A Rancher's Reward Read online

  “Do you want to marry me?”

  Willa laughed. “Are you serious?”

  “Yeah, why not?” Garrett answered.

  “Sorry, Garrett. You’ve got the wrong woman for that.”

  “Why? Because of what happened between us?”

  “What happened between us besides one night of passion? We were barely adults at the time. But the truth is, I’m never getting married. I’m not going through any of that again.”

  “No?” He poured himself a shot of whiskey. Then one for her.

  She waved it away.

  “I don’t want to drink alone.”

  “Well, luckily for you, there’s a whole party full of people out there who are drinking.”

  “I’d rather be in here, drinking with my future wife...”

  “Don’t bet on it.”

  “The proposal or the whiskey?”

  * * *

  A Rancher’s Reward by J. Margot Critch

  is part of the Heirs of Hardwell Ranch series.

  Dear Reader,

  Who doesn’t love a cowboy?

  I don’t have any actual cowboys in my life, but ever since I saw a dance routine performed by Las Vegas’s Thunder from Down Under (“Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy,” indeed), I’ve been enamored with the rugged masculinity of the handsome rancher.

  If you enjoy this novel, you’ll be pleased to know there are more sassy heroines and sexy heroes in my Harlequin Blaze and Harlequin Dare books. And while I miss those lines, I am so excited for the opportunity to flex my skills writing for Harlequin Desire. I’m still in shock that I get to write stories in this line, alongside such an incredible roster of authors.

  When my editor, Johanna, told me that Harlequin Desire was looking for rancher stories, I was thrilled to create the Hardwells, the elegant, but rustic, ranchers set in the fictional world of Applewood, Texas. I hope you enjoy A Rancher’s Reward, as well as the rest of the upcoming books in the series.

  If you’d like to connect, come find me on Twitter @jmargotcritch. I typically tweet about books, my cats (Hi, Chibs & Otis!), Bravo shows and Jimmy Buffett.

  J. Margot Critch

  J. Margot Critch

  A Rancher’s Reward

  J. Margot Critch currently lives in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, with her husband, Brian, and their little fur buddies. A self-professed Parrothead, when she isn’t writing, she spends her time listening to Jimmy Buffett and contemplating tropical locales.

  Books by J. Margot Critch

  Harlequin Desire

  A Rancher’s Reward

  Harlequin Dare

  Sin City Brotherhood

  Boardroom Sins

  Sins of the Flesh

  Sweet as Sin

  Forbidden Sins

  A Sinful Little Christmas

  Visit her Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.

  You can also find J. Margot Critch on Facebook, along with other Harlequin Desire authors, at Facebook.com/HarlequinDesireAuthors!

  For Johanna,

  You’ve been by my side since the

  absolute beginning, and I couldn’t imagine

  writing this book without you. Your guidance

  over these years has been invaluable,

  and I’m so blessed that you’re still with me.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Excerpt from Second Chance Vows by Jules Bennett

  One

  In heels that were a little too high and pinched her toes a little too much, Willa Statler made her way through the crowded party. She walked past joyous partygoers, dodging those who wildly gestured with their hands and full glasses, weaving elegantly between huddled groups who joked and laughed loudly. None of them paid her any mind. Willa was the event coordinator, and she should be invisible unless there was a crisis of some sort.

  Her eyes homed in on an abandoned half-filled glass of red wine that sat perilously close to the edge of a table. Without breaking her stride, Willa reached out and picked up the glass, avoiding a potential disaster. To her left, she noticed a pillar candle in the mantel centerpiece had extinguished. With her free hand, she reached into the small purse that hung over her shoulder, that managed to hold everything she would need for an emergency, should one arise—her cell phone, a pen, bobby pins, stain remover and, in this case, a book of matches. Making herself small in the crowd, she wove her way to the mantel and relit the candle.

  Gliding effortlessly through the partiers, Willa made her way to the outer edges of the crowd, to quickly deposit the offending wineglass on the bar, and kept her eyes peeled for any other small details or potential catastrophes to attend to. She sought out Elias Hardwell and Cathy—the soon-to-be Mrs. Hardwell—to make sure they were both still happily enjoying their engagement party. It pleased her to see that they were holding court near the open French doors that led to the patio. They looked happy, but not just that—they were happy. If Willa were to pat herself on the back, she’d tell herself that it was a great party for a fabulous couple. Most of the guests were talking, laughing. The drinks were flowing; the food and service were great; the decorations, on point; the happy couple looked just that—all the hallmarks of a good time. Willa had done a bang-up job on this one.

  And while that should have been enough to make her happy, it wasn’t. In the two years she’d been working as an event coordinator, she’d become one of the best, most sought-after wedding professionals in High Pine, Texas, the larger town that was close to rural Applewood, where she’d grown up, and which, despite its small size, still managed to be one of the richest towns per capita in the state of Texas. Despite what had happened two years ago at her own wedding—and her self-imposed exile from her hometown—that demand had bled into Applewood’s social circles. As good as she was at her job, pulling off the perfect wedding day for a happy couple wasn’t her passion. It was just her job. It wasn’t her choice that her boss assigned her every wedding that was booked at the event-planning company where she worked. She was good at it—one of the best—but she didn’t have to like it.

