Operation Wolf: Hunter ~ Sedona Venez Read online

  “How did he die?” I had to clear my throat to get the words out.

  “He broke his neck in a tumble down the stairs,” the lawyer told me. “Terrible thing.” He paused. “I’m relieved you remember him. I wasn’t sure you would, being a distant relation.”

  “I’ve never met him.” I leaned back in my chair with a sigh, ignoring Drew’s inquisitive stare. “I just vaguely recall my father mentioning an Uncle Daniel when I was younger.”

  “I see. Well, unfortunately, Mr. Nash did not have a wife or children, and while he did will a few of his things to various members of the community, he left the bulk of his estate to be passed on to his next of kin. I’ll need you to come down for the will reading on Tuesday, as well as help to execute his funeral arrangements.”

  Jesus.

  “But I don’t want an estate,” I protested, a headache building between my eyes. “I’m not looking for any kind of inheritance or anything.”

  “Nevertheless, you’re the only heir, and someone needs to take care of the funeral arrangements, so the townspeople can have some closure,” the lawyer said firmly. “Unless you’d rather leave this responsibility to a total stranger?”

  “No, of course not.” I bit back a retort at the lawyer’s pointed question, knowing he was right. I might not have known my uncle, but he was family, and I would want my next of kin to take care of my arrangements if I passed away without an heir. “Let me get my schedule cleared, and I’ll come down.”

  I hung up the phone and then turned to Drew, who was waiting expectantly for an explanation, not even putting up a pretense of working anymore.

  “So, I’m clearing your schedule?” Drew asked, raising a brow. “You do realize that you have a fashion shoot booked with Yves Saint Laurent next week?”

  “Yeah, well, they’re either going to have to reschedule or find someone else,” I said, shoving to my feet. “I’m going to be gone for at least a week.” I stalked out of the office, so I could break down my equipment and get everything in order. I had a Texas funeral to attend, and I’d never been late for anything in my damn life.

  CHAPTER 3

  Hunter

  I WAS EXHAUSTED BY the time I turned down the road into Golden Cattle Ranch. I’d flown back into Dallas just a few hours ago and hopped straight into my car to make the five-hour drive to Bramblebush, Texas. The small town was where I’d spent much of my childhood and where Daniel Nash had lived from the moment of his birth to the day he’d died. I could still barely believe that had happened over two weeks ago.

  Despite my exhaustion and grief, I couldn’t help but admire the view as I eased my custom Ford pickup down the drive. Rows of majestic pecan trees lined either side of the road as far as the eye could see, disappearing over the edge of the rolling hills of my forty-acre property. I could see cattle grazing in the open fields, beyond which was a white rail fence off in the distance to my left, and as I crested the hill, I caught sight of the magnificent two-story log home that stood at the end of the road.

  I parked the truck a few yards away from the white picket fence surrounding the house just as Leta, my housekeeper, came rushing down the front porch steps to meet me.

  “Oh, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes!” The buxom woman gave me a mile-wide smile as she enveloped me in a grandmotherly hug. Other than the gray in her dark hair and the crow’s-feet branching out at the corners of her eyes, she was the exact same woman who used to fry up bacon and flapjacks for me in the mornings before school. “I’m so glad you’ve come to visit, Hunter. It’s been awfully lonely here without you.”

  “Yeah, she’s got no one around here to keep her company,” Austin, the ranch manager and my old friend, teased as he ambled down the front porch to join us. “I guess having four ranch hands around to run the place just isn’t enough for her.”

  Leta swatted Austin’s bottom as he stepped forward to shake my hand. “Oh, don’t you start!” she exclaimed, but there was a sparkle in her eye. “I give you boys plenty of attention. It’s just nice to see the owner every once in a while.”

  “I haven’t had a chance to inspect the property yet, but it looks like you boys have been doing good work around here,” I said, shaking Austin’s hand. I glanced over his shoulder, toward the open door of the main house. “You boys still sittin’ down to lunch?”

  “We’re about finished, but there are probably a few leftover crumbs for you,” Austin said with a smile. “Why don’t you come on in? The men have been waiting to see you.”

