A family feud made them enemies—

A promise made them lovers.

Wealthy Texan Jake Ralston made a promise to his best friend: to end the century-old feud between the Ralstons and Kincaids. Hiring Emily Kincaid is the first step...if he can deny their intense attraction. But once they’re at his ranch, they can’t say no—until a shocking family secret resurfaces. Now Jake could lose everything, including this irresistible woman.

Married to the guy she met in college, USA TODAY bestselling author SARA ORWIG has three children and six grandchildren. Sara has published one-hundred-and-nine novels. One of the first six inductees into the Oklahoma Professional Writers Hall of Fame, Sara has twice won Oklahoma Novel of the Year. Sara loves family, friends, dogs, books, beaches and Dallas, Texas.

Also by Sara Orwig

Expecting the Rancher’s Child

The Rancher’s Baby Bargain

The Rancher’s Cinderella Bride

The Texan’s Baby Proposal

Expecting a Lone Star Heir

The Rancher’s Heir

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

The Forbidden Texan

Sara Orwig

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09199-2

THE FORBIDDEN TEXAN

© 2018 Sara Orwig

Published in Great Britain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

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Version: 2020-03-02

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To senior editor Stacy Boyd

with thanks for being my editor.

To Maureen Walters for all you do.

To my family with love.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

About the Publisher

One

In September, as Jake Ralston flew to Texas, he was lost in thoughts about the deathbed promise he’d made to his late friend and army ranger captain, Thane Warner. He hadn’t been expecting to return home and face a bitter enemy, but now he was flying back to Dallas to do just that.

Flying into DFW, Jake saw the orange glow in the night sky and then the twinkling lights of the city. He had finally finished his three years with the army and he was headed home.

He’d celebrated with military friends right after he was released. Now, on Saturday, the first day of September, he would be staying at his Dallas condo so he could see his family tonight.

Tomorrow night he’d celebrate at a welcome home party with his local friends. He was ready for a party. Parties, pretty women and peace. He was looking forward to all three. As a member of the army rangers, he’d done his part to help keep peace and now he was going back to his civilian life.

He planned to live on his Hill Country ranch, but his family’s business interests were in Dallas. He would divide his time between the two places.

The only part of the war that was left in his life was his promises to his buddy—and the first promise was a whopper. He was to hire a woman whose family hadn’t spoken to his family in over a century and a half.

Before he could make good on that promise to Thane and hire Emily Kincaid, he first had to get her to talk to him. No easy feat. He hadn’t spoken to a Kincaid in ten years—since he beat Emily’s oldest brother, Doug, in saddle bronc riding at an Amarillo rodeo when he was twenty-two. Before that, it was another brother, Lucas, with whom he’d fought way back in high school. If he had his druthers, he wouldn’t have been dealing with any Kincaid, but he’d promised Thane and he was an honorable man. He’d just have to get this job out of the way as fast as possible.

He barely knew Emily Kincaid. He knew she was a professional appraiser and she was younger than he was—but that was it. A vague mental picture came to mind when she was a skinny girl with pigtails.

One thing he did know well. Getting a Kincaid to work for a Ralston was going to be next to impossible. Except for two things. Emily and Thane had been friends. And Thane had left a cashier’s check for a small fortune to bribe Emily. Would the money sway her? Or, perhaps, would her friendship with Thane compel her to honor his memory? Jake would find out soon enough.

Thane Warner had been a top-notch soldier, had had an amazing influence on his ranger team and everyone he met throughout his life. He’d made life-long friends easily—and Jake counted himself among the many.

So nearly two years ago, when Thane lay dying in Afghanistan and called for his ranger buddies who were ambushed with him—one by one to instruct them of his wishes—they all promised to honor him. Mike Moretti, Noah Grant and Jake. The first two had carried through his plans to the letter. Now it was Jake’s turn.

He still felt the sting of Thane’s loss. It wasn’t survivor guilt; it was genuine grief. Of a life cut short. Of a good friend lost. Jake couldn’t imagine the pain his family must be feeling.

Now that he was home, he wanted to go see the Warners, to offer his condolences and reminisce with those who knew him best. Growing up, he’d spent hours at Thane’s house, which had been a far more harmonious place than his own home. Thane’s dad had been a better dad to him than any of Jake’s stepfathers or his biological father, and Thane’s mother was sweet. Jake had half siblings but he didn’t feel as close to any of them as he always had with Thane. He was going to miss his friend.

Thane, too, had had a high opinion of Jake. But in this instance, Jake thought, Thane was asking him to do the impossible: end the Ralston-Kincaid feud. That feud started about 1864, give or take a couple of years, and according to the stories, those early years were wild, with murders and thefts, one hanging and duels, one of which involved his great-great-great-grandfather. How was Jake going to be able to end years of hatred between two families? Make friends with them, Thane had whispered when Jake had asked that question. That wasn’t going to happen. Jake would be lucky if he could get Emily Kincaid to be civil to him, let alone agree to work for him.

After all, unlike Jake, Emily hadn’t promised Thane anything.

Emily Kincaid glanced at the clock. Five more minutes till her appointment with Jake Ralston. Though she didn’t want any dealings with a Ralston, this one she had to see. Because he was bringing a letter to her from Thane. She had grown up knowing Thane Warner. He had been eight years older and friends with her older brothers, but he was always nice to her. It had saddened her to hear of his death in Afghanistan nearly two years ago. His widow, Vivian, had remarried a United States Army Ranger who had served with Thane. Because of her antiques-and-appraisal business, Emily had worked with Vivian, an artist, and Emily liked her.

Emily glanced at the clock again, curious and, admittedly, nervous about her upcoming meeting. While she wasn’t as into the feud as some members of her family, she rarely spoke to any Ralston. Tempers ran higher with the Kincaid and Ralston ranchers. It was with the ranchers where the past was violent and ugly.

