Marie Ferrarella - Fortune's Second-Chance Cowboy

Welcome Home, Chloe Fortune!

“You’re family,” Graham Fortune tells his newly discovered half sister, Chloe Fortune Elliott, and just like that, Chloe has a new job and a new home in Austin. She works well with the troubled teens at Peter’s Place, but she’s having more difficulty managing a male of the grown-up variety. Ranch hand Chance Howell gets under her skin from the moment they meet.

The tall blond army veteran is good with horses and adolescents, but he’s a master at avoiding intimacy. Maybe that’s why Chloe is so drawn to him. Or maybe it’s the sadness she recognizes in his eyes. Her head tells her falling for Chance is a bad idea. Her heart tells her she may have no choice...

MEET THE FORTUNES

Fortune of the Month: Chloe Fortune Elliott

Age: 26

Vital statistics: Five foot two, eyes of blue and a heart as big as Texas.

Claim to Fame: None—until she discovers Jerome Fortune is her biological father.

Romantic prospects: Questionable. She has loved and lost. Once you’ve “fallen off the horse,” it can be hard to pick yourself up again.

“I’ve been working as a counselor at Peter’s Place ranch for just a few weeks now, and it’s just as challenging—and rewarding—as I thought it would be. One challenge I didn’t expect was Chance Howell. Graham Fortune’s new ranch hand makes me feel, well...he makes me feel. I thought my heart died along with my husband when Donnie got killed in Afghanistan.

I suppose any red-blooded female would respond to a cowboy as sexy as Chance. But he’s a former soldier himself, and he’s made it clear he doesn’t “do” permanent. And I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I’m a Fortune. There are a million reasons why we shouldn’t get involved. So why do they go flying out the window the minute he sidles up beside me?”

* * *

The Fortunes of Texas:

The Secret Fortunes—

A new generation of heroes and heartbreakers!

Fortune’s Second-Chance Cowboy

Marie Ferrarella

www.millsandboon.co.uk

USA TODAY bestselling and RITA® Award–winning author MARIE FERRARELLA has written more than two hundred and fifty books for Miils & Boon, some under the name Marie Nicole. Her romances are beloved by fans worldwide. Visit her website, www.marieferrarella.com.

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To

Tiffany Khauo,

who is about to have her own population explosion.

Tiffany, this one’s for you.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text Welcome Home, Chloe Fortune! “You’re family,” Graham Fortune tells his newly discovered half sister, Chloe Fortune Elliott, and just like that, Chloe has a new job and a new home in Austin. She works well with the troubled teens at Peter’s Place, but she’s having more difficulty managing a male of the grown-up variety. Ranch hand Chance Howell gets under her skin from the moment they meet. The tall blond army veteran is good with horses and adolescents, but he’s a master at avoiding intimacy. Maybe that’s why Chloe is so drawn to him. Or maybe it’s the sadness she recognizes in his eyes. Her head tells her falling for Chance is a bad idea. Her heart tells her she may have no choice...

Introduction MEET THE FORTUNES Fortune of the Month: Chloe Fortune Elliott Age: 26 Vital statistics: Five foot two, eyes of blue and a heart as big as Texas. Claim to Fame: None—until she discovers Jerome Fortune is her biological father. Romantic prospects: Questionable. She has loved and lost. Once you’ve “fallen off the horse,” it can be hard to pick yourself up again. “I’ve been working as a counselor at Peter’s Place ranch for just a few weeks now, and it’s just as challenging—and rewarding—as I thought it would be. One challenge I didn’t expect was Chance Howell. Graham Fortune’s new ranch hand makes me feel, well...he makes me feel. I thought my heart died along with my husband when Donnie got killed in Afghanistan. I suppose any red-blooded female would respond to a cowboy as sexy as Chance. But he’s a former soldier himself, and he’s made it clear he doesn’t “do” permanent. And I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I’m a Fortune. There are a million reasons why we shouldn’t get involved. So why do they go flying out the window the minute he sidles up beside me?” * * * The Fortunes of Texas: The Secret Fortunes— A new generation of heroes and heartbreakers!

Title Page Fortune’s Second-Chance Cowboy Marie Ferrarella www.millsandboon.co.uk

About the Author USA TODAY bestselling and RITA® Award–winning author MARIE FERRARELLA has written more than two hundred and fifty books for Miils & Boon, some under the name Marie Nicole. Her romances are beloved by fans worldwide. Visit her website, www.marieferrarella.com .

Dedication To Tiffany Khauo, who is about to have her own population explosion. Tiffany, this one’s for you.

Prologue

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

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

Prologue

“Hello, Chloe, are you still there?”

Chloe Elliott’s hand tightened around her landline’s receiver as she heard the caller’s deep male voice asking her the same question again.

Was she still there?

Part of Chloe felt like answering the question by simply hanging up. She’d had enough disappointments in her twenty-six years to last a lifetime, why would she set herself up for yet another one?

But there was this other part of Chloe, the part that needed to believe that good things could happen, that they still did happen. That was the part that had been instrumental in making her get out of bed every morning even after Donnie, the husband she’d adored, had been killed while serving in Afghanistan after they had been married for only an incredibly short two years. That was also the part that had decided to make her gather her courage together and to try to get to know her father’s family.

The father who had, up until just recently, been a complete mystery in her life.

Ever since she could remember—until she’d gotten married—it had been just her mother and her. There had been no other family members to speak of, and that had been just fine with her. Filling in the blanks for herself, Chloe assumed that her father had been her mother’s high school sweetheart who’d been killed in a car accident before he could marry her nineteen-year-old mother.

Because that had been her belief since forever, Chloe hadn’t been prepared to learn that her father was actually tech giant Gerald Robinson. And even more, that for years now he’d been living under an assumed name. Gerald Robinson was in fact Jerome Fortune, one of the famous Texas Fortunes, no less. Neither had she been prepared for the eight legitimate Robinson offspring, giving her half siblings she’d never known she had.