Rancher to the Rescue (Texas Firebrand #1)

Chapter 1

The first day of June in South Central Texas had been without a cloud in sight, a rare occurrence. Thunderstorms were known to light up the skies and dump water on the earth out of seemingly nowhere this time of year, though the recent drought promised they wouldn’t any time soon.

Adam Firebrand stood on the edge of Angel Pass, staring out across the land he loved. After yesterday’s news, he couldn’t help but be reminded of how fragile it all was and, just like the sky, how quickly everything could change.

As if Mother Nature could hear his thoughts, a cloud rolled in and a light sprinkle dusted his face. He stood there anyway, taking it all in.

Firebrands had been standing on this land for three generations before him and had weathered a lot of storms in the process.

Bad luck didn’t discriminate, and they’d had their fair share even though few families had done better financially.

Their successful cattle ranch extended as far as the naked eye could see.

Now that the Marshall had died, the fate of their family legacy was up in the air.

Adam had no idea what to expect from his grandfather’s last will and testament.

The two of them weren’t exactly two peas in a pod.

But then no one got close to Marshall Firebrand, so Adam had never taken the snub personally.

His grandfather had, however, stoked the fire between his sons at every turn. Two brothers had never fought so hard or so often as Adam’s father and uncle, Brodie and Keifer.

Case in point, the Marshall hadn’t been buried yet, and Adam’s father and uncle were already in a lather over the will.

All Adam knew for certain was that neither his father nor his uncle seemed pleased when he’d passed them in the kitchen at the main house last night.

Not one of their combined eighteen sons had been invited to the meeting with the family lawyer either.

His mother wasn’t saying much, which was most definitely a bad sign.

Another look at both of them this morning said all Adam needed to know.

The Marshall had pulled something. So Adam was in no hurry to get back to the main house.

Only half of his brothers and cousins worked the successful cattle ranch and they’d been in a mood this morning at the barn too.

The ones who were out of town or overseas had been notified of the Marshall’s passing, so Adam figured it was only a matter of time before each made their way home to pay respects.

No matter how much of an old grouch their grandfather had been, the guys would honor tradition.

Once a Cowboy Code was ingrained in a person, the ideals weren’t easily shed.

No matter how much Firebrands might disagree with each other, they followed the same ideals.

What should be a green field in front of him was plagued with brown patches, thanks to twin years of drought-like conditions.

Looking onto the vista that was normally nothing but miles of green hills dotted with bluebonnets, he realized how interdependent nature was.

Family bonds were no different. Much less had ripped them apart forever.

He would hate for the precious land and cattle to get caught up in a legal battle.

Not to mention the fact that Adam’s father and uncle were gasoline on fire anytime they were in the same room.

All it took was one match to devastate the countryside.

He shook his head and made a tsk-tsk sound.

The Firebrands had stubborn streaks a mile long, which wasn’t going to help.

Heels would be dug in. Lines would be drawn.

All bets would be off for the family who hadn’t been able to get together for a Sunday barbeque in more years than Adam cared to count.

And that was under the best circumstances.

Despite practically dripping sweat from nearly fifteen hours straight of repairing fences, Adam wasn’t quite ready to call it a day.

His stomach growled, reminding him how long it had been since lunch.

He’d eaten a power bar to get him through to supper, but the energy from that was wearing thin.

The barn was half an hour ride from Angel Pass on horseback.

While most ranching operations had moved to using trucks to move cattle and ATVs to run fences, Adam still rode horseback.

Call him a renaissance man, but it was the only way to go in his book.

Besides, Luna needed the exercise and there wasn’t much better than spending a day out here with his Appaloosa by his side.

She was all the company he needed. Hell, she was the only one he’d spent any amount of time with since Libby refused his proposal and walked out of his life.

What was it with the first of June bringing events that wreaked havoc on his life?

He’d been blaming his mood on the fact he’d lost his grandfather. Did it also have something to do with this being the ten-month anniversary of losing the woman he’d been intent on spending the rest of his life with?

