The Rancher's Unexpected Family Read online

  1 Cowgirl Cop + 1 Single Dad = Double the Desire!

  Running a ranch for troubled kids, policing the town and raising a son—Ash McCune is in complete control of her hectic life. Till one sexy single dad arrives on her Cedar River ranch with his daughter. Cole Quartermaine is rich, successful, a good father. But in weeks, he’s leaving. So why does he make her feel something she hasn’t felt in years—like a woman?

  Cole needs this ranch to connect with his newfound daughter. What he doesn’t need is a jaw-dropping attraction to the cowgirl cop who runs it. Nor hero worship from her son. He’s got three weeks to resist her and return to the city, a party of two…or stay and make a family of four.

  A father figure...a dad.

  That’s how her son viewed him? He should’ve been more careful, not gotten so involved. Now he was leaving and the boy would be hurt.

  “I’m sorry,” he said.

  “I never realized how much he missed having a man in his life. Not surprising, of course. In Jaye’s eyes, you’re a perfect image of what a father should be...strong, kind. Everything he longs for. Everything I didn’t give him.” She shook her head. “Maybe because I’m scared of letting someone in.”

  “You’re not afraid of anything,” he said, grasping her hand.

  “I am afraid,” she admitted, holding his glance. “I’m absolutely terrified. Of you. Of...this.”

  “Me, too,” he said quietly.

  “So what do we do?”

  “I don’t know. Ignore it. Go with it. Honestly, I have no idea.” He rubbed her palm with his thumb. The action was hypnotic and sexy and she swayed toward him. He felt her heat. “I promised myself... I promised you that I’d keep my distance.” He looked down at how close she was. “Ash, you should tell me to leave.”

  She touched his face, cradling his jaw. “I should...” she said, her words trailing. “But somehow, I can’t.”

  * * *

  THE CEDAR RIVER COWBOYS: Riding into town with romance on their minds!

  Dear Reader,

  Welcome back to Cedar River, South Dakota! And to my latest book from Harlequin Special Edition, The Rancher’s Unexpected Family.

  You may remember the heroine, Ash McCune, from my last Cedar River story. Ash is a police officer, a rancher, a single mom, a foster parent and just about the nicest person you could meet. She also hasn’t been on a date (or anything else) in years. On the small ranch she shares with her son and mother, Ash fosters kids needing help. And the occasional parent!

  Enter Cole Quartermaine.

  Gorgeous, sexy and completely hopeless in the parenting department. The former NASCAR champion arrives on the ranch with the troubled teenage daughter he’s only known about for a few months. What he doesn’t expect is the sparks that fly between himself and the beautiful Ash. But sparks are one thing...messing up his chance to be a father to his angry and lost daughter is another. He needs Ash’s help to build a relationship with his daughter and isn’t about to do anything foolish (like fall in lust...or love) while he’s at the ranch.

  But sparks have a way of complicating things, as Ash and Cole discover on their rocky road to love. What they both learn is that family, even the muddled, cobbled-together kind, is all that really matters and is absolutely worth fighting for.

  I hope you enjoy The Rancher’s Unexpected Family, and I’d like to invite you back to Cedar River very soon for my next book.

  I adore hearing from readers and can be reached by email at [email protected] or through Twitter (@helen_lacey_) and Facebook. You can sign up for my newsletter via my website at helenlacey.com. Please visit anytime as I love talking about my pets, my horses and, of course, cowboys, as well as sharing news about upcoming books in my latest series for Harlequin Special Edition, The Cedar River Cowboys!

  Warmest wishes,

  Helen Lacey

  The Rancher’s Unexpected Family

  Helen Lacey

  Helen Lacey grew up reading Black Beauty and Little House on the Prairie. These childhood classics inspired her to write her first book when she was seven, a story about a girl and her horse. She loves writing for Harlequin Special Edition, where she can create strong heroes with soft hearts and heroines with gumption who get their happily-ever-after. For more about Helen, visit her website, helenlacey.com.

  Books by Helen Lacey

  Harlequin Special Edition

  The Cedar River Cowboys

  Married to the Mom-to-Be

  The Cowgirl’s Forever Family

  Lucy & the Lieutenant

  Three Reasons to Wed

  The Prestons of Crystal Point

  The CEO’s Baby Surprise

  Claiming His Brother’s Baby

  Once Upon a Bride

  Date with Destiny

  His-and-Hers Family

  Marriage Under the Mistletoe

  Made for Marriage

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.

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  For Nas Dean

  Thank you for all that you do

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from AWOL Bride by Victoria Pade

  Chapter One

  There was one thing Cole Quartermaine knew, and that was that he knew nothing about how to handle surly teenagers.

  In particular, his surly teenage daughter, who was sulking in the passenger seat of his rental car, earbuds plugged into her ears, her mouth pressed into a flat, grim line.