Still, she thought it best to talk to Jake in the privacy of her office, which was in the back corner of her store, so most Kincaids would never even know she’d associated with a Ralston.

The buzz of her intercom interrupted her thoughts and her assistant announced her visitor.

“Send him in, please,” Emily said, standing and walking around her desk. She knew who he was and not much more than that.

Leslie opened the door. “Emily, here is Jake Ralston,” the slender brunette said and stepped aside.

Emily was surprised when the tall, handsome man in a navy Western-style suit, a black broad-brimmed hat and black boots entered the office carrying a briefcase. In person, Jake Ralston was far more good-looking than his pictures in the newspapers and magazines indicated, and he had an air about him that instantly commanded attention.

His startling dark brown eyes caught and held Emily’s gaze, and for a moment she wasn’t aware of anything else except the tall man facing her. Somehow she managed to get control of herself and, as usual when she met a likely customer, she held out her hand.

“I’m Emily Kincaid. Way back as kids we probably met,” she said. If they had met as adults, she would have remembered him. There was no way she could have forgotten meeting him. His warm hand closed firmly around hers and tingles raced up her arm from his touch.

Startled by her reaction, she looked up at him in time to see a flicker of surprise in those dark eyes. Had he felt something, too? His eyes narrowed a fraction when he looked more intently at her. She felt as if all breath had left her lungs and there was no air in the room, only a sizzling current between her and Jake Ralston. After a moment, she realized they were standing in silence, staring at each other and still holding hands.

She yanked her hand away and turned with an effort. “Please, have a seat,” she said, or hoped she said. Her pulse raced and there was a roaring in her ears. What had caused the intense response to him? She didn’t react to men in this manner and she didn’t know him at all. Besides, he was a Ralston. A Ralston should have been the last person on earth who could elicit a steamy response by a mere handshake.

Trying to regain her composure, she motioned with her hand for him to sit in one of the two leather chairs in front of her desk. She took the one opposite him. Never before had the chairs seemed particularly close, but now she felt she had made a tactical mistake and she should have put her desk between them. She wouldn’t even have kept this appointment if she had known she would have this kind of reaction to him. He was handsome, but this startling physical response went way beyond attraction. There was a chemistry that made her feel as if sparks were flying around them.

He tossed his black hat on another chair, revealing thick, slightly wavy black hair, and crossed his long legs. She recognized his black boots as elegant hand-tooled, fine leather dress boots, not work boots. In fact, she noticed everything about him.

She didn’t want this kind of reaction to a Ralston. She felt an urgent need to find out what he wanted and get him out of her office.

“Thanks for accepting this appointment. Unless things changed drastically while I was away in the army, you and I are breaking more than a century of silence between our two families. Except for unfriendly communications,” he said, looking slightly amused. His dark eyes seemed to hold a degree of curiosity, as if he were eager to notice her as well, although she couldn’t imagine that she would stir such a reaction in him as he had in her.

She decided to cut to the chase. “I can’t guess any reason why Thane Warner would write to me.”

“I won’t keep you in suspense. He wanted me to do some things for him that he wasn’t going to get to come home and do himself. Important things to him. Thane wanted to get rid of his grandfather’s ranch, which he had inherited. Thane said there are valuable things in the house, and he told me that you, Emily, would know the appraised value and where to get rid of what I don’t want. He told me about your store, Antiques, Art and Appraisals. I noticed some interesting items as I walked through.”

“I’ve grown up around antiques and being in this business, I have a chance to buy and sell them.”

“Thane was badly wounded and we were under fire,” Jake said, his voice changing, sounding harsher. “You don’t say no to a dying buddy’s request. And he was a friend of mine all my life. Without hesitation, I promised I’d do whatever he asked. He actually made three requests and he did ask the impossible. I’ll just do the best I can.”

She listened to Jake talk and knew he was hurting over the loss of his friend. And she could understand why he couldn’t have said no to whatever Thane had requested. She took another deep breath because she had a feeling something was coming that she would want to say no to and Jake Ralston had promised Thane he would get her to agree to do it. She hadn’t promised Thane anything, but Jake had already set her up for a guilty conscience if she declined. She wished she could end this appointment without hearing what Jake wanted.

“Thane wanted me to hire you, so I’m offering you a job.”

How could she possibly agree to that? She was a Kincaid. She couldn’t work for a Ralston. That would stir all kinds of trouble with her family, especially her brothers. She didn’t mind talking to Jake in her shop, but working closely with him, going through belongings out on a ranch, was a far more personal involvement with a Ralston.

“Jake, let me stop you right there. I have to say no. Our families are too divided. Feelings are bitter and run high. I can give you names of some really good appraisers who are trustworthy people with lots of experience in this business.”

He put both feet on the floor, his elbows on his knees, and leaned forward while she talked until he was almost touching her. She looked into his intent dark eyes that made her heart beat faster.

“Emily,” he said in a deep voice that had her attention riveted, “Thane made a supreme effort to stay alive long enough to tell me what he wanted me to do. The medics were astounded he lasted as long as he did. This project was vital to him and he died with my word that I would hire you. I’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen. If the only thing standing in the way is an old family feud that you and I are not very involved in, we can manage. I’m not asking you to become my friend, just my employee.”

She closed her eyes as he talked and wanted to shut him out of her life, to cover her ears and not hear what he was saying. She didn’t want to work for a Ralston out on a ranch. Jake was the best-looking man in the next twelve counties, and from what she had read and heard, he was a man who went through women in amazing numbers. A guy who liked pretty women, loved parties and had no intention of settling into family life. Definitely not her type. Granted, the women she had known who had gone out with him stayed friends, liked him and would be willing to go out with him again if they had the chance. But Emily didn’t want to be a trophy or a statistic. She didn’t want an affair and she definitely didn’t want a broken heart. If she got deeply involved with a man, she was old-fashioned enough that she wanted a wedding ring on her finger.