  As it turned out, Leta had dished out food specifically for me, having expected me, so I dug into a hearty meal of fried chicken sandwiches and coleslaw while I caught up with the ranch hands.

  When my father died, Eric, my brother, had taken over the oil side of the company while I had agreed to oversee the management of the ranches. And, with over twenty of them spread out across the state, it was a lot of work. I wanted to visit them all twice a year, but at the rate things were going, I was barely going to be able to manage once a year.

  After grilling the hands about the goings-on on the ranch, I sat back and took a few moments to enjoy my food. “Has anyone been out to Old Daniel’s ranch yet?” I asked. “I’m planning on going out there shortly to check on the state of things.”

  Austin shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “Haven’t had a chance to check on things recently, but rumor has it, some new woman showed up a few days ago. A city slicker by the sounds of things.”

  “That so?” I sat up in my chair, frowning. “What does some city girl want with a working ranch like that?”

  “Word is, she’s a distant relative of Old Daniel’s,” Leta said as she cleared the table. “Guess she inherited the place.”

  “Huh. Didn’t know he had any living relatives.” I suddenly wished I’d kept better tabs on Daniel. I hadn’t seen the old man in at least ten years, not since before I’d joined the Army in order to get away from my father’s machinations and excessive need for control.

  “You learn all sorts of surprising things about people when they die.” Austin pushed his chair back from the table and stood up. “We’d best get back to work now, but let us know if you need anything, Hunter.”

  Everyone cleared out of the kitchen so Leta could clean up. I went upstairs to grab a shower and a change of clothes. Then I headed out to the stables to saddle up a horse. I figured some riding would do me some good.

  The horses had all been turned out for the day, and except for the ones the ranch hands took, they were milling about in the open pasture set aside for me. I grabbed a lead and halter from the tack stall, carefully approaching a chestnut horse that was grazing a little off to the side.

  “Easy, girl.”

  The mare’s nostrils flared as I advanced, and as she pranced, I paused, waiting for her to calm down. My inner wolf stirred from within but otherwise stayed silent. Eventually, the mare settled, and I slowly approached her, taking several minutes to soothe her, stroking her neck and muzzle.

  “There you go. What’s your name, sweetheart?”

  “That’s Misty.”

  I spun in the direction of Austin’s voice to see him sitting astride a black gelding. “Thanks,” I said. I turned back to the horse and slipped the halter and lead on to her muzzle.

  “Never knew you to take so long to settle a horse before,” Austin observed. “You always had such a natural touch with them, growing up.”

  The words were not unkind, but they rankled me anyway. “Yeah, well, I guess I lost some of my touch during my Army days.”

  Misty pranced nervously by my side, probably sensing my rising tension. I turned back to her, murmuring soothing words and stroking her neck. I led Misty to the stables without another word so I could get her saddled up. I knew that my body language sent a clear message to Austin that I didn’t want to discuss the subject any further. He made no attempt to follow, and I sighed with relief as I saddled the chestnut.

  What the hell was I supposed to tell Austin? T
hat the reason animals fear me is because they can instinctively sense my inner wolf?

  I took several deep breaths to calm myself so as not to spook the horse again. Then I saddled her up and headed out.

  The first place I stopped at was the cemetery. Kneeling, I placed a bouquet of wild flowers near Daniel’s headstone, surprised that only one other arrangement was there.

  Has no one come to pay their respects to one of Bramblebush’s oldest residents?

  Anger bubbled in my gut at the idea that Daniel had died alone and friendless. It wasn’t right, especially not in a community as close-knit as Bramblebush.

  Leaning down, I sniffed at the other bouquet of flowers, trying to figure out who might have left them. They were beautiful, a mix of black roses and calla lilies, and as I inhaled, I caught a delightfully feminine scent, something like black cherries and vanilla. I definitely didn’t recognize it as belonging to any of the girls I’d grown up with in town, and I knew no cowboy around here would smell so girlie.

