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  “Really?” she asked, still in shock that he could tell by just looking at her hands.

  “Sure,” he said, “short, blunt nails, calluses on the insides of your fingers, and the skin around your nails is darker, indicating oil or other fluids you’ve been handling.” He grinned. “Hey, be proud of it. I tried to talk Talon into letting me go finagle those sick pieces of equipment in the barns, but he needed me because I’m good at numbers.” He laughed.

  A little shaken, Kai wondered what kind of ranch this was. Talon had been in the military. Cass had been an Army Special Forces operator. She was a vet. Did he hire vets? Her hopes rose sharply. Kai heard the thunking of Talon’s boots along the hall. Her heart rate went up. Setting the cup on the desk, she pulled out her résumé from her pocket and unfolded it, placing it on the desk where he would sit. What would he think?

  “Cass make you at home?” Talon asked, entering the office and quietly shutting the door.

  “Yes, s— I mean, yes, he did. Thank you.”

  Talon hooked his Stetson on a peg behind the leather chair and sat down, scooping up her three page résumé. “I’ve been anxious to see you,” he admitted, glancing up, the paper in his hands. “Good mechanics are rare as hen’s teeth. And when you answered the ad and sent me an email, telling me you had been a mechanic in the Army, I was very interested. Let me read this for a moment?”

  Kai sat there trying to relax. Talon Holt was as tall as Cass and he walked like he’d been in the military, no question. His gray eyes were darker colored than hers. She remembered her father hated her eye color, accusing her mother of it being her fault that she had been born with the god-awful color. He didn’t like the light gray color because he constantly told her he felt as if she had X-ray vision and was looking straight through him. That it made him feel damned uncomfortable.

  Kai watched Talon’s expression closely. The man homed in on the résumé like a laser-fired rocket. Kai could literally feel the shift of energy around him, that sudden focus. She gulped once, realizing that her dead husband, Sam Morrison, who had been a Delta Force operator, had that same kind of intensity, that same telltale energy about him. It was a mark of an operator. And Kai had known enough of them at Bagram in her many tours at that Afghanistan Army base to recognize one when she saw one.

  Was Talon Holt an operator, too? Shaken by the synchronicity, if that were true, Kai felt her hopes rise a little more. If he was, he’d speed-read it, memorize it and have it locked permanently into his brain. That’s the way operators were. She waited, barely breathing. Hoping against hope. Finally he looked at her after rapidly skimming the three pages.

  “I like that you were an Apache helo mech. Only the cream of the Army crop of mechanics get that important position. Were you the only woman?” He smiled a little.

  “No, s— No, I wasn’t. In my squadron, we had four women. The rest were men.”

  “I see you had six deployments to Bagram. You were kept busy.”

  She nodded. “Well, if I wasn’t on Apaches, I and a few others were sent over to work on Black Hawks and MH-47s for the Night Stalker squadrons located there with us.”

  “Yes,” he murmured, “I’m a little familiar with Bagram.”

  Kai was dying to ask him what branch of the military he served in but didn’t dare. That would have been inappropriate.

  “So,” Talon said, holding her stare, “if you were being asked to work on other birds then, you were a multi-engine qualified mechanic. They don’t let mechs work on anything but what they’re trained in on.”

  “That’s correct. I was multi-certified.” Kai saw a pleased look come to his face. He didn’t hide how he felt. If he was an operator, usually they had a game face on and no one knew what they were thinking or feeling. Maybe Talon Holt wasn’t an operator, after all.

  “I see here you were born in Cody, Wyoming? That your father owns the Circle T?” Talon cocked his head, studying her. “Why aren’t you home working for your parents instead of applying here for a job?”

  Her throat tightened for a moment. Yeah, Talon was an operator. They had an unerring ability to home in on the exact issue that needed to be revealed and investigated. She told him the least she could, keeping out the fact she had a permanent rift with her father. His expression became sympathetic when she told him her mother had died when she was eight years old.

  “That had to be tough on you,” he murmured. “And you have an older brother?”

