Barbara Dunlop: A Cowboy Comes Home

A book in the Colorado Cattle Barons series, 2012

Dear Reader,

Welcome to the first book of the Colorado Cattle Barons series from Harlequin Desire. I have a deep fondness for cowboy heroes, and this series will allow me to indulge myself by writing a whole string of them.

In book one, millionaire Caleb Terrell returns to his family’s Colorado ranch, following the death of his abusive father. There, he meets sexy, down-to-earth neighbor Mandy Jacobs, the key to finding Caleb’s missing twin brother, Reed. While Mandy opens the door to painful childhood memories, she also shows Caleb the pathway to love and forgiveness.

I sincerely hope you enjoy A Cowboy Comes Home. And I hope you’ll look for Caleb’s brother, Reed, along with Mandy’s siblings, in future Colorado Cattle Barons books. I’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to drop me a line through my website, barbaradunlop.com.

Barbara Dunlop

Dust plumes scattered beneath Caleb Terrell’s loafers as he approached the front steps of his former home, looking for the brother who’d despised him for ten long years. A copy of his late father’s will was snapped into his Bulgari briefcase, and a million, disturbing questions swirled inside his brain. The Terrell Cattle Company hadn’t changed much. The two-story brick house had been meticulously maintained, while the crisp, northern-Colorado mountain air still held the familiar tang of wheatgrass and ponderosa pine.

The soles of his shoes met the smooth wood of the wide, front porch, and for a fleeting moment he wished he’d stopped in Lyndon and changed into blue jeans and boots. But he banished the impulse. He was a businessman now, not a cowboy. And the last thing he wanted to do was feel at home.

His brother, Reed, wouldn’t be remotely happy to see him, but outrageous times called for outrageous measures. Reed would have to deal with it.

Caleb briefly toyed with the idea of bursting in unannounced. He owned the place, after all, and Reed had been dodging his calls for over a week. To be fair, Caleb hadn’t tried to contact his fraternal twin brother in ten years. Then again, in all that time, Reed hadn’t tried to contact Caleb, either.

But now, their father was dead. Caleb wouldn’t have set foot on the Terrell ranch in any other circumstance. He’d probably have been shot if he’d tried. Which made the contents of the will that much more baffling.

He gave three short, sharp knocks.

In the moments of silence that followed, he glanced around the ranch yard, refreshing his memory and bracing himself for the conversation to come.

The main barn had been recently painted a dark green. The square horse corrals were still meticulously maintained, their straight rails gleaming white in the afternoon sunshine. He knew every angle was precisely ninety degrees, and the posts were exactly six feet apart, rail centers at twenty-four-inch intervals.

Beyond the yard, black angus cattle dotted the summer green, hillside meadows between groves of aspen and pine. And the snowy peaks of the Rockies rose up to the misty sky. Caleb blinked against the blinding sun, refocusing closer in.

Half a dozen pickup trucks were backed up in formation in front of the equipment sheds. A freshly washed combine, cultivator and hay truck sat on the far side of the barn, and a few dozen chickens were pecking the ground around the tires. In one of the pens, a black horse whinnied and bucked, tossing its glossy mane as it ran the length of the enclosure before stopping short at the fence, nostrils flaring in annoyance.

Caleb didn’t recognize the animal. No surprise there. Though there had been a time when he’d been able to name every one of the fifty plus horses at Terrell. He inhaled once more, this time catching the sharp scent of manure. His spine stiffened with a latent memory of his father’s quick temper. Yeah, most things had stayed the same around here, and he didn’t care to revisit any of them.

As soon as he straightened out the mess with the inheritance, he’d climb back into his rented Escalade, head for the Lyndon airport and take the Active Equipment jet back to his corporate headquarters in Chicago.

Sayonara Colorado.

He turned back to the door and knocked again.

This time, there was a sound on the other side. But it was a light, quick step crossing the living-room floor-so, not his brother, Reed.

The door swung full open, and Caleb came face-to-face with a beautiful, brunette woman. She was maybe five feet five, dressed in a cowl-necked, navy T-shirt with four buttons leaving an open V-neck. Her hair was long and glossy, her lips a dark coral pink, skin smooth, brows gently arched and her moss-green eyes clear and assessing.

She looked vaguely familiar. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking. Even in faded blue jeans and scuffed brown boots, she definitely looked like someone Caleb would like to know. His instantaneous attraction was quickly tempered by the thought that she might belong to his brother-a girlfriend, maybe even a wife.

His glance dipped reflexively to her left hand. No ring. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t Reed’s.

“Are you selling…something?” she prompted, glancing from his silk tie to his briefcase. Her melodic, slightly husky voice sent a vibration through the center of Caleb’s chest.

It took him a moment to respond. “I’m looking for Reed.”

Her delicate brows sloped closer together with curiosity. “Is he expecting you?”

“I called a few days ago,” Caleb offered evasively. He hadn’t spoken to his brother, only left voice-mail messages, and he wasn’t about to discuss his personal business with a stranger.

She crossed her arms over her chest and canted a slim, denim covered hip to one side. “Are you saying Reed invited you here?”

Caleb gave into curiosity. “Who are you?”

“Who are you?”

There it was again, that feeling that he’d met her somewhere before. “You live here?”

“None of your business.”

“Where’s Reed?”

She stilled for a split second, her soft, coral mouth pursing into a sexy moue. “Also, none of your business.”

He struggled to be annoyed, but he found himself intrigued. “Are you going to tell me anything?”

She shook her head.

“Have we met before?” he asked.

“Is that a line?”

“It’s a question.”

“It’s been my experience that most lines are delivered in the form of a question.”

Caleb felt himself crack a reluctant smile, and her green eyes sparkled in return.

He watched her for a few moments, then conceded defeat, shifting his briefcase from his right hand before holding it out to her. “Caleb Terrell.”

Her gorgeous eyes went wide and round. “Caleb?”

Before he could react, she squealed and threw herself into his arms. “You came home!”

His free arm automatically wrapped around her slender waist, returning the hug and holding her lithe body against his own. He inhaled the sweet scent of her hair and found himself desperately hoping she wasn’t Reed’s girlfriend.

She pulled back and gazed up into his eyes. “You don’t remember me?”

He was forced to shake his head, admitting he did not.

She socked the front of his shoulder with the heel of her hand. “It’s Mandy.”

Caleb felt his jaw go lax. “Mandy Jacobs?”

She nodded, and he pulled her into another hug. Not that they’d been particularly close. She’d been thirteen to his seventeen when he’d left home. He was twenty-seven now. And it felt astonishingly good to hold her in his arms.