The Rancher's Second Chance

Reunited with the Cowboy

Pregnant and running scared, Grace Thomas turns to the one man she knows she can count on: rancher Brody Martin. The charismatic Texan promises to protect her, but she knows he’ll never forgive her for breaking his heart and taking up with his former best friend. Given Brody’s own unsettled past, Grace understands that the guarded cowboy needs time to trust her again. Yet as he helps her prepare for the baby’s arrival, Grace knows she’s found the perfect father for her child. But can she dare to dream of a second chance with the man she’s never stopped loving?

“I’m so sorry for hurting you, Brody.”

“You’ve said that before and I get it. But I’m not going back.” He’d believed she’d be in his life forever. But then she’d walked away.

“I can’t undo what I did last year.” She touched her belly. “I can’t undo this. I also can’t give this baby up. She’s mine and I won’t let her down, even though I seem to be letting everyone else down these days.”

“That’s the most important thing, Grace. Be there for him, and if you do that, you’ve done everything right.”

“She,” Grace said as she walked away. “My baby is a girl.”

“Nope, that’s a boy you’re carrying, Grace Thomas. I’ll eat my hat if it isn’t,” he called out after her.

The thinnest laugh carried back to him as she walked into the department store. He watched her go, thinking back to when he’d first met her. She’d had it all, but she’d wanted to spend a year being a cowgirl.

He’d loved her fearlessness. And then he’d just plain loved her.

He still loved her, but he was determined not to let it show.

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 Mills & Boon 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

Second Chance

Brenda Minton

www.millsandboon.co.uk

And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.

—Romans 5:3–4

To the readers, for your many prayers

and messages of encouragement. The best journey is a journey with friends.

To Melissa Endlich.

I hope you know how much I appreciate you, your insight, your encouragement.

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

Epilogue

Dear Reader

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

The pounding on the front door roused Brody Martin from the deepest, most pain-free sleep he’d had in a good long while. He groaned, covering his face with his arm. No way was he going to the door. No way in the world was he waking up to go work cattle with Duke, his older brother, when it was miserable and pouring down rain outside.

He’d prefer dry and miserable inside to wet and miserable outside. It wasn’t worth it. Ask his joints, they’d agree. At one month short of twenty-seven he felt as if those cattle they worked had trampled all over him.

Whoever had been at the door had stopped pounding, and he closed his eyes, ready to go back to sleep. The next thing he knew someone was outside his window yelling at him to wake up. When a hand hit the window, the dog came out from under the blankets, barking, ready to defend Brody and the house. Brody pulled the dog back and ordered it to hush. The white mop bared its teeth and crouched next to him.

“Brody, you’ve got to let me in. He’s going to kill me.”

It was a female voice, muffled through the glass, but obviously in distress.

No self-respecting man could ignore a statement like that. He shot out of bed and hurried as fast as his overused knees could take him to the front door. The dog raced ahead, barking. When he yanked open the door, the woman standing on the front step of the trailer, shivering in the cold rain, fell into the house.

She was on her knees, sobbing, and Brody didn’t quite know what to do with her. Or if he wanted anything to do with her now that he knew who had woken him from a sound sleep. He pulled the door closed, gathering up sympathy as he did. He really wasn’t a heartless cur. He just protected his heart a little better these days.

He managed to get down on the floor next to her, pushing aside the crazy white mop of a dog that crouched on its belly, licking her hand. When he lifted her face to get a good look, he let out a few words that would have gotten his mouth washed out with soap not too many years back. A purple mark on her cheek and a black eye marred her pale skin. Tears streamed down her cheeks. He’d known it wouldn’t be good for her when she’d left him for Lincoln. He hadn’t expected it to be this bad.