Ambushed!

Present Day

Gabe Chance hadn't expected to get all choked up over riding in Shoshone's annual Fourth of July parade. For the past ten years he'd spent summers competing in cutting-horse events and hadn't been home to take part in this nonsense. But he was home now and it was the first parade without his dad. Milling around the staging area without Jonathan Chance barking orders seemed plain wrong.

His two older brothers were pretending they weren't affected. That was easier for Jack, who was four years ahead of Gabe and eons ahead of the human race in his ability to hide his feelings. Nick was struggling a bit. Gabe could see it in his green eyes. As for their mom--well, Sarah had chosen to wear shades for the occasion. Good call.

Thank God Jack had vetoed Nick's typically sappy idea of tying Gold Rush, their dad's butterscotch paint, behind the Last Chance wagon driven by Emmett Sterling, the ranch foreman. Talk about maudlin. As a compromise, Nick was riding Gold Rush, because a Fourth of July parade wouldn't seem right without that flashy horse prancing down Main Street.

Nick kept close to the wagon because his main squeeze, Dominique Jeffries, was riding in it. She was a photographer based in Indiana and was only here for the long weekend, but from the way those two lovebirds were acting, Gabe predicted she'd soon relocate.

Naturally she was shooting a bunch of pictures of Nick on that horse. She'd never met their dad, so she had no reason to be sentimental today, but every time Gabe looked over at Gold Rush all tricked out in his dad's silver-studded saddle, a baseball-size lump clogged his throat. He needed a distraction and he needed one now.

Well, hallelujah. Just beyond the staging area a gorgeous redhead was struggling to control an Appaloosa. The gelding first tried brushing her off against a post. Then he headed for a patch of grass several yards away and paid no attention as she attempted to steer him back.

Gabe rose in his stirrups and pointed to the redhead as he hollered over at Jack. "I'm gonna help her out. I'll be right back."

Jack gave him a stern look that was pure Jonathan Chance, Senior. "Don't get lost. Parade starts in fifteen minutes."

"I'll be here." Gabe wasn't crazy about the way Jack was issuing orders these days, but their dad's will had put his oldest brother solidly in charge of the ranch. That set Jack and Gabe on a collision course, because suddenly Jack was questioning whether the Last Chance should fund Gabe's cutting-horse events.

Their dad had always said that Gabe's presence on the circuit boosted sales of the ranch's registered paints, and Gabe's horse Top Drawer was only ten grand shy of the required earnings for the American Cutting Horse Association's Hall of Fame. But apparently Jack viewed Gabe's summers away as a drain on the system. Maybe the lack of support was affecting Gabe's concentration, because he wasn't winning as much prize money on Top Drawer this summer, which made for a vicious cycle.

He'd unwittingly brought the issue to a head during an unscheduled trip home with an injured mare he'd saved from the slaughterhouse. Jack had seized the opportunity to keep Gabe at the ranch for a while.

Gabe figured he could change his brother's attitude eventually, but for today he'd set the conflict aside. It was a holiday, one that made them all super-aware that their dad was gone. He'd try to keep the peace, mostly for his mother's...