Excerpt of Beyond Reason by Kat Martin

For the second time since her return to Iron Springs, Carly Drake stood in a graveyard. On the opposite side of the coffin, between rows of granite headstones, the Hernandez family huddled together, a wife weeping for her husband, children crying for their father.

Carly bowed her head, her heart aching for the loss of a man she had known only briefly. With her grandfather's recent passing, she understood the pain Miguel's family was suffering. Joe Drake, the man who had raised her, the only father Carly had ever known, had died just five weeks ago.

But unlike a heart that had simply worn itself out, Miguel Hernandez, Grandpa Joe's number-one driver, had been shot in the head, the criminals who had committed the truck hijacking still on the loose.

In the weeks since her grandfather’s death, Carly had been doing her best to run Drake Trucking, to keep the company afloat and its employees' checks paid. She was doing the best she knew how, but Miguel had been killed on her watch and Carly felt responsible.

The harsh Texas wind kicked up, whipping blades of grass in front of the casket draped with a blanket of blood-red roses. The end of September weather was fickle, hot and humid one day, rainy and overcast the next. Strands of fine blond hair tore free from the tight bun at the nape of her neck. As Carly smoothed the strands back into place, her gaze paused on a man at the far edge of the mourners, a head taller than the men in Miguel's Hispanic family, taller than most of the truckers or any other man in the crowd, big and broad-shouldered, dark brown hair and a strikingly handsome face.

Carly leaned over and spoke quietly to the woman beside her, Brittany Haworth, a willowy brunette who had been her best friend in high school. As if it had been just days instead of years, their friendship had resumed the day Carly had returned to Iron Springs.

"The man across from us..." Carly said. "The tall one? He was also at Grandpa Joe's funeral. I remember him going through the line to pay his respects, but I was hurting so much I barely paid attention. Do you know who he is?"

Brittany looked at her, about her same height as Carly’s five-foot-seven inches. "You’re kidding, right? You don't recognize him? Obviously you don't read the gossip rags. He's in the newspapers all the time. That's Lincoln Cain. You know, the multi-millionaire?"

Carly's gaze swung across the casket on the mound above the grave to the big man in the perfectly tailored black suit and crisp white shirt. "That's Cain?"

As if he could feel her watching him, his eyes swung to hers, remained steady on her face. Carly couldn't seem to look away. There was power in that bold, probing stare. She could actually feel her pulse accelerate. "So what's Cain doing in Iron Springs?"

"He owns a ranch here. He was born close to here-- Pleasant Hill, I think. He left to make his fortune, came back a few years ago mega-rich. It's a fascinating story. You'll have to Google him sometime."

"I still don't understand why he was at Joe's funeral, or why he's here today."

"For one thing, he was one of Joe's competitors. Texas American Transportation is one of the biggest trucking companies in the world."

She nodded. "Tex/Am Transport. I know that, but—"

"Cain credits Joe Drake as one of the people who put him on the path to success. The Iron Springs Gazette published a couple of articles about him and Joe."

Guilt swept over her. She'd been gone so much. Off to college at the U of Texas in Austin ten years ago, which her grandfather had paid for, then a job in Houston as a flight attendant.

She had always wanted to see the world so instead of coming home to help Grandpa Joe, she'd gone to work for Delta. She been transferred here and there, worked out of New York for a while, came back to Iron Springs a couple of times a year, but her visits never lasted more than a few days before she was gone again, flying somewhere else, off on another adventure.

Five weeks ago, she'd quit her job, given up her apartment in San Francisco where she had been based, and come home to stay. Joe's heart condition had worsened. She'd started worrying about him, decided to come back and help him run Drake Trucking, take over some of the responsibilities and lesson the stress he was under.

She'd only been in Iron Springs a week when Joe had suffered a massive heart attack. He'd died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. By the time she'd received the call, rushed out of the office and driven like a maniac to Iron Springs Memorial, Joe was gone.

She hadn't been there for him when he needed her.

Just as she had so many times before, Carly had failed him.