felt anything remotely like that in a hug from Reed.

She heard the sound she’d been waiting for and saw a Jacobs ranch pickup truck careen up the driveway. She stuffed the hat back on her head as the truck caught air on the last pothole before spraying gravel while it spun in the turnaround and rocked to a halt. Two Jacobs ranch hands exited the passenger side, giving her a wave as they headed for the barn, while her brother Travis emerged from the driver’s, anchoring his worn hat on his head and striding toward her.

“And?” Travis demanded as he approached, brows going up.

Mandy jabbed her thumb toward the front doorway just as Caleb filled the frame.

At six-two, with long legs, all lanky muscle, Travis easily took the stairs two at a time.

“Came to see for myself,” he told Caleb, looking him up and down before offering his hand.

Caleb stepped outside and shook it, while Mandy slid off the rail, her boot heels clunking down on the porch.

“Good to see you, Travis,” Caleb offered in a steady voice.

“Figured Seth had to be lying,” said Travis, shoulders square, gaze assessing. “But here you are. A little uptight and overgroomed, but at least you didn’t go soft on us.”

“You were expecting a pot belly and a double chin?”

“And a pasty-white complexion.”

“Sorry to disappoint you.”

Travis shrugged. “What brought you back?”

Caleb’s gaze slid to Mandy.

Travis glanced between them. “What?”

Caleb hesitated, obviously debating whether or not to reveal the information about the will.

“Travis can keep a secret,” Mandy offered, moving toward them. Her family would be in a better position to help Caleb if he’d be honest with them.

Travis tipped his chin to a challenging angle, confronting Caleb. “What did you do?”

“Nothing,” Caleb stated levelly. “I’m solving a problem, not creating one. But I remember gossip spreading like wildfire around here.”

“Welcome home,” Mandy put in, struggling to keep the sarcasm from her voice.

Caleb frowned at her. There was nothing salacious in his expression, no inappropriate message in his eyes. Still, the mere fact that he was looking at her sent a flush across her skin.

“Come back to dance on your daddy’s grave?” Travis asked Caleb.

“You want a beer?” Caleb offered. Surprisingly, there was no annoyance in his tone at Travis’s crass remark.

Mandy took the opportunity to escape from Caleb’s proximity again, passing through the doorway and calling over her shoulder. “I’ll get them.”

She headed straight down the hall to the kitchen at the back of the house, shaking off the buzz of arousal. There was no denying the chemical attraction between her and Caleb, but that didn’t mean she had to give in to it. Sure, he was a great-looking guy. He had an undeniably sexy voice, and he could pull of a Saville Row suit.

She had no doubt he’d look equally good in blue jeans and a Western-cut shirt. When they’d hugged, she’d felt his chest, stomach, thighs and arms, so she knew he was rock-solid with muscle. Whatever he’d been doing in Chicago for the past ten years, it wasn’t sitting behind a desk.

She checked the wayward track of her brain and extracted three bottles of beer from the refrigerator, heading back down the hall.

When she arrived on the porch, Caleb had obviously brought Travis up to speed on the will. The two men had made themselves comfortable in the painted, wood-slat chairs. Mandy handed out the beers, her fingertips grazing Caleb’s as he accepted his. She refused to look in his eyes, but the touch sent an electrical current coursing the length of her arm.

She backed away and perched herself on the wide railing, one leg canted across the rail, the other dangling between the slats.

“Just when you think a guy can’t get any nastier,” said Travis, twisting off the cap of his beer bottle.

Caleb took a swig of his own beer. “Only Wilton could screw up our lives from the grave.”

Mandy had to agree with that. It looked as if Caleb’s father had deliberately driven a new wedge between his two sons. The only way to repair the damage was to tell Reed about Caleb’s offer to return the ranch.

“How are we going to find him?” she asked.

“We won’t,” said Travis, “if he doesn’t want to be found.”

“Probably doesn’t,” said Caleb. “Which means he’s finally come to his senses and left this place in his dust.”

