Second Chance Rancher
Her Texas HomecomingAt eighteen, Lucy Palermo couldn’t wait to join the army and leave Bluebonnet Springs behind. Ten years later, she’s come home to fix her family’s falling-down ranch and repair the bond with her troubled siblings. Neighboring rancher Dane Scott is even more handsome—and distracting—than she remembers. The single dad’s priority is making a stable life for his daughter. He needs someone who’ll stay—and straight-talking Lucy doesn’t seem to need anyone. But beneath that tough exterior is a loving, soft-hearted woman. A woman Dane can’t help wanting, if he can show her that the town she once fled is the perfect place to start over—together.Bluebonnet Springs: Finding true love in Texas
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Her Texas Homecoming
At eighteen, Lucy Palermo couldnât wait to join the army and leave Bluebonnet Springs behind. Ten years later, sheâs come home to fix her familyâs falling-down ranch and repair the bond with her troubled siblings. Neighboring rancher Dane Scott is even more handsomeâand distractingâthan she remembers. The single dadâs priority is making a stable life for his daughter. He needs someone whoâll stayâand straight-talking Lucy doesnât seem to need anyone. But beneath that tough exterior is a loving, softhearted woman. A woman Dane canât help wanting, if he can show her that the town she once fled is the perfect place to start overâtogether.
âI donât need you there to hold my hand.â
He held up both hands. âI wouldnât dream of it. Friend.â
âNeighbor,â she mumbled as she walked away.
Dane followed Lucy inside. He shouldnât have. He should have gotten back to work. Instead he walked behind her, ignoring the tense set of her shoulders and the fact that she didnât want him along for this journey.
âStop thinking about me.â She shot the comment over her shoulder as she walked through the kitchen. âIâm not a project. I donât need to be fixed. Go do whatever good deed you were going to do here today.â
âIâm replacing light fixtures and repairing some sockets. Youâre not on my to-do list.â
He couldnât stop himself, though. For the last few years he had focused all his energy on the ranch and his daughter.
The last thing he wanted was to get caught up in Lucyâs messy life. But here he was, intrigued and unable to walk away.
Lucy Palermo is a character I couldnât leave behind. Sheâs someone we might want to have as a friend, but we know that she wouldnât give that friendship easily.
There are people in our lives who are very much like Lucy. They appear strong, distant, or cool. If we take the time to get to know them we will find that they hide their pain beneath that cool facade.
Every day we pass people on the street, see them in the grocery store, ignore them in the hallways at school and we think we know them. We judge what we see on the outside. The popular girl in school must have it all. The boy walking by himself in worn jeans and a stained T-shirt, we pass on by without a greeting. The woman at the store who never smiles when we say hello, she must be unfriendly.
They all have stories. And often, they just need a friend. Today, take time and be the person who reaches out.
BRENDA MINTON lives in the Ozarks with her husband, children, cats, dogs and strays. She is a pastorâs wife, Sunday-school teacher, coffee addict and sleep deprived. Not in that order. Her dream to be an author for Harlequin started somewhere in the pages of a romance novel about a young American woman stranded in a Spanish castle. Her dream came true, and twenty-plus books later, she is an author hoping to inspire young girls to dream.
For God has not given us a spirit of fear and
timidity, but of power, love and self discipline.
â2 Timothy 1:7
To my family for the love and encouragement
theyâve given me over the years.
To Melissa, for the opportunity to
continue writing the books I love. And Giselle, for all her work in this process. Thank you both for keeping me on track.
Contents
Late morning sun in his eyes, Dane Scott thought he couldnât be seeing right. There was an old Chevy truck tangled up in the fencerow and a half-dozen head of his cattle grazing in the ditch. He pulled to the side of the road and got out. His dog jumped off the back of the truck and followed him down the slope. As he drew closer, Dane prepared himself, hoping he wouldnât find anyone inside the truck that he knew belonged to his neighbors, the Palermos.
Fortunately the truck was empty. The tires were bogged down in mud, compliments of two days of rain and a driver who had tried to back out of the mess. Barbed wire from the fence was wrapped around the passenger side tires.
At least he could surmise that seventeen-year-old Maria Palermo wasnât injured. The big problem was, who to call. The Palermo family was what the good folks of Bluebonnet Spring, Texas, called âa mess.â That was usually followed by a âbless their heartsâ or âit wasnât really their fault.â
The most functional member of the family was Lucy Palermo. But last heâd heard, she was a couple of hundred miles south, near Austin. The twin brothers, Alex and Marcus, were somewhere riding bulls. Their mother was in California with husband number three.
Dane knew Maria was home alone and running wild. Even when her brothers showed up and pretended to be responsible, she was on her own.
