As though watching a train wreck, a horrible one, with people screaming, Lindsay sat there, listening. Cole’s hand touched her. And then, something wet.

  A nose?

  Looking down, she saw Lillie. And the doggy door not far from Brent. Of course, whenever Cole left town, Lillie stayed with the Wilsons.

  The fact was an easy one to focus on. Truth.

  Lillie’s face would never lie to her.

  She looked at the dog, petting her, as Brent continued. “The Warren-Smythes knew that I wasn’t a dealer. They talked to the sheriff, the prosecutor, and I was told that all charges against me would be dropped if I left town and never attempted to contact them or your mother again. If I tried to reach out to her, I’d be going straight to jail. They swore she was going into rehab, and then on to college.”

  The man’s voice drifted off. She heard it go. Appreciated the silence.

  Until it started to hurt too much. Lindsay looked up. Met the brown-eyed gaze with the lighter ring around the outside. And couldn’t let go.

  “I took the deal, Lindsay, but I swear to God, I didn’t know you were alive. I would never, ever, ever have left if I knew you were alive.”

  Lindsay didn’t believe in many things she couldn’t see, as fact, on paper.

  But in that moment, she believed her father.

  And quietly told him so.

  * * *

  Cole should have felt superfluous over the next hour as Lindsay and Brent, father and daughter, talked. About hard things. And easier ones.

  Brent wanted Lindsay to listen to her artist’s soul, to pursue the talent her mother had given her. Lindsay, like her mother, felt obligated to her grandparents.

  And Cole began to see that it hadn’t been only Brent Wilson keeping him and Lindsay apart. She was a Warren-Smythe, as her mother had been. Raised to standards that were a part of her.

  And not of him.

  Brent asked her to stay in town for the weekend, and she demurred. Saying that she had to get home, had commitments, but left his house with a promise to come back.

  Soon.

  And after climbing down the porch steps to the ground, went back up again to give the man a hug. A long one.

  Hopefully, a healing one.

  “You want to head straight back?” Cole asked, bracing himself as he turned his SUV around and headed down Brent’s driveway. He caught a glimpse of the older man in the rearview mirror, standing alone on his porch, looking somewhat lost and alone, and wondered if the image was a mirror of what his own life would be.

  “You want me to head straight back?” Lindsay asked, staring over at him in a way that confused him.

  Like he was missing something. Too far gone, too emotionally involved, to properly ascertain the entirety of the situation, he gave her the truth. “Hell no. I want you to come home with me and spend the weekend. We’d have to leave Lillie with the Wilsons because if they knew you were staying, they’d want you to come back, and I don’t want you to feel obligated to go back there right away, but...”

  Her grin took his breath—and the rest of whatever else he’d been going to say.

  “Hell no works for me,” she said, and crossed one elegant leg over the other, leaving him in no doubt what she was feeling where.

  * * *

  Lindsay didn’t want any more knowledge. Or spoken truths.

  She needed things that went deeper than understanding. And let Cole know what she hungered for in every physical way she could the second they got inside his house.

  What it all meant, where it could lead, she didn’t know. She wasn’t the maker of the universe. Had no control over fate.

  But she knew how to show the man she loved how very much she needed him.

  They made love without questions. Without promises.

  And then did it again with words of love. Of longing. Of having missed each other.

  Sometime after dark they made it out to his kitchen for sandwiches, and sat out on the porch, in the dark, eating them.

  And Lindsay longed for Lillie. For the dog’s steady presence. Her knowledge and assurance.

  “I’m thinking Lillie is where she needs to be tonight,” she said aloud, as the thought occurred to her. “Brent needs her more than we do right now.”

  The man had his wife. His kids. His whole great life.

  But he’d lost twenty-eight years with his firstborn child.

  Twenty-eight years he’d never get back.

  “I want you to stay.” Cole’s words split open the cocoon they’d been nestling in all day.

  She had a life. Obligations.

  Her grandparents.

  Who’d...with all the best intent...stolen her father from her. And her from him. Stolen him from her mother, too. Along with her mother’s artist’s soul.

  Lindsay could relate to that part with a vengeance. “I need some time.”

  “I was thinking maybe I work from home half the time, you know, the weeks I’m in San Diego, and you do the same, when we’re in Shelter Valley.”

  The idea of it...what a dream!

  But practically speaking... “What about when we have kids? They can’t be split between two states, two schools, two sets of friends...”

  She heard her words and stopped.

  He hadn’t even asked her to marry him and she was birthing babies?

  They’d known each other less than three months.

  “By the time we get pregnant, add nine months until the birth, then another three or four years until we’re thinking about preschool... I’d say that’d give your grandparents enough time to come around. And either move to Shelter Valley, or be willing to visit often...”

  Her heart soared. Of its own accord, the damned thing just took off. “What if I want to live in San Diego?” she asked, just because...she liked teasing him.