  “Yes. Steve works at the Circle T.” Her hands grew damp. “My father didn’t need a mechanic. I needed to expand my horizons and stay in my MOS after I separated from the Army. That’s why I’m applying for a job here.”

  Rubbing his shaven jaw, Talon regarded her for a moment, the silence thickening in the office. “And you grew up helping to repair tractors, trucks and hay balers?”

  “All of those,” she said, “and more.”

  “Did your father think it odd for a girl to be a mechanic?”

  Shrugging, she said, “He did, but I persevered.” Because she would work with her brother, Steve, who taught her everything that her father refused to teach her about fixing equipment.

  “What are you looking for, Kai?”

  The question caught her off guard. It was a thoughtfully posed question, without rancor. She saw kindness in Talon’s gray eyes, his face fully readable. There was a gentleness around this man despite how tall he was. Holt wasn’t pretty-boy handsome—he was deeply tanned and tough looking. For a moment, a man from her past, Gil Hanford, came to mind. He’d been a Delta Force operator and Sam’s best friend. Kai quickly slammed that door shut in her memory—too much grief and loss came with it. Moistening her lips, she answered honestly.

  “I wanted a family. The military was my family for ten years, but they were downsizing and a lot of us were being let go when our enlistment expired.” She opened her hands. “I love people, children and animals. I like being part of something greater than myself. I was hoping to find a ranch owned by a longtime family and become a part of it.”

  He glanced at the résumé. “You’re a widow?”

  “Yes. My husband was a Delta Force operator and was killed in action in Afghanistan five years ago.”

  “I’m sorry,” Talon said, meaning it, giving her a frown. “Are you in a relationship right now?”

  “No.”

  “How do you see yourself fitting in around here?”

  Kai was shocked at the kind of questions Talon was asking. No one had ever asked her questions like this. “I’m a good mechanic. And I’ll be responsible for keeping all the equipment up, running and perform routine maintenance on them. Then, when I’m not busy with equipment, I’d like to be a wrangler. I can do anything asked of me because on my father’s ranch, I did everything. I like working. I like being out in the weather. I don’t mind dog work because I always take personal pride in the job I perform.”

  She saw his eyes twinkle. Kai didn’t know if her answer meant he was pleased or not because his expression gave nothing away.

  “What if,” Talon said, setting the résumé aside, “our ranch manager asks you to go work on the employee house we’re building presently? Do you have any house building or construction skills?”

  “I helped my father with roofing, drywalling, painting, laying wood floor, tiling, plumbing and electrical. My weakness is carpentry, like making window openings and setting one into it. I hate hanging doors. I’m not very good at it, although I know I can be if asked to do something like that.” She saw a slight smile come to his mouth.

  “You are a jack-of-all-trades and that’s what we need around here.” Talon settled back in the squeaky chair. “I like your résumé, Kai, and I like your can-do spirit. We’re trying to hire military vets here at our ranch. They’re the hardest-working group I know of. They’re responsible, disciplined, enjoy being a team member and they’re the most organized group that I know of. Around here? We work dawn to dusk every day. You get weekends off. I’ll give you
two weeks vacation each year. The bad news is that we can’t pay you as much as you’re worth right now, because this ranch has had nine years of disrepair. It means you won’t be able to make the money you’re worth for two years. We have a business plan and Cass has a math degree. He’s got us on track financially speaking, and everyone around here is busting their butts to make it happen.”

  “I’m okay with less money for now,” Kai said. “And you’re ex-military like me. I know you’ll give me raises when you can and I’m fine with that. I just want to fit in. I’m looking for a new family, I guess.”

  He smiled a little. “You’re good. I was in the US Navy. As you’ve probably already seen, the Holts are a pretty laid-back, easygoing family. Only my ranch foreman is pretty crusty and uptight, but he’s good at what he does. The other thing is, we’ll give you a room here on the first floor of our home. We’re in the process of building the employee house, but it won’t be ready until next June. We’ve only got so much money to buy items for the construction phase of it right now. We’re working to enclose it before snow flies in late August.”

  Nodding, her heart was racing, but it was with joy this time. “I know I’ll love working here, Mr. Holt.”

