Charlene Sands - A Cowboy Worth Claiming

Will he choose duty or desire?

Cowboy Chance Worth gets more than he bargains for when he saves damsel in distress Lizzie Mitchell. He has come to Red Ridge, Arizona, to rescue her family’s failing ranch and find Lizzie a suitable husband. Too bad it wouldn’t be honorable to keep the little spitfire for himself!

Lizzie may be innocent, but she’s not naive. Fully determined to find her own way in life, she doesn’t welcome Chance’s intrusion. But when he plans to leave she realizes she may not be ready to see the back of him just yet!

“Lizzie, don’t tempt me like this.”

She gazed into his eyes and he seemed lost, searching. She feared he would reject her. But his hand tightened in her hair. He lifted her face ever closer, then bent his head. He inhaled a sharp breath as his lips bore down on her mouth.

Kissing him this way seemed natural. It seemed right. Instincts took over and her body surrendered to Chance. She would give him anything he asked.

His lips moved along her shoulders, moistening her bare skin. Pleasure shot clear through her. “Oh…Chance,” she whispered, her throat barely working. “Don’t stop. Please.”

He froze. He appeared to have come out of a daze. He stepped back quickly, as if she’d lit him on fire.

“Chance?”

There was the slightest shake of his head, a quick dismissal. Lips that had greedily taken hers tightened to thin lines.

“It was my first kiss,” she said quietly.

“It was just a kiss, Lizzie. Consider it one more lesson I’ve taught you on the trail.”

* * *

Dear Reader,

Welcome to Red Ridge!

It’s been a blast creating the Worth brothers for my Harlequin Desire series. You may have already met Taggart Worth in the USA TODAY bestselling romance Carrying the Rancher’s Heir. Taggart is a loner, a man hell-bent on never falling in love again, much less falling for the enemy’s daughter.

Then there’s Clayton Worth in The Cowboy’s Pride. He’s a one-time country music superstar who has returned to Red Ridge to honor a deathbed vow he’d made to his father. Trouble is, his soon-to-be ex-wife has something to say about that, and the adorable baby she brings to the ranch only complicates Clay’s life even more. Poor guy. He should have stayed on the road!

Jackson Worth’s story is still cooking and you’ll meet him this October in Worth the Risk, the final contribution to the Worth family romance!

But if you’ve read my Westerns you know I love history and I love true cowboys, too, so I thought it fitting and proper to let you in on how Worth Ranch got its start. We’ll travel back in time to the 1880s to Red Ridge, Arizona, where you’ll meet bad boy Chance Worth, the man who started it all, and the feisty young woman who might just soften his hardened heart. Oh yeah, as an added bonus, you’ll learn the legend of the ruby necklace and a few other surprises.

I hope you love “beginnings”!

Stories WORTH reading from yours truly,

Charlene Sands

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Dedicated to my dear sweet friend Geraldine Sparks.

You are truly a “Friend Worth Claiming”

and a joy in my life.

With love,

Charlene

CHARLENE SANDS

Award-winning author Charlene Sands writes bold, passionate, heart-stopping heroes and always…really good men! She’s a lover of all things romantic, having married her high school sweetheart, Don. She is the proud recipient of a Readers’ Choice Award and double recipient of a Booksellers’ Best Award, having written more than twenty-five romances to date, both contemporary and historical Western. Charlene is a member of Romance Writers of America and belongs to the Orange County and Los Angeles chapters of RWA, where she volunteers as the Published Authors’ Liaison.

When not writing, she loves movie dates with her hubby, playing cards with her children, reading romance, great coffee, Pacific beaches, country music and anything chocolate. She also loves to hear from her readers. You can reach Charlene at www.charlenesands.com or P.O. Box 4883, West Hills, CA 91308. You can find her on the Harlequin Desire Authors Blog, and on Facebook, too!

Contents

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 One

Red Ridge

Arizona

1884

Chance Worth bent down on both knees and leaned over, splashing lake water onto his face. Refreshing drops sprayed his bare shoulders and chest as two-day-old dust melted away. The cleansing felt damn good.

He’d been careful treading through the foothills looking out onto the Red Ridge Mountains. He’d left Channing, Arizona, in a hurry, making sure he wasn’t being followed. Only thing that ever could trail him was trouble and it seemed to follow him everywhere he went.

Narrowing his eyes, he searched the perimeter of the lake, taking in every detail, every bush, shrub and tree in the distance. Nothing stirred but his horse, Joyful. The mare was feeding on tall grass by a copse of trees.

Glistening waters tempted him like a whore’s beckoning smile. “What the hell.” He unfastened his gun belt and folded it into his shirt. His boots were next. Then he tucked it all in a hollowed-out patch under a boulder. Without further thought, he dove into the lake and pure heaven, cool and inviting, burst against his skin, soaking him through and through and washing away the remainder of his grime. Holding his breath, he swam underneath the smooth surface until his lungs burned.

He shot up out of the water gulping air and grinning like a kid who’d found a five-dollar gold piece. He remembered river runs with his friends at the orphanage. Taking turns jumping off mesquite branches into the rushing river and living to speak about it afterwards.

Lifting his face to the sun, he shook his hair out, splattering water in his wake. The heat seared his skin and for a moment, he enjoyed the warming from where he stood in the lake.

A noise broke his respite and instincts took hold. He reached for his gun then groaned. A quick glance at his clothes sitting on the bank, thirty feet away and housing his Peacemaker brought a curse to his lips. He lowered down, water up to his neck, and listened closely.

A female’s scream pierced his ears and he focused his gaze in that direction, but the bend in the lake obstructed his view. He dove in and swam toward the source of the sound.

When he came up from the water he spotted a girl flailing her arms in a sinking rowboat. The straw hat she used to scoop out water wasn’t emptying nearly fast enough. It was clear as day her efforts were useless as the boat made a slow descent under the water. But she continued to scream and scoop, scream and scoop until the boat’s top lip met with the water’s edge. “Just jump in and get it over with,” he muttered.

The girl went under. He waited for her head to bob up. When she didn’t surface immediately, he squeezed his eyes shut and swore. He had a bad feeling about this. His next glance found no ripples in the water. The lake had swallowed her up.