The Rancher's Heir

Stefanie knew some really gorgeous women who would be perfect for Noah. She knew two women in particular who came to mind right away. Better still, one of them was going to be in Vivian Warner’s wedding party when Thane’s widow remarried next week. She could call Vivian. Noah needed someone who would make him happy.

And Stefanie needed to think of a way to get Camilla away from Dallas and out of her brother’s life.

If Camilla was away from Dallas, maybe Noah would be more interested in going out and meeting new friends.

Camilla

In her large art studio at her Dallas home, Camilla stepped back to look at the canvas on an easel. She had a commissioned family portrait of two children she was painting from a picture she had taken with her iPad. She usually got up early to paint while Ethan slept. She would hear him on the monitor when he stirred.

It was quiet, peaceful in her studio, and on breaks from painting, she could watch the sunrise over her backyard.

Light spilled into the room and over easels holding watercolor paintings, charcoal drawings and portraits. One wall held a massive landscape painting. There were shelves filled with art bottles of acrylic paints and tubes of oils. Two sinks were near a worktable. Sunshine splashed through the floor-to-ceiling glass wall that gave a broad view of her gardens. Stacks of drawings and prints were in bins along a wall. She had a patio door open to let fresh air in and a slight paint smell out. She had a studio in her condo, another studio in an office in downtown Dallas, but this was her favorite place to paint. She also had an art gallery in Dallas.

As she cleaned her brushes, she glanced over at a black-and-white pencil sketch propped on top of a cabinet holding her paints. The sketch was Noah, one she had done from a picture after they started dating. She still liked it. All in shades of black and gray on a white background, she had made his eyes a vivid blue, trying to reproduce the color of them. He had a faint smile and his black hair was its usual unruly tangle. That mass of tangled curls was gone when she last saw him with his military cut.

She stared at his picture a moment, dreading seeing him again while at the same time missing him, wondering what the future held. Guilt plagued her and memories taunted her, memories of his kisses, moments in his arms.

With a shake of her head, she continued to put away brushes and pencils. In the cabinet were scrapbooks with printouts of pictures and artwork she had done.

She had attended a musical at the Music Hall last night, and during the performance, her mind had wandered to Noah. He was out of the military now.

On the wall behind a massive wooden desk was a wall calendar with the art jobs she had pending and due dates. She had appointments written in, important events she would attend, including her widowed sister-in-law’s upcoming wedding. Noah would be there and their paths would cross.

She thought over what she’d heard: Noah Grant was home. She couldn’t get him out of her thoughts. She couldn’t understand her reaction to hearing the news. She hadn’t seen him for two years, not since he’d been home on furlough. Even back then he was exactly what she disliked in a man—a take-charge male—yet when she heard he was back, her heart had raced and longing shook her. For just an instant, she forgot their fights and arguments and remembered only the good moments. Noah making her laugh, Noah holding her, kissing her. Noah taking her to bed, where she’d run her hands over his smooth back. Noah—

Stop it.

She had to listen to that sane inner voice telling her to rein in those errant memories. Yes, they’d had moments of ecstasy, of bliss, but those times were over.

So why did the mere anticipation of seeing him make her heart flutter? Why did she have such an intense reaction to him?

Their last time together had ended in a bitter breakup and she had been the one who’d enacted it. She told him they had no future. She had a father who made all the decisions and ran their house with an iron fist. All her life her mother had given in to her dad. Too far back to remember exactly when, Camilla had vowed she would never live a life where she had to constantly give in to someone else about everything. She had to make some of her own decisions beyond what she would wear and whom she’d invite to the next party.

Her brother, as much as she had loved Thane, had been another take-charge man. But she wouldn’t allow herself to choose a man like that for a husband.

At least her dad led a quiet life. Noah, on the other hand, liked challenges.

Noah and she were such opposites that she couldn’t understand the attraction she felt. She was going to Shakespeare in the Park tonight. Noah would never go with her to Shakespeare, the opera or the ballet. He seldom went to art galleries with her. She loved city life, operas, chamber music, her art. Noah was a billionaire rancher, but a cowboy at heart. He loved his ranch, boot-scootin’ honky-tonks, country music, competing in rodeos, flying his planes. He was exuberant, filled with life, and he’d take charge wherever he was. She didn’t want to tie her life to a cowboy who was 100 percent determined to do things his way.

