Yeah, Wyatt had been expecting a woman named Noelle Wilder from Boston, but he hadn't been expecting her. Not in any way.

When Bunny had told him she was doing a house swap for the next month so she could do some house hunting for her Cape Cod dream home, Wyatt had been annoyed. He didn't have time to babysit a city slicker, not when he had to figure out who the hell had doped his ride, and get his bull riding back on track, but he owed Bunny a lot, so he'd agreed.

He'd figured Noelle Wilder would be a pain in his ass. Afraid to get dirty. Needing shit from him he didn't have to give. Uptight. Maybe on the hunt for an affair with a cowboy that she could tell her friends about, showing up in high heels, makeup, and a need to seduce. He knew about those women. Hell, that was the only kind of woman who ever crossed his path.

Until now.

He hadn't expected the woman standing in front of him. Noelle was wearing jeans and hiking boots. She was soaking wet. Muddy from head to toe. Makeup-free. Rain was glistening on her cheeks, highlighting brown eyes so compelling he'd forgotten to breathe the moment he'd looked into them. She wasn't dressed to impress. She was dressed...for herself...and it had hit him straight in the gut the moment he'd walked to the top of the embankment and seen her struggling to climb it, refusing to succumb to gravity.

And she'd been laughing while she was doing it. Laughing.

She made him want to laugh, and he hadn't laughed in a long, damned time.

And now, she gazed up at him, her face glistening with rain. "You were expecting me?" she asked, repeating his words back to him. "Who are you?"

At the sound of her voice, something shifted inside Wyatt. There was such kindness in her voice, a warmth, a lack of pretense...a quiet, deep appreciation for the moment. He couldn't seem to tear his gaze off her face. "My name's Wyatt Parker. I'm the foreman on the Sleeping Bull Ranch. Bunny told me to keep an eye out for you."

"The foreman?" Noelle's eyes widened, and her gaze slipped off his face, checking him out with rapid, nervous interest.

His cock actually tightened at the feel of her gaze sweeping over him. His reaction shocked him. He was used to being checked out by women. The minute he had started having success as a bull rider, the women had flocked to him, wanting only a piece of his ass and his winnings. He'd learned fast and ugly not to trust anyone who looked at him that way, a lesson that Octavia had solidified when he'd thought she was an exception. He didn't even notice anymore when women checked him out...until now. Until Noelle's gaze brushed over him, a tentative, innocent exploration that ignited a fire in him that had been dormant for a long time.

Her gaze shot back to his face, and to his surprise, she pulled free of his grip, took several steps back and set her hands on her hips. She lifted her chin, and he literally felt the wall that she raised between them.

He narrowed his eyes, surprised by the way she tried to put distance between them. Women never did that, not with him. He didn't take it personally, because he knew that any bull rider with a halfway decent career got the same appreciation from women. Which made the fact that Noelle had stepped back a hell of a lot more interesting than if she had stepped forward.

He cocked his head, studying her. "Running the ranch for Bunny is just a part-time gig. I'm a bull rider." He never told anyone he was a bull rider, because he hated being judged by it. But he wanted to see what Noelle would do when she knew. Somehow, he needed to find out what she thought of that fact. "Last year's runner up at the finals." Today's tainted sideliner.

To his satisfaction, Noelle didn't inch forward. She didn't get a flash of interest in her eyes. There was no hint of greed in her face. In fact, her forehead wrinkled. "Can't you die from that?"

Her question made him tense, because, you know, he'd almost died two months ago. "Yes."

It was only because he was watching her so closely that he saw her flinch. It wasn't a superficial, dramatic response designed to stroke his ego about how manly he was. There was a genuine flash of fear and anguish in her eyes, and she physically recoiled, folding her arms across her chest. "I don't understand that," she said. "I don't understand how you could do something that could kill you. Don't you realize what a gift it is to be alive?"

Her voice was almost desperate, edged with a grief that struck him right in his gut. He swore under his breath, and knew then that someone she loved had died on her. Someone who mattered to her. Someone whose death had changed her view of life forever. Suddenly, he saw her differently. He saw the shadows in her eyes, the hollowness of her cheeks, the way she hugged herself, as if she had to hold herself up. He understood why she was taking a month off from her life to hang out on some Oregon ranch. "Who died?" he asked softly.

Shock flashed across her face, and for a second, he thought she wouldn't answer. But she did. "My husband. A year ago. He was sick for three years."

Her voice was tight, guarded, and exhausted. He knew it had been a long three years, and a long year since. "I'm sorry." Protectiveness surged through him, a deep, instinctive need to surround her with his strength, to protect her from the grief trying to hold onto her, to make it safe for her to breathe again.

She nodded. "Thanks." She managed a smile. "But we have to keep living, right? Otherwise it's an insult to those who die young."

He thought of his dad and nodded. "Agreed." Suddenly, he didn't resent Bunny's request to make sure Noelle was safe. He accepted it. He embraced it. In fact, to his surprise, a small part of him actually regretted that he would be leaving the ranch in a few days to compete.

