Rancher's Deadly Reunion. Beth Cornelison

the past had been hard enough. The past needed to stay buried. Because if Brady became a regular part of her life again, the walls she’d built to protect her heart would come crumbling down.

      From his position at the top of a ridge, Ken squinted through his telephoto lens and brought the Double M Ranch buildings into focus. Figuring out which one was the main house, where Piper would be staying, was easy enough. The main house was the biggest building and had a long front porch with rocking chairs, a river-rock chimney and large windows that glowed with warm golden light. Through process of elimination, he would figure out soon enough which window was Piper’s bedroom.

      As he studied the house, two men emerged through the front door and shuffled across the ranch yard toward a house nearer the stables. Several dogs yipped and raced around, following the men.

      Damn it! The presence of dogs meant he’d have to be extra careful when he approached the buildings. Dogs were living security alarms. From his vantage point, one appeared to be a yellow Labrador retriever, and the other two were medium-sized black-and-white dogs with big pointy ears. Ken lowered the lens for a minute, thinking. What were those dogs called? Shepherds? No, blue heelers. Smart dogs, he’d heard. Sighing his frustration, he made a note on his pad to figure the mutts into the equation, then raised the high-powered lens again, snapping pictures.

      Zooming in on the faces of the cowboys, he discovered one was older, maybe fifty or sixty years, and the other was the guy that had driven Piper from the airport that afternoon. The guy who’d been too familiar with her, held her too long when she’d stumbled, watched her too closely when she hadn’t known he was looking. But Ken had seen it all, and he didn’t need a crystal ball to know this guy meant trouble. The younger cowboy with too much interest in Piper had to be dealt with.

      Ken clenched his teeth and lowered the camera with the powerful lens. Piper belonged to him, and if anyone or anything posed a threat to the future he had planned for them, Ken swore that threat would be eliminated.