Chapter 1

December 28, 1847

Melody Hughes sat looking at the gifts in her lap. Christmas was only three days past and she’d just buried her father. He’d died on Christmas Eve when his horse had slipped on a patch of ice, tossed her father over the horse’s head, and cracked his head open on a rocky outcrop. She’d not been able to bring herself to open the gifts he’d given her. She knew what they’d be; it was what he gave her every year: a new dress and a new pair of men’s dungarees for training the horses. Only now the second gift was useless.

She could still hear the words that Mr. Granger, the lawyer her father used, had said to her. “I’m so sorry for your loss, Miss Hughes, but as you know it’s not lawful for a woman to inherit property. Your father left instructions that if you were unwed at the time of his passing, his entire estate would be left to his foreman, Brent Cooke. It was his wish that you and Brent would marry and continue to run the ranch together.”

Melody would never marry Brent Cooke. The man refused to see how valuable she was as a horse breeder or trainer. He insisted her father had spoiled her and that Liam, not Melody, did the real breeding, breaking, and training. He often expressed his belief that Melody should be in dresses tending to the house and looking for a husband. The fact that Melody couldn’t cook, sew, or had no desire to be in any way what he determined proper female attire seemed to escape his notice.

As she sat staring at the gifts, her father had left for her she heard Brent’s heavy footfalls come onto the front porch, and he had the nerve to enter the house without knocking as if he already owned it. Which, of course, he did.

“Melody, we need to talk.”

She glared at the man who ran the cattle side of her father’s operation, her blue eyes ablaze with anger at the man’s audacity. “By all means, Mr. Cooke, make yourself at home in my house. But I guess it’s your home now, isn’t it?”

The dark-haired cowboy sighed. “There’s no need to be rude, Melody. I have no intention of taking your home away from you. Your dad wanted us to marry and for me to keep running the ranch. We can go see the preacher tomorrow and nothing will change except your last name.”

Melody looked at him with suspicion in her eyes. “Nothing will change? So as your wife, I’ll still be able to run the horse breeding and training side of the ranch like I’ve done since I was old enough to sit on a horse?”

Brent shook his head. “You know that isn’t proper work for a lady, Melody. Once you’re my wife, then you’ll act like a proper wife and take care of our home and eventually our children. I still don’t understand why your Pa allowed you to act like a harridan all those years. He should have tanned your hide the first time you came outside in those britches and started playing at doing men’s work.”

Melody stood up and faced him. “Then I will not marry you, Brent Cooke. I am a horse breeder and trainer, not a proper housewife. I don’t know how to do the things a wife would do, and I have no desire to learn to be one. If you don’t want me as I am, then no, I won’t marry you.”

Brent glared down into her face. “You’ll marry me and make a proper wife or you’ll get your rebellious body off my ranch by the first of the year. Those are your options, marry me and become a proper wife and woman, keeping your ranch, or refuse and lose everything. You have three days to decide. Until then, don’t even think about setting foot in the barn or the horse paddock. If I see you there, I’ll take a willow switch to your hide, just like Mr. Hughes should have done all those years ago.”

Melody shoved him away from her. “I don’t need three days, I don’t even need one. You and I will never marry and I’ll be out of your house and off your ranch tomorrow. I will, however, be taking Sunset since no one else can ride her, anyway. You can consider her my pay for the work I’ve done the past twelve years.”

Brent shook his head. “Go on, take your horse and leave and when you realize you don’t have any other choice, you come on back and I’ll make a proper ranch wife of you. I give you till sundown tomorrow to come crawling back begging me to marry you.”

With that, the bear of a foreman stuffed his hat back on his head and stomped out the door, slamming it behind him. Melody refused to waste one more minute crying over what couldn’t be. She’d set out in the morning to her friend Clara’s bed-and-breakfast in town. Clara and Clyde would help her find a situation that allowed her to use her skills, but one thing was certain: it would be a cold day in the devil’s playground before she came crawling back to Brent Cooke asking to be his wife.

Present Day

Tallis Ryder stood beside his vintage Velocette Viper motorcycle, looking down from the overlook that sat at the top of the Valley containing his new ranch. Finally, his dream might become a reality. As a young boy growing up on the Dueling N’s ranch in Redemption, New Mexico, the family tales of Nugget Nate and the Preacher, Nathan Ryder had fascinated Tallis. He loved how they helped shape the future of the Old West. That fascination had become an obsession as he’d grown until he decided he wanted to open up an old west ranching experience for people in this modern age.

