The Lies Uncovered Trilogy (Books 4, 5, and 6 of The Dancing Moon Ranch Series) (55 page)

About fifteen minutes after he saw Annie leave in her truck. "Presumably to deliver her meal of guacamole and macaroni and cheese to the protestors, Ryan hoisted a heavy plastic, double-lined garbage bag filled with cow entrails onto the passenger floor of the dump truck—the truck bed of which was piled high with manure—climbed behind the wheel, and headed out.

He couldn’t help smiling as he drove toward the gate to the ranch. What he was about to do wouldn't get him any closer to kissing Annie, much less getting her in bed, but there was plenty of time to work on that.

As he drew near, he saw that Annie had the tail gate on her pick-up down and the protestors were gathered around while she dished up their food. She didn't pay any attention as he approached, probably because she assumed it was one of the men delivering manure to Pine Grove. But when he pulled the truck to a halt, then backed it around and began maneuvering it alongside the fence to where he could spread his load—directly across from where Annie’s truck was parked—she looked at him in alarm.

Realizing what was about to happen, she set the pot of macaroni on the tailgate of her truck and rushed through the ranch gate while yelling up at him,
"What do you think you’re doing?!"

"Unloading manure," Ryan replied. "I couldn’t work with all the flies around the stables. It’s far enough away here so it won’t matter." He shoved on a lever, raising the bed of the truck.

"Wait! Stop!"
Annie yelled.
"You can’t do that!"

"Sorry, I can’t hear you,"
Ryan yelled back. With the bed raised, he released the tail gate and started moving slowly ahead while spreading a thick blanket of manure alongside the fence. After lowering the bed he climbed out of the truck, grabbed the bags of entrails from the floor in front of the passenger seat, and donning rubber gloves, began throwing entrails on top of the manure. That done, he stripped off his gloves, tossed them into one of the empty garbage bags and put the bags in the truck.

Annie, who was glaring at him, face red with fury, eyes bright with ire, said in a firm, metered voice, "You’re going to be so sorry for this. You have no idea how sorry you’ll be."

Ryan smiled. "Actually, probably not as sorry as you and your friends will be. But with this heat it should all be dried out in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, the buzzards and yellow jackets will help clean up the innards." He glanced at the spread of manure and piles of entrails where yellow jackets were already beginning to buzz around.

Annie drew in a deep breath through flared nostrils, and said, "I know my father didn’t put you up to this because he’s a rational man. Does he even know you took the dump truck?"

"Of course," Ryan replied. "He gave me the keys. You underestimate him. He wants the protestors gone, the mustangs off the ranch, your mother home, and the guest ranch back in operation, and he’s all for me doing whatever it takes to accomplish that. Meanwhile, I’ve got a topographic map with riding trails to study so I’ll leave you to feeding your friends—" he glanced beyond Annie "—although some seem to be packing up."

Annie looked over her shoulder, and spotting a woman putting camp gear into her Lexus, said, "That woman planned to leave today anyway, but the others won’t be chased off by a few yellow jackets and a little manure."

"I guess we’ll just have to wait and see." Ryan looked toward the encampment, where yellow jackets were buzzing around the pot of macaroni and the protestors were backing away. The aging hippy with the pony tail seemed to be having a problem with a particularly aggressive yellow jacket. While swatting at it, he let out a loud,
"Shit!"
then gripped his thigh. In an instant he unzipped and lowered his pants and looked to where he’d been stung.

"Here!" A female hippy in a tank top and long skirt, who was obviously the guy’s significant other, came rushing out of the old VW camper holding a potted plant that Ryan recognized as aloe vera, then broke off a leaf and mashed it against the man’s leg.

Annie planted her hands on her hips, and said, "You seem to think a man being stung is funny. What if he's allergic to hornet stings? He could go into shock and Rabbit can’t drive."

It wasn’t until then that Ryan realized he was smiling. He was also baffled. "Rabbit?"

"Shadow’s wife… well, she lives with him. They’re a couple."

"Shadow?"

"Look, they’re here because they care about the wild horses being rounded up and run down by helicopters, and foals being trampled in the rush, and bands of horses being broken up, and burros getting flipped by human jackasses like the helicopter pilots at Pete’s, and you don’t give a damn because you’re of a mindset that animals don’t matter."

