Jeannie Watt – To Court A Cowgirl (страница 1)
Nothing can make her stay—not even Jason
Allie Brody decided long ago to leave the Lightning Creek Ranch in the past. She’s lost too much there to want to call it home again. And coming back to help while her sister’s away won’t change her mind, either. Even if Jason Hudson makes her temporary visit more…palatable. As long as she sticks to short-term with the former pro-football player, what’s the harm in their attraction?
It turns out everything is wrong with it. Helping each other only fogs Allie’s plans for a no-strings fling. Sure, Jason signed up to help Allie rebuild her broken ranch—but he’s determined to repair her heart, too. That’s not on her agenda.
Welcome to Lightning Creek Ranch, nestled in the foothills of Montana’s majestic Bitterroot Mountains, home to the strong-willed Brody family. Life isn’t always easy on the Lightning Creek, but challenges are nothing new to the men and women who live and work here.
And there’s something about the ranch, something in the beauty and solitude that works a kind of magic on those in need of a second shot at life...
When I wrote The Brodys of Lightning Creek miniseries, I saved the eldest sister’s story for last because, unlike her siblings, Allie Brody has no great love for the family ranch. She lost her father on the Lightning Creek and her marriage imploded there. She’d have been quite happy to never set foot on the property again, but, of course, she doesn’t get her wish. I sent her home to make peace with the ranch and face her problems—one of which turns out to be her former high school nemesis, a recently retired professional football player who doesn’t put up with Allie’s prickly ways.
After retiring from professional sports, local football legend Jason Hudson quickly realizes that his athletic career has in no way prepared him for the next phase of his life. Despite this obstacle, he knows what he wants to do and he’ll find a way to do it—just as soon as his difficult father convalesces from a heart attack and he’s free to leave the Eagle Valley.
Allie and Jason had me going in circles for a time. They were two of the most stubborn characters I’ve ever created and it wasn’t easy making them realize that their carved-in-stone attitudes and plans were not the best attitudes and plans. Now that I’m done, I love their story and their happily-ever-after, and I hope you enjoy it, too.
Best wishes,
Jeannie Watt
To Court a Cowgirl
Jeannie Watt
JEANNIE WATT lives in Montana’s beautiful Madison Valley, where she and her husband help manage the family cattle ranch. When she’s not writing, Jeannie enjoys sewing, shopping for vintage patterns, reading and making mosaic mirrors. To find out more about Jeannie and her books, please visit her website at jeanniewatt.com.
Contents
Dear Reader
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
“DAD, I’M NOT going to work for Uncle Jim.” Jason Hudson didn’t have all the answers regarding his immediate future, but he had not quit football to become a salesman. End of story.
“But Jimmy’s your biggest fan,” Max Hudson protested.
“I thought you were my biggest fan,” Jason replied dryly.
“Immediate family notwithstanding.” Max leaned forward in his chair, the Dobermans sleeping on either side of him each opening a sleepy eye as the recliner squeaked. “You haven’t even talked to him. You wouldn’t be selling,” his father assured him. “You’d be managing.”
Because he had so much experience in that. No, he’d be smiling and glad-handing the people that came in to see the curiosity. Him.
“My degree is in physical therapy.”
“You have no experience with that, either.” Jason cocked an eyebrow and his dad’s mouth shifted sideways. “On the giving end, I mean. Let’s visit this later, okay?”
“I’m not a sales guy.” He was a former professional athlete heading into a new phase of his life earlier than expected. His original plan, subject to the whims of team management and performance stats, had been to play until he was up for free agency, but an injury-plagued season followed by his father’s massive heart attack had changed that plan, and now here he was. Sitting in his dad’s living room, being counseled on his future—which was not going to be in sales.
“You’re staying in the area, though, right?”
“For now.” He didn’t want to stress his dad and trigger another heart attack, but he wanted to be as honest as he could. Max wanted him nearby—perhaps so that he had someone besides his daughter, and Jason’s sister, Kate, to boss around, and in the long run that wasn’t going to work out. Jason and his dad had a relationship that at times bordered on adversarial, but he couldn’t imagine life without the old man, so he’d come home to help his sister care for him while plotting a course for the next phase of his life.
“Then contact Ray Largent. Ask him about that property down the street. It’ll sell fast, since it overlooks the lake.”
Jason smiled at his dad and got to his feet. The houses in their area were big and pricy and practically stacked one on top of the other. Not the way he liked to live. “I got a couple things to do. Kate’s going to hang out with you.”
“See Ray,” his father called after him as he left the room.
Jason blew out a breath and grabbed his keys off the hook. Kate was due in fifteen minutes and his appointment with Ray Largent was in ten. According to the doctor, his dad didn’t need a full-time caretaker but he did need someone close by, so Jason and Kate had decided that at least one of them would be there for the majority of the time. That didn’t sit well with Max. He wanted his kids close. Very close. But not watching over him. No, he was supposed to be watching over them and since his illness, his need to intrude into their lives had increased markedly. Thus the visit to Ray, although not entirely for the reason his father had suggested. He wanted a property where he could disappear when he came back home; close enough to town to easily spend time with his dad, but not so close that they ended up at each other’s throats. Like they always did.
Hopefully Ray could help him with that problem.
* * *
ALLIE BRODY NEVER in a zillion years imagined herself moving back to the Lightning Creek Ranch, yet here she was, lugging her suitcase up the front steps of her childhood home. The place where her father died, the place where her marriage imploded.
She should have her head examined.
No. She should toughen up. Her relationship with the Lightning Creek had never been easy, but it was time for her to make peace with the family ranch, especially since her little sisters were hell-bent on living there, or nearby in the case of Dani, whose husband owned the Staley house a mile to the north.
Allie set down her suitcase on the newly painted porch and dug out the key from her pocket—the same key her mother entrusted to her seventeen years ago, after her father’s untimely death from a heart attack, when she’d become second in command of the family. She drew in a breath and pushed open the door.
The house had been practically empty when she’d moved out after her divorce two years ago—what her ex-husband, Kyle, hadn’t claimed as his own she’d sold to help pay her college expenses—but her sisters Dani and Jolie had once again filled the rooms of the house with furniture and bric-a-brac. Well, Jolie more than Dani. Her middle sister had been quite comfortable with one chair and a bed, pouring her money into savings for the giant indoor arena that now stood next to the larger of their two barns. But now Dani was on the other side of the country and Jolie was on the other side of the state. Mel, the second oldest of the four sisters, was in New Mexico, and Allie was right where she swore she would never be—on the ranch, trying to hold things together yet again until her sisters returned to take up the reins.
For a moment she stood near the door, wondering if she could do this.
Loss.