HEART OF A COWBOY
Coming home is hard enough without ranch manager Quinn Solomon making Lacey Duggan feel like an unwanted guest. Sheâs only here until she figures out what to do with her one-third ownership of Crooked Valley. But Quinnâs irresistible daughter is giving Lacey ideas about being part of a family. And though they donât even like each other, Laceyâs having crazier notions about the widowed single dad.
Does Lacey think she can waltz in and turn Quinnâs life upside down...only to leave again? The pretty accountant knows nothing about running a ranch, yet sheâs making the Montana homestead feel like a home. Quinn isnât looking for love again. Until a woman whoâs all heart and a determined little girl help one lovestruck cowboy see the light.
Her breath came quick and shallow, and when she looked up and their eyes met...
Let me go, Lacey thought. Let me go because we canât do this.
Quinnâs hand tightened until she was sure he had to feel her pulse hammering against his fingertips. âYouâve done nothing but help today. You even thought to pick up things for my daughter just in case, and you cooked for all of us, and I know you must hate having us intrude on your space...â
âItâs fineââ
â...and the first chance I get Iâm snapping at you.â
âItâs been a challenging day.â
âAnd now youâre making excuses for me. When what I should be doing is saying thank you.â
She was certain her heart was going to beat clear through her chest when he pulled her closer and folded her in a hug.
Dear Reader,
When I was writing The Cowboyâs Christmas Gift, I had a really hard time making sure I didnât give someone too much âscreen time.â That someone was Amber Solomon, the sweet little daughter of ranch manager Quinn Solomon. I just had to remind myself that Amber and Quinn would be able to share their story in the next bookâthis one, The Cowboyâs Valentine.
The scenes with Amber seemed to write themselves. In many ways, it took me back a few years to when my own girls were little, with big eyes and gorgeous curls and an innocence that is both beautiful and heartbreaking. You see, Quinnâs wife, Marie, died when Amber was very little, and it changed both of them forever.
Lacey Duggan has some wounds of her own to overcome, and I realized as the story unfolded that Lacey and Quinn and Amber all had the power to help heal each otherâs wounds. In the end, it was a really rewarding story to write, and one of my favorite happy-ever-afters.
Happy reading,
Donna
A busy wife and mother of three (two daughters and the family dog), DONNA ALWARD believes hers is the best job in the world: a combination of stay-at-home mom and romance novelist. An avid reader since childhood, Donna has always made up her own stories. She completed her arts degree in English literature in 1994, but it wasnât until 2001 that she penned her first full-length novel and found herself hooked on writing romance. In 2006 she sold her first manuscript, and now writes warm, emotional stories for Mills & Boon.
In her new home office in Nova Scotia, Donna loves being back on the east coast of Canada after nearly twelve years in Alberta, where her career began, writing about cowboys and the West. Donnaâs debut romance, Hired by the Cowboy, was awarded a Booksellersâ Best Award in 2008 for Best Traditional Romance.
With the Atlantic Ocean only minutes from her doorstep, Donna has found a fresh take on life and promises even more great romances in the near future!
Donna loves to hear from readers. You can contact her through her website, donnaalward.com, or follow @DonnaAlward on Twitter.
Chapter One
The last place in the world Lacey Duggan expected to find herself was back at Crooked Valley Ranch.
It had only been a month since sheâd shared the Christmas holiday with her brother Duke at the ranch theyâd once called home. Those days were a lifetime ago. Sheâd never wanted to return to the small town of Gibson, Montana. Instead sheâd made her life in Helena, working for the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. She wasnât a farmer, or even much of an outdoor girl. Her work for the department was spent in an office. It wasnât that she didnât care; she genuinely enjoyed working with grant proposals and budgets. She just didnât need to be out there in hip waders or rubber boots doing all the digging around. The desk job suited her just fine.
Or at least it had. Past tense.
She stood on the porch of the main house, hesitating. All it would take was the slightest reach and she could open the door and step inside. But right now it seemed like too much to ask. The moment she did that was the moment she admitted every single aspect of her life had fallen apart. First it was the diagnosis that had killed her dreams. Then it was the divorce. Sheâd made it through both of those, holding on to what she had leftâher job. Then came the kicker. The new budget had come down and her position had been made redundant. After six years in the same department, she was out of work.