Rein in the Night

Excerpt

The airport van passed under a wide wooden archway that must have been fifteen or twenty feet high with a sign hanging from it that read Luna Mountain Ranch. Despite her heavy heart, Keena felt a tingle of excitement ignite inside. This was going to be an experience she had never dreamed of having, a city girl like her out here in the Rocky Mountains. The boldness of the decision, along with Aunt Delores’s terror that a bear would eat her, had almost made her change her mind. However, it was too late now. She was here.

The Luna Mountain Ranch nestled amid nine hundred acres of beautiful land, elevated at eighty-one hundred feet, the brochure had said. The amount of land belonging to the ranch allowed them to run their own hunts for elk without venturing over into public park land. Whatever—she was not so much of a city girl that she didn’t know elk were deer! She’d told Mirabelle, the woman she spoke with on the phone, that no, she did not want to be a part of the guided hunts they conducted. Apparently, women liked to participate. Not this woman.

When the van came to a stop and let the passengers disembark, Keena followed everyone else and stretched her cramped muscles as she glanced around. The layout of the ranch caught her breath and held it. Straight ahead of her was a large pond, where she knew the ranch offered fly fishing. To her left and right along a winding paved road were wooden structures of varying sizes. The biggest she guessed was the main lodge, where they would eat their inside meals, and the biggest of the housing areas. She had reserved a small cabin toward the back because she wanted the isolation, but seeing all the trees in that direction, each rising higher and higher the farther they were away, made her nervous. No mistakes—these were the mountains she’d decided on. Her cell phone not getting a signal attested to the fact as well.

Keena dragged in a deep breath and let it out a little at a time. “I can do this. It will renew me.”

A hand came down on her shoulder, and a friendly smile greeted her when she looked around. “Don’t you worry none, sweetie. You’ll have a grand time here. I promise you that. Luna Mountain Ranch is the best experience to be had anywhere.” She winked and stuck out her hand. “I’m Mirabelle. Welcome.”

Keena perked up. “Oh, yes, I spoke to you on the phone. I’m Keena Law.”

“Great to meet you, Keena. I came out here just to meet you since we spoke and you seemed so down. I knew I wanted to greet you myself.”

Tears pricked Keena’s eyes. “You did? How nice. Thank you. I think I’m going to love it here already. It’s different than what I’m used to, but I like to think of myself as adventurous.”

Mirabelle hooked an arm into hers like they were old friends and turned Keena in the direction of the rest of the ranch. They had taken a few steps when a couple vehicles rolled up and stopped alongside them. Several men jumped out with enthusiasm and began loading the luggage into the Jeeps. Mirabelle excused herself a moment to talk to one of the men, and Keena stood waiting and hugging herself.

The report on summer weather here had said temperatures ranged from seventies to the eighties in summer, with sudden changes upon occasion, but to Keena it felt more like sixty. She tried to remember where she’d packed her sweater when her slightly blurred gaze from the long trip skittered over the man Mirabelle spoke with. Ranch hands was what Keena thought she had read they were called. This particular man wasn’t handsome in the way that the men who caught her attention were. He was more arresting in his rugged features, exuding a strength she hadn’t noticed in Steven, now that she thought about it.

The ranch hand was at least six-two with broad shoulders and big arms that must have come from the hard work he did here. His short, dark hair was tousled about his head as if a sharp wind had blown it about. A few locks fell onto his forehead, obscuring one deep blue eye. While she watched, he raised a sun-bronzed hand to the lock and brushed it back. At the same time, he glanced in her direction. Keena couldn’t move. She couldn’t look away. The man imprisoned her attention and wouldn’t let it go.

This is ridiculous. He’s just a worker here, and I’m not in the market for a new man. Not now, not ever. She shook herself, blinked, and at last was able to turn away. The chill she’d felt earlier was replaced with a sense of being overheated. Annoyed and taking an instant dislike of whoever he was, she decided to steer clear of him while she was here. In fact, her objective was to keep to herself and let her heart heal. There would be no opportunity to develop a crush on Mr. Tall-and-Mysterious.

