The Reluctant Texas Rancher (Harlequin American Romance) Read online

  The lone cowboy

  Three generations of Cartwright women have run the Four Winds cattle ranch, and Liz Cartwright is being pressed to keep the tradition going. But Liz wants to continue her legal practice in town, not spend her time working the land. She needs a man to do the heavy lifting!

  Travis Anderson is also a big-city lawyer, claiming to be back in Laramie County with a desire to reconnect with his ranching roots. Only Liz isn’t buying it. When it turns out her old flame is being sued for malpractice, Liz agrees to assist him in exchange for help around Four Winds. Now all she has to do is ignore the incredible chemistry she’s always shared with the sexy cowboy.

  The trouble is, if Liz helps Travis win his lawsuit, he’ll leave the ranch—just as she’s learning the benefits of having him around. What’s a poor cowgirl to do?

  Liz gulped, every inch of her going into white-hot alert.

  “Wh-what are you doing?” She stepped back, found she was suddenly holding her breath.

  He danced her slowly backward, toward the wall. “Putting your willpower and integrity to the test.”

  The feel of his hands moving up her arms, to her shoulders, then her neck, then her face, sent a shimmer of need sifting through her. “Travis….”

  He ran his thumbs along her jaw, then her lips, the soft encouraging pressure parting them. “I’m not your client any more, Liz.” He touched his mouth to hers. Briefly. Testingly.

  “I’m not even your friend.”

  He bent his head and kissed her again, his lips tenderly coaxing and recklessly taking, the sensuality of his mouth moving over hers, until she wreathed her arms about his neck and kissed him back, every bit as passionately and deeply as he was kissing her.

  Dear Reader,

  When I created the fictional town of Laramie, Texas, I wanted it to embody all the best qualities of the Lone Star State. Hence, it had to be a place where people dreamed big and knew through hard work and determination that anything was possible. It had to be a place where love was boundless. Family mattered. Neighbors helped each other out. Generosity of spirit and honorable behavior was the norm.

  Readers responded by falling in love with the setting as surely as I had, and now, the fictional town of Laramie, Texas, is home to twenty-four novels. (All now available as ebooks.) The McCabes of Texas miniseries—the stories about John and Lilah McCabe’s four bold, handsome sons—started the McCabe family dynasty. The answers to those four men were the four orphaned sisters in The Lockharts of Texas. Sam McCabe, his five rowdy sons and feisty Kate Marten were the subject of Texas Vows, a single-title novel. The McCabes: Next Generation focused on the six offspring of Sam and Kate Marten McCabe. Texas Legacies: The Carrigans featured the four offspring of Meg Lockhart and Luke Carrigan. And Texas Legacies: The McCabes recounts the love stories of the offspring of Greta and Shane McCabe.

  Now, I introduce to you my new series, The Legends of Laramie County, with four memorable new Texas clans. We start with the Cartwrights—four generations of Texas lady ranchers who suddenly find themselves in need of a…man?

  For more information on these and other books please visit me on the web at www.cathygillenthacker.com.

  Happy reading!

  Cathy Gillen Thacker

  Cathy Gillen Thacker

  The Reluctant Texas Rancher

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Cathy Gillen Thacker is married and a mother of three. She and her husband spent eighteen years in Texas and now reside in North Carolina. Her mysteries, romantic comedies and heartwarming family stories have made numerous appearances on bestseller lists, but her best reward, she says, is knowing one of her books made someone’s day a little brighter. A popular Harlequin Books author for many years, she loves telling passionate stories with happy endings, and thinks nothing beats a good romance and a hot cup of tea! You can visit Cathy’s website at www.cathygillenthacker.com for more information on her upcoming and previously published books, recipes and a list of her favorite things.

