Don't Fight It (Sample Chapters Only)

Chapter 1

"What's up, cuz?" Shane Wilson asked as he leaned back in his office chair, his cell phone to his ear. He was grateful for the excuse to take a breather from reviewing the current week's accounting that sat on his desk. It was the one thing he hated about running the twenty-seven-hundred-acre cattle ranch he owned with his husband, Tucker. Shane would rather be outside, doing manual labor, instead of crunching numbers. With Tuck's dyslexia, though, dealing with all the invoices was ten times more difficult for him, so Shane took care of the business end of things. But he only had to go through the stacks of paperwork on Monday and Thursday mornings. Thanks to their office staff, Shane labored alongside Tuck and the ranch hands for the rest of the week and loved every minute of it.

"Hey, Shane," his cousin, Quinn Alexander, responded from somewhere in San Francisco. "Did you replace your housekeeper yet?"

That was just another thing on Shane's ever-growing "shit I gotta do" list. Hannah Gilman, the ranch's seventy-year-old housekeeper—actually, house manager was a better description—had begun to feel the effects of her advancing age. She'd reluctantly retired, recently, after two and a half years working in the three-thousand-square-foot, main house on the Red River Ranch in Hazard Falls, Kansas. Rheumatoid arthritis had started making routine tasks difficult for her, and she'd finally agreed to move in with her daughter's family in Oklahoma. While Tuck and Shane were definitely missing the older woman, the one who seemed to be suffering the most was the men's six-year-old daughter, Arianna. The little girl was still reeling from the death of her mother a little over twenty-six months ago, and, now, she'd lost the woman who'd been like a grandmother to her. At least Hannah was able to call Arianna several times a week just to chat.

As odd as it was to some, Tuck, Shane, and Arianna's mother, Sarah, had been in love with each other—as in a three-way relationship. Shane and Tuck had both fallen for the beautiful brunette who'd captured their hearts, but they'd also fallen for each other. Hazard Falls was a small town, and there'd been some obnoxious gossipers who'd ridiculed their unconventional marriage, at first, but over time that had lessened as people had gotten used to the idea. There were others, though, who still referred to them as "those perverts," among other things, however, Shane, Tuck, and Sarah had learned to ignore them. While the three hadn't been able to make their ménage union legal, they'd found a way around the laws. Shane and Sarah had gotten married before the local magistrate, then they'd had a separate ceremony which had included exchanging vows with Tuck. Both Sarah Edelman and Tucker Jones had willingly taken Shane's last name. After that, they'd had a lawyer draw up their wills, powers of attorney, and other paperwork to make sure, if something happened to one of them, the other two would be taken care of financially and have full say in any medical decisions. Unfortunately, a time had come when the latter had been necessary.

The threesome had had six years of marital bliss—and one adorable child—before Sarah had been diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. It'd been so advanced and aggressive that by the time it had been discovered, Sarah succumbed to the disease only eleven weeks later, leaving behind two devastated widowers and an almost-five-year-old little girl.

Propping his feet up on the corner of the desk, Shane answered Quinn. "No, we didn't. We've had a couple of inquiries, even hired one for a few days, but they weren't right for the job for one reason or another. Not many women have the experience to help run a ranch with fifteen workers to feed two or three times a day, plus keep the house clean, and watch Arianna when she's not in school. A few had been more interested in getting into mine and Tuck's bed, and that's not gonna happen. Why?"

"Well, I've got a client who's looking to make a fresh start where no one knows her."

Shane's brow furrowed. Quinn was a US Marshal with the Witness Security Program—or as most people called it, the Witness Protection Program. He relocated people who had to start their lives over after testifying in court or helping law enforcement investigate someone they knew—someone who'd probably want them dead. Quinn found them new places to live and gave them new identities. "I'd love to help, cuz, but I can't have a woman hiding out here and possibly have someone show up looking to kill her—not with Arianna here."