Rancher Untamed Read online

  At tonight’s bachelor auction, money’s no object...

  That red-hot cowboy will be hers!

  Pippa Hamilton-Hoff has come into a fortune, and her first purchase is the bachelor on the charity auction block, Diego Velasquez. No one in Texas knows she’s secretly an heiress—or that she craves Diego. She wants this time with him, even knowing it’s temporary. Because Pippa can’t stay forever...but is she willing to leave her untamed rancher behind?

  “I want to celebrate...”

  “What are we celebrating?” Diego asked.

  “My birthday,” Pippa said. “I’m twenty-five today.”

  “Happy birthday, Pippa.”

  The band was playing and he noticed that Pippa swayed to the music. “So, Pippa, what are we going to do?”

  She arched one eyebrow at him. “I’m not sure what you mean. What are we going to do about what?”

  “This night,” he said. He put his hand on her waist and drew her closer to him.

  “I’m not sure,” she said softly.

  Her breath smelled sweet, like the prosecco they’d drunk, and her face was so close that his lips tingled, remembering how soft and succulent they had been beneath his.

  “Well, I’m yours...for tonight,” he said out loud to remind himself that it was only for this night. “Tell me what it is you want me to do.”

  She tipped her head back and their eyes met. Her lips parted and he felt her hand come to rest on his shoulder. “Show me a good time, cowboy.”

  * * *

  Rancher Untamed is part of the Cole’s Hill Bachelors series from USA TODAY bestselling author Katherine Garbera!

  Dear Reader,

  I’m really excited to be telling Pippa’s story at last! From the moment she showed up on the page in Tycoon Cowboy’s Baby Surprise I was intrigued. I knew she’d run away from her family, but I didn’t know all the details at first. Her bond with Kinley and with Penny showed me how compassionate she was, and in each book since then I’ve been learning more about her. After I finished Craving Her Best Friend’s Ex, it made sense to tell Pippa’s story as I knew her pretty well by that point.

  If you’ve been reading my Wild Caruthers Bachelors series, you’ll also recognize Diego Velasquez. He’s one of Bianca’s four brothers, and as the eldest has always felt a sense of legacy and heritage. He has taken over running his family’s horse ranch in Cole’s Hill. He is intrigued with Pippa from running into her around town, but it’s not until she bids on him in the annual Cole’s Hill charity bachelor auction that he gets a chance to really know her.

  Neither of them intends for their night together to be anything more than that. Both of them have complicated lives, but you know how it is with love—we have no control over who we fall for (as much as it would be nice to think that we do) or when it happens. To be honest, that is one of the reasons I love writing romance stories.

  I hope you enjoy Pippa and Diego’s story.

  Happy reading!

  Katherine Garbera

  Katherine Garbera

  Rancher Untamed

  USA TODAY bestselling author Katherine Garbera writes emotional, sexy contemporary romances. An Amazon, Barnes & Noble and iBooks bestselling author, she is also a two-time Maggie Award winner and has sold more than seven million copies of her books worldwide. She loves to hear from readers via her website, www.katherinegarbera.com.

  Books by Katherine Garbera

  Harlequin Desire

  Sons of Privilege

  The Greek Tycoon’s Secret Heir

  The Wealthy Frenchman’s Proposition

  The Spanish Aristocrat’s Woman

  His Baby Agenda

  His Seduction Game Plan

  The Wild Caruthers Bachelors

  Tycoon Cowboy’s Baby Surprise

  The Tycoon’s Fiancée Deal

  Craving His Best Friend’s Ex

  Cole’s Hill Bachelors

  Rancher Untamed

  Visit her Author Profile page at Harlequin.com, or katherinegarbera.com, for more titles.

  Join Harlequin My Rewards today and earn a FREE ebook!

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  This book is dedicated to all believers in

  happy endings and the power of true love.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Excerpt from The Boyfriend Arrangement by Andrea Laurence

  One

  Diego Velasquez felt foolish as he stood in the wings waiting to be announced in the Five Families Country Club bachelor auction. He’d give anything to be with his horses on his ranch, Arbol Verde. He had tried to get out of participating in the annual charity event by making a huge donation, but his mom, a formidable morning newscaster on a Houston station, was on the committee and wanted to see her sons—all four of them—married. So there was no getting out of it, even though every year he and his brothers tried.

  “What do you think, Diego? Got it in you to land a huge bid?” his youngest brother, Inigo, asked.

