Falling for the Rancher

Cassie Phillips has never fit the mold her friends and family have tried to squeeze her into. She is a disappointment to those she loves. However, throwing herself into her work as a teacher, and training her rescue horse, Chance, keeps her mostly distracted from feeling like an outsider. But when Chance’s boarding stable burns down, her life takes a turn she never saw coming.

Micah Black is a handsome rancher with a tragic past. Divorced, heart-broken, and reunited with a son so traumatized he doesn’t speak, the last thing on Micah’s mind is romance. He just wants to heal and grasp God’s plan despite all his pain. But when Cassie’s horse ends up boarding at his ranch after the fire, Micah feels drawn to Cassie’s quirky strength in ways he can’t explain.

Can Micah open his heart to trust a woman again? And even if he does, will Cassie drop her guard enough to fall for a rancher who believes in God when she doesn’t?

Each Black Rock Ranch romance is a stand-alone story with its own HEA, but the family saga is best enjoyed in order:

1. Cherished by the Rancher (Adam & Maddy
2. Resisting the Rancher (Caleb & Jo)
3. Romancing the Rancher (Jesse & Sam)
4. Falling for the Rancher (Micah & Cassie)
5. Rescuing the Rancher (Seth & Riley)
6. Building Dreams at the Rancher's Retreat (Tank & Megan)

The turn onto Highway 116 was clearly marked, but Cassie’s truck engine was coughing and chugging, and she was so focused on its lack of energy that she almost missed the turnoff onto Striker.

Three slight curves, up another rise, and the engine gave its final gasp. Great. What else could go wrong? Cassie let the truck coast into a slightly wider spot on the shoulder and prayed that it wouldn’t cause an accident. And that someone would come along who knew something about cars, because she had absolutely no cell signal up here.

She climbed out and lifted the hood. No steam rose in warning.

She poked at any hose she saw, but they all looked intact. She growled at the truck.

What else? She pulled an old napkin out and checked the oil, which was fine. She muttered some words that she didn’t usually use.

She checked one wire, wiggled another connection. Finally, she stood straight. “You’re a piece of trash! You should have gone to the junk yard years ago! My horse is in a strange place miles up the road, and you have the gall to just STOP!” She slammed the hood down and stomped to the edge of the woods.

Not that the trees gave her any peace—she hadn’t been up this way before, and it looked like a good section of forest to get lost in. How long would it take for someone to come along? She checked her phone, rotating it in the air, but still nothing.

Cussing took over, although she kept it mild. She kicked through the dead leaves and pine needles and growled again. The next time she had any money, she needed to look for a newer vehicle.

“Would you like some help?” came a male voice behind her.

Cassie whirled, regretting the noisy outburst that had let someone sneak up on her. Her gaze took in a figure in snug jeans, a checked shirt, and a faded cowboy hat.
She blinked. Twice. Nobody had the right to look that good, especially on a day like this. “Know anything about engines?” she finally asked.

“Some.” He gave a glance to her truck. “What’s it doing?”

Cassie shrugged. “It was fine in Beaver Falls. Then it started making this chugga-chugga sound, and then just sort of died. I was lucky to get it halfway off the road, but someone’s going to come along and hit it.”

The guy lifted the hood. “Try and start her up again.”
If Mr. Handsome wanted to give it a shot, she was happy to oblige.

She climbed back into the cab. The engine wouldn’t catch. She waited for more instructions.

He went back to his truck and returned with a couple of tools.

Cassie cleared her throat. “If it makes a difference, it died in the school parking lot a couple mornings ago but started right up in the afternoon.”

He nodded and ducked his head under the hood again.
She heard tinkering sounds, and he finally called, “Try again.”

It still took two tries, but the engine finally caught and kept going. Cassie sighed in relief.

The hood thunked down, and the cowboy came around to her door. “You’ve got a valve that’s not working, and it’s messing with the vacuum system that lets the fuel pump pump fuel.”

“O-kay.” Not that she really understood what he’d said.

“Yeah, well, I disconnected the purge valve, and it will get you around now. There’s still a vacuum leak, though, and you really ought to get it into a repair shop.”

Her mouth turned down at the thought of a repair bill—this truck had been a beater back when she was sixteen, and no matter her occasional thoughts of replacing it, the truth was that she couldn’t afford to. Still, that was more than her rescuer needed to know. “I can’t thank you enough. I know how to change the oil, but that’s about it.”

He smiled slightly, and her world tilted. She didn’t know if he was a Stetson-wearing mechanic or a rancher with a gift for engines, but that glimmer of a smile! And those eyes. Dark blue, with a bit of a sorrow peeking out. Her heart gave a flip.

She told her pulse to slow down—she could dream about guys like him all she wanted, but he was obviously way out of her league. Not just helpful and handsome, but confident and courteous. More courtesy than she was used to getting. She wondered where the sadness came from, or if she was imagining it.

“Not a problem,” he said, bringing her thoughts back to the present. “Glad I happened by. Drive safe, now.” He tipped his hat and headed back toward his own truck.

“Oh, my,” Cassie whispered, not ready to focus on driving. “He could be my very own knight in shining armor.” She knew he’d be filling her daydreams for the next little bit. She could just see them walking hand in hand, sharing a quiet picnic, riding across the hills together… Dang…riding! Her horse!

“Get it in gear, Cassiopeia,” she told herself. “Time to stop dreaming and go find your horse. The guy’s probably married anyway.”

***

Micah Black glanced over at his son, ruffling his hair, then set his truck humming down the road again. “What do you think, Jake? You like helping a damsel in distress?”

The toddler looked at him, then focused again on the small plastic horse in his hand.

“No comment, huh? Well, I hope she gets home. She’s too pretty to be stuck on the side of the road with who knows who coming along.” And feisty, too, he added to himself, the way she’d been scolding the truck and trees. Just the type of woman he might like to get to know, if he were looking for someone. Which the good Lord knew he wasn’t.

But the woman had been headed up the mountain, not down, and he wondered where she was going. He knew most all the folks up their way, but he hadn’t seen her before.

“I hope she gets it fixed soon,” he told Jake. “And you and I need to get all the things Dad and Uncle Dirt asked for, or we’ll be the ones in trouble. Should we get a soda while we’re in town?”

Jake looked at him solemnly, then nodded.

“Sprite? Or root beer?”

Jake didn’t answer. He never did.