Cowboy Rescue [Men for Hire 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read Free Page A

Grabbing her cell phone, she punched in the numbers and then held her breath as the phone on the other end started to ring.
    “Please pick up. Please pick up.”
    At last, she heard a deep male voice.
    “Gabriel here. Talk to me.”

Chapter Two
     
    Gabriel Cortez leaned back in his leather chair and gazed out at the flat land before him that he’d christened Second Chance Ranch. Just like a thousand times before, he was glad that he’d purchased the ten-thousand-acre ranch outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma, near the small town of Destiny. Even now the town’s name made him smile, but he wiped the smile off his face. He wouldn’t want his happiness to come through to the desperate woman on the other end of the line.
    He waited until she’d gotten everything out that she’d wanted to say. Each woman who called always spoke in one of two ways.
    The first kind of woman she was timid, and he’d have to coax her into speaking louder, reassuring her by his words even as the volume of his voice rattled her. But, with enough urging, she’d finally give him the details he needed.
    The other kind of woman would rush though her explanation of why she’d called, and he’d have to back her up to ask questions about what she’d already said. The woman calling him now was the second kind.
    “So you haven’t seen him at all?” He peered closer at the dot growing larger on the horizon. If a full moon hadn’t been sitting high in the night sky, he wouldn’t have seen the truck. Mike and Brad Granger were coming back from getting supplies from Tulsa. The fact that they were coming back so late meant that they’d stopped for a few beers. He didn’t mind as long as they got their work done. Besides, men like the Grangers had to be handled with care. If he micromanaged them, they’d be gone before the next dawn.
    “No. But I feel like I’m being watched. No. I know I’m being watched. He told me so.”
    He didn’t bother asking how she knew. Often a woman’s intuition was better than factual evidence to the contrary. He gave her his e-mail address and told her to forward the man’s e-mails to him. “Has he made any threats?”
    “No. Other than to say he’s coming for me.”
    His gaze darted to the photograph of his wife Julie that rested on the credenza behind his huge wooden desk. Her image smiled back at him, but it could never erase the heartache of that life-changing phone call. He’d just come out of a meeting with his commanding officer when the corporal had pulled him aside and handed him the phone.
    “Gabe?”
    He’d known right away that Julie was dead. There was no other reason for his estranged brother to call him. But he hadn’t expected to hear that she’d been raped then strangled in their home back in the States. Guilt had almost floored him. He’d left her alone in Oklahoma with no family to look after her. Afghanistan had never felt so far away as it had that day.
    A few months later, he was discharged and on his way back to Tulsa. A year later, he’d found himself still unemployed, so he’d sold his home, and, with money he’d squirreled away for the dream home they’d never get to enjoy, he’d bought the ranch. That was over three years ago, and, along with men he’d selected to work with him on the ranch as well as the business, he’d managed to help a large number of women. It didn’t make him feel any less guilty for not being there for Julie, but it helped him sleep at night.
    “Did he say when or how he’d be coming for you?”
    She paused, and he silently urged her to go on. A knock came at the door a moment before Mike and Brad Granger stepped into the room followed by their younger brother, Jack. They all wore the usual attire of jeans, boots, and T-shirts. Only Brad still had his cowboy hat on. They were good cowboys, ones he could count on to handle the cattle and horses the way he would. All three liked doing rodeos whenever they could, but ranch work along with the occasional