Rancher's Deadly Reunion Read online

  He cut the thought off, seeing new activity on her laptop. Speaking of email...she was apparently writing one to—he leaned closer to the screen to see what she’d typed—Josh and Zane. Her brothers.

  He set his now-soggy dinner aside and rolled his desk chair closer to the monitor where he followed her activity.

  Hi guys, I just booked my flight out for Mom and Dad’s anniversary party. Can one of you dolts find it in your hearts to pick me up and save me the cab fare in from Denver? I arrive on the Wednesday before the party at 3:10 p.m. Love you both (despite your many flaws!) Ha ha! P.

  An anniversary party, huh? He rubbed his jaw and considered that for a moment. On the surface, a family event seemed innocent enough, but...

  Ken ground his back teeth together and stared at the monitor, as if he could read any hidden agenda into her return to her family’s ranch. She had a good job, a good life here in Boston. She had him here in Boston, even if she hadn’t yet realized what they could mean to each other. Maybe he was paranoid, but every time she went back to Colorado, he worried that she might decide she was missing something by not being close to her family. She talked fairly often about her brothers. He knew she and her brothers were triplets. Did she have some triplet bond with her brothers that might trump everything she had here in Boston?

  Mentally, he bumped up the urgency to hack her cell phone before she left town in a couple weeks. He couldn’t be sure how closely he’d be able to observe her once she got to Colorado, and he needed that additional link to her ASAP.

  He went back to reserving a flight to Denver, then pulled up a list of motels near Boyd Valley, Colorado. Piper had said the town was small and rather remote, and the lack of lodging options in the town confirmed that. Two motels were listed within a twenty-five mile radius. One called The Mountaineer in Boyd Valley itself and a place called Catch-a-Wink in a community ten miles to the south. Next closest result was 56 miles away. He clicked the link for The Mountaineer’s website and arrived at a rudimentary website that looked like it had been created as a junior high kid’s school project. Jotting down the phone number for the office, he’d started tapping in the number on his cell phone. Activity on his monitor caught his attention. A quick reply from one of the brothers to her email.

  Of course we’ll pick you up, dummy. No prob. Can’t wait to see your ugly mug! LOL! BTW, do you want to go in thirds on the cruise Josh and I are giving them as their gift? Have a good trip, Zane

  “Mountaineer Inn. Can I help you?” asked the woman who answered his call.

  “Yeah, you got any rooms left for later this month?”

  “Absolutely. How many rooms do you need, and when will you be checking in?”

  “Just one room.” He only gave the lady from the motel half of his attention as he rattled off an alias. If Boyd Valley was as small as Piper said, it wouldn’t do for her to catch wind of his presence there thanks to some town gossip.

  “Can I pay cash for the room when I get there?”

  “Yes, if you pay for the full stay on arrival.” The lady from The Mountaineer went on to rattle off a spiel about their hot breakfast and something about local attractions, but he tuned her out.

  Piper was replying to Zane’s email.

  Yes on the cruise. I already told Josh that. Not surprised Doofus forgot to tell you! :-) I’ll give you a check when I get there. Excited! See you soon, P.

  “Yeah,” he muttered, hanging up on the lady at the motel. “We’ll see you soon, bro.”

  * * *

  Piper McCall entered the baggage claim area at Denver International Airport and scanned the crowd for a familiar face. Her brothers had assured her they would pick her up, but since then some question had come up about which of them it would be. Despite the long flight, she actually looked forward to the ride to the Double M Ranch. The hour-long drive would give her the chance to catch up on ranch and family news. She hadn’t seen her identical twin brothers, the other two-thirds of the McCall triplets, since Christmas.

  She missed the bond she’d had with her brothers. She might have felt a bit odd-woman-out growing up, but you didn’t share a womb for nine months and not have a connection to your siblings.

  “Piper!” a strong male voice called over the crowd noise, and she turned in the direction she’d heard her name. And froze.

  The face she spotted by the luggage carts was definitely someone from the ranch. But not one of her brothers.

  Brady Summers.

