Her Homecoming Cowboy. Debra Clopton

      

      A Little Boy’s Hero

      After losing his mother, Annie Ridgeway’s sweet six-year-old nephew thinks he’s an orphan. Turns out the father he never knew is bull rider Colt Holden—the boy’s hero. Before bringing them together as father and son, Annie has to make sure Colt is as good a man as he is a cowboy. When she arrives in Mule Hollow, she finds the handsome, honorable man guarding his burdened heart against caring for anyone or anything. Will a little boy’s devotion be the fighting chance they all need?

      “Honey, let go of Mr. Holden,” Annie said to her nephew.

      Bright eyes beamed back at her. “But, Aunt Annie, I’ve been waiting for-evvv-er.”

      She smiled and gently tugged the little boy’s arm away from Colt’s leg. Looking up, her gaze locked once more with Colt’s alarmed brown eyes.

      Ever since she’d found the letter that revealed who Leo’s daddy was, God had laid a heavy burden on her heart. It had taken her house burning down to make her figure out what she wanted to do. And that was to come find out what kind of man Colt was.

      She’d been here all of ten minutes and things weren’t looking so good. “I’m sorry about this. I guess I should introduce myself. I’m Annie Ridgeway, and this is my nephew, Leo.”

      “Our house burned down and my room is gone,” Leo said, staring up at Colt.

      Colt’s brows crinkled in dismay. “Y-your house burned down?”

      She didn’t miss the flash of compassion in his reaction.

      So the man does have a heart buried in there somewhere.

      DEBRA CLOPTON

      First published in 2005, Debra Clopton is an award-winning, multi-published novelist who has won a Book-sellers Best Award, an Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award, a Golden Quill, the Cataromance Reviewers’ Choice Award, RT Book Reviews Book of the Year, and Harlequin.com’s Readers’ Choice Award. She was also a 2004 finalist in the prestigious RWA Golden Heart, a triple finalist in the American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award and most recently a finalist in the 2011 Gayle Wilson Award for Excellence.

      Married for 22 blessed years to her high school sweetheart, Wayne Clopton, Debra was widowed in 2003. Happily, in 2008, a couple of friends played match-maker and set her up on a blind date with Chuck Parks. Instantly hitting it off, Debra and Chuck were married in 2010. They live in the country with Chuck’s two high-school-age sons. Debra has two adult sons, a lovely daughter-in-law and beautiful granddaughter—life is good! Her greatest awards are her family and spending time with them. You can reach Debra at P.O. Box 1125, Madisonville, TX 77864 or at debraclopton.com.

       Her Homecoming Cowboy

      Debra Clopton

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      There is a season for everything,

      and a time for every activity under heaven.

      —Ecclesiastes 3:1

      This book is dedicated to my good friends

      Melanie Trant and Joanna Harris...

      your hearts of gold and sassy attitudes made me fans from the first moments we met! As they say in Texas, God did “real good” when He ran our paths together. Thanks for being my friends.

      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

       Chapter Fifteen

       Chapter Sixteen

       Chapter Seventeen

       Epilogue

       Dear Reader

       Questions for Discussion

      Chapter One

       “Well, hi there, Colt Holden, bull rider extraordinaire. My goodness you’re breathtaking to watch on a bull.... Oh, and by the way, I’m here to tell you that you’re a daddy!”

      Annie Ridgeway recited the words in her head. Nope, that was certainly not the way to break the news. Though humor did lighten up a hard situation most times, in this case...not so much.

      Annie and her sister, Jennifer, had always had very different ideas about life. Following rodeos around and being too friendly with the cowboys who rode bulls and broncs had been, in Annie’s view, a terrible thing. Then again, she and her sister had always been opposites. Jennifer thought Annie was a stick-in-the-mud, and she thought Jennifer was a...well, to put it bluntly, a lot too loose with her affections.

      The two sisters had basically disagreed about almost everything right up until the day Jennifer died a year ago.

      They had disagreed about everything, that is, but their love for Leo. On loving Leo they had agreed completely.

      What was best for Leo—on that they’d remained consistent—disagreeing till the very end.

      Annie started over. “Mr. Holden, you don’t know this, but you are the daddy of my six-year-old nephew, Leo. Surprise!”

      Groaning, she bit her lip and nibbled on that straightforward approach. It was blunt. But it was the truth.

      Six years. That was a long time to keep something as important as this hidden. Whether the rowdy cowboy had wanted to know or not, he should have been told.

      That ended today.

      Annie had decided today was the last day she was going to be responsible for such a significant piece of her nephew’s life. Having made this monumental decision hadn’t made it easy for her. Oh, no. She’d be lying if she claimed that. It had been down-right hard; in fact, God had actually gotten a little rough with her to get her attention!

      She tried again to squelch the need to