Sherryl Woods - The Rancher and His Unexpected Daughter

Fatherhood is filled with all kinds of unexpected surprises in this acclaimed Adams Dynasty story from New York Times bestselling author Sherryl Woods.

Widower Harlan Adams had plenty of experience with children—male children, anyway. So when a rebellious teenage girl stole his truck and went for a joyride, Harlan was baffled. Then he confronted her intriguing, sassy mother and was totally thrown for a loop. While he might not know anything about girls, he thought he knew everything about women. Trouble was, Harlan had no experience with a woman who told him no…

The Rancher and His Unexpected Daughter

Sherryl Woods

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Cover

Back Cover Text Fatherhood is filled with all kinds of unexpected surprises in this acclaimed Adams Dynasty story from New York Times bestselling author Sherryl Woods. Widower Harlan Adams had plenty of experience with children—male children, anyway. So when a rebellious teenage girl stole his truck and went for a joyride, Harlan was baffled. Then he confronted her intriguing, sassy mother and was totally thrown for a loop. While he might not know anything about girls, he thought he knew everything about women. Trouble was, Harlan had no experience with a woman who told him no…

Title Page The Rancher and His Unexpected Daughter Sherryl Woods www.millsandboon.co.uk

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

Epilogue

Copyright

Harlan Adams walked out of Rosa’s Mexican Café after eating his fill of her spicy brand of Tex-Mex food just in time to see his pickup barrel down the center of Main Street at fifty miles an hour. In the sleepy Texas town of Los Piños, both the theft and the speed were uncommon occurrences.

“Ain’t that your truck?” Mule Masters asked, staring after the vehicle that was zigzagging all over the road, endangering parked cars and pedestrians alike.

“Sure as hell is,” Harlan said, indignation making his insides churn worse than Rosa’s hot sauce.

“That’s what you get for leaving your keys in plain sight. I’ve been telling you for months now that times have changed. The world’s full of thieves and murderers,” Mule said ominously. “They were bound to get to Los Piños sooner or later.”

Given the time it was wasting, Harlan found the familiar lecture extremely irritating. “Where’s your car?” he snapped.

Mule blinked at the sharp tone. “Across the street, right where it always is.”

Harlan was already striding across the two-lane road before the words were completely out of his friend’s mouth. “Come on, old man.”

Mule appeared vaguely startled by the command. “Come on where?”

“To catch the damned thing, that’s where,” he replied with a certain amount of eagerness. The thought of a good ruckus held an amazing appeal.

“Sheriff’s close by,” Mule objected without picking up speed.

Harlan lost patience with the procrastinating that had earned Mule his nickname. “Just give me your keys,” he instructed. He didn’t take any chances on Mule’s compliance. He reached out and snatched them from his friend’s hand.

Before the old man could even start grumbling, Harlan was across the street and starting the engine of a battered old sedan. That car had seen a hundred thousand hard miles or more back and forth across the state of Texas, thanks to Mule’s knack for tinkering with an engine.

Harlan pulled out onto Main Street, gunned the engine a couple of times, then shifted gears with pure pleasure. The smooth glide from standing stock-still to sixty in the blink of an eye was enough to make a man weep.

In less than a minute his truck was in sight again on the outskirts of town and he was gaining on it. He was tempted to whoop with joy at the sheer exhilaration of the impromptu race, but he had to keep every bit of his energy focused on his pursuit of that runaway truck.

The chase lasted just long enough to stir his ire, but not nearly long enough to be downright interesting. Not a mile out of town, where the two-lane road curved like a well-rounded lady’s hips, he caught up with the truck just in time to see it miss the turn and swerve straight toward a big, old, cottonwood tree. His heart climbed straight into his throat and stayed there as he watched the drama unfold.

He veered from the highway onto the shoulder and slammed on his own brakes just as the truck collided with the tree. It hit with a resounding thwack that crumpled the front fender on the passenger side, sent his blood pressure soaring, and elicited a string of profanity from inside the truck that blistered his ears.

“What the devil?” he muttered as he scrambled from the borrowed car and ran toward the truck. Obviously the thief couldn’t be badly injured if he had that much energy left for cursing.

To his astonishment, when he flung open the driver’s door, a slender young girl practically tumbled out into his arms. He righted her, keeping a firm clamp on her wrist in case the little thief decided to flee.

She couldn’t be a day over thirteen, he decided, gazing into scared brown eyes. Admittedly, though, she had a vocabulary that a much older dock worker would envy. She also had a belligerent tilt to her cute little chin and a sullen expression that dared him to yell at her.

Taken aback by her apparent age, Harlan bit back the shouted lecture he’d planned and settled for a less confrontative approach. He could hardly wait to hear why this child had stolen his pickup.

“You okay?” he inquired quietly. Other than a bump on her forehead, he couldn’t see any other signs of injury.

She wriggled in a game effort to free herself from his grip. He grinned at the wasted attempt. He’d wrestled cows ten times her weight or more. This little slip of a thing didn’t stand a chance of getting away until he was good and ready to let her go. He didn’t plan on that happening anytime soon. Not until he had the answers he wanted, anyway.

“Must be just fine, if you can struggle like that,” he concluded out loud. “Any particular reason you decided to steal my truck?”

“I was tired of walking,” she shot back.

“Did you ever consider a bike?”

“Not fast enough,” she muttered, her gaze defiantly clashing with his.

“You had someplace to get to in a hurry?”

She shrugged.

Harlan had to fight to hide a grin. He’d always been a big admirer of audacity, though he preferred it to be a little better directed. “What’s your name?”

She frowned and for the first time began to look faintly uneasy. “Who wants to know?”

“I’m Harlan Adams. I own White Pines. That’s a ranch just outside of town.” If she was local, that would be plenty of explanation to intimidate her. If she wasn’t, he could elaborate until he had her quivering with fear in her dusty sneakers for pulling a stunt like the one that had ended with his pickup wrapped around a tree.

“Big deal,” she retorted, then let loose a string of expletives.

She either wasn’t local or it was going to take a lot more to impress her with the stupidity of what she’d done. “You have a foul mouth, you know that?” he observed.

“So?”