  She hates me.

  No surprise there. It had been a fraught eight months since he’d first discovered the existence of fourteen-year-old Maisy, and that he was father to a girl who had no interest in getting to know him or having any kind of relationship. But he desperately wanted to work things out with his daughter...no matter how much she resisted. She didn’t care who he was, or that they shared the same blood. She called him Cole and he didn’t insist she say anything different.

  To be honest, he wasn’t even sure how he’d react if she actually did call him Dad.

  He concentrated on the drive and glanced to the right, at the sign welcoming them to town. Cedar River, South Dakota—population, three thousand and something. A speck on the map that sat in the shadow of the Black Hills. It was where he’d be staying for the next few weeks—a world away from Phoenix and the life he had there.

  But he had to do it. For Maisy’s sake. The last few months had been hard on them both. She didn’t want to be with him, she didn’t want anything to do with him or his folks or either of his younger sisters. And since the alternative was foster care, Cole knew this might be the only chance he had of truly connecting with his daughter. When his lawyer and friend, Joel, had suggested it, he’d resisted th
e idea. He wasn’t a small-town kind of person. He had lived most of his life in Phoenix, Arizona, although he’d traveled the country extensively when he was competing on the NASCAR circuit. But now that he was retired from racing and managing his family-owned race team, Cole spent the majority of the year in his city apartment in Phoenix.

  And this, he thought as he drove through Cedar River, with its one traffic light, wide wooden-planked sidewalks and mix of old and new storefronts, was not any kind of big city.

  He checked the GPS and took a left turn, crossing the river over a long bridge that took them east, with another five miles to travel. When the electronic voice from the GPS told him they had arrived at their destination, Cole turned right and went through a pair of wide, whitewashed gates. He looked down the long gravel driveway and spotted a ranch house in the distance. There were several other buildings dotted around the house, most of them smaller except for the huge red barn with a white roof that stood out like a beacon beneath the glow of the midmorning sun. Several horses and about a dozen head of cattle were grazing in the pasture, and he spotted a couple of dogs roaming around the ranch house.

  “We’re here,” he said, to himself more than anything, because his daughter hadn’t spared him more than a surly glance for the last thirty miles.

  Ignoring the heavy knot of tension in his gut, Cole pressed on the gas and headed down the driveway. He parked several yards from the main house and turned off the ignition, then unclipped his seat belt and turned toward his daughter.

  “Maisy?” He waited for a reply.

  After a moment she removed the earbuds and raised a bored eyebrow. “What?”

  “We’re here,” he said again and nodded toward the windshield.

  She glanced around and then shrugged. “Lucky me.”

  Cole fought the irritation climbing over his skin. He looked out the window and realized the place seemed deserted. Only the two large brown dogs were moving around the yard, circling the car warily. Great...maybe they were attack dogs. “Stay here,” he instructed and grasped the door handle. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

  She shrugged with a kind of disinterest he was becoming used to and popped the buds back into her ears. Cole looked at her and sighed as he got out of the car. One of the dogs barked as he closed the door and he took a couple of wary steps toward the house. He could hear music coming from the direction of the barn and then headed that way, watching as the dogs continued to circle around him as he walked. When he reached the barn he noticed how the hounds remained on either side of the door, as though they were standing on point and had been well trained to do so. The music was pure country and exactly what he’d expect to hear on a ranch on the outskirts of a town like Cedar River.

  “Hello?” he said and walked through the wide doors.

  He spotted an old truck in the corner, propped up on a set of jacks. Then he saw a pair of legs sticking out from beneath the tray, clad in jeans and attached to a set of curvy hips and then a bare, smooth belly peeking out of a grease-splattered T-shirt that was riding up over a taut set of abs. Cole came to an abrupt stop and stared at the shapely female form beneath the truck. His insides twitched with a kind instinctive reaction he suspected was wildly inappropriate, since he didn’t have a clue who she was. But still, he let his gaze linger for a moment, before clearing his throat and saying hello again.

  Then he heard a clang, a curse and then the hips shimmied across the ground and a woman sprang to her feet in front of him. The first things he noticed were her bright green eyes and thick red hair pulled back in a messy ponytail. His gaze traveled down her throat, her full breasts, her small waist and finally to her booted feet.

  “Hey,” she said loudly and clearly, so she could be heard above the music as she tugged down her T-shirt. “My face is up here!”

  Heat smacked Cole squarely in his cheeks and he met her gaze instantly. She was younger than him, maybe around thirty, and was effortlessly pretty. There was a smear of grease on her forehead and another on her chin, but it did nothing to quell the instant and blisteringly hot attraction he experienced, like a bolt of lightning that came out of nowhere. Her green eyes glared at him and he bit back a grin. Feisty redheads weren’t on his radar, not when he had more important things to worry about.