The moment he had that thought, he swore under his breath. He'd already given up everything for a woman once, and he had learned his lesson. God, how he had learned his lesson. He'd known Noelle about sixty seconds, and he was already regretting leaving her? What the hell? He was going to ride this weekend, and nothing was going to keep him home. Not even this woman from Boston, who looked like the weight of life was going to crush her.

He cleared his throat, resisting the urge to close the distance between them and draw her into a hug, to somehow support her. He would make sure she was safe, yeah, but that was it. He wasn't going to step over that line that he'd sworn never to be dragged across again. "Tell you what," he said. "I'll ride back to the ranch, get a tractor, and come back and pull your car out." He liked that plan. It helped and protected her, but put some distance between them, and that powerful-as-hell tug between them.

She glanced past his shoulder, and he saw her eyes widen when she saw his horse. "You rode out here?"

"Yeah. I was checking fences." He saw her shiver, and he swore, suddenly aware of the pounding rain hammering them both. Her face was streaked with rain, her jeans sodden against her legs, her raincoat no longer beading with rain because it had maxed out its capacity to keep her dry. He frowned. "You should get back in your car and get dry. I'll be back in about an hour." If he rode hard, he could make it home in forty-five minutes. It was pushing it, but he wasn't leaving her out here any longer than he had to.

She blinked, drawing his attention to the raindrops clumping at the ends of her eyelashes. "You want to leave me here?" The question was careful, as if she wasn't sure how that made her feel.

"I don't want to leave you, specifically. I want to help you, but I need to get a tractor to get your car out." He cleared his throat, resisting the urge to throw her on the back of his horse and haul her up against him. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

She looked over her shoulder at the car, and then back at his horse. He saw the flash of fear in her eyes, and he swore. He knew then that she didn't want to wait there. "You'll be safe in the car. Dry. You can turn on the heat." He didn't want her out in the rain on his horse...but at the same time, some part of him didn't want to leave her behind.

Yeah, she would be safe there. Nothing was going to happen. They were already on the ranch property, and no one would be coming by. But hell...it didn't feel right to leave her.

She looked at the horse again, and then back at him. "I'd rather ride with you."

His gut clenched, and he had a sudden image of her riding in front of him on Lightning, leaning back against him while he held her securely in front of him. At the thought of her nestled between his thighs, his gut tightened with the surge of lust he hadn't felt in too damn long. Shit. He didn't have time for this, for a woman, for reacting this way. For hell's sake, he had a possible murderer hunting him, and a bull riding career to resurrect in three days. He did not have time to notice her like this. But he couldn't help it. He just couldn't stop staring into her eyes, from wanting to chase away the shadows haunting her, from needing to protect her...

No. He had to keep his distance. He had too much going on. She had to stay in her car, not park herself on his lap for a longer ride in the rain. No way. He opened his mouth to tell her that, but the words that came out weren't what he'd intended. "You want to ride with me?"

The moment he asked the question, he regretted it...and knew it was the only thing he wanted to ask. It might not make sense for a shitload of reasons, but there was nothing more he wanted in that moment than to have his thighs on either side of hers, his arm around her waist, anchoring her back against his chest, his coat tucked around her to keep her protected from the storm. He wanted her where he could make sure she was safe, and the only place that fit that bill right now, was on the back of his horse in his arms.

Relief flashed over her face. "I don't want to be in the car." Her voice was quiet, almost a whisper, but he still heard the desperation. "I would love to ride with you."

His gut shifted at her word choice. I would love to ride with you. Shit. He liked that. He liked that she had no doubt, that she trusted him completely, even though he was a stranger. She was right to trust him. There was no way in hell he'd hurt her. If he took her with him, her safety would be completely dependent on him. Completely. Damn. He liked that. No, he didn't like it. He loved it. He stood taller, and whistled low under his breath. His mount, Lightning, trotted over, and stopped beside him. Wyatt gathered the reins, and then held out his hand to her.

For a long moment, she didn't move, and he tensed. Was she going to retreat to her car? Decide she was safer in a ditch in her car than on a horse with him? Logic said she was, but something primal deep inside him resisted. "I'll keep you safe," he said quietly.

Her gaze flicked to his, and he didn't miss the flash of yearning in her eyes, coupled with a vulnerability that made his chest tighten. He knew then that no one ever kept her safe. No one ever took care of her. She took care of herself, and the people around her.

He wanted to give her that gift. He wanted it to be him who gave her even a few minutes of feeling like she didn't have to fight her battles herself...or at least this battle, for the next hour. He flicked his fingers, beckoning her toward him. "Come on, Noelle. Ride with me."

She took a deep breath, and she lifted her chin.

He knew then, before she spoke, before she moved, that she was going to say yes. Anticipation roared through him, a fierce, roaring sensation of rightness as she slowly lifted her hand.

His entire body hummed in anticipation as he waited for her to set her hand in his, but the moment he felt her fingers in his, peace settled deep inside him, all the way to his core, and he knew that this woman had come into his life for a reason, and he was going to find out what it was.