  Diego was pretty sure Inigo had toyed with the idea of making one of the women who followed him on the F1 racing circuit his temporary bride to avoid the auction. But since their beloved mama was a devout Catholic, a temporary marriage was a no-no, so he’d flown in on his G6 this morning from Japan. Luckily for Inigo the F1 was racing in Austin in two weeks’ time. Or maybe unluckily, because it meant there was no excuse not to be here, he thought as he watched Inigo messing with his bow tie.

  Diego turned to his other two brothers, the twins. Alejandro did some sort of social media management that had made him a millionaire and he wasn’t even thirty. And Mauricio had the golden eye when it came to spotting property in neighborhoods on the cusp of becoming “it” places to live and work.

  Diego was proud of them. They were all the kind of bachelors that the charity auction should be promoting. Sure, it was annoying that Mama was competitive and wanted to see the Velasquez name at the top of the fund-raising leaderboard. But at the end of the day, it was a good cause, wasn’t it?

  “You look like you’re thinking of bolting,” Mo said.

  “I am,” Diego admitted. But before he could make good his escape, there was a commotion on stage.

  “Ethan Caruthers is making a fool of himself over some woman. He just proposed to her,” Inigo said, from his spot near the curtain leading to the stage.

  “Crissanne Moss,” Diego said, coming over to join his youngest brother. “While you were touring the world, this has been the big news in town. Ethan and Crissanne were living together and the Carutherses thought it was leading toward marriage. But then Crissanne’s ex came back from the dead. Literally. People thought he’d died in a plane crash until he showed up in town, very much alive, wanting to know what was going on between his best friend and his ex-girlfriend.”

  “Dios mio, Diego, you sound like the town gossip,” Alejandro said, coming up behind him and slinging his arm over Diego’s shoulders.

  “Don’t remind me. I had dinner with Bi and Derek last night and Ma Caruthers was there spilling the dirt,” Diego said.

&n bsp; “Ah, well, it looks like they might be getting back together,” Inigo said.

  “Yeah, it does,” Diego said. He’d never met a woman he’d make a fool of himself over. Not like Ethan was doing right now. But as he watched Ethan go to Crissanne and embrace her...well, it made him wonder what it would be like to find one special person to settle down with.

  “You’re next, Diego,” the stage manager said.

  “Damn,” he said. His chance to run was gone.

  He heard Mo chuckling evilly behind him and turned to punch him in the shoulder, only softening it at the last moment because if he started a brawl with his brothers his mom would never forgive them.

  “What are you afraid of?” Mo asked. “It’s just harmless fun.”

  Yeah, it was. But as he got older, it felt like he should be retiring from this auction, not settling in as a permanent fixture. “Nothing. You’re right. It’s fun.”

  All four brothers watched the crowd as Diego’s name was announced. Alejandro elbowed him, pointing to Kinley Caruthers’s nanny, Pippa. She was close to the front of the crowd, a look of anticipation lighting up her heart-shaped face.

  She’d caught his eye before. The cute blonde had come to Cole’s Hill two years ago when Kinley moved here. Her hair was a honey blond and she usually wore it in a ponytail, but tonight it fell to her shoulders in soft waves. Her eyes were gray, but not icy at all. It was sort of a soft gray color that made him want to tell her things that he didn’t even want to admit he thought about. Which made her dangerous. Her lips were full, and normally she wore only lip gloss—yeah, he’d spent a lot of time thinking about that mouth of hers. Tonight she’d used a red lipstick that made it impossible for him to look at anything but her mouth. Which was the last thing he needed because he already thought too much about what it would be like to kiss her.

  She wore a figure-hugging dress in a deep blue jewel tone that made her creamy skin look even smoother than normal. He’d known her legs were long and slim because she tended to wear leggings around town, but tonight with a pair of fancy heels on they seemed longer, endless.

  He groaned.

  “Stop being a baby. I swear, Diego, you are the worst at this. I know they are women and not your beloved horses, but it’s not that bad,” Mo said.

  He glanced at his brother. “I know that. I’m not exactly afraid of women.”

  “Your reputation proves that,” Mo said. “So what’s the deal?”

  Mo leaned toward the curtain with him and followed Diego’s gaze.

  “Oh, it’s like that.”

  “Yeah. But she’s not interested and I’m—”

  “Out of time,” Mo said.

  “Mr. Diego Velasquez,” the emcee repeated.

  And Diego, with a shove from Mo, walked out onto the stage.

