Big Sky Homecoming

Falling for the enermy

Newly returned Duke Caldwell is the son of her family’s enemy—and everyone knows a Caldwell can’t be trusted. Yet when Duke is thrown from his horse, Rose Bell puts her misgivings aside to help care for the handsome rancher. And soon there’s no denying that her childhood nemesis isn’t the scoundrel she thinks he is.

Duke keeps telling himself that his reasons for wanting to spend time with feisty Rose have to do only with ending their families’ feud—and not with how captivating he finds her. But though Rose might be willing to mend fences with the enemy, could she ever believe Duke worthy of her love?

Montana Marriages: Three sisters discover a legacy of love beneath the Western sky

“You’ve got a nasty gash on your forehead.”

“I can feel it clear to my toes.” Duke watched emotions flit across Rose’s face as she leaned closer to look at his head. First, concern, and then worry. Worry? Rose Bell worried about Duke Caldwell? It didn’t seem possible.

Her gaze returned to his and he caught a flash of something else he almost believed to be tenderness. For him? Hardly. The Bells were known for helping the sick and injured. That was all it was.

A tiny grin tugged at her lips and amusement filled her eyes. “Your handsome face will be forever marred.”

“I can live with that.”

“You’re fortunate to be alive.” Her eyes snapped in anger. “Why are you riding a wild horse around the country? Don’t you know you might have been killed?”

“Seems you should be happy about that. You haven’t exactly thrown out the welcome mat to me.”

Her expression slowly hardened, grew impassive.

He missed being able to read her emotions.

She sat back and pulled her hands to her lap. “That doesn’t mean I want to see you dead.”

“Good to know.”

LINDA FORD lives on a ranch in Alberta, Canada, near enough to the Rocky Mountains that she can enjoy them on a daily basis. She and her husband raised fourteen children—four homemade, ten adopted. She currently shares her home and life with her husband, a grown son, a live-in paraplegic client and a continual (and welcome) stream of kids, kids-in-law, grandkids, and assorted friends and relatives.

Big Sky Homecoming

Linda Ford

www.millsandboon.co.uk

I will praise thee;

for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

—Psalms 139:14

To mothers everywhere who bind the family together around the kitchen table with their meals, their treats, their advice and their love.

May your children arise and call you blessed for you turn houses into homes. God bless.

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

Chapter Eighteen

Epilogue

Dear Reader

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

Bar Crossing, Montana January 1890

Rose Bell pushed back a scream of frustration. Even so, she spoke with more anger than sorrow. “The poor creatures. Pa, let me off here. You take Ma to the house and I’ll take care of these animals.” The sheep had been turned out of their pen and one of the older ewes was mired in a snowbank next to the shed. The others milled around, uncertain as to whether they should enjoy their freedom or panic because there were no fences to keep them safe.

At least they wouldn’t drown in the river today. It was frozen over. That was a mercy.

She hopped down before the wagon stopped moving and raced toward the ewe. “Come on, girl.” She pulled and tugged and cooed but the sheep had been there long enough her wool had frozen to the snow, anchoring her firmly.

“Can I help?”

With a startled squeak she turned around to stare at Douglas Caldwell, the golden-haired son and heir of the Caldwell family.

Everyone else called him by his nickname, “Duke,” but she couldn’t bring herself to. It sounded friendly and neighborly and the Caldwells were anything but that. Pa had bought this bit of land eight years ago and turned it into a productive farm. But it happened to encroach on the boundaries of the Caldwell Ranch. They learned later that the filing clerk had made a mistake. Despite that, the land belonged to the Bells—clear and legal.

To this day Mr. Caldwell refused to accept the facts. He had tried every means he could think of to get them to leave. He’d offered money. He’d talked; at first kindly then threateningly. When none of that worked he’d had his cowboys harass the Bells and their animals. The garden had been trampled a number of times. Caldwell cows had eaten or destroyed portions of the oat crop. Just a few months ago, one of the lambs had drowned when the animals had mysteriously escaped their pasture and found their way to the river. But the worst thing they’d done to date was stampede the cows through the yard as the Bells harvested the garden. Pa had been injured. He still had sore ribs. She knew by the way he moved and the number of naps he took that he felt poorly.