Finally a Hero

Suddenly a Daddy

Jesse Campbell’s determined to forget his past. He’s moving to a dude ranch in Arizona to start getting his act together. Parenthood isn’t part of the picture—until Jesse meets the son he didn’t know he had. Now Jesse has some new goals: learning to be a good father—and a good man. The kind of man Eva Hubrecht, his boss’s daughter, can trust. He knows Eva isn’t happy about Jesse and Timmy coming to the Lost Dutchman Ranch, but the little boy soon starts to win her heart. Jesse can only hope that with time and patience, this rancher’s daughter will find room in her life for him, too.

The Rancher’s Daughters: Sisters find hope, love and redemption in the Arizona desert.

“You’ve never seen a woman weaving?” Eva asked.

Jesse shook his head. “This is what you do in your spare time?”

“Every moment I can find.”

In his world, his old world, the women he’d hung around used their spare time to party. Suddenly, something he’d not felt in a long time rose up in him, a longing for the type of life he’d only seen on the Hallmark Channel.

Not his world.

To keep from looking at Eva, he walked over to the bookshelves and browsed the titles.

“You know, you might want to talk to my sister Elise about Timmy. She’s a social worker over near Two Mules, Arizona.”

“Never heard of it.”

“It’s small, smaller than Apache Creek. It’s just a community of people trying to survive, and, according to my sister, most of them messing up.”

“Messing up,” he echoed. “Is that why I need to talk to her?”

Eva looked at him, her cheeks coloring.

“No, of course not. Elise deals with a lot of little kids who’ve had tough times. School starts next month. We need to find out if he can talk.”

Jesse noticed two things then. One, though Timmy was asleep under the table again, he wasn’t sucking his thumb. Two, Eva had said we.

We?

PAMELA TRACY is an award-winning author who lives with her husband (…the inspiration for most of her heroes) and son (…the interference for most of her writing time). Since 1999, she has published more than twenty-five books and sold more than a million copies. She’s a past RITA® Award finalist and past winner of the Christian Fiction Writers’ book of the year award.

Finally a Hero

Pamela Tracy

www.millsandboon.co.uk

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;

the old has gone, the new has come.

—2 Corinthians 5:17

To those who have learned to rise above

their circumstances, forge a new path, and make a difference to the next generation.

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

Dear Reader

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

The only thing Jesse Campbell wanted, as he stepped out of the enclosure and through the back gate of Florence State Prison, was to leave the premises, to watch the prison disappear from view, and to enjoy the sweet smell of freedom.

Forever.

Reality, however, always made its presence known.

“See you soon,” said the prison guard escorting him. Five years in Florence State Prison had taught Jesse quite a bit about the system, especially when it came to the guards who played a game called “How Long Before This One Returns.”

Jesse looked the man straight in the eye, something not done on the inside, and shook his head. “Not a chance.”

Perspiration, tasting faintly of salt, beaded on Jesse’s upper lip. The air crackled with the dryness that only a 110-degree July Arizona afternoon could provide. And as for the exhilaration that came with freedom, it disappeared before it got a toehold when Jesse looked down the walkway to the parking lot. Mike Hamm, the prison minister who’d taken Jesse under his wing, had volunteered to pick Jesse up and deliver him to his new home and job. But, two days ago, Mike’s first daughter had been born a month prematurely, and he was needed elsewhere.

“No problem,” Jesse had said. The prison van would take him to the bus station. The bus would drop him off in the small town of Apache Creek where he had a job lined up.

But instead of the prison van, he saw his mother standing by a broken-down, faded blue Chevy Cavalier.

He froze, unsure whether to move forward or turn back, and more than annoyed that five years in prison had taught him to wait and let someone tell him what to do.

Susan Campbell’s dark hair hung past her shoulders, still long and thick. Today she wore a billowy top and tight shorts. She’d always dressed as if she were sixteen and looked as though she needed a good meal. He’d have recognized her anywhere even though he’d not seen her in seven years, two months and six days.

In prison, keeping track of dates was a favorite pastime.

Two days ago, he’d received an opened envelope with a note from his mother, their first contact in five years, two months and four days. The staff member who’d handed Jesse the envelope had raised an eyebrow while passing it over.