The Rancher's Runaway Princess - Sample

Chapter One

"In two hundred metres, turn left."

Lucy grinned at her phone that was sitting in the console of her rented car. "Thank you, Bob," she replied with mock-seriousness, looking up the long stretch of road for the intersection her companion kept insisting was approaching. She'd deliberately selected a male voice with a slight drawl for this trip, in keeping with her destination. Bob had got her from the airport in Calgary all the way south to Larch Valley. Now she was nearly at Prairie Rose Ranch, her final destination. The area here was stunning, with sloping fields, a massive sky, and mountains in the distance. The freedom—this wide-open space—was a revelation compared to how claustrophobic she'd felt lately.

"In one hundred metres, turn left."

She obeyed the instruction and put on her turn signal. A small sign announced a numbered road. Thank goodness the address had come up on the map. Otherwise she'd keep driving through this fairly empty landscape for God knew how long. Not that she'd have minded; there was something comforting in the rolling green hills, their undulating curves broken only by random fences and trees.

She turned onto the road, only to discover it had gravel instead of pavement after the first few seconds. She rolled up the window the rest of the way against the dust curling up from her tires.

Prairie Rose Ranch was out in the middle of nowhere, just like Mr. Hamilton had said in his e-mail. All that isolation and space sounded wonderful to her ears after the scrutiny of the past months. She couldn't wait to get there, away from all the prying eyes and whispers from behind hands. In Canada there would be no expectations, even for a short time. At Prairie Rose she would just be Lucy Farnsworth.

Whoever that was.

She frowned as Bob drawled, "Recalculating." There was no other road, so she figured her phone had lost its signal. She'd go another few minutes, and if she didn't find anything, she'd turn back.

She was visiting Prairie Rose Ranch to buy horses, to look into Hamilton's breeding program, and negotiate stud fees. It was her first real responsibility and one she was more than equipped for. Granted, she couldn't shake the feeling that King Alexander was placating her, but it didn't matter. For the first time in a long time, she felt in control of something. No one to tell her who she was or how to act.

And no one at the ranch need know who she really was. The last thing she needed—or wanted for that matter—was for everyone to look at her like she had some invisible tiara perched on her head.

No, this was her chance to get away from all the curiosity and assessments and do what she knew how to do. Nothing made sense to her any more, but at least this trip, short as it was, might offer her a bit of a reprieve. Might offer her a chance to shake off the pervading sadness of the last few months. She'd been thrown from one unimaginable situation into another without time to catch her breath. When Alexander had suggested this trip, she'd left a vapor trail that rivaled the one from the 777 she'd flown in.

On the left up ahead, she caught sight of a group of buildings...big buildings. With a rumble of tires, the SUV ran over a Texas gate, leading her up to a graveled drive. A wood and iron arch embraced the entrance, and she knew she was in the right place when she looked up and saw a uniquely shaped iron rose in the centre. Bob came back to life and announced she was arriving at her destination, but she reached over blindly and shut the phone off.

Her eyes assessed as she drove slowly up the long, straight lane. It was neat, well kept, with a rambling two story farmhouse hidden behind a long barn and corral. The immediate fences were in good repair and freshly painted; nothing seemed out of place. So far so good.

It was different than where she'd grown up yet somewhat the same, and very different from the sun-baked countryside in Marazur. The sky here was broad and robin's egg blue, in contrast to the piercing blue waves of the Mediterranean. Horses dotted the landscape, up a side hill and beyond, grazing on rich grass, reminding her of her childhood home in Virginia. It was comforting and unsettling at the same time. It was what she knew. Yet everything she thought she knew about herself had been a lie and she wanted to run away even as the ranch beckoned to her. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.