“He thinks you’re stealing his ranch,” Mandy corrected, her voice rising on the accusation.

“Then why didn’t he call me and talk about it? I’m listed.”

“He probably thought you’d gloat,” she guessed.

“Your faith in me is inspiring.”

She hadn’t meant it as an insult. “I was speculating on what Reed might think. I wasn’t saying what I personally thought.” She took a swig of the cold, bitter brew. It wasn’t her favorite beverage, but sometimes it was the only thing going, so she’d learned to adapt.

“You thought I was going to keep the ranch,” Caleb reminded her.

“But I believed you when you said you wouldn’t,” she countered.

“You want points for that?”

“Or a merit badge.” The joke was out before she could stop it.

Caleb gave a half smile. Then he seemed to contemplate her for a long, drawn out moment. “I should just sell the damn thing.”

“Well, that would be quite the windfall, wouldn’t it?”

“You think I’d keep the money?”

She stilled, taking in his affronted expression. Oops. She swallowed. “Well …”

Caleb shook his head in obvious disgust, his tone flat. “I’d give the money to Reed, Mandy.”

“Reed wants the ranch, not the money,” she pointed out, attempting to cover the blunder.

“Then why isn’t he here fighting for it?”

“Excellent question,” Travis jumped in. “If it was me, I’d fight you tooth and nail. Hell, I’d lie, cheat and steal to get my land back.”

“So, where is he?” Caleb’s question was directed at Mandy.

“I’m going to find out,” she vowed.

Two days later, Mandy was no closer to an answer. Caleb, on the other hand, was moving his alternative plan along at lighting speed, having decided it was most efficient for him to stay on the ranch for now. He had a real-estate broker on retainer, an appraiser marching around the Terrell ranch and a photographer compiling digital shots for the broker’s website. He’d told her that if they didn’t find Reed in the next few days, the ranch was going on the market.

Trying to keep her activities logical and rational, despite the ticking clock, Mandy had gone from checking Reed’s web-browser history for hotel sites, to trying his cell phone one more time, to calling the hospitals within a three-hundred-mile radius, just in case.

At noon, tired, frustrated and hungry, she wandered into the Terrell kitchen. She found a chicken breast in the freezer, cheese in the refrigerator along with half a jar of salsa, and some tomatoes, peppers and onions in the crisper.

Assuming Caleb and the appraiser would be hungry when they finished their work, she put the chicken breast in the microwave and set it to defrost. She found a thick skillet, flour, shortening and a rolling pin, and started mixing up a batch of homemade tortilla shells.

When Caleb walked in half an hour later, she was chopping her way through a ripe tomato on the island’s counter, the chicken frying on the stove.

She glanced up to see Caleb alone. “Where’s the appraiser?” she asked.

“On his way back to Lyndon.”

“He wasn’t hungry?”

Caleb snagged a chunk of tomato and popped it into his mouth. “He didn’t know there was anything on offer.”

“You didn’t offer to feed him?” It was more than two-and-a-half hours back to Lyndon.

“I didn’t think it was worth the risk.”

She gave him a perplexed look.

“I don’t cook,” he clarified.

“Don’t be ridiculous.” She turned her back on him to flip the last of the tortillas frying in the pan. “Everybody cooks.”

“Not me.”

She threw the vegetables in with the chicken. “How is that possible? You said you lived alone. Please, don’t tell me you have servants.”

“I don’t have servants. Does anybody have servants in this day and age? I live in a high-rise apartment in downtown Chicago. I’m surrounded by excellent restaurants.”

“You eat out every night?” She couldn’t imagine it.

“I do a lot of business over dinner,” he told her easily. “But most of the restaurants in the area also offer takeout.”

“It’s hard to believe you survive on takeout.” She turned back, returning to chopping the tomato on the island. How could he be so fit eating pizza, burgers and chicken?

“There’s takeout. And then there’s takeout.” He spread his arms and rested the heels of his hands against the lip of the granite countertop, cornerwise from where she worked. “Andre’s, around the corner from my apartment, will send up filet mignon, baby potatoes in a sweet dill sauce and primavera lettuce salad with papaya dressing.”

