Home on the Ranch: Honorable Texas Cowboy Read online

  This cowboy is double trouble!

  Rancher Diego McNeal thought his crush on beautiful, fiery Kate Andrews was under control. Not only does she work on his family’s ranch, she’s also engaged to his identical twin brother. Off-limits. But when a case of mistaken identity leads to a breathtaking kiss, Diego knows he just crossed the line...

  Kate knows that Diego will always protect his twin. But after The Kiss, it’s clear that Diego is the only guy she could imagine spending her life with. Now she must decide if she has the courage to follow her heart. Because being with Diego won’t just break his cowboy’s code of honor…it could tear the close-knit McNeal family apart.

  “You shouldn’t be here...”

  Diego’s heart plummeted as he realized Kate’s mistake.

  “I’m not Jose,” he finally managed to get out.

  The smile dropped from Kate’s lips. She looked as shocked as he felt. “Diego?”

  Diego nodded. She covered her face with her hands. “Oh, my God, you’re Diego,” she groaned.

  “I’m so sorry,” he blurted out in a rush. “I thought this room was empty and—”

  And never expected to find myself kissing the woman of my dreams, he finished in his thoughts.

  Kate shook her head, still not looking at him. “It’s

  not your fault. I just assumed...”

  “I’m going to go,” he mumbled, not sure what else there was to say.

  His attraction to Kate before was nothing compared to his feelings now that he’d kissed her, held her in his arms, and he let out a deep sigh.

  He was sure it had been an innocent mistake, but her innocent mistake had just stuck him into a whole heap of trouble.

  Dear Reader,

  This book was a joy to write, even if it sometimes felt like a juggling act to get time to work with both a toddler and a newborn in my life. Time to write occasionally felt like a punishment when all I wanted was sleep, but often it felt like a safe haven away from the chaos that is little kids. Even when it was difficult to find the chance to get words on the page, though, I knew Diego’s story needed to be told, and I was so excited to watch it unfold.

  What surprised me, though, was how much I came to like Jose as I wrote. In some ways he’s a difficult person to love, but he’s also wonderful in his own way. I would love to be the jokester in people’s lives, and I don’t think I’m alone in that wish. So I was looking forward to his story as much as I was Diego’s.

  The McNeals are a caring, loving family, and I’ve enjoyed writing about them. I’m sorry to say goodbye to them, but I’m so happy that they all got their happy endings before I did. I hope their stories speak to you and remind you what’s really important in life.

  Happy reading!

  Ali

  Home on the Ranch:

  Honorable Texas Cowboy

  Ali Olson

  Ali Olson is a longtime resident of Las Vegas, Nevada, where she has been teaching English at the high school and college level for the past seven years. Ali has found a passion for writing sexy romance novels, both contemporary and historical, and is enthusiastic about her newly discovered career. She loves reading, writing and traveling with her husband and constant companion, Joe. She appreciates hearing from readers. Write to her at authoraliolson.com.

  Books by Ali Olson

  Harlequin Western Romance

  Spring Valley, Texas

  The Bull Rider’s Twin Trouble

  The Cowboy’s Surprise Baby

  Harlequin Blaze

  Her Sexy Vegas Cowboy

  Her Sexy Texas Cowboy

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

  Join Harlequin My Rewards today and earn a FREE ebook!

  Click here to Join Harlequin My Rewards

  http://www.harlequin.com/myrewards.html?mt=loyalty&cmpid=EBOOBPBPA201602010002

  For little Cassian.

  I’m grateful every day to have you in my life.

  Thank you for every smile, every kiss and every laugh you’ve given me since you came into this world.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from Her Favorite Maverick by Christine Rimmer

  Chapter 1

  Diego McNeal’s headlights washed over the old farmhouse where he’d grown up, bathing it in bright light for a few seconds before he turned off the engine and everything faded into darkness. Everything but the small light over the door, which Ma had left on for him, as she always did for her children when they would be coming home late.

  And boy, was it late. Diego’s eyes stung. He stretched his back and rolled his neck, trying to rid himself of the perpetual ache that had lodged there over the past few months. Even though he was only twenty-seven, sitting at a desk and dealing with the stress of running a business made him feel twice that.

  He’d stayed in the city, working in the little hole he and his twin brother called an office until past midnight, trying desperately to figure out how their struggling rodeo stock company could actually make enough to keep them in the black. It wasn’t an easy task by any stretch of the imagination.

  He didn’t want to admit that he’d also planned his arrival at the ranch long after everyone had gone to bed so he wouldn’t need to spend the evening awkwardly avoiding any situation where he might find himself forced to make small talk with someone.

  There was one particular someone he’d managed to mostly steer clear of for months. He wasn’t sure this time he would be so lucky.

  Diego tried to push thoughts of Kate out of his head. He was home for the Fourth of July because Ma and Pop wanted all their children together, and he had to admit he’d been absent enough over the past six months to feel guilty about it. A few hours here and there, but that was it; now he was going to be there for days. His parents were ecstatic. They couldn’t understand why keeping a business afloat meant that he needed to disappear from their lives.

