Chapter One
Chapter One
A month later…
C hancellor Madaris left Burney’s Feed Store to return to Teakwood Ridge. It had taken him longer than expected because Burney had been more talkative than usual. The older man had heard that a Madaris had married this past weekend.
Chance decided to quash that rumor by letting him know that it hadn’t been a Madaris wedding but the wedding of a Madaris family friend. His single Madaris cousins—those who weren’t ready to settle down to protect, provide, and prosper—would blow a gasket if they knew gossip was spreading that one of them had tied the knot. For that reason, he’d wanted to ensure Burney had gotten the right information.
As he exited the interstate, he couldn’t help but remember the wedding he had attended last weekend. Not in a million years had he figured he would see Tanner Jamison getting married and happily doing so. At the wedding, Mama Laverne had been all smiles while taking credit for bringing Tanner and Lyric together. Everyone was still pretty stunned by that one.
Another thing his family seemed stunned about was that Ravena Boyle was back in Houston. Years ago, when she moved to Houston, it was due to her wanting a fresh start living somewhere different from Colorado. So why had she returned? That question had some of his kinfolk speculating about all sorts of things, but honestly, he couldn’t care less. Ravena meant nothing to him, like he’d told Corbin or anyone else who thought he needed to know about her return.
A short while later, he was on the two-lane road that led to Whispering Pines, Teakwood Ridge, and a couple of other huge spreads in the area. Every time he took this road home, he felt extremely grateful. He loved his ranch, and so far, Chance and his older brothers, Luke and Reese, were the only Madaris cousins who’d followed their uncle Jake into ranching.
Glancing up at the sky, Chance saw dark clouds forming. The weather report had warned of a thunderstorm, and he’d meant to get home long before it hit. He had reached toward his car’s console to switch radio stations for a weather update when he noticed a car was stalled on the side of the road. He took a quick assessment of the situation. Since a tow truck was already on the scene, there was no reason for him to stop.
At least, he’d thought that until he’d seen her. The woman was standing by the car and talking to the tow truck driver. She’d heard the sound of his truck and had glimpsed quickly at him before resuming her conversation with the man. That had been enough time for his mind to accept that, without a shadow of a doubt, she had to be the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.
One of Chance’s skills as an army ranger was to do a quick and thorough assessment of a given situation or that of another human. For some reason, those skills had homed in on her. Her height was about 5'6". Dark brown eyes. High cheekbones. Cocoa-colored skin. Shoulder-length black hair whose strands curled at the end. She had full lips and dimples on each cheek that showed even when she wasn’t smiling. Presently, her expression conveyed her frustration. Then there was her body in jeans and a white shirt. The outfit looked gorgeous on such a curvy body.
Her beauty had clouded his judgment. That had to be why he pulled over to the shoulder of the road, stopped his truck, and got out. There was no other reason for him to do so. With the tow truck here, the situation was clearly under control.
He was not.
His control had been shot to hell the moment he had seen her. Blame it on the fact that he hadn’t gotten laid in close to six months, thanks to back-to-back roundups and an unusually cold and harsh Texas winter.
Closing his truck door, he began moving toward the woman. The closer he got, the more he liked. His gaze roamed over her deliberately, liking everything he saw. She was definitely wearing those jeans. He hoped she was into one-night stands like he was.
“Morning, ma’am. Need help?” he asked, smiling while tipping his Stetson in greeting when he approached her. He wasn’t sure what cologne she wore, but it was an arousing scent. The tow truck driver had walked off, and Chance had her full attention. If he hadn’t been a goner before, he certainly was one now. When her gorgeous lips had curved into a smile, it was as if a fist had suddenly slammed into the middle of his gut. She was more beautiful than he’d thought. And when smiling, her dimples became more profound.
“No, but thanks for asking,” she said in what he thought was a nice-sounding voice. “The tow truck will take my car back to the rental agency and me with it, so I can get another one.”