Suddenly, her soft-taco recipe seemed lame. She paused. “You must make a lot of money to afford meals like that.”

He was silent for a long moment, and she quickly realized her observation had been rude. It was none of her business how much money he made.

“I do okay,” he finally allowed.

“Tell me something about your job.” She tried to graciously shift the subject.

She also realized she was curious. What had happened to the seventeen-year-old cowboy who landed in Chicago with nothing more than a high school education. It couldn’t have been easy for him.

“The company’s called Active Equipment.” He reached out and snagged another chunk of tomato.

She threatened him with her chopping knife.

But he only laughed. “We sell heavy equipment to construction companies, exploration and resource companies, even ranchers.”

“So, like a car dealership?”

“Not a dealership. It’s a multinational corporation. We manufacture the equipment before we sell it.” With lightning speed, he chose another piece of tomato from the juicy pile and popped it into his mouth, sucking the liquid from the tip of his finger.

“There’s not going to be any left for the tacos,” she warned.

“I’ll risk it.”

“So, what do you do at this corporation?”

Caleb swallowed. “I run it.”

“What part of it?”

“All of it.”

Her hand stilled. “You run an entire corporation?” He’d risen all the way to the top at age twenty-seven? That seemed impossible.

“Yes.”

“I don’t understand.”

He coughed out a laugh. “I’m the president and chief executive officer.”

“They gave you that many promotions?”

“Not exactly. They let me run things, because they have no choice. I own it.”

She set down the knife. She couldn’t believe it. “You own Active Equipment?”

He nodded.

“How?”

He shrugged. “Hard work, intelligence and a few big financial risks along the way.”

“But—”

“You should stop being so surprised that I’m not a loser.”

He paused, but she didn’t know how to respond to that.

“Though it’s true that I can’t cook,” he allowed with a crooked smile. “I guess I concentrated on the things I was good at and muddled my way through the rest.”

“With filet mignon and baby potatoes. Poor you.” She kept her tone flippant, but inside she acknowledged he was right. She should stop being so surprised at his accomplishments.

“It wasn’t always that way,” he told her, tone going more serious. “In the beginning, it was cheap food, a crappy basement suite and two jobs.”

Then he straightened his spine, squaring his shoulders. “But I was never coming back here. I’d have starved to death before I’d have come back to Wilton with my tail between my legs.”

She found her heart going out to the teenager he’d been back then. “Was it that bad? Were you in danger of starving?”

His posture relaxed again. “No real danger. I was young and healthy. Hard work was good for me. And not even the most demanding bosses could hold a candle to Wilton Terrell.”

She retrieved the knife and scraped the tomato chunks from the wooden cutting board into a glass bowl. “So now, you’re a self-made man.”

“Impressed?”

Mandy wasn’t sure how to answer that. Money wasn’t everything. “Are you happy?”

“Delirious.”

“You have friends? A social life? A girlfriend?” She turned away, crossing the short space to the stove, removing the tortilla shell, setting it on the stack and switching off the burner. She didn’t want him to see her expression when he started talking about his girlfriend.

“No girlfriend,” he said from behind.

“Why not?” she asked without turning.

“No time, I guess. Never met the right girl.”

“You should.” She turned back. “Make the time. Meet a nice girl.”

His expression went thoughtful, and he regarded her with obvious curiosity. “What about you? Why no boyfriend?”

“Because I’m stuck in the wilds of Colorado ranch country. How am I going to meet a man?”

“Go to Denver. Buy yourself a pretty dress.”

She couldn’t help glancing down at her simple T-shirt and faded blue jeans with a twinge of self-consciousness. “You don’t like my clothes?”

“They’re fine for right now, but we’re not dancing in a club.”

“I’ve never danced in a real club.” A barn, sure, and at the Weasel in Lyndon, but never in a real club.

“Seriously?”