  * * *

  Pippa Hamilton-Hoff rarely went out and certainly didn’t get dressed up all that often. But here she was, seated at the Caruthers table for the Five Families bachelor auction. Among the descendants of the original five families who’d founded Cole’s Hill, there was a friendly competition to see which one could raise the most money.

  Given that all of the Caruthers brothers were married except for Ethan—and he now seemed engaged—that family’s chances were slim this year. But Pippa had already had other ideas. It certainly helped that she was twenty-five today and would soon have access to her fortune. She knew exactly who she wanted to spend this birthday with.

  Diego Velasquez—a long, tall Texan who looked as comfortable in his tuxedo as he did on the back of a horse. Though if she were being totally honest, she preferred to see him riding his stallion Iago. She’d been out to visit him twice with Penny, the little girl she nannied. Penny was a horse-crazy four-year-old, the daughter of Nathan Caruthers, and Diego was her de facto uncle now that his sister, Bianca, had married Dr. Derek Caruthers.

  The long road that she’d been on for the last four years was almost up. She no longer had to hide who she was—an English heiress who’d run away from her controlling father and had become a nanny while on the run, trying to figure out what to do next. Now that she was twenty-five her inheritance was hers to claim and do what she wanted with. For this one night she still wanted to be young and free. To be with a man who didn’t know about her fortune, who would be happy enough with Pippa the nanny.

  She’d run into him enough times in town to know that it wasn’t coincidence. The owner of a large ranch on the outskirts of town with an internationally acclaimed breeding program didn’t have to drive into Cole’s Hill at 10:00 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday to get coffee, but he did. They always chatted, and she’d been careful to not let it be more than talk, but in her heart...she wanted more. He had the kind of chocolatey-brown eyes that reminded her of drinking hot chocolate, so rich and comforting. Yet at the same time he made her feel alive...feel things that she hadn’t allowed herself to even think about since she’d walked out of that party in New York City four years ago and gotten on a bus.

  Since then, her life had been a lie. One big deceit where she had to keep moving, keep thinking and never let her guard down.

  Until now.

  Tonight.

  Ethan Caruthers had done the romantic thing and now he and Crissanne were in the corner snogging. Meanwhile, Pippa was sitting here with access to her fortune and looking up at Diego Velasquez. He wore his tuxedo with an easy grace that spoke of manners and class, but when their eyes met, she felt that zing. That sexual awareness that reminded her she was more than an heiress on the run. She was a woman with a plan tonight.

  Not the one who’d hidden away for four years or the one who was afraid to claim things for herself.

  No, she wanted Diego and was determined to have him.

  The bidding started, and she raised her hand, increasing the bid. She just kept on until she and one of the women who worked with Diego at his ranch were the only ones left. Chantelle, Pippa thought her name was. Did Chantelle wish for a relationship that was more than boss/employee?

  Pippa knew she was leaving. That as soon as the board of her family’s company, House of Hamilton, read her email and accepted she was who she said she was, Cole’s Hill, Texas, would be a distant memory. But she’d put aside so many things for the past four years. She’d denied herself for too long and she wasn’t going to anymore. She raised her paddle and doubled the current bid, which made the emcee squeal with excitement and Diego raise his eyebrows as he looked right at her.

  “I think someone definitely wants you, Diego, and unless there is another bidder who wants to top that bid...” The emcee glanced around the room, but she’d pushed the bid so high no one else raised a paddle.

  For the first time since Diego walked onto the stage she was truly aware of the room and that everyone’s eyes were on her. She started to sit back down, but Kinley put her hand on Pippa’s butt. “Get your man, girl.”

  She had to smile at the way Kinley said it. Despite the fact that they had grown up in two very different worlds, Kin was a soul sister. Pippa had always believed that something stronger than coincidence had led them to meet on that Vegas bus the day Kinley went into labor. Pippa had been riding the bus trying to figure out her next move, since she was out of cash, and Kinley had been on her way to work when her water broke.

  “I guess I will,” Pippa said, carefully placing her paddle on the table and going up to claim him.

  It was only for tonight, but then again, she felt tonight was all she’d had. She’d had four birthdays on her own in Texas, each of them fraught with tension and confusion. Only her determination had brought her to this moment, and as she climbed up the stairs at the side of the stage and went to him, she didn’t worry about any of that. As she got closer, she noticed his smile, how tonight it wasn’t as bold as it usually was. But it was still sexy and charming, and she admitted to herself she was smitten.