  He’d never mentioned to them that he was completely infatuated with Kate Andrews, the beautiful, intelligent, fiery woman they’d hired to run the ranch’s riding school. The woman he had immediately been drawn to the first time he’d seen her, and hadn’t been able to get out of his mind since.

  The woman who also happened to be dating Jose, his twin brother.

  Diego took a deep breath. He’d just avoid her as much as possible, pretend like he didn’t worship the ground she walked on, spend some time with his family, and then get back to his office, where a desk full of paperwork waited for him. He could do that, right?

  He would simply have to. There was no other solution.

  He stepped out of his truck and breathed in the dusty heat of a Texas summer. Even this late at night, the warmth wafted from the ground that had baked all day in the July sun.

  It was long past time to go to bed, and Diego looked forward to sleeping in late the next morning, staying out of Kate and Jose’s way, and eating too much barbecue with his friends and family. If he played things right, he wouldn’t even need to talk to her, which was best for everyone, really.

  Diego crept into the house, trying to be as quiet as possible. The moment he stepped inside, though, it was app
arent he wasn’t the only one up at this late hour: the doorway to the kitchen glowed a warm yellow, and he could hear the quiet scrape of a ceramic dish on wood. Diego smiled to himself. There was no question in his mind whom he would find when he walked into the cozy light, and it was someone he very much wanted to see.

  “Hi, Ma,” he said to the gray-haired woman standing beside the kitchen table as he stepped into the bright kitchen. She had evidently just finished setting a steaming plate of chicken and mashed potatoes at his usual seat, and she straightened up with a grin.

  “There you are, dear!” she said in a hushed tone as she hurried over to hug her son.

  Diego embraced her, feeling some of his weariness fall away. Even though he and Jose were adopted, Ma had always been the most devoted and doting of mothers one could ever hope for—far better than their biological mother, a lesson they’d learned the hard way years before. Ever since that disappointing reunion, Diego made sure Ma knew just how wonderful he thought she was.

  She squeezed him tight before ushering him toward the meal. “You must be hungry. And exhausted. You’ve been working yourself too hard, Diego. I expected you hours ago,” she told him.

  “You didn’t need to wait up for me,” he insisted, but she dismissed his words with a wave of her hand.

  “I’ve had plenty to do preparing for tomorrow. I’ve never had so many people over for a holiday before, and if I didn’t do some of the work now, I’d be running around like a chicken with its head cut off all day tomorrow.”

  The wrinkles around her eyes creased as she smiled at the prospect. With her two older children settled down so recently, and both of them living back in Spring Valley to boot, Ma was just about over-the-moon with happiness. She’d invited half the town over for the holiday festivities, and he’d bet that was just so she could show off her abundance of family.

  Diego thought about his brother Brock, married, living next door, and now the father of young twin boys; and his sister, Amy, so pregnant she was about to burst and living just a few miles away with her new husband. And, of course, Jose was with Kate, a woman his parents absolutely adored.

  How Ma managed to keep from floating right off the ground was anybody’s guess.

  Diego felt a twinge of jealousy, but he tried to stifle it. He was happy for his siblings, there was no doubt about that. He just wished—

  “Eat up and then get to bed, dear. Brock said they’d all be here bright and early for breakfast,” Ma said as she placed a hand on his shoulder, breaking him out of his thoughts. “Oh, and you should sleep in Amy’s old room tonight and let Jose alone. You know how he hates getting woken up.”

  Diego wondered if Ma was purposely naive in assuming Jose hadn’t snuck into Brock’s old room, where Kate slept, but he said nothing. He just picked up his fork dutifully and started to eat. The food was rich and delicious, as anything with that much fat and butter had to be, but it was still hard to swallow with that thought in his mind. While he worked his way through the mound of calories, Ma sat down across from him. “Speaking of Jose, you haven’t talked to him about leaving the business yet,” she said.

  It wasn’t a question, more of a prompt. Diego swallowed his mouthful. “I can’t ditch him,” he told her, keeping his eyes on his plate. Ma just raised an eyebrow at him. “We’d be flat broke if I left now. Besides, it’s the summer. This is our busiest time. Jose needs me. It’s not that bad, really.”

  He didn’t need to hear her thoughts to know she considered everything he said a load of excuses. Maybe she was right, but it didn’t change the fact that Diego would stick with the rodeo stock business, arranging deals between ranchers and rodeo organizers from behind a desk in a tiny office that made him feel claustrophobic, until Jose got bored of it. Just like Diego did with each one of Jose’s ventures. Ma shook her head a little. “I love you and Jose both dearly, Diego, but you can’t always protect your brother. I know you wouldn’t be broke in the first place if he hadn’t sunk so much money into that fool plot he thought was a ‘sure thing.’ And I know you’re working yourself to the bone on a business you don’t enjoy. It ain’t right, son.”

  Diego shrugged. He knew all this. “But it’s Jose,” he said, so much meaning in those few words.

