Authors: Ciana Stone
“It is,” she said and turned away to hide a grin. For someone who had agonized
over her decision all night, she was feeling remarkably cheerful today. She was by
nature an optimistic, take-it-as-it-comes kind of person. But she thought her today’s
high spirits were connected with the dream she’d had of her grandfather.
Her grandfather had been dead for ten years. He died doing what he loved. Riding
a bull. He was working with some young aspiring riders and was thrown and
trampled. Ana thought it was a horrible way to die, but something told her that her
grandfather wouldn’t have had it any other way.
Just before waking, she dreamed about being at his home in the mountains of North
Carolina. It was dawn. Light was just beginning to filter down through the canopy of
trees as they followed a deer path. He stopped and turned to her. “You don’t need me
to show you the way anymore, Little Cat. You can follow a trail as well as I, and your
heart will tell you when you’ve lost your way. It’s time for you to trust yourself to know
the wise course and to stand on your own.”
“But I don’t want to,” she replied. “I make bad choices, Grandfather. I trust the
wrong people and end up getting disappointed and hurt.”
“True disappointment and hurt comes from mistrust, Ana. When you cut yourself
off from your own spirit and give less than what you are capable of giving, you become
a person who not only forgets how to trust, but you become unworthy of the trust of
others. Better to have given freely and be disappointed than refuse to give and miss
what might be the greatest joy in life.”
“Maybe.” She knew he was right. She couldn’t let one bad apple spoil the bunch, as
her mother was fond of saying. “But it’s hard to get rid of the fear.”
“Fear is good, Ana. It keeps our senses sharp. But being a victim to fear is living a
coward’s life. You must give in to it—urge it to come and when it does, feel it pass
through you. And when it has passed, look around and realize that the fear is gone but
you are still standing. Then that fear can never again control you, for you have realized
that fear itself is not the enemy.”
Ana went to him and wrapped her arms around him, pressing the side of her face
against his broad chest. “Why can’t there be someone like you out there for me?
Someone wise and strong. Someone who will love me for me, and not for who they
want me to be?”
“Who says there isn’t, Little Cat? Now come, it’s time for us to part. Give your old
grandfather a smile.”
Ana drew back to look up at him. He kissed her on the forehead and then she woke.
Now she thought about the dream and wondered if it was nothing more than her
own mind conjuring things that she would find comfort in, or if it was more. And how
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did a cowboy who seemed conjured from her dreams fit into the picture. Thoughtfully,
she looked over at Chase.
Chase was lost in thoughts of his own. Thoughts regarding Ana and the situation
he found himself in. He glanced over at her, surprised to find her watching him. For a
moment their eyes locked, then Chase looked away. Something about Ana unnerved
him and he couldn’t for the life of him figure out what. Sure, she could give him a hardon with a look, but that was just hormones talking. He’d met plenty of women who
turned him on and never once had he not failed to lose the thrill once he’d slept with
them. He figured it would be the same with Ana. If he had her just once then her ability
to give him a rock-hard dick with a bat of her golden eyes would disappear.
No, he decided. It wasn’t the sex thing that perplexed him. It was something else.
He’d figure it out sooner or later. Right now he had to think about the plans he’d made
to house Ana while she recuperated.
He’d shot off his mouth before he’d considered what he was saying when he
offered to put her up. One thing he’d learned way back was to never bring a date home.
Not that Ana was a date, but the principle still applied.
Chase had been fortunate enough to be born into a family of prestige and wealth.
That fortune carried a price, however. There were a lot of females who fell more in love
with the idea of money than the man, and Chase had long ago had his fill of that kind of
woman. To prevent repeat performances, he’d made a practice of not letting on who his
family was, and never, never took a woman to his family home. If he ever found a
woman who truly wanted him for who he was and not who his family was then he’d
introduce them to the family. Until then, he was just a simple rodeo cowboy with a few
horses.
He owned a spread adjacent to the Circle R, his family’s sprawling ranch, and that’s
where he spent a good deal of his time. The Circle R covered more than 30,000 acres of
the mountains of Graham County. Bordered to the west by Aravaipa Canyon
Wilderness, to the east by national forests, and to the north by the San Carlos Indian
reservation, it was a land rich with diverse wildlife. Black bear, deer, desert bighorn
sheep, bobcat, mountain lions, javelina and coatimundi were just a sampling of the
animals Chase had seen while growing up on the Circle R.
Chase inherited his land from his mother’s family. It comprised only five thousand
acres, but was unique in that it bordered a historic ghost town.
He figured he must have inherited more from his mother than he realized. From
what Clara, the housekeeper who raised him at the Circle R had told him, Charity
Hawks had never been comfortable at the Big House, as she called it. Charity would
rather have been in a pair of horse-shit-stained jeans and boots, training a new horse
than be inside having tea with the society folks.
Chase was the same. He could clean up pretty good when the situation demanded,
but if he could get out of being gussied up then all the better.
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Chase ‘n’ Ana
He cut a look over at Ana. She had adjusted so that Cody could stand across her lap
and both of them had their heads hung out the window. Ana’s eyes were closed, her
face tilted up, the wind whipping her long hair like strands of black silk.
A twinge in his gut made Chase turn away. The last thing he needed was to let
himself get worked up over this woman. He didn’t know the first thing about her and
he made it a policy to measure his passion with a strong dose of caution.
Ana looped her arm around Cody’s thick neck and looked out over the unfamiliar
landscape. Arizona was about a different as it came from her home in the mountains of
North Carolina. Accustomed to a preponderance of lush green and towering trees, it
made the scenery seem almost alien. But it was not the vacant desert she had expected.
