Rescuing the Rancher

Can a one-handed cowboy and an overzealous social worker bridge the gap between their worlds?

Former Sergeant Seth Black, his right hand missing and his ranching dream demolished, has holed up in a remote cabin to avoid his hovering brothers. He agrees to let Tank, an army buddy who’s also an amputee, stay for a while. Tank’s sister unexpectedly comes with him, though, and while she may be gorgeous, she’s as over-helpful as his family.

Social worker Riley Callahan loves helping children and families but got suspended for following an impulse. While she waits for a final decision, she’s making sure her brother takes time to sort out his own problems...and trying not to get involved with the cowboy they’re staying with. But Seth is handsome, hurting, and obviously needs her help.

Seth begins to accept his situation, but his dreams are gone. Riley wants to help him adjust to his new abilities, but she doesn’t know where she’ll be in a month. Can a one-handed non-cowboy and a city social worker figure out what God wants them to do?

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)
2.5 Romancing the Rancher (Jesse & Sam)
3. Falling for the Rancher (Micah & Cassie)
4. Rescuing the Rancher (Seth & Riley)

Seth’s heart ached and despair rose up once again as he brushed Carrots awkwardly. The bright sorrel gelding didn’t care—just closed his eyes in the sun as Seth tried to re-learn a decent wrist flick.

The loss of his right hand still gnawed at him, three months after the car accident. He’d thought that becoming a lefty would have gotten easier by now, but he still felt just as clumsy as when he’d first returned from the hospital. He could still feel the weight of it, and the phantom pain stabbed occasionally, never letting him forget.

He kept at it, though, concentrating while he brushed the horse, managing to swish the dust away until it hovered in the air around him. One of these days it would feel natural.
At least, that’s what he kept telling himself.

“You out here, Sergeant Black?” A commanding voice he hadn’t heard in months called out.

“Captain Carter?” Seth paused in his grooming, then came around to the front of the cabin, brush still in his hand.

“Wow, I never thought I’d see you here.”

“Gotta check on my guys when I can,” the captain said, holding his left hand out to shake. “I’m home on leave for a bit, just came to see how you’re doing.”

Seth tucked the brush under his short arm, but it was still an awkward handshake, although he appreciated that the captain was prepared. “Doing okay, sir. Just brushing my horse down.”

“So how are you, really? You’re not wearing your new hand.”

Seth grimaced, not wanting to admit he was at fault. But this was his captain, and somehow he couldn’t fudge, not like he did with his family. “It was clunky and heavy and weird, and I quit wearing it.” He sighed and rubbed Carrots’ forehead. “Maybe I didn’t want to admit this was permanent. Besides, it doesn’t fit anymore.”

“Was it one of those fancy ones that do everything?” The captain’s voice didn’t seem to hold any judgment.

“Nah, just the end of my arm with a fake hand. It was an interim thing before they do the bionic one. I’m not sure where that leaves me now.”

Captain Carter looked thoughtful. “So, I’m going to ask the question you’re hoping I don’t get to: Why are you out here, anyway? Why not in the main house with your family?”

Seth looked across the meadow. The question might have been couched in polite terms, but this was the captain. He expected a straight answer. “Too much hovering,” Seth finally said. “Too many expectations.”

Captain Carter nodded but didn’t say anything.

Seth kept his silence, too.

“You doing your PT?” the captain finally said, looking over Seth’s body.

“Sometimes.” Seth didn’t look at him.

“You still seeing a counselor?”

Seth only shrugged.

The captain gave him a piercing look. “It helps, even if you don’t think it does at the time.”

Seth met his eyes. “With all due respect, sir, you haven’t been in my shoes. I don’t like someone digging into my mind.”

It was the captain’s turn to shrug. “I can’t make you do it. But a whole lot of other soldiers swear by it.”

“Right. ‘A whole lot of others’ can usually find work that fits their disability. They don’t come from ranches where the work is so physical. Where it takes two hands.” Seth couldn’t help that his voice was bitter.

Captain Carter looked at him a long while, then pursed his lips and nodded. “Want to show me around?”

They wandered the cabin and barn areas and chatted for a while, catching up on what the unit was doing, who had gotten promoted, who had separated. And then Captain Carter leaned forward, elbows on his knees, and got to the point.

“Remember Corporal Callahan? Was in our unit a few years ago and then transferred out?”

“Tank Callahan? The guy who was as big as three of us?”

The captain chuckled. “That’s the one. He had an accident too, about a year ago. He’s doing pretty well on the surface, has a job, getting along. But, well, I think he could do with a change. I was hoping he might be able to come stay with you for a while.”

Seth looked out the window. What should he say? Did he really want someone else up here with him? Someone who might talk too much? Who might judge him?

After a long moment, the captain gave a resigned sigh. “Right. Well, it was worth a try.”

Seth was surprised at the disappointment that washed over him—maybe he really was lonely. “Wait,” he said slowly, “if I could find someone with a trailer they wouldn’t mind loaning out…”

The captain smiled and nodded. “You let me know. And good luck.”

Captain Carter left. Seth settled in a chair on the small porch and looked over the corral and the woods beyond, trying to picture boisterous Tank Callahan there with him. “I’m going to need a little help here, God. I know You’re not telling me much these days, or I’m not hearing it, but a little smoothing things out would be appreciated.”

* * *

A week later, a small travel trailer sat next to the cabin. There was no water to it—Tank would have to come in and use Seth’s shower—but Seth hooked up an extension cord from the cabin for electricity. If Tank didn’t like Seth’s DVDs, he could watch his own.

Seth checked his stock of burritos and pizzas and decided it would last them a day or two.

An hour later, he heard, “Yo, Preach! You out here?”

He grinned. He hadn’t heard his old nickname in a while, but Tank never had been a shy one. The big guy came around the corner, duffel bag slung over one shoulder.

“Hey, man, what’s up?” Tank dropped the duffel and drew Seth into a giant, one-armed bear hug.

“Oof. You are. Up. Still.” Seth stepped back and craned his neck to see. “I swear you’ve grown another three inches.” He didn’t mention Tank’s missing left arm.

“Nah, you’ve shrunk.” The big guy looked around. “So this is where you’re hiding out.”

Seth grunted. “Not hiding. Just trying to live.”

Tank let out his deep chuckle. “I see you, Preach. And I know how it is.” He held up what remained of his left arm, a shiny psychedelic sock cover over the short stump below his shoulder.

“Uh, you sure know how to make a statement.” Seth couldn’t take his eyes off it.

Tank shrugged. “Better to have a conversation piece than to have people try to hide their stares. I always—“

“Tank? You back here?” came a female voice.

Seth whipped his head around.

The voice was followed by a tall, slender woman with wavy black hair, lustrous blue eyes, and a smattering of freckles.
She stopped and looked back and forth between the two of them. “You didn’t tell him, did you? Tank, I swear someday—“

“Uh, Preach? This is my sister, Riley. She likes to be my keeper.”

She huffed. “I do not! It’s just that this big lug was nervous about—“

“I was not! You’re the one who—“

Seth listened to them banter. Tank wasn’t usually a person who receded into the background, but Riley…boy, she was something else. Feisty, not giving an inch. Not to mention gorgeous.

And then he noticed the duffel she carried. Slung over her shoulder just like Tank’s, and she didn’t lean to one side with the weight of it. Which meant that lovely figure had some good muscle to it, but it didn’t answer his question.
“Uh, guys? What’s with that?” He prayed it wouldn’t be the answer he expected.

It was.

“He wouldn’t come— “

“She wouldn’t let me— “

They stopped and looked at each other. Tank gave Seth a pleading look. “Do you have room for her to stay, too?”