  Maybe it’s that relative. That new girl on Daniel’s ranch.

  More curious than ever to find out who she was, I finished paying my respects and mounted my horse, spurring the chestnut on toward Bridle Hill Ranch. Thirty minutes later, I was crossing the cattle guard that stood beneath the open iron gate and the arch emblazoned with the name of the ranch.

  Daniel’s ranch was half the size of Golden Cattle, the landscape dotted with apple trees and a white clapboard house with a stable close to the center. As I rode over the acres, I frowned at the neglected state of the ranch. The grass was overgrown in several areas, indicating the cattle hadn’t been moved around much, and the small section of farmland where Daniel usually grew a few crops of grain or vegetables was barren, except for the weeds that had crept across the mounds of soil.

  What the hell happened here?

  The ranch had been Daniel’s pride and joy, and I couldn’t imagine the old guy letting it all go to shit like this.

  “Oh, for Christ’s sake, would you come on already?”

  The sound of a loud, angry female voice, followed by the shrill whinny of a horse, had me spurring my own horse toward the commotion. I headed around the stables toward the corral, where a tall, curvy woman dressed in skintight jeans and knee-high black boots was attempting to drag a gelding toward the stables. She swiped one hand across her face, brushing away the long wisps of curly hair that had escaped from her bun, and she looked mad as a hornet. Before I could open my mouth to protest, she yanked angrily on the rope she’d looped around the horse’s neck, hurting the animal. He reared up with an angry neigh, knocking the woman over, and then dashed to the corral gate, butting angrily against it.

  “Jesus!” I leaped from the chestnut and ran to the corral gate. I let myself in, resisting the desire to rush straight to the woman’s aid and instead went to soothe the gelding. “It’s all right, boy,” I murmured, taking it slow, the way I had with Misty. In a few minutes, I had things under control, including taking care of my own horse.

  I heard a groan from behind me and turned to see the woman struggling to sit up. Her top was covered in dust, and her dark hair had fallen completely free of her bun, hanging past her shoulders in thick waves.

  “Are you all right?” I asked, crouching down by her side and placing a hand beneath her back to help her up.

  “Ugh.” The woman pressed a hand to the side of her head. “I’m feeling a little dizzy to be honest.”

  “Here, let’s get you to the house.”

  I helped her to her feet and led her to the clapboard house I’d spent many a weekend at, sitting on the porch, having iced tea with Daniel, playing cards or dice games, and listening to stories of Daniel’s younger days. The house had been spotless then, maintained by Daniel and his housekeeper. But now, I could see that the porch railing and steps needed repair, and several of the clapboards had come loose, with more fixing to follow.

  I led the woman into the kitchen and sat her down at the rickety wooden table, trying to ignore the state of disrepair and general neglect oozing from the house.

  I grabbed a bag of ice from the freezer. “Where did you get hit?”

  The woman pointed to her side.

  I crouched down. “Mind if I have a look?”

  “Don’t see why not,” the woman muttered, lifting her shirt.

  I sucked in a breath at the black-and-blue bruising that was already forming along her side.

  “Ouch,” she hissed as I prodded gingerly at her ribs.

  I tried to ignore how soft her flesh felt beneath my fingers, and I let out a sigh of relief when I felt that nothing was broken.

  “You’ll be hurting for a few days, but it’s nothing serious,” I said, pressing the makeshift ice pack to her rib cage.

  She let out a gasp and then a moan, and I gritted my teeth as my blood heated. To my surprise, my wolf growled, coming to the forefront.

  I like this one, he uttered.

  You have got to be fucking kidding me, I snapped.

  The woman was hurt and possibly suffering from a concussion, and my beast was having lustful thoughts about her.

  Please, my wolf said, don’t pretend like this is all my fault. That hormonal surge is all you.

  “Christ,” the woman remarked, holding the ice pack to her side. Her husky voice brought me out of my internal argument. “Those horses really pack a punch.”

  “Yeah, about that.” I planted my hands on my hips and looked down at her, my anger rising. “Just what the hell did you think you were doing to that poor animal?”

