A Hero To Count On

Chapter 2

Caught off guard, Katherine turned sharply, just in time to see a stranger reach for her bag. Alarmed, she wrapped protective fingers around the shoulder strap of her carry-on and took a quick step back. “What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded, scowling.

“Don’t get all spooked on me,” he said with a crooked grin as he once again reached for her bag. “I’m just trying to help—”

Outraged, she knocked his hand away. “I don’t know who the hell you think you are, but you’ve got two seconds to get away from me or I’m calling security!”

Her threat should have sent him packing. Instead he only laughed. “C’mon, there’s no need for that. I’m harmless.”

“Yeah, right,” she scoffed.

She’d never seen a man who looked less harmless in her life. He was a bad boy—she could see it in his wicked, laughing green eyes—and she didn’t doubt for a second that he could melt a woman’s bones without ever touching her. She wanted nothing to do with him.

Deliberately she turned her back on him. “I don’t need your help. Leave me alone.”

“Okay, if that’s the way you want it. It’s ten miles to the ranch, but if you want to walk, far be it from me to stop you. Elizabeth’s going to kill me, but, hey, I tried.”

“I don’t care—” she began, only to break off abruptly at the mention of her sister. Whirling, she studied him suspiciously. “How do you know Elizabeth? Who are you?”

“Hunter Sinclair,” he retorted. When she just looked at him blankly, he explained, “I’m John’s brother. He and Elizabeth couldn’t make it, so I volunteered to pick you up, instead.”

At his words, Katherine paled. “John doesn’t have a brother. And I just talked to my sister this morning, and she never once mentioned that she was sending anyone to pick me up. They sent you, didn’t they?”

Confused, he frowned. “They? They who? Who are you talking about?”

“The thugs who want the ranch,” she retorted. “Did you think I don’t know about what’s been going on just because I live in England? Elizabeth and Buck keep me posted on everything. They told me who they trust, and trust me, your name never came up. So get the hell away from me. If you lay so much as a finger on me, I’m going to scream my guts out and I won’t stop until somebody throws your butt in jail.”

Impressed—she was tougher than she looked—he stepped back, raising his hands to show he meant no harm. “Whoa, whoa! There’s no need to scream. I’m not going to hurt you. John does have a brother. A half brother.”

“Then why hasn’t he mentioned you?”

“How the hell do I know? Because I’m the black sheep of the family?” He shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe because we haven’t seen each other in years and lost touch. Maybe my name just didn’t come up when you talked to him. You’ll have to ask him yourself.”

“I’ll do that,” she snapped, and reached for her phone.

“You won’t get him,” he warned. “He and Elizabeth went to a wedding. It started at three-thirty. That’s why they sent me.”

Ignoring him, she punched in her sister’s number, then John’s. Neither one answered. Was he telling the truth? she wondered as her eyes searched his. He had all the right answers, but she couldn’t forget how badly certain people in Willow Bend wanted to drive her family away from the ranch. What if this man was part of that conspiracy? What if he’d somehow grabbed Elizabeth and John and locked them up somewhere for a couple of days? If he could lure everyone away from the ranch for forty-eight hours, the struggle to hang on to the Broken Arrow would be over for good.

“I’m not going anywhere with you until I talk to John and Elizabeth first,” she said flatly, “so you might as well get comfortable.”

“Fine by me,” he said with a shrug. “I’ve got nothing but time. And we can get to know each other. Do you still read tea leaves?”

Surprised, she blinked. “I beg your pardon?”

“Your grandmother taught you to read tea leaves when you were a little girl, didn’t she? I heard you were really good at it.”

“Who—”

“Elizabeth said you found a watch she lost on a school field trip. It was near a fountain, wasn’t it? It slipped off her arm when she threw some pennies in the fountain.”

No one but her family knew that story. Stunned, Katherine didn’t have to ask where he’d heard it. Elizabeth must have told him, just as he’d claimed.

“I understand why you don’t trust me,” Hunter said quietly. “After everything that’s happened to Buck and Rainey and Elizabeth, I’d be spooked, too, if I were you. But I’m not your enemy. You have nothing to fear from me. I won’t hurt you.”