Mountainous and rough, there was a beauty to it that called to her and she longed to
get out and touch the earth, feel its energy and explore the area.
She spotted Fergi and grinned. “Look, Cody,” she whispered to the dog and
pointed at the hawk paralleling their course from several hundred feet above them.
“That’s Fergi. You’ll love her. Only never, never, never try to lick her.”
Cody barked in acknowledgement and Ana laughed and hugged him.
When the truck slowed, she pulled her head back inside the cab to look across
Chase to the opposite side of the road. A lone road turned to the left, winding through
the brush and disappearing into a bend at a thick stand of trees. As they turned onto the
road, Cody barked once and started prancing on the seat. Ana laughed at his excitement
and hugged him, a little excited herself to get her first look at their destination.
Chase suppressed a grin. Ana looked about as excited as Cody. She was leaning
forward in the seat, her neck stretched up as if to give herself a better view of what was
around the next turn. He kept an eye on her as they rounded a bend in the road and the
house came into view.
Her eyes widened and a big smile took shape on her face. The moment the truck
came to a stop she was out the door, Cody one step behind, jumping around her
excitedly as she turned ‘round and ‘round, her eyes raking over everything in sight.
“It’s so beautiful!” she exclaimed, continuing to move and look. “You’re so lucky. Is
that yours? The barn back there, behind the house? Oh my! Are those horses yours?”
Before Chase had a chance to answer, she was headed toward the fence. “Oh, you
beautiful boy.” She reached the fence and extended her hand to Nightmare, a threeyear-old stallion no one had yet been able to break.
“Ana, no!” Chase raced after her. One thing Nightmare was not, was friendly. He’d
as soon bite your hand off as breathe.
“What?” She had already climbed up on the bottom rung of the fence and swung
her leg over the top rail with her hand on Nightmare’s nose.
Chase stopped dead in his tracks. “Uh, just be careful.”
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“I’m not an invalid, silly.” She dismissed the warning and turned her attention back
to Nightmare. “You beautiful boy,” she crooned, lifting his head up to breathe into his
face. “I wish I had something to give you.” She stroked him then turned to Chase. “Do
you think I could feed him something sometime? What are his favorites? Apples? My
grandfather used to have a horse a lot like this that couldn’t get enough apples. He’d eat
it out of your mouth if you weren’t careful. What’s this guy’s name? Do you ride him?
Do you think I could?”
Chase laughed, wondering if Ana ever asked just one question. “First off, his name
is Nightmare and—”
“Nightmare?” she blurted indignantly. “What a horrible thing to do to a being as
magnificent as this! That’s just mean. You could give him a complex or something.” She
turned back to the horse. “Don’t worry. I’m not calling you that. I’ll call you…ummmm,
let’s see…I’ll call you Zephyros. That’s the West Wind god in Greek mythology. Now I
know you’re not Greek, but we are sort of in the West and I bet you’re fast as the wind.
So what do you think? Zephyros?”
Ana waited patiently for the horse to give her a sign. When he did not move she
scrunched up her nose and pursed her lips, her brows drawing together. After a
moment she smiled. “Okay, then how about West Wind? Does that sound good?”
Chase nearly fainted when Nightmare tossed his head and whinnied. Ana grinned
and leaned out from the rail to put her arms around the horse’s neck and hug him.
Chase was sure she was going to fall off the rail and leapt over to put his hands on her
waist to steady her. When he did, Nightmare jerked and pranced. Ana was thrown off
balance and would have gone face first into the corral if Chase hadn’t wrapped one arm
around her slim waist and pulled her to him, cupping his free arm beneath her legs as
she swung off the fence to him.
“Youch!” she yelped at the pressure of his arm around her back and his hand
gripping her at the ribs.
“Sorry.” He went to set her down and she kind of slithered down his body in this
fluid, sinuous way that made the blood rush out of his head and straight to his dick.
With one arm still up around his neck, her breasts flattened out against his chest and
her head tilted back to look up at him, it was enough to tempt a priest. Which he was
not.
Ana saw the darkness in Chase’s eyes intensify and felt his body go rigid against
her, and for a moment it was all she could do not to pull his head down to her so she
could taste those full lips. But the look that came on his face spoke of thunderclouds,
and wariness joined the desire, battling for control. Unsure whether to jump him or run
from him, she compromised and took a step back.
“Why don’t we get you settled, then I can show you around,” Chase suggested,
ending the moment.
“Sure,” Ana agreed gratefully.
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Chase ‘n’ Ana
He got her things from the truck and led her to the house. She was stunned when
she walked inside. She had been expecting something very bachelor, not the homey,
comfortable surroundings that met her eyes. The only thing that seemed to be missing
was family photos. Nowhere she looked did she see a single picture.
Thinking that he just wasn’t into that sort of thing, she let him give her a tour of the
house. Aside from the living area, or den, as he called it, there was a kitchen with a
small dinette area, a laundry room off to one side of the kitchen, two bedrooms and one
bathroom.
Chase gestured for her to enter one of the bedrooms and he followed, putting her
duffel bag down on the quilt-covered bed and placing the two other bags on the floor.
Ana looked around and wondered who had selected the furniture for this room. It had
a woman’s feel to it. That was the only way she could explain it. It felt like the room was
filled with things that had belonged to and been important to a woman.
She dismissed the idea as Chase spoke. “So, do you want to take a nap or lie down
and rest? The doctor said you should go easy on those ribs for a few weeks, and the
same thing goes for your right leg.”
“Nope, I’m fine. But if you have things to do don’t let me get in the way. Just tell me
what you want me to do and then you can go on about your business.”
Chase’s mind had filled with all sorts of tantalizing images the moment she said