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Chapter One W hat the hell was he doing here? Gabriel Trevino tilted the bottle of beer to his lips to hide his frown as his eyes cut across the sweeping lawn filled with people. Normally his social events consisted of sharing a beer with his buddies behind the bucking chutes at a local rodeo. This gathering at the Sandbur Ranch could hardly be compared to that sort of tobacco-spitting, curse-laden entertainment. Even the boring parties Sherleen had dragged him to during their ill-fated union paled in comparison to tonight’s lavish celebration. The best that money could buy. The food, the drinks, the five-piece band, the women with hunks of diamonds glittering at their necks and wrists. Only in Texas, he thought wryly, could a woman justify wearing her best to an outdoor barbecue. Leaning against the massive trunk of a live oak, he turned his attention to the portable dance floor that had been erected several yards away from the house. Presently, it was crowded with couples. Some of th
Chapter One
Chapter Two O nce the party finally ended, Mercedes didn’t get into bed until the wee hours of the morning. Though she was exhausted, her sleep ended abruptly when she woke up long before daylight, her body drenched in sweat, her senses disoriented. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she pressed a hand to her damp face. You’re okay, Mercedes. You’re in your old bedroom on the Sandbur. The bedroom where you played as a child, had sleepovers with friends. Dropping her hand from her bleary eyes, she gazed around at the shadows shrouding the walls and furniture while she waited for the axis of her brain to spin in the right direction. She’d been dreaming, she realized, but not of something pleasant or peaceful. The dream had involved a man and a horse inside a corral. She’d been watching from the fence, calling out to him, trying to warn him that he was about to be hurt. The horse had charged, knocked the man down, then reared and viciously brought his front hoofs down on the man’
Chapter Two
Chapter Three L ater that morning, Mercedes was in her bedroom, trying to motivate herself to finish unpacking the boxes that were stacked in one corner. So far, she’d done little more than hang a few garments in the armoire. What was she really doing here on the ranch, anyway? she asked herself for the umpteenth time. Was she really home to stay, or was she simply using the ranch as a launching pad to some other job at some other place? Sighing wistfully, she dropped the slinky blouse back to the open box lying upon the bed and walked over to a huge arched window. Since her upstairs bedroom was on the west end of the house, the window was partially shaded by the enormous limbs of a live oak, yet through the break in the leaves she could see a part of the ranch yard and a small portion of the horse barn. Just looking at the old barn and recalling her encounter with Gabe Trevino was enough to make her blush. Unwittingly, her fingertips lifted to her lips. She’d never been kissed like th
Chapter Three
Chapter Four A n hour later, freshly showered and dressed in shorts and a tank top, Mercedes came downstairs to find her mother sitting on the front porch, talking on a cell phone. Near her armchair, on a low wicker table, sat a small pitcher filled with what looked to be margaritas. Next to it was an insulated ice bucket, along with empty glasses. Mercedes helped herself to one of the drinks, then eased down in a rocker angled to her mother’s right. By the time she’d swallowed the first sip of the icy lime and tequila concoction, Geraldine had folded the phone shut and tossed it onto the table. “That was Mrs. Richman, scolding me for not being present for the library fund-raiser last week,” she said. “I was trying to explain that my daughter had just come home from a job that has kept her halfway around the world for two years, but that didn’t faze the woman. I guess the five thousand dollars I contributed wasn’t enough to suit her.” Geraldine sighed with frustration and Mercedes toss
Chapter Four
Chapter Five A t the same time in the Saddler house, Mercedes had gone to the kitchen to remind Cook to set another plate for supper and had just received a shock from the older woman. “Honey, there’s no need to be adding another plate. One ought to do it. Your mother is already gone for the evenin’. She had some sort of dinner thing with the volunteer firefighters going on. I thought you knew that. And Lex has gallivanted off to some Cattle Association meetin’ up at Fort Worth. He won’t be back home for three days.” Mercedes stared blankly at Cook, a tall slender woman in her midseventies, who’d worked at the Sandbur for longer than Mercedes had been alive. Her long hair, which was still more black than gray, was oftentimes pulled into a tight ponytail, a style that Cook called her instant face-lift. But it was her red lips and fingernails that were her signature fashion statement, telling the world that the woman had been a glamor gal in her prime. “I just talked to Mother this morni
Chapter Five
Chapter Six A s moments passed, Mercedes began to sense that he didn’t appreciate her throwing questions at him, so as they finished the last of their meal, she decided to move on to other things. “Cook made blueberry pie for dessert. Would you like to go inside and have a piece? I’ll make coffee to go with it.” He rested a hand against his midsection. “I’m not sure I can hold another bite.” Rising to her feet, she began to gather up the dirty dishes. She should probably let the evening end. But this time with Gabe had been far more pleasant than she’d expected, and to be honest with herself, she didn’t want to say good-night. “Cook will be very hurt if she shows up in the morning and finds the pie uncut,” she told him. “Put that way, I can’t turn it down,” he conceded. “Let me help you carry these into the house.” Fifteen minutes later, the dishes were piled in the sink, the coffee was made and they were sitting at the kitchen table, eating the first few bites of pie, when the swingin
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven T he ratchet slipped, causing hunks of grease and dirt to fall on Gabe’s face and join the sweat that was already there. Muttering a curse under his breath, he refastened the tool to the oil plug, then grunted with relief as the threads gave way to his shove. Dammit, he didn’t have time to change the oil in his truck. Neither did he have time to wait around town for a mechanic, so he’d chosen the lesser of two evils. With the plug finally out, the dirty crude began to drain into the flat plastic pan he’d positioned beneath the motor. While he waited for the motor to empty, he climbed from beneath the truck and unscrewed the cover on the brake fluid well. Satisfied with the measurement, he was returning the cover when he heard a vehicle approaching behind him. Since he could count on one hand the number of visitors he’d had since he’d moved here three months ago, the sound was both totally unexpected and a tad irritating. He’d had a hell of a day already, and there wasn’t