His parents had been supportive when he’d told them he wasn’t taking the expected Agricultural track in college but took Hotel and Hospitality Management. He had graduated with honors and had worked at several historical hotels and tourist experiences throughout his college career.

Now, with a degree in hand, he’d taken the trust every Ryder received after they turned twenty-five and had purchased a forty-thousand-acre ranch in Montana. The ranch was one of the few ones he’d seen that still had buildings in good shape from the 1800s. The homestead had been his biggest fear. It had looked weathered on the outside and so modern on the inside. Tallis had asked his brother, who was a historical house buff, to come to look at the buildings on the property. It had surprised them to find that the original structures for the house, bunkhouse, and foreman’s cabin had been solid. The barn had obviously been replaced a few years ago and would need to be torn down and a time-appropriate structure erected.

Tallis was even more surprised when his brother Nate told him he was pretty sure that the original floors and walls were behind the sheetrock and carpeting. It wouldn’t take much to have everything returned to its original condition, and then all he would have to do is find an antique, or have crafted a wood-burning cook stove and sink as well.

Tallis decided that he wouldn’t mind a wood-burning stove to cook on and fireplaces to heat with. He would like to keep running water and a somewhat modern, bathroom. He also realized he’d have to keep at least some electricity in the house. Enough for an office and computer, as well as the internet, to book reservations and tours. Those were the only allowances he’d make for modern life.

Even though there would be bathrooms and running water, he would pattern them after the old copper tub and shower combo in the Dueling N’s bathrooms. Supposedly Nugget Nate had installed them for his bride, Penelope Ryder when the house was raised. If that was true, then it was an expensive luxury in those days. However, based on family history and lore, would have been just like Nugget Nate. If it wasn’t Nate, then Nathan would have done the same for Grace. If anything could be said, it was that Ryder men, when they fell in love, fell hard and gave their spouses every little thing their hearts desired.

Today he’d be meeting with the ranch foreman and explaining how things would change. The previous owners hadn’t told the workers anything except that they were selling. The new owner would take possession on the first of July.

Tallis figured there would be some kickback to his changes. He also knew ranching hadn’t changed much. Sure, all the cars and trucks would be removed except for one four-wheel-drive vehicle. That would be used for medical emergencies, only.

It was the non-cattle jobs, and the necessity of time-appropriate ranching gear, that would be the biggest change. Tallis was confident the men would get used to them. He’d leave the bunkhouse and foreman’s cabin alone on the inside, allowing them to keep their modern interiors. But he’d have to have several smaller cabins and a bunkhouse or two built to be period specific. They would also erect period-specific cookhouses and dining halls.

Tallis hopped on his Viper, kick-started it, and then rode down into the valley. It was time to get started on his dream of living in and offering visitors a real old west ranching experience.

Chapter Two

A week had passed, and with it a new year had dawned. Melody sat in the room her friend Clara had given her. No rancher she contacted would give her a position as a horse trainer or breeder. She’d ended up taking a job helping Clara and Clyde by cleaning the rooms in the Bed and Breakfast. She was learning to cook some too by helping in the kitchen each day.

Melody had even gone to the judge to see if there was anything she could do to force Brent to let her work the ranch. She had been told that, as the owner, he had the right to choose his workers. The infuriating man had suggested she be a good little woman and bring Brent to town, marry him, and let him keep her as was fitting her gender. He’d laughed as she stormed out of the courtroom, making a comment about how her fire would keep some fella warm on a cold night.

When Melody got back to Clara’s she entered to find Brent sitting in the parlor talking with her friend and employer. She glared at him. “What are you doing here?”

Brent stood and faced her. “I heard this was where you were. I thought I’d come see if you have realized that being my wife is your best option?”

Melody’s hands went to her hips. “Have you realized that letting me continue to work raising and training the horses is your best option?”

Brent shook his head. “That’s not an option at all, Melody. You can’t do a man’s work without your Pa to help you. I don’t have the time or a ranch hand I’d trust to take his place. Why must you be so stubborn about this?”