McKettrick's Luck

A classic tale of a new generation of cowboys staking claims to their land—and the women they love…

Like his celebrated ancestors, who tamed the wilds of Arizona, Jesse McKettrick’s Indian Rock ties run deep. The Triple M Ranch is in his blood, along with the thrill of risk. But with his land at stake, this world-class poker player won’t be dealt into Cheyenne Bridges’s gamble—despite the temptation she brings.

Cheyenne grew up in Indian Rock and left its painful memories behind to become a self-made woman. Now her job is to convince Jesse to sell his property. Jesse’s not the kind of man Cheyenne could ever forget, but he’s too wild and dangerous for a woman committed to playing it safe. Yet sparks of attraction fly, tempting Cheyenne to lay it all on the line for the passion she sees in Jesse’s eyes.

Praise for the novels of #1 New York Times and

USA TODAY bestselling author Linda Lael Miller

“Miller is one of the finest American writers

in the genre.” —RT Book Reviews

“A fine conclusion to Miller’s latest trilogy. Animal lovers will enjoy the creatures that make up a delightfully integral part of the story.”

—RT Book Reviews on The Creed Legacy

“Only Linda Lael Miller can write the kind of romance that melts your heart and makes you want to shout Yippee ki-yay!”

—Single Titles on Creed’s Honor

“Miller excels at creating extended-family dynamics

in an authentic Western small-town setting and richly populating her stories with animal as well as human characters.” —Booklist

“Ms. Miller’s characters and their intense emotions

are what make McKettrick’s Luck such a winner.” —Single Titles on McKettrick’s Luck

“Miller’s ability to bring a cast of characters to life

is on full display here…. The veteran romance author doesn’t disappoint in her sizzling love scenes and fine sense of place.” —Publishers Weekly on McKettrick’s Luck

“A true winner, McKettrick’s Luck takes the pot!”

—A Romance Review

McKettrick’s Luck

Linda Lael Miller

www.millsandboon.co.uk

My Dear Readers,

Welcome back to the Triple M ranch! McKettrick’s Luck is the first of three books starring the modern McKettrick men, Jesse, Keegan and Rance, and the intrepid women who love them. I’m so delighted these cowboys are back in print. Be sure to look for Rance’s story in McKettrick’s Pride, coming in March from HQN Books, followed by Keegan’s story, McKettrick’s Heart, in May.

Jesse McKettrick is Indian Rock, Arizona’s bad boy—a poker-playing, heart-breaking horseman who happens to be a kink in Cheyenne Bridges’s plans to buy and develop a piece of prime land. Cheyenne has a history with Jesse—she’s loved him since her teens. He, on the other hand, barely knew she was alive. Trouble in Indian Rock!

With love,

To Pam and Jon Reily, with love

Contents

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

CHAPTER ONE

MCKETTRICK LAND, Cheyenne Bridges thought stoically, as she stood next to her rented car on a gravel pullout alongside the highway, one hand shading her eyes from the Arizona sun. A faint drumbeat throbbed in her ears, an underground river flowing beneath her pulse, and she remembered a time she could not have remembered. An era when only the Great Spirit could lay claim to the valleys and canyons and mesas, to the arch of the sky, blue as her grandmother’s favorite sugar bowl—a cherished premium plucked from some long-ago flour sack—to the red dirt and the scattered stands of white oak and Joshua and ponderosa pine.

It had taken Angus McKettrick, and other intrepidly arrogant nineteenth-century pioneers like him, to fence in these thousands of square miles, to pen their signatures to deeds, to run cattle and dig wells and wrest a living from the rocky, thistle-strewn soil. Old Angus had passed that audacious sense of ownership on to his sons, and the sons of their sons, down through the generations.

McKettricks forever and ever, amen.

Cheyenne bit her lower lip. Her cell phone, lying on the passenger seat of the car, chimed like an arriving elevator—Nigel again. She ignored the insistent sound until it stopped, only too aware that the reprieve would be fleeting. Meanwhile, the land itself seemed to seep into her heart, rising like water finding its level in some dank, forgotten cistern.

The feeling was bittersweet, a complex tangle of loneliness and homecoming and myriad other emotions she couldn’t readily identify.

She had sworn never to come back to this place.

Never to set eyes on Jesse McKettrick again.

And fate, in its inimitable way, was forcing her to do both those things.

She sighed.

An old blue pickup passed on the road, horn honking in exuberant greeting. A trail of cheerfully mournful country music thrummed in its wake, and the peeling sticker on the rear bumper read Save The Cowboys.