  “My apologies,” he said and kept his eyes locked with hers. “When I walked in here I didn’t expect to find someone like you underneath the truck.”

  “Someone like me?” she queried, and regarded him as though he was a chauvinistic jerk who belonged in a cave. “Do you think women should stay in the kitchen and out of the garage?” she asked, and wiped her hands down her jeans, then turned off the radio.

  “Not at all,” Cole replied, his gaze unwavering. “I think it’s helpful to be good at most things.”

  Her brows rose steeply. “And are you?”

  “Good at most things?” He shrugged loosely. “Like most men I’d probably like to think so.”

  She laughed and the sound hit him directly in the middle of his chest. Then she held out her hand before he had a chance to speak. “You must be Mr. Quartermaine. I’m Ash McCune.”

  She’s Ash McCune...

  And not what he had been expecting. Joel had neglected to say how young and attractive his cousin was. Cole knew very little about her, other than the fact she was a police officer, a single mom and had been a foster mother to many kids during the past few years. Which is why he’d brought Maisy to her South Dakota ranch. He needed help with his daughter. And Joel had insisted that Ash McCune was exactly the lifeline he needed.

  The moment their fingertips met, heat immediately shot up his arm. “Please, call me Cole.”

  “Sure,” she said and removed her hand. “You’re early. I wasn’t expecting you until late this afternoon.”

  “Our flight was canceled and we had to switch to an earlier one. Is that a problem?”

  She shrugged. “No problem. I just need some time to finish getting your cabin ready.”

  Awkwardness twitched between his shoulders. “I guess I should have called.”

  She shrugged again. “Like I said, no problem. I trust Joel explained our situation here?”

  Cole’s mouth twisted. “Actually, he was pretty vague about everything, other than the fact you graciously agree to allow Maisy and I to stay here for a few weeks.”

  “Maisy? That’s your daughter?”

  “Yes.”

  She nodded. “And she’s fourteen?”

  “She had a birthday last month,” he replied.

  “Does she know why she’s here?”

  Cole sighed. “She knows. And she’s not happy about it.”

  Ash McCune’s vibrant green eyes widened. “For the record, by the time they get here, most of the kids are resistant to the idea. And it usually works out.”

  “Usually?”

  “Helping kids isn’t an exact science,” she explained. “And that’s what we do here—we help kids.” Her mouth twisted a little. “And the occasional parent.”

  His mouth twitched. “I’m glad to hear it. In my defense, I’m new to this parenting gig.”

  She nodded. “Joel told me. You’ve been friends with my cousin for a long time?”

  “A few years. He dated my sister for a while a couple of years back. We’ve stayed friends and now he’s my lawyer. Joel was convinced you’d be able to help Maisy.”

  “I’ll do my very best,” she said quietly. “But you do need to understand that I have no actual qualifications in child psychology. I’m an authorized foster-caregiver and have all the relevant documents to legally have children in my care. But there’s nothing scientific about our methods. I guess what I’m trying to say is that we get results here through patience and kindness and caring.”

  “We?”

  “My mom, Nancy, lives here
and helps with the kids and I have an uncle who runs the ranching side of things.”

  He nodded fractionally. “You’re a mother and a police officer, right?”

  “Correct.”

  “Then I’d say you have all the qualifications you need.”

  She smiled and the action hit him way down low, in a place he’d somehow forgotten was there, and suddenly he felt about seventeen and keen to impress the cute girl in biology class. But he wasn’t seventeen and this wasn’t high school. It was real life. And he had a child who needed him to keep his head screwed on right.

  “So... I should probably meet your daughter?”

  Cole pulled himself from the foolish trance he was in and stepped back. “Of course. Ah, don’t be surprised or offended if she’s uncommunicative. My daughter doesn’t say a lot.”

  “The sullen, silent type,” she said and began walking from the barn. “I’ve handled that before.”

  And as he watched her hips sway as she walked from the barn, Cole was sure that Ash McCune could handle pretty much anything with one hand tied behind her back. Including him.

  * * *

  Good-looking men were nothing but trouble for a sensible, hardworking, small-town police officer and single mother. Logically, Ash knew that. But logic had spectacularly deserted her the moment she’d come face-to-face with Cole Quartermaine. Six foot something of lean, utterly gorgeous male with smooth brown skin, glittering blue eyes, broad shoulders and a sexy, megawatt smile wasn’t what she’d been expecting.

  I should have Googled him. Or at least asked Joel for more information.

  Usually she knew more about the people whom she allowed to stay at her ranch. She knew he was rich and came from a prominent racing family in Phoenix. But when her cousin had assured her that Cole Quartermaine and his daughter were in dire need of her help, she’d agreed without resistance. She trusted Joel and all she’d been given were names, a brief and abridged history of Cole’s occupation and the relationship between father and daughter, and an arrival date. She’d figured she’d simply find out anything else when they arrived.