Chance nodded. He had a feeling she wasn’t from around these parts. This road eventually led to four homesteads. Namely, his place, Whispering Pines, Cole Wells’s Shadow Bridge Ranch, and the Hollisters’ spread. He recalled the Hollisters had three daughters. The one who’d graduated from college a couple of years ago would be about her age, which he figured was no more than twenty-four.
He was about to ask if she was related to the Hollisters when she opened the trunk of her car to retrieve her items. That’s when he saw the camera and the equipment that went along with it. Damn. He quickly concluded that she was a reporter, and there was only one reason a reporter would be this far from Houston and in this area.
He’d bet every Angus cattle he owned that she was here poking around for a story on his uncle Jake and his movie star wife, Diamond. It wouldn’t be the first time reporters had shown up for a story, and he doubted it would be the last.
Chance’s expression suddenly turned cold, and his instant attraction to the woman fizzled into a quick death. He didn’t like reporters. Very few members of the Madaris family did. All he had to do was recall the hatchet job that tabloid had done on his cousin Victoria last year when it was discovered that she and Senator Roman Malone were having an affair.
Their uncle Jake, who was as serious as a heart attack when it came to protecting the Madaris family, had filed a lawsuit against The Tattler . The tabloid quickly issued a public apology and retracted the story, and in the end, a huge settlement was reached out of court. The owner of the tabloid had been lucky Jake hadn’t bought the whole damn company right from under him. But Chance was certain the millions the owner had paid out in that settlement was a huge financial loss that had taught him a costly lesson. You come after the Madarises, they will go after you.
Chance’s thoughts returned to the present when the woman put the camera around her neck, turned to him, and smiled that much brighter before saying, “We haven’t been introduced.”
They would not be under the circumstances, as far as he was concerned. “Since you don’t need my help, I’ll be going,” he said in a curt tone.
Turning, he quickly walked to his truck and got in without looking back. When he got home, he would call his uncle and alert him that a snooping reporter was in the area.
***
Back in her hotel room, Zoey had just finished telling Lucky how her day had been ruined when the serpentine belt on her rental car broke. All Lucky was concerned about was that cowboy who’d stopped to help.
“Was he hot, hairy, and handsome?” Lucky asked excitedly.
Zoey shook her head as she answered the question. “Since he was fully clothed and wearing a Stetson, I don’t know how hairy he was, although he did have a mustache. However, I can certainly say he was tall, hot, and handsome.” Then she thought about something else. “And when he first approached me and tipped the brim of his hat, smiled, and said hello, I believe my panties got wet then and there.”
“Lordy, girl. He was that hot?”
“Even hotter,” Zoey said as she sat on the edge of the bed. Although it was storming outside, she had pleasant memories of when she’d seen him. Her hot and handsome cowboy. She was surprised he hadn’t kept driving, instead parking his truck and getting out to ask if she needed help. Up close and personal, she was convinced he was the epitome of what she’d always thought a Texas cowboy should be. Looking into such a gorgeous face had caused her pulse to skitter, followed by a shiver that had touched every one of her nerve endings.
Dressed in a pair of well-worn jeans, a Western shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, cowboy boots, and a Stetson on his head, he’d appeared rugged, all macho, virile, and sexy as hell. Unable to help herself, her gaze had latched onto a pair of well-defined lips that had curved into a smile beneath a neatly trimmed mustache. And Lordy, he had dimples. Dimples that only appeared when he smiled.
Then, there had been his rich copper skin tone that emphasized the beauty of his sexy brown bedroom eyes, and the alluring shape of his Nubian nose. She was convinced everything about his looks had been perfect. Her attraction to him had baffled her. After her relationship with Conrad Johnson ended last year, she’d sworn off men, especially those of the egotistic type. But then she hadn’t known what type the stranger was since they’d barely shared a conversation.
The one thing she had noticed was that he had gone from smiling, friendly hottie to a frowning, distant frosty. She wasn’t sure what had caused the extreme attitude shift, but he certainly hadn’t wasted time leaving in a hurry when she’d suggested an introduction. That episode had truly been weird.
