Last Chance Ranch

Chapter One: Going Home

Samantha got the call early that morning.

Her father had suffered a stroke while out tending his precious fence line, during a thunderstorm of all things.

Samantha could feel her world shrinking down to nothing.

Her father was bed ridden now and needed her to come home, or so the house keeper, Minnie, said. Samantha highly doubted that her father would ever say that he needed her, no matter how sick he was.

But the fact remained. She had to go home.

To the home she'd ran away from fifteen years ago; back when she'd been eighteen and green.

Alec sat beside her on the edge of her bed and rubbed her back as she processed the news. "Do you want me to go with you?" He asked her.

She smiled sadly at him. He was such a great guy. "No, thanks, sweetie, but you should just stay here. You have work, and besides, this is something I should do on my own. My papa wouldn't take kindly to me bringin' home a gentleman friend, believe me."

Her papa had had her set up with Troy for about as long as she could remember, but she wasn't about to tell Alec this.

She didn't want him to think that Troy was a threat, because he wasn't. Not at all.

###

"Is she coming?" Rex Rockwood asked anxiously.

Troy smiled faintly as he leaned against the doorjamb, watching Minnie fussing over the big bad boss man. "Yes, sir. Minnie talked to her earlier today; said she was gonna fly in tomorrow. Ain't that right, Minnie, ma darlin'?"

Minnie cast him a shrewd eye. "Dontchu 'ma darlin'' me, young man."

"You didn't talk to her yourself?" Rex frowned with more of his usual spirit. "I told you to call her, Troy."

Troy sighed, idly pulling the rim of his hat down. "She don't wanna talk to me, Rex."

Minnie 'hmfed' to let everyone know that she had strong opinions on the matter and that she was working valiantly to keep them to herself.

"I bet she was happy as a clam to talk to you, wasn't she, sugar?" Troy teased Minnie by pinching her plump elbow as she walked past him with a hamper full of laundry.

She slid him a look as sharp as a knife and he gasped dramatically and clutched his chest.

She 'hmfed' again and stomped away down the hall. But then she paused and let them have her opinion after all, "I'm sure she would've been happy to get a call from you, oh, some fifteen years ago, hon."

Troy was used to her harping at him and so merely waved her off. He was too used to the pain to react to it anymore; it ached inside him whether it was raining or shining.

When they were alone, Rex leveled his piercing gaze upon Troy. "So she'll be here tomorrow night?"

Troy shrugged. "That's what Minnie said."

"Dammit, Troy, you make things right with her, you here me? I want her back here, where she belongs, and I want to see my grandchildren before I die. Now if their last name isn't Dean, I'm gonna die a disappointed man, now you don't want that, do you?"

Troy Dean couldn't help but grin. He loved Rex Rockwood like he was his own father, better, because his father had been a real sonofabitch. "And what if the lady doth protest to this plan of yours?" Troy asked in a deliberately bland tone of voice.

Rex snorted, settling back against the pillows and closing his eyes. "You'll figure it out."

###

"This is a sign." Samantha muttered to herself. "This is a sign. This isn't meant to be. I'm not supposed to go."

"Don't say that, Miss Samantha!" Nathaniel pleaded, hurrying around the front of the ancient taxi cab. "It's no sign! The ranch needs you. Now, I know for a fact that your pa and Minnie and everyone is plum fit to burstin' excited to see you, so if I don't deliver you as I expected, well, there'll be hell to pay for me, see?"

Samantha sighed. She highly doubted that her father had ever been plum fit to burstin' with anything in his whole entire life. Except maybe his temper.

She slid her fingers up under her sunglasses and massaged the bridge of her nose. "The tow truck's on the way, right? It can take me back into town. I'll be on a plane back to New York within the hour..."

"No, really, you mustn't!" Nathaniel popped his ruddy face up from where he'd been ducked under the hood. "But yes, the tow truck is comin'. It can take you up to the house, eh?"

Samantha glanced up and down the long dirt road. They would see the tow truck coming from miles away. Currently there was nothing to be seen except for them and the black steer horn cattle grazing on either side of the road.

The late afternoon Wyoming sun was beating down and she was getting hot and frustrated. She leaned back against the car and pulled out her iPhone.

No signal, of course.

She was just thinking that things couldn't possibly get any worse when she heard the sound of galloping hooves.

She closed her eyes as soon as she heard that sound.

It had been so long...

Samantha didn't have to turn around to see who it was riding up, she already knew.

"Hey there, Troy! You're just in time!" Nathaniel straightened up out of a cloud of smoke and waved cheerily at the man riding up to them on horseback.

Samantha knew she was being downright silly at this point, but she just couldn't seem to bring herself to turn around.

She kept staring back down the road towards town.

If she started running now...

He'd just catch up to her on horseback; she already knew the damn answer. Or worse, she'd twist an ankle and fall and embarrass herself.

"Hey, Miss Samantha, look who it is!" Nathaniel cried as if Santa Claus himself had just arrived.

Samantha drew a deep breath, steeling herself. She could do this.

It's not like she didn't know what she'd see when she turned around.

Troy, wearing faded denim and a weathered cowboy hat, sitting astride a big black stallion, or some other dramatic cliché; looking hotter than hell itself.

He'd tip his hat and flash her that Devil smile, his blue eyes sizzling with a mischievous zest for life.

"Samantha."

She heard her name and she winced at the sound of that husky voice. She bit into her lower lip then quickly schooled her expression as she finally turned around to face him.

What she found, however, was not what she expected.

~ ~ ~

Ooh, what do ya'll think she found?!

Keep reading to find out! And please don't forget to *Vote, Share, and/or Comment your thoughts so far!

Happy reading, ya'll!

HRH