Mirabelle clapped her hands. “We’re all set, Keena. You’ll ride with Ryan since he’s going your way, and the Turners will ride with Jerry. I have got to get back to my kitchen before my son gets to the pies I left cooling.”

Keena’s empty stomach responded to the mention of kitchen and pies, and then she looked toward the two men who had stepped from the Jeeps. Which was Ryan? The tall man pivoted on the ball of his foot to open his passenger side door, and then he raised an eyebrow in Keena’s direction. Her shoulders slumped. He just had to be Ryan.

She thanked Mirabelle for the warm welcome and walked up to Ryan’s truck to get in. After he had walked around to the driver side and got in, he cast a grudging look her way. “I’m Ryan. I work here.”

Ya think?

He frowned, and she tried to school her features not to look so displeased at being paired with him. From the layout that she saw of the ranch, the drive shouldn’t be so far to get to her cabin. She could tolerate him for the moment. She forced a smile. “I’m Keena Law.”

She waited for him to tell her his last name, and with reluctance, he uttered, “Storm.”

She blinked. Could he be just as annoyed at being put with her? How dare he be pissed that they were tossed together. It wasn’t like she begged Mirabelle for him or was coming on to the man. A new thought sprang to mind. Maybe women who traveled to places like this alone were looking for cowboy lovers, and he’d had enough. She almost laughed. Yeah, right, if that was the case, then all the single men would welcome it as often as it happened, even some married ones.

Remembering how even the sweetest-looking men were cheating bastards, she figured this sexy cowboy would have the women drooling over him. She was not stupid enough to fall for him.

“Nice to meet you,” she said to be courteous and turned her back to the man.

Ryan responded with a grunt and threw the truck in gear to begin the short drive down to her cabin. In less than two minutes, Ryan pulled up to Keena’s cabin, a small square building constructed with actual wooden logs stacked atop each other. On both sides of the door were small windows, and hanging beneath each was a rectangular flower pot. The tiny porch offered a swing facing the pond, and around the front and sides of the cabin was simple landscaping that gave the place a homey feeling.

Keena paused before entering to breathe in the fresh air, to listen to the birds chirping in the tall trees, and to just appreciate the fact that there were no honking horns, no crying babies, no women yelling to each other out the window, and no blaring music. Best of all, she didn’t have to jump each time the phone rang because of knowing it was Steven.

Ryan moved up beside her carrying her bags. She blinked at him realizing he now wore a Stetson over his dark curls. The effect made her woozy.

He narrowed his eyes at her. “Is something wrong?”

“Uh, no.” She spun away and hurried up onto the porch to let them into the cabin. For the second time, Keena caught her breath. The inside was also paneled with wood, and the furniture was sturdy yet looked comfortable. Beautiful landscapes hung from the walls, and even a deer head, which made Keena shiver. However, the stone fireplace dominating the sitting area caught her attention. She imagined snuggling under a blanket there and reading a book on cool nights.

Also in the sitting area was a small table, paired with two chairs, and a chess set was situated on top. Beyond this was the bedroom with a queen-size bed and a private bath. The place was just what she needed. Since there was no kitchenette, she assumed that everyone was encouraged to take meals in the main dining area or at the open-fire meals that had been mentioned.

“You’re hurting.”

She froze with her back to him and then slowly turned around. Perhaps she’d heard him wrong. “Come again?”

His eyes, which had been sea blue when she first met him, were darker now. It might be a trick of the shadows inside the cabin. He lowered his head so she couldn’t see his face.

“Sorry, my mistake.”

“No, why did you say that?” she said, pressing him.

He tapped his fingertips at his thigh, and Keena imagined those large hands caressing her. She shook her head—just a bit lonely, that was all. Ryan tapped the brim of his hat and swung toward the door.

“Enjoy your stay.”

The cabin door clicked shut behind him, and seconds after, his Jeep engine rolled over. Keena crossed to the curtains at the window and pulled them back to watch him go. Was it a mistake to have come here? How did a man who appeared to be cold as ice know that she was hurting from a few moments in her presence?