  Books by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE

  1080—THE ULTIMATE TEXAS BACHELOR*

  1096—SANTA’S TEXAS LULLABY*

  1112—A TEXAS WEDDING VOW*

  1125—BLAME IT ON TEXAS*

  1141—A LARAMIE, TEXAS CHRISTMAS*

  1157—FROM TEXAS, WITH LOVE*

  1169—THE RANCHER NEXT DOOR**

  1181—THE RANCHER'S FAMILY THANKSGIVING**

  1189—THE RANCHER'S CHRISTMAS BABY**

  1201—THE GENTLEMAN RANCHER**

  1218—HANNAH'S BABY†

  1231—THE INHERITED TWINS†

  1237—A BABY IN THE BUNKHOUSE†

  1254—FOUND: ONE BABY†

  1262—MOMMY FOR HIRE

  1278—A BABY FOR MOMMY‡

  1286—A MOMMY FOR CHRISTMAS‡

  1298—WANTED: ONE MOMMY‡

  1319—THE MOMMY PROPOSAL‡

  1325—THE TRIPLETS' FIRST THANKSGIVING

  1334—A COWBOY UNDER THE MISTLETOE†

  1350—ONE WILD COWBOY†

  1363—HER COWBOY DADDY†

  1374—A COWBOY TO MARRY†

  *The McCabes: Next Generation

  **Texas Legacies: The Carrigans

  †Made in Texas

  ‡The Lone Star Dads Club

  †Texas Legacies: The McCabes

  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

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Epilogue

  Chapter One

  “We have to face facts. We need a man and we need one bad,” eighty-three-year-old Tillie Cartwright said, the moment the four women sat down on the porch of the ranch house.

  “Like heck we do.” Sixty-six-year-old Faye Elizabeth handed out the corn to be shucked. “Men are nothing but trouble. Always have been. Always will be.”

  “But they have their uses.” Forty-eight-year-old Reba winked. “And with my sciatica acting up again…” She winced as she tried to get her aching hip and thigh settled comfortably in the cushioned wicker chair. “I don’t know any other way to manage. Unless…”

  All eyes turned to the youngest member of the family.

  Liz Cartwright shook her head at the three generations of Cartwright women in front of her. Under any other circumstance this conversation would have been ludicrous, but on the estrogen-powered Four Winds cattle ranch, where she had grown up and now resided once again, the ornery, fiercely opinionated comments were to be expected.

  “I’m not giving up my law practice to run this ranch,” Liz said with the full conviction of her twenty-eight years. It didn’t matter how much pressure her mother tried to exert. “I said I would help out—and I will—but other than that, the most I’m prepared to do is help you choose a new ranch hand.”

  “Then it’s a good thing I’m here,” a deep male voice interjected.

  An audible gasp filled the air as Travis Anderson walked around the side of the house and climbed onto the porch. The tall, oh-so-sexy cowboy removed his hat, revealing thick dark hair in need of a cut, and charcoal-gray eyes.

  His respects paid, Travis settled the Stetson squarely on his head and smiled. “Isn’t that right, ladies?”

  TRAVIS HAD FIGURED Liz Cartwright
would not be all that excited to see him. The two of them had dated in high school. She still resented him for the way he had ended it.

  “We’re looking for a ranch hand, Travis,” Liz told him drily as she ripped a chunk of green husk and silk from a cob. “Not a Houston attorney.”

  Travis knew the Laramie County rumor mill had been working overtime since he had arrived home a few days ago, suitcase in hand.

  Liz was apparently curious, too. Though he doubted his savvy fellow attorney would come right out and admit it.

  After taking in the way the spring sunlight brought out the fire in her shoulder-length, auburn hair, he studied the skeptical twist to her pink lips.

  It didn’t matter that Liz was more beautiful than ever, or that her fair skin looked just as soft to the touch. And the fact she was sexy in an unconscious, girl-he’d-grown-up-with way was of no consequence, either.

  What he needed was the opportunity to make a deal. And this temporary job on the Four Winds Ranch would give him that. As well as a place to stay…

  Never one to be taken advantage of, Liz waved a dismissive hand before going on to strip the ear of corn bare and drop it into the bowl. She paused to shoot him a disdainful look. “So maybe you should run along back to the city....”

