No One Needs to Know
He wants to turn her in—she wants to take him to bed!
The moment wealthy ranch owner Tucker Brennan sees Annie Sheridan’s photo on a website, he knows he’s finally found the woman who let his brother take the fall in an embezzlement scheme. Now Tucker is on his way to the Safe Haven animal shelter in Montana to find out what really happened...and bring Annie to justice.
With a struggling shelter and no cash, Annie Sheridan has her hands so full that she’s almost forgotten why she had to go into hiding. So when the sleek and damnably good-lookin’ Tucker shows up offering a donation—and potential nooky action!—Annie figures things are finally going right.
There are secrets. There are lies. And there’s one heck of an attraction. But once they give themselves over to lust, no one needs to know....
Still can’t get enough cowboys?
Popular Harlequin Blaze author
Debbi Rawlins keeps readers in the saddle with her continuing miniseries
Made in Montana
Since the McAllisters opened a dude ranch catering to single women,
the sleepy town of Blackfoot Falls
has gotten a lot more interesting.…
Get your hands on a hot cowboy with
#701 Barefoot Blue Jean Night
(August 2012)
#713 Own the Night
(October 2012)
#725 On a Snowy Christmas Night
(December 2012)
#736 You’re Still the One
(February 2013)
#744 No One Needs to Know
(April 2013)
#753 From This Moment On
(June 2013)
And remember,
the sexiest cowboys are Made in Montana!
Dear Reader,
Like the pesky relative who comes for the weekend but never seems to leave, I’ve set up shop in Blackfoot Falls and I’m not going anywhere! This time I want to tell you about mysterious Annie Sheridan, who arrived in town two years ago and runs Safe Haven Animal Sanctuary.
Annie first appeared in Jesse and Shea’s book, On a Snowy Christmas Night. I didn’t know right away that she’d have her own story. But she was different, intriguing, not someone you’d expect to find living a solitary life in the middle of nowhere. So who was she?
The pieces fell together quickly. Tucker Brennan sprang to life in a flash. This sinfully handsome gentleman rancher from Dallas is interested in a lot more than funding Safe Haven. He knows Annie isn’t who she appears to be.
There are secrets and lies to expose, a wrong to put right, and Tucker’s just the man to topple Annie’s house of cards. What he didn’t count on was falling for her.
I hope you all enjoy this tall Texan, especially when he’s in well-worn jeans...and nothing else. Annie couldn’t resist him, and frankly, neither could I!
All my best,
Debbi Rawlins
No One Needs to Know
Debbi Rawlins
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debbi Rawlins grew up in the country with no fast-food drive-throughs or nearby neighbors, so one might think as a kid she’d be dazzled by the bright lights of the city, the allure of the unfamiliar. Not so. She loved Westerns in movies and books, and her first crush was on a cowboy—okay, he was an actor in the role of a cowboy, but she was only eleven, so it counts. It was in Houston, Texas, where she first started writing for Harlequin, and now, more than fifty books later, she has her own ranch...of sorts. Instead of horses, she has four dogs, five cats, a trio of goats and free-range cattle keeping her on her toes on a few acres in gorgeous rural Utah. And of course, the deer and elk are always welcome.
Books by Debbi Rawlins
HARLEQUIN BLAZE
417—ALL OR NOTHING
455—ONCE AN OUTLAW††
467—ONCE A REBEL††
491—TEXAS HEAT
509—TEXAS BLAZE
528—LONE STAR LOVER††
603—SECOND TIME LUCKY‡
609—DELICIOUS DO-OVER‡
632—EXTRA INNINGS
701—BAREFOOT BLUE JEAN NIGHT§
713—OWN THE NIGHT§
725—ON A SNOWY CHRISTMAS NIGHT§
736—YOU’RE STILL THE ONE§
*Men to Do
**Do Not Disturb
†Million Dollar Secrets
††Stolen from Time
‡Spring Break
§Made in Montana
To get the inside scoop on Harlequin Blaze and its talented writers,
be sure to check out blazeauthors.com.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Epilogue
Excerpt
1
FROM HER PERCH ON THE PORCH railing at the Sundance ranch, Annie Sheridan took what she called a memory shot. If she’d had her beloved old Nikon she’d have pulled it out and centered the lens on the familiar faces of her hosts, but the spectacular sunset against the Rocky Mountains would have been the star. Only to the casual observer, though, which Annie most definitely was not.
She’d become an expert at the art of watching from a distance. It didn’t even bother her that much, not anymore. Two years into exile, she’d grown used to being the strange woman who ran the Safe Haven large-animal sanctuary, the one who never came to parties unless there was something her shelter needed—a favor, a donation, an adoptive home. Of course everyone in Blackfoot Falls knew who she was, and it would have stunned her if the residents of the small town hadn’t made up at least a dozen stories to explain her hermit ways.
No one, she was sure, would ever come close to the truth.
She sipped from her glass of white zinfandel, a rare treat along with the scrumptious steak and baked potato she’d had earlier. The last time she’d eaten at a party was...in another life.
