Between Two Cowboys
Description
Six years after one reckless night rewrote her future, Ivory Hill has carved out a fiercely private life in her hometown-one built around responsibility, routine, and little voices that depend on her. The past was supposed to stay buried, along with Kameron Banks and Colt McKenna, the two cowboys she never forgot. But when they return as the new owners of her family ranch, old tension ignites and unanswered questions surface. As proximity blurs boundaries and chemistry resurfaces, Ivory must protect what she's built while facing a truth that refuses to stay hidden-and a future far more complicated than she ever planned.
Chapter 1
Feb 23, 2026
POV Ivory
Four missed calls. No response.
I wiped the sweat from my forehead and checked my phone again, the August sun already brutal at eight in the morning. Stella knew better.
The intern had been assigned to monitor Bonnie, an old mare recovering from a leg injury that could turn fatal if left unattended. Colic. Infection. A dozen things that could kill a horse in the time it took my intern to ignore her damn phone.
The main stable was empty when I arrived. Recovery stall, vacant. I called out once, twice, then heard it—a muffled sound from the old tack room at the back.
I shoved the door open.
Stella's scrubs were bunched around her hips, her back pressed against the wall of saddles. A man stood between her thighs, his shirt hanging open, tan uniform pants shoved down just enough.
I just see broad shoulders, dark hair, hands gripping my intern's bare thighs like he owned her.
My stomach dropped through the floor when he turned.
Ryan. My brother. The town sheriff, badge still pinned to the shirt he hadn't bothered to remove, frozen mid-motion like a deer caught in headlights.
Relief hit me first—sharp and shameful. No husband to betray me. No man in my life at all. Just my idiot brother screwing my intern against my saddles.
But it wasn't them that stole my breath.
It was the room. The smell of leather and hay. Dusty horse blankets piled in the corner. This room. This exact spot where six years ago, whiskey had burned my throat and two pairs of hands had learned my body.
A wicked grin in the dark. Quiet intensity that made me feel seen.
I shoved the memory down hard.
"Get dressed," I said, my voice cold enough to freeze the August heat. "Now."
Stella scrambled for her clothes, face scarlet. "Dr. Hill, I'm so sorry, I just… We were only—"
"Only what? Only abandoning a patient who could have colicked in the hour you've been unreachable? Only deciding your love life matters more than whether Bonnie lives or dies? She's fifteen years old, Stella. She trusted us to care for her, and you left her alone so you could get screwed against my saddles."
Ryan stepped forward, buckling his belt with fumbling hands.
"Ivory, listen, this isn't what it looks like. Stella and I have been seeing each other for a few weeks now, and I came by to bring her coffee before my shift. Things just got out of hand, but—"
"I don't care who you're sleeping with, Ryan." I turned on him. "I care that my intern abandoned her post. I care that I've been calling for an hour while a horse could have been dying. You want to explain your love life? Save it for someone who gives a damn."
He opened his mouth, then closed it. Something flickered across his face—hurt, maybe, or embarrassment. Good. He should be embarrassed. The town sheriff, sneaking around like a teenager in my tack room.
"We'll talk later," he muttered, grabbing his hat from where it had fallen.
"Don't bother."
He left without another word. My phone buzzed in my pocket. I glanced at the screen—Dad—and silenced it. I didn't have time for him right now.
"Stella." I kept my voice level, professional. "Go find Bonnie. Check her vitals, her leg, her gut sounds. If anything is wrong, anything at all, you call me immediately. Understood?"
"Yes, Dr. Hill. I'm so sorry. It won't happen again, I swear."
"Then prove it."
The mare was fine—thank God—but I made Stella redo the poultice wrap three times until it met my standards.
Then I supervised her work with cold precision, correcting every small mistake, making her explain each step out loud. By the time I was satisfied, I'd also checked on two recovering cattle and an hour had slipped away.
I climbed into my mud-splattered truck and drove toward my cottage on the far edge of the ranch property, running through my mental list:
Pick up the triplets from Marisol by noon.
Call the feed supplier about the delayed order.
Figure out why Luke had been wetting the bed again—stress, probably, but about what?
When I pulled up to the cottage, my father was already outside waiting.
He stood at the steps, his face pale, hands trembling at his sides. Not the Parkinson's tremor I'd grown used to. Something worse. Something I'd never seen before.
"Dad?" I slammed the truck door. "What's wrong? I saw you called, I was dealing with—"
"The new owners are here."
I stopped walking. "What owners?"
He couldn't meet my eyes. The explanation came in painful fragments, each word landing like a stone in my chest.
"My condition is progressing faster than Dr. Morris expected. The debt… Ivory, I couldn't manage the ranch anymore, and I couldn't leave it to you either. You're a veterinarian. A single mother with three children and no husband. I couldn't put that weight on you. I had to sell. I'm sorry…"
"You sold the ranch." The words felt foreign in my mouth. "You sold our home without telling me? Without asking if I wanted to fight for it?"
"I was trying to protect you, sweetheart. The contract keeps you on as the ranch veterinarian. You won't lose your practice. And you won't lose the house where the kids live. I made sure of that."
"Who?" My voice cracked. "Who did you sell it to?"
The cottage door swung open behind him and two massive figures stepped onto the porch. I recognized them immediately. How couldn’t I…
Kameron Banks—all dark curls falling past his collar, ice-blue eyes and that devil's grin I'd never been able to forget. And Colt McKenna—his shoulders now so broad they’re blocking the doorway, and the same sandy hair and hazel eyes already fixed on my face with an intensity that made my skin burn.
My older brother's ex-best friends. The boys who used to work this land every summer, who ate at our family table.
The ones I'd loved desperately and secretly at different points in my teenage years—before they'd made it clear I was nothing but Ryan's silly little sister. A nuisance to be teased, dismissed, forgotten.
The same men who'd touched me in that tack room six years ago when I was twenty-two. Who'd made me feel things I'd never felt before or since. Who'd vanished by morning.
Lily's ice-blue eyes. Luke's sandy hair. Levi's crooked smile.
I didn't know which man had fathered my children. I'd never let myself find out. Six years of silence, and now they stood on my father's porch like they owned the place.
Because they did.
Between Two Cowboys
120 Chapters
120
Contents
Save
Passion Exclusive
My Passion
Copyright © 2026 Passion
XOLY LIMITED, 400 S. 4th Street, Suite 500, Las Vegas, NV 89101