  She looked at Cathy and Elias again, taking in their loving glances and the way they touched. From talking to the couple, she knew that they were madly in love with each other. They were both moving on to their second marriages—Cathy, a divorcée; and Elias, a widower. She hoped they would remain as happy as they were tonight. But realistically, Willa thought with a sigh, statistically, around 40 to 50 percent of marriages ended in divorce. She’d seen it happen. Since she’d started as an event and wedding coordinator, that statistic held true among the couples she’d worked with. She’d seen the joy of a wedding day twist and harden into something ugly. Sometimes it took a year, sometimes longer, sometimes... She blinked away the image of Thomas’s anger-reddened face and the shocked murmurs of the congregation, as she took a step back from him at the altar, almost tripping on her long train before hiking it up and running back up the aisle as if she had a bus to catch... Sometimes it took only five minutes after “Canon in D” to realize that the pers
on you’d agreed to marry wasn’t the one you should be with.

  Shaking her head, Willa forced herself back to reality. She’d been hired to focus on Elias and Cathy and make sure that they had an unforgettable night at their engagement party. It was her job to stay focused on making sure every detail was perfect.

  A deep laugh filled the room and drifted over the voices of everyone else and, whipping her head around to find the source, she saw Garrett Hardwell, chatting and laughing with a group. Elias’s grandson looked good, and he commanded attention everywhere he went. With his light brown hair combed back and missing his signature Stetson—it was a formal indoor event, after all—he was wearing an extremely well-tailored gray suit, no tie, his white shirt open to reveal a tanned throat. Not that she was staring, of course. It was her job to notice details. Details like how humor caused his eyes to glitter in the room’s low light, how his soft, full lips turned upward in a charismatic smile, how the cords of his neck were taut as he said something that made the rest of the group erupt into laughter. For a moment, she imagined skimming her lips over all of him... Just one more time.

  “Well, look at the wedding-planner extraordinaire,” Willa heard her brother, Dylan, say from behind her, jarring her from those thoughts. “Great party, Will.”

  She turned quickly so Dylan wouldn’t catch her staring at his best friend. “Thanks.” She tried to push past the fog of lust that Garrett had caused in her head and tried to focus on the event—an engagement party, a joyous occasion, one to celebrate two people finding each other in a chaotic world and making a commitment to stand by one another, no matter how impossible that idea seemed sometimes. “Everything seems to be going well.”

  “Because they have the best wedding planner in Applewood on it.”

  Willa smiled at her brother. No matter what she did, no matter what people said, Dylan always had her back. He always protected her. He was her biggest fan. “Yeah, of all of the wedding planners in Applewood.” More accurately, she worked out of High Pine—the next town over. “But it’s nice of you to say.”

  “It’s true. Elias and Cathy wouldn’t have hired you if you weren’t the best,” he said, giving her shoulder a squeeze. “I just got here. Have you seen Garrett?”

  She blinked rapidly at his question. Of course she’d seen him. Every time she was in the same room as Garrett—which hadn’t been often in the past ten years—her eyes would instantly gravitate to the man. She raised her hand and casually gestured in his direction, trying her best to seem indifferent to him. “Yeah, he’s over there.”

  As if he knew they were talking about him, Garrett looked over and waved. Dylan waved back but didn’t have a chance to join his friend, because, just then, the sound of a metal utensil hitting a fine crystal glass filled the room. After so many weddings, the sound grated up Willa’s spine, but she smiled and turned in the direction of the noise and saw it was Elias. She was caught off guard. Elias had told her of his intention to say his thank-yous at the end of the night. Were he and Cathy leaving early? She hated when people altered their plans, but rolling with changes was one of her specialties. She headed in Elias’s direction in case he needed anything during his impromptu speech.

  With her head on a swivel, keeping an eye out for any potential problems, she hadn’t been watching where she was going, and with her shoulder, she brushed against a firm arm. “I’m sorry about that,” she said before she had a chance to look up at whom the arm belonged to. When she did, her breath almost caught in her throat. It was Garrett. The spot on her upper arm that had brushed him still felt like it radiated heat.

  “It’s quite all right, darlin’,” he said with an amused drawl.

  It looked like he had something else to say, but she quickly moved on. She had a party to keep on track; she couldn’t spend her night chatting up one of the guests—no matter how sexy he was. No matter the history between them.

  The din of lively partygoers quieted as Elias raised his hand and drew Cathy closer. “We would like to thank you all for coming tonight. But before the night goes on too long, I—we—have an announcement to make.” There was a murmur of surprise. What sort of additional announcement could the elder Hardwell have to make at his engagement party?