That sobering thought had her off the railing and heading toward Barbara McAllister and the cluster of family that surrounded the Sundance matriarch. If Annie let herself yearn for anything these days—outside of more money for Safe Haven—it was the friendship of this clan. The three brothers—Cole, Jesse and Trace—were always willing to lend a hand during an emergency. Jesse had saved many a poor animal’s life, or given a horse or a llama or a potbellied pig a new home with his rescue airlifts.
Then there was Rachel and her boyfriend, Matt, so giddily in love. In the past six months two of the three McAllister brothers had hooked up. And now with Rachel taken, that only left Trace on the loose. Something the Sundance dude ranch guests, all of them single women in their twenties or early thirties, were trying to remedy.
Rachel had made several attempts at befriending her, though Annie had kept her distance. But boundary lines that had once been set in stone were becoming more flexible.
“Are you getting ready to leave?”
Annie smiled at Jesse’s girlfriend. The whole reason Annie was socializing at all was due to unassuming, crazy-generous Shea. Taking a break from her high-security job as a computer programmer, she’d come to Montana over the Christmas holidays to help at Safe Haven. But she’d come back to Blackfoot Falls because of Jesse. That she’d turned out to be the sanctuary’s most influential volunteer and backer was a miracle.
Annie sighed with real regret as she nodded. “I have chores.”
“Need help?”
“Not from you, a
lthough thanks for offering. You stay right here and enjoy yourself with that man of yours.”
Shea blushed as she slipped her hands into the pockets of her dark gray trousers. “I’m glad you stayed so long. Jesse said you’ve never had dinner here before.”
“You know how things are. Always something to do, what with every female animal at the shelter pregnant.”
Shea laughed. “Not every one.”
Annie set her glass on a big tray, knowing no one would mind that she didn’t stay to clean up. “It’s been a nice party.”
“It has,” Shea said, with more than a little surprise in her voice. “I usually hate parties. Never know what to say. But with the McAllisters it’s different.” She leaned in a little closer and lowered her voice. “Yesterday, I talked to Sadie from the Watering Hole for almost half an hour.”
“Whoa, look at you, Shea. You haven’t even lived here a full month yet and you’re already one of the in crowd.”
“Jesse tries to include me in things because he knows I’m oblivious,” she said in that matter-of-fact tone that still made Annie smile. “Not with gossip, though. He doesn’t do that.”
Perhaps because he’d heard his name, the man in question sidled up to Shea and snuck his arm across her shoulders, but kept his gaze on Annie.
“I’m flying out to Missoula on Tuesday,” Jesse said, “so you might want to put together a shopping list.”
She perked up because it was about a hundred miles to Missoula, and she could get things there that weren’t available in a small town like Blackfoot Falls or even the bigger Kalispell. Northwestern Montana was gorgeous, but it was mostly land and lakes and mountains. “I’ll get on that tomorrow.”
“With all that loot you two have been raking in,” Jesse said, “it’ll be hard to decide what to buy first.”
Annie smiled at his teasing. He was the only other person who knew how much of the influx of money had come either directly from Shea or from donations she’d wrangled. Annie pulled her keys out of her pocket. “Trust me, most of it is spent and we had no trouble doing it. Unbelievable how many things need replacing or fixing at that sorry shelter.”
“Your cabin, for instance?” Shea said.
“My cabin is fine, thanks.” Annie addressed Jesse again, wanting to change the subject quickly. “I’ll send a list home with Shea.” She looked at her. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning?”
“Of course.”
Annie fiddled with her keys as she backed up in the direction of her truck. “Great. See you then.” She said quick goodbyes to most of the McAllisters along with many thanks, but before they could even try to convince her to stick around for dessert she climbed into her old green pickup.
No matter what she did or how long she left the windows open, the cab always smelled like horses. She didn’t mind. Horses had been a comfort to her all her life, and even though they were an amazing amount of work, especially this time of year, she couldn’t have wished for better company.
Horses didn’t care that she was on the run, that she’d messed up her life beyond repair. They loved her, anyway.
It didn’t take long to reach Safe Haven, and the first thing she did was check on the animals in the stable. She had an abandoned stallion that was starting to pick up some weight and get a little shine to his coat, and she added some grain to his feed trough. She spent longer checking on the mares, both of them with full teats but only in the prep stage of foaling, so there was time.
An hour later, she was finished with the barn chores and walked the couple hundred feet to the cabin everyone was so obsessed with. Inside, the overhead light sputtered to life, giving her a shadowed view of her home.
No, it wasn’t much, but it served its purpose. She could run her computer, plus she had a coffeemaker, a microwave, a toaster oven and a minifridge. Hell, she’d lived for years with less at the Columbia University dorms. The tiny claustrophobic bathroom wasn’t a big deal anymore, though she missed having a tub. But the shower got reasonably hot, and she’d replaced the cracked mirror. And the toilet...well, that could use replacing, too. But not until the emergency supplies were stocked and the tractor had a new engine.
