Kathy Douglass - The City Girl's Homecoming

Eight dogs, eight cats...and one ornery cowboy!

Megan Jennings just found the ideal temporary home for sixteen suddenly displaced pets. Too bad the farm’s owner isn’t giving the two-legged, former New York attorney the same warm welcome. A city girl broke Cade Battle’s heart and no way the gun-shy cowboy’s trusting in the feelings Megan awakens. But after being orphaned as a teenager, Megan knows she’s finally found her forever family. Can she make Cade believe it, too?

KATHY DOUGLASScame by her love of reading naturally—both of her parents were readers. She would finish one book and pick up another. Then she attended law school and traded romances for legal opinions.

After the birth of her two children, her love of reading turned into a love of writing. Kathy now spends her days writing the small-town contemporary novels she enjoys reading.

Also By Kathy Douglass

Sweet Briar Sweethearts

How to Steal the Lawman’s HeartThe Waitress’s SecretThe Rancher and the City GirlWinning Charlotte BackThe Rancher’s Return

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

The City Girl’s Homecoming

Kathy Douglass

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09109-1

THE CITY GIRL’S HOMECOMING

© 2019 Harlequin Books S.A.

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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“My hero.”

She put her hands around his waist and hugged him tight, then reached up and kissed his cheek. She’d intended to keep things light, but when her lips touched his warm skin, electricity shot through her body, stunning her with its intensity. It was like grabbing a live wire. She sucked in a breath and got a whiff of his heady scent mingled with a hint of aftershave. He smelled so good. Their eyes met and held and sexual attraction arced between them.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her more closely to him. She leaned her head against his chest, feeling the steady beat of his heart beneath his cotton shirt. It felt so good to be in his embrace. She couldn’t imagine anything would ever feel better. They stood that way for a long moment before Cade eased back and set her away from him. Megan wasn’t sure what had gone wrong. Could she have imagined the heat in his eyes or the way his breath had hitched when she’d kissed him?

* * *

FUREVER YOURS:

Finding forever homes—and hearts!—

has never been so easy

Dear Reader,

The past can be a powerful force. If we aren’t careful, things best left behind us will keep us from enjoying the present or from seeing the possibilities the future holds. Cade Battle, the hero in The City Girl’s Homecoming , is a prisoner of his past. He’s letting the hurt of a broken relationship blind him, leaving him unable to see what is right in front of his face—Megan Jennings, a woman with a heart of gold. Instead of opening his heart to the happiness that a relationship with Megan can bring, he holds on to the past with both hands.

Megan has loved and lost, leaving her a bit wary of giving her heart again. She’s moved to Spring Forest in an attempt to make a break from the past. When she’s asked to find homes for an elderly neighbor’s sixteen cats and dogs, Megan can’t say no. Cade’s father volunteers to foster the animals on his family’s farm until they can find their forever homes, so Megan and Cade are thrown together. Caring for the animals, they grow close. If they’re willing to leave the past behind them and take a chance, they just might find the love they’ve longed for.

I love hearing from my readers, so feel free to visit my website, kathydouglassbooks.com, and drop me a line. While you’re there, sign up for my newsletter. If you follow me on BookBub, you’ll be informed whenever I have a new book coming out.

I hope you enjoy Megan and Cade’s story.

Happy reading!

Kathy

To Melissa, Teri, Stacy, Karen and Christy. It was a pleasure!

As always, much love to my three personal heroes, my husband and two sons.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

Dear Reader

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

Extract

About the Publisher

Chapter One

Megan Jennings parked her midnight-blue Mercedes sedan on the edge of the driveway of the Whitaker sisters’ house and stared in amazement. Could she actually be seeing what she thought she was seeing? Leaning forward, she peered through the windshield. She blinked several times but the image remained. No, she wasn’t hallucinating. A man really was wrestling with the biggest pig she’d ever seen in her life. Judging by the sweat glistening on the man’s muscular chest, the battle had been going on for some time. From the squealing and fighting the pig was doing, the match wasn’t going to end any time soon.

The pig shoved the man against the side of the truck. The man grunted and temporarily lost his hold on the pig. Seeing an opportunity, the animal made a break for it. Cursing, the man threw himself on the pig, and the two rolled around on the grass.