She rolled her eyes at his tone of surprise. “Where would I dance in a club?”

He moved around the island, blue eyes alight with merriment. “If we were in Chicago, I’d dress you up and show you a good time.”

“Pretty self-confident, aren’t you?” But her pulse had jumped at the thought of dancing with Caleb.

He reached out, lifted one of her hands and twirled her in a spin, pulling her against his body to dance her in the two-step across the kitchen. She reflexively followed his smooth lead.

“Clearly, you’ve been practicing the Chicago nightlife,” she noted.

“Picture mood lighting and a crowd,” he whispered in her ear.

“And maybe a band?” she asked, the warmth of his body seeping into her skin, forcing her lungs to work harder to drag in the thickening air.

“You like country?” he asked. “Blues? Jazz? There are some phenomenal jazz clubs in Chicago.”

“I’m a country girl,” she responded brightly, desperate to mask her growing arousal.

“You’d like jazz,” he said with conviction.

The timer pinged for the simmering chicken, and they both halted. Their gazes met, and their breaths mingled.

She could see exactly what he was thinking. “No,” she whispered huskily, even though she was definitely feeling it, too. They were not going to let this attraction go over the edge to a kiss.

“Yes,” he responded, his fingertips flexing against the small of her back. “But not right now.”

Caleb had known it was only a matter of time before Maureen Jacobs, Mandy’s mother, extended him some Lyndon Valley hospitality. He wasn’t really in a mood for socializing, but he couldn’t insult her by saying no to her dinner invitation. So, he’d shut the ranch office computer down early, sighing his disappointment that the listing hadn’t come up on the broker’s web site yet. Then he drove the rental car over the gravel roads to the Jacobs ranch.

There, he returned friendly hugs, feeling surprisingly at home as he settled in, watching Mandy’s efficient movements from the far reaches of the living room in the Jacobs family home. The Jacobses always had the biggest house, the biggest spread and the biggest family in the valley. Caleb couldn’t count the number of times he had been here for dinner as a child and a teenager. He, Reed and Travis had all been good friends growing up.

He’d never watched Mandy like this. She had always blended in with her two sisters, little kids in pigtails and scuffed jeans, and was beneath his notice. Now, she was all he could focus on as she flitted from the big, open-concept kitchen to the dining area, chatting with her mother and sister, refilling glasses of iced tea, checking on dishes in the oven and on the stove, while making sure the finishing touches were perfect on the big, rectangular table.

Caleb couldn’t imagine the logistics of dinner for seven people every single night. Tonight, one of Mandy’s two sisters was here, along with her two brothers, Travis and Seth, who was the oldest. And her parents, Hugo and Maureen, who looked quite a bit older than Caleb had expected, particularly Hugo, who seemed pale and slightly unsteady on his feet.

“I see the way you’re looking at my sister,” Travis said in an undertone as he took the armchair opposite Caleb in the corner of the living room.

“I was thinking she suits it here,” Caleb responded, only half lying. He was thinking a whole lot of other things that were better left unsaid.

“She does,” Travis agreed, “but that wasn’t what I meant.”

“She’s a very beautiful woman,” Caleb acknowledged. He wasn’t going to lie, but he certainly wasn’t going to admit the extent of his attraction to Mandy, either.

“Yes, she is.” Travis set his glass of iced tea on the small table between them and relaxed back into the overstuffed chair.

Caleb tracked Mandy’s progress from the stovetop to the counter, where her mother was busy with a salad, watching as the two of them laughed at something Mandy said. He didn’t want to reinforce Travis’s suspicions, but his curiosity got the better of him “Did she and Reed ever …?”

Travis shook his head. “It was pretty hard to get close to your brother. He was one bottled up, angry man after you lit out without him.”

Caleb felt himself bristle at the implication. He hadn’t deserted Reed. He’d begged his brother to come with him. “It wasn’t my leaving that did the bottling.”

“Didn’t help,” said Travis.

Caleb hit the man with a warning glare.

