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yards from where horses grazed in open pasture.
    She pulled off the highway and onto the long gravel drive leading to the first stable building at the Four C. A few trucks stood outside, and she parked her father's SUV nearby.
    "Well, if it isn't little Nicky!"
    Nicole smiled at the greeting as Caleb, one of the old ranch workers came out of the barn wiping his hands on a rag. He looked the same as he had the last time she'd seen him, with a craggy, wind-burned, tanned face, long gray hair tied in a ponytail with a dirty strip of leather, faded jeans and scuffed brown leather cowboy boots. "It's good to see you, Caleb. Are you still the only one who knows what he's doing around here?"
    The ranch-hand picked her up by the waist and gave her a hug so hard it squeezed the breath out of her. "Darn right. Though, young Wyatt has learned a thing or two. Billy, come out here and see who it is."
    Another man came out of the barn, and Nicole also recognized him from her teenage years. "I'm glad to see some things are still the same around here. I almost didn't recognize the place with all these new buildings," Nicole said as she grabbed her father's suitcase full of medical equipment out of the back of his SUV. She glanced ruefully down at her sleeveless blue chambray top, now stained with grease...or worse...from Caleb's enthusiastic greeting. Then she grinned. So what if she'd made a trip to the mall in Ocala to buy work clothes? The shirt, khaki shorts and work boots would soon be stained beyond recognition anyway. Besides, a little grease would loosen up the new material which felt stiff and scratchy against her skin.
    "We sure are sorry about your pa being sick," Caleb said as he fell into step beside her. "But what a treat that it finally brought you home."
    "It's good to see you, too. Is Wyatt around?"
    Billy jerked a thumb over his shoulder, gesturing toward the stables. "He's in there, but you might want to wait a bit. He's not exactly in a great mood right now."
    "Is he ever?" Nicole muttered as she walked past the men into the stable.
    The building was huge, immaculate and state of the art. It was every bit as fine as the facilities at her mother's estate in Maryland. Nicole glanced into stalls as she walked past them, pausing to appreciate the exceptionally fine horseflesh she saw in each and every one.
    As she neared the back of the stables, she heard men's voices raised in anger. "Dammit Brady, we don't need any more stock right now and you are not going to that auction in London. If you want to take a trip to Europe, go ahead. But don't say it's work related because I'm not paying for your vacation!"
    Nicole rounded a corner and saw doors leading to an inner office. Inside, Wyatt stood toe to toe with his blond-haired cousin. She easily recognized Brady and wasn't a bit surprised to see the other man was just as breezily handsome as ever. He didn't seem to have his usual calm composure, however. Now his face was red and blotchy; his hands clenched like he wanted to strike out at someone. Namely Wyatt.
    "One day you'll push too far,” Brady said. “I've let you get away with playing boss until now, because you seem to know what you're doing. But one of these days I'm going to start pushing back."
    "Hello, boys. Still playing nicely I see?"
    Audibly sighing, Wyatt turned away from his annoying cousin and looked at her. "You're late."
    "I'm not," she shot back. "I was here five minutes ago, you were just too busy shouting to notice."
    She sauntered closer, and Wyatt couldn't help appreciating how good she looked in the casual clothes. Without the pricey suits and silky blouses, wearing rugged shorts and boots, she looked more like the girl he remembered. And he again wondered if he'd made a big mistake in agreeing to let her come out to the ranch.
    "Well, well, if it isn't Nicole Ross."
    Wyatt heard the insinuating tone in his cousin's voice. Brady walked away from him, as if they hadn't been in the middle of a heated