  “I was trying to get him back in the stable!” the woman exclaimed, her eyes flashing.

  I tried not to notice how striking the color of her brown irises was against her thick black lashes and the way her sienna skin tone glowed with health.

  Damn, she’s stunning.

  She continued, “All the other horses went easily enough. I don’t understand why that one was being so damn stubborn.”

  I checked my wristwatch. It was barely two o’clock. “And why exactly were you trying to get the horses into the stables in the middle of the afternoon?”

  The woman blinked up at me. “Well, I took them out for about an hour or so to stretch their legs, and I figured it was time to get them back inside.”

  I groaned, taking a seat in the opposite chair. I had a bad feeling about this. “You mean to tell me that you’ve been letting the horses out for only a few hours every day?”

  “Well, yeah.” The woman looked at me quizzically. “Why?”

  I rubbed at my temples to stave off the headache I knew was coming. “It’s hardly a wonder that horse was fighting you. You can’t leave them cooped up in the stables all day. And why the hell were you dragging him around with that rope?”

  “I couldn’t figure out how to get the halter on him,” the woman said stiffly. She raised her chin, straightening her shoulders despite the pain she was probably experiencing in her side. “Just who the hell do you think you are, barging in on me and asking questions like this? I sure as hell don’t remember inviting you onto my property.”

  “Your property?” I countered, baiting her into giving up more information.

  She lifted her chin another notch. “That’s right. My name is Kia Nash, and I’m Daniel Nash’s great-niece. I recently inherited this piece of property.”

  “And you clearly have no idea what to do with it,” I muttered. Louder, I said, “Well, it’s nice to make your acquaintance and all, Miss Nash, but it’s obvious to me that you’re in a little over your head here. I grew up with Old Daniel, and I know if you’d met him even once, some of his love for this ranch would have rubbed off on you. It’s plain you never knew the man. This ranch was his life.”

  Kia scowled. “Well, if that’s the case, then why does it appear to be in such a shambles?”

  She gestured around to the kitchen with its scuffed linoleum floors, scratched cupboard doors, and peeling, yellowed wallpaper. I couldn’t help but no
tice that, despite the decay, every surface gleamed as though it had been freshly scrubbed.

  “He left me a damn mess to clean up, and I don’t have the first clue how to go about it.”

  I opened my mouth to berate her for speaking ill of the dead, but her eyes unfocused, and she clapped her hand to her head.

  “Ugh,” she said. “I really don’t feel so good.”

  “Shit,” I muttered, catching her chin in my hand so that I could look into her eyes. Her pupils were dilated. “We should get you to the doctor. Do you have a car?”

  “Yeah. Why?” She blinked, trying to focus. “Don’t you have one?”

  “No, I rode here.” I helped her to her feet, cursing myself for my stupidity. I should have known better than to leave my truck behind. “Let’s get your keys.”

  Her car—a beetle-green Chevy Malibu—was parked out back, and I frowned as I noticed how shiny and clean it was despite the dusty heat and the fact that it had been through such a long drive.

  “My hair,” Kia mumbled, touching her locks that were now a wild mass of curls. “I have to fix it.”

  “Oh, please.” I bundled her into the car. “Trust me, no one’s going to care about your hair right now.”

  I drove her to Dr. Miller’s clinic, which was ten miles down the road and operated out of the back of his homey cottage. As I pulled up, Dr. Miller’s wife came bustling out of the house, a white apron tied around her rotund figure.

  “Why, Hunter Golden!” Mrs. Miller’s rosy face creased into in a smile. “I can hardly believe my eyes! What are you doing here, back in these parts?”

  “Just checking on the ranch,” I said, taking Kia by the hand and bringing her forward. “This is Kia Nash, the new owner of Bridle Hill Ranch. She took a nasty knock to the head and banged up her ribs earlier. I’d like the doc to check her out.”

  “Oh, dear.” Mrs. Miller clucked her tongue as she inspected Kia. “We’d better get you inside. The doctor’s seeing a patient right now, but he should be done soon. Let’s get you off your feet.”