Prologue

The night was pitch-black when Kali Cooper stepped out of her mud-encrusted jeep to open the gate to the Silver Spurs Ranch. Her ranch.

She still hadn’t quite gotten her mind around the fact that she was the actual owner of the spread she’d loved since her first and only visit fifteen years ago. But, after months of court battles with the son of her late grandfather’s third wife, it was official.

Grandfather Gordy’s will had been clear and absolutely legal. As long as she lived on the land for a year, it was hers. She planned to live here forever.

The wind cut through her denim jacket and she could smell the approaching rain. She picked up her pace as lightning cut a jagged scar across the night sky followed by a loud clap of thunder.

The weather channel had predicted a line of moderate to severe storms followed by an arctic cold front that was dipping all the way to the Gulf of Mexico and bringing with it temperatures near the freezing mark. Even for mid-February, that was cold for the Houston area.

Wings fluttered above her and something rustled the grass as the gate swung open and clanked against the metal post. An eerie uneasiness crept along her nerve endings along with the awareness of just how alone she really was. According to her research, the closest ranch was Jack’s Bluff, owned by the very wealthy Collingsworth family, and even as the crow flies, that was over a mile away.

She hurried back to the jeep, drove across the cattle gap then jumped out to close and latch the heavy metal gate. Five minutes later, she pulled up in front of the old homestead.

Caught in the ghostly glow of her headlights, the one-story structure seemed to crawl out at odd angles from the front porch. It was smaller than she remembered it, but then thanks to the feud between her father and grandfather, she hadn’t been here since she was eleven.

That was the summer she’d experienced her first case of serious puppy love. The object of her affections had been Zach Collingsworth, and she’d fawned and drooled over him like the naïve kid she’d been. Here’s hoping he wouldn’t remember her. With luck, he’d also be paunchy and balding, with a wife and several kids.

She reached for her flashlight and was about to kill the engine and cut off the lights when she saw what appeared to be a person running from the house. Panic shot through her, but when another streak of lightning made the scene as bright as day, all she saw were tree branches swaying in the wind.

She really was letting the isolation get to her. The house was empty and had been for months. The livestock had been sold and the help let go when her grandfather had died.

She stepped from the car just as lightening struck again, this time a dazzling needle of electricity that followed a direct path from sky to ground and seemed to strike mere yards away. The thunder that followed was deafening.

The first drops of rain pricked Kali’s face as she made a wild dash for the covered porch. She was stamping the mud from her boots when her gaze caught and held. She stared, at first not willing to believe her eyes, but the stream of crimson spilling out the door was all too vivid. 

Her heart slammed against her chest, and this time she didn’t try to convince herself she was imagining things. She started to run and was almost to her car before her powers of reason pushed through the adrenaline rush.

Paint-not blood. That was it, of course. She sucked in a huge gulp of damp air as the picture became crystal-clear. Hade Carpenter only lost the ranch to her if she lived here for a full year. He probably planned to make sure she didn’t last a night so he’d come out here with his Halloweenish tricks to frighten her away. Nice try, but it wouldn’t work.

Bracing herself for what she’d find inside, she marched back to the porch and turned the doorknob. The door was unlocked and it creaked and whined open at her touch.

One look inside and she knew the blood was real.