A New Beginning
Everyone in Dew Drop, Texas, is thrilled that Jolie Sheridan has returned to Sunrise Ranch. Everyone except Morgan McDermott. Eight years ago, Jolie left the ranchâand Morganâfor a career as a competitive kayaker. Now after an accident has sidelined her, sheâs back as a teacher for the ranchâs foster boys. Morgan knows he canât risk getting his heart broken again. But watching Jolieâs gentle ways with the boys opens his eyes to the truth: heâs never stopped loving her. Can a âfamilyâ of foster kids help give this couple a second chance at love?
âI didnât come here to fight. Iâve been watching ever since the calf wrestling, and I think youâre helping Sammy,â Morgan admitted.
Jolie blinked. Had she heard him right?
âI came to tell you that Iâll do whatever I need to do to help you help him,â Morgan continued. His amazing blue eyes softenedâhe was actually conceding.
âG-good,â Jolie stammered. As she looked at him, she thought about trying to apologize again, telling him that she hadnât meant to hurt him. But she knew he would only deny that sheâd hurt him in the first place. âThatâs the way it should be. Our past, what happened between usââ
âIs the past,â he said, firmly.
âYes. We should still be able to help these boys even though we once had feelings for each other and it didnât work out.â
What else could she say? Sheâd just come up against one wall after the other with him; heâd made it clear there was no sense in rehashing old history that he had no desire to revisit. So she stopped trying.
For now.
DEBRA CLOPTON
First published in 2005, Debra Clopton is an award-winning multipublished novelist who has won a Booksellers Best Award, an Inspirational Readersâ Choice Award, a Golden Quill, a Cataromance Reviewersâ Choice Award, RT Book Reviews Book of the Year and Harlequin.comâs Readersâ Choice Award. She was also a 2004 finalist in the prestigious RWA Golden Heart, a triple finalist in the American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award and most recently a finalist in the 2011 Gayle Wilson Award for Excellence.
Married for twenty-two blessed years to her high school sweetheart, Debra was widowed in 2003. Happily, in 2008, a couple of friends played matchmaker and set her up on a blind date. Instantly hitting it off, they were married in 2010. They live in the country with her husbandâs two high-school-age sons. Debra has two adult sons, a lovely daughter-in-law and a beautiful granddaughterâlife is good! Her greatest awards are her family and spending time with them. You can reach Debra at P.O. Box 1125, Madisonville, TX 77864 or at debraclopton.com.
I will not leave you as orphansâI will come for you.
âJohn 14:18
In memory of Ms. Jo,
Grandma Edith and Grandma Sylvia. Thinking of each of you makes me smile.
Special thanks goes to Carolyn and Joyce for the research trip to The Purple Cowâwhat a fun day we had. I think youâll see the research paid off well.
Also a big thank-you to my editor, Melissa Endlichâ
your insights and encouragement in this new venture were spot on.
Chapter One
Sunrise Ranch, Dew Drop, Texas
âCalm down, son.â
Morgan McDermottâs father, Randolph, cut Morgan off at the pass with a rasp of exasperationâwhich in no way, shape or form even began to match the anger-fueled exasperation Morgan was struggling to contain.
An imposing figure at fifty-two, Randolph had hair as black as the Texas oil pumping from the herd of wells across the ten-thousand-acre McDermott family ranch. The only differences between the two menâwho shared chiseled high cheekbones and square-jawed featuresâwas the whisper of white at Randolphâs temples and twenty years. Randolph was as physically fit and hard-headed as any of his three sons.
âCalm down?â Morgan gave a harsh laugh. âAre you kidding me? You go behind my back and hire my ex-fiancée, and you expect me to calm down? For starters, Dad, weâre partners. Iâm supposed to make decisions like this with you. Second...â
Morgan was so shaken up by what heâd just been told that he lost his train of thought.
Jolie Sheridan, here.
Randolph pushed back from his desk and rose, meeting Morgan eye to eye. âYou know as well as I do that we needed a teacher and we needed one quick. Jolie has graciously agreed to fill the position for one semesterââ
âI donât care if sheâs paying you to let her teach the boys here at the ranchâI donât want her here.â Morgan would never use this tone with his father under normal circumstances. But being blindsided by the knowledge that his dad had gone behind his back and hired the woman who had broken his heart was not normal circumstances. âWeâre supposed to discuss this kind of thing, Dad.â