Turning abruptly, she went to join the protestors, who stood some distance from where Ryan had spread the manure, all of them glowering at him.

Ryan eyed the angry faces for a few moments then climbed into the dump truck, backed it around and headed for the ranch. Although he was all but certain the protest was about to come to an end, it was a hollow victory because he knew that angel face was lost to him forever.

CROSS PURPOSES
to be continued
…

If you want to read on, here's the link to
Amazon

Or
if you'd like to purchase
CUTTING THE TIES TRILOGY
, which contains Books 7, 8 & 9 of the Dancing Moon Ranch Series, here's that link to
Amazon
.

BOOKS BY PATRICIA WATTERS

DANCING MOON RANCH SERIES

PREQUEL: JUSTIFIED DECEPTION

Ruth Crawford's on a quest to find her daughter, who was kidnapped four years before. Ruth's private investigator is all but certain that ranch owner, Matt Kincaid's, adopted daughter Annie is Ruth's own little Beth. But Matt's the maverick in a powerful family of lawyers and politicians, so even though she manages to land the job as nanny to Matt's willful, six-year-old daughter, Ruth must tread carefully. She can't predict what Matt or his family might do if the adoption is challenged. However, Ruth's carefully laid plans go awry when she finds herself falling in love with the man who might have stolen her child.

BOOK 1: RIGHTEOUS LIES

Grace Templeton thought the child she'd been carrying for seven months was the child of her dead husband, and Jack Hansen thought the sperm he'd donated had gone to the wife of his sterile twin... Until they learn that two vials of sperm at the fertility clinic were accidentally switched. The shock sends Grace into early labor, and the only place she can have complete bed rest is at the Dancing Moon Ranch owned by Jack and his twin, Sam. But soon, Grace finds herself falling in love with a hard-edged cowboy who appears to want to control every aspect of her life, now that she's carrying his son. But Jack has his reasons. He also has no intention of marrying, and Grace is determined to learn why.  

BOOK 2: PANDORA'S BOX

Justine Page used her beauty and her body to make her way up the corporate ladder. But when a relationship with a CEO goes sour, and she finds herself without a job or a place to live, she goes to the Dancing Moon Ranch to stay with her sister and reassess her life. Brad Meecham, a war correspondent with post-traumatic stress, who has taken a cabin at the ranch to try and deal with mind demons, is intrigued by Justine, who's determined to put her checkered past behind. About the time he thinks they could make a life together, a daughter Brad never knew existed is delivered to him when her mother dies. Suddenly, he finds himself with a child who wants nothing to do with anyone but Justine, and he knows without question that a woman who slept her way to the top will never be a candidate for step-mother. But then, Brad fails to factor in the power of love to bring together a flawed woman and a troubled child, and his need to have them both in his life.  

BOOK 3: FALSE PRETENSES

Jayne Hamilton has a dark secret she's carefully guarded and which she hopes will stay hidden until she lands the job at Dancing Moon Ranch. But as Sam Hansen interviews her, he’s uneasy. Things don't add up. Still, he hires her without running a background check because his mother wants to retire from the guest ranch end of the operation, and neither Sam nor his twin, Jack, want to take over that job. A guest ranch manager would free them of that burden. But soon, Sam finds himself blindly attracted to Jayne, even though he knows she's hiding something... something that has to do with a child. But Sam also senses that there's much more.  

BOOK: 4 UNCERTAIN LOYALTIES

All her life Sophie Meecham was told that modesty was a virtue and sex before marriage was wrong, so when she learns that her step-mother slept her way up the corporate ladder before marrying her father, Sophie’s so angry and disillusioned she shows up unexpectedly at the Dancing Moon Ranch to vent to her lifelong friend, Rick Hansen. Rick too is disillusioned. Sophie’s changed from the woman he’d grown to love over the years, and even envisioned marrying. In fact, she's so mad, she rebels against everything that’s been instilled in her, even tries to have sex with Rick. But he wants no part of it. Although he doesn’t want the woman Sophie is now, he doesn’t want any other man to have her either. But soon after, a life-altering incident has Sophie looking at Rick, her buddy, in a whole new light. It's also clear, the man she’s falling in love with has fallen out of love with her, and it will be an uphill battle to prove to Rick she's still the woman he'd always thought her to be.

