Her Forever Cowboy
Determined to start over, Harmony Cross returns to Dawson, Oklahoma. She needs time and spaceânot complications. Especially not in the form of the charming Dylan Cooper. But the handsome cowboy is not the man Harmony remembers. Now heâs a single dad with two sweet and vulnerable children to take care of. Harmony never thought sheâd see the dayânot only is Dylan more kindhearted than she ever imagined, but sheâs falling for the last man she ever thought sheâd love. Can this unlikely hero give her a perfect forever?
Cooper Creek: Home is where the heart is for this Oklahoma family
âDo all men fall at your feet, Harmony Cross?â
âMaybe I was wrong. Maybe you havenât changed.â
He smiled a little, and she saw the lurking sadness again.
âOh, I think weâve both changed.â He swung the back of the trailer open. âAnd Iâm sorry for baiting you that way. Old habits and all.â
âYouâre right. Maybe we should call a truce?â
A truce would mean, what? Being friends? The idea felt a little bit dangerous.
âIâm not sure exactly why we need a truce,â Dylan said as he stepped up into the trailer and reached for the horseâs tail. âCome on, Beau, head on out of there.â
Dylan closed the back of the trailer and then the gate. âYou understand you canât ride him.â
âYou understand that Iâm very aware of what I can and canât do.â
âWhy are you so defensive?â he countered.
âBecause Iâm here to get away from people who feel I need to be told at every turn what I can and canât do.â
âSo what youâre saying is, youâve had all of the advice you can handle for a lifetime?â He smiled. âI guess we have more in common than youâd like to admit.â
BRENDA MINTON
started creating stories to entertain herself during hour-long rides on the school bus. In high school she wrote romance novels to entertain her friends. The dream grew and so did her aspirations to become an author. She started with notebooks, handwritten manuscripts and characters who refused to go away until their stories were told. Eventually she put away the pen and paper and got down to business with the computer. The journey took a few years, with some encouragement and rejection along the wayâas well as a lot of stubbornness on her part. In 2006 her dream to write for Love Inspired Books came true. Brenda lives in the rural Ozarks with her husband, three kids and an abundance of cats and dogs. She enjoys a chaotic life that she wouldnât trade for anythingâexcept, on occasion, a beach house in Texas. You can stop by and visit at her website, www.brendaminton.net.
When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.
âIsaiah 43:2
To Hannah.
And to the readers of Cooper Creek, for the emails, the encouragement and prayers along the way.
I hope you enjoy Dylanâs story.
A big âthank youâ to my editor Melissa Endlich
for her wisdom and patience.
Chapter One
The farmer stood his ground, his jeans loose, his button-down shirt frayed, with one button missing. Harmony Cross didnât back down, though. She couldnât back down. She also couldnât explain why the horse in his corral mattered so much to her. But the skinny Appaloosa, black with a smattering of white on its rump, mattered. Possibly more than anything had ever mattered in her whole life.
She needed this horse. She needed something to pour her heart into, something that would love her in return and maybe, just maybe, help her find a way back to the person she used to be.
âI donât know why you think Iâm not taking care of that animal.â The old farmer, with a gray grizzled beard and sunken, hazy brown eyes, scratched his chin, as if he really didnât get it. âI just rode him in the rodeo last night.â
âNo, you didnât,â Harmony countered, nearly smiling, yet not. âIâll give you double what the animal is worth.â
âIâm not selling that horse. Heâs a national champion.â
Harmony glanced at the skin-and-bones animal. âNo, he isnât. Iâve been driving by here for a week, and every day that horse is reaching across the fence trying to get one blade of grass. Heâs starving.â
He pointed a finger at her that trembled. âI donât care if you are Gibson Crossâs kid. You arenât going to talk to me that way, missy.â
So, he knew who she was. Even though sheâd tried to keep a low profile since she showed up in Dawson, Oklahoma, a week ago there would always be talk. There would always be people wanting to help. There would always be people who thought they knew where her life had gone wrong and what she needed to do to get back on track.