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The Ties That Bind
Ginna Gray
WHERE THERE'S A WILL, THERE'S A…WEDDING?When ruggedly sexy cowboy Zach Mahoney set foot on her beloved ranch, feisty Willa Simmons saw red. How dare her stepfather's will dictate that she, this mesmerizing stranger and his long-lost brothers all inherit the Rocking R?Infuriated at Zach's commanding ways, unnerved by his raw masculinity and secretly, scandalously drawn to his potent magnetism, Willa obstinately vowed to defy the formidable loner at every turn. But when danger loomed, his powerful broad shoulders protected her. His brotherly brood rallied around. And her aching heart slowly awakened to the power of love. Aghast, Willa began wishing that the will that had undone her…would weave the ties that bind.
Willa wore her pride like an iron cloak.
But damned if she didn’t look fantastic.
She had obviously just washed her hair, and the scent of jasmine drifting from it had nearly driven him wild. Usually she wore her hair in a braid or pulled back with a clip. Tonight that glorious ebony mane hung loose and arrow straight almost to her waist. Zach’s fingers itched to dive into that thick mass, feel it warm against his skin, slithering through his fingers.
Mahoney, what the hell are you doing fantasizing about Willa Simmons? There was no way he was getting involved with that little spitfire.
Sure, they’d shared one mind-blowing kiss, but so what? She wasn’t his type. He preferred women who were sweet and gentle and domestic. Not temperamental tomboys.
Zach watched Willa disappear into the upstairs hallway. “Damn prickly woman. One of these days you’re going to collapse under the weight of that chip on your shoulder. If I don’t break through it first, that is.”
Dear Reader,
May marks the celebration of “Get Caught Reading,” a national campaign the Association of American Publishers created to promote the sheer joy of reading. “Get Caught Reading” may be a phrase that’s familiar to you, but if not, we hope you’ll familiarize yourself with it by picking up the wonderful selections that Silhouette Special Edition has to offer….
Former NASA engineer Laurie Paige says that when she was young, she checked out The Little Engine That Could from the library fifty times. “I read it every week,” Laurie recalls. “I was so astounded that the library would lend books to me for free. I’ve been an avid reader ever since.” Though Laurie Paige hasn’t checked out her favorite childhood storybook for a while, she now participates in several local literacy fund-raisers and reads to young children in her community. Laurie is also a prolific writer, with nearly forty published Silhouette titles, including this month’s Something To Talk About.
Don’t miss the fun when a once-burned rancher discovers that the vivacious amnesiac he’s helping turns out to be the missing Stockwell heiress in Jackie Merritt’s The Cattleman and the Virgin Heiress. And be sure to catch all of THE CALAMITY JANES, five friends sharing the struggles and celebrations of life, starting with Do You Take This Rebel? by Sherryl Woods. And what happens when Willa and Zach learn they both inherited the same ranch? Find out in The Ties That Bind by Ginna Gray. Be sure to see who will finish first in Patricia Hagan’s Race to the Altar. And Judith Lyons pens a highly emotional tale with Lt. Kent: Lone Wolf.
So this May, make time for books. Remember how fun it is to browse a bookstore, hold a book in your hands and discover new worlds on the printed page.
Best,
Karen Taylor Richman
Senior Editor
The Ties That Bind
Ginna Gray
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
GINNA GRAY
A native Houstonian, Ginna Gray admits that, since childhood, she has been a compulsive reader as well as a head-in-the-clouds dreamer. Long accustomed to expressing her creativity in tangible ways—Ginna also enjoys painting and needlework—she finally decided to try putting her fantasies and wild imaginations down on paper. The result? The mother of two now spends eight hours a day as a full-time writer.
Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Prologue
Welcome to Clear Water, Montana—Population 1,474
Scanning the sign at the edge of town, Zach Mahoney grimaced. “What the devil are you doing, Mahoney? You should be halfway to Sedona by now, not wasting time on a fool’s errand,” he muttered to himself.
