The Rancher's Surrender

'I don't know what I believe anymore.' She started walking again.

They spent the rest of the day in tense, terse silence.

* * *

Zoe's office window drew her for the tenth time, where she peeked into the yard. Unable to get a really good view, she stretched farther, nearly falling out in the process, but then she could see and what she saw made her blood pump. 'Oh Lord,' she whispered.

'What's out there?'

Zoe jerked back as Delia and Maddie entered the room. They looked surprised to see her leaning out the window, twisted to see something just out of their vision, and she straightened quickly.

'Nothing,' she said as casually as she could. 'It's nothing.' She shut the curtains nonchalantly.

'Hmm.' With a lift of her smooth brow, Delia walked over and lifted a corner of the curtain, then tucked her tongue into her cheek. 'Well if 'nothing' is the most gorgeous man I've ever seen, stripped to his tanned, toned waist, working in the sun, then you're right. There's nothing out there, and his name is Ty.'

Maddie leaped for a view, and the two of them stood in awe for a moment, watching the man as he reinforced the wood railing on the arena. 'Wow.'

Muscles gleamed with a faint sheen of sweat as he pounded nails. 'Double wow,' Delia agreed.

'Ohh, for God's sake, you're drooling,' Zoe snapped, making them both laugh at her.

'You never did explain that kiss we didn't know about,' Delia said lightly.

'Kisses,' Maddie corrected her helpfully. 'Remember at the bonfire? Ty specifically said 'kisses.' And they knocked his socks off. What kind of kiss knocks that kind of man's socks off, I wonder?'

'A damn hot one,' Delia guessed, grinning as Zoe rolled her eyes.

'Do you really have nothing to do that you can come in here and drive me insane?' she wondered.

Delia smiled innocently. 'What happened, hon? You were working outside, helping Ty. Did it get too… uh, hot for you out there?'

It was true, Zoe had been helping outside, in between covert glances at Ty's unbelievably sexy body, until he'd caught her.

He'd come straight to her, dropping his hat and hammer. His gloves went next. 'You keep looking at me like that,' he'd vowed in a low whisper for her ears only, 'and I'm going to take you into your office and remind you whose turn it is to be satisfied.'

At the reminder of what he'd done to her in her bed, at how fast he'd driven her to climax with his mouth and fingers, she'd nearly moaned out loud.

He'd half groaned, half laughed. 'Don't say I didn't warn you,' he threatened softly. 'Because I'll be happy to show you what that look on your face does to me.'

Now, in her office with her two grinning, meddling sisters waiting for answers, Zoe cleared her throat and wished it was as easy to clear her mind. 'For your information, I had to work on the books,' she said primly. She reached for Socks, who was snoozing across her desk. He meowed a lazy greeting, rolled on his back and offered his belly for scratching.

'Coward,' Delia said to her, moving back to the door with Maddie. 'That man is crazy for you. And I think you're crazy for him.' She paused and looked meaningfully into Zoe's eyes. 'And you do deserve him, Zoe. You, more than anyone I know, deserves a chance at real happiness. At letting a man love her.'

Love. Her stomach tightened. 'No one said anything about love.'

Delia smiled sadly. 'No one had to.'

'I'm fine, Delia.'

'I hope so. This wouldn't by any chance have anything to do with thinking you don't know who you are, would it?'

Zoe sighed and rubbed her temples. 'Delia-'

'It's so ridiculous, hon, I'm sorry. You are who you make yourself.' She let out a little laugh. 'No one knows that better than me. Except for maybe that man out there, the one who's trying not to pay any more attention to you than you are to him.'

'How did we get on this subject?' Zoe asked, lifting her hands in exasperation. 'I don't want to talk about this.'

'You never do,' Delia murmured.

'I am a coward,' Zoe told Socks when she was alone, snuggling him closer. 'But God help me, I have no idea what to do. How do I tell him how I feel when I'm not even sure I know?'

But deep down, she knew that was a lie. She knew how she felt, she was just too afraid to admit it.

* * *

Triple M began to show promise. A few reservations trickled in for fall. Just enough to generate excitement and rejuvenate energies.

No one, least of all Zoe, was able to predict success, and everyone's pocket was stretched to the limit, even Ty's. Still, the feeling of such pride was immeasurable.

Ty was thankful for the long, busy, tireless days. It gave him something to do other than think.

But the truth was, he had finally come to terms with Ben's death, and he knew Ben would be happy with what Ty was doing for Triple M. The loss still hurt, but the mountains, the clear air, the utter peace the wilds gave him worked like a healing balm.

So did Zoe.

He wasn't sure why that was, when for every step he took forward, she shoved them back three, but he just accepted the fact. Zoe had changed his life. For the better.

He was on his horse, checking and retracing one of the day paths they intended to use for guests, when he came upon her. It surprised him, for she was on one of the horses they'd purchased, and she was by herself. A beginner, she'd taken to the saddle the way she took to everything. With utter concentration and conviction. She didn't ride often, she didn't have the time, but he hoped that would change simply because he loved the expression on her face right now. The quiet peace he saw there gave him hope.

Maybe he wasn't the only one the wilds of Idaho had helped to heal.

'You look good up there,' he said, and she did, with her hair free and cheeks red from the outdoors. 'Like you belong.'

'It feels good,' she admitted. Beneath her, Misty shifted, impatient to run. Just a moment before that impatience had been her own. She'd wanted to race into the hills, where the wildflowers lined the winding trails through deep woods, along spongy marshes and sagebrush flats. She'd wanted to go and never stop, until she could laugh aloud with the freedom of it all and not be heard.

'Are you happy?'

Ty's sudden question surprised her; the seriousness in his voice did not. He had a hat on today. His dark hair was getting long, his face tanned from the long summer days. He sat in the saddle as if he'd been born there, his broad shoulders relaxed, the reins light in his hand, looking like a man well fitted to his life. To her life.

He was a part of her, she realized with some surprise. She'd spent some part of every single day with him for months. He could make her laugh, he could make her cry. He could make her angry.

And he could make her weak with just one, dark, hungry look that tugged at something so elementary, so deep, she couldn't define it.

Truth was, he made her feel, and she could no longer envision her life without him in it. 'I am happy here,' she admitted, a little unnerved by her realization. I'm happy when I'm with you.

He shook his head. Sliding off his horse, he came closer, reaching up a hand so that she had no choice but to get down as well.