A call from the front desk woke them both at five. Ellie whimpered in protest and snuggled deeper into Jesse. “I don’t want to.”

He chuckled. “I don’t think you have a choice.”

She didn’t. She dragged herself out of bed, her body pleasantly sore, and packed her things together, throwing on a pair of jeans and a sweater. By the time she was ready to go, he’d carried the leftover food to his SUV and had driven the vehicle around to the lodge’s door for her.

The sun hadn’t yet risen, tiny flakes drifting in a cold wind.

“More snow.”

Jesse grinned, as if this were good news. “Yeah. They’re saying we’ll get another six inches tonight.”

“That’s not so much.”

“That’s not what you were telling me last night.”

That made her laugh. “I bet you’re bigger than six inches.”

“I wasn’t going to point that out myself, but since you mentioned it...”

They arrived at her house to find Cedar and Claire ready to go and the twins still asleep. Jesse helped Claire out to the car while Cedar carried their overnight bags.

“Thanks.” Ellie gave her sister a kiss.

“You’re welcome.” Claire lowered her voice to a whisper. “Details.”

Ellie changed the sheets on her bed—again—and then crawled under the covers, Jesse joining her, the two of them still dressed. And for a while, they slept.

It was just after seven when a little voice woke Ellie.

“Mama?”

“You can sleep,” she said to Jesse. “I’ll get them changed and make breakfast.”

“You handle them. I’ll make the grub.”

It was almost like being a family—Ellie changing the twins’ wet diapers and getting them dressed, Jesse in the kitchen, the two of them sharing the work of getting the day on its feet. It was just one of many things she’d never gotten to experience because of Dan’s death.

She had no one with whom to share the day’s chores and responsibilities or all the cute little things Daisy and Daniel did each day, the funny things they said. Yes, her parents and sister helped, and she took lots of photos and talked about her day with Claire and her parents. But this past week with Jesse had shown her that it was very different to have someone in the house to live those moments with her.

She combed Daisy’s hair into pigtails, then followed the twins out to the kitchen. Full of energy, they chattered with each other and with Jesse, who probably couldn’t understand a word of their toddler talk.

“What are you making?” She peered over his shoulder.

“Scrambled eggs, pancakes, and coffee.” With his height and his broad shoulders, he dominated the small kitchen—and somehow managed to look sexy doing it.

In fifteen minutes, he had food on the table.

Ellie cut up the kids’ pancakes and drizzled them with maple syrup, then sat, the mingled scents making her mouth water. “This is amazing.”

He took a sip of coffee. “I guess I need to make breakfast for you more often.”

The idea that there might be more mornings like this warmed her like sunshine, but she hadn’t forgotten what he’d said about not being good with relationships or kids—or that he’d almost risked his life in a game of Russian roulette with a mountain.

Don’t pin your hopes on this, on him.

“Have you told the kids where we’re going today?” Jesse asked.

She shook her head. “Daisy and Daniel, we’re going to see some horsies and some cows today. What does a cow say?”

“Mooooo,” Daisy answered, then giggled.

Daniel echoed her. “Mooooo.”

Jesse nodded. “Well, they’ve got that down.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Do what?”

“Skijoring.”

“Hell, yeah.”

“Hell, yeah,” said Daisy.

Jesse looked wide-eyed at her. “Whoa. Damn.”

“Damn,” said Daisy.

Ellie had just taken a sip of coffee and had to fight not to choke. “I warned you.”

“What’s wrong with skijoring?”

“Nothing—if you don’t mind breaking bones or risking your life.”

“I watched last year. No one died.”

“Two guys got hauled to the hospital in ambulances, remember? I just don’t want you to get hurt.” There was no sense in arguing with him about it. The man climbed rocks for fun, played with explosives at work, and probably skied double-black diamonds without a single thought.

“You’re worried about me?”

“Of course, I’m worried,” she snapped, then noticed he was smiling. She reached over, took his hand. “I care about you.”

He raised her hand to his lips and kissed it.

After breakfast, Jesse helped clean up, then headed home to get his gear.

Ellie called in to let the Wednesday playgroup know they weren’t coming, then packed the diaper bag with an extra change of clothes and some snacks. She didn’t want the kids to overheat in the car, so she zipped them into their coats and packed a second bag with their snowsuits, boots, hats and an extra pair of mittens each. She had all of it ready by the time Jesse pulled into her driveway.

“Is there anything else I should bring—food, a first-aid kit,” she asked as they carried the kids’ car seats to his SUV.

“We’re going to a ranch, not the seventeenth century.”

She climbed into the passenger seat, and they were off.

* * *

“Holy fucking shit.” Jesse stared at the Wests’ house. “That’s their house?”