  She didn’t need to hear his response. She already knew it. But she listened anyway, as he said, “Then I guess Elite Paper would have to pay for my private jet to and from work, and we’d be doing a lot of visiting our home here on weekends and during the summer.”

  “A private jet, huh?” She was smiling full out.

  “Just think—we could get one with a hot tub and king-size bed and spend the flight time...”

  Lindsay cut off whatever else he was going to say with a kiss so hungry it made her cry. And when he picked her up, with their lips still joined, and carried her to his bed, she didn’t even try to stop the flow of tears.

  “I love you, Cole Bennet,” she said, looking him in the eye as he set her down against his pillows.

  “And I love you, Lindsay...Warren-Smythe, is it?” He grinned at her.

  She laughed out loud.

  And knew, no matter what challenges that came their way—and they could count on them coming—they’d be met with laughter and love.

  Joining her on the bed, Cole held himself up on one elbow, met her gaze and said, “Lindsay, will you ma...”

  With a finger to his lips, she silenced him.

  “Don’t you think we should wait for Lillie to come home before you do that? The girl would be hurt if she didn’t get to give her blessing.”

  His smile lit up her heart. Her whole world.

  And when, instead of proposing, he kissed her, she silently issued the answer to the question he hadn’t yet asked.

  She gave him her love. Her heart. Her always.

  * * *

  You’ll love other books in Tara Taylor Quinn’s Sierra’s Web miniseries:

  His Lost and Found Family

  Reluctant Roommates

  Tracking His Secret Child

  Her Best Friend’s Baby

  Cold Case Sheriff

  The Bounty Hunter’s Baby Search

  On the Run with His Bodyguard

  Their Secret Twins

  Not Without Her Child

  A Firefighter’s Hidden Truth

  Keep reading for an excerpt from Matchmaker on the Ranch by Marie Ferrarella.

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  Matchmaker on the Ranch

  by Marie Ferrarella

  Chapter One

  Yesterday had been one of those extremely long days for Rosemary Robertson. She was affectionately known to her family and friends as “Roe,” as well as the “youngest triplet” to her sisters because she had been the last one of the trio to make her appearance that fateful evening that her widowed mother had given birth.

  Now, exhausted beyond words, Roe had no recollection of even climbing into her bed. One minute she was making her way into her small bedroom, the next minute she had made contact with her pillow.

  She was sound asleep probably before her head had hit her pillow.

  She didn’t even remember lying down. The one thing she knew was that she certainly hadn’t bothered getting undressed. The allure of the double bed had seductively called to her, and the next thing she knew was sleep. It was a good thing that her two dogs, Kingston and Lucy, had stayed on the floor; otherwise, she could have very well flattened one of them, if not both, as her body made contact with the bed.

  But after living with their mistress for a number of years, the Bichon Frisé and the petite German shepherd had developed survival instincts when it came to being around the town’s veterinarian.

  The dogs had also developed certain habits when it came to living with their mistress.

  One of these habits involved waking her up at a certain time in the morning. The way her dogs went about this was to lick her face—vigorously—until she would finally open her eyes and respond to them.

  And that was exactly the way Roe woke up the next morning, having her face bathed by pink tongues, one very small tongue, one rather large tongue, both of which were moving madly along her cheeks. She had fallen asleep on her back, and each dog had picked out a side, anointing her until her eyelashes finally began to flicker and then, at long last, opened.

  Roe groaned, shifting on the bed. She did her best to attempt to wave the dogs away from her face.

  “Oh come on, guys, just give me five more minutes. Please.” She sighed deeply and attempted to wave the dogs away again, but their licking only grew more pronounced and frantic. Roe gave up. “Okay, okay, I’m up, I’m up,” she told the dogs, struggling into an upright position.

  With another deep sigh, Roe scrubbed her hands over her now very damp face, doing her very best to try to pull herself together.

  It was a slow process, but she was getting there.

  Finally fully awake, she looked from one dog to the other. “You know, if you don’t change your tunes, I can always find a nice home for you two. What do you think of that?” she asked, attempting to pin the dogs down with a look.

  The pets apparently weren’t buying it. Kingston, clearly the leader despite his size, began licking her face again and this time, Roe gave up and just laughed at her pets.

  “Okay, okay, I know where this is going. Time for your breakfast,” she told the dogs. “But first you’re going to have to let me get up out of bed.” As if by magic—she had trained the two dogs relentlessly when it came to obedience—Kingston and Lucy retreated from her bed. “That’s better,” she said, praising them.

  Roe swung her legs off the bed, searching around with her toes for her shoes. She usually wore boots all day, then pulled them off the moment she walked in the front door and put on her shoes in their place.

  Finding her shoes, she slipped into them and then stood up.

  “Okay, let’s go see about that breakfast,” she told the dogs.

  Her furry fan club all but hopped around her in a yappy circle, not exactly getting underfoot, but not exactly steering clear of her, either.

