Chapter Eight

The scent of Meadow's fresh cinnamon rolls broke through Ivy's sleep haze and had her following her nose straight to the kitchen. Oh yes, she knew she could count on Meadow to come through with her favorite baked treat. She always made them for Ivy's birthday and even Christmas morning.

After waking at her usual European time, she stood at the window, staring up at the moon until the stars faded to daylight. Still tired, she returned to bed and dozed on and off for a few hours before the rest of the ranch woke.

When she walked into the kitchen and saw the handsome man seated at the table with Meadow on his knee, Ivy came to a stop.

Colton's Stetson rested on the table. And his lips were on Meadow's throat as if she were the scrumptious treat instead of the platter of warm cinnamon rolls.

Her sister had her head tossed back, a giggle on her lips, as her boyfriend sampled her for breakfast.

Ivy had two choices: back out quietly, return to her room and forget about hot cinnamon rolls…or give her sister a hard time.

"Get a room. People need to eat in here." She strode directly to the coffeemaker and poured herself a steaming mug.

The couple making out not three feet away stopped what they were doing and looked at her.

"You're up early. We thought you might sleep in." Meadow didn't bother climbing off Colton's lap as she addressed Ivy.

"Actually," she leaned against the counter, cradling her mug, "I've been up since sparrow-fart."

At the military reference to such an early hour of the day, Colton's lips twitched upward.

She drew a sip of coffee into her mouth. "Ahh. You can't know how much I needed this."

They both stared at her.

She paused. "What?"

Meadow climbed off Colton's lap and smoothed her hands over her top. "Have you been in bed this whole time waiting for somebody to make the coffee?"

She threw her sister a sly smile. "No. I was waiting for somebody to make my favorite breakfast." She walked over to the table and grabbed a warm roll off the platter.

Sinking to a vacant seat, she took a bite of ooey, gooey cinnamon pastry with cream cheese frosting and groaned around the mouthful.

Meadow shook her head at her antics, even though she wore an expression of pride that Ivy had seen numerous times. Deep down, Meadow enjoyed pleasing people. It was how she expressed her love. For Ivy, that was cinnamon rolls.

She eyed Colton. She didn't even want to know what her sister did to please him.

She took another sip of coffee. "I see you've graduated from the bunkhouse to my sister's bedroom."

"Ivy!"

Colton chuckled. "You could say I claimed my spot."

She studied them for a moment. "I'm happy for you guys. And I'm really happy that none of the other ranch hands are here for breakfast." She could at least eat in peace even if she couldn't get any quality sleep after the dreams of Hunter.

When she woke in the early hours before dawn, she could blame it on the difference between time zones, but fact was, she'd woken up hot and thirsty too—with the feel of a man's hand on her ass.

She must have some kind of jetlag sickness. Was that a thing? Even if it wasn't, she was going to blame the odd urges surging through her body on sleep deprivation. And maybe the change in altitude. Yeah, the altitude was to blame.

As she devoured two rolls and polished off her cup of much-needed caffeine, she listened intently to Meadow and Colton's discussion about the ranch.

For being so new to the Gracey, he seemed to have his finger on the pulse of the happenings around here. The way he discussed the deliveries and how the ranch hands would be spread out around the ranch was impressive.

It also raised some questions.

Ivy set down her mug carefully since it was the one with the flowers that her mother always preferred. "It's clear that you've taken over ranch operations. What I'm really wondering is how did you get Zach Webb to back off my sister?"

"Ivy!"

She leveled a look at Meadow before switching it to Colton. "Well? Everybody in a fifty-mile radius knows that Zach's had his sights on you since you turned eighteen. I have my suspicions that Daddy put that idea in his head about marrying you and getting the ranch someday."

Meadow gaped at her. "That was never, ever a possibility. Besides, how could Zach get the Gracey when Forest would have inherited it?"

She leaned back in her seat, arms folded over her chest. "We all knew that Forest didn't want the ranch."

Colton's telltale blank expression probably meant that he had a lot of questions.

She saw that she'd have to explain her reasoning. "Forest was in the military for life. He loved his friends too much to ever walk away."

Colton dropped his stare to the table.

"And let's face it, this place is dreary as hell." She got up and retrieved the coffeepot then bustled back to the table, topping up all of their mugs with hot coffee. "Now let's talk about what I can do around here."

Meadow and Colton traded a look.

"Meadow said you want to pitch in."

She placed her hands on the table. "I do. I'll go crazy if I don't stay busy."

"Okay, then. What are your skills?" Meadow asked.

"What is this? A job interview?" She waved a hand in dismissal. "You know I have a college degree."

Colton cocked his brow. "I thought you went straight to Europe after high school?"

She sent Colton a long look. "I'm not that much younger than Meadow. I just look it."

Meadow stuck her tongue out at her, and Ivy gave her a playful grin.

