large yellow two-story house with white shutters came into view. The huge porch was adorned with hanging baskets of colorful flowers, and a swing faced a spectacular view of pine-covered mountains. Kelly drove on and headed to the barn. The white structure had a charcoal-colored roof and huge framed doors that stood open. A man walked out leading a very large horse. Cynthia’s heart began to pound in her chest.
“Come on, let’s go find Nora,” Kelly said.
“Let’s try the house first,” Cynthia suggested, not yet ready to get near a horse.
Just as they got out of the car, a brunette woman exited the house—Nora Tanner, she assumed, from her friendly wave to Kelly. She was about twenty-five and had a petite, shapely body clad in jeans and a cotton T-shirt.
“Hi, Kelly,” the woman said, then turning to Cynthia, she gushed, “Oh, Ms. Reynolds, it’s such a pleasure to meet you.”
“Oh, no, an adoring fan.” Kelly rolled her eyes.
Cynthia ignored her. “Please, call me Cyndi.”
Nora nodded. “Cyndi. I’m so glad you could make it.”
“I’m sure my sister told you that I don’t do very well around horses.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, but I’m happy that you’re going to give riding another chance,” Nora offered. “Welcome to the Tanner Ranch.”
Cynthia heard a horse’s high-pitched whinny. “I’m not sure this is going to work.”
“But you’re here to try,” Nora said.
Cynthia nodded reluctantly.
“Good, you won’t be sorry. My brother is the best with horses, and the best teacher. Let’s go find him.” She headed toward the barn.
Cynthia reluctantly followed her. How could she have let herself be talked into this? Nora went on ahead and talked to a man with dark brown hair and hazel eyes who looked to be in his late thirties. Just their flirtatious demeanor told her they weren’t brother and sister.
“This is Forest. He’s the foreman here. Forest, this is Kelly and Cyndi.”
The cowboy raised his fingers to his hat in a salute. “It’s nice to meet you, ladies.”
Cyndi managed a hello, but was watching the horse in the corral. The shiny coal-black stallion wasn’t docile like the horses she’d seen in the pasture. This animal was prancing around, bobbing his head up and down, whinnying. She couldn’t take her eyes off the magnificent animal.
Forest noticed her interest. “You’ll have to excuse Black Knight, he’s a little…stirred up.” Just then a high-pitched whinny came from the barn. “He’s going to stand in stud today.”
Cyndi didn’t have to live on a ranch to know what that meant. “How nice for him.”
Just then a man’s loud voice came from inside the barn. Nora said, “Don’t let Patrick’s bark scare you off. He’s a real sweetheart. C’mon.” Nora went inside.
Patrick? Cynthia froze. No. It couldn’t be the same man, she told herself.
Kelly nudged her down the cement aisle lined on either side with horse stalls, some empty, some with horses inside that came forward to welcome them. Cynthia could smell a sweet mixture of hay and horses in the immaculate barn.
At the far end a tall man stood with his back to them. Even before he turned around, Cynthia knew who he was. Oh, God. This had to be a bad dream. She quickly took in his blond hair partially covered by a white cowboy hat. It was the same face, the same chiseled jaw that she’d stroked so many times last night, and the same mouth that had done so many incredible things to her during their lovemaking. Finally she raised her gaze and looked into those blue, blue eyes.
Cynthia fought for a breath. She needed her best acting performance to get through this meeting.
Nora’s voice broke through Cynthia’s reverie. “Kelly, Cyndi, I’d like you to meet my brother, Patrick. Patrick, this is my boss, Kelly Reynolds, and her sister, the actress Cynthia Reynolds.”
“Oh, my God,” Kelly said. “You were at Morgan’s last night. You were with—” She gave Cynthia a confused look, then quickly masked it as she turned back to Patrick.
Patrick nodded, fighting to act nonchalant. But too many emotions were churning through him, the most prevalent being anger. So his Cyndi was Cynthia Reynolds. And last night the famous actress had been looking for some entertainment. He’d just been a diversion to her.
“Yeah, I was at the pub. I was supposed to meet Nora, but it seemed she had a flat tire.” He glanced at his sister. “If you want to show your friends around the ranch, it’s not a problem, but I’m breeding the Keefers’ mare this morning.” He shot a hard look at Cynthia as he rubbed the mare’s nose.
“She’s beautiful,” Cyndi said. “What’s her name?”
Patrick had trouble listening to her soft, husky voice. “Suzy Q.” His gaze bored into her startled brown eyes. “Now, if you’ll excuse me…” He started to open the stall.
“Wait, Patrick,” Nora called. “I need to talk with you.” She took him by the arm and started off, but looked back toward Kelly and Cyndi. “Kelly, will you take Cyndi up to the house? I have coffee and Danish in the kitchen. I’ll be up in a few minutes.”
“Maybe we should just go,” Cyndi said. “This wasn’t a good idea.”
“No, it’s fine,” Kelly said. “We’ll be at the house. Nice to meet you, Patrick.”
Patrick watched both women walk off. He wanted to run after Cyndi and demand to know why she hadn’t told him who she was. But he first needed to speak with Nora. He had a feeling that she’d set something up. She usually didn’t bring strangers to the ranch without telling him.
He folded his arms across his chest. “Okay, talk.”
Nora forced a smile. “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”
“Who?” As if he didn’t know.
“Cynthia Reynolds, that’s who.” She rolled her eyes. “And she came here for help.”
Now all the pieces were starting to fall together. “Was Cynthia the reason for our meeting at Morgan’s last night?”
“Well, kind of.” She wrinkled her nose. “I was hoping that if you met and liked each other, that you would want to help her.”
Oh, brother. He’d helped her all right…and Cyndi had helped him, too. He drew a calming breath. “Just how am I supposed to do that?”
“She has this movie part coming up and it’s a Western and…you need to teach her to ride.”
Great. When did things get so bad that he had to teach a spoiled Hollywood actress to ride a horse? “Like hell. I don’t have the time or the disposition to put up with a demanding actress.” He couldn’t stop the flood of memories of last night. Cyndi was demanding, all right, as a