  Son of their foreman. Her first love. And her first lover.

  Her mouth dried. Why did it have to be Brady?

  He raised a hand to make sure she’d seen him, and she bobbed a stiff nod of acknowledgment. Her gut somersaulting, she wove through the milling passengers and airport personnel toward Brady.

  She silently cursed her mother, who had, no doubt, set this up. She’d have to explain to her mother, again, that she and Brady were over. Kaput. History. Time to stop throwing them together, believing that the old spark would reignite, and the McCalls and Summerses would live happily ever after.

  She exhaled a cleansing breath. Okay, so her mother didn’t know the whole truth about what had happened between Piper and Brady. Probably for the best. Piper shuddered internally at the notion of what her mother might do if she knew the whole story, the whole, checkered past between her and the foreman’s son.

  Brady doffed his cowboy hat as Piper approached and gave her his charming, lopsided grin. “Hey there. Good flight?”

  “Average.” She heard the slight falter in her voice, the flutter that matched her staggering heartbeat.

  Damn it, why did he have to look so good to her even after all these years? Better even. His youthful face had matured with a stronger jawline, sharper angles to his cheekbones and more rugged overall appeal. Brady’s eyes were the same piercing green, though, and the smile that tugged at his lips had the same power to tie her insides in giddy knots. His gaze held hers as he greeted her, and she felt his stare to her marrow. Could he see how he still affected her? How the mere sight of him turned her insides to goo?

  Steeling herself, Piper surreptitiously wiped her sweaty palms on the seat of her jeans.

  “Welcome home.” He reached for the backpack she had draped on one shoulder, and she shrugged away.

  “I can get this. I have two suitcases coming, though. Carousel 3.”

  He lifted a shoulder. “All right.”

  She jerked a nod and turned to search the lit signs for the carousel.

  “Piper?”

  She glanced back at him. Please don’t make this harder than it already is.

  His gaze dropped to a boy standing slightly behind him. The boy was playing with a small windup fire truck, rolling the toy up the side of a trash can. “Connor, c’mere. I want you to meet someone.”

  Connor glanced up, staring at Piper for a moment, his eyes the same clear green as a Rocky Mountain lake. The same green as Brady’s eyes. Air backed up in her lungs. If her life had gone differently...

  Connor scuttled to Brady’s side, jerking her from the dangerous path of what-ifs.

  “Piper, this is Connor. My nephew.”

  The breath she’d been holding left her in a gush. His nephew. Of course. Relief made her knees tremble, but on the heels of that release came the stark reminder of why his nephew was with him.

  Brady’s brother and sister-in-law were killed in a bad traffic accident on Interstate 70, her mother had said in a phone call a few months back. When had that been? January? February? The couple had left custody of their son to Brady, a move that still puzzled her. Pam had family, sisters with children who’d surely have been better equipped to care for the little boy.

  She worked to hide her dismay over the couple’s deaths from the boy.

  “Connor, this is Josh and Zane’s sister, Piper. Can you tell her hello?”

  Th
e boy stepped forward with a shy smile and stuck his hand out. “Hello. I’m Connor. Nice to meet you.”

  A smile bloomed on her face, and she took the small proffered hand. Crouching to the boy’s level and letting her backpack slip to the floor, she said, “Pleased to meet you, Connor. You have wonderful manners.”

  He twitched a crooked grin and shrugged. “Yeah. I know.”

  She snorted a laugh before she could muffle it. Glancing up at Brady, she added, “And so humble.”

  He grinned and flipped up his palm. “He’s a work in progress.”

  Piper sandwiched Connor’s hand between hers in a warm clasp. “How old are you, Connor?”

  “Six.” His face brightened. “I had a cowboy birthday party.”

  Piper chuckled. “Cowboys, huh? Like your uncle?”

  “And Grampa. He’s foreman at the Double M!”

  Piper matched the boy’s enthusiastic expression. “I know! Guess what? I’ve known your Grampa since before I was your age.”

  Connor tipped his head and gave her a skeptical frown. “Really?”

