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  “For the past four years. My dad was ill my last year in college, and as soon as I graduated I came home and really began to take over then. He lived about six months after that.”

  Boone reached over to take her hand, folding hers in his large one. “Sorry about that. I know some of what it means. When my dad died, I had to go to work to help Mom with the other kids. I had to be daddy for them.” He paused. Then, “Have you ever thought of leaving the ranch?”

  “No! That’s my home and has been home to several generations of my family. The Frates family has owned it back since settling there before the midnineteenth century. My family settled on the ranch at the same time, working for the Frates. That’s my heritage and my tie to my family, and Mary and I are the last Fryes. My sister doesn’t care a thing for it and couldn’t wait to get away. But the Double T is important to me.”

  Boone hoped his features were impassive, because he could see trouble looming. How would Erin react to his plans to sell the ranch?

  “The Double T Ranch is my life,” she said firmly, looking beyond him, and he wondered if she had forgotten his presence. Her green eyes were wide, crystal clear, and now he knew how they darkened with passion. Just looking at her, he wanted to kiss her again. He couldn’t remember any woman who had appealed to him the way Erin did. She had let him take her virginity. That awed him. They’d both had a lot of wine, but he suspected the wine didn’t make that much difference. To think he was the only man she had ever been intimate with was stunning and made him surprisingly pleased and faintly possessive toward her.

  “Where did the Double T name come from?”

  “Tall Timbers was what it was originally called, and they used the two T’s for a brand, so gradually, the ranch came to be called the Double T. That’s how it’s known today.”

  While she relayed some of the history of the ranch and made some remarks about her ancestors, he sipped hot, black coffee and listened.

  Their omelettes came, and as they ate, she continued to tell him about famous horses from their ranch. He listened and half heard what she said, but most of his concentration was purely on her. She looked gorgeous this morning, dewy-eyed, her cheeks pink, looking as if she had slept soundly all night long.

  “You might as well turn in your rental car and ride with me,” Erin said.

  “I’d like that,” he said.

  As soon as they finished eating, they checked out of the hotel.

  At the airport, he returned his rental car to the agency and climbed into a black pickup with her. She drove through San Antonio’s maze of streets that followed nineteenth-century wagon and cattle trails, while Boone watched her drive. What was the chemistry boiling between them that was too strong for either of them to resist?

  “Do you train the horses?”

  “No,” she said, smiling. “We have wonderful trainers. I know some of what they do because I grew up following them around, but I deal mostly with the business part, meeting and dealing with buyers, occasionally going to horse sales—which is where I was for the past two days. You were wrong with your guess that I worked in the television industry.”

  “So I was. In a million tries it wouldn’t have occurred to me that you managed a ranch.”

  She laughed. “I can imagine what you’d conjured up in your mind about the manager.”

  “Believe me, nothing even remotely as breathtaking and gorgeous as the real thing. Now, maybe as feisty—that comes closer to what I imagined.”

  “No one before you has ever described me as feisty.”

  “That’s the way I see you.”

  “Well, you won your bet last night—I willingly told you my name. And you’ve collected, because I’ve told you far more than four new facts about me.”

  “Now I want to know a million—everything,” he said, and she flashed him a quick dimpled smile.

  As she drove, he looked at the passing landscape of lush, green hills that held wildflowers and oak. “This is pretty country.”

  “It’s beautiful country, and lately we’ve had rainfall, so the hills are green.”

  “What are your plans for the future of the ranch?”

  “That depends on you,” she said, sliding him a saucy glance. “You’re the new owner.”

  “If John Frates were still alive, what would your plans be?”

  She shrugged. “To continue as we have in the past. We have excellent stock, superior bloodlines, a fully developed marketing program. It’s a profitable operation, which you’ll see.”

  “Any business connected to John Frates seemed to be a profitable operation,” Boone remarked dryly. “Are you raising these horses to race or for ranching?”

  “Most of our horses are sold to ranchers as working horses, but we’ve had about a fourth that have been bought with racing in mind. We’re not specifically breeding for it, though.”

  He put his hand on her knee. “Careful,” she cautioned. “I need to concentrate on my driving.”

  “I distract you that much?” he asked, arching an eyebrow.

  She gave him another quick glance. “You know darn well you do.”

  “Is this less distracting?” he said, stretching his arm across the seat to caress her nape.

  “No, and you know that, too! Do you want to drive?”

  He smiled. “Not unless you’re tired of driving.”

  “I thought maybe that’s why you were trying to distract me.”

  “Hardly. I wasn’t trying to distract you. I just want my hands on you—even if it is casual.”

  “Nothing is casual with you,” she said softly, and his pulse jumped another notch.

  “Let’s go dancing tomorrow night,” he said. “It’s Friday.”

  She laughed. “You don’t waste any time! The minute we go dancing, we’ll be the talk of the county.”

  “Do you care?”

  She thought that over while she drove. “I guess I don’t. All right, Boone, we’ll go dancing tomorrow night.”

  “Great! I’m not sure I want to wait until Friday.”

  “That’s just tomorrow. You can wait. So, tell me, why is it that you’ll never marry?”