"What's your degree in?" Colton reached to clasp Meadow's hand. Seeing how the pair couldn't keep their hands off each other for very long left an ache in her own chest. She'd enjoyed her solo tour of Europe…but she'd been lonely too.

"Marketing."

He cleared his throat. "That's useful in some businesses, but I'm not sure what good it does us around the ranch."

She held a sigh trapped in her chest. She'd grappled with her choice of college degree for years while attending classes and even after graduation. She wasn't going to admit to her sister's boyfriend what Meadow probably already had guessed—that she didn't know what to do, and Daddy had been paying, so why not?

There must be some way to redeem herself in their eyes.

"I do have a big reach."

They stared at her.

Meadow spoke up. "Do you mean social media reach?"

"Of course. I maintained a travel blog on YouTube with shorts in TikTok over the past nine months."

Colton shook his head. "Again, I'm not sure how social media can help the ranch right at this moment, but if I think of anything, I know where to find you.

Damn. That was a little harsh, but understandable.

"You could work with me training horses." Meadow offered her an encouraging smile.

"I'm not great with horses."

"We've got beef to sell soon," Colton tossed out another idea.

"I don't eat beef. I'm on a Mediterranean diet."

Meadow gave her an incredulous look. "You never got over the loss of your favorite calf, did you?"

She folded her arms and scowled. "Petunia was the best calf in the universe!"

"Daddy always told you they're not pets."

"I bottle-fed her!"

"Doesn't matter."

Colton broke up the argument by clearing his throat. "Someone needs to make calls to the customers about the horses we've sold. We need someone to follow up."

Ivy tapped her palms on the table. "Finally a job I can do. I can talk to people! I'll make the calls."

Ten minutes later, Colton had gone outside to handle some ranch chores, and Meadow left to work with a new pony, leaving Ivy to dig through her father's office to find the contacts for those horse buyers.

As soon as she entered the still space, she saw that her work was cut out for her. The place looked like a time capsule, a moment captured when her father had last sat behind that big walnut desk and attended to his duties.

Boxes of what she already knew to be various mechanical parts for farm equipment were piled on the floor. The stack of mail alone staggered her.

After sifting through a few envelopes, she spotted a familiar logo on one that happened to have her name on it.

"Oh good!" That bank card she'd been missing for months now was going to make her life so much easier. The money that came from her travel vlog went directly to the online account she could only access through her digital wallet since the card was mailed here. When she went to buy her plane ticket home, she didn't have a secure card to book the flight, which led to her hocking that beautiful Gucci purse to pay cash.

She took a moment to activate the card and stashed it away before moving on with sorting through the pile of mail.

When she spotted the bill for the credit card she had been traveling with—the one that got declined several times—she paused for a beat.

Past Due was stamped on the front of the envelope.

She tore it open and skimmed the pages of the statement.

Not only past due but maxed out.

Oh god. What was going on? Her father should have been paying this card all along, but it looked as though he'd been ignoring the bill.

Or—she flipped through a few more envelopes—all of the bills?

What was going on? Maybe she should go to Meadow with this.

She worried her bottom lip with her teeth. Surely her sister would have mentioned a problem with the finances if she knew about it. That meant she was in the dark.

Meadow had already done enough holding down the ranch for nine months, dealing with their father's sullen moods since their mother died. She'd already given so much of herself, worrying about their father while Ivy was still in Europe. For now, Ivy would keep this to herself.

If she was going to get to the bottom of things, she had her work cut out for her.

* * * * *

Hunter hefted a bag of feed into the back of the ATV. The noise of a truck pulling up to the garage filled the air.

Colton must have returned from the errand he was running. He told the ranch hands he was just going out for supplies, but the steady look he'd given Hunter said otherwise.

He returned to the shed to grab a second bag, his mind switching from the threats they were defending against to the task he was doing.

Ranch chores didn't take much training. He didn't even mind the physical labor. After being laid up in the hospital for so long, it was welcome, even if his leg did give him pain sometimes at night.

For the past three nights, Colton had placed him on security detail. He'd set up with a rifle and binoculars in a position overlooking the ranch. All night long, he watched the ranch the way a working dog watched over a flock of sheep.

He wished his mind was easy during those long, lonely hours, but it churned with memories and flashes of what he'd lost. Basically, he spent eight hours a night with every goddamn one of his demons.

After the sun crested the horizon, the ranch hands relieved him of his duty, and Hunter returned to his bunk to catch a few hours of shuteye, a reprieve from what he'd endured.

Now late afternoon burned into evening. The heat of the Indian summer had sweat trickling down the back of his neck and soaking his shirt.

"You look like you could use a cold drink." Colton's voice made him swing around.

With the fifty-pound sack of feed balanced on his shoulder, Hunter nodded. "I could. But this heat is nothing." Neither of them needed a reminder of the conditions they'd fought in.