“If I were you, Zoe, I’d make the most of my time in Houston.”
Zoey beamed. Of course, Lucky would say that. Her best friend’s parents had given her the right name. She’d been lucky to meet and marry the man of her dreams a few years after college. As far as Zoey was concerned, Lucky and Burke were the perfect couple.
Whereas Zoey had been unlucky with love. She should have known Conrad was a piece of work since Aunt Paulina had been the one to introduce them. During the six months of their long-distance relationship, he had spent most of his time trying to get her to move back to San Francisco. For a while, she’d wondered if her aunt was paying him to do so.
“If you recall, girlfriend, I’m here for a purpose,” she reminded Lucky.
“That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy yourself in the process. Meet someone. Engage in a fling.”
Zoey couldn’t help but laugh. “A fling? Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously.”
She hated admitting it, but that thought had crossed her mind when she’d first seen him. She’d found that odd since meaningless affairs had never been her thing. It was exclusivity or nothing. “I would love to see that cowboy again, but I doubt our paths will cross a second time. It was probably a one-and-done chance meeting.”
“You never know.”
“I do know that I don’t know anything about him. We didn’t exchange names. At least he didn’t have a ring on his finger.” Zoey was convinced his looks and everything sexy about him was emblazoned into her brain. She wouldn’t forget him anytime soon.
“If not him, then another tall, hot, handsome cowboy,” Lucky suggested. “You’re in Texas, filled with plenty of rugged hunks.”
True, but she was stuck on the sexy cowboy she had seen today. While walking away, he’d done so with a swagger that had filled her head with all kinds of romantic thoughts—of the hot, steamy, and erotic variety. She stood and began fanning herself. That guy had left too much of a sensual impression on her.
“I know how you feel about exclusivity. Maybe it’s time you let your hair down. Live a little. Walk on the wild side. Be daring. So, what are your plans tomorrow?” Lucky asked.
“If the weather clears up, I plan to do what I wanted today. Find that ranch. That shouldn’t be hard since I have an address.”
“Just be careful. I don’t like you being out in rural Texas alone.”
“I’ll be fine, Lucky. Stop worrying and stop watching so many of those crime shows.”
An hour later, Zoey returned to her hotel room after going downstairs to grab something to eat at the hotel’s restaurant. The storm outside had gotten worse, and bolts of lightning were crisscrossing the sky. As she prepared for bed, she couldn’t help but remember how well her visit to Boston had gone last week.
The moment she’d walked into the orthopedic wing of Massachusetts General Hospital, an older doctor had stared at her as if he was seeing a ghost. His stare was eerie until he approached her and had introduced himself as Dr. Jerome Kemmic, the chief of Orthopedic Surgery. He’d then asked if she was related to the late Dr. Michelle Pritchard. He’d told her the resemblance was uncanny. She had told him that she was Holton and Michelle Pritchard’s daughter.
He had worked with them. Of course, he’d known about the tragic accident and how she had been the lone survivor. He’d also remembered the long months she had remained in the hospital and he, and other colleagues of her parents, had come to visit her during that time, before she left for California with no forwarding information.
She had told him about her memory loss and why it was so important for her to find out as much about her childhood as she could. He had been pleased to hear she’d followed in her parents’ footsteps and was also an orthopedic surgeon, claiming her parents would be proud of her.
She’d also been told that one person who could help with her memory was Sharon Newberry, a doctor who’d been her mother’s close friend. Dr. Newberry had transferred to a Florida hospital after getting married nearly fifteen years ago. He’d felt certain the woman would love to talk to her and had told Zoey how hard the woman had taken her parents’ death. After obtaining Zoey’s contact information, Dr. Kemmic said he would contact Dr. Newberry on her behalf.
Zoey went to bed that night excited about what the future would bring, and when she finally closed her eyes, the image of the tall, hot, and handsome cowboy she’d met that day filled her mind.