The Billionaire's Heir(3)

This meadow was far away from the big ranch-house, which suggested to Ivan she wasn’t totally happy living there and came here for an escape. The staff quarters were located out here – consisting of twenty-or-so little wooden cottages, where the ranch-hands and their families lived. Samira had always loved nature, and Ivan imagined she came here because she loved the colorful flowers and the bright green fields all around. He pictured her picking the flowers and dreaming of him…

He resisted glancing back. But seeing her again was like winning the gold medal – it was like stepping into paradise. He was desperate to embrace her and kiss her; to make love to her out here in the pasture. He wanted to find out what she’d been doing all these months – what she was doing on this ranch. He needed her to know he’d never stopped thinking about her – not for one second.

But it wasn’t something you could just blurt out, was it? “Hi, babe. You know you thought I was dead? Well, actually, here I am…”

But for now he felt triumphant to have found her. He’d spent the last sixth months operating on a different level of reality, where all that had mattered was his obsession with finding her.

Thank goodness Tariq had vaguely known she was on a Texas ranch. It’d at least given Ivan something to go on. And his family had generally been supportive of his obsessive search for her, although they were worried about how urgently obsessed he’d become. The only times he’d been away from Texas recently was when he’d gone back to see the family in New York for birthdays.

Shit – that reminded him, he needed to go back for Adam’s wedding this weekend. He’d only just got here yesterday afternoon, and he was reluctant to leave without Samira, meaning he now only had four days to tell her everything and convince her to come with him.

Maybe he should hurry this reunion   up...

For months, he’d traveled from ranch to ranch, taking on work as a hired hand, telling the ranch managers that he knew how to handle a horse. That clearly wasn’t true – he hadn’t ridden for years before he’d gone undercover as a cowboy. But he’d learned quickly, for survival – discovering that it took brute strength and guile to be a ranch hand – instead of his usual intellect and charm. Luckily, he was pretty good with his hands, so he’d been able to pull it off. But truthfully he couldn’t wait to get back into his business suit – and Samira back into his arms.

He’d avoided making friends, preferring to be on his own so he could focus on his search for her. He’d physically and mentally exhausted himself on this mission – but he’d ensured he’d kept in good shape for her – knowing how much she loved lying in his sculpted arms – which were desperate to hold her.

He swiped a glance at his horse, who was looking innocent after all the bucking and rearing. “Did you know it was her?” he asked the horse. “Is that why you behaved so bad? To get her attention?”

The horse snorted and shook its head in the heat.

“I know,” Ivan said. “I need to figure out how to tell her the truth without freaking her out. But let me tell you now, horse, I can do it without your dramatics.”

The horse whinnied in reply, and Ivan smiled, forgiving him for throwing him off. But… actually, it hadn’t been the horse that had made the noise. Ivan stopped dead. A woman was screaming…

Samira! He let go the horse and bolted back to the creek, rushing through the long grass, which suddenly seemed thick and obstructive like tar. His heart plunged to his knees as he saw her struggling in the water, and he remembered she couldn’t swim. Fuck! The current had swept her twenty yards downstream, and her flailing body was losing strength against the pounding rapids.

Without thinking, Ivan ripped off his shirt and jumped into the rushing icy water. Using all his power to struggle against the rapids, he propelled himself through the thundering water that splashed up into his eyes, blinding him. He fought against the tide refusing to let it beat him, slowly making progress – drawing on all his frantic strength.

He caught her up and shouted above the roaring water. “Samira – grab my hand!”

His heart sunk as he saw she’d blacked out, so he reached out to grab her, but she slipped from his fingers as the rapids pulled her away.

He urgently pushed himself after her, and thankfully her unconscious body was swept against a boulder, giving Ivan the time to reach out and pull her into his arms. Treading water like crazy, he hooked one arm around the boulder and paused to catch his breath, panting heavily and holding on tight as the water pounded hard – preventing them both from being dragged under again. He gazed at Samira and realized she was still out cold – her head had dropped back, and she was flopping against him like a ragdoll. Her beautiful face dripped with water, and her eyes – which were usually so full of fiery fight – rolled back lifelessly.