It was a mansion. Built of stone and logs, it was massive, with floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out onto the surrounding mountains. Stone chimneys jutted upward from the multi-pitch roof, smoke curling against the gray sky. The front door was set back from a portico driveway accented by a colonnade of polished logs. Off to one side stood several enormous outbuildings, including what looked like a large horse barn complete with several corrals.

Ellie stared, too. “I’ve heard about it, but I’ve never been here before.”

“I was expecting a log house like in Bonanza or something.”

She looked at him and laughed. “Bonanza?”

Jesse drove around to the back of the house and stared again, ogling the multiple-car garage that was attached at the rear. “I thought Jack West served as a Ranger. Rangers don’t make this kind of money.”

“His family has owned this piece of land for three or four generations. They’ve done really well for themselves with horse breeding.”

“I can see that.”

“Did you tell them the kids and I were coming, too?”

“Yeah. Nate said he was fine with that.”

“Nate is a marine. He and Dan were friends. He was horribly burned in an IED explosion. It was in the paper every day for a while—updates on how he was doing. I didn’t think he would survive, but he pulled through.”

“He didn’t mention that he was a marine. He must be a modest guy.” Jesse climbed out, opened the rear passenger door and unbuckled Daniel, who reached for him with little arms, still clinging to his blanket. “Come here, big boy.”

“Welcome to the Cimarron.”

Jesse turned to see a man about his age and height walking toward him, a white cowboy hat on his head. “Hey. I’m Jesse Moretti.”

The right side of the man’s face was badly scarred from burns, as was the hand he held out. “Nate West.” His gaze shifted to Ellie. “Hey, Ellie.”

Jesse shook his hand. “You two know each other?”

Of course, they did.

“She was a few years behind me in school. I knew her husband, Dan. He was as good as they come. And these are your twins. Hey, guys.” Nate took Daniel’s hand, sadness flashing across his face. “Wow. You look just like your daddy. Come on inside and meet everyone.”

Jesse followed him, carrying Daniel, while Ellie carried Daisy. They passed through the five-car garage—talk about a wet dream—and entered a mudroom.

“Don’t worry about taking off your boots.” Nate led them down a hallway to a kitchen, where an older man was stirring something on the stove. “Dad, this is Jesse Moretti and Ellie Meeks and her twins. Jesse, Ellie, this is my father, Jack.”

“Always pleased to meet another Ranger.” Jack shook Jesse’s hand, his gaze fixing on Daniel. “He looks just like Dan.”

“That’s Daniel,” Ellie said. “And this is Daisy.”

“Hello, there, Daniel and Daisy.” Jack’s gaze moved to Ellie. “I was sorry to hear about your loss. I knew Dan from the time he was a little boy, watched him grow up.”

“You came to the memorial service,” Ellie said. “I remember. Thank you.”

“Dad’s making chili for lunch.”

Jesse inhaled. “That smells incredible.”

“Damn straight,” said Jack.

“Damn,” said Daisy.

“Uh-oh.” Jack gave Ellie a sheepish grin. “I’d best watch my mouth around her. She’s a smart little cookie.”

“Like you watch your mouth around your grandkids, Dad?” Nate chuckled. “The rest of the family is in the playroom. Let me show you around.”

In short order, they’d gotten a tour of a home that out-classed even the luxury suite at the Scarlet Mountain Resort and met Nate’s wife, Megan, and their kids—Emily, who was eight, and Jackson, who was nineteen months old. Nate also introduced them to Jack’s wife, Janet, and their little girl, Lily, who was eighteen months old.

Emily was fascinated with the twins. “Can they play with me?”

“I think they’d like that.” Ellie set Daisy down.

Jesse did the same with Daniel.

“Why don’t you and I go out and get started?” Nate said.

Jesse followed Nate outside. “Have you done this before?”

“I’ve done it on both sides of the horse.” While Jesse loaded his gear into Nate’s pickup truck, Nate went over the basics. “You’ll want to keep your mouth shut and wear ski goggles. A couple dozen horses running down the same stretch of road means a lot of horse shit. Sooner or later, a clod is going to fly up and hit you in the face.”

“I hadn’t thought of that.”

“You don’t want to wrap the rope around your arm. That’s how you end up with a broken wrist. Just hold onto it.”

“Got it.”

“And no slack. Make sure the rope stays tight, or you’ll get jerked off your feet and maybe dislocate your shoulder.”

“No slack.”

“I’ll ride straight down the middle. You’ll use the edges of your skis to control your direction back and forth. Based on prior years, there will be three jumps, three gates to move through, and three rings at the end that you need to catch on your arm.”

“I watched last year.”

Nate grinned. “You’re going to love it. One last thing. The road is hard-packed snow with asphalt beneath, so if you fall, the pain is real. Don’t fall.”