“Emily, let’s go through this before you flatly refuse,” he said in a throaty, coaxing voice that sent warmth through her, causing her refusal to fizzle.

“As I said, in the last moments of Thane’s life, he asked me to promise him three things—first, to clear out the possessions in his grandfather’s ranch house. For promising to do what Thane asked, he deeded that ranch to me as a gift. It is my house and my ranch now. The second promise was to hire you to appraise the contents of the house and help dispose of or keep what we find—and to live at the ranch with me for the duration of this job. The third promise, I’m afraid, is hopeless. It is to try to end the Ralston-Kincaid feud. You and I are talking to each other, making a deal with each other, so that’s a start. He did say try on that one.

“Let me briefly tell you about my military buddies. Thane was our captain and he was also our friend, fellow Texas rancher and businessman. Although you’re younger, you’ve grown up knowing the Warners and I imagine you know Noah Grant, or at least his sister, Stefanie.”

Emily nodded. “I’ve gone to school with Stefanie and I know the Grants.”

“Noah was asked to deliver a letter to the woman who turned out to be the mother of his son. Another Texan fit into our little group, Mike Moretti. Thane had asked Mike to work at the Tumbling T when Mike returned home. Not only had he done that, he ended up marrying Thane’s widow and taking over the ranch. The ranch that sat right in a stateside battlefield—directly between a family of Ralstons and a family of Kincaids.”

“I agree that ending the feud is absolutely impossible,” Emily replied. “Some of my family members have strong feelings. They wouldn’t even want to learn that I’m working for you. Thane was a very nice person, but this job is just not—”

Jake held up his hand, stopping her.

“Hear me out and let me give you the letter and an envelope Thane had for you. As I said, you can’t imagine the effort he made to tell me and two of his close friends what he wanted and to get each of us to promise to do certain things.”

“With great reluctance, I’ll listen,” she said, feeling caught between Thane’s last wishes and the plea from Jake on Thane’s behalf.

“Good,” Jake said, giving her another look that took her breath away. She hated his request and watched as he picked up his briefcase, opened it and removed a sealed envelope.

With misgivings, she reached out to take it and as her fingers brushed his hand, she had that instant awareness of contact. She looked up to meet his curious gaze and she felt an uncustomary flash of desire, as unwanted as the envelope in her hand. Why had she agreed to meet with Jake Ralston?

She opened the letter and looked up. “I might as well read this to you, too, because it has to be about my working for you.”

“Go ahead,” Jake said.

“Dear Emily,

I have asked my friend Jake Ralston to hire you to do the appraisal of my grandfather’s belongings and to live with and help Jake dispose and take care of those things. I know it is life changing to ask a Ralston and a Kincaid to work together, but it is temporary, a job with two honorable, trustworthy people working together to do what I am not going to be able to do myself. Please be kind and honor this request of mine. It’s time the Kincaids and the Ralstons bury the old battles. Your lives are before both of you and this is a small request, and it will not take a lot of your time. I hope if you agree, that this task will bless both of you and bring something good into your lives. Life is precious, so please don’t waste it on an old feud that really doesn’t matter. I’d give anything to have that chance. Thank you so very much for doing this. I thank you both. May your lives be filled with joy.

Thane.”

When she looked up to meet Jake’s gaze, he looked away, but she had seen how the letter had refreshed the pain of losing his friend. Silence stretched between them for a few moments until she spoke. “I suppose you better tell me what it is you want me to do.”

“I have a letter, too, with very specific instructions, which we can get into later. In the meantime,” he said, removing another envelope from his briefcase, “Thane instructed me to open this envelope, which is from him to you. It’s his gift to you for taking the job and he wanted me to know about it. In addition to what’s in this envelope, I’ll pay you the regular fee for your work. Let me know your fee and we’ll go from there.” He held out the envelope to her. “Just so that you know, he wrote that Vivian knows and approves of what’s in here.”

When she took the envelope from him, his fingers brushed hers again and that sharp awareness made her glance up into an intense brown-eyed stare that caused her pulse to jump. What chemistry did they have between them? Unwanted chemistry. She didn’t want to be attracted to a Ralston or have her heart flutter by a simple brush of fingers. And he felt it, too. It showed in a revealing flicker in his eyes. Sparks flying between them would make working for him challenging. And definitely something she shouldn’t do.

There were a dozen reasons to turn down this job. She had great respect for Thane Warner, but this wasn’t a job she could accept.

She looked down at a brown envelope that was wrinkled, smudged, had small tearstains, but was still intact. She pulled open the flap that wasn’t sealed and withdrew a cashier’s check. “You said you know what’s in here.”

“Yes, I do. I still have Thane’s note that said to open it and look.” He paused as she looked down at the check in her hand.

Stunned, she stared at the check, unable to process the zeroes she was seeing. “Good heavens. Is this real?”

“Absolutely. Thane has paid you a million dollars to do this job.”

“I can’t accept that much money for a job like this.”

Jake shrugged. “Thane’s not alive. He can’t use it. Vivian has inherited his estate worth multimillions. Besides, she’s a billionaire heiress with a successful art career and Thane’s thriving ranch that her new husband, Mike Moretti, will make even better. She won’t need the money. It’s yours if you’ll take this job.”

Stunned, Emily looked at the check, thinking about what he had just said, about where else the money might be used to benefit others. “I’m shocked. I can’t even grasp this. Why would he do this?”

“He wanted you to take this job. My guess is that he thought you would turn me down without a good reason to do the appraisal. If we work together, our families will know it. If you take this job, this is the beginning of the end of a feud that is over a century and a half old.”