  Travis shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans and leaned against the porch rail. As always when they were together, the world seemed to narrow to just the two of them. “Didn’t you hear?” he taunted, looking into her emerald eyes. “My days as a bona fide city slicker are over.”

  Standing abruptly, Liz placed her hands on her slender, jean-clad hips. “Hearing it and believing it to be true are two different things.” She let her gaze drift over him before returning ever so deliberately to his eyes. “And why anyone as accomplished as you would give up a downtown loft and a six-figure salary…”

  Put that way, Travis knew, his actions didn’t make sense. He concentrated on what would. “The loft measured less than six hundred square feet.” Casting a glance at Tillie, Faye Elizabeth and Reba, he flashed the kind of disarming smile he used on witnesses he was about to depose, before explaining wryly, “It wasn’t a whole lot of space to give up. As for the job…” He turned back to Liz and lifted a hand. “I decided I’m better suited at the moment for a wide-open range and a herd of cattle. Two things you ladies have in spades.”

  A place, he added silently, where I’ll have plenty of space and privacy to reflect. Plenty of time to plan my next big move…

  Liz folded her arms beneath her breasts. “Neither the land nor the cattle are for sale, so if that’s your angle, Travis Anderson…”

  “I do want my own land. My own herd.” As well as something even more important to him: an intact reputation. “But while I’m figuring out how I’m going to get those things, I won’t mind taking care of yours.”

  “I VOTE WE HIRE HIM,” Liz’s mother said, as soon as Travis Anderson walked off to give them a moment to confer.

  Tillie shrugged. “He knows cattle.”

  Faye Elizabeth frowned. “I don’t see that we have much choice, given the fix we’re in.”

  “I’m not so sure we have to act this fast,” Liz cautioned, with lawyerly calm. “For starters, I don’t trust why he’s here.” Travis had been achievement-oriented his entire life. “I think he has an ulterior motive.”

  She just wasn’t sure what it was.

  Liz’s mother sized her up with a mischievous grin. “No matter. I’m sure you’ll be able to contain yourself around that handsome man. If that’s what you want,” she teased.

  Liz flushed and pushed the distant memory of Travis’s kisses away. Kisses she had been too uptight to really enjoy, because she’d been so afraid of having her heart stomped on by the cutest boy in school.

  Ignoring the knot of anxiety in her solar plexus, she shook her head. “I didn’t mean me. There have been rumors in the legal community that Travis Anderson lost his boy wonder status.”

  Reba frowned. “That doesn’t sound like the Travis I recall. Or anyone with Lockhart and Anderson blood running through his veins. Most members of both families are incredibly successful.”

  “I didn’t believe it, either,” Liz admitted with a shake of her head. “Until he showed up here today, looking for work. Now I’m beginning to think there might be something to it. Just as there’s more to his asking for work here, of all places.”

  “Such as?” Tillie prodded.

  Liz turned her glance to Travis. Currently, he was inspecting the broken-down, thirty-year-old tractor parked next to the barn.

  She remembered him being tall and broad-shouldered. Athletic enough to make all the school teams he wanted. Smart enough to graduate with a whole passel of scholarships. But she didn’t remember him being that muscular, or so good at filling out a pair of jeans.

  “What could he be up to?” Faye Elizabeth asked, inspecting the shucked corn for any stray strands of silk.

  Travis turned. The bemused expression on his face said he knew they were watching him.

  Thank heaven he didn’t know what Liz was thinking!

  Eyebrows raised, he stared at her a long moment, then glanced away.

  Aware that everyone was waiting for her to weigh in, Liz turned back to them, her pulse racing.

  She pushed aside the desire welling up inside her. This was no time to be thinking about kissing Travis again.

