Twin Seduction

AIR AS DRY as the land beneath them whipped past as they rode toward the hills jutting upward behind the ranch. Once they’d exited the corral, they’d let the horses set the pace. Cash had chosen Lucifer, a black stallion he’d said had belonged to her father, and she was on Maddie’s Brutus. Both horses were eager for a fast run, and they galloped side by side.

The only sound to mar the silence was the pounding of hooves. The hat she’d worn to shield her from the sun lay forgotten on the back of her neck as Jordan let her body familiarize itself with the movements of the horse beneath her. Gradually, her mind emptied.Riding was something she loved. It had become an integral part of her life. Sports had never been her thing, and though her mother loved working out in a gym, Jordan just didn’t see the point.

She’d made it a habit to get away at least twice a month to ride Julius Caesar, the horse she kept just north of the city. For her, the time she spent riding was better than going to a spa. It cleared her mind, toned her body and often provided her with a fresh perspective on some challenge she faced at work.

She spotted the fence coming up in the distance.

“You game?” Cash asked.

“You bet.” She bent low over Brutus, using the stirrups to raise herself slightly as the horses sailed over in unison. She laughed and urged him on.

Usually, riding emptied her mind. But Cash kept sneaking in. Earlier, when they’d gotten back to the ranch, they’d showered separately as they had in the morning. Jordan had thought about joining Cash in the other bathroom, but her practical side had won out. If they indulged in shower games, they wouldn’t have as much time for their ride. And after all, they’d have to shower again when they returned to the ranch…

While she’d selected clothes from Maddie’s closet, she’d heard Cash puttering in the kitchen. When she’d joined him, she found he’d filled canteens with water and packed them an early dinner in a saddlebag. The man thought ahead.

That’s what she should be doing, too—thinking of Maddie’s jewelry and playing some arrangements through her mind. But with the wind in her hair and the breathtaking scenery around her, she simply couldn’t. Giving in to the moment, she simply let herself enjoy.

A short time later, they reached the spiky patches of grass at the foot of the hills and reined to a stop.

“Thank you,” she said. “I needed that.”

“Me, too. If you turn, you can get a different view of the ranch,” Cash added.

Jordan glanced over her shoulder, then urged her horse around. The sun was lowering in the sky in front of those huge picture windows, and the back of the buildings were throwing off shadows. From this distance, the ranch, the stable, the bunkhouse and the white fences of the corrals all looked like a child’s play set.

A memory flickered at the edge of her mind, and this time it pushed through. What she saw in front of her reminded her again of that toy ranch set that Santa had brought her all those years ago. Shifting the reins to one hand, she pressed fingers against her temple.

“What is it?” Cash asked.

“I had a toy ranch when I was small. There were buildings, fences that pulled apart, horses and cattle. I used to spend hours moving everything into different configurations. I thought about it earlier, but it didn’t click.”

She turned to him. “Maybe that’s why I feel—I have felt from the moment I arrived—that I’ve come home. I thought maybe it was because I had some memory of this place. But that’s ridiculous.”

“Why? You have proof based on your birth certificates that you and Maddie were both born here. This probably was your first home.”

“But I was so little. How could I possibly remember?”

“Children remember love. I can tell you one thing. Your father—Mike Farrell—loved you. I saw the way he was with Maddie. He adored her. He taught her to ride. And when she showed an interest in jewelry design, he converted that building into a studio for her.”

“He converted it? I assumed he built it for Maddie as a studio.”

“No, it’s been there as long as I can remember. When she was younger, it was her playhouse.” He winced. “One time she asked me to come in and play with her dolls.”

Jordan grinned. “Did you?”

“Dolls? Not on your life. I saved myself by persuading her to enjoy more manly things. I taught her how to rope a cow. Play poker. I’m probably personally responsible for turning her into a tomboy. Before she went to college, I even taught her some karate moves.”

“Karate moves?”