“I’m saying he lost his mother, then he lost you, and he was left to cope with your father’s temper and crazy expectations all on his own.”

Caleb cleared his dry throat with a sip of his own iced tea. “He should have come with me. Left Wilton here to rot.”

“You understand why he didn’t, don’t you?”

“No.” Caleb would never understand why Reed had refused to leave.

“Because of your mother.”

“I know what he said.” But it had never made sense to Caleb.

Their mother was gone. And the legacy of the ranch land didn’t mean squat to Caleb. There was nothing but bad memories here for them both. Their father had worked their mother to death on that land.

The sound of female laughter wafted from the kitchen again. Caleb couldn’t help but contrast the loud, chaotic scene in this big, family house to his own penthouse apartment with its ultramodern furniture, crisp, cool angles of glass and metal, its silence and order. Everything was always in its place, or at least everything was sitting exactly where he’d last left it.

Maureen passed her husband, Hugo, giving him a quick stroke across the back of the neck. He responded with a secretive smile and a quick squeeze of her hand.

Here was another thing that wasn’t in Caleb’s frame of reference, relaxed and loving parents. He couldn’t remember his mother ever voluntarily touching his father. And his father had certainly never looked at his wife, Sasha, with affection.

Travis shifted his position in the armchair. “Reed thought you were afraid to stay and fight.”

Caleb straightened. “Afraid?”

Travis shrugged, indicating he was only the messenger.

“I hated my old man,” Caleb clarified. “But I was never afraid of him.”

That was a lie, of course. As a child, Caleb had been terrified of his father. Wilton was exacting and demanding, and quick with a strap or the back of his hand. But by the time Caleb was seventeen, he had a good two inches on his father, and he’d have fought back if Wilton had tried anything. Reed was even bigger than Caleb, and Wilton was no physical threat to Reed by then.

“Where do you think Reed went?” Travis asked.

“I couldn’t begin to guess,” Caleb responded, thinking Reed’s decisions were finally his own. He honestly hoped his brother was happy away from here.

He’d thought a lot about it over the past two days. Reed was perfectly entitled to live his life any way he saw fit. As was Caleb, and Caleb had become more and more convinced that selling the ranch was the right thing to do.

Reed could do whatever he wanted with the money. And, in the short term, Caleb was in no position to hang around Lyndon Valley and run things. And he sure couldn’t continue to depend on the Jacobses to help him out.

He supposed he could hire a professional ranch manager. But, then what? It wasn’t as if he was ever coming back again. And Reed had made his choice by leaving. If Reed had any interest in keeping the ranch, all it would have taken was for him to jot down a contact number in his cryptic note. Caleb would have called, and they could have worked this whole thing out.

Mandy swished across the room, a huge bowl of mashed potatoes in her oven-mitt-covered hands. She’d changed from her usual blue jeans to a pair of gray slacks and a sleeveless, moss-green sweater. It clung to her curves and brought out the color of her eyes. The slacks molded to her rear end, while her rich, chestnut-colored hair flowed like a curtain around her smooth, bare shoulders.

“I see the way you’re looking at my sister,” Travis repeated.

Caleb glanced guiltily away.

“You hurt her,” Travis added, “and we’re going to have a problem.”

“I have nothing but respect for Mandy,” Caleb lied. While he certainly had respect for Mandy, he was also developing a very powerful lust for her.

“This isn’t Chicago,” Travis warned.

“I’m aware that I’m not in Chicago.” Chicago had never been remotely like this.

“We’re ready,” Maureen announced in a singsong voice.

Mandy sent Caleb a broad smile and motioned him over to the big table. Then she seemed to catch Travis’s dark expression, and her eyes narrowed in obvious confusion.

“She’s a beautiful, intelligent, strong-minded woman,” Caleb said to Travis in an undertone. “You should worry about her hurting me.”

Travis rose to his feet. “I don’t care so much about you. And I’m not likely to take her out behind the barn and knock any sense into her.”

Caleb stood to his full height. “Does she know you try to intimidate guys like this?”

