The Rancher's Unexpected Family. Myrna Mackenzie

       THE LARKVILLE LEGACY

       A secret letter … two families changed for ever

      Welcome to the small town of Larkville, Texas, where the Calhoun family has been ranching for generations.

      Meanwhile, in New York, the Patterson family rules America’s highest echelons of society.

      Both families are totally unprepared for the news that they are linked by a shocking secret.

      For hidden on the Calhoun ranch is a letter that’s been lying unopened and unread—until now!

      Meet the two families in all eight books of this brand-new series:

      THE COWBOY COMES HOME

      by Patricia Thayer

      SLOW DANCE WITH THE SHERIFF

      by Nikki Logan

      TAMING THE BROODING CATTLEMAN

      by Marion Lennox

      THE RANCHER’S UNEXPECTED FAMILY

      by Myrna Mackenzie

      HIS LARKVILLE CINDERELLA

      by Melissa McClone

      THE SECRET THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING

      by Lucy Gordon

      THE SOLDIER’S SWEETHEART

      by Soraya Lane

      THE BILLIONAIRE’S BABY SOS

      by Susan Meier

      Dear Reader,

      There’s just something about a cowboy. And there’s also something about a man whose heart is so battered that he’s going to protect it at all costs. He’s going to say no to anything that might even imply love or romance. So when Holt Calhoun walked onto the page I knew he would be a man who knew a lot more about the words no and no way than he ever planned to know about yes. I just knew that he was going to be trouble.

      And Kathryn is going to be the worst kind of woman for him. She’s very much a yes kind of woman. She’s a woman who takes on causes, a woman who just isn’t going to take no for an answer—at least not when it applies to a cause she believes in. Her heart, now … that’s another matter. She’s almost as protective of her heart as Holt is of his. Maybe more. Hmm, more trouble …

      Then things get worse. Kathryn has a plan—a big plan. And, circumstances being what they turn out to be, there is just no help for this city girl and her cowboy. With Kathryn’s big plan in the works, she and Holt are just going to have to mix it up. It’s going to get messy. Hearts might be involved. The fact that Kathryn is pregnant and Holt has a secret that makes it difficult for him even to think about babies is absolutely going to come into play.

      Too bad that Holt and Kathryn seem to sizzle every time they get near each other. Because—oh, yes—there’s going to be trouble. But it’s going to be the fun kind of trouble.

      I just couldn’t wait to jump into writing this story. I hope you enjoy all the trouble, and the sizzle, and the fun.

      Best wishes

       Myrna Mackenzie

      About the Author

      MYRNA MACKENZIE spent her childhood being a good student, a reader and an avid daydreamer. She knew more about what she wasn’t qualified to be than what she actually wanted to be (no athletic skill, so pole vaulting was out; not a glib speaker, so not likely to become a politician; poor swimmer, so the door to marine biology was closed). Fortunately daydreaming turned out to be an absolutely perfect qualification for a writer, and today Myrna feels blessed that she gets to make her living writing down her daydreams about ranchers, princesses, billionaires and ordinary people whose lives are changed by love. It is an awesome job!

      When she’s not writing Myrna spends her time reading, seeing the latest (or not so latest) movies, hiking, collecting recipes she seldom makes, trying to knit or crochet and writing a blog (which is so much fun!). Born in a small town in Dunklin County, Missouri, she now divides her time between two lakes in Chicago and Wisconsin. Visit her online at www.myrnamackenzie.com or write to her at PO Box 225, La Grange, IL 60525, USA.

      The Rancher’s

      Unexpected

      Family

      Myrna Mackenzie

      www.millsandboon.co.uk

      CHAPTER ONE

      KATHRYN ELLIS closed her eyes and took a deep breath. What she was about to do, seeking out Holt Calhoun when he clearly didn’t want to be found …

      She swallowed hard. It had been years since she’d seen him and she tried not to envision Holt with his dark good looks and those brown eyes flecked with gold that pinned a person to a wall. The fact that she had once wanted those eyes to pin her, anywhere, was beside the point. She’d been young and naive enough not to understand what she was asking for then. Now she was older, a bit battered and not nearly as naive. She’d learned that a forceful, controlling man was the worst kind of nightmare for a woman like her.

      Yet she was voluntarily walking right into the lion’s den.

      “So walk,” she whispered as she climbed from her barely-held-together car and started toward Holt’s family home on the Double Bar C Ranch. During the few years she’d lived here, she had driven past the ranch and seen the big white house in the distance but she’d never been inside … or even on the grounds. She’d wanted to be invited in back when she’d been a teenager and called Larkville home. Now she didn’t.

      But she was going in anyway.

      Her heartbeat thudding in her throat, she rang the doorbell and waited, willing herself to stay strong, stand tall, look professional.

      But the baby kicked at that moment, and despite the fact that she should be used to such things by now, she splayed one hand over her abdomen and glanced down.

      The door opened and she jumped. To her relief and regret, it wasn’t Holt but Nancy Griffith, his housekeeper. The woman had kind eyes, but right now she looked a bit concerned.

      “I’m sorry. I didn’t call ahead, but—” Kathryn cleared her throat, trying not to sound nervous “—is Holt around?”

      Nancy smiled at her. “I’m afraid he’s not. Since he returned from, well, I guess everybody knows where he was.”

      I don’t, Kathryn thought. Because she had been determined not to be one bit curious about Holt’s personal life. No doubt a woman had been involved, Kathryn couldn’t help thinking. Holt had always had women trailing after him.

      “But he’s home now, right?” she asked. “I’d heard that he’d returned.”

      “He’s home, but he’s not here. Since he came back, he’s been so tied up in the office that today he declared he was getting out on the range and nothing was going to stop him.”

      Including me, Kathryn thought. She’d tried to call Holt several times this week, even this morning. He hadn’t picked up. Nor had he replied to her requests for an appointment to see him. She was pretty sure that he knew what she wanted. Maybe he’d heard about it from the mayor. Clearly, he wasn’t enthused. She’d been warned not to expect much.

      She didn’t expect anything, but she wanted—

      No. Don’t go there, she ordered herself. Wanting wasn’t good enough. Another lesson she’d learned too well. If something was going to happen, she had to make it happen. She couldn’t rely on or trust anyone else.

      “I really need to see him. If he’s on the range, could you point me in his direction?” she asked.

      Nancy