So why did she almost melt when she looked into his vivid blue eyes? Why did his kisses set her on fire? He could make her forget the world, forget what she liked and didn’t like. So easily he could make her want to be in his arms. And that was what he had done the last time she had seen him when he had come home to Texas on a furlough.

They had started out fighting and arguing and ended up in bed in each other’s arms. He had charmed her as he usually did.

For all their differences and her wanting to avoid getting entangled with a wild, take-charge rancher who liked challenges, she had been charmed, dazzled and unable to resist the mutual attraction, and she had spent the weekend in his bed. Now she was going to face the consequences.

When Noah had been home on furlough, he had been more appealing than ever. He had filled out with broad, muscled shoulders, a hard body in prime shape with a narrow waist, endurance that made him fabulous in bed. Just thinking about seeing him again made her pulse race and her insides get tingly.

She didn’t know how she would deal with him. No matter how much she planned to stand firm, to resist him, she feared that all he had to do was wrap his arm around her and kiss her and her resistance would disappear into thin air.

On the other hand, he could be stubborn, determined and unyielding. Which made her wonder how forgiving he could be. She couldn’t answer that, because there hadn’t ever been an occasion between them for her to gauge his ability to forgive.

Thinking of seeing Noah made her shiver.

She heard the monitor and left to get her fifteen-month-old son.

He had gone back to sleep and she stood beside his crib, love filling her for her baby. Ethan lay curled on his side. His long black lashes cast dark shadows on his rosy cheeks.

Camilla ran her fingers lightly over her precious sleeping baby. His mop of curly black hair reminded her of his dad. He held a frazzled-looking teddy bear in his arms—the toy he held like a security blanket whenever he’d get sleepy. The bear’s stitched black nose was smashed from Ethan rubbing noses with it.

She touched Ethan’s curls again. Guilt was a heavy shroud that had fallen over her. This was Noah’s baby and he had no idea that Ethan was his son.

Two

Camilla

All during her pregnancy, everyone assumed she was carrying her ex-husband Aiden’s child. When she realized they did, she let everyone go right on believing that. By the second month after they married, Aiden and she were divorced. When the baby was born, it was easy to keep up the deception. She had been divorced and Aiden had left town six months before Ethan was born, so no one questioned her naming her baby Warner, her family name. Aiden had been a rebound marriage, a fling, a mistake, and she never wanted to keep his name and he had no interest in her baby.

Little Ethan, like Aiden and Noah, had black hair, so no one suspected anything.

Though she’d already broken up with Noah when she started dating Aiden, she’d been pregnant. Noah had been back in Afghanistan, his furlough over. As well as their relationship.

She’d known Aiden since college and she married him on the rebound. She had thought he would be a dad for her baby, but she knew the second week of the marriage she had made a mistake and she felt he wasn’t happy, either.

They really weren’t compatible. By the second month he’d wanted a divorce and so had she.

People still didn’t realize this was Noah’s baby. While guilt plagued her because Noah had a right to know the truth, she knew he would want to take charge of the situation. He would want control over her baby. Maybe her own life in some ways would be out of her hands.

At some point she had to let him know about Ethan, but she dreaded it more than anything in her life. She was not going to let him know yet. Ethan was the joy of her life now. She didn’t want to lose him. Nor was she ready to share him. Noah was a rancher, but she loved city life and wanted her son in Dallas.

Though she’d spent time on her grandfather’s ranch, she wasn’t fond of them. Being on a ranch made her think of Winston, her little brother who had fallen through the ice at their grandfather’s ranch when Winston was four. Thane had pulled him out of the icy pond. Later Winston had developed pneumonia and died. It always saddened her to think of that time.

The entire year they’d dated, Noah had never declared his love, but he’d made it clear that if he ever wanted to marry, his wife would have to live on his ranch.

