One Summer At The Ranch. Rebecca Winters

Cowboy Who Cares

      Former marine Carson Lundgren’s Wyoming ranch is a place where families of fallen war heroes can find joy and healing. The wounded vet is eager to give back, while rebuilding his own life. The last thing he expected is to fall for his first guest and her young son.

      Widow Tracy Baretta and six-year-old Johnny have been struggling since losing their husband and father. When they meet Carson, his strength, patience and generosity—along with how great he looks on a horse—leads little Johnny to call him “king of the cowboys.” They’ve fallen in love with the place…and maybe with the man himself.

      But is Tracy just looking for a surrogate father? Or could this incredible cowboy really be the one who’ll make her and her son believe in love again?

      “There’s been an awareness between us from the first instant,” said Carson.

      “Whether it’s an infatuation that will burn out, only time will tell, but at least we can admit to what we’re feeling right now and go on from here.”

      A tortured look entered her eyes. “We can’t go on. This has to end tonight and you know it.”

      “Tonight—”

      He searched the depths of her eyes. “We’ve only just begun, and we have three more precious days and nights together. How can you say it has to end now? How do we do that, Tracy?”

      “Because we can’t afford to start something we can’t finish.”

      “Who says we can’t?” he cried fiercely. “It already started Friday evening. Don’t you know I don’t ever want you to go home?”

Dear Reader,

      In my latest trilogy, Daddy Dude Ranch, three injured veterans have opened up a dude ranch in the Teton Valley of Wyoming to honor the families of fallen soldiers. Their wish is to be substitute daddies for a week to one child at a time. In this first book, The Wyoming Cowboy, you’ll meet guilt-ridden Carson, who survived his tour of duty yet felt he’d abandoned his grandfather when he went to war. He meets the heartbroken Baretta family, suffering from the loss of their husband and father. Together the three of them begin to heal. Enjoy their journey to a life of happiness and fulfillment none of them knew was awaiting them at the beginning.

      Rebecca Winters

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

      REBECCA WINTERS, whose family of four children has now swelled to include five beautiful grandchildren, lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the land of the Rocky Mountains. With canyons and high alpine meadows full of wildflowers nearby, she never runs out of places to explore. These spaces, plus her favorite vacation spots in Europe, often end up as backgrounds for her romance novels. Writing is her passion, along with her family and church. Rebecca loves to hear from readers. If you wish to email her, please visit her website, www.cleanromances.com.

      I want to dedicate this series to the courageous men and women serving in our armed forces, who’ve willingly put their lives in harm’s way to keep the rest of us safe. God bless all of you.

Chapter One

      MARCH 1

      Pulmonary Unit

      Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Bethesda, Maryland

      Carson Lundgren was sitting in the hospital ward’s common room watching the final moments of the NASCAR race when he heard a disturbance. Annoyed, he turned his head to see Dr. Rimer passing out a document to the eight vets assembled. What in blazes was going on?

      “Ray? You’re closest to the TV. Would you mind shutting it off?”

      Ray nodded and put an end to one of the few distractions the men looked forward to.

      “Thank you. You’ll all be going home tomorrow, so I urge you gentlemen to read this and take what you can from it to heart. It’s a good letter written by a former serviceman. I like a lot of things it says. While you’re doing that, I’ll go find our special guest and bring him in.”

      Special guest?

      The guys eyed each other with resignation. Who knew how long this would take? They were all anxious to watch the end of the race. Carson looked down to scan the page.

      Consider how different and difficult it is to go from a life of service, where every day has a mission, and someone depends on you to make life-and-death decisions, to a life with civilians who are making decisions about what client to call back first or what is the best outfit to wear to work.

      Life would be different, all right. In Carson’s case he didn’t need to worry about choosing the proper clothes. He was going back to his Wyoming ranch, where a shirt and jeans had been his uniform before he’d signed up for the Marines. It would be his uniform again, now that he was out of the service.

      In the beginning it feels as if you are so much more experienced than the people around you, and in a lot of ways you are. But that kind of thinking will only further alienate you from others. Practicing humility is the best possible advice I can give to help with reintegration into civilian life.

      Carson did feel more “experienced.” He’d seen things in the war that he could never explain to people who hadn’t gone through the same thing.

      Veterans need to recognize that even a short tour in a combat zone can have an effect on them. While it takes everyone some time to recover after coming home, those who have seen, or been directly affected by a traumatic or horrific event (using your own definition or a generally accepted definition of such an event), need to be able to reconcile that it may have an impact on their lives and relationships with others after the deployment is over.

      Since Carson had no family and his grandfather was dead, he didn’t need to worry about that.

      Seeking help is not a sign of weakness, no more than asking your buddy to cover your backside. The body may heal from scars and wounds readily, but the scars and wounds of trauma can last much longer and are more difficult to heal.

      Difficult? A caustic laugh escaped from him. The cough he’d developed in Afghanistan would never go away, and no one could convince him otherwise.

      I promise that, in time, you will see that your civilian counterparts are skilled and have a perspective that you may not have ever considered. And through a respect for what they do and what they have done, you will learn that you, too, are valued and respected.

      Carson had always respected the ranch staff and knew he could count on their support.

      Just as you are on edge in the beginning, they too may be a little unsure of how to treat you and how to act around you.

      They’d treat him just the same as always.

      So, take the first step. Be patient, be kind and be humble, and you will see that the transition is much easier.

      “Gentlemen?” Dr. Rimer came back in the room where most of them were coughing because of the same affliction. He was followed by a five-star general decked out in full-dress uniform. Carson glanced at his buddies, Ross and Buck, wondering what was going on.

      “I’m pleased and honored to introduce General Aldous Cook. He’s anxious to talk to you men recovering in the unit. He’s been asked to do some investigating for the Senate committee examining the troubling findings of the Millennium Cohort Study of 2009.”

      The