  “Call me Talon,” he said, sitting up in the chair. He rested his arms on the desk. “The wranglers’ lockers are located in the big red barn, next to the tack room on the main floor. Just grab one and put all your gear in there.” He looked at his watch. “My wife, Cat, is a paramedic. She works at the local hospital three days a week. She’ll be home at 5:00 p.m. We’ll eat at six sharp, in the kitchen. Cass is a helluva chef. The guy missed his calling and he should have gone to chef school. He’d probably have his own TV show by now.” Talon grinned. “We’re lucky to have him.”

  “Your mother seems to really like him. He’s very kind and gentle with her.”

  Talon lost his smile. “My mother’s just gotten through her last round of chemo and radiation. This is her second go-around with breast cancer.”

  Kai winced. “Oh, no…” She saw the pain in Talon’s darkening gray eyes. He loved his mother very much.

  “There may be days,” Talon said more softly, “that me or the foreman might ask you to do a little caregiving for her instead of being out riding fence. Would you be up for that?”

  “Of course. I like Sandy. She’s very kind.” Like her son, she thought. The joy bubbling through Kai was fierce, like a tsunami, and she tried to keep a serious face because of the worry she saw in Talon’s eyes. “I see you have a dog. He’s beautiful.”

  Talon grimaced. “You need to know that he’s a US Navy SEAL trained combat assault dog. Zeke and I were together for three years before we both got wounded in a firefight. I’ll make sure to introduce you to him so he knows you’re a friend of mine, not an enemy to bite.”

  Her eyes widened. “You were a SEAL?” She saw his face turn grim and she saw anguish in his eyes for a split second, and then it was gone.

  “Up until about nine months ago,” he said gruffly. “I came home to take care of my mother and get our ranch back on its feet.”

  Nodding, Kai felt the sting of tears in the back of her eyes. “I would never have thought you were a SEAL.”

  He smiled a little. “No?” He rose and pushed the chair back.

  Kai stood. “Operators wear game faces. You don’t.”

  “My wife is teaching me to let that be a thing of the past.” Talon opened the door for her. “Go into the kitchen and ask Cass to show you to your bedroom. He’ll get you squared away. And then, take your wrangling equipment to the locker in the barn. By that time, my foreman should be back from his run to town. If you happen to run into him, introduce yourself. If not, you’ll meet him tonight at dinner.”

  “Good enough,” Kai murmured. Her voice lowered with feeling. “Thank you for giving me a chance, Talon. I promise, I won’t let you or your family down.”

  He patted her shoulder. “I believe you, Kai. Welcome home.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  GIL HANFORD DROVE in with the flatbed truck filled with sixty bales of straw for the horse stalls on the Triple H Ranch. It was midafternoon as he backed the truck up to the graveled slope that led up to the main red barn. The huge doors were slid open at both ends to allow a breeze through the massive three-story building. He was hoping that Talon Holt had hired someone to do this kind of work, leaving him free to do other more important things to get this broken-down ranch back online.

  He thought he spotted someone near the lockers, but the shadows were deep inside the barn because no one had turned on the overhead lights. Could be Cass. But, God knew, his duties were stretched thin, too, which is why his boss needed to hire another wrangler. And soon.

  As he backed the truck up into the wide concrete breezeway, ten wooden box stalls on one side and the tack room and wrangler locker area on the other side, he did spot someone standing in front of an open locker. Unable to get a good look at him because he was backing up the truck, Gil’s hopes rose. All he saw was the backside of the person. Had Talon hired a wrangler?

  Turning off the engine, Gil climbed out of the cab and shut the door. The whicker of several horses in nearby box stalls greeted him. He inhaled the scent of the alfalfa and timothy-grass hay stored up on the second floor above them. It was a good, clean smell, one he grew up with on his father’s ranch near Billings, Montana.

  He felt his left knee gripe, a war wound that had gotten him released from Delta Force and the Army a year ago. His kneecap had been broken during a firefight and he’d been airlifted out by medevac to Bagram, undergoing immediate stabilization. And then he was flown by an Air Force C-5 to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, for the surgery. The best orthopedic surgeons in the world were there and Gil was grateful they were able to save his kneecap.