  “I don’t know.” She sighed. “Despite what he says, I can’t see him ever giving up the law to ranch.” Liz knew how hard Travis Anderson had worked for everything he’d earned, how deeply wedded he was to all his plans. “It wouldn’t matter what kind of professional disappointment he has weathered. He would still pick himself up, dust himself off and keep right on going toward his goal.” Whatever the latest one was.

  Reba shrugged. “Sounds to me like Travis has finally come to his senses, in wanting to return to the ranching life he was born into.” She looked at her daughter. “You’d be lucky if you had an epiphany like that, too.”

  Liz dropped her head in her hands and groaned. Would they never stop wishing she would give up everything to take over the ranch?

  Getting back to business, Reba pushed on. “All those in favor of hiring Travis Anderson to ride, rope and wrangle for us, say aye.”

  “Aye,” the three elder Cartwright women said in unison.

  Trying not to think about how uncomfortable it would be for her to have Travis around all the time, Liz threw up her hands. “Fine.” She was so busy with her law practice, she wasn’t going to be here much, anyway.

  Faye Elizabeth gathered up the shucked corn and took it into the kitchen to start dinner. Tillie headed back to the ranch books. Only Reba remained on the porch with Liz.

  Her mother pointed to the fence, where Travis stood gazing out at the vast, rolling terrain of the ten-thousand-acre Four Winds. “Go get him, and show him to his quarters.”

  Liz tore her gaze from his handsome profile. She hadn’t expected him to sleep on the property, too! Irritably, she demanded, “Which are going to be where?”

  “The homestead, of course.”

  Her mouth fell open. “Wait a minute.” Indignant, she angled a thumb at her chest. “I’m sleeping in the homestead.”

  “You were. Now he will be. Unless…” Reba tossed her a speculative look “…you want Travis bunking in the main house with us?”

  Her frustration mounting, Liz leaped to her feet. “Why does he have to be on the ranch at all before eight o’clock or after five?” The last thing she needed was a sexy guy she’d once had a crush on underfoot....

  Reba winced and put a hand against her lower back. “Because it’s calving season, we barely have the funds to pay one ranch hand and we need someone around to do the heavy lifting at all hours of the day and night.”

  Liz couldn’t argue the necessity of having someone to relieve her mother of the physical rigors of ranch work. However, she could disagree with his working conditions. “I know that, Mom, b
ut he has to have time off,” she said reasonably.

  Reba stretched to relieve the pain. “He can have time off after all the calves are born.”

  As always, the Cartwright tunnel vision when it came to ranch matters superseded all else, including the needs of others. “Travis may not agree to this,” Liz warned.

  Reba sent her a confident glance. “Then it’s up to you to convince him.”

  TRAVIS HEARD BOOT STEPS crossing the rough ground, and turned as Liz approached.

  The reluctant look on her pretty face told him all he needed to know. He had a temporary job. Likely over her objections.

  “I’m ready to start anytime,” he drawled, eyeing her in a way it would have been unwise to do earlier, before he got the job.

  Her rich auburn hair was just as thick and silky as he recalled. It was a little shorter now, falling only to her shoulders. But the classic cut and side-swept bangs suited her as much as the slight flush to her cheeks, the hint of temper in her pine-green eyes, and the determined set of her soft, bow-shaped lips.

  His presence obviously flustered her, as it always had, in a way he found irresistible.

  What was different was that he felt a little off his game around her, too.

  As if his ordinary way of tackling people and problems wouldn’t work.

  To get to know her, to understand the way she ticked, he would have to dig deeper, get past her resistance—as he hadn’t been able to do when they were teens.

  And given what they needed to accomplish, the sooner he was able to do that the better.

  “Tonight, if you want,” he continued.

  Liz scowled, looking even less thrilled about that. “They figured as much.” She cocked her head sideways and sized him up with a wary glance. “You know they expect you to move out here, for as long as you choose to work for the Four Winds Ranch?”

  Nodding, Travis ambled closer.

  She might be struggling to handle her family, or contain him, but she was still sweet and sharp, with a way of beckoning him near that went far beyond simple chemistry.