A Father's Stake
The ranch should have been his… To struggling single mom and L.A. waitress Grace Evans, a ranch was a place for horses and cowboys–not a place for her and her daughter to live. Now, thanks to a shocking windfall from her estranged father, she owns one! It's a crazy notion, but Wolf Lake could be her shot at a whole new life in New Mexico. The only question is: Can she handle it?Obviously Jack Carson, the handsome and haunted rightful heir to Wolf Lake, doesn't think so. And he isn't about to hand over the reins without a fight. But the more he tries to scare her off, the more intrigued she's becoming….
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The ranch should have been hisâ¦
To struggling single mom and L.A. waitress Grace Evans, a ranch was a place for horses and cowboysânot a place for her and her daughter to live. Now, thanks to a shocking windfall from her estranged father, she owns one! Itâs a crazy notion, but Wolf Lake could be her shot at a whole new life in New Mexico. The only question is: Can she handle it?
Obviously Jack Carson, the handsome and haunted rightful heir to Wolf Lake, doesnât think so. And he isnât about to hand over the reins without a fight. But the more he tries to scare her off, the more intrigued sheâs becomingâ¦.
Grace had done the unexpected. Sheâd won him over.
âI understand about you wanting the land, maybe needing itâI do, too. Itâs beautiful, and youâve been here all your life, Jack. This is what you know, what you love. Itâs just, Iâve never had anything like this. Iâve never even lived in a house, much less one with all this land.â Her eyes looked overly bright. âYouâve got everything. Youâve got family and this town, and friends on top of friends. Youâre so lucky, so very lucky.â
Her words almost broke his heart. And they were true about him. He had it all, except a reason to be here, to keep going, to find his way beyond his old life. If there was a woman like Grace in his future... He didnât want to even think like that. He couldnât.
âYouâre right,â he managed to say, and if she hadnât touched his arm, he would have ended it there.
In Wolf Lake, family and friends are everything.
So when Grace Evans receives a windfall from her now deceased father, who deserted her and her mother years ago, she takes what is on offerâa piece of land in Wolf Lake, New Mexico, that feels like home to her from the minute she sets foot on the property. But one personâs blessing can be anotherâs source of pain.
The story of Grace and Jackson Wolf, the eldest Wolf brother, is of their struggle to make a life that they both want desperately, and to make that life work in spite of what seem insurmountable odds.
But unexpected love has a way of evening out the differences, giving each person what he or she truly needs, and making a high-stakes gamble become a blessing so incredible that hearts are mended and lives are changed forever.
I hope you enjoy the journey of Grace and Jack as they find their home, together, in Wolf Lake.
Mary Anne Wilson
MARY ANNE WILSON
is a Canadian transplanted to Southern California, where she lives with her husband, three children and an assortment of animals. She knew she wanted to write romances when she found herself rewriting the great stories in literature, such as A Tale of Two Cities, to give them happy endings. Over her long career sheâs published more than thirty romances, had her books on bestseller lists, been nominated for Reviewerâs Choice Awards and received a career nomination in romantic suspense.
For Emily Vaughn Geisler, an unexpected joy and blessing in my life ten years ago and still making everything brighter and more fun. Love you more than you could ever say you love me!
Contents
IT HAD BEEN almost two years.
To him it seemed an eternity since his life had been torn apart, and now, it had happened again.
Jackson Wolf Carson sat on the stone step that led up to the porch of the old adobe house, and he could feel that gut-wrenching churning once more. He thought heâd moved past that in the two years since his wife, Robyn, had died. But he was wrong. It had stayed there, hiding, until an hour ago when heâd gone to the family ranch to confront his father.
That shattering encounter had brought those old emotions back to life and this time he wasnât sure how he could get beyond them without giving up...for good.
He closed his eyes and ran a hand roughly over his face, damp with sweat that came from the baking July sun beating down on the fallow three hundred acres spreading out all around him. Life had gone on while heâd wandered through the days and nights of the past two years alone. Heâd finally thought he had found an anchor, something to hold on to. But any hope heâd let flicker back to life had been extinguished at nine oâclock that morning, the moment heâd walked into his law offices in Wolf Lake.
The email had come with four attachments. Heâd thought his contact in the county offices had sent it, but the moment he started to read the letter, he knew he was wrong. Dead wrong.
Disbelief had given way to a burning anger at his fatherâs betrayal. He almost cringed at his reaction. Heâd driven to the ranch, burst into his fatherâs office and thrown the papers at him. Heâd yelled, kicked the massive desk so hard it jarred his entire body, but his father just sat behind the desk without saying a word. It was his mother whoâd come up behind him, her face filled with horror, and asked what was wrong.