"That's true. After you put that feed in the back of the ATV, take a break. I'll grab us both a drink."

He ducked his head in agreement and sauntered over to the small vehicle he was loading. He'd drive to the back pasture, where he'd dump grain into the trough for the horses pasturing there and make sure they had plenty of water too.

After dumping off the bag, he joined Colton at the training pen. It seemed to be one of his favorite spots to lean and just watch the horses—or more likely, to watch Meadow when she was in there training the animals.

Hunter had to agree the place offered a type of peace he'd never experienced before. Something about the way the horses existed without a care took away a few cares of whoever viewed them.

He twisted off the cap of a water bottle and took a swig. "Thanks, brother."

"No problem."

He got the feeling Colton had something to say. But if he knew anything about his buddy, it was that he did things in his own time and in his own way.

They leaned on the fence in companionable silence. The land offered its own small noises—under the sweet chirp of birds and hum of insects, he swore he could hear the sun baking the earth.

All of a sudden, a popping sound broke across the land. He swung around, reaching for his rifle—and found it wasn't slung across his chest.

His heart slamming with the rush of adrenaline hitting his system full force, he scanned the ranch. He took a hasty step toward whatever threat was out there, but Colton brought his hand down on Hunter's arm, stopping him in his tracks.

The sound echoed across the land again. Pop! Pop! Pop!

Their gazes locked. "Somebody's shooting in the distance, probably on the neighboring ranch. Webb told me that the owners like to shoot sporting clay pigeons."

Hunter's mind was so clogged, with tactical moves, with getting a weapon in his hands, that it took him a minute to calm the noise in his brain and process what his friend said.

Clay pigeons. Not a threat.

Cold sweat broke out on his forehead and made the skin on his neck clammy.

Hunter was back in battle. The ground was thick with smoke. His boot lay feet away from his wrecked leg and among the mangled bodies of his friends. His eardrums ruptured from the blast, the scream on his lips unheard by his own ears.

In his hand, he felt the cold steel of his weapon.

He clutched the water bottle hard enough to crinkle it.

He wasn't in battle.

Twisting his head aside, he focused on the horses and avoided Colton's stare.

His friend's voice was as gritty as he'd ever heard it. "Believe me, I feel it too."

He eyed Colton. "It happened sometimes in the hospital. A nurse would drop something, and the clatter would send me into action."

"I've had my fair share of reactions. But the good thing about the Gracey is it's typically really quiet and peaceful."

A place to heal.

He didn't say the words, but they rose in his mind like a bubbling spring of hope.

"Take a break. Have you visited the pond yet?"

His heart was still thundering so loud that he didn't immediately register what Colton was saying.

He scrubbed a hand over his face. "Not yet."

"I'll feed the horses. You head down to the pond. Take a minute to collect yourself."

How the hell did Colton have his shit together? They fought in the same battle. Saw the same friends die. Yet if his friend was shaking inside like a leaf in a wild storm, he didn't let on.

Their differences never seemed so pronounced. Colton was managing to swim those troubled waters. Hunter was hopelessly damaged.

He nodded. "I'll head down there for a while."

"Rest easy, brother." He held out a hand to Hunter. He gripped Colton's fingers and broke away.

Earlier in the week, he discovered from his post on night watch, he could make out a silver disc shape cut into the land. It shimmered in the moonlight or darkened when the clouds rolled overhead, but he realized quickly that it was a pond. Later, he asked one of the other ranch hands and was told that the Gracey family used it as a swimming hole, and sometimes on the hottest days of summer, the ranch workers all went down there for a quick dunk to escape the heat.

The brisk walk down the hill helped clear his head a bit, but just as he reached the edge of the water, more shots rang out from the neighbor's ranch.

He clenched his fists at his sides and locked his legs hard enough to send a jolt of pain through the injured one.

Fuck, he had to get a grip. He was in the countryside—local landowners had weapons they used for sport and protection too.

After he reached the pond, he dropped into a crouch near the edge. For long seconds, he watched the water lapping at the bank in small ripples set off by some spring that fed it, or maybe by a fish. Plucking a tall blade of grass from the bank, he stared at the sunlight playing over the surface until his mind cleared.

A crunching noise from a few feet away, beyond the screen of tall reeds growing along the edge, had Hunter shooting to his full height.

Just then, a woman appeared between the foliage, walking toward him. Blonde. Curvy. Her face wore that soft, romantic innocence that sucked weaker men into her clutches.

The princess.

Spotting him, she stopped and hastily directed a long wave of hair behind her ear.

"Sorry—I didn't know anybody was down here."

It seemed they couldn't escape each other. All these acres and still—

More shots echoed across the land, sounding closer this time.

Ivy darted a look at his face, her green eyes widening slightly. "It's the neighbor. They like shooting clay pigeons."

"Colton told me."