BOOK 5: BECOMING JESSE'S FATHER

When Adam Hansen discovers his ex-fiancée, along with a son he never knew he had, hiding in an isolated cabin on his ranch, in the middle of winter, and learns she's being hunted down by her former husband, an ex-green beret, Adam vows to protect them, even though he has no intention of getting involved with Emily again. He's also trying to gain the love and trust of a three-year-old boy who fears and mistrusts men. But while he's safeguarding Emily and Jesse, Adam learns that Emily’s wanted in a non-custodial kidnapping to protect Jesse from a dangerous step-father, who's also Jesse's legal father, since Emily gave birth to Jesse while married to him. Still, Adam intends to protect them at all cost, even if it means going against his family, and the law, and taking Emily and Jesse into the mountains and beyond, if that's the only way to keep them safe.

BOOK 6: BITTERSWEET RETURN

In the jungles of Central America, archaeologists Marc Hansen and Kit Korban are winding up a project. Marc walked away from his family after learning that all his life had been a lie. He hasn't seen them in four years and doesn't plan to return any time soon. Although Kit sees potential in the man, and his presence makes her pulse race, he's carrying far too much personal baggage, so a relationship with him is out. However, when she learns there's an unexcavated Indian mound on his family's ranch, Kit talks Marc into taking her there. But whereas Marc's mother welcomes him with open arms, it's not the same with his father. Marc walked away from a mother who'd loved him unconditionally, and Jack Hansen isn't ready to put that behind. But as Kit begins to peel back the layers of a very complicated man, she also finds in Marc a man worth loving. The problem is convincing Marc that, just because he's no blood kin, he's not the outsider in the family he's always believed himself to be.

BOOK 7: CROSS PURPOSES

Annie Kincaid's a wild horse advocate. Ryan Hansen's a bronco buster. The fact that Annie's father hired Ryan to oversee the trail horses and take guest ranch visitors on trail rides definitely doesn't sit well with Annie. She's had her fill of hot-shot cowboys who think life's all about busting, breaking or bulldogging, and of all the Hansen boys from the Dancing Moon Ranch, Ryan's the cockiest of the bunch. Ryan also has a lot to learn about managing Annie Kincaid. In the past he had no problem attracting women, but now he wants the one woman who'll take special handling. But in the process, Annie also learns something about Ryan she never could have imagined, something that has her taking a second look. Still, she's not about to fall prey to the "new-and-improved" Ryan Hansen, who has a long way to go to prove he's the man for her.

BOOK 8: DANCING WITH DANGER:
The last person Josh Hansen wants to be around is
Nurse Ratched
, the woman who gave him an ice water bed bath
to cool him down
when he was under her care after a collision with a bull two years ago. And the last person Genie Matthias wants to become entangled with romantically or otherwise is a rodeo clown. Odds are he'll get busted up again. She's also legal guardian of her 4-year-old sister, and a man who dances around with bulls for a living will never be a candidate for step-father. The problem is, all logic seems to fail whenever they're around each other.

BOOK 9: BUCKING THE ODDS:
Cutting the ties for Jeremy Hansen meant taking a job three hundred miles from the Dancing Moon Ranch, where he could be his own man. But when he meets Billy Bree Fitzsimmons, his perfect mate, a woman whose passion for raising bucking bulls matches his passion for riding them, he also finds himself drawn into circumstances in which cutting the ties takes on a whole new meaning when he is forced to choose between his family, and the woman he loves and never seeing his family again. 

CONTEMPORARY ROMANCES

ADVERSARIES AND LOVERS

When Kate O’Connor learns that Ben Stassen's new corporate office will replace a block of charming old buildings that include the Corner Cafe, where Grandma and her friends have been lunching for half a century, she vows to stop it, taking her case directly to the man. But that's not the way Ben Stassen sees it. He built Stassen Sports from the ground up and he refuses to let a woman on a mission stand in his way. But, Kate has advertising skills he can use, so ignoring her crusade, he invites her to submit ideas for his ad campaign. And Kate accepts—a strategic move to use against the man. But working with Ben stirs feelings Kate hadn't anticipated, and when she at last finds the chink in Ben's armor, the key to stopping his business venture, she also finds a troubled man who refuses to be touched by love, and she’s determined to know why.