  Ma nodded as if this made sense to her, though Diego knew she didn’t really know the half of it. Jose and Diego were identical twins, brothers and friends from birth. Diego knew that Ma didn’t understand his stubborn faithfulness to Jose and his many schemes. She didn’t know about the search for their real parents or the promise Diego made the day they’d met them all those years ago. She didn’t know about the times Jose had saved his life. He owed his brother so much.

  Diego would do anything for his brother and would never hurt him if he could help it. They were a team for life.

  As difficult as it was to constantly pick up the pieces while Jose bounded through life in his carefree way, Diego couldn’t imagine leaving his brother to fend for himself. Diego had always been the responsible one, and Jose needed him.

  Ma said nothing more on the subject. She just stood and gave Diego a kiss on his cheek as she picked up his plate. “You get to bed now,” she said.

  Diego stood up with a weary groan and left the bright kitchen. His eyes slowly adjusted to the shadowy darkness as he pulled himself up the stairs, feeling like every bit of energy had been drained from him. He’d been on edge for so long, and now that he knew he wouldn’t be seeing Kate until the next morning, he was left feeling exhausted and, though he hated to admit it, a little disappointed.

  He put his hand to the doorknob of the room he’d shared with his twin since infancy, then thought about what Ma had said. She was right, Jose hated getting woken up. And if he was in Kate’s room, well, Diego didn’t want to see the empty bunk and know it for sure.

  So Diego walked farther down the hall to Amy’s room. Her bed was a little short for Diego’s long frame, but it would do. He slipped into the dark space, dropping his clothes in a puddle on the floor. He didn’t bother to turn on the light. He was too tired to do more than strip to his boxers and climb into bed, his mind fogging over with drowsiness before his head even hit the pillow.

  * * *

  After a long, deep, dark sleep, Diego found himself experiencing a spectacular dream like none he’d ever had before. In it, he was experiencing a mind-blowing kiss that set everything about him on fire. He could feel the soft, supple lips of the woman pressing against his as he moved his hands through her silky hair and down along her neck and shoulders. He hoped it would be a long time before he awoke and she disappeared.

  It took him several seconds to realize he was already awake, not in a dream at all, and that the lips and hair were connected to a real, actual person.

  He bolted upright and turned on the light, then stared dumbstruck at the woman lying in bed beside him with full, just-been-kissed lips. He knew that deep red hair, those freckles dotting her nose in a way that somehow made her both look feisty and irresistibly sexy.

  It was Kate. He had been kissing Kate. His mind couldn’t wrap around what had just happened.

  She was breathing hard, her face flushed, her lips turned up at the corners into a smile that made it clear she’d enjoyed the kiss as much as he had. Her hazel eyes stared unabashedly up into Diego’s brown ones, and he found himself unable to pull his gaze away from hers. Diego’s heart hammered away inside his chest.

  “Am I asleep?” he asked aloud, trying to come up with any other possible explanation for the situation before him. None of this made any sense.

  Her smile widened into a full grin that only made his heart beat harder. “You seem pretty awake to me,” she said breathlessly, brushing back her mussed hair. “That was...wow.”

  Diego felt hope bloom in his chest, despite everything. Did she have feelings for him, too?

  Kate sat up and looked toward the door. The bed sheets slipp
ed to her waist, revealing a tight white pajama top that left far too little to the imagination. “You shouldn’t be here, Jose,” she whispered.

  Diego’s heart plummeted as he realized her mistake.

  Kate shook her head in admonishment. “I gave up my room so you could stretch out, not so you could sneak in here in the middle of the night. You know how I feel about behaving appropriately in your parents’ house.”

  The reality of the situation wasn’t pretty, and it took Diego another few seconds to find his voice. “I’m not Jose,” he finally managed to get out.

  The smile dropped from Kate’s lips and her eyes opened wide. She looked as shocked as he felt. “Diego?” she asked quietly.

  Damn. He didn’t know what he expected, but her reaction still hit him in the gut.

  Diego nodded. Kate, Jose’s girlfriend, covered her face with her hands. “Oh, my God, you’re Diego,” she groaned.

  Her extreme embarrassment broke Diego out of his frozen state of shock. “I’m so sorry,” he blurted out in a rush. “I thought this room was empty and—”

  And I never expected to find myself kissing the woman of my dreams, he finished in his thoughts.

  Kate shook her head, still not looking at him. “It’s not your fault. I just assumed...”

  She trailed off, but Kate didn’t need to say what she had assumed. Everything seemed very clear to Diego. She assumed her boyfriend had snuck in to spend the night with her. Her boyfriend, who happened to also be Diego’s identical twin brother.

  “I’m going to go,” he mumbled, not sure what else there was to say.

  Before she could respond, he grabbed his clothes from the floor and rushed out, not looking at her again. Once he was safely in the hallway, though, Diego stopped and leaned against the closed door, allowing himself a few deep breaths. They did no good. His heart was still pounding like he’d run a marathon instead of dashed out of a tiny bedroom.