Judy Christenberry - Beauty and The Beastly Rancher

Joe Crawford: Eldest son and reclusive bachelor. He believes no woman would have him, but he craves a family and will enter into a marriage of convenience if it means finally getting what he desires.

Anna Pointer: With two children to raise, this widow couldn’t refuse Joe’s proposal of marriage. But her secret desire for her husband could lead to heartache like she never imagined.

Pete Crawford: The happily married second son has plenty of advice to give his older brother…even if Joe doesn’t want to hear it.

Carol Crawford: This family matriarch just wants all of her children to settle down and be happy. She believes Joe’s marriage to Anna will bring him all the joy he deserves and she’ll stop at nothing to bring the two together.

Caleb Crawford: The head of the Crawford family is hiding some scandalous secrets from his own children. Find out what they are, in Hush, Judy Christenberry’s newest novel from Silhouette Books, available September 2003.

Dear Reader,

The summer after my thirteenth birthday, I read my older sister’s dog-eared copy of Wolf and the Dove by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss and I was hooked. Thousands of romance novels later—I won’t say how many years—I’ll gladly confess that I’m a romance freak! That’s why I am so delighted to become the associate senior editor for the Silhouette Romance line. My goal, as the new manager of Silhouette’s longest-running line, is to bring you brand-new, heartwarming love stories every month. As you read each one, I hope you’ll share the magic and experience love as it was meant to be.

For instance, if you love reading about rugged cowboys and the feisty heroines who melt their hearts, be sure not to miss Judy Christenberry’s Beauty & the Beastly Rancher (#1678), the latest title in her FROM THE CIRCLE K series. And share a laugh with the always-entertaining Terry Essig in Distracting Dad (#1679).

In the next THE TEXAS BROTHERHOOD title by Patricia Thayer, Jared’s Texas Homecoming (#1680), a drifter’s life changes for good when he offers to marry his nephew’s mother. And a secretary’s dream comes true when her boss, who has amnesia, thinks they’re married, in Judith McWilliams’s Did You Say… Wife? (#1681).

Don’t miss the savvy nanny who moves in on a single dad, in Married in a Month (#1682) by Linda Goodnight, or the doctor who learns his ex’s little secret, in Dad Today, Groom Tomorrow (#1683) by Holly Jacobs.

Enjoy!

Mavis C. Allen

Associate Senior Editor, Silhouette Romance

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Books by Judy Christenberry

Silhouette Romance

The Nine-Month Bride #1324

* Marry Me, Kate #1344

* Baby in Her Arms #1350

* A Ring for Cinderella #1356

†Never Let You Go #1453

†The Borrowed Groom #1457

†Cherish the Boss #1463

** Snowbound Sweetheart #1476

Newborn Daddy #1511

When the Lights Went Out…#1547

** Least Likely To Wed #1570

Daddy on the Doorstep # 1654

**Beauty & the Beastly Rancher # 1678

Silhouette Books

The Coltons

The Doctor Delivers

A Colton Family Christmas

“The Diplomat’s Daughter”

Lone Star Country Club

The Last Bachelor

has been writing romances for fifteen years because she loves happy endings as much as her readers do. She’s also a bestselling author for Harlequin American Romance, but she has a long love of traditional romances and is delighted to tell a story that brings those elements to the reader. A former high school French teacher, Judy devotes her time to writing. She hopes readers have as much fun reading her stories as she does writing them. She spends her spare time reading, watching her favorite sports teams and keeping track of her two adult daughters.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Epilogue

Joe Crawford shoved back his straw cowboy hat and wiped his forehead with his handkerchief. He’d been on the tractor for more than an hour, plowing the small pasture to prepare it for the alfalfa he intended to plant there.

The field wasn’t large, but he hated to let anything go to waste. He could make enough to feed the herd for a month by taking the time to plant this last piece of land he owned. All it would take was a little sweat.

He might not attract the women like his brothers, or produce grandchildren, but he was a hard worker and made plenty of money for his efforts. He’d realized in high school that women weren’t interested in him, so he’d turned his attention to studying, earning him a four-year scholarship to Oklahoma State University to study land management. Now, at thirty-five, he figured love had passed him by.

He turned the tractor and started back toward the other end of the field, toward the county road that flanked the land. His gaze drifted to the corner where the road turned south. There was an old fruit stand there, built many years ago. It was on Derek Pointer’s old place or Joe would’ve torn it down. It was an eyesore.

But today it was occupied. Someone had set up shop, selling vegetables and fruit. He couldn’t imagine who the widow Pointer had given permission to. Or maybe they were nesters, not asking.

His eyesight was good, so when he caught a glimpse of movement, he looked again and discovered whoever it was had a potential customer pull to a stop. He noted the two men who got out of a muscle car, not the usual type to be interested in produce.

He shrugged his shoulders. It took all kinds. He shoved the men from his mind. He’d almost reached the opposite end of the field when some movement drew his attention again. This time it was a small child, flying across the barren field between Joe’s land and the produce shed.

Joe didn’t know how he knew something was wrong, but he did. The child was trying to signal him with her skinny arms. Joe shoved the gear into Neutral and grabbed the hand brake. Then he vaulted from the tractor and met the child more than halfway.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Those men are hurting my mommy. Please help her.”

He remembered the swagger he’d noticed when the men got out of the car. He didn’t know who was selling the produce, but two against one wasn’t fair.

“Stay here. I’ll let you know when you can come.” Then he raced to the produce stand, his vision blocked by the three-sided structure.

Anguished cries told him the woman was in distress. When he rounded the side of the stand, he saw her, lying on the dirt, one man at her head, holding her hands, and the other on top of her, pulling at her clothes. He didn’t recognize either of them. They must have been from out of town.