  “The Double M is my family’s ranch. I grew up there.”

  He nodded sagely. “Like Josh and Zane.”

  She tapped his nose. “Bingo. They’re my brothers. We’re triplets. We were all born the same day.”

  “And Brady?” Connor’s green eyes widened. “He grew up at the Double M, too. Like my daddy. ’Cept... Mama and Daddy died. So now Brady’s my daddy.”

  Piper’s smile drooped, and her throat clogged painfully as if she’d swallowed a jagged stone. She angled her gaze to Brady and nodded. “Right. And Brady. I knew Brady and your dad growing up.” Drawing deep breath to regain her composure, she pushed to her feet. “Wanna help me get my suitcases?”

  She tousled Connor’s sandy-brown hair, the same color as Brady’s—

  She determinedly cut the thought off as she hiked her backpack onto her shoulder again. Not Brady’s. Like Scott’s. But even that wasn’t right, she thought as she set off toward the luggage carousel.

  She cast a side-glance at Brady as they made their way through the crowd, allowing herself to conjure a painful memory from the first summer she’d been home from college. The trip that summer had been the first time she’d returned to Colorado since breaking up with Brady and setting out for Boston, for independence, for her fresh start. That first year had been the toughest year of her life, and seeing Brady after eleven months away from home and family had been gut-wrenching.

  In a stiff conversation with Brady in the stables, an accidental meeting she’d barely made it through without crying, she’d asked all the polite questions.

  “How’s your dad?”

  “Dad is Dad. Same as always.”

  “And Scott?”

  “Good. He and Pam adopted a baby.”

  Piper remembered the stabbing pain in her heart and how she’d forced a quivering smile. “Wow. That’s great. Tell them congratulations from me.”

  Connor wasn’t Scott’s biological son, so the similarities she saw between Connor and Brady were just coincidence. Or some misplaced wishful thinking. Or her head playing the heart-wrenching what-if game again.

  Brady placed a callus-roughened hand on Connor’s head, lightly ruffling the boy’s silky hair, as they waited beside carousel 3 for the belt to start moving. “What do your suitcases look like?”

  “Plain black like a thousand others.” She set her backpack at her feet and rubbed her aching shoulder. “One has a red luggage tag, and I tied a little blue ribbon on the other.”

  He nodded. “Got it.”

  “So...you drew the short straw, huh?” she asked without looking at him. She pretended to be intently watching the crowd and the shadowed maw where her flight’s cargo would soon appear.

  “Pardon?”

  “To come get me. You pulled the short straw?”

  “Actually, I volunteered.”

  She cut a side-glance at him and met his piercing gaze. “You did?”

  “Yeah. I thought Connor would get a kick outta seeing the airplanes, the terminal. Oh, before we leave, I’ve promised him we can get a cinnamon pretzel at Auntie Anne’s.”

  A loud warning beep blared from a speaker just above their heads, interrupting any reply. He wasn’t here for her. He was here for Connor...and a cinnamon pretzel. She wasn’t sure how that made her feel. Relief? Disappointment? And why did it matter to her?

  The conveyor belt started rolling, and someone with an oversize duffel bag on his arm pushed past Piper, knocking her into Brady. She tripped over her backpack, lost her balance and landed against him with an oof, her hands splayed on his chest and her nose in the V of his open collar.

  Brady wrapped his arm around her waist to steady her as she regained her footing, and heat flashed through her. From his taut body, from embarrassment...and from a kick of lust she couldn’t quell. As she righted herself, she drew a deep, calming breath and immediately regretted it.

  Brady smelled so good. And familiar. A sexy combination of soap, hay and male warmth that took her back to hours spent in his arms. Naked. Inquisitive. Bursting with young love and rampant teenage desire.

  Piper shifted her grip from his chest to his arms, trying to wiggle free of his hold. “I’m good. You can let go.”

  But he didn’t.