The teasing glint that had been in his eyes just moments before was gone, and there was no doubting his sincerity. She wanted to believe him, but lately her family had learned the hard way not to trust anyone. “I still need to talk to Elizabeth,” she said huskily as she once again reached for her phone. “As soon as she verifies you’re really who claim you are, we can go.”

“Have it your way,” he said with a shrug. “I’m willing to wait as long as you are. How about a cup of coffee while we wait? Or would you rather have tea? Hot tea’s not something you’re going to run into in this neck of the woods, but there’s bound to be something. Let’s see what we can scrounge up.”

Katherine didn’t really want tea—or for Hunter Sinclair to be nice to her. She just wanted some time to herself. But if Hunter was telling the truth—and there was every indication that he was—they were, in some convoluted way, extended family, and the least she could do was be polite.

Before they could find coffee or tea, however, her phone rang, and with a sigh of relief, she snatched it up. “Elizabeth? Thank God! I was afraid you wouldn’t call me back for hours.”

“We just walked out of the church and are on our way to the reception. Are you home yet? Did Hunter have any trouble recognizing you? I loaned him a picture—”

“Oh, he had a much easier time than I did. I was expecting you. Why didn’t you tell me you couldn’t make it?”

“You were in the air,” her sister reminded her, “so I couldn’t reach you on your cell. You caught me off guard when you called—John and I had a wedding to go to, but after everything you’ve been through, I didn’t want you to think we didn’t want you here. So when Hunter volunteered to pick you up, it seemed like the perfect solution.” Struck by a sudden thought, she said sharply, “Everything’s all right, isn’t it? He promised to behave himself.”

Aware of Hunter’s eyes on her as he waited for her to finish her conversation, she stiffened. Behave himself? Had Elizabeth asked him to behave himself with her? Why? Had the two of them discussed her?

Dozens of questions—and answers she didn’t like—bombarded her, but all she said was, “Everything’s fine, now that I know he’s who he claimed to be. I didn’t know John had a brother.”

“I just found out myself last week when he showed up at the ranch,” Elizabeth said. “But he’s a great guy. He may tease you until you want to shoot him, but John trusts him completely, and you can, too.”

“If you say so,” she said, studying Hunter doubtfully. “I’ll let you know.”

“Be nice,” Elizabeth laughed. “I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”

When Katherine hung up, she wasn’t surprised to find Hunter grinning at her. “You don’t have to look so smug,” she sniffed, refusing to be embarrassed for distrusting him. “She said you were a tease but I could trust you. I’m reserving judgment.”

“On what? Whether I’m a tease or that you can trust me?”

Looking down her pert nose at him, she lifted a delicately arched brow. “What do you think?”

Far from offended, he only laughed. “And here I thought I was doing so well. What is it with you cute ones? None of you will give me the time of day.”

Fighting a grin, she pointedly looked at her watch. “It’s four-twenty.”

“Smart-ass,” he chuckled as he opened the door to his Toyota 4Runner for her and helped her into the vehicle. “I knew you were going to be trouble the second I laid eyes on you.”

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yeah, right.” Shutting her door for her, he walked around the vehicle and climbed into the driver’s seat, his grin maddening as he reminded her to buckle up. The second her seat belt was safely in place, he glanced behind him, threw the transmission into Reverse and hit the gas.

“What the—?” Grabbing the handhold on the doorframe, she gasped, “Are you mad?”

“You mean crazy?” he laughed as he put the SUV in Drive and head for the highway. “Sometimes. I don’t let any grass grow under my feet.”

“Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me,” she retorted dryly. “So what’s a man like you doing in Colorado?”

“Taking a break between jobs. I don’t start my new job in L.A. until next month, so it seemed like a good time to visit John.”

Her gaze on the road that stretched out before them as he headed for the ranch, she said, “I thought it was a good time for a visit, too.”

“Because you wanted to put some space between you and that amoral jackass you were involved with?” At her sharp look of surprise, he added, “Oh, yeah, I know about it. And just for the record, you should have known better than to trust the bastard.”