  He had a feeling that any future relationship he wanted with her might be hanging in the balance here, but he had always been honest with the women he dated and he didn’t want to change that now.

  “Earlier I told you about my dad’s death and how I became daddy and head of the household. I’ve raised eight kids because my mom worked two jobs to support us. I’ve had diapers and runny noses and juggling bills and giving up what I wanted to do until the next one got old enough to step in and help. Actually, it wasn’t the next one because that’s a brother who’s as flighty as they come. Anyway, I want my freedom. I’ve been there and done the family scene. I’m not into commitment, marriage or long-term relationships.”

  “That’s plainspoken. I wasn’t contemplating walking down the aisle with you. I was just curious because you sounded emphatic.”

  When she became silent, he wondered if she regretted last night. If anyone looked the type for marriage it was Erin.

  “Tell me about your years in Special Forces,” she said, glancing at him. “That sounds like a wild life.”

  “I was trained for it and it was certainly challenging. I was a chopper pilot. Flying is one of the great loves of my life, so being able to serve my country and help others while being a pilot was great.”

  “You did help others. You saved John.”

  Boone talked about his military background a little and then asked her questions about the ranch, realizing her life was wrapped up in the Double T.

  She told him about neighbors and people in the county and the people who worked on the ranch. Finally they reached land that had an antiquated-looking wooden fence stretching in the distance.

  “Here’s where boundaries for the ranch start,” she informed him, and he gazed out over more hills, then his view was blocked by thick stands of oak. He was amazed by the size of the place
even though he had read about the amount of acreage, but to see it made it real.

  “Do you have any boots, Boone?”

  “Yes, I do. I come from a Kansas farm. This isn’t totally new to me.”

  “We do have snakes. You’re in the flying business, so the ranch must hold little interest for you. John Frates was here maybe twice a year. What do you plan to do?”

  Her question hung in the air while Boone contemplated his answer. This was the moment to break it to her that he considered selling the ranch.

  Four

  G lancing into his blue eyes, she wondered what he had planned to do with the ranch, and when the silence grew, she realized it was something he didn’t want to tell her.

  “I’m thinking about talking you into selling,” he admitted in a solemn tone.

  A chill ran down her spine, yet she plastered a smile on her face. “And you were confident you could convince me to agree, right? Since according to the will, I have to agree before you can sell the place.”

  “I’m aware of that,” he replied. “I’m going to have to rethink some things. You’re not what I was expecting.”

  “Why would you want to sell the ranch? It’s highly profitable.”

  “I’m interested in my air charter business, not a ranch. I’m interested in flying, as I said.”

  “But you can have both easily,” Erin protested. “You’re not essential to the ranch. John Frates was seldom here. You’re not necessary in any way to running the place,” she said quietly. “That’s my job. Why would you want to give up something that can earn you big money year after year?”

  “Because the Double T is worth a lot if I sell it, and I can take the money from the ranch and pour it into my business.”

  “You’re not exactly without funds,” she pointed out. “I know the terms of John’s will.”

  “At the moment I’m postponing things because right now—” his voice lowered seductively as he drew his finger slowly from her wrist to her shoulder “—I’m in no hurry to leave Texas.”

  Trying to ignore the zinging current from his light touch, she slanted him a quick look. The obvious desire in his expression confirmed what he’d said.

  “When did you start your air charter business?”

  “When I got out of the military a couple of years ago. It’s new, but it’s growing and keeps me busy and I’ve hired four more pilots and bought another plane. I’ve got orders for two more planes.”

  “Who runs the business while you’re here?”

  “I’ve got a buddy, Mason Sloane, who works for me, and he’s in charge in my absence. I can count on him. Actually, I can count on any employee who works for me. My guys are a reliable bunch.”

  “So are the ranch hands. Some of them are like I am—fourth or fifth generation to work on the ranch.”

  “You’re young and beautiful—”

  She wrinkled her nose at him in protest.

  “Why do you want to bury yourself out on a remote ranch? Don’t you want to date, get married, see the world, do things?” Boone asked.

  “I don’t want to leave it. I told you, the ranch is my life. It’s exciting and a challenge and my tie to my family and the past.”

  “I’m surprised he didn’t will you the ranch.”

  “John told me many times that he expected me to marry and move away. My sister was gone as soon as possible.”

  “He didn’t protect your interests very well.”

  “Yes, he did. You have to have my permission to sell the Double T,” she reminded him. “That protects my interest.”

  “I’m also surprised you didn’t make some effort to buy it yourself.”

  She shook her head and her thick, red hair swirled across her shoulders and he couldn’t resist sliding his arm over to wind his fingers in her silky locks. With an effort he tried to pay attention to what she was saying and keep his mind off memories of the night.

  “I like being solvent,” she explained. “I have a trust and I get a generous salary, plus a commission from the ranch. The money I make is more than adequate, in addition to a comfortable inheritance. No, I have no inclination to purchase the ranch.”

  Boone half listened as she gave him histories of the most spectacular horses raised on the ranch. He heard names—Gypsy Runner, White Wind, but his thoughts were on Erin.