They climbed into the pickup and drove a short distance from the ranch house, past a small stone building that looked like a picnic shelter. In the distance, he could see a ranch hand holding the reins of a big palomino horse and…

Jesse stared. Nate had put together a full-sized skijoring course complete with two six-foot jumps, a four-foot jump, a couple of gates, and even rings. “Holy shit. You never do anything half-assed around here, do you?”

Nate chuckled. “Not if we can help it.”

* * *

Ellie sat in the playroom talking with Megan and Janet while Emily played with the twins and the two littlest ones parallel played on the floor near their mothers. “She’s really good with them.”

Megan smiled, her gaze on her daughter. “She’s had a lot of practice. She was so excited when she found out there were going to be two babies in the house.”

“Does she understand that Lily is her aunt?”

Megan nodded. “She understood before Lily was born that the baby would be her daddy’s little sister or brother. She’s always just accepted that as normal, though she was a little jealous at first when Janet came into Jack’s life. She adores Jack.”

Janet laughed. “He adores her. You want to know who runs this ranch? She’s eight and has big blue eyes and blond hair.”

Emily ran up to them. “Have the twins ever seen horses?”

“No, they haven’t. Would you like to show them?”

Emily’s face lit up. “Can we, Mommy?”

Megan stood. “Let’s bundle up. It’s cold out there.”

Ten minutes later, the small herd of children moved together through the house toward the back door, either in their mother’s arms or on their own feet, Emily leading the way, Jack promising to join them in a few minutes.

“Buckwheat is my horse. He’s a gelding. He’s with my daddy today, but we have other horses,” Emily told the twins.

“She’s been riding since she was four,” Megan explained. “That’s when I met Nate. He adopted her after we got married.”

A bittersweet longing washed through Ellie. “It must have meant so much to you—to give her a father, to have someone to raise her with you.”

“Nate has been wonderful for her.”

They stepped outside to find it snowing lightly, the sky overcast, the wind cold. Thankfully, it wasn’t a long walk to the barn.

Inside it was much warmer, the mingled odors of straw and manure tickling Ellie’s nose. They turned a corner and… “Oh! Look at them!”

The twins’ faces lit up.

Daisy pointed and looked up at Ellie as if to ask, “What is that, Mama?”

“That’s a horsie. Can you see the horsies, Daniel?”

A half-dozen palomino mares stood in their stalls, munching on hay. They whickered when they heard Emily’s voice and walked toward their gates, clearly familiar with her and happy to see her.

Emily introduced them to the horses. “This is Baby Doe. She’s my favorite mare. She’s going to foal in March. I hope it’s a filly because we might get to keep it.”

They met Molly Brown, Chipeta, Isabella Bird, Julia Greeley, and Clara Brown—all beautiful palominos named after famous women from Colorado’s history. All were in foal, which meant they were pregnant, Emily explained.

Ellie found herself laughing and in need of an extra pair of hands as the twins, curious and excited, stuck their hands in the stalls trying to touch the horses and ran every which way, chattering to one another. She finally picked Daisy up and did her best to hold onto the back of Daniel’s coat.

Jack walked up to her. “You look like you’ve got your hands full.”

He scooped up Daniel and helped him pet one of the mares. “Be gentle. There you go. See how soft her muzzle is? Can you say horsie?”

“Howsie.”

“Good enough.”

“Miss Emily, let’s tack up Baby Doe.” Jack took a lead rope from a nail on the wall and handed it to Emily, who entered Baby Doe’s stall, clipped it to the mare’s halter, and led the big animal out and down a walkway. “How old are your twins, Ellie?”

“They’ll be three in April.”

“Then it’s high time they learned to ride.” While Emily saddled the mare, Jack took a small riding helmet from a nearby shelf and put it on Daniel’s head, fixing the strap under his chin. “Are you ready to ride this horsie, young man?”

Ellie shook her head. “Oh, I don’t think—”

“This is what he does,” Megan said. “The twins will be safe. He’s ridden with kids with severe disabilities, kids who can’t even talk. When he was two, he was riding by himself. So was Nate. Crazy, isn’t it?”

It certainly seemed crazy to Ellie, who could imagine a dozen ways it could all go terribly wrong. Being a nurse meant having a vivid imagination where injury and catastrophe were concerned.

Emily rode the mare first under Jack’s watchful eye, the child looking like she’d been born on a horse.

“My daughter loves to ride.”

Ellie laughed. “I couldn’t tell.”

When Emily dismounted, Jack adjusted the stirrups, took her place in the saddle, and then reached for Daniel. “Are you ready, buddy?”

The moment Jack settled Daniel into the saddle in front of him, Ellie’s fear melted away. Jack had absolute mastery of the animal. More than that, Daniel was in heaven. He smiled and laughed, petting the horse and squealing with delight when Jack brought the mare to a lope.

Then it was Daisy’s turn. The sound of her laughter was precious to Ellie as Jack rode Baby Doe in circles through the soft sand. But when her turn was over, Daisy didn’t want to come down. She started crying when Jack handed her to Ellie.

