The Rancher's Surprise Daughter. Jill Lynn

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       Chapter One

      Nothing like walking into a situation blind.

      Lucas Wilder bounded up the lodge steps, the late-July wind that twisted across his sun-scorched arms as dry as aged kindling.

      His sister’s text that someone was looking for him in the lodge hadn’t been helpful in the least. And then she’d gone off radar, not answering his request for more info. Was it an employee? Shouldn’t be a ranch guest as last week’s were already gone and a new batch didn’t arrive until tomorrow.

      Luc crossed into the comfortable lobby that guests could relax in after a day of ranch activities, scanning the room for whoever had beckoned as his eyes adjusted to the dim interior lighting.

      “Lucas.”

      The feminine voice slammed into the backs of his knees. He willed his legs not to wobble like a newborn calf’s as he faced her.

      Catherine Malory. She sat in the club chair stationed to the side of the front window, sunlight streaming over her shoulder, highlighting rich, dark-chocolate hair.

      She looked a hint older than the last time he’d seen her. Worried, and yet somehow the addition of a few lines around her eyes and lips only added to her beauty.

      Attraction flared to life, the sight of her like oxygen to an ember Luc was certain he’d stomped out years before.

      What was she doing here? It had been years since he’d left Denver and their relationship, yet he’d never been able to fully erase Cate from his mind. Luc handled forty-some guests each week plus a slew of employees. Surely he could handle one conversation with a woman he’d once loved.

      “Four years.” His words quaked out, a cross between teenage boy СКАЧАТЬ