Roxanne Rustand - High Country Homecoming

He left a soldier...and returned a cowboy.

Can Rocky Mountain Ranch make him a husband?

After a medical discharge from the marines, all Devlin Langford wants is peace and solitude on his Montana ranch. Instead, he finds his childhood nemesis, Chloe Kenner, in his rental cabin. The cheerful cookbook writer can’t forget how she once pestered him—and crushed on him. Is her sunny smile just what he needs to begin healing?

A USA TODAY bestselling and award-winning author of over thirty-five novels, ROXANNE RUSTANDlives in the country with her husband and a menagerie of pets, including three horses, rescue dogs and cats. She has a master’s in nutrition and is a clinical dietitian. RT Book Reviews nominated her for a Career Achievement Award, two of her books won their annual Reviewers’ Choice Award and two others were nominees.

Also By Roxanne Rustand

Love Inspired

Rocky Mountain Ranch

Montana Mistletoe

High Country Homecoming

Aspen Creek Crossroads

Winter Reunion

Second Chance Dad

The Single Dad’s Redemption

An Aspen Creek Christmas

Falling for the Rancher

Rocky Mountain Heirs

The Loner’s Thanksgiving Wish

Love Inspired Suspense

Big Sky Secrets

Fatal Burn

End Game

Murder at Granite Falls

Duty to Protect

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

High Country Homecoming

Roxanne Rustand

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09667-6

HIGH COUNTRY HOMECOMING

© 2019 Roxanne Rustand

Published in Great Britain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

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www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

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She was impossible to forget.

Looking at those big blue eyes that were staring at him with recognition and horror, he felt memories slam into him.

He hadn’t seen her since he was sixteen, when she’d been his persistent shadow. The bane of his existence. “Chloe? What are you doing here?”

She blushed. “I—I thought you were in the military. Your family said—”

Apparently her memories of him weren’t that happy, either. “I’ve been back a couple days. They were expecting me.”

“I...um...I’m renting a cabin here on the ranch. For a few months.”

He gaped. “Months?” he repeated, hoping he’d heard her wrong.

She nodded as she grabbed her suitcase. “Well...I guess I’d better get settled.”

Of all people to show up while he was trying to regain a sense of peace and figure out how to start his life over!

As he watched her enter the cabin, he couldn’t help feeling as if he were wavering on a fragile precipice with unknown, dangerous water below. Blue water the same color as Chloe’s eyes.

Dear Reader,

Thank you so much for joining me in Montana ranch country.

High Country Homecoming is the second novel in my Rocky Mountain Ranch series, and this book was such fun to write. It combines some of the things in life that I love the most—faith, strong family connections, horses, dogs and country life...and cooking! And it even provided a nice reconnection to a wonderful old friend, attorney William Roemerman, who helped with legal aspects of the heroine’s past.

My husband and I live out in the country with three horses, two rescue dogs and a number of rescued kitties. I’ve had horses since I was a little girl of six, so whenever I start a book series set in ranch country, it makes me feel right at home. And in this book, my heroine Chloe is an avid cook—a woman after my own heart.

Since she’s working on a cookbook with recipes gleaned from her beloved grandmother’s recipe box, I thought you might like to try one of those recipes—which is actually a recipe that I have been making for decades!

If you enjoyed this book, you can check harlequin.com or other online bookstores for the first in this series, Montana Mistletoe. The third title will be out in early 2020.

You can reach me at: www.roxannerustand.com, http://Facebook.com/roxanne.rustand, http://Facebook.com/roxanne.rustand.author.

Or by regular mail at: PO Box 2550, Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52406

Wishing you a lifetime of blessings,

Roxanne Rustand

Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth.

—1 Corinthians 13:4–8

With love to Danielle, Ben, Lily, Violet and Finn. You light up my life!

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

Dear Reader

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