The question sent a brief flash of concern across Travis’s expression. Caleb tried to imagine Mandy’s reaction to Travis’s brotherly protectiveness.

It was all Caleb could do not to laugh. “Stalemate.”

“I’ll still take you out behind the barn.”

“I’m not going to hurt Mandy,” Caleb promised.

Not that he wouldn’t let Mandy make up her own mind about him. She was a grown woman, and if she offered a kiss, he was taking a kiss. If she offered more, well, okay, he didn’t imagine he’d be around long enough for that to happen. So there was no sense in borrowing trouble.

He deliberately took a chair across the table from Mandy instead of sitting next to her. Travis grunted his approval.

As dishes were passed around and plates filled up, the family’s conversation became free-flowing and boisterous.

“If there’s a competing interest lurking out there,” Mandy’s sister Abigail was saying, “I can’t find it. But it’s important that as many ranchers as possible show up at the first meeting.”

“We need a united front,” Hugo put in, helping himself to a slice of roast beef before passing the platter to Travis. “It’s suspicious to me that they’re calling the review five years early.”

“The legislation allows for a water use review anytime after thirty years and before thirty-five,” Abigail responded. “Technically, they’re not early.”

Seth, the eldest brother, stepped in as he reached for a homemade bun. “When was the last time the state government did anything at the earliest possible date? Dad’s right, there’s something they’re not telling us.”

“I’ve put in an access to information request,” said Abigail. “Maybe that’ll solve the mystery.”

“That won’t get you anything,” Hugo grumbled. “The bureaucrats will just stonewall.”

“You should catch Caleb up,” Mandy suggested.

“This is important to you, too,” said Travis, and Caleb waited for him to elaborate.

“Any decrease in the flexibility of our water licenses, will devalue the range land.”

“Devalue the range land?” Seth interjected. “Who cares about the land value? It’ll impact our grazing density. There are operations up and down the valley that are marginal as it is. The Stevensons, for example. They don’t have river access anywhere on their land. A couple of tributaries, but they depend on their wells.”

“Seth,” Maureen put in, her voice stern. “Did anyone ask you to bring your soapbox to the dinner table?”

Seth’s lips thinned for a moment. But then he glanced down at his plate. “Sorry, Mom.”

Maureen’s face transformed into a friendly smile. “Now, Caleb. How long do you expect to be in Lyndon?”

Caleb swallowed a mouthful of potatoes smothered in the best gravy he’d ever eaten. “A few days. Maybe a week.”

“We’re sorry you missed the funeral, dear.” Maureen’s tone was even, but he detected a rebuke. One look at Mandy’s expression told him he’d detected correctly.

“I was tied up with work,” he said.

“Did you know Caleb owns his own company in Chicago?” Mandy asked.

Caleb appreciated the change in topic, and silently thanked Mandy. The Jacob family would learn soon enough that he was planning to sell the Terrell ranch. Just like everyone would soon learn about Wilton’s will. But he was in no hurry to field the inevitable questions.

“Active Equipment,” he told them. “Heavy machinery. We’re making inroads into Asia and Canada, and we hope to succeed in the South American market soon.”

“That’s lovely, dear,” said Maureen, her quick gaze going from plate to plate, obviously checking to see if anyone was ready for seconds.

“Active Equipment?” asked Hugo, tone sharp and vaguely accusing. “The Active Equipment, loaders and backhoes?”

“Yes,” Caleb confirmed.

“So, you can get me a discount?”

Maureen scowled at her husband. Travis laughed, and Mandy’s eyes danced with amusement.

“Absolutely,” Caleb answered, unable to look away from Mandy. Her green eyes sparkled like emeralds under the chandelier, and he didn’t think he’d ever seen a more kissable set of lips. “Just let me know what you need.”

“Seth and I will come up with a list,” said Hugo.

“Happy to help out,” said Caleb.

Mandy’s lashes swept briefly down over her eyes, and the tip of her tongue moistened her lower lip. He didn’t dare glance Travis’s way.

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