Yes, suffice it to say, she and Noah had hugely different lifestyles. Noah wasn’t going to change and she didn’t want to change, either.

She brushed her fingers so lightly over Ethan’s soft curls, feeling them tickle the palm of her hand. Wanting to lean down and kiss him, she resisted because she was afraid she would wake him. The minute Noah knew about their son, she was certain he would want to take charge of Ethan’s life and maybe hers, too. She would see Noah when Mike Moretti and Thane’s widow, Vivian, married. Their wedding was coming up this next weekend, and both she and Noah would be in it. Ethan was too little to go to this wedding, so she didn’t have to worry about having Noah and Ethan in the same place.

Aside from Mike and Vivian, she moved in a circle of friends now who did not know Noah, so she hoped she’d be able to drag out the deception a little longer.

Over the last almost two years there’d been times she’d considered telling Noah about his son, but she’d always backed off. Now, as she looked at her baby and fought the urge to hold him in her arms, she knew despite her guilty conscience, she had to continue to keep Noah away from him. It was too terrifying to tell him the truth.

Noah

Tuesday afternoon, Noah sat across from Mike as they ate burgers together on the patio of a popular lunch place in Dallas. “I’m glad about you and Thane’s widow,” Noah told his friend. “I guess it was good you told Thane you’d go to work for him when you got out of the military. I think it gave him peace of mind to hire you and know if something happened to him, you’d go home to run the ranch. He may have hoped all along that you would marry Vivian.”

“I’m sure he was taking care of Vivian and taking care of his beloved ranch. He had everything all lined up if anything happened to him.” Mike put down his burger and wiped his mouth on a napkin. “Now you have an errand for him.”

“Right,” Noah said, looking into his friend’s alert brown eyes. Mike’s black hair had a slight wave and was longer than when he was in the service, but still cut short. “I had to promise Thane I would put his package into Camilla’s hands myself. The baby, too. Her baby isn’t going to know or care what’s going on and probably won’t even know he has a present.”

Mike laughed. “Thane probably hoped you’d get back with his sister.”

“That won’t happen. She told me a definite goodbye and she married after I left. She divorced him a few months into the marriage and now has his baby. Camilla and I are history. I’m too much the alpha male for her.”

“We’re all alpha males, and her brother definitely was, too.”

“She has said the same thing about her brother.” Noah shrugged. “I can’t change something as basic as that. It’s who I am. I don’t know how we got together in the first place. We’re opposites. She likes opera, art galleries and big cities. I like my country-western music, rodeos and the ranch. In short, we were never meant to be. It’s over.”

“Sorry. Life can get complicated. Thane probably wanted you to get back together so that her child would have a good dad around.”

“She’s from a very wealthy family. In addition, she does well with her art, some pieces bringing big bucks before I left for the service. She does watercolor landscapes, murals, also portraits and has done some portraits for celebs for impressive amounts of money, so she doesn’t need one bit of financial help. Also, she has two more brothers, Mason and Logan. As far as I know, they’ll be around some for her baby. When I left for the service Mason had a financial consulting firm in Austin and Logan is head of his Dallas oil company. Maybe being in a war made Thane sentimental. I don’t know. All I have to do is take the present to her and give the baby his present and say goodbye.”

Mike paused as he went to take another bite of his burger, and his eyes met Noah’s. “Sorry, buddy. She’ll be in our wedding because she’s family and a friend of Vivian’s.”

“It won’t matter. While it’s over between us, we can be civil to each other. I’ll see her at your wedding and then it’s goodbye and we probably won’t cross paths again.”

“She’s a good artist and highly successful, which made her instant friends with Vivian. Vivian shows Camilla’s art in her galleries. Camilla is good at what she does. Her art is bringing in higher returns and it’s selling better than ever.”

Noah was glad for her. She’d always been talented. But enough talk about Camilla. He changed the subject quickly, before Mike could go on about the woman. “Speaking of a wedding, too bad Jake won’t be out of the military and back for your wedding.”

“We waited for you. I’m not waiting another month for Jake to get back, even though I count him as a close friend,” Mike said.