  “While you’re all here, I would like to take this opportunity to officially announce my retirement.” There was a collective gasp from the audience, and Willa whipped her head in Garrett’s direction. As Elias Hardwell’s grandson and right-hand man, Garrett seemed just as surprised as everyone else by the announcement. “I’ve worked my entire adult life with our dedicated team of ranchers to make Hardwell Ranch the success that it is. I’m an old man now,” he said to a chorus of well-meaning deniers. “You’re all too kind. It’s time to pass the work on to the next generation. Cathy and I will be moving to Arizona. It’s time for a change. I will be stepping away from the ranch and the business. I trust I’ll be leaving it in good hands.”

  She looked at Garrett again, and he grinned, and she wondered what was going on in his mind. As Elias’s second-in-command at Hardwell Ranch, he was no doubt in line to accept his rightful place of leading it. But with the surprise of Elias announcing his retirement and upcoming move, Willa could feel every bit of air being sucked out of the room. Her flawlessly planned party was quickly becoming a disaster. She knew from experience that family gatherings were normally wrought with underlying tension, and sometimes major announcements like a retirement—especially when there was a fortune involved—could cause an uproar. She thought about starting the music up again to keep the party going, but she knew that a man like Elias Hardwell would not take kindly to being cut off; so Willa clenched her fists and prayed that the speech would end soon without any further drama.

  * * *

  Retirement. That word had gotten Garrett’s attention. He had never expected that from his grandfather. Even though Elias was getting on in age and had worked hard to build the ranch to the successful, formidable business it was, Garrett had always imagined the old man sticking around until his dying day. Meeting Cathy had changed that, and he couldn’t fault Elias one bit. The loss of his first wife, Garrett’s grandmother, had deeply affected them all. Their matriarch had never been forgotten, but tonight his entire family had congregated to wish Elias and Cathy a happy engagement.

  He’d been enjoying the party that Willa Statler had put together. It had been fun, a chance to catch up with his family, his brothers and all the cousins who had spread throughout the country. But with his grandfather’s announcement, Garrett’s mind began to race—he didn’t like surprises. With his grandfather stepping down, what did that mean for Hardwell Ranch? He’d never had the succession conversation with his grandfather. He didn’t think he would sell Hardwell Ranch; but based on his words, did he mean that it would go to his father and aunts and uncles, all of whom had their own careers away from the ranch and were nearing retirement? Was Elias about to announce that he was leaving the business to him? Garrett smiled. He was the only practical replacement. He’d worked the ranch, under Elias’s watchful eye, since he was a teenager.

  Garrett looked back at his grandfather, who raised a hand, quieting the crowd once more. What else could the old man have to say? “Furthermore,” Elias continued, “while I will always be a part of Hardwell Ranch, I don’t need to profit from it any longer. You all know that I have enough. So that’s why I’ll be leaving Hardwell Ranch and all of its assets in the capable hands of my grandchildren.”

  Grandchildren? Garrett had been expecting to hear his name only, so it surprised him to hear the others included. He looked around the room. His brothers and cousins all wore the same shocked expressions. There were more than a dozen of them, but he was the only one who actually worked on the ranch. He had been Elias’s right-hand man for almost twenty years. Was everyone now entitled to an ownership stake in the ranch he’d personally helped build to prosperity? It wasn’t about the money, of course, bu
t he didn’t exactly want to be put in a position of working for any of them. He watched his grandfather, hoping to catch the old man’s eyes so they could have a word in private, but he was clearly enjoying captivating the crowd and dropping these bombs.

  “To be entitled to their shares,” Elias continued, “each of my beloved grandchildren will have to return to the ranch and work for a period of six months, to work the land and show that they deserve to profit from its operation.”

  Shocked gasps rang out in the room. But Garrett stood, immobile, watching as his grandfather sought him out in the crowd. He raised his glass in his direction, and Garrett maintained eye contact with him. “And to you, Garrett. You’ve been my partner and next in command in this business for years, so you’re entitled to the controlling share of it... You will solely be awarded fifty-one percent of the ranch—”

  “So what? I just have to work here like everyone else? No problem. I’ve been doing this since I was fourteen.”

  Elias chuckled, as if humoring him, and Garrett knew he would pay dearly for that interruption. But he had no idea how much it would cost him. “It’s a little more than that, I’m afraid. You get a controlling fifty-one percent, but only if you settle down—” Garrett was taken aback; he didn’t like the direction this was heading “—fall in love...” His grandfather paused for effect. “And get married.”

  The room fell silent. Well, maybe it wasn’t silent; maybe Garrett just couldn’t hear anything else but the blood rushing past his ears or his heart pounding in his chest. He took a drink to quench his now-parched throat. But instead of swallowing it, he gave a surprised cough and almost choked on his champagne. Amused partygoers turned their eyes in his direction, but he managed to maintain his outward composure and swallow roughly past the lump in his throat, even though the fine liquid turned to glass on its way down. Every pair of eyes that looked back at him was rounded; mouths upturned in amused grins. He turned his attention back to his grandfather. “What did you just say?” he asked, his voice hoarse.