In that moment, Emily realized she could not possibly turn down this job. Her gaze met Jake’s. She was going to live under the same roof with the handsome rancher facing her. A charmer, a man who loved beautiful women, parties and no ties. Could she live in the same house with him, work with him every day for the coming month or however long it took, and keep from falling in love with him? Could she work with him and avoid a broken heart? Could she do this and avoid seduction?

Two

Jake had watched her read the check and when all color drained from her face, he had known Thane would get part of what he wanted. She would take the job. Jake was poised to catch her because for a moment she looked on the verge of fainting, which surprised him since she was well-fixed in her own right. Not only did she have her own successful appraisal company, but her family had old money. They had Kincaid Energy, an oil company, and her dad was still CEO, her brother Doug was COO and her brother Will was an executive, too. Lucas had a ranch, but was on the board and was in Dallas nearly every week.

“This job is a life changer and will make me a millionaire all on my own without family money,” she said, looking up with her wide light brown eyes. “You know I can’t turn down this job now,” she said.

“I think that was Thane’s intention.” Jake noticed she didn’t have the look that his usual dates possessed. Except now that he was paying close attention, she did have thickly lashed, big light brown eyes, very smooth skin and full rosy lips. She wore no jewelry or makeup. His gaze flicked over her loose-fitting black cotton shirt and black slacks. The shirt hung to her hips, hiding her waist. So why was there some chemistry between them that kept the air around them electric? He was certain she felt it as much as he did.

“I can’t believe this. Why would he give me a check this size? Why would he do this at all? There are others in this business who are successful.”

“Thane was wealthy. He didn’t want to leave loose ends and that meant hiring us. To pay that much, he obviously thought you’re the best person for the job. Either that or he was hell-bent to try to put an end to the feud and having a Ralston and a Kincaid stay together on a ranch and work together is a start.”

“Oh, yes, it is. This is like a dream,” she said, looking down at the check again as if she still couldn’t believe it. “I wasn’t going to take this job. I didn’t think there would be any way you could persuade me to accept your offer. There is a way and Thane found it. There are too many good things I can do with this money, plus help my own career along. I have to tell you, yes, I’ll take the job.”

Sitting back in his chair, he smiled at her, wondering how well they would work together. “Good. I want to do as much as I can to keep my promises to him. You get a million. I get another ranch, a chunk of West Texas—all to take care of an old house, private belongings that he didn’t want to fall into the wrong hands and, at the same time, we’ll at least be the first blow against the feud. Hopefully, when others see us work together and live under the same roof, they will lighten up about the feud.”

“I hope my brothers don’t cause any problems. They aren’t going to like this. And neither will a lot of my relatives.”

“This is a working ranch and from what Thane told me in the past, he has plenty of security, plus the cowboys and staff who live there. You can warn your brothers.” He sat back and crossed his legs again. “Thane took very good care of things, but he hadn’t gotten around to dealing with the house and its contents when he went into the service. I want to get out there as soon as possible and get the job done. I plan to go look at the house this week. Do you want to come along?”

“Yes. I’d like to see what we’re talking about.”

“Today is Wednesday. I have appointments tomorrow. Friday morning I’m going to see Thane’s parents. That’ll be tough, but I practically grew up in his house. Mr. Warner spent hours with Thane and me. He taught me how to fly-fish, how to use a knife so I wouldn’t cut off my fingers, how to rope a calf. He came to our ball games. I need to go see him.”

“That’s fine.”

“So how about Friday afternoon to go to Thane’s ranch? Then we can fly back to Dallas and I’ll take you to dinner that evening.” While she was not his type, he wanted to show his appreciation for her taking the job and allowing him to keep his promise to Thane. “I’ll pick you up here and we’ll fly to the ranch. We’ll look the house over and decide when we can start.”

“If you want, I can get the cleaning crew started early because I have someone I work with often and they’re reliable. I also know a couple of painters who can get the house painted inside and outside if you’d like.”

“I’d like that. In addition to appraising the contents, you can get the house in livable condition again. I’d rather not deal with the day-to-day restoration. I have a good contractor you can use, but feel free to use your own painters and decorators. Do as much as you can and bill me.”

“Fine. I also have a landscape crew if we need it.”

“That’s perfect. Let me know about anything or anyone else you need. When Thane inherited the ranch, it was actually a working ranch. Thane hired a guy to run it and get it in shape. Thane told me there’s a bunkhouse, a kitchen and a dining area for the cowboys, a cook and an office near the bunkhouse. There are cattle, but not as many as there will be. And of course, there’s the main house, which is a three-story frame house. Thane intended to come home and go through the house to decide what to do with things. When he was home before going to Afghanistan, neither he nor Vivian ever got around to it. As I understand it, the caretaker lives in a guesthouse close to the main house. I hope to keep everyone Thane hired. You oversee everything you can and put it on my bill. I’ll deal with the men, the cattle and the horses, and my contractor.”

She nodded.

“Emily, this is a job that neither of us wants to do, but it’s worth our while to do it. You get to become a millionaire and I get a ranch. For that we can put up with some things we hadn’t wanted to.” He looked into her big brown eyes and was struck by a question out of the blue. What would it be like to kiss her?

The question startled him. What was it about her that made him wonder about kisses? She wasn’t his type. She was practical, business-minded. But each time he looked at her, there was that wild undercurrent of awareness that he couldn’t figure out. Each time it happened, she looked as startled as he felt, and he was certain it was not something that she wanted to have happen and not something that happened often to her. It didn’t with him—not to this extent. Especially when it wasn’t some gorgeous woman who flirted and wanted to stir up a reaction from him.

If they were going to live in the same house, he didn’t want to have any kind of sizzling reaction to Emily.

So why couldn’t he stop imagining that thick long blond hair, which was now tied behind her head with a yellow scarf, untied and falling over her shoulders? Or splayed against his naked chest? The minute those visions played out in his mind’s eye, he tried to think of something else. Unsuccessfully.

