Page 1 of Savage Secrets

Chapter One

The scent of turned soil from the fresh grave hung in the air over the cemetery. Opal couldn’t believe this was it—her father was gone.

At her side, her three-year-old daughter fidgeted, digging her once-shiny dress shoes into the mud at the graveside. “Momma!”

Opal rested her hand on Rainie’s head. “Stand still, sweetie. Just one more minute.”

She didn’t want to leave. All the people who attended her father’s funeral had left, returning to work or going home after the service. Some would be headed to Springvale, her father’s ranch.

Now the ranch belonged to her.

“Momma.” Rainie tugged on her arm.

Gulping back the tears she so badly needed to shed for her father, Opal did what every single mom everywhere did and pushed down her own emotions in order to tend to her child.

She dropped into a crouch at Rainie’s eye level. Just then, a pair of worn leather cowboy boots appeared next to her. She followed the boots upward to a long pair of legs clad in black denim, and higher to the owner of those legs.

Zach Webb’s face was cast in shadow by the black Stetson he wore. “Let me take her.”

She blinked back the tears that threatened to fall. Since she couldn’t push words past the lump in her throat, she simply nodded.

“C’mon, pumpkin. Let’s give your momma a minute to herself.” He held out his arms to Rainie, and she jumped into them, eager to be picked up.

Zach carried her away.

Leaving Opal alone.

She stayed crouched in front of her father’s grave, her mind blank. She’d lost him too soon. Nobody was ever prepared for such a thing, but to know her father wasmurdered…and the criminal responsible was still out there, walking free…

She dragged her fingers over the damp soil and a few grains fell into the grave. So many good memories of growing up on the ranch flooded in. She couldn’t even think about returning to her own rented home. She needed to be on the ranch.

The whisper of the wind from the Montana mountains mingled with the low, quiet voices coming from a group of men standing a short distance away. All of them wore white Stetsons, a mark of the security company they worked for. She glanced up to see Zach wasn’t among them. He was walking toward the parking lot with her daughter in his arms.

Opal didn’t have much left to feel at the moment. There would be more later, and she’d return to visit her father. For now, she needed to get home, to the Springvale Ranch, to the friends who were waiting there to support her.

Pushing to her feet, she sniffled and twisted away from the grave. She had no memory of walking, only of Zach intercepting her and putting her in his truck with Rainie.

The time jumps continued with stretches of fog between them. The old ranch house was filled with people. Her fellow park rangers she worked with were there, along with a handful of people from town. Her friends Meadow and Ivy from the neighboring Gracey Ranch flitted around, handing out foam cups of warm tea.

The security team had followed them from the cemetery, and they now stood on the wide front porch, speaking to the group of men from the Gracey Ranch.

They werealltangled up in this mess that had taken her father’s life.

“Opal.”

She turned at the sound of her name and met Meadow’s big, empathetic eyes. Of course her friend knew the pain of losing a parent too.

She held out a cup of tea to Opal, and she wrapped her chilled fingers around the warm pottery. “Thank you.”

Rainie’s chirpy voice drew her attention. Her daughter clung to Zach’s hand, and she tugged on it. “Comeon.Come to my tea party!”

The corners of Opal’s lips brushed into the closest thing she could get to a smile when her father had just been buried. Watching her small, delicate three-year-old drag off the big cowboy dressed in all black—and wearing a dark expression to match—for a tea party was the beam of sunshine this day needed.

Zach disappeared into the kitchen with Rainie to retrieve plastic cups of tea and probably the cheese popcorn she loved to snack on.

Opal stood there, staring into space for a long minute. Meadow slipped her arm around Opal’s shoulders, turning her toward the sofa.

When she curled up in the corner, the distinct noise of the screen door banging shut sounded. A moment later, the small living room that was already cramped with too much furniture was flooded with big men in cowboy hats.

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