Thereâs been a strange vibe in the air ever since I got off the phone with my son Rand. Heâs on his way home with some shocking news that he has to deliver in person. I wonder what it could beâ¦? Meanwhile, on the home front, Chance Reilly is back in Prosperino. He returned to look in on his terminally ill father, but the old coot died before they had a chance to make amends. After Chanceâs mother died when he was a lad, he was left to battle his tyrannical, verbally abusive father aloneâexcept for that rebellious teenage year when he stayed at the Hopechest Ranch and Hacienda de Alegria. Now his old man is making Chanceâs life miserable, even from the grave. His airtight last testament decrees that Chance must be married in order to inherit the family ranch and estate. As luck would have it, his fatherâs private duty nurse, Lana Ramirez, offered to be his temporary wifeâon the condition that Chance agree to father her baby! Hmmâ¦could Old Man Reilly have had this ace up his sleeve all along?
CARLA CASSIDY
Wealth, power, secrets and dysfunctionâ¦the Colton family has it all, and Carla was thrilled to be among the writers who got the opportunity to bring this fascinating family to life.
In Pregnant in Prosperino, she not only got the opportunity to explore elements of evil, but also enjoyed breathing life into two wonderful characters who find the goodness and joy of true love.
Carla Cassidy is an award-winning author who lives in the Midwest with her husband, Frank, and their two neurotic dogs.
Meet the Coltonsâa California dynasty with a legacy of privilege and power.
Chance Reilly: Rancher desperately seekingâ¦something. A rebellious bad boy in his teens, this rancher now feels empty and rootless. Could the hasty marriage he enters into to save his family ranch be his solution?
Lana Ramirez: Pregnant in Prosperino. Though sheâs carrying his baby, this nurse senses that Chance is a footloose, rambling man whoâll soon move on. But if she has her way, the only place this cowboy will be heading isâ¦back into her ever-loving arms!
Joe Colton: The perplexed patriarch. When the police arrive to arrest his wife, Joe is shocked to discover that his real wife, Meredith, was a victim of a malicious plot. Now that Meredithâs impostor twin, Patsy, is behind bars, this reunited couple has some lost years to catch up on.
âDamn you, old man.â
Bitterness ripped through Chance Reilly as he stared at his fatherâs fresh grave. In life, Tom Reilly had cheated his son out of a happy childhood and a normal adolescence with his bullying and abuse.
And now, in death, Tom had delivered the final blow to any hope Chance might have had of ever making peace with him, or of inheriting the Reilly ranch.
Chance turned and gazed at the house in the distance. Even the shadows of approaching night couldnât hide the neglect that clung to the place.
The house cried out for a new coat of paint and the weeds were knee-high in places. And that was just the beginning. The barn door hung askew, several railings of the corral were lying on the ground and there was no livestock grazing in the pastures.
Cars lined the drive, letting him know the place was still filled with sympathetic well-wishers and curious neighbors.
He should go back inside and play the role of grieving, dutiful son, but he couldnât just yet. It was difficult to grieve when anger and bitterness were ripping apart your soul.
His gaze left the house and instead focused on his motherâs headstone next to his fatherâs final resting place. A lot of help sheâd been, dying on him when heâd been eight years old and leaving him alone with âSarge,â as his father had enjoyed being called.
Sargeâwho had run his house like an army barrack, who had never been afraid to use hurtful words and flying fists to emphasize a point.
Emotion expanded in Chanceâs chest and he fought against the suffocating tightness. When heâd gotten the word that his father had taken a turn for the worse, heâd left his motel room in Wichita, Kansas, and had caught the first plane he could get to reach Prosperino, California.
However, his father, perverse to the end, passed away mere hours before Chance had arrived back home, making it impossible for father and son to resolve the acrimony that had marked their relationship for years.
The funeral had been two hours before, and Walter Bishop, the family lawyer, had only a brief time before delivered the last of the bad news to Chance.
âDamn you,â he said again. âYou were a miserable man who spent your whole life making me miserable.â
âChance?â
He whirled around at the low, female voice, angry at the intrusion.
He relaxed a bit as he saw Lana Ramirez approach, her long black skirt fluttering around her ankles as the early autumn breeze played with the material.