When she stood, he came to his feet at once, his gaze flicking over her swiftly. “I suppose we’re through now,” she said.

“We are for today.” He held out his hand, half doing it to be polite because they would be working closely together and living in the same house for a while. But the minute her hand touched his, he felt the same startling awareness of the contact and saw her blink and stare at him.

“I’ll pick you up Friday afternoon,” he said after clearing his throat hoarsely. “I’ll call first.” He looked her over again. “It’s been...interesting. This is the longest I’ve ever had a polite conversation with a Kincaid.”

She smiled slightly. “You’re long overdue then. We really don’t bite and are quite harmless.”

“Your brothers aren’t. Maybe that was back in high school.” He followed her out of her office and down the hall to the front door. She didn’t look the type for perfume, but there was some faint enticing scent that he didn’t recognize. She was taller than most women he went out with, but still at least seven or eight inches shorter than he was. He opened the door and glanced back at her. “See you Friday.”

“I’m still in a daze. I’m going to call Vivian. You’re certain she knows about the check?”

“Absolutely.”

When the door closed behind him, he let out his breath in a gush. Keep your distance. And keep your hands off. She was a Kincaid, and he expected some flak from at least one of her brothers. Some of the Kincaids and some of the Ralstons took this feud seriously and had a big dislike for the other family. Emily and he needed to move on this task and get through it. Yes, that’s what he needed to do. Get the job done and forget her.

Dreading talking to Mr. and Mrs. Warner, Jake drove up to the familiar mansion spread over four acres of well-kept grounds with tall oaks. He’d spent hours here from the days when his mother dropped him off to play with Thane and on through high school when he and Thane would drive there after school at least three or four times a week. Thane had had a cook and there were snacks and a game room, a poolroom, an enclosed pool, a basketball court—Jake’s family had had all of those at their house, as well, but Thane had had a tennis court at his and Jake hadn’t. Sometimes a bunch of friends went with them, sometimes just Jake and Thane. Thane’s dad was friendly and had always been interested in Jake and what he was doing at school.

Memories assailing him, Jake walked up the wide front steps to the porch with tall columns. A huge brass chandelier hung from the porch ceiling. He rang the chimes and a butler opened the door, smiling at Jake.

“Mr. Jake, welcome home.”

“Thank you, Clyde.”

“Come in. Mr. and Mrs. Warner are expecting you. They’re in the great room. We’re so happy to see you.”

“I’m glad to be here. It’s good to see you. I wish Thane could be here with me,” he said as they walked through a wide entryway where an elegant cherrywood table held a massive vase filled with white-and-purple orchids.

“So sad. They miss him. We all do, because he was a fine man.” Clyde knocked on an open door and as they entered, he announced, “Mr. Jake is here.”

Jake crossed the room to Celeste Warner, Thane’s mother, who looked older and frailer than when he’d left. She was short and he leaned over to hug her lightly. As tears filled her eyes, she hugged him in return.

“I’m sorry he didn’t make it home. We did what we could. It just wasn’t enough,” Jake said with a knot in his throat. Thane should have been here with him now.

Thane’s father, Ben Warner, walked up, holding out his hand. Jake was surprised at how much Thane’s dad had changed. His hair was whiter, he had more lines on his face than Jake remembered and he was thinner.

When they shook hands, Thane’s dad slipped his arm around Jake and hugged him. “Thank God you made it home. It was bad losing Thane. I’m glad I didn’t lose both of you,” Ben said, and Jake hurt even more because this brought back painful memories. He hurt for Thane’s parents, who had lost their oldest son, a son who had been unique and a super guy.

“Come sit and talk to us,” Ben said, turning to sit in a leather recliner.

“Are you getting settled in now that you’re back?” Celeste asked.

“Yes,” Jake said. “I’m just glad to be home.”

“We’re glad you’re here. What are your plans—a ranch or back to the family investment firm?” Thane’s dad asked.

“Before I was in the army, I lived in Dallas and went to the investment office every day. Now I want to be a rancher. I’m ready for some open space and the challenges of ranch life. I’m still on the investment firm board and a couple of other boards, so I’ll be in Dallas often. I’ll be around.” He settled back in the chair to talk to them. “I hear you are grandparents.” Thane’s sister, Camilla, had a seventeen-month-old.

“Yes, here’s Ethan’s picture. He’s the image of his daddy,” Ben said, handing a framed picture to Jake.

Jake looked at the little boy with his mop of black curls. “He does look like his dad.” Jake knew his dad well. Noah Grant was one of the rangers he’d served with, and one of the buddies who had made promises to Thane. Noah had been charged with bringing important packages to Thane’s sister and his nephew, and in the process he reignited his romance with Camilla and came face-to-face with the son he never knew he had.

Ben’s eyes softened as he took back the photo. “Camilla and Noah seem so happy and so is their little Ethan. We see them often.”

“Where are Logan and Mason?” he asked about Thane’s younger brothers.

“Logan is president of our drilling company. Mason has taken over for me at the bank. They don’t live far from us and you’ll probably see them when you’re in Dallas. Both are single.”

After about twenty minutes Jake stood and said he had an appointment and needed to go. It took another ten minutes to tell Thane’s mother goodbye and Thane’s dad left with him, strolling back through the mansion, across the stone floor of the entryway and out to the front porch.

Jake turned to shake his hand. To his surprise, Ben hugged him again and stepped away. “I’m so relieved you made it home.”

“Thank you, sir. I’m sorry Thane didn’t. We all did what we could for him.”

“I know you did,” Ben said and wiped his eyes. He placed his hand on Jake’s shoulder. “Come see us sometimes. Please keep in touch. You’re family to us. You’re another son, Jake. You always have been.”

“Thank you, sir. That means a lot to me. You’re the one who’s been a real dad to me. I’m sorry for your loss and I’ll keep in touch,” he said, thinking of Thane. “We all miss him.”