“Oh, really?” Indignant, she said, “And how would you know that? You don’t know anything about Nigel.”

“I know he’s a man,” he retorted. “That’s all I need to know. Even a woman with a pea brain should know better than to trust a man.”

“I beg your pardon! I know a lot of good men.”

“Really? Name two.”

She held up her index finger. “My brother.” Then a second finger. “Your brother.”

“Most men aren’t like your brother or mine,” he returned. “Or haven’t you figured that out yet?”

“Are you including yourself in that group?”

“Guilty as charged,” he said promptly. “We’re after only one thing. You should know that. The jerk you were in love with didn’t just lie to you—he lied to his wife, too, and cheated on both of you. Talk about a scumbag. If you were smart, you’d never have anything to do with a man again.”

“Trust me,” she said stiffly, “I learned my lesson. That’s exactly what I intend to do.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he mocked. “That’s what all you women say. Then some good-looking loser flirts with you, you get all hot and bothered and think you’ve found Prince Charming. Why does everything have to be a fairy tale? What’s wrong with good old-fashioned sex for sex’s sake?”

“You’re a cynic.”

He didn’t deny it. “Yeah. So?”

“You don’t believe in love?”

“Not hardly,” he said with a short laugh. “It’s all just hormones.”

Deep down inside, Katherine’s bruised heart was tempted to agree with him. If she didn’t believe in love, she reasoned, she couldn’t get hurt. It made perfect sense. There was only one small problem. If she didn’t believe in love, why did she feel as if her heart had been ripped out of her chest by Nigel?

“I don’t think so,” she said quietly. “Hormones don’t hurt like this.”

Cringing at the sound of the pain thickening her voice, she knew she was going to cry if they didn’t change the subject. “Enough doom and gloom,” she said briskly, straightening her shoulders. “So you’re the half brother. What’s your story? It has to be more entertaining than mine.”

“I don’t know about that,” he said wryly. “I can always make something up. My mother always said I could tell a better story than all the other kids put together.”

“And how many kids were there in your family?”

“Eight.”

“Eight! Are you serious?”

Grinning, he shrugged. “Doesn’t everybody have eight brothers and sisters? Of course, some are step, others half, a few full blood. Between them, my parents were married five times.” At her look of horror, he chuckled. “It’s pretty damn awful, isn’t it? My mom married twice, my dad three times, and they’re probably not done. They’re both currently divorced and looking. Talk about optimists. They’re both crazy.”

“So that’s why you’re such a cynic. No wonder you don’t believe in happily ever after.”

“You’re damn straight,” he retorted. “There’s no such thing.”

Katherine had always considered herself a die-hard romantic, but that was before…before Nigel lied to her, before he made a fool of her, before he charmed her into falling in love with him without even hinting that he was married. “If you’re hoping for an argument, you’re out of luck,” she said flatly. “I just got my heart stomped on by a man who claimed to love me. If that’s love, I want no part of it.”

She meant every word, but later, after they arrived at the ranch and Hunter carried her luggage upstairs, and she’d gone down to the kitchen to make a pot of tea, the silent emptiness of the house made her more lonely than ever. She found herself thinking of Nigel, and she hated it. She had to stop this! The man was a rat, and even if he’d contacted her and told her he’d made a mistake—she was the one he loved—she would have told him never to darken her doorstep again. So why did her heart ache? Why did she constantly feel like crying? Why couldn’t she get past—

“You’re thinking of him again, aren’t you?”

Looking up from her thoughts to find Hunter standing in the kitchen doorway, watching her, she frowned in irritation. “Do you always slink around the house that way, spying on people?”

Not the least apologetic, he laughed. “Yeah. Does it bother you?”

“Yes,” she retorted. “At least have the decency to knock, to let someone know you’re there.”

His green eyes alight with mischief, he lifted his fist and knocked twice on the doorway.

She told herself she wasn’t going to laugh. But he didn’t make it easy, darn him! Trying and failing to give him a stern frown, she sniffed, “Very funny. How long did it take you to think that one up?”

“Sweetheart, you just bring out the best in me,” he drawled, winking at her.

