Life had become predictable again at least she’d been able to create the illusion that it was. She’d become almost fanatical about maintaining the miles of fence on her ranch, but then, she’d become fanatical about a lot of things this past year.Ĭonstant vigilance and almost continuous hard work had helped her stay sane, providing her with purpose and restoring at least some sense of order. If the storm held off, she might be able to finish checking this stretch. The storm would be a big one, bringing an evening of hail and much needed rain, with maybe a tornado or two.įay mounted her horse and continued along the fence, scanning the four-strand barbed wire that separated her ranch from the much larger R/K Ranch. The massive, anvil topped cloud formations had blocked the sun, though the air was still hot and muggy and the sky overhead and behind her to the east was blue. The thunderhead that had been building in the distance looked to be at least seventy thousand feet high, with others piling high on either side behind it. Thunder rumbled, and Fay glanced toward the western sky. The sorrel gelding had been dozing in the heat but he perked up when she put the hammer and bag of staples in the saddlebag, as if he hoped the workday was done. She’d somehow lost her grip on the kind of days when hard, continuous work made time fly.įay put her Stetson back on and walked to her horse. It was as if they’d all stretched to the length of minutes, and she was living some kind of slow-motion life, where the more she found to do, the more leftover time she was stuck with. She felt the stifling weight of it as she pulled off her Stetson to blot her forehead and jaw on the sleeve of her plaid work shirt. A few of the older wood posts along this stretch of fence needed to be replaced with T-posts when she got time. The bead of sweat fell as she hammered the staple into the wood, securing the loose strand of barbed wire. Fay Sheridan felt another rivulet of perspiration streak down her cheek to bead on her jaw as she set the prongs of the last staple against a fence post. THE late afternoon Texas heat was even more intense than it had been earlier, making the minor fence repair a feat of endurance rather than the mindless drudgery it usually was. Maybe now is the time to embrace life and say yes! But as the idea sinks in, the sparks slowly begin to ignite inside her. Rugged rancher Chase knows there is a fun-loving young woman hiding inside Fay, and he'll do anything to see her start living again– even propose!Fay thinks Chase is joking– a convenient business marriage would never work. Fay Sheridan is facing the bleakest moment of her life.As a fierce storm surges around her, one man plucks her from despair and into safety: Chase Rafferty.
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