At the time he’d agreed to this crazy plan he’d been reeling from shock. If he’d been thinking straight he would have told J.T. and Matt to count him out. Hell, he had a good mind to turn his rig around and head for Sedona, and the devil take it.
Zach ground his teeth, knowing he wouldn’t. He didn’t break his word.
Besides, Kate would give him a tongue-lashing that would blister his eardrums if he didn’t see this thing through. His sister, like most women, got emotional when it came to family.
The two-lane highway ran through the center of town, and past the Mountain Shadows Motel on the northern edge. Zach parked his motor home in front of the motel and climbed out.
Inside, he learned from the desk clerk that J.T. and Matt were having lunch across the street at a place called Hodie’s. They’d left a message for him to join them there.
Back out on the sidewalk Zach paused to replace his hat and look around. Clear Water nestled in a north/south valley with rolling foothills to the east and the towering peaks of the Rocky Mountains to the west. Other than the spectacular setting, the place was typical of hundreds of other western towns he’d seen while traveling the rodeo circuit—small, sleepy and rugged, a dot of what passed for civilization in a land of incomparable wild beauty.
Though it was April, snow still covered the mountains. They glittered a blinding white in the bright sunshine, and the breeze that swept down their rugged slopes held a bite. Tugging the rolled brim of his Stetson lower over his eyes, Zach huddled deeper into his coat and headed across the street toward Hodie’s Bar and Grill.
Like many western “watering holes,” Hodie’s was a combination restaurant, pool hall and bar. It took a few seconds for Zach’s eyes to adjust to the dimness inside, but when they did he homed in on the two men in a corner booth and headed in that direction.
J.T. was the first to spot him.
“Hey, Zach, you made it. Good to see you, bro. Have a seat,” he offered, sliding over to make room.
The appellation jarred Zach, but his expression remained carefully impassive. He hung his hat and coat on the brass hook attached to the end of the booth and slid onto the bench seat.
Across the table he met Matt’s penetrating gaze. More reserved than J.T., he merely nodded and said simply, “Zach.”
“You’re just in time to join us for lunch.”
“No thanks. I’ve already eaten. I’ll just have a cup of coffee.” Righting the upside-down crockery mug in front of him, Zach signaled to the waitress.
“You sure you don’t want something to eat? This place doesn’t look like much, I know, but the food is great. I had dinner here last night after I got in.”
“No, I’m good.”
“How about—”
“He said he didn’t want anything,” Matt growled. “Let him be.”
“Hey, I was just being friendly. Something you should try once in a while, bro.”
Matt gave him a laser look. Unfazed, J.T. grinned back.
Zach took a sip of coffee. The brew scalded his tongue, but drinking it gave him an excuse to remain silent and observe.
No matter how hard he tried, he still had difficulty accepting that he and these two men were brothers. It just didn’t seem possible.
Which, he supposed, was normal, given the circumstances. Hell, until six weeks ago, when J.T. and Matt had tracked him down and broken the news to him, he’d had no idea he even had brothers. Learning at age thirty-five that he was one of a set of triplets had been a shocker.
At first he’d been certain they were trying to pull some sort of con, and he’d flatly refused to believe them. To be honest, he hadn’t wanted to believe them. Kate was his family—all the family he needed.
However, there was proof. Most conclusive of which was the odd irregular-cut wedge of flat silver that each wore on a chain around his neck—a token from a birth mother none of them could remember. Unconsciously, Zach raised his hand and rubbed his through his shirt.
The three jagged, pie-shaped wedges fit together perfectly to form a silver medallion. When whole, etched on one side was an R with a curved line under it, on the other side, in block print were the words, Rocking R Ranch and a post office box in Clear Water, Montana. Beneath the address were the words, “Your Heritage.”
Whoever she was, for whatever reason, the woman who had given each of them life had left this fragile link to one another and to their past.
Even so…it was still difficult to believe that they were related. They seemed to be as different in every way as any three men could be.
Other than all being six feet two inches tall and having the same general build, they looked nothing alike. Well…maybe, if you looked hard enough, you could see a slight resemblance between J.T. and Matt. They both had vivid blue eyes and dark hair, but Matt’s was black, whereas J.T.’s was a mahogany-brown. Zach’s own hair was the color of pale wheat, and if he spent too much time in the sunshine without a hat it bleached almost white, and his eyes were green.