  Erin totally captivated him. He wanted her in his bed tonight and he suspected there was little he could do if she did not want to be there. He couldn’t ever recall spending a night with a woman that held the excitement and intensity of last night. And he couldn’t ever recall a woman walking away after one night with him. He had always been the one to walk away.

  From the first few moments in the parking lot, Erin had been unpredictable, and he suspected that wasn’t going to change any time in the near future. She slowed, and he stopped watching her to shift his attention to the open gates to the ranch.

  Supporting the gates, two stacked stone columns rose high into the air with a metal arch connecting them. A wooden sign bearing the Double T brand hung from the arch. As they drove over the cattle guard, Boone shifted uncomfortably. He had an uneasy premonition that his life was about to change again. And maybe in a manner he couldn’t control. He shrugged away the feeling, something he hadn’t experienced for years. In his adult life he had been in control of most situations and when he hadn’t been in control, he had been working hard to get control of whatever he was involved in.

  They sped along a hard-packed dirt road until she slowed to top a rise. At the foot of it, one end of a broken bridge lay smashed in a rushing creek. The other end of the bridge was still secure.

  “There’s the reason they told me to avoid trying to get home last night and just stay in a hotel in town.”

  “Good reason, and I’m grateful to a rainstorm and a fallen bridge.”

  Erin left the road and drove down the embankment, the car sliding in the mud. At the bottom, she forded the creek. Outside, tumbling muddy water came halfway up the tires. Boone watched her handle the pickup with ease that he knew was old stuff to her. She impressed him besides the wild attraction that burned between them.

  “This creek was up over the bridge last night?” he asked.

  “Hard to imagine, isn’t it? And now it’s down again,” she said, driving through the creek and returning to the road on the other side.

  In minutes, houses and other buildings of the ranch came into view. “There,” she said, “is your new home. Seventeen thousand square feet of luxury, ten bedrooms and nine and a half baths. Like what you see?”

  “I like what I see beyond my wildest imagination,” he said in a husky voice, and she shot a glance at him to find him staring at her.

  “Look at your house, for heaven’s sake!” she exclaimed while her cheeks became pink.

  “This view is infinitely more fascinating, but I’ll look.” Turning, he saw the palatial grounds only partially visible through the trees surrounding the tended grounds that were divided by a tall, black wrought-iron fence from the wild pastureland on three sides and the driveway on the other.

  “Holy Toledo!” he exclaimed, once again shocked by John Frates’s wealth. The sprawling three-story house was certainly a mansion. “Was I ever off in my visions of this ranch and its manager!”

  “I can well imagine,” Erin remarked dryly.

  Across from the house were the other structures. “There are three stables with their runs, our corral, a feed-storage building, an office, my house and our foreman’s house. Two of the accountants live on the ranch, other employees have their own houses here. There’s a bunkhouse, a shop, a track.”

  As she continued listing ranch structures, his gaze ran over three picturesque, rustic-looking stables constructed of aging, gray weathered boards.

  In addition to the ranch house, he saw other sizable houses with attractive, landscaped and fenced yards stretching out of sight farther down one of the roads beyond the house. Roads splintered off in various di
rections from the main road.

  “This looks like its own small town. Or not-so-small town,” Boone remarked, stunned by the size of the place.

  “We sort of are our own town,” she replied. “The first house is my home. The one across the road is a guest house. The large Frates home is now yours.”

  “I can’t imagine,” he said quietly, eyeing the magnificent structure that had wings in a U-shaped direction. “It still isn’t real to me, and I can’t see myself living in that mansion.”

  “It’s yours to do with as you please. By the way, my house is a little island that was deeded to my grandfather years ago. Even though it is surrounded by the Double T, that little bit of land is mine.”

  “I remember. With the size of this place, your few acres hardly matter.”

  She passed his ten-car garage that held an assortment of vehicles. His gaze ran over an all-terrain vehicle, a shiny, black sports car, another pickup and a Jeep. She slowed and stopped in front of her own three-car garage. When they climbed out of the car, he took her bag out of the pickup and carried his own. As she walked around the car, he blocked her path.

  “Give me your things. I’ll carry them,” he said, taking another bag from her hand and remaining immobile, still blocking her way. “Erin, come stay with me tonight,” he said solemnly.

  She blinked, uncertainty and concern filling her green eyes. Sunlight caught glints of gold in her red hair. The vision of her gazing back at him in silence would be etched in his memory for a long time to come, he was sure. He was surprised how important her answer was to him.

  “I’ll have to think that one over,” she replied. “You want me tonight, tomorrow you may be gone.”

  His heart sank. It was the answer he dreaded and had half expected. “Darlin’, I want you in my arms tonight.”

  Again, she stared at him so long that it made him nervous and feeling as if he were about sixteen and asking a girl to the prom, only this was more important than any prom.

  “Slow down, Boone. This is new to me, and I need to think things through. I know you’re not into commitment of any kind. While I’m not asking for commitment, I’m also not into casual, so I have to give your request some thought before I answer.”