The Bull Rider's Homecoming

IS THIS HIS HOME?

Single mom Annie Owen is so busy raising her twin girls, there’s no time to focus on the “single” part…until rugged Trace Delaney temporarily moves nearby. Annie’s interest in Trace is more than neighborly, but she can’t risk losing her heart to a bull rider on the move.

Trace is a rolling stone. Or so he thought. Settling down suddenly seems a lot more appealing if it’s with smart, gorgeous Annie and her girls. But they deserve someone they can count on. Is Trace ready to be that man, or will he run from the only place, and the only woman, that ever felt like home?

“You should come by my place.”

Annie regretted the words the instant they left her lips. How was it that she felt so self-conscious?

Maybe because of that dream you had about him last night?

“Are you all right?” Trace asked.

“Hmm?” She innocently shifted her gaze to his handsome face.

Silence fell between them and Annie did her best to focus solely on her girls, but it wasn’t easy when she was so aware of the guy leaning on the fence a few feet away. And it was even more difficult when he said, “Would you like to go riding sometime?”

“Is that an invitation?”

“It is.”

“Because you’re looking for company?”

“Partly.”

“The other part?”

His gaze traveled over her in a way that warmed her. “Because I wouldn’t mind going riding with you.”

Dear Reader,

What happens when a man who believes he’s destined to live his life alone gets involved with a single mother and her twin daughters? That man’s life gets turned upside down, that’s what.

Trace Delaney’s childhood consisted of one upheaval after another, and he grew up believing he wasn’t meant to stay in one place for long. His career as a professional bull rider serves him well. He’s always on the road—or rather, he was, until he agrees to take care of a fellow bull rider’s ranch while recovering from surgery. That’s when Annie Owen and her seven-year-old twins enter Trace’s life. He doesn’t want to get involved with the family. Truly he doesn’t. But he discovers that resisting gentle Annie and her girls is even harder than staying on a rank bull for eight seconds. Now he has to make the hard decision as to whether to stay or go.

As a bull rider’s sister, Annie knows that stuff happens in life and you have to work your way through it or around it, but she’s never come up against anyone quite as stubborn, or as attractive, as Trace. She’s determined to make a stable home for her girls, but she also feels a strong desire to convince Trace that just because he never has stayed in one place for long, it doesn’t mean that he can’t.

I loved writing Trace and Annie’s story, which is the second installment of my Montana Bull Riders miniseries. I hope you enjoy the story.

Happy reading!

Jeannie Watt

The Bull Rider’s Homecoming

Jeannie Watt

www.millsandboon.co.uk

JEANNIE WATT lives in a historic Nevada ranching community with her husband, horses, ponies, dogs and cat, Floyd. When she’s not writing, Jeannie loves to horseback ride, sew vintage fashions and, of course, read romance.

To Bill Swanson—this bull-riding

romance is for you!

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

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

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

“Mom!”

“Just a sec, honey...” Annie Owen squinted at her sewing machine, trying to turn a tight corner. Just a few more stitches and—

“Mom!”

Annie jumped from her chair, recognizing the something’s-about-to-explode tone in her daughter’s voice just as she heard the awesome sound of water spraying against...something. She raced into the kitchen, skidding to a stop to gape at the stream of water shooting wildly out of the tiny utility room and hitting the hallway wall.

“Get back,” she automatically ordered her seven-year-old twin daughters, who were inching closer to the utility room, green eyes wide. Picking up a towel from the laundry basket and using it as a shield, she approached the wild hose that had broken free from its clamp during the rinse cycle and was now shooting water in all directions. She made a grab at it just as the doorbell rang.

“Peek through the side window and see who that is,” she called as she made another grab at the hose. She caught it but now that she had the spewing hose, what was she going to do with it? She had to turn the water off somehow and she couldn’t reach the faucet behind the washer.

“Stranger,” Katie called. “A guy.”

Great.

Annie opened the washer lid and tried to jam the hose inside but it instantly came free, banging the lid open and spraying her full on, soaking her hair. Sputtering, she wiped her hands over her face and slicked back her hair.

“He looks like a cowboy,” Katie said. “He has a black hat just like Uncle Grady’s.”