“You’ll just have to come back and do it again sometime.” Jack looked straight into Ellie’s eyes. “You and the twins are welcome any time, Ellie. I mean that. After Dan’s death, we didn’t want to intrude. We knew Dan, but we didn’t have a relationship with you. Now we do.”

Ellie’s throat grew tight, warmth blossoming in her chest. “Thank you, Jack. And thanks for this.”

“You’re welcome.” He led the mare back the way they’d come. “Let me get Baby Doe back in her stall, and then we’ll take a sleigh ride out to see what the idiot menfolk are doing. I had one of my hands hook a pair of geldings to the sleigh. Do you want to help me with the reins, Miss Emily?”

* * *

Jesse took the slack out of the rope, his body tensed and ready. “Go!”

His body was snapped forward as Nate brought the horse to a gallop, snow flying beneath his skis, wind in his face. He couldn’t help but smile.

He turned to the right, made it through the first gate, then veered to the left, the horse pulling him up the six-foot jump and into the air. “Woohoo!”

He stuck the landing and swung to the right to catch the second gate, Nate urging the gelding to go faster.

The next jump was dead center.

He sailed up and over, catching air again.

Fuck, yeah.

He swung to the left and sailed through the last gate then veered hard to the right, rode up and over the third jump, another six-footer. He felt like he was flying.

He made the landing, then straightened himself up and let go of the rope with his right hand, aiming his arm like a spear to catch the three rings.

One. Two.

Damn it.

His fist punched the last ring off its hook, knocking it to the ground.

He skied to a stop and caught his breath, Nate riding back toward him.

“Hell.” Nate shook his head, smiling ear to ear. “You almost had it.”

“You know, even when you fuck it up, this is fun. It’s a lot like wakeboarding.”

“Yeah—except that you’re not landing in water when you fall.”

They took a break, drinking hot coffee from a thermos Nate had brought in the saddle bags. “So you and Ellie Meeks, huh?”

“Yeah. It wasn’t anything I planned.” He and Nate didn’t know each other well, but Jesse had to ask. “What’s it like being a dad?”

“It’s great. I love it. Megan is the best thing that ever happened to me, and the kids are right there with her.” He was quiet for a moment as if deciding whether to say more. “Megan had a rough life before I met her. Emily was four when we got together. I adopted Emily when Megan and I got married. I love that little girl like my own. She never knew a father before me. In every way that counts, I am her father.”

“Wow. Yeah. That’s great.” It felt like a revelation to Jesse.

He’d always thought that his dad had beaten him because he wasn’t truly his son. Some part of him had accepted it as natural that a man couldn’t love children that weren’t his blood. But now thinking of his feelings for Daniel and Daisy—and considering what Nate had just told him—it seemed to him that his father had beaten him because the man was an asshole.

“I’m going to go out on a limb here,” Nate said. “I don’t know you well, but I hear good things. You’re on the Team. You’re a patroller. You’ve saved lives. You’ve served your country. But don’t hurt Ellie. Dan was a good friend of mine. I care about what happens to the woman he loved and the kids he never got to see.”

Nate spoke the words in a friendly enough way, but the warning was clear.

“I don’t want to hurt her. The last thing I want to do is hurt her. I knew Dan, too. We called him Crash, short for Crashhawk. He was the pilot on at least a dozen direct actions I was involved in, and there were a handful of times when he came in for a hot extract, guns blazing, and saved our asses.”

Nate glared at him. “You were buddies, and you’re with his wife?”

“I didn’t know she was his wife.” A sticky sense of guilt had Jesse defending himself. “She and I have been neighbors for two years. I helped her one night when her car broke down, and she and Daniel were sick. I knew she was a Gold Star wife, but it didn’t click that she was Crash’s wife. It’s not like he and I were close buds. I only saw him a few times outside of his bird, and that was just in passing.”

“Okay, well, that’s different.” The anger faded from Nate’s face.

But now Jesse was pissed. “If you and Dan were so close and you care so much about Ellie, where have you been these past three years?”

“That’s a fair question. We started a college fund for her kids. The whole town contributed. She knows it’s there, but she doesn’t know we started it. We didn’t have a personal relationship, and we didn’t want to impose on her grief.” Nate’s gaze shifted to something behind Jesse. “It looks like the old man brought lunch.”

Jesse looked over his shoulder to see two horses pulling a sleigh, Jack and Emily at the reins, the women and kids piled into seats behind him and covered by blankets. “Wow.”

Nate towed Jesse over to the picnic shelter, tying off the horse’s reins while Jesse stepped out of his bindings. “Does Ellie know that you knew Dan?”

“No.” At first, she’d been sick, and it hadn’t seemed right to bring it up, and then... “I need to tell her.”