  Roe made her way into the kitchen and began preparing two bowls of food for the dogs. The bowls each had boiled chicken thighs, a tablespoon of pureed pumpkin sauce, a sprinkling of cheddar cheese scattered on top and just enough dog food to make it an all-around meal for the pets.

  Once done, she set the bowls down on the floor and watched the dogs go at it as if they had been starved for days instead of fed midday yesterday when her neighbor had come in to leave dishes for her pets that Roe had prepared.

  Roe always got a kick out of the fact that Kingston cleared his bowl much faster than Lucy did, despite their difference in size.

  “No picky eaters here,” Roe declared happily. They had all but cleared their bowls completely in less time than it had taken her to put the meals together. “Well, I hope you enjoyed that because you’re not getting anything more until I get home tonight,” she told them as she filled their water bowls. “With any luck, today won’t be anything like it was yesterday. I hardly got a chance to take two breaths in succession.”

  As she spoke, Kingston cocked his head first one way, then the other. The dog she had found stumbling around town one morning eight years ago had become attached to her almost instantly. He’d had a large, fresh gash in his rear right leg at the time. She initially thought she might have to amputate it because it looked as if a serious infection was swiftly spreading through the injured limb.

  By working diligently and relentlessly, Roe had managed to save his leg and keep the infection from spreading until she was finally able to eradicate it. But it had been touch and go there for a while.

  Initially, she had taken Kingston home to watch over him until he got well. Slowly, eventually, her home became his home.

  Permanently.

  Lucy had turned up on her doorstep a year and a half after that. If she had ever harbored any doubts about her ability to care for animals, Lucy quickly cured her of them. The frightened dog had been easily won over by her. Roe came to the happy conclusion that she had an affinity not just for caring for animals, but for curing them as well.

  She stood for a moment now, just looking at the two dogs that had added so much meaning to her life. Roe could feel her happiness radiating inside of her.

  It took effort to draw herself away the pets, but she managed.

  The rest of the day was waiting for her to get started.

  * * *

  Roe had just gotten out of the shower and hadn’t even had a chance to dry off yet when her cell phone began ringing. She shook her head as, still dripping, she glanced over at the phone she had left on the side of the bathroom sink.

  “Looks like it’s going to be another wonderful, chockful-of-patients day,” Roe murmured to herself.

  Grabbing her bathrobe with one hand, she picked up her phone with the other and put it on speaker. She rested it on the sink as she punched her arms through her bathrobe sleeves. She wanted to at least begin the process of absorbing the dampness from her body, not to mention having something on to cover her.

  “This is Dr. Robertson,” she told the caller. “How can I help you?” Roe asked, leaning over the receiver as she raised her voice to a more audible level.

  “You could try picking up your phone when I call,” the voice on the other end said.

  A lot of people who interacted with them said that not only did the three Robertson sisters look alike, they also sounded alike as well.

  But those who really knew the sisters claimed that they could actually tell their voices apart.

  “I was in the shower, Riley. What’s up?” Roe asked as she quickly toweled her hair dry with one hand. “And although I know I don’t have to tell you this, talk fast. I have an early morning appointment with a rancher.”

  “Hmm. Business or pleasure?” Riley asked. Roe caught the interested note in her sister’s voice, but that could just be because Riley was getting married and she was interested in everyone’s situation.

  Kingston was watching attentively as Roe swiftly finished drying herself off, then stripped off the now-soggy bathrobe.

  “Both,” Roe answered her sister matter-of-factly. “My business always gives me pleasure.”

  “Nice to hear. And how do you feel about weddings?” Riley asked her, deliberately sounding vague.

  Roe closed her eyes as she hit her forehead with the flat of her hand. “Oh God, the rehearsal. I forgot all about the rehearsal,” she cried. She was supposed to be there later today, after her appointment. “I am so sorry.”

  “Well, despite the fact that I have a spare sister I can always turn to, I do forgive you. But only because I am so very magnanimous and kindhearted,” Riley told Roe. “And it’s not like you haven’t been to a wedding before and have no idea what to expect or do,” she added. And then Riley changed her tone as concern entered her voice. “You sound really tired, Roe. Is everything all right on your end?”

  “Honestly?” Roe asked, momentarily at a loss.

  “No, lie to me,” Riley answered cryptically. “Of course, honestly.”

  Roe sighed, thinking of the possible threat that might lay ahead when it came to the cattle ranch she had been to the other day. “I’m not sure yet, but that’s not anything for you to concern yourself about.” She grinned as she made her way into her bedroom, carrying her phone with her. “You have a wedding to plan and nothing else should matter right now.

  “Speaking of which,” Roe said, continuing her train of thought as she opened her closet and took out fresh clothes for the day, debating whether to bring a second set with her to change into later. She decided it wouldn’t hurt to toss them into the trunk, just in case. “Are you sure you want me to be your maid of honor? People might get confused. Especially since you’re going to have Raegan as your matron of honor.”