“Just some basic stuff. They offered some classes in our high school, and Shay and I signed up for them. Maddie wanted to be able to defend herself. She’s pretty good.”

“Yes, she is.” Jordan remembered the way Maddie had handled Adam right after the reading of the will. “I think I’m just beginning to know my sister.” And that reminded her that she’d very nearly lost her sister.

Cash took her chin in his hand and turned her face toward his. “We’re not going to think about Maddie’s near miss right now. We’re on a break, remember?”

“Okay.”

“What you should know is that your sister was one of the most important things in Mike’s life. He couldn’t possibly have felt differently about a second daughter.”

Jordan thought of the framed photo she’d discovered of Maddie sitting on Brutus and her father standing next to her. The love had been palpable.

“Then why…?”

“Why did they separate you? You may never find the answer to that.”

“I know. I know.”

“C’mon, I have something else to show you.”

They eased the horses into a walk. Ahead of them, she saw a sharp break in the hills, and Cash turned into it. To her surprise, they were suddenly in a narrow canyon with the sheer sides of a cliff rising on either side. The ground beneath the horses’ hooves was rough and rutted, and the trail twisted and turned through the mountain.

When a fork appeared, Cash led the way to the right. Before long, the trail opened into a small clearing. At one end, surrounded by tumbled rocks was a pond. The horses, sensing water, moved quickly toward it. As he dismounted and took the reins of both animals, Cash kept his eyes on Jordan’s face. She knew how to guard her feelings when the occasion demanded. He’d seen her mask fear on that wild ride down the mountain. And she’d done a good job of hiding her nerves when she’d met Daniel Pearson and Margo Lawson.

But she wasn’t doing that now. He saw surprise, wonder and pleasure race across her features. And he decided he’d made the right choice.

“It’s like an oasis,” she said.

“Your sister and your father called it paradise.”

When she’d dismounted, he led the two horses closer to the edge of the water and let them drink. Thanks to the height of the cliffs surrounding them, the pond was half in shadow, and a cool breeze moved across the water.

Her eyes shifted to the cliffs, and there were still traces of awe on her face. “How?”

“Some kind of underground spring feeds it. Water is rare in these parts, so Mike Farrell kept this a well-guarded secret.”

She glanced at him. “But he shared it with your family?”

“After I discovered it. The canyon is a shortcut between the two ranches. When I told him about it, Mike swore me to secrecy. He came from a long line of ranchers and he was very protective of his land. He didn’t want to do anything to encourage tourists trespassing or to exploit the land that he’d inherited in a commercial way. He wanted very much to pass on his heritage the way it was handed down to him. My father was a lot like him. They were ‘green’ before they even invented the name for it.”

“Then it’s very important that Maddie hang on to the ranch—so that she can pass it down.”

“Yes.”

“If she’s losing money, then I need to come up with a business plan that will allow her to start making some profit. Three weeks from now, if everything goes well, she’ll have the money from my mother’s will to invest. Of course, she’ll sink some of it into her design business. But she’ll also have enough to invest in the ranch. The problem will be not to throw good money after bad.”

“What are you thinking of, Jordan?”

“You’ll think I’m crazy. But it’s one of the things I used to pretend when I was so fascinated playing with my ranch toy. I mean, what did I know about cattle ranching?”

“What did you pretend?”

“That I was operating a dude ranch. What else would a Yankee tenderfoot come up with? But why couldn’t Maddie do both? She could protect her heritage, still keep it a running ranch, but open up a new business. She could add on to the bunkhouse or even build a new structure just beyond the stables to house guests. Offer comfortable accommodations, gourmet food, and give them a chance to get into the cowboy thing.”

“Whoa. The cowboy thing?”

She waved a hand. “You’ll have to help me with that. But I was thinking to start out very exclusive at first, offer guests the chance to really participate in ranch life, rounding up cattle, fixing fences. Just a ride through that canyon would be exciting. It’s like a movie set.”