"A little PTSD?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. Any denial died on his lips. He might be a lot of things, but Hunter was no liar.

She moved to stand beside him as if she wasn't remotely bothered by the fact he was sweating buckets and probably looked like he was ready to break the neck of his enemy.

She let out a light sigh, as soft as the breeze rustling the reeds. "I needed this today."

He arched a brow in question.

"A break," she explained. "I've been working in the office for days. It's a little…" She floundered for a word. "Heavy."

He'd learned a long time ago that people talked to him. They trusted him with whatever was weighing on their mind. It was what kicked off his rapport with Forest. After his buddy unpacked a few concerns for his younger sisters back in Montana, they'd become fast friends.

Ivy scraped her fingers through her thick hair, sending the long waves rippling over her shoulders. "There are so many papers and documents to sort through. It took ages, but I think I've opened all the mail now. Believe me, that was a chore and a half."

Again, she sighed. Beneath each eye she wore a small blue half moon of fatigue.

"You haven't been sleeping well either."

She jerked her head to pierce him in her stare. After a heartbeat, she shook her head. "I swear I'm reading papers in my dreams."

A small crinkle appeared between her shapely eyebrows that arched over the deep green pools of her eyes. When he looked closer, he swore he saw ghosts moving in the depths.

At first glance, Ivy was a stunning woman who gave away no hint of a depth beyond her beauty. But those eyes…secrets lived in those eyes.

"I haven't told Meadow how stressful it's been, going through Daddy's office. But…ugh." She lowered herself to the bank with her knees tucked against her chest and her arms slung around them.

He stared down at her small form. So vulnerable. This was not the same woman he'd met on the plane. She wasn't anything like he expected when he first came here. He'd judged her, wrongfully so, and maybe it was time to own up to it.

He dropped to the bank next to her. She twisted her head and met his gaze.

The expression in her eyes was filled with a hunger that shot straight to his core. Lust clawed at him.

"I know you don't like me, Hunter."

His stare dropped to her lips. Plump, pale pink. The most enticing set of lips he'd ever set eyes on. "I like you just fine."

She leaned toward him. On the bank where they'd planted their hands, their fingers brushed.

Drawn to her like a bee to honey, he leaned closer. He was going to claim those perfectly plump lips and see for himself if she tasted like berries or peaches or—

Something in the water moved. He shifted his stare from her lips to the spot in the reeds.

Red cloth of a man's shirt bobbed to the surface.

Fuck!

She started to follow his gaze, but he cupped her cheek and held her in place. Alarm lit her eyes.

"Don't look over there."

"What? Why not?"

"Just listen to me, Ivy." He grabbed his phone and dialed Colton.

His friend answered after two rings.

"I need you down at the pond. Now," Hunter barked to him.

Again, Ivy started to twist on the bank to look at what he was seeing, but he threaded his fingers in her soft hair to hold her. He ended the call before Colton could reply and dropped his phone to grasp Ivy by the shoulder.

"Hunter, you're scaring me. What the hell is going on? Is there a bear? Because I know how to make a bear move on without taking interest in me. Our father taught us how to protect ourselves out here."

"It's not a bear."

It was a dead man.

She tore away from him, leaping to her feet before he could stop her. When she stared at the reeds and saw what he saw, she clapped a hand over her mouth.

Her face drained of color. When she swung toward Hunter, he cupped the back of her head and drew her against his chest.

She was shaking.

"Oh my god! Who is that?"

"I don't know," he ground out. But he could guess. The ranch hand who had gone missing.

She yanked away from him. "I'm getting out of here!"

He grabbed her by the upper arms and held her. "You're not going anywhere alone. From this minute on, both you and your sister are to be accompanied by one of us."

"I want to leave!"

"I want you safe." He kissed her. Took her lips for his own and made damn sure she knew who was claiming her.

Planting a hand on her lower spine, he pulled her flush against his body. A quiver ran through her, but it was surrender.

She relaxed into his body. With a soft moan, she melted into the kiss.

The brief brushing of lips lasted mere seconds before she jerked away from him again. She whirled to go, her hair fanning out in an arc behind her.

He latched on to her arm. "You don't want to defy me, Ivy."

"You don't have any authority over me. I'm old enough to make my own decisions!"

"Need I remind you of what happened four nights ago down at Badlands?"

She stilled.

"Remember?"

Her tongue darted over her bottom lip. Some of the color rushed back into her cheeks. She roughed out, "The spanking."

He nodded. "Don't walk away from me, Ivy. We'll wait for Colton and then I'll walk you back to the house to make sure you're safe."

After a moment, she stopped wrestling against his command and nodded. "I'll stay, but can we at least move away from the body?"

Taking her by the hand, he led her away from the reeds where the victim floated. Hunter was on high alert, but he heard nothing but the whisper of the wind…and the soft moan Ivy made when he kissed her.