The sound of a car honking in the drive suddenly echoed through the house. “That must be Elizabeth and John,” Katherine said. Thankful for the distraction—the man was far too sure of himself—she quickly set down the cup of tea she’d just made for herself. “They’re early.”

Hurrying out to greet them, she took one look at the two of them together and found it hard not to believe in love. Her sister was glowing, and John couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her.

“Look at you!” she told Elizabeth, stepping back from a hug to study her with a teasing smile. “You look wonderful.”

“It’s the dress,” she said, grinning as she showed off the ultrafeminine pink concoction Katherine recognized as their sister Priscilla’s design. “Cilla outdid herself.”

“True,” Katherine agreed, “but it’s not the dress. Have you set a date yet for the wedding?” When her sister hesitated, she said quietly, “It’s okay, Lizzie. You’re getting married. I’m happy for you.”

“I could kick Nigel,” Elizabeth retorted, scowling. “Somebody needs to go to Paris and string him up by his ears.”

“Just say the word, and I’ll go,” Hunter volunteered as he joined them. “The bastard needs to be taught a lesson.”

“I’ll go with you,” John added. “After we get through with the jerk, he’ll think twice before he cheats on his wife and takes advantage of another woman.”

Amazed by the three of them, Katherine couldn’t help but smile. “You all have been in the Wild West too long,” she told her sister. “Where’s Buck? Don’t we need him to ride shotgun?”

“He and Rainey have gone to an auction in Colorado Springs. And trust me, if he thought for one second that he could confront Nigel, he’d already be packing for Paris,” Elizabeth said, sobering. “We’re all outraged by what he did to you. He’s nothing but a lying, two-timing adulterer, and don’t you dare lose a second’s sleep over the jerk. You deserve better. Give it time. You’ll find someone.”

“Oh, no!” she cried. “I’m not going there again, thank you very much. I’d rather deal with mad cow than take on another man.”

“Whoa!” John said quickly, horrified. “This is ranching country. Don’t say that!”

“Sorry,” she said with a grimace. “I didn’t mean that, of course. The cows don’t deserve to suffer just because Nigel was and is and always will be a bastard.”

She would have sworn she was in perfect control, but tears suddenly stung her eyes, and before she could blink them away, Elizabeth saw her distress and came to her rescue. “What are we doing, standing in the drive, when you’ve got to be exhausted? Let’s go inside and have a spot of tea.”

“I just made some.”

“Good. I made a pound cake yesterday—it’s Hilda’s recipe. We’ll have that, too.”

Rainey and Buck came in later that evening. Except for Priscilla, the family was finally together again. It didn’t take Katherine long to realize that coming to Colorado had been the right decision, after all. Over the course of the next few days, she fell into a routine of having meals with the family, then retreating to quiet, private areas of the ranch to work on her illustrations. For the most part, she thought she was doing quite well. She’d gotten her emotions under control, and if she cried, it was only when she was alone in bed at night.

She hid it well—or so she thought—until she was forced to face the truth one morning at the breakfast table. “You’ve been crying again,” Buck said flatly.

“I have not!”

“And you’re losing weight,” Elizabeth added with a frown. “You need to eat more than an apple for breakfast.”

“I do! I had—”

“Toast,” Rainey finished for her when she hesitated. “One lousy piece of toast. That’s not enough to keep a bird alive.”

“I’ve never been a big eater…”

“Oh, really?” Elizabeth retorted. “It seems to me that I remember someone eating an entire batch of scones with butter and honey. And then there’s Mother’s recipe for braised lamb. You used to eat three servings!”

“I did not! It was—”

“Four,” Buck said with a quick grin. “I distinctly remember.”

Trapped, knowing her siblings’ memories were every bit as sharp as her own, she laughed. “All right. So I have a weakness for braised lamb and hot scones—”

“You mean biscuits,” John teased.

“They were made and eaten in England,” she said loftily. “That makes them scones.”

“And you ate a whole pan of them?” Hunter said with a lazy grin. Seated across the breakfast table from her, he surveyed her with new respect. “I’m impressed. Who knew a skinny little thing like you could eat so much?”

Her chin jutted up at that. “I’m not skinny. I just have a high metabolism.”