“I’m sure he’ll understand.”

“He won’t care if he isn’t in a wedding except that he’ll miss a party. Jake loves a party.”

After reminiscing a bit about their good friend and Ranger buddy Jake Ralston, Mike asked after Noah’s plans now that he was home.

“I’ll stay in Dallas for the next month to get business taken care of, see my family some, and I have Thane’s gift to Camilla to deliver. Eventually, I’ll go back to my West Texas Bar G Ranch.”

“That’s the best possible plan,” Mike said, smiling. “If you want to buy a really fine horse, come by our place.”

“I’ll do that. When is a good time?”

Mike shrugged. “With our wedding coming up this weekend, either come out today or tomorrow or wait a couple of weeks until we return from our honeymoon.”

“Thanks, Mike. I’ll give you a call or text when I’m ready.”

“Great. You know where the ranch is. Stay for dinner and get to know Vivian if you can.”

“Thanks,” he said and Mike nodded.

As the hour passed, they finished lunch and finally said goodbye. Noah left, thinking again about delivering the gifts from Thane. When he sat in his car, he called a phone number he still could remember easily and drew a deep breath as he waited to hear Thane’s sister, Camilla Warren, answer.

Camilla

Camilla’s heart skipped a beat when she looked at the name on the caller ID. Noah. She hadn’t talked to him since the two weeks he’d been home on a furlough. Since they’d made a baby together. Sex with Noah had always been fabulous. In bed, they were compatible, in sync. Not so much out of the bedroom. A relationship between them never would have lasted. And now he would never forgive her deception.

She stared at the caller ID while the music on her phone continued to play, indicating an incoming call. She didn’t want to answer. She and Noah had nothing to talk about and he should know that she would not go out with him. She couldn’t imagine he would want to ask her out after the harsh words they’d had when they last parted. She didn’t want to see him and she didn’t want to talk to him.

His call kicked over to voice mail and minutes later her heart skipped another beat when she listened to Noah’s familiar voice.

“Camilla, your brother has a gift for you. It’s important because he went through hell—” Noah paused and tears stung her eyes because she loved her older brother and she knew Noah and Thane had been close friends since they had been in middle school.

She could hear Noah take a deep breath. “Thane went through hell to make sure I knew what he wanted. I promised him I would give a package to you. He was insistent I put it in your hand myself. Sorry Mike could have given it to you, but that wasn’t what your brother wanted. This was a final request of a dying buddy, a man whose memory I will always honor, and I’m going to keep my promise to him and put his gift into your hand as he asked. Also, he gave me a present for your baby, his first nephew. I’m to give that present to him. I’ll call again for a time.” There was a brief pause, and then he added, “It’s Noah, by the way.”

She heard the click and dropped her phone to cover her face with her hands and sob for the big brother who had been killed, a brother who had been a friend and a second dad. He wasn’t coming home. And she knew she was also crying over Noah, the man she had once loved with all her heart. The man she had to keep out of her life at all costs. Yet now there was a reason she had to see him, because she could not refuse her brother’s dying request, either.

Thane had known she couldn’t refuse to see Noah. Too easily, she could imagine her brother’s motive in getting Noah to deliver the present to her. Even from the grave, he was taking charge of someone else’s life. This time, hers. Thane was determined that Noah learn about Ethan. After the baby was born, Thane had written her and asked if Ethan was Noah’s. He was the only person who had come up with the truth. She couldn’t write back and admit it, though. Just the fact that she’d stalled had given him an answer. And then he’d gotten a call through to her and they had argued about it.

Thane tried almost as much as her dad to take charge of everything in his life. But he couldn’t convince Camilla to tell Noah the truth.

She sighed as she wiped her eyes and tried to regain her composure. She would have to see Noah and accept her brother’s present. To do so, they should make arrangements to meet as soon as possible and get it over and done. But she was not going to let him see Ethan. Noah could give her Ethan’s present. Her son wouldn’t know what was going on, anyway.