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight F ive minutes later, when Gabe entered the kitchen, Mercedes was sitting at the kitchen table, sipping from a foam cup. She smiled brightly at him. “I made coffee. Would you like some?” Before he could answer, she rose to her feet and poured it for him. “Thank you,” he said as he took the cup from her hand. Her breathing shallow, her gaze quickly flicked over him. He’d changed into jeans and a long-sleeved blue checked shirt that was, in spite of the heat, buttoned at the wrist. Remembering the scars she’d spotted on his wrist that day at the horse barn, she began to wonder if the long sleeves were more than just a barrier to the hot, tropical sun. Perhaps the sleeves were hiding more scars than those she’d glimpsed. Mercedes hated the idea that he might have endured that much physical trauma, especially when he’d had more than his share of emotional injuries in his life. But she wouldn’t ask. Not this evening. He’d already opened up about his past much more than she’d ev
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine T he next evening in Geraldine’s bedroom, Mercedes stared at her mother in dismay. “Mother, you are kidding, aren’t you?” Geraldine didn’t pause a beat as she placed a folded blouse in the suitcase lying open on the bed. Early in the morning, she was driving up to San Antonio to meet her beau, and from there the couple were driving to West Texas for a week. Mercedes had been aware of her mother’s plans for days now. But she’d not been aware that Geraldine had also been making plans for Mercedes to accompany Gabe on a horse-auction trip that weekend. “Mercedes, the Western Heritage Auction is not anything to kid about. It’s not like going to the county sale barn where a few grade horses are run in the ring behind the cattle and the hogs. There will be buyers dressed in designer suits and handmade boots, horses that will sell for six figures. It’s an important auction for buyers and sellers across the Southwest and beyond. You need to be there to get a sense of the sort of m
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten D ark gray shadows still shrouded the ranch yard the next morning when Mercedes walked to the waiting truck and trailer parked near the horse barn. Even though it was several minutes before five o’clock, the diesel motor was already idling and the cargo lights were on, along with the rows of lights illuminating the outline of the thirty-foot horse van. Five heads, their eyes goggled with safety screens, hung out the open windows, telling Mercedes the horses were all loaded and ready to travel. She quickly stowed her bags in the living quarters of the trailer, then stepped out to see Gabe standing near the back of the big rig, apparently checking the van one last time to ensure the horses’ care and well-being during the trip. Mercedes didn’t bother announcing her presence. Instead, she simply climbed into the cab of the freighter and waited for Gabe to join her. Five minutes passed before the cab door finally opened and he climbed in the seat behind the wheel. By then, she’d
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven T he remaining miles to Oklahoma City passed for the most part in silence. With Gabe doing little more than glaring at the highway ahead of them, Mercedes used the time to read a paperback book she’d brought with her. Mercedes was greatly relieved when they reached the sale barn where the auction would be taking place. The stress of being cooped up with a reluctant traveling companion, along with sitting in one spot for hours on end, had utterly drained her. Across from the massive building, several acres of manicured lawn were equipped with RV and trailer hook-ups. Gabe chose an out-of-the-way spot that was shaded with a huge sycamore tree, and after he’d parked and hooked up the utilities to the living quarters, Mercedes helped him unload the horses and remove their goggles. Since they were already privy to the stall numbers that their horses had been assigned, they took them directly to the barn, Gabe leading three and Mercedes the other two. Without him saying anythi
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve W hen Gabe woke the next morning, Mercedes was not in the trailer. He glanced at the wristwatch he’d not bothered to remove last night and let out a groan. He’d not expected to sleep at all last night, much less sleep later than usual. Slipping a hand through his tousled hair, he glanced at the bed where Mercedes had slept. She’d been so close that if he’d stretched his arm in her direction, he could have touched her. But he hadn’t. Instead, he’d lain there, listening to her breathing and thinking about her reaction to his parents’ tragedy. Sharing that part of his life with her had ripped him open, past the scars on his skin, down to the raw wounds that had never healed. Showing her that vulnerable part of him had changed him, drawn him to her in a way he’d never expected. Suddenly the physical attraction he felt for her had been overridden by something deeper, something stronger than the sexual urge to touch her, make love to her. He’d felt incredibly close to her, hap
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen I t was late the next evening when the two of them arrived back at the Sandbur. Mercedes was tired, but pleasantly so. The trip coming home had seemed much shorter than going. Maybe because the last three horses had each brought an exceptional price in the sale ring and ended their trip on an even brighter note. Or maybe because making love to Gabe had changed the way the world looked to her. Everything seemed more beautiful, and she’d chattered throughout the whole trip like a songbird on a spring morning. After Gabe parked the big rig in its regular spot inside a storage shed near one of the cattle barns, Mercedes began to gather up her handbag and the other odds and ends that she’d collected during the trip. Rolling back into the ranch yard had been sobering to Gabe. Throughout the day, he’d allowed himself to pretend. He’d let himself believe that he and Mercedes could actually be lovers, that somehow their lives could merge without a problem. But returning to Sand
Chapter Thirteen
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