The Rancher's First Love

Second-Chance Cowboy

Remington Jenkins is back and Martin’s Crossing will never be the same. At least not for Samantha Martin. Her teenage crush is all grown-up, and she’s realizing the full-time rancher, part-time preacher, still holds her heart. Back then, Rem planned to marry her—until her overprotective brothers sent her away. If he can brave her formidable family, Rem’s finally got a shot with the pretty nurse. But first, Sam has a secret that she must share before they can turn their summer romance into a winter wedding…

She’d know him anywhere.

The way he stood against the truck. The way he pushed his cowboy hat back. After all these years Rem was still familiar to her. Her heart did a flip she had to ignore.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“I was driving through town and I saw you running. I didn’t want to leave you here alone.”

“I’m a big girl. No one needs to rescue me.”

The words slipped out. Not that he would understand what they meant. He wouldn’t guess that she’d waited for exactly that ten years ago. That summer she’d learned a lesson about love and everything it wasn’t.

“Samantha, I’m sorry they sent you away.” His voice mixed with a coyote’s howl and a train whistle. The night sounds of Martin’s Crossing.

“Me, too.” She opened her mouth to tell him more but she couldn’t. Not yet.

Maybe everyone had been right. What they’d had was nothing more than a teen crush. A mistake.

But when she looked at him, an insistent thought echoed in her mind. Was it?

BRENDA MINTON lives in the Ozarks with her husband, children, cats, dogs and strays. She is a pastor’s 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 dreams came true, and twenty-plus books later, she is an author hoping to inspire young girls to dream.

The Rancher’s

First Love

Brenda Minton

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Unfailing love and truth have met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed!

—Psalms 85:10

To great friends who keep me going. Yeah, you know your names. Love you all to the moon and back. And to Melissa Endlich, editor supreme. Your patience and wisdom are appreciated beyond belief.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

About the Author

Title Page

Bible Verse

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

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Epilogue

Dear Reader

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

The pediatric rehab wing of the Braswell, Texas, Doctor’s Hospital sounded like an out-of-control playground when Samantha Martin walked through the double doors. A little boy in a wheelchair zoomed her way, his face split in a wide grin.

“You’re here,” he announced.

“Of course I’m here, Parker. I work here.” She took the handles of the wheelchair and pushed him back down the hall. “Why are you racing around like a maniac?”

“The cowboys are coming today.”

“Cowboys?” Three days off and she no longer knew what was going on. She did know that after being outside in the June sunshine, the air-conditioning felt good and the kids all seemed to have spring fever. “Are we having a rodeo on the unit? Or football?”

She glanced at one of the other nurses. The woman shrugged as she headed into a room with a toddler on her hip. The Braswell hospital, just a short distance from Samantha’s home in Martin’s Crossing, was small but efficient. And the staff cared. It was a great place to begin her career as an RN.

At the moment she didn’t have a lot of time to reflect on her job, not with Parker, a dark-haired rascal, talking ninety miles an hour. She must have missed half of what the little boy said because he was glancing back at her as if she didn’t have a clue.

“I’m sorry, Parker. So...cowboys are coming today. ”

“One of them is my cousin. And they’re bringing a real, live horse!”

That got her attention. “They can’t bring a horse into the hospital.”

An aid stuck her head out of the door to the room next to Parker’s. “Miniature horse. It’s approved.”

Seriously? “Okay, they’re bringing a horse. That should be interesting.”

“You think it’ll go to the bathroom, don’t you?” Parker asked.

“Well, it is a horse. They aren’t typically house-trained.” She lifted him from his chair and placed him in bed. “Stay.”

“I got myself out earlier.”

She gave him a serious look. “Not without supervision, buddy.”

The nine-year-old nodded. “Okay, not without supervision. But Danny was in here.”

“Danny is ten. He doesn’t count.”

She gave him one last warning look and headed back to the nurse’s station. “We have to move Parker closer to the nurse’s station. He escaped his bed again.”

“You can’t stop determination.” Dr. Jackson grinned as he entered something in the computer. He was older and liked to remind them he’d seen it all.