The Rancher's Surrender

was only one thing to do.

'I came here tonight to talk to all of you,' he said. Zoe frowned, Maddie's brow wrinkled in worry. Delia sat calmly, waiting. Typical, he thought. The pessimist, the worrier, the cool one. Already, they were worming their way into his affections. He couldn't stand the thought of any of them being hurt.

That it was him trying to hurt them was unbearable. 'I'd like to be your partner,' he said.

That was met with stunned silence.

'You're already manager,' Zoe said suspiciously.

And how she hated that. 'This would be different. I'd be an equal partner. I'd share the losses.'

'And the profits,' she pointed out.

'Well, yes.'

They all stared at him, three pairs of wide eyes, as if he'd lost his marbles.

'Hey, this is a good thing, ladies,' he said, smiling into their pensive silence. 'You want a ranch. You don't have the needed capital. I do. It would give you money to survive on until you got your stock built up through purchases and breeding.'

'Wait a minute. Did you say breeding?' Delia carefully set down her drink. 'Here?'

She said breeding as if it were a four-letter word, and it made Ty laugh. Delia was a city girl, born and bred. Los Angeles was her playground. Hell, she probably did think breeding was a bad word.

Once upon a time he had felt stifled in a city, claustrophobic. Chicago was a place where one couldn't even turn around without bumping elbows with a neighbor, and he had resented that. Ben had, too, and for as long as he could remember, Ty had wanted out.

He needed open space. Fresh air. His own land, lots of it.

What he needed was their land.

'And you have enough money just lying around that you could lend it to us,' Zoe said, with serious doubt.

'Yes.' He hadn't gotten it by inheritance, that much was certain. His mother had been a whore, his father a career criminal. He didn't have any relatives who would leave him a time bomb, much less something of value. He'd simply been very successful at raising and training horses, investing his profits wisely, making the most of what he'd earned.

'And how much is this going to cost us?' Zoe asked. 'In say… land?'

Trust her to speak so bluntly. 'I'm not going to cheat you out of anything, Zoe. Ever.'

Her eyes, the color of drenched moss in the dim light, stared at him warily, unwilling to believe, which hurt in a way he hadn't expected.

'Well, I for one know you'd never hurt us,' Delia said gently as she scooted around the pizza to put her arm on his shoulders. She squeezed him. 'We just don't want to take your money, that's all.'

'It wouldn't be right,' Maddie said, smiling sweetly and patting his knee. 'You keep it for yourself, Ty.'

He couldn't believe it, but his throat actually tightened at their easy affection and trust. He hugged Delia back, and touched Maddie's lovely face. Something about the heat warring with fear in Zoe's eyes kept his hands off her, for she wasn't as simple to show easy affection to as her sisters.

But he wanted to touch her, the need shocked him. 'I can help,' he said instead. 'You expected this place to be up and running.'

'But, Ty, we hadn't decided that we were definitely going to… breed,' Delia pointed out.

Ty had spent every summer since he was ten on a series of ranches in 'the country,' really just a suburb of Chicago. At first he'd been sent there by the city officials because no one had wanted the trouble-causing boy he'd been. He'd been worked hard, and he had grown to love every minute of it, while still pretending to hate it

Then later he'd gone willingly, taking Ben, feeling more at home in the great outdoors than anywhere else. He loved horses, loved all animals, and had begged, borrowed and practically stolen to make Ben's fantasy of ranching come true.

It had to be in one's blood to make this hard living work. And if it wasn't in these women's blood, they'd go away and he would buy the land. Then they'd all win.

'Let me get this straight.' Zoe studied him carefully. 'You want to be involved as a partner, not just to manage, but to own a part of it.'

'Yep.'

'You want to control it.'

Her mistrust was palpable, and he couldn't help but wonder what had happened to her to make her this way. 'I wouldn't even attempt to control you, Zoe,' he said softly, everything else fading away but this woman with the beautiful and so-unsure eyes. 'If that's what you're thinking.'

'You couldn't, anyway,' she said, lifting her chin.

'It snows here in the wintertime,' Delia said shakily.

'Quite a bit,' Ty told her.

'If we had a bunch of animals here, we wouldn't be able to head south for warmer weather.'

'You'll love cross-country skiing. I'll teach you,' Ty said, shocked to discover he meant it. But they were leaving soon. He was counting on it, he reminded himself.

'Oh Lord,' Delia murmured, rubbing her head. 'It just hit me. The wilds. We're really living in the wilds.'

'Eighty-three thousand square miles of wonder,' he confirmed. 'That's Idaho. There's no place more wild in the U.S., except for maybe Alaska.'

Delia moaned.

'Well, it's not like we're camping,' Maddie pointed out in her quiet, infinite wisdom. 'You have electricity for your hair dryer, Delia. A tub for your bubble bath.'

Zoe let loose enough to laugh, the sound unexpectedly light and happy. Her tense face transposed, softened… and took Ty's breath away. He couldn't take his eyes off her.

'Skiing,' Zoe murmured a bit dreamily. 'I've always wanted to try it.'

The yearning in her voice tugged at him. 'You're in, Slim?'

He knew what the stakes were for her, Delia had told him. After years of going to college at night while working full-time during the day, Zoe had finally gotten her business degree. Would she be happy running a ranch when a cool, easy living was all she'd ever wanted?

'And you're going to stick with us?' she wondered. 'No matter what?'

They were still watching each other, so that there was no hiding what flickered between them. Honesty, fear. Need. Startling need. 'I'm going to stick, no matter what,' he said.

He saw the moment his response registered. The promise he was making. Saw, too, her fierce disbelief, and he experienced a strange urge to pound whoever had hurt her so badly in her past, whoever had caused Zoe to accept a promise, any promise, with such mistrust.

'Well, I think you'd make a good partner,' Maddie said softly, with a shy smile. 'But only if Delia and Zoe agree.'

Delia's wide gaze whipped to Maddie. She was so uncustomarily ruffled she forgot to pretend she wasn't.

'I promise to make sure all the amenities run smoothly,' Ty said seriously, though he wanted to sigh in relief. They'd never stay long, and while he might actually miss them, he convinced himself he was doing them a favor. 'I'll even build a Jacuzzi, Delia. Just for you.'

'Oh, really?' She beamed. 'You really will?'

'Promise.'

'Okay, but I won't raise pigs. Or kill anything that makes red meat,' Delia said firmly.

'No problem. We can start with horses if you'd like.' Delia flipped back her hair and took a deep, calming breath. 'Oh God. Okay. I'm in, too. Maddie's right. You'd be a great partner. Zoe?'

All eyes flew to Zoe, including Ty's. She looked at him, unusually intense.

And again that strange, inexplicable communication happened between them. She was looking for honesty and he'd claimed to have given it, but he hadn't, not fully.

He was counting on them leaving and guilt hit hard.

She deserved more, but unfortunately he couldn't give it.