When he closed his car door and drove down the long drive, he let out his breath. He was glad the visit was over. Most of the time he could cope with the loss of his friend, but every once in a while he was overwhelmed with that pain he had felt when Thane died. He was surprised how Thane’s dad had hugged him and wanted him to come back, but then he’d always been surprised by Ben’s interest in him.

He made a mental note to try to see the Warners at least once a month for the next few months. Time would ease their pain, but for now he’d try to visit often. They had Noah and Camilla, the new grandchild, plus their other two sons, and they would help, but he knew the Warners would always miss Thane.

Friday afternoon, when a sleek black sports car stopped at Emily’s store and office, she hurried out. She had dressed in practical sneakers, jeans and a white sweatshirt. Her clothes hid her figure and her hair was in one long braid down her back. She wanted to keep things businesslike with Jake. She hadn’t understood the chemistry that smoldered between them when they’d met, but she hoped it was gone. While he was to-die-for handsome, she didn’t want any kind of attraction. She had to do this job and work for him. He was her boss now, but she didn’t want it to go beyond a boss-employee relationship.

That sentiment fizzled the moment he stepped out of the car. In jeans, boots, a white dress shirt open at the throat and a black Western hat, he was breathtakingly sexy. As she walked out to meet him, Jake didn’t offer to shake her hand as he had the day they met, and she wondered what that implied.

“Ready and eager to go?” he asked, smiling, making her pulse jump with the irresistible curve of his lips.

“Yes. I like old things, antiques, so I’m curious what we’ll find.”

“I can’t even guess. It may be a house filled with trash. We’ll see.”

As they drove away from her Dallas office, he watched traffic. “Did you tell your family what you’re doing?”

“Not yet,” she replied cheerfully. “That will be like dropping a bomb. I’m waiting for Sunday dinner when we all get together at my parents’ house. I think you’ll know when I’ve told them.”

“Will I need a bodyguard?” he asked, smiling again, another dazzling grin that changed her heart rate.

“You better not need one.” She thought for a second, then told him, “Doug will be the worst. I’ll have a private talk with him. He’s calmed down a little since he got married.”

“I know your brothers and I’m not worried. Your oldest brother and I didn’t have the best relationship in school. He isn’t going to be happy to know you’re working for me.”

“No, Doug won’t, but Thane’s gift to me is going to go a long ways toward smoothing things over. That’s a lot of money. Besides, I’ll make it clear that you and I will be together because of business. I’ll be working for you, and my brothers know they better leave me alone to run my business the way I see fit.”

“As I said, I think that’s what Thane intended.”

Jake drove to the airport, where his private plane waited. It was a quick flight to a landing strip at Flat Hill, Texas, a small Texas town with a wide main street, a grocery, a hardware store, a bank, a café and a bar. Jake had a new pickup waiting and he held the door for her.

As she stepped past him, she caught a whiff of his aftershave, so slight, but it heightened his appeal.

She slid into the passenger seat and he closed the door. When he circled the pickup, her gaze ran over his broad shoulders and his narrow waist. She hoped they didn’t work too closely together. Life would be easier if they didn’t, because no matter what she did she couldn’t shake her awareness of him. On the plane, she’d occasionally looked up and caught him staring at her, desire blatant in his dark eyes. When their gazes met, it was as if they had made physical contact. She couldn’t understand the chemistry between them, but it was still going strong.

She had to remember Jake was a playboy. He didn’t want to marry anytime soon—maybe ever. He didn’t want a family. He had women in his life but he didn’t keep them around long. He was all the things she wouldn’t want in a man in her life. And he wasn’t anything like the men in her family.

So why was she aware of his very presence from the second he slid into the driver’s seat and closed his door?

It was three o’clock when they turned beneath a metal arch that read Long L.

“Do you know who the Long L was named after?” she asked and Jake shook his head.

“No, one of the early day Warners, I suppose.” As he drove along a narrow dirt trail that almost disappeared in weeds, high grass and cacti, her curiosity grew. In minutes, she could see a large three-story weathered house on a rise. Tall oaks were on either side of the house, ancient trees that had long spreading limbs.

“That’s not what I’d expected,” she said, gazing at the house.

“It’s impressive,” Jake said. “According to Thane, it was built in 1890.”

“If it’s lasted well over a century, it must be well-built.” The house looked Victorian, with one large turret on the second floor, a dormer on the third floor and three balconies on the second floor, all with fancy balustrades like the porch. “I think I’m going to love working on this old house.”

“I’ll remember to avoid taking you to my condo with a very contemporary kitchen.”

She smiled at him. “I like contemporary, too. Antiques are my first love, though.”

“This ranch house looks more elaborate than I’d expected,” he said, peering at it through the windshield.

“And more charming, because I can imagine how it will look with a new coat of paint and all fixed up,” she said.

“I’ve never been on this ranch before,” Jake said. “Thane’s grandmother died first and his family didn’t like their grandfather, so we didn’t spend any time out here. No telling what we’ll find. Thane said his great-great-grandfather was a horse thief and a bank robber and did plenty the family didn’t talk about.”

As Jake spoke of the ranch’s history, Emily couldn’t help but feel eager to get to work. She hadn’t wanted this job, but she had gotten into the antiques-and-appraisal business because she loved old things, and as she looked at the large ranch home that was over a hundred years old, she couldn’t keep from being curious and excited about what they would find in it. The prospect of living in it, working constantly with Jake, added to the excitement bubbling inside her.

“We’re not going to find any bodies, are we?”

Jake laughed as he shook his head. “Nope. At least, I hope not. As far as I know, Thane’s grandfather was only a gambler. He must have been good at it to hang on to this ranch. That’s an imposing-looking house. I figured we’d find something that should be leveled. That’s what Thane suggested and I think what he intended to do. We’ll have to see what it’s like inside, but if it’s solid, I’m not tearing it down.”

