Authors: Soraya Lane

RESCUED BY THE RANCHER (11 page)

BOOK: RESCUED BY THE RANCHER

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“
Maddison
?”
She’d hardly stepped from the car before Jack was in front of her.
He swung down from his horse, face shaded by his hat as he landed with a thud
to the ground.

She refused to look at her sister, watching Jack as he took off his
Stetson and crossed the short distance between them. “Hey Jack,” she managed.

Damn, he’d changed.
Jack had always been nice looking, but there’d never been anything
romantic between them, even if she had lain awake at night as a teenager
wondering if he’d liked her
like that
.
Wondered if something would happen between them one day if
she didn’t leave.
But
now?
Jack was seriously
handsome, in a rugged, real-man kind of way. He was tall as hell, his jeans
hugged his long legs, and a checked shirt fitted snug to his broad frame.

“Missy
Maddison
, all the
way from the big city, huh?”

She didn’t have a moment to answer before he enveloped her in a hug.
A real hug.
The kind that told her he’d genuinely
missed her. That he was actually pleased to see her. Not the kind of fluttery
pat on the back that was usually followed by a series of air-kisses that she’d
become used to of late.

“It’s good to finally see you again.”

“It’s great to see you too, Jack,”
Maddison
told him, reluctantly stepping back as he let her go, away from the warmth of
his embrace and the citrus scent of his cologne. She looked up into deep brown
eyes that were so familiar yet so unfamiliar to her at the same time.
And lined
.
There
were lines there now, deep creases that she didn’t remember. “Are you doing
okay?”

He shrugged, twirling his hat between his fingers. “I can’t say I
miss my old man, if that’s what you mean.”

Maddison
nodded.
She knew first hand why he’d hated his dad so much, and she couldn’t blame him.
“Pleased to see the end of the old bastard, huh?”

Jack laughed and so did her
sister,
and
Maddison
found herself smiling with them.
You could take the girl out of the country,
but not the country out of the girl
.

“So how long are you back for?” Jack asked.

Charley slung an arm around her shoulders before she could answer.
“Indefinitely.
We’re going to keep her here as long as we
can.”

She smiled and took the chance to study Jack some more. The man was
seriously good looking, built like an athlete and with a smile that could make
a girl’s knees knock.
Like
hers were threatening to do right now.

“
Maddie
?”

She hadn’t been called that
name in a long time.
“Honestly Jack, I don’t know.”
It was the truth, she didn’t. “But it’ll be long enough for us to catch up
properly. I promise.”

He smiled – the same kind of smile she remembered so well. “Good.”

Maddison
tilted
her face to look up at him as he placed his hat back on his head and swung up
into the saddle. “Are you sure everything’s okay?” she asked.

She felt her sister pause beside her, no doubt as concerned for Jack
as she was. He just shrugged.

“One day soon I’ll tell you all about it.”

And then he gave them a wave and turned his horse, nudging her into
a trot as he headed back up the incline.

“Home?”
Charley
asked.

Maddison
forced
her eyes from Jack’s disappearing silhouette and touched her sister’s shoulder
as she walked past her to the passenger side. “He’s not okay, is he?”

“Maybe he’ll be better now that you’re home.” Charley gave her a
wink over the roof of the vehicle before swinging into her seat.

“And what exactly is that supposed to mean?”

“Weren’t you two best friends, before you fell in love with him?”
her sister asked. “I mean, I was only a kid back then, but I’m sure I remember
you doodling love hearts around his name.”

Maddison
held her
tongue between her teeth, not wanting to answer but knowing she had to. “Jack
and I were best friends and for the record I never
fell in love with him
.”

Her sister grinned and started the car.
Maddison
slouched down in her seat and tried to stop thinking about Jack.

Because maybe her sister was right.
Maybe she had fallen in love with him, or thought she had. She’d
been a teenager, off to boarding school and confused about how she felt for the
boy she’d known all her life. But that was then. They were grown-ups now.

So why was her heart
beating so damn fast?

Jack refused to look back over his shoulder, even when he heard the
car take off down the dirt
road that lead
to both
their ranches.

Maddison
was all grown up
. There was more than a hint of the girl he used to know and love, a
flicker in her eyes, the way she watched him like whatever he was saying was
the most important thing in the world.
But to look at?
She was nothing like that girl any more
.
This
Maddison
was tall and slender, with curves that
he’d sure as hell never noticed back then. Her hair was lighter, her lipstick
brighter, and she was beautiful.

If there was one woman he’d
marry, if he actually ever went through with satisfying the clause instead of
wasting money on having the will overturned, hands down he’d have to talk to
Maddison
. Not just because she was the only woman he’d ever
trust wholeheartedly, but because she was the only girl his father would
blatantly disapprove of.

Jack nudged his horse back into a trot, then a canter. What he
needed was a good gallop across the fields down to the yearlings and some hard
work to make him exhausted. Because no matter how much he wanted to pretend his
father’s will wasn’t getting under his skin, he couldn’t. It was giving him a
feeling that he didn’t belong here, and he needed to figure something out to
forget that his old man had ever existed.
And
fast.

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About the Author

As a child,
Soraya
dreamed of becoming an author. Fast forward more than a few years, and
Soraya
is living her dream! Working as a freelance writer
and now a professional author too, she writes every day and loves her job.
Soraya
describes being an author as "the best career
in the world", and she hopes to be writing romance for many years to come.
Soraya
loves spending her days thinking up characters
for books, and her home is a constant source of inspiration. She lives with her
own real life hero and son on a small farm in New Zealand, surrounded by animals
and with an office overlooking a field where their horses graze. For more
information about
Soraya
, her books and her writing
life, visit www.sorayalane.com or follow her on twitter @
Soraya_Lane
.