She picked up the phone to send a text to invite Noah to come by. She had no intention of telling Noah ahead of time that Ethan would not be home. Noah would simply come another time. In minutes she received an answer and a time, which she accepted. She sighed as she wondered how she would get through seeing Noah tomorrow. Not only then, but at Vivian’s wedding.

Vivian would marry Mike Moretti, another Ranger buddy and rancher who had been in Thane’s outfit. Thane had hired Mike to replace their retiring foreman. Vivian knew about Camilla’s breakup with Noah, so she had been sympathetic when she’d asked Camilla to be in her wedding, telling Camilla if she was uncomfortable accepting, she would understand. Camilla wanted to say no and stay far away, but she couldn’t. For Thane’s sake—and she truly liked Vivian—she would be in the wedding, which Vivian had originally said would be small with just family members and very close friends. That had changed because there were so many family members. Mike and Vivian both had brothers and close friends. One of Vivian’s brothers would be best man. Noah would be a groomsman. Noah’s sister, Stefanie, would be a bridesmaid.

Camilla hoped she could get through seeing Noah, talking to him, being in the wedding with him, without any tears. She was the one who had broken up the relationship and she thought by now she was over him, but hearing his voice not only made her cry, it made her weak in the knees and swamped her with longing to have his arms around her and to kiss him again—something she didn’t want to feel. She had no future with Noah. Her feelings hadn’t changed one tiny degree regarding his alpha-male ways. She just had to get through tomorrow’s meeting and get through the wedding, and then Noah would be out of her life.

After the wedding, she didn’t ever have to see Noah again. She would cling to that thought like a lifeline.

But first she had to make it through tomorrow.

* * *

The next day at noon her heart fluttered as she changed clothes for the third time. She shouldn’t care how she looked or what she wore. She and Noah were finished forever and she would take the package and baby present her brother had sent and say goodbye and Noah would be gone. She lived in Dallas, and Noah lived two hundred and thirty miles away in West Texas on his Bar G Ranch. Now, if only her heart could get the message that seeing Noah wasn’t important. Her heart was pounding, her hands were icy, her breathing was fast—why couldn’t she get over him? She didn’t want a future out on a ranch with a strong alpha male whose life choices were mostly the opposite of hers.

Annoyed by her reactions to seeing him, she took a deep breath.

Her door chimes made her jump and she realized how tense she was. She took another deep breath, glanced at herself in the mirror and shook her long, straight brown hair away from her face. Her gaze skimmed over her pale blue cotton blouse, matching slacks and high-heeled sandals. Then she hurried to the door, swinging it open and feeling her heart beat faster as she looked up into Noah’s vivid blue eyes. In that instant, two years’ worth of time vanished. In some ways it could have been yesterday when she’d last seen him. In other ways, change was evident. He looked older, taller, more broad-shouldered and even more incredibly handsome. His thick black hair was a mass of unruly curls above the most vivid blue eyes she had ever seen.

Looking like the rancher he was, Noah was in civilian clothes: fresh, dark jeans, a navy long-sleeved shirt and black boots. A short black beard was a new addition. He looked like a strong, handsome Texas cowboy, not a billionaire rancher and former officer of an elite military outfit. She couldn’t speak and she wanted to walk into his arms and kiss him. She had thought she was getting over him, but the instant she looked into his eyes, such intense longing filled her that it hurt. For a moment they stared at each other and she realized he was as silent as she.

“Come in, Noah,” she said quietly, her voice a whisper. Her pulse raced and she couldn’t tear her gaze away from his. She couldn’t move. Her heart pounded and she made an effort to step back so he could enter. When he did, she caught the scent of his aftershave. As he stepped in front of her, he paused to look down at her. She couldn’t breathe while she wondered if he could hear her heart pound. He turned and walked on. Taking a deep breath, she closed the door and walked ahead of him into the living room.

“Where’s your baby?” he asked, following her. “I expected you to be holding him.”

“Actually, Noah, my mom came by and took Ethan with her. One of her friends is here from out of town and she wanted to show him off.”

She entered her living room and turned to face him. He had a slight scowl and his gaze had grown cold.

“Camilla, I told you that I have Thane’s gift to you and one to your son. What’s his name—Ethan?”