Linda Ford - The Cowboy's Unexpected Family

Her dream—on her terms

With her own business, Cassie Godfrey is finally self-sufficient. But her plans are interrupted by four young orphans—and one persistent cowboy. If she’ll care for the children until their uncle claims them, Roper Jones will build Cassie’s house. To her business mind, the proposal makes sense. To her independent spirit, it’s a reminder of the commitments she’s promised to avoid.

Roper can’t help admiring Cassie’s pluck, even if he’s exasperated by her stubbornness. All he can offer Cassie is the love and acceptance she claims not to need. But dreams, like hearts, can change and grow...especially in a land made for brave new beginnings.

“Cassie, if you need me you have only to holler,” Roper said.

“I won’t be hollering.”

“I expect not. But I feel better knowing anyone could and I’ll hear them.”

He meant the kids could call for him. “Why would they need you when I’ll be right there in the same tent or whatever you want to call it?”

“No reason. Just as there’s no reason to get all prickly about it.”

“Prickly?” She swallowed hard. “If I am it’s because you make me sound like I can’t manage on my own.”

He held up his hands in a sign of protest. “It never crossed my mind.”

“Well, then. So long as we understand each other.” She headed back to her site.

He chuckled softly and followed her. “Oh, I get it.”

She ignored the note of triumph in his voice. How could he possibly comprehend? He had no idea of the events that had shaped her life and made her want nothing half as much as she wanted to be independent. Self-sufficient.“I don’t need anyone,” she muttered.

“Sounds mighty lonely to me.”

LINDA FORD

lives on a ranch in Alberta, Canada. Growing up on the prairie and learning to notice the small details it hides gave her an appreciation for watching God at work in His creation. Her upbringing also included being taught to trust God in everything and through everything—a theme that resonates in her stories. Threads of another part of her life are found in her stories—her concern for children and their future. She and her husband raised fourteen children—four homemade, ten adopted. She currently shares her home and life with her husband, a grown son, a live-in paraplegic client and a continual (and welcome) stream of kids, kids-in-law, grandkids and assorted friends and relatives.

The Cowboy’s Unexpected Family

Linda Ford

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Owe no man anything, but to love one another.

—Romans 13:8

To families. To my children and their children.

May you build sweet memories,

establish worthwhile traditions and grow in love

and care for each other. I wish this for all families.

Contents

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

Epilogue

Dear Reader

Questions for Discussion

Excerpt

Chapter One

Eden Valley, Alberta

Summer 1882

Cassie Godfrey’s dream was about to come true. She could see it there before her eyes. She could smell it, and practically taste it. Twenty-five years old and she was finally about to become self-sufficient.

“I’m not sure this is a good idea.” The cowboy sitting next to her sounded worried but she dismissed his concern. She’d heard all the arguments she cared to hear.

“I’ll be fine.” She jumped from the wagon seat and headed to the back where her things waited to be moved to her new home. Only one small problem remained. Or perhaps it was a large problem.

She had no house.

Roper Jones climbed down slowly, reluctantly. “Where you planning to sleep?”

“Eddie lent me a tent.” She’d spent the winter at Eden Valley Ranch where Eddie Gardiner was boss and had recently married Linette. When Linette had discovered Cassie living in the Montreal train station after the death of her husband, she had gathered Cassie under her wing and taken her to Eden Valley Ranch with her. After Linette and Eddie married, they’d insisted Cassie was more than welcome to remain and share their big house but it was time for Cassie to move on. For months, ever since she’d reached the Eden Valley Ranch, her dream had been growing. There was a time she thought a secure future meant depending on a man, but she’d grown to see she didn’t need a man to take care of her. She could take care of herself. It had become her dream and that dream was about to be realized.

“You’re mighty determined.” Roper’s chuckle sounded a tiny bit regretful. He hoisted the tent and a couple of bags from the wagon and headed for the little patch of land Cassie had persuaded Mr. Macpherson to sell her. He’d been reluctant about selling to a woman but she pointed out she was the head of her household—although she refrained from mentioning it was a household of one—and a widow, which entitled her to file on a homestead.

“Guess if the government would allow me to own one hundred and sixty acres for a homestead, I can buy a small lot.” Her words had persuaded him, and no one else had raised an objection.

Roper set her things on the ground and leaned back on his heels. “Cassie, this doesn’t seem like a good idea to me. Why not come back to the ranch?” His grin did nothing to erase the disapproval in his eyes.

She planted her feet on her own piece of land and sighed. “I realize you’re only wanting to help but believe me this is exactly where I want to be and what I want to do.” She turned full circle, mentally measuring the boundaries of her lot. It lay behind Macpherson’s store, close enough that she could supply the bread for his store, once she had a stove, as part payment for the lumber for her house. Yet it was far enough to be out of sight of the freight wagons, stagecoaches and riders passing the store.

Roper followed her visual inspection until they’d both gone full circle and ended looking at each other. He was a pleasant enough man with a ready smile tipped a little crookedly at the moment. Stocky built, solid even. A good head of brown hair mostly hidden under his cowboy hat. A square face. His hazel eyes were always full of kindness and hope, though she’d gone out of her way to make it clear he need not pin any hope on her.

“Why must you insist on this foolishness?” He swung about to indicate the vast open prairies, the rolling foothills, the bold Rocky Mountains. “Ain’t nothing but nothing out here. A few cows. A few cowboys. A store. A settler or two.”

Her gaze took in the wide land and for a moment rested on the mountaintops that seemed to poke the blue sky. As always they made her feel stronger, and she brought her mind back to Roper’s concern. “And Mr. Macpherson,” she added, “just a holler away.”

“Who’s to protect you from wild animals? Either the four-legged or two-legged kind?”

“Indeed. And who has protected me in the past? Sure wasn’t my dead husband.” She’d been so afraid sleeping in the railway station. “Nor my dead father. Certainly not my still-living grandfather.” She made a grating sound of disbelief.

“Must be the good Lord ’cause it sure ain’t your good sense.”

“Think what you will.” She turned away to examine the stack of belongings. “Thanks for bringing me to town and unloading my stuff.”

“You’re telling me to leave?”

“Don’t recall saying so but shouldn’t you get back to the ranch?”

“You’re bound and determined to do this?”

She faced him squarely. She would reveal no flicker of doubt. “I’m bound and determined.”