He’d adored her. Too bad she hadn’t felt the same. Or was it? He couldn’t help but think he’d dodged a bullet now. There was no way he wanted to spend the rest of his life with someone whose I love you meant something totally different than his.

Lost in thought, Adam couldn’t be sure how long he’d been standing there when he heard the first noise. It sounded a whole lot like a baby’s cry. But that didn’t make sense out here.

He shook his head and cleaned out the earwax.

He couldn’t possibly be hearing right. Maybe there was a small animal in trouble.

None of the ranch hands would be on this stretch of land and Bronc, the foreman, had claimed the west side of the property in the meeting this morning.

Plus, the fact they were all grown men while the sound he kept hearing mimicked a baby.

Could the wind to his back carry a noise all the way up here at Angel Pass? He doubted it even though the winds had kicked up a few notches as more clouds rolled in overhead. The light mist had dried up, which was unfortunate given the ground conditions. They needed rain.

Again, the cry pierced the air.

Was he dehydrated? Hallucinating? It had happened once after a long, sweaty day when he hadn’t kept up with his water.

As luck would have it, his brother Brax happened to ride up in the nick of time.

He’d saved Adam’s life that day by picking him up and tossing him onto Luna’s back.

Brax had brought horse and rider home on that ground-cracking day.

Adam had barely passed his twentieth birthday at the time and had gotten cocky, thinking he could outlast the late-August heat. From then on, though, Adam respected the elements. Lesson learned.

The baby wailed. The desperate quality got Adam’s feet moving toward his horse.

He hopped into Luna’s saddle and backtracked toward the noise coming from a patch of trees.

He was an expert tracker since poachers were a threat to cattle ranches, but he didn’t need to call on any of his experience.

All he had to do was follow the sound of the baby, who hadn’t stopped crying since Adam first heard the sound.

Despite the urgency in the baby’s voice, Adam doubted there was any real crisis here.

Babies sent up the alarm for various reasons, one of which was hunger.

He’d seen a kid throw a full-on temper tantrum at the feed store once because he didn’t want to put on his coat in the dead of winter.

Negotiating didn’t seem to do any good either.

The parent got so flustered she threw her hands up and walked the little tyke outside and into the cold in his t-shirt.

Adam had very little experience around kids, and no desire to add to his resume.

Libby had put the nail in that coffin. Now, he was content to date around and keep his options open.

An annoying voice in the back of his mind picked that moment to remind he should get started on that liberated lifestyle instead of licking his wounds over his loss. It had almost been a year.

Thoughts raced through his mind as to what could be going on with the kiddo.

It was highly possible a family was out here, lost. Campers who might not realize they’d wandered onto private land.

No one dangerous like poachers would bring a baby along.

They traveled incognito. He wasn’t worried about coming up on anything dangerous, so he didn’t try to hide his presence.

Instead, he started whistling, though he doubted anyone could hear him over the baby’s racket.

He’d also learned it wasn’t good to surprise people who normally carried some type of weapon on camping trips.

This was going to be a simple case of explaining the rules about being on private property.

Someone probably needed an escort in order to find their way off the land.

Adam was protective over his family’s legacy, and he didn’t mind helping folks out.

It would be nightfall soon and there were all manner of wild animals on ranch property.

As the noise escalated, he couldn’t help but wonder why someone hadn’t been able to pacify the kid. Was it sick? Hungry?

The Good Samaritan feeling spread inside him. He was about to bail someone out of trouble, someone who had a family. And then an uneasy feeling followed, taking hold in the pit of his stomach as he neared.

The trees in his area were thicker. The scrub brush higher.

Rather than risk Luna twisting an ankle, Adam hopped down and tied her to a tree so she wouldn’t get tangled in her own reins.

He’d made that mistake in his youth too.

He’d covered pretty much all of them in his thirty-eight years on the planet.

The biggest one had been waiting to get married.

He’d convinced himself Libby was different, special.

Adam changed the subject before he choked on the irony.