Page 1 of The Troublemaker

CHAPTER ONE

HEWASTHEvery image of the Wild West, backlit by the setting sun, walking across the field that led directly to her house. He was wearing a black cowboy hat and a T-shirt that emphasized his broad shoulders; waist narrow and hips lean. His jaw square, his nose straight like a blade and his mouth set in a firm, uncompromising manner.

Lachlan McCloud was the epitome of a cowboy. She was proud to call him her best friend. He was loyal; he was—in spite of questionable behavior at times—an extremely good man, even if sometimes you had to look down deep to see it.

He was...

He was bleeding.

Charity sighed.

She had lost track of the amount of times that she had stitched Lachlan McCloud back together.

“I’ll just get my kit, then,” she muttered, digging around for it.

Not that there was any other reason Lachlan would be coming by unannounced. Usually now she went to his house for cards or for dinner; he didn’t come here. Not since her dad had died.

She found her medical bag and opened up the front door, propping her hip against the door frame, holding the bag aloft.

He stopped. “How did you know?”

“I recognize yourI cut myself open and need to be sewn back togetherwalk.”

“I have a...need to be sewn back togetherwalk?”

“You do,” she said, nodding.

“Thank you kindly.”

She lived just on the other side of the property line from McCloud’s Landing. One of the ranches that made up the vast spread that was Four Corners Ranch.

Thirty thousand acres, divided by four, amongst the original founding families.

Her father had been the large-animal vet in town and for the surrounding areas for years. With a mobile unit and all the supplies—granted, they were antiquated.

Charity had taken over a couple of years ago.

Her dad had always understood animals better than he did people. He’d told her people simply didn’t speak his language, or he didn’t speak theirs, but it didn’t really matter which.

Charity had known how to speak her dad’s language. He liked chamomile tea andAll Creatures Great and Small.Masterpiece Theatreand movies made in the 1950s. Argyle socks—which she also loved—and cardigans. Again, something she loved, too.

He’d smoked a pipe and read from the paper every morning. He liked to do the crossword.

And just last month, he’d died. Without him the house seemed colder, emptier and just a whole lot less.

It was another reason she was thankful for Lachlan.

But then they’d both had a lot of changes recently. It wasn’t just her. It wasn’t just the loss of her father.

Lachlan was the last McCloud standing.

His brothers, resolute bachelors all—at least at one time—were now settled and having children. His brother Brody was an instant father, since he had just married Elizabeth, a single mother who had come to work at the equestrian center on McCloud’s Landing a couple of months back.

But Lachlan was Lachlan. And if the changes had thrown him off, he certainly didn’t show it.

He was still his hard-drinking, risk-taking, womanizing self.

But he’d always been that way. It was one reason she’d been so immediately drawn to him when they’d first met. He was nothing like her.

---