Once upstairs in her loft, she turned on the lamp by her bed, and only then realized she should have changed out of her good jeans and one nice shirt before she’d done chores. No use worrying about that now, though. It was late for her, and the alarm would go off before first light, so she pulled on her nightshirt, and by nine-thirty she was under the covers reading a paperback thriller.
A chapter in, her eyelids started sinking. Thankfully, sleep wasn’t hard to come by anymore. The key was to keep herself in a constant state of exhaustion. She’d become an expert at that, too.
* * *
FOR THE SECOND TIME IN AN HOUR, Tucker Brennan found himself more focused on the view of the stables outside his window than the business at hand. There were several wranglers busy with chores, just like on the rest of his ranch. He would have preferred being out there building up a sweat instead of sitting in his office, filling his day with the business of running the Rocking B.
His Monday morning had gotten off to a rough start. He’d slept through his alarm, then spilled coffee on his lap during breakfast. Maybe he should have gone out last night. There were a number of women he could’ve called who wouldn’t have minded a last-minute invitation. But it was never that easy, was it?
“There’s a fundraiser for City of Hope next month.”
Tucker turned his chair so he faced his personal assistant, who was seconds into an eye roll. Darren smoothed over the near-gaff by clearing his throat. Tucker didn’t let his own frustration show, knowing full well this probably wasn’t the first time Darren had brought up this particular agenda item. Or the second.
“It’s at the McDermott?”
“Yes. Black tie,” Darren said. “The Dallas Symphony Orchestra will be performing before the gala.”
Tucker clicked over to his May calendar where Darren had already highlighted the date. He had three other formal events in May and the thought of another one didn’t appeal. “Send them a check, please. Personal.”
“Match last year’s?”
It had been sizable. “Yes.”
They continued to go down the list of requests, which seemed to grow exponentially year by year. While Darren did most of the correspondence concerning the ranch operations, Tucker liked to write personal messages where it counted. Like the one to an old warhorse of a rancher from Idaho who was about to retire. With no heir, he was going to auction off sixty thousand acres, along with his cattle and horses and all his equipment, and Tucker meant to purchase a great deal of the stock.
He barely acknowledged Darren leaving the office and set to work composing a letter to the rancher, handwritten, just like the old days, because Cotton and his late wife, Lula, had sent out Christmas letters every year until she’d passed away in 2009.
Just as Tucker started the second paragraph, a notification popped up on his computer. He went to delete the intrusion with one quick click, but the words stopped him.
He saved his screen and switched to Google, where he’d set up dozens of alerts a year ago, having no faith whatsoever that he’d ever hit pay dirt. He’d gotten hundreds of hits because there wasn’t anything all that unique about the chosen keywords, but he never skipped a one. This particular alert was for the name Ann, even though the object of his search had been born Leanna Warner. The other keywords were horses and fundraising.
Tucker wasn’t even sure why he’d bothered, because that was too close to Leanna’s true history. But he’d been thorough and he never let himself get his hopes up. He clicked on the link.
A blonde woman sat in the corner of a photograph. She wasn’t looking at the camera, but to her left. Saving the photo, he brought up the Warner file he kept under a separate password. He’d gathered everything he could about the woman a year ago, right after his brother, Christian, had given up his tough-guy act and co
nfessed that he’d been hoodwinked.... By a slick fundraiser who was tall and slender and had a face that made men do foolish things.
Leanna was a card-carrying member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals with an office in Park Slope. She’d started out with a big firm, eventually opening her own office.
She and Christian had done quite well building up a sizable fund to benefit a number of charities. Only, none of the dividends reached the account. Instead, the investment profits had disappeared. Vanished. So had Leanna Warner, but only after the New York district attorney’s office, acting on a complaint, had gone after Christian.
While there was a lot of circumstantial evidence putting the money in Christian’s hands, there was no proof, no paper trail. Not that the D.A.’s office had stopped looking. They had made it clear Christian would remain a person of interest until they found Leanna and took her testimony. In the two years since the embezzlement, including the year Tucker had been conducting his own investigation, there hadn’t been a single clue as to her whereabouts.
Tucker still wasn’t sure there was one now. The pictures he had of Leanna showed an elegant, sophisticated New Yorker. She’d been one of the Manhattan hungry, seeking her fortune and status among the elite. If her plan had been to cut and run, she’d done herself a disservice. With her looks and the confidence she displayed on the two videos he’d found of her, she could have gone far.
Greed had a way of making fools of even the most promising.
Trouble was, he couldn’t be sure that the woman, identified simply as Annie, was Leanna Warner. If she’d only turned a little more toward the camera... Besides, this woman looked as if she’d been born in Western gear.
He ran one of the old videos and froze it when he had a decent view of her profile. He pulled up the two images so they were side by side on his monitor. For a long time, he just flicked his gaze from one to the other, and dammit, there were similarities. The odds were not high that he’d found the missing Warner, but it would drive him crazy not to know for sure. More importantly, he owed this to Christian.