“Tearing it down would be a real loss,” she agreed. “I can’t believe I’m going to live in that for the next few weeks.”

“Count on weeks. I’m guessing the inside is filled with stuff, from what Thane indicated. Years of stuff. If so, it’ll take time to go through it.” They drove over rocks and through a stream that was only a trickle.

“Someone is there. See that pickup by the oak?” she asked, pointing ahead.

“That’s the caretaker, who’s also in charge of security. Rum McCloud. I don’t know whether Rum is a nickname or his real name. I notified him that we were coming.”

Standing in the shade, a lanky man in a plaid long-sleeve Western shirt, jeans, boots and a broad-brimmed hat waited with his hands on his hips. They parked and Jake went around to open the door for Emily, but she stepped out quickly.

Jake walked up to Rum and held out his hand. “I’m Jake Ralston and this is Emily Kincaid.”

“Howdy, folks. Rum McCloud. Welcome to the Long L. Here’s two house keys and my card with my phone number and email address. Anything I can do for you, just let me know. You can call or text.” Rum aso handed Jake three key rings, which he assumed were for locks inside the house.

“Thanks. We’ll go look at it. We plan to stay in the house to get stuff sorted and out of it. I’ll let you know, Rum, what we end up doing.”

“Fine. We can send dinner up from the big kitchen for you. My crew will still be around 24/7. We watch this place.”

He looked over his shoulder at the house. “The place needs repairs, but it’s time and weather that’s taken a toll. We keep vandals, kids and drifters away from here. After his grandfather died, Mr. Warner came and looked at the place, locked it up and left and never came back. Inside that house is just like his grandfather left it. I’m sorry about Thane. He was a fine man.”

“Yes, he was. We became friends too far back to remember. I told you on the phone—I intend to keep this ranch, raise cattle and keep you and the other men who are here now. You can pass the word on that.”

“Glad to hear that. I’ll pass it along. Everyone is wondering about the future. Now I can tell them they still have a job.”

“Yes, you can. The only quick changes will be to this house. We’re not staying tonight. We’re only here to take a look inside the house. I’ll let you know when we’ll be back and when we’ll stay to go through stuff. Hopefully, we’ll start next week,” he said, glancing at Emily, and she nodded.

“I can do that,” she said, mentally going through her business calendar. Next week would fit her schedule nicely, and she was looking forward to getting her hands on the antiques.

There was only one thing she was still fretting over. Living out here with Jake Ralston.

Emily said goodbye to Rum and was aware of Jake beside her as they walked to the front steps.

“This was a grand old house in its day,” Jake said. He paused at the foot of the steps to look up at the house.

“I think it’s still a wonderful house,” she said and he looked down at her and smiled.

“Why do I think that you are a definite optimist?”

She shrugged. “I like the house and I see the good side of keeping it. Cleaned up and freshly painted, it could be charming. I’ve already sent a text to my assistant and she’s getting a cleaning crew lined up for tomorrow.”

“We’ll see what my contractor says. He knows a lot about houses.”

After crossing the porch, Jake unlocked the oversize door, which swung open. The entryway had a marble floor with a stone fountain that had no water. The fountain was centered in a shallow circular marble pool, also dry and with a thick layer of dust. Above that, the ceiling soared to the second floor with a dust-and-cobweb-covered chandelier hanging high above the empty fountain. She couldn’t judge the condition of the furnishings, since they were all covered with sheets.

“I never was here with Thane. He told me he hated coming here. He said his grandfather didn’t take care of it and it was a depressing mess. I see what he meant if this was the way the old man lived.”

Emily took pictures with her phone. “I’m sending these to Leslie so she’ll have an idea what this cleaning job is going to entail.”

They walked around the empty fountain and a wide dark hallway stretched ahead of them. Nearby, two sweeping staircases led to the second floor and a high ceiling above it.

He started walking down the dark hallway and paused. “What a mess this is,” he said, pointing at the packing boxes that stood in the hall and in the rooms they peeked into. Papers littered the floors, cobwebs were growing in corners and windows were covered with grime on the outside. Inside, dust coated everything. They entered another room filled with shelves and books and found the same situation. A desk was covered with notebooks. Along one wall were locked cabinets with wooden doors. Jake looked at the three key rings he’d been given.

“I think there should be a key here for each of these cabinets.” He ran his hand over a dusty cabinet door. “From the looks of these, I’d guess they hold guns.”

“Guns? Maybe.” She leaned closer to look, glancing again at the lock. “You have maybe forty keys on those rings.”

“There are numbers on them. This is ring number one,” he said, holding a ring with keys of various sizes and shapes. “We can try these next week after they get the dirt and cobwebs out of here.”

“You can just walk away and not try to get in and see what’s inside?” she asked.

He turned to focus on her. “Yes, I can.” He looked amused. “You can’t? Be my guest, then,” he said, holding out the three key rings.

“You really don’t care?”

“No, I don’t. You’re hired to help me clear this stuff out, remember?”

“You go look at more rooms and I’ll try the keys. I’m too curious to wait. What’s in here? A hidden bar? Rare books? Family albums? Whatever it is, there’s a lot of it,” she said, looking at the cabinets covering one wall.

“Here,” he said, taking her hand in his and placing the key rings in it. The moment he took her hand, everything changed. She forgot the keys, cabinets, even the house. That fiery awareness flared again and she knew he felt it, too, because his chest expanded as he inhaled while he flicked a questioning look at her and continued holding her hand.

“Does that happen to you with every guy you meet?” he asked quietly and her heart thudded.

She didn’t need to ask what he was talking about. She shook her head. “No,” she whispered. “Not ever. I figured it’s something you always have happen, though. You do have a reputation for attracting the ladies.” Her heart drummed and she had a prickling awareness of him, of his hand still holding hers as he ran his thumb so lightly back and forth over her knuckles.