  After a couple of strained seconds, she glanced up to repeat herself. Maybe he hadn’t heard her in the din and bustle of the airport. When she met his eyes, her voice stuck in her throat. The intensity of his gaze left no question that his thoughts had followed a similar track to hers. Motes of longing swirled through the green depths and tangled with shadows of regret. His mouth looked soft, but his jaw muscles flexed and tightened with restraint. He wanted to kiss her. She recognized that look well, and so did the muscles in her belly that quickened and the nerves in her lips that tingled with the memory of his kisses. How easy it would be to push up on her toes and steal the kiss his eyes promised.

  Instead, she forced her throat to loosen enough to wheeze. “I’m okay. L-let go.”

  Slowly, his arm slipped away, even though his stare held hers for several more painful heartbeats. Despite her assurances to Brady that she could stand alone, her knees trembled as she stepped back, threatening to give out.

  Pull it together, McCall! This moony, love-sick calf act will not help you get through the week and back to Boston with your heart intact. With the steely determination that had helped her survive her freshman year, keeping her grades up while she battled morning sickness and a broken heart, she shoved aside the jittery sparks dancing through her and put some starch in her spine.

  “That one?” a young voice asked, and she felt a tug on her shirt. She glanced down at Brady’s nephew and found him pointing behind her. “That one has blue string.”

  Blue string...suitcase...airport. Piper blinked several times, bringing her surroundings back into focus. For just a moment, she’d lost track of the rest of the world. Being with Brady had a way of narrowing her scope to just the two of them.

  “Grab it, buddy.” Brady stepped past her, a guiding hand on Connor’s shoulder.

  The little boy scuttled forward through the crowd with his uncle at his heels. When Connor grabbed the huge suitcase’s handle and struggled to drag it off the conveyor belt, Brady added a helping hand. After the bag thunked to the floor, Brady stepped back, letting his nephew raise the handle and roll the suitcase through the crowd.

  Piper shook the tension from her hands and arms and blew out a puff of air, gathering some semblance of composure. Pasting on a smile for Connor, she reached for the oversized suitcase as he dragged it to her feet. “Need some help?”

  “I got it,” Connor said and grunted. “Sheesh! How many clothes did you bring? That’s heavy!”

  “Oh, that’s not clothes. That’s my bag of rocks.”


  Connor frowned for a second before twisting his mouth in a crooked grin. “You’re teasing!”

  She flashed a playful grin and shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not.”

  Brady approached with her other suitcase in tow and asked, “Is this it?”

  She nodded. “Thanks. I think that’s everything.”

  “All right then.” Brady dug his keys from his pocket and bounced them once in his hand. “Let’s go home.”

  Piper’s stomach swooped. Home. Once upon a time, she’d called the Double M Ranch home. But she had a new life now in Boston. She’d found the independence she’d been looking for when she went to college, but that independence had come at a cost. She’d lost the close family connections she’d taken for granted growing up. She’d stayed away from the ranch for most of the last seven years. Her freshman year, she’d hidden herself at college to protect the secret she carried, afraid of her family’s reaction, running from Brady and from a future that couldn’t be. She’d flogged herself with regret and guilt. Each year that followed, she allowed herself brief visits, but kept mostly to the main house, avoiding the stable and cattle pens at times she knew Brady would be there.

  “Wait!” Connor cried as they started for the parking garage. “Don’t forget my pretzel!”

  “Oh, right,” Brady said, giving his head a shake and patting Connor on the back. “Sorry, buddy. Now let’s see. Where is Auntie Anne’s?”

  A review of the airport map in the lobby showed the only Auntie Anne’s was past the security gates.

  “Sorry, buddy. They won’t let us go to the part of the airport where the pretzel store is without a ticket,” Brady told his nephew and ruffled the boy’s hair.

  “Where do we get a ticket?” Connor asked.

  “We don’t. Not today.”

  Connor wrinkled his nose in protest. “How come? You said I could have a pretzel!”

  “I know. I’m sorry.” The look on Brady’s face said everything he didn’t. How much he hated letting his nephew down. How hard he was thinking about a way to make it up to Connor. Piper sent Brady a sympathetic smile and tapped Connor on the shoulder.