Surrender to Temptation by Ednah Walters Page A

Sonoma most weekends, and she has a full stable. But we also came up here in the summer to visit Aunt Siobhán. Her home is not far from here. She’s the one who told me about Flathead Ranch when it came on the market. Her son, Dean, wanted to buy it, but he wasn’t interested in the entire three-thousand acres, so we split it fifty-fifty, dropped the name Flathead and renamed our lands.”
    Nikki’s jaw dropped. “Three thousand? Hundreds of families decided to leave Big Sky Country all at once?”
    Chase chuckled. “It’s not really that big. A third of it is timberland and creeks. And no, not ten families. One family owned it for over a hundred years.”
    “No way. And now it belongs to the Fitzgeralds,” Nikki said.
    This time, he laughed. “Dean is a Mondale, not a Fitzgerald. His place is west of here and includes the original homestead. I’ll show you around,” he added. “I know the perfect vantage point if you want to see the entire ranch.”
    Please, don’t mention a horseback ride. “Is it a walking or driving distance from the house?” Nikki asked slowly, trying not to show her reluctance.
    Chase shot her a weird look. “Riding distance. Do you ride?”
    Nikki grimaced. She had grown up in a small town in Texas and ridden a bit. Maybe she’d ridden the wrong horses or her gangly body had made it weird for her and the horses because she’d never felt comfortable riding. For whatever reason, horses often acted like she was the devil incarnate. One had bitten her, and another had bucked her and nearly broken her neck. The bucking had been the last straw. She now preferred to keep her distance.
    “Nikki?”
    She glanced at Chase and made a face. “I can ride, but don’t like it. Horses don’t like me very much.”
    He chuckled. “Mine will. Tomorrow, you’re riding with me.”

    ***

    As soon as his guest disappeared upstairs, Chase placed a call. It was picked after the first ring. “You sent me a nurse? After I told you my eyes were practically healed?”
    “Somehow I knew you’d call,” Lex said in an amused voice.
    Lex had a habit of ignoring things Chase found irritating. He cradled the phone on his shoulder and stretched his legs under the desk. “Is she here as a nurse or a web designer?”
    “Web designer. You can thank us later after she’s straightened out your messed-up records. I heard she chewed the big guy’s ear off. I would’ve loved to have heard that.”
    “You should have been there because you deserved worse,” Chase growled. “You’re supposed to have my back.”
    “I have your back. That’s why we sent Ms. Savoy. Isn’t she something? When Uncle Mo told us about her, we were a little skeptical. Then we met her. You could say she impressed the hell out of everyone. You should think of asking her to upgrade the website for The Haven. The renovations are coming along well. Maybe your customers would like to be kept in the loop. A dynamic website with some kind of feedback from you might be great PR before you reopen.”
    Chase pinched the bridge of his nose. Arguing with Lex was hard. His brother, like everyone else in the family, refused to believe he was done with the restaurant business. He hadn’t told them of his plans to relocate to Montana before the accident, so they assumed he was in hiding because of his eyes.
    “We’ll see,” Chase said, not wanting to repeat what he’d told Nikki earlier—he was now a horse breeder. “I want to see what she can do with the ranch first.”
    “Well, be nice to her. She promised to upgrade the Fitz-Valdez website when she’s done with yours. What do you think of her?”
    Chase made a face. He’d never discussed women with Lex and wasn’t about to start now. With Baron, his twin, yes. Heck, the two of them had even gone after the same woman after a wager. Lex was… Lex. The big brother he and Baron had depended on when they were in trouble or wanted something from their uncles.
    “She’s okay,” Chase