Page 1 of The Cowgirl's Forever Love
1
Silver Stone Ranch, early March
Acry echoed off the barn walls, sliding from a deep moan to a bloodcurdling screech that made goose bumps shoot across her skin. If Lisa Coleman believed in ghosts, she’d be running for the hills. Instead, curiosity tugged her forward as she followed the sound farther into the warm building.
This wasn’t what she’d expected when she’d stolen away from the house, trying to give her sister and brother-in-law some privacy. A moment to be quiet and alone was a good thing.
Alone time—maybe. Lisa couldn’t see a soul around, but the quiet part was going to be difficult. It seemed the ghosts of winters past had taken voice and were doing their best to shake the dust from the rafters.
Lisa went in search of the eerie sound.
She’d been in Heart Falls since mid-December to help her sister Tamara deal with a difficult first pregnancy. Which meant Lisa cooked and cleaned and helped care for Tamara’s two adopted daughters who were eight and nearly eleven, while juggling all the chores involved in keeping a ranch house running.
Add in that Silver Stone ranch had hosted a family wedding the day before—a quiet one, mind you, but still—Lisa’s days had been filled to the brim.
She paced past two long rows of stalls. The horses in them lifted their heads, muzzles turned to the south. Their ears twitched and skin rippled as if chasing away flies. The horse equivalent of asking,What the heck?
Luckily, none of the beasts seemed upset. Lisa hoped it wasn’t because the caterwauling was a regular occurrence at the Silver Stone ranch.
She inched forward, slow but steady, as the sound changed in pitch and timbre, no longer at the intense volume it had been when she’d first entered the building.
Her quest for the source of the noise brought her outside the door leading into the oldest surviving building on the ranch. The massive horse barn where she stood was one of two additions that had been constructed on either side of the historic building.
The wood before her was weathered dark by time and the floorboards dipped underfoot where millions of boot-clad steps had left their impact over the years.
The voice echoing off the walls—because it was most definitely a voice, and a male one at that—was growing fainter and hoarser. As if he’d reached the end of his rope.
She’d finally recognized the noisemaker and as Lisa cautiously unbolted the door and peeked into the gloom of the windowless passageway, she wasn’t sure what to expect.
Not only because of tonight’s strange game of hide and go seek, but because the owner of the voice, Josiah Ryder, local veterinarian, had turned out to be the biggest enigma she’d ever met.
She’d bumped into the man a couple times in the previous year while visiting Tamara and at least a dozen more over the past months, but she simply couldn’t get a bead on him. It was annoying as heck. Lisa didn’t often find herself at a loss when it came to judging people.
Or managing people, if she was honest.
Lisa pushed the door in front of her, the heavy wood swinging away. She laid a hand on the wall in the hopes of shedding a little light on the situation, but even after flicking the switch upward, gloom filled the narrow passageway between two well-lit spaces.
“Josiah?” She spoke into the darkness.
“Hey.” His voice was deep, scratchy, and sexy as sin, dammit. As if he’d just rolled out of bed and hadn’t had a chance to do anything more than blink in her direction after an all-nighter that had left them both sated.
Gee, Lis, seems your imagination is working, no matter what else you’re failing to exercise.
Josiah was clearly somewhere in the room, but she couldn’t see him. Or at least, not right away.
At first glance, it seemed as if a fleece-lined jacket hung from a high hook on the wall. A second later it was apparent the coat was not empty but held a body. Josiah’s jean-clad legs hung toward the ground, leaving well-worn boots suspended a foot above the floor.
She stepped toward him. “What the heck?”
The fingers of one hand twitched in greeting. “Lisa. How’s your evening going?”
She was close enough to see his jacket was twisted awkwardly, rising under his chin and forcing his arms horizontal as if he were lashed to a post like a scarecrow. His handsome face seemed darker in colour than looked healthy.
Lisa answered as nonchalantly as he’d asked. “Good. The kids have gone to bed, and Tamara and Caleb are having some quiet time, so I decided to go for a walk. You?”
“Just hanging out.”
She shoved down the outright laugh that wanted to escape. “Can I give you a hand?”