The differences between the three of them went deeper than looks, though. Their personalities were nothing at all alike.
A former detective with the Houston police, Matt was tough and taciturn. To Zach’s eye, he had the look of a man who had seen too much of life’s seamy side to have any illusions left.
On the surface, J.T. appeared to be a lightweight. Movie-star handsome, charming to the ladies and amiable, he seemed to take little seriously. Before quitting his job to try his hand at novel writing, he’d been an investigative reporter for a Houston newspaper—an occupation that had often put him at odds with Matt. It did, however, require intelligence, talent and tenacity, and that made Zach wonder just how much of J.T.’s affability was a clever ploy he used to put people at ease to gain their trust.
He’d read J.T.’s first manuscript, and it was gut-wrenching, insightful and hard-hitting, hardly the work of a shallow playboy.
“By the way, Kate sends her love.”
Zach turned his head and fixed J.T. with an unwavering look. “How is she?”
“Terrific. And happy. Did you think she wouldn’t be?”
Zach let the question hang between them for several seconds, his eyes narrowing, searching J.T.’s face for the truth.
To his credit, J.T. met the stare without flinching.
At last Zach shrugged, which was as close to an apology as he intended to get. “I just can’t get used to you being married to my sister, is all.”
“Jeez, man, you make it sound like incest. Kate’s your adoptive sister. You’re not related by blood.”
“Yeah, well, we grew up together. She seems a damn sight more like kin than you do.”
Matt snorted. “I can sympathize with you there. My last eleven years as a cop, back when J.T. was a reporter, he was a constant thorn in my side. Imagine what a kick in the head it was for me when I found out that he was my brother. The two of us made the connection seven months ago and I still haven’t gotten used to the idea.”
“Hey, it was no thrill for me, either,” J.T. fired back, his perpetual good humor for once slipping. “But it’s a fact, so we’re all just going to have to deal with it.”
“True. Maybe it’ll be easier once we know more. Soon as we eat, we’ll get directions to the Rocking R Ranch.”
Zach frowned. “Are you two sure you want to do this?”
Matt gave him a sharp look, his coffee mug poised halfway to his mouth. “Why? Don’t you?”
“I just don’t see the point.”
“The point is to get some answers. Maybe meet our mother. Find out why she gave us up.”
“Why bother? Look, I’ve always known I was adopted, and it’s never bothered me. Why should it? No kid could’ve asked for better parents than the Mahoneys. I’ve sure as hell never felt deprived or been haunted by nightmares, or even felt any curiosity about my biological parents. Maybe you two have some unresolved issues, but I don’t. The way I figured it, our mother gave us away, so why should we go searching for her? As far as I’m concerned, the past is past. I say let it go.”
Matt looked at J.T. “He has a point.”
J.T. snapped, “Look, we’re entitled to some answers. At the very least, we should find out our family’s medical history in case any of us ever has kids of our own.”
“I guess you’re right,” Matt conceded. “Anyway, Maude Ann and Kate would kill us all if we didn’t see this through.”
“Okay, fine. As soon as you two finish eating we’ll go out to the ranch and get this over with. I wanta be outta here by morning. I got two days to get to my next rodeo.”
The waitress, a plump, fiftyish woman, bustled up to the table. “Here you go, fellas. Anything else I can ge—”
Her breezy chatter ended abruptly when she glanced at Zach. Her jaw dropped almost to her chest. “Oh, my stars! You’re Colleen Rafferty’s boy, aren’t you?”
Zach exchanged a quick look with Matt and J.T. “Maybe.”
“Maybe? You mean you don’t know?”
“No, ma’am. I was adopted when I was two. All three of us were.”
“All three of you?” Her gaze bounced from one man to the other. “You mean…you’re triplets?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Oh, my stars.”
“Actually, we came here looking for our birth mother. We have information that she might be from around here,” J.T. said. “Maybe you could help us.”
