Roughneck Cowboy. Marin Thomas

      

      “Ask me to stay,” Travis said.

      Sara sucked in a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

      “Stay,” she whispered. I must be crazy. Sara stared at her and Travis’s reflection in the hall mirror. Her dress made her feel beautiful and desirable—but would she feel that way once it came off? Or would Travis see the plain Jane everyone in town saw?

      Her gaze collided with Travis’s in the mirror and the heat in his eyes reassured her.

      He slid a finger beneath her dress strap and moved it aside. She shivered at the feel of his fingertips on her skin.

      “What are you afraid of?” he asked.

      “Nothing.” Everything. Women like her didn’t win the hearts of fantasy men like Travis. He was out of her league.

      Travis brushed aside a strand of hair clinging to her cheek. “Fess up, Sara Sanders, because when I get you upstairs there’s not going to be any room in that bed for doubts.”

      Dear Reader,

      Welcome back to Tulapoint, Oklahoma. When I began writing about the Cartwright siblings in The Cowboy and the Angel (November 2008), A Cowboy’s Promise (April 2009) and Samantha’s Cowboy (August 2009), I had no idea there would be a fourth sibling. Then my imagination took off. What if there was another son—a son the family never knew existed?

      I wondered how I’d feel if one day I learned that the father I was led to believe wanted nothing to do with me, never even knew I’d existed. American Romance is all about family. When family dynamics suddenly change in a dramatic way, everyone’s lives are thrown into chaos. Travis’s struggle to claim his rightful place in the family encounters a snag when he falls for Sara—his father’s neighbor and longtime nemesis. Travis is torn between wanting to please his father and being with the one woman he trusts his heart with. Then Travis and Sara discover the secret responsible for the years of bad feelings between the families. Will their love be enough to heal the pain and bring both families together?

      I hope you enjoy visiting the Cartwright family one last time. For more information on my books and to sign up for my newsletter please visit www.marinthomas.com. Information on Harlequin American Romance authors and their books can be found at www.harauthors.blogspot.com.

      And if you like rodeo cowboys, get ready for my new Harlequin American Romance series…Rodeo Rebels! Look for Rodeo Daddy available in April 2011.

      Yippie yi yay!

      Marin

      Roughneck Cowboy

      Marin Thomas

      ABOUT THE AUTHOR

      Marin Thomas grew up in Janesville, Wisconsin. She attended the University of Arizona in Tucson on a Division I basketball scholarship. In 1986 she graduated with a B.A. in radio-television and married her college sweetheart in a five-minute ceremony in Las Vegas. Marin was inducted in May 2005 into the Janesville Sports Hall of Fame for her basketball accomplishments. Even though she now calls Chicago home, she’s a living testament to the old adage “You can take the girl out of the small town, but you can’t take the small town out of the girl.” Marin’s heart still lies in small-town life, which she loves to write about in her books.

      To my niece, Tylesha

      Find your inspiration—

      the one thing that feeds your soul.

       That makes you yearn to be more than you

       ever imagined you could be. Chase after it

       and don’t look back. There will be times you

       want to give up. Don’t. Dig harder. Longer. Deeper.

       The good stuff is always at the bottom.

       Everything you need to succeed is already inside you.

       Believe in yourself and dream big.

      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 One

      “I gotta use the bathroom, Dad.”

      Well, shoot. Lost in thought, Travis Cartwright had all but forgotten that his eight-year-old daughter, Charlie, rode in the front seat with him. They’d departed Houston, Texas, hours ago and she’d yet to release the glower from her face.

      He sucked at fatherhood and had no one to blame but himself. His job as a roughneck kept him separated from his daughter for weeks on end, then whenever he returned to the mainland, he spent most of his time catching up on sleep and yard work.

      “Keep an eye out for a place to stop.” Another ten miles and they’d clear the outskirts of Tulsa, Oklahoma. From there they’d drive northwest until they reached their final destination—the Lazy River Ranch. “I’m hungry. How about you, kiddo?”

      One shoulder, no bigger than the bottom of a coffee mug, lifted, remained elevated a second, then dropped back into place. Her elfin face stared straight ahead, pale eyelashes blinking rhythmically in time with the windshield wipers.

      Keep trying. “Snow’s coming down faster.” As dusk descended, flakes danced in the truck’s headlights and ribbons of white swirled across the road. Was he nuts for making this trip two days before Thanksgiving? “Maybe there’ll be enough snow to play in tomorrow morning.”

      “I hate snow.”

      Not the greatest attitude, but he’d take words over a shrug any day. Charlie was nothing more than an imp—a blond-headed sprite with blue eyes. He’d called her Twinkie as a toddler. Dripping wet, his daughter didn’t weigh more than forty-five pounds. What Charlie lacked in size she made up for in pure stubbornness.

      Charlie inherited her slight build and fair coloring from her mother. Julie had split right after Charlie’s birth and hadn’t bothered to leave a forwarding address. Lucky for him Travis’s mother, Charlotte, had been there to help him raise Charlie.

      I’m sorry, Travis. So sorry. His mother’s dying words clanged around inside his brain. He squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them wide. Silence—thank God. Since her death, his mother’s voice had been a constant presence in his head.

      “Maybe your grandfather has horses.”

      The question thunked between him and Charlie like a boulder hitting the pavement. Travis strangled the steering wheel, recalling how often his mother had cautioned him that, if he didn’t pay more attention to his daughter, they’d grow apart. He’d heard the warnings but had ignored them. He’d counted on his mother always being there for him and Charlie and for there always being another time or another day to spend with his daughter. Well, another time and another day had arrived and were right now chasing his anxious ass down an Oklahoma highway. “I bet there’s a dog on the ranch.” They’d never owned a pet, because his mother had been allergic to animal fur. Fortunately, a neighbor allowed Charlie to play with his golden retriever, and that was almost as good as having her own dog. “There’s probably a cat or two in the barn.”

      More shrugs.

      He yearned to reassure his daughter that everything would be okay, but feared neither one of them would emerge from the wreckage of Charlotte