  Now, it got grumpy if it was in one position for too long. Moving his leg and flexing it, the stiffness dissolved. Pushing the brim of his tan Stetson up on his brow, he wanted to see who else was in the barn. As foreman, it was his job to know where his people were at all times. He had responsibility for the day-to-day operation of this teetering ranch that was struggling to make a comeback.

  Gil smiled to himself as he walked casually around the end of the truck stacked five bales high with straw to be used for the box stalls. Getting this job three months ago had been a godsend for him. And, like this ranch, he was making a comeback, too.

  Gil saw whoever it was place a big toolbox into the large locker. Damn if that backside didn’t look familiar. His eyes narrowed. The person had short red hair, built small for a man. He halted about six feet from the unknown wrangler who was crouched down, pushing the toolbox into the locker.

  “Excuse me,” he rumbled.

  The deep, male voice caught Kai by surprised. She didn’t mean to gasp. As she stood and turned, her eyes widened, her mouth dropping open. It was Gil Hanford! For a second, Kai felt dizzy, as if someone had hit her in the head and she was staggering from the blow. And then her heart ripped with such pain that she took a step back, hitting the locker door with her back.

  Instantly anger surged through her, along with a tangle of confused feelings that tightened in her throat. “Wh-what are you doing here?” she managed in a shaky tone, disbelief in it.

  Gil scowled, staring down at her. “I might ask you the same thing,” he growled defensively.

  Touching wisps of auburn hair across her brow, Kai tried to get herself under control, the shock of meeting him nearly overwhelming her. Gil had been her husband’s best friend, both Delta Force operators and on the same team. She saw his blue eyes grow to slits, felt his gaze rake her like invisible talons from head to toe. Feeling vulnerable, stripped emotionally, rage rolled through her. “I was just hired by Mr. Holt,” she snapped, her voice wobbling with feelings that threatened to swamp her. And yet, her heart, pounding as it was, wanted a redo of this conversation. She saw regret, sadness and defensiveness in Hanford’s eyes. Oh, he had his operator’s ga
me face on, for sure. She knew it well. Too well. “What are you doing here?” she demanded, hard anger in her tone.

  Gil put his hands on his hips, staring at her. “I’m the foreman.”

  Kai closed her eyes for just a moment, opened them, feeling the air sucked out of her lungs. “Y-you work here, too?” No! That wasn’t possible! This couldn’t be happening! Her mind worked at the speed of light. Her heart expanded with traitorous emotions, wanting Gil. Again. God, she could not go there! The bastard had walked out on her after five days of the most wonderful loving she’d ever experienced with a man. Gil had left suddenly without explanation, never to return. She hadn’t seen him for four years.

  Anger flowed through Kai. Gil had used her as a convenient sex partner to bury himself in to get rid of his grief. His brother Rob, a Delta Force operator with another team in Afghanistan, had been killed. Gil had seen his brother’s body to the morgue at Bagram and then looked her up.

  Touching her brow, Kai saw his generous mouth moving into a resistant, thin line. She remembered that mouth. Far too well. The pleasure he’d given her. Kai had never known such tenderness and vulnerability in a man until Gil had walked into her life for those five days. She’d been a widow for a year. When he reappeared, he said he needed her. Silly her. She’d believed him and they had ended up in a five-day sexual feast that was the best thing that Kai had ever encountered with a man. Yet, on the sixth morning, when she awakened, Gil was gone. No note. No explanation. No email. No…nothing. She wished she could have forgotten him, but she never had.

  And now, he was towering over her, all six feet of him, broad, capable shoulders beneath a white cowboy shirt, a black leather vest stretching across his powerful chest. His Levi’s were worn and dirty, but from Kai’s view, his strong, hard thighs were just as beautiful now as they were when they’d captured her legs and held her in place to give her the most incredible pleasure she’d ever had.

  And then, he’d run. Kai had never felt so used by a man. Now, the bastard was standing there, defensive, bristling, and she could feel the energy pouring off him toward her. She was only five feet seven inches tall. She wasn’t short, but she wasn’t Gil’s height, either.