“It happens sometimes, but not quite like this,” he replied. “And never with someone I work with. Not ever. You’re unique in my life, Emily,” he said and she shook her head.

“I think I’ll forget looking in the cabinets this afternoon,” she said, giving him back the keys and yanking her hand away from his, eager to put some distance between them. “Let’s make a quick tour of this floor. I’ll take the other side of the hall and you do this side and we’ll meet at the other end of the house.” She didn’t want to have a reaction to him and she couldn’t allow the moment to get personal. She had to work with him for a few weeks at least. When they got the place cleaned up, they would stay here, some nights just the two of them. She didn’t want to have a breathtaking, instant, heart-racing reaction to him every time their hands brushed.

She felt ridiculous and wished she could have passed off her response as nothing, but she couldn’t. She had never had reactions like that to a man she didn’t know. And she didn’t want to start with Jake. He was a Ralston. The last person she wanted to have a fiery attraction to.

She hurried away, crossing the hall to a great room that held a huge marble fireplace. Here again, the furniture was covered with sheets. From what he’d told her, she had expected to find a wreck of a house. Instead, it looked solid and soundly built.

She entered a ballroom-sized dining room with a huge table covered by canvas that draped over the chairs. She lifted a corner and looked at an elaborately carved table and chairs with faded antique satin striped upholstery. She wasn’t particularly happy to see some fine furniture because it meant working with him longer. If it had all been ruined and ready to dispose of, the job would have been over quickly.

She left the dining room and moved to a large kitchen. The kitchen was the room that needed to be replaced. Everything was old, with out-of-date appliances and a chipped, rusted sink, but the room itself was big and could be updated easily. The real question might turn out to be how important the house was to Jake. What did he ultimately want since this was now his ranch?

A sunroom stretched across the back of the house. There she found what she had expected throughout the house—worn, broken chairs, overturned tables, nothing worth saving. The whole room needed to be gutted and the furniture dumped.

When Emily met Jake in the hall, he shook his head. “This is going to take some work. I don’t think we need to look upstairs. There’s enough here to know we have a job ahead of us. I went through the library, the study that’s under years of dust and had more locked cabinets. I went through an office with locked files, a locked desk, a locked closet. One good thing—there are three big downstairs bedrooms, each with its own bath. Can you get started right away on getting new furniture for two of those bedrooms and something for the windows? It can all be temporary, just so we have a clean place to stay.”

“Yes, I will.”

“I want an office I can work in with a desk, a file cabinet, a long table and a place for three computers and screens. You’ll need an office, too, so you’ll have to furnish it however you like. Get a sofa and a couple of chairs and about four big-screen televisions, so we have one in each room we’ll be living in.”

She took out her tablet and jotted notes while he talked.

“We’ll have meals sent up from the cook and maybe work out some kind of delivery from that little café in Flat Hill, so we’ll need a table where we can eat. Or maybe we can use the big table in the dining room. I peeked into that kitchen. It’s got to go. It’s the biggest disaster in the house so far.”

“I agree.” As she finished jotting notes, she was only half thinking about her writing. She was aware of Jake standing inches away.

“I’ll give you a credit card for the furniture. Just have the pieces sent out here. I’ll tell Rum.”

“Sure. I’ll be glad to. Give me a limit you want to spend.”

“No limit. Use your judgment. Just get something several notches above nice. I want to be comfortable and frankly, I’m not worried about the cost. I want comfort and a place I don’t mind living in.”

She nodded. “I’ll get everything with the agreement they have to take it back if it doesn’t suit you. I can send you pictures—”

“No,” he interrupted, shaking his head and looking amused. “I don’t want to make furniture decisions. I don’t care. You do it and put it on my bill.”

“It really might help if we could go by your Dallas home and I can see what style of furniture you like. Would that be possible?” she asked, aware of inviting herself to his Dallas home.

“Sure, we can. I have a condo. I think we might as well go back to Dallas now. I don’t want to work in this dirt and dust. You get that cleaning crew out here and some furniture bought and delivered, and we’ll come back. We can make plans on the plane.”

“Before we go, I need to get the measurements of where I’m putting furniture so I’ll have an idea about how much room I’ll have.”

“Sure. I’ll help.”

All the time she walked with him down the wide hall, she couldn’t stop the intense awareness of him so close beside her.

“This may be a big job,” she said, trying to focus on the job instead of the man. While she thought about the amount of work this house might demand, she couldn’t keep from worrying about working side by side with Jake. She was already too aware of him walking close beside her. Would they continue to have that chemistry bubbling between them?

They walked into the first bedroom and she got out her metal tape measure. Jake intended to have bedroom suites built upstairs, but for the time being they’d be staying in these first-floor rooms.

He held out his hand. “Give me the end of the tape.” She did and he walked to the corner while she wrote down the measurement.

She pressed the button for the tape to roll up and then Jake took it from her to measure the next wall. Within minutes they had two bedrooms done and moved on to measure the library and the study. As they worked together, their hands brushed lightly, just feathery touches, yet she was intensely aware of each contact. How could she not be, when each of them fanned the flames of desire burning inside her? More than anything she wanted to finish and head home. She snapped shut her measuring tape. “There. It’s done—” She turned and bumped into him. He caught her upper arms to steady her but didn’t let her go. They stood there, looking into each other’s eyes, and she couldn’t move.

While longing intensified, her gaze lowered to his mouth. Seconds passed and then she looked up at him again.

He was going to kiss her.

She knew that with every fiber of her being. Just as she knew she should stop him. But her breath wouldn’t come and her heart thudded violently as he slipped his arm around her waist and leaned down. Closer. And closer.

And with his lips a breath away, caution was the last thing on her mind.

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