Sophia shivered. She was wet and she felt horrible. Not that she was about to admit it to the jerk sharing his saddle with her. If she’d been paying attention her horse would never have stepped in that gopher hole and come up lame. Some adventure this was turning out to be. Her great plan to find her brother and deliver him safely into the bosom of his family was a mega-failure.

And Tony had to be a front and center witness to all of it.

The pommel dug into her thighs, her back ached from holding herself away from her rescuer’s broad chest, and she needed to pee. In a word, she was miserable.

“Sit still. You’re going to spook my horse,” Tony growled, sounding even less pleased with the situation than she was.

Well, it was his own fault. If he hadn’t snuck up like that and distracted her so badly, they’d already be at their destination. The moment she found the scrap of cloth hanging on the mesquite bush, she’d known where her brother was heading.

Hidden Valley.

She hadn’t been there since she was a child.

Her father had taken all three kids on a weekend getaway, leaving Momma and her grandmother home to plan the big party for her eighth birthday. The one she wasn’t supposed to know about.

When they’d arrived at the entrance to the valley Matthew and Aaron had raced down the hill to roll in the thick green grass, but not her. She’d stood with her little hand stuck inside her dad’s much bigger paw, and stared in wonder. It was like something out of her fairytale books. She expected to see a handsome prince come riding through the forest at the far end of the valley and sweep the maiden with long, curly locks into his arms.

“What do you think, Peanut?” her dad asked in his deep, rumbly voice that always filled her with warmth and safety.

“Daddy,” she giggled. “I’m too big to be a peanut anymore.”

He swung her into his powerful arms and nuzzled her neck until she laughed. “You’ll always be my little peanut, missy. Now tell me what you think of my secret valley.”

Secret?

Her young imagination went wild. Maybe her daddy was the Lone Ranger, like in the storybooks her brothers read. Or a masked man like Zorro, protecting her family from bandits. She reached up and grabbed his familiar face, her fingers splayed out over his laughing cheeks.

“Daddy, tell me,” she demanded. “What’s the secret?”

His brown eyes, so like hers, sparkled with humor. “Well, if I told you that, it wouldn’t be a secret anymore, now would it?”

She huffed out an impatient breath. “Da… ad.”

He’d leaned forward and kissed her nose before setting her on her feet. “C’mon, Peanut. Time’s a wastin’. We better get down there before those brothers of yours find the snake in our Eden.”

She’d followed him down the hill, perturbed he hadn’t told her what was so special about this canyon. Until they reached the bottom. The moment Sophia’s gaze landed on all the pretty flowers and the butterflies dancing in the breeze, she forgot her disappointment. It was a magical garden, and they got to stay there for days. Just her and her dad.

The boys came running, punching each other and roughhousing as they went.

Well, almost perfect.

Nostalgia and sadness softened Sophia’s shoulders and she slumped in the saddle. Tony tightened his grip on her waist, tugging her against the wall of his chest.

“You’re beat. Quit fighting me and rest,” he murmured, his voice a low rumble—like her dad’s.

She gave up the struggle, snuggling into the warmth and protection afforded by his larger frame. The wind had picked up and lashed them with the falling rain. The world had turned gray and inhospitable. This was nothing like the trip she’d made with her family so many years ago. Then again, she wasn’t that naïve little girl who believed in fairytales anymore, either.

“Why do you stay?” She turned her head and stared at his grim visage. “Don’t you want a place of your own? A family?” To her knowledge, he’d never been off the ranch for more than a weekend in the ten years since he started. In many ways, this man she’d fallen in love with was an enigma.

He glanced down at her, rain dripping off the brim of his hat. “This is my home. You trying to get rid of me now?”

Sophia glared. “That isn’t what I meant and well you know it, Tony Morrison.”

She tried to straighten, but he was having none of it, controlling her easily until she resettled with an indignant huff. “Why won’t you ever treat me like an adult? Is it so wrong that I want to know more about you?”

The sorrel lost his footing in the mud and Tony tightened the reins, guiding the animal onto surer ground before answering her. “There’s not much to tell. I got in some trouble as a kid and my parents decided they’d teach me a lesson by kicking me out.” He glanced down and frowned. “Hey, none of that. I don’t need your sympathy. They did me a favor.”

They rode along quietly for a while, then he added, “I count it the luckiest day of my life when your pa found me and brought me back to the ranch. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to repay your family for their kindness.”

The words were meant to reassure, Sophia knew that, but all they did was leave her immeasurably saddened. Tony would view any relationship with her as a betrayal of the trust her father had had in him. He wouldn’t do anything to hurt her family.

Even though he was crushing her heart.