BROKEN PROMISES

Tess O'Reilly can't forget the words engraved inside the ring Zak de Neuville gave her when he promised to love her forever, then disappeared from her life without a word.
Eskauldun fededun
--the Basque is faithful. More appropriately, the Basque is faithless! And now Zak's back in Baker's Creek. He's also the father of a boy who had to have been conceived shortly after he left. Tess too has returned to Baker's Creek to help her ailing father. After a lengthy estrangement from him because of Zak, she's come home to rebuild the relationship they once had, before it's too late, and she has no intention of getting involved with Zak again. The problem is, time has done nothing to temper the white-hot flame that's once again building.

IN HOT PURSUIT

Inheriting her uncle's yacht and living on it is just what Nellie Reid needs to get out of the financial abyss she's in and put the lives of herself and her ten-year-old son back on track. But what she initially thinks is a dream come true quickly becomes a nightmare. Not only is the owner of the boathouse threatening foreclosure for back rent, he claims he had an agreement with Nellie's uncle for use of the boat for his whale study. But if Will Edenshaw cruises off on her yacht, Nellie will have him arrested for grand theft! And Will hasn't the heart to foreclose on a homeless, jobless widow. But once at sea, life aboard the Isadora becomes perilous. Will's in hot pursuit, and there's no place Nellie can run and hide from her heart. But there are also others in pursuit—a grizzled old sea dog and a bald-headed man with a gun—and Nellie and Will don't know why. But as they venture into rough waters, it's evident that whoever's in pursuit is dead set on seeing Nellie... dead. 

NEVER TOO LATE

Marriage counselors have long known that there are two things in life that tear marriages apart: adultery, and the death of a child. Andrea and Jerry Porter have been true to each other for almost twenty-five years, so adultery is not a factor in their failing marriage. But two years before, they lost their son, and the marriage has been spiraling downhill ever since. And then the unexpected happens. Andrea and Jerry find themselves trapped together on a luxury cruise neither want—a twenty-fifth anniversary gift from their three grown daughters. Before long they find themselves drawn into a drug-smuggling scheme by the smooth-talking Italian who singled Andrea out for flattery the first day aboard. That's also when Andrea and Jerry begin to see each other in a whole different light, one that not only allows them to come to terms with their personal tragedy, but ignites a flame that had long since died
.

HISTORICAL ROMANCES

HER MASTER'S TOUCH

She's the mystery debutante of the season, who arrived on the London scene as if from out of nowhere. But Lord Damon Ravencroft knows her dark secret. Two years before, when she was roaming with Gypsies and living by her wits in India, he hired her as a housemaid, and she stole from him a rare and valuable opal once belonging to the Empress Josephine. Damon intends to be compensated for its loss, which set him back years in his quest to prove his innocence in a crime he's accused of committing. The sizable dowry that comes with Lady Elizabeth Sheffield's hand in marriage is a start. It's also his price to keep her secret from all of London. But there's more to the marriage of convenience that Damon proposes than Elizabeth anticipated, but by the time she learns what it is, she's trapped into a marriage to a man who both stirs her passions and fuels her resentment for the man she was forced to wed.

COLBY'S CHILD

He's a man with a dark past, a quick hand on the draw, and a soft spot for her child. She's a widow who needs protection. A marriage of convenience is the means of keeping her safe in a town populated by gold miners, dance hall girls, and scurrilous men, until her gold mine is producing and she can return east. But soon after Jenny MacDonald marries Jason Colby, she finds herself falling in love with a man whose dark past is quickly catching up with him, the very man who might have killed her husband.  

COME BE MY LOVE

When Sarah Ashley arrives in Victoria, British Columbia to open a mercantile for the manufacture and sale of bloomer costumes, she turns Governor Jonathan Cromwell's colony upside down. But while her enterprise is diving the town and disrupting every facet of Jon's life, he can't decide whether to seduce the stunning suffragette into sweet submission, set more obstacles in her path, or send her away to preserve his colony. But Sarah didn't liquidate her entire savings and sail all the way from San Francisco to Victoria just to have her dreams dashed by Vancouver Island's arrogant young governor. Come hell or high water, she will establish her business despite Jon's unfairly imposed obstacles... and a longing heart that tempts her to surrender her principles for one night of passion with the insufferably handsome rogue.