“Yeah, right,” he chuckled.

When she gave him a narrow-eyed look that would have sent a lesser man scurrying for cover, Elizabeth quickly jumped into the conversation. “I think you need to get out more, circulate, meet people. We should have a party.”

“And introduce her to all the jerks who’ve been trying to drive us off the ranch?” Buck drawled. “I don’t think so.”

“Good,” Katherine retorted. “I don’t want a party.”

“How about a dating service?” Rainey suggested. “An online one would give you the chance to meet someone from other areas.”

“No!”

“It could be fun,” Hunter pointed out. “If you like losers—”

“Hunter!”

“Stop that!”

“Just because someone uses a dating service doesn’t mean they’re a loser.”

Hardly hearing the defense of her family, Katherine frowned at him in irritation. She didn’t know what it was about him that rubbed her the wrong way, but every time their eyes met, he knew just what to say to raise her hackles. And he knew exactly what he was doing. The knowledge was right there in his laughing eyes.

Sitting back in her chair, she surveyed him with a frown. “When are you leaving? Surely it’s time for you to move on to your job in California. If you like, I can help you pack.”

Far from offended, he only grinned. “I don’t know. I kind of like it here. I thought I might stay awhile, if that’s okay.”

When she gave him a withering look, John said dryly, “This is great. One big, happy family. Don’t you just love it?”

Hunter Sinclair was, Katherine decided three days later, the biggest pest she’d ever met. After his annoying comments at breakfast on Saturday, she’d done everything she could to avoid him, without success. If she hadn’t known better, she would have sworn he had radar where she was concerned. Whenever she slipped off by herself, he always seemed to show up.

She still didn’t know how he’d known she was at the ranch’s hot springs yesterday. She’d taken her sketchpad and pencils and slipped away from the homestead in Rainey’s SUV. All she’d told Rainey was that she was going out on the ranch somewhere to work on the illustrations that were due at the end of the month. No one had seen her leave the homestead, let alone followed her. Considering that, she should have had the rest of the morning to herself. Instead, she’d hardly settled beside the bubbling hot springs when Hunter drove up in his Toyota 4Runner.

“What are you doing here?”

Not the least bit put off by her greeting, he’d only grinned and started toward her with the lazy grace of a mountain lion on the prowl. “I was just out exploring and decided to check out the springs,” he said easily. “Buck told me the Indians used to camp here.”

It was a good story, and another woman might have swallowed it without a blink of an eye. But thanks to Nigel, she wasn’t nearly as naive as she’d once been. “Really? And you just happened to show up when I was here?”

“That’s right,” he chuckled. “Coincidence is a pretty amazing thing, isn’t it?”

“Coincidence, my eye,” she retorted. “You followed me!”

“Now, sweetheart, why would I do that?”

“Don’t call me sweetheart!”

“Yes, ma’am. What would you like me to call you? Personally I like darlin’. It’s got a nice ring, you know. But I can’t call you that without kissing you first. That’s one of my rules—”

Frustrated, irritated, fighting the smile that tugged at her lips, she hadn’t said another word. She’d packed up her art supplies and left.

When he’d gone out last night to one of the local watering holes, she’d told herself she was glad. There was bound to be a woman there who would catch—and keep—his attention for the rest of his stay at the ranch. Then he would stop yanking her chain and pestering her.

Clinging to that thought, she should have slept the night away. Instead, the darn man chased her into her dreams, and she’d tossed and turned and stared at the ceiling for hours before finally falling asleep around four in the morning.

Not surprisingly, the rest of the family, including Hunter, had already eaten breakfast by the time she woke at ten, and the house was deserted. Desperate for a cup of tea, she stepped into the kitchen, only to discover a note from Elizabeth on the refrigerator.

Hey, sleepyhead. Hope you slept well. John and I have gone to the cabin, and Buck and Rainey and Hunter are riding fence on the ranch’s north boundary. If you want some company, take the dirt road west of the barn and it’ll take you to the cabin. I packed a picnic lunch for the three of us, and Rainey left her keys for you on the kitchen table. See you later. Elizabeth.