The Rancher's Second Chance. Brenda Minton

      

      Reunited with the Cowboy

      Pregnant and running scared, Grace Thomas turns to the one man she knows she can count on: rancher Brody Martin. The charismatic Texan promises to protect her, but she knows he’ll never forgive her for breaking his heart and taking up with his former best friend. Given Brody’s own unsettled past, Grace understands that the guarded cowboy needs time to trust her again. Yet as he helps her prepare for the baby’s arrival, Grace knows she’s found the perfect father for her child. But can she dare to dream of a second chance with the man she’s never stopped loving?

      “I’m so sorry for hurting you, Brody.”

      “You’ve said that before and I get it. But I’m not going back.” He’d believed she’d be in his life forever. But then she’d walked away.

      “I can’t undo what I did last year.” She touched her belly. “I can’t undo this. I also can’t give this baby up. She’s mine and I won’t let her down, even though I seem to be letting everyone else down these days.”

      “That’s the most important thing, Grace. Be there for him, and if you do that, you’ve done everything right.”

      “She,” Grace said as she walked away. “My baby is a girl.”

      “Nope, that’s a boy you’re carrying, Grace Thomas. I’ll eat my hat if it isn’t,” he called out after her.

      The thinnest laugh carried back to him as she walked into the department store. He watched her go, thinking back to when he’d first met her. She’d had it all, but she’d wanted to spend a year being a cowgirl.

      He’d loved her fearlessness. And then he’d just plain loved her.

      He still loved her, but he was determined not to let it show.

      BRENDA MINTON lives in the Ozarks with her husband, children, cats, dogs and strays. She is a pastor’s wife, Sunday school teacher, coffee addict and sleep deprived. Not in that order. Her dream to be an author for Mills & Boon started somewhere in the pages of a romance novel about a young American woman stranded in a Spanish castle. Her dreams came true, and twenty-plus books later, she is an author hoping to inspire young girls to dream.

      The Rancher’s

      Second Chance

      Brenda Minton

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      MILLS & BOON

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      And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.

      —Romans 5:3–4

      To the readers, for your many prayers

      and messages of encouragement.

      The best journey is a journey with friends.

      To Melissa Endlich.

      I hope you know how much I appreciate you, your insight, your encouragement.

      Contents

       Cover

       Back Cover Text

       Introduction

       About the Author

       Title Page

       Bible Verse

       Dedication

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

       Extract

       Copyright

Chapter One

      The pounding on the front door roused Brody Martin from the deepest, most pain-free sleep he’d had in a good long while. He groaned, covering his face with his arm. No way was he going to the door. No way in the world was he waking up to go work cattle with Duke, his older brother, when it was miserable and pouring down rain outside.

      He’d prefer dry and miserable inside to wet and miserable outside. It wasn’t worth it. Ask his joints, they’d agree. At one month short of twenty-seven he felt as if those cattle they worked had trampled all over him.

      Whoever had been at the door had stopped pounding, and he closed his eyes, ready to go back to sleep. The next thing he knew someone was outside his window yelling at him to wake up. When a hand hit the window, the dog came out from under the blankets, barking, ready to defend Brody and the house. Brody pulled the dog back and ordered it to hush. The white mop bared its teeth and crouched next to him.

      “Brody, you’ve got to let me in. He’s going to kill me.”