Paula Riggs - The Parent Plan Part 3

36 Hours Serial

As a devastating summer storm hits Grand Springs, Colorado, the next thirty-six hours will change the town and its residents forever….

The Parent Plan Part 3

Vicki’s accident the night of the storm deepened the cracks in the already fragile marriage of her parents, Karen and Cassidy Sloane.

Cassidy buries the pain of his broken relationship in work on his ranch. As past demons resurface, his bottled-up feelings threaten to explode. He knows he’s made mistakes, but is it too late to heal his marriage?

Vicki needs a father, and Karen misses the strong, loving man she fell in love with. But if this marriage is going to succeed, Karen will need to help Cassidy learn there is no single way to be a loving family.

Don't miss the final book in the 36 Hours serial, You Must Remember This by Marilyn Pappano.

Dear Reader,

In the town of Grand Springs, Colorado, a devastating summer storm sets off a string of events that changes the lives of the residents forever….

Welcome to Mills & Boon’s exciting new digital serial, 36 Hours! In this thirty-six part serial share the stories of the residents of Grand Springs, Colorado, in the wake of a deadly storm.

With the power knocked out and mudslides washing over the roads, the town is plunged into darkness and the residents are forced to face their biggest fears—and find love against all odds.

Each week features a new story written by a variety of bestselling authors like Susan Mallery and Sharon Sala. The stories are published in three segments, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and the first segment of every three-part book is free, so you can get caught up in the mystery and drama of Grand Springs. And you can get to know a new set of characters every week. You can read just one, but as the lives and stories of each intertwine in surprising ways, you’ll want to read them all!

Join Mills & Boon E every week as we bring you excitement, mystery, fun and romance in 36 Hours!

Happy reading!

About the Author

Paula Detmer Riggs discovers inspiration for her stories in her varying life experiences. During the first five years of her marriage to a naval officer she lived in nineteen different locales on both the East and West Coasts, including Southern and Northern California, the Puget Sound area and Newport, Rhode lsland. While acting as a docent in Old Town, California, she wrote and directed historic fashion shows, which led to a fascination with early California history.

In later years she and her husband owned and operated a historic nursery in Oregon listed on the National Register of Historic Sites. They are now happily living in the first territorial capital of Arizona, Prescott, which still possesses the flavor and fascination of the Wild West.

Paula writes romances because “I think we all need escape from the fast-paced, often stressful challenges of the twenty-first century lifestyles that confront us daily, and because I believe in true and lasting love—and, best of all, happy endings!”

www.millsandboon.co.uk

When Karen Sloane’s daughter was trapped in the cave during June’s massive rainstorm, it was the longest 36 hours of her life. But Vicky was rescued safe and sound. It should have been a time for celebration. Instead, months of anguish followed, leading to a pending divorce, as Cassidy’s past can’t seem to let him forgive Karen for putting her career ahead of her family. Unless there’s some compromise, the future is looking as bleak and devastating as that spring storm.

Chapter Twelve Continued

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Karen Sloane was still mulling over her friend, Lindy’s, words a week later while sitting alone in her mother’s kitchen at midnight after a hectic Saturday night helping out in the ER.

She’d seen her soon-to-be ex-husband, Cassidy, only once since the conversation in the cafeteria—this morning when she dropped Vicki and Rags off for the weekend. His face had been impassive beneath the familiar Stetson as he’d nodded in her direction. As far as she could tell, he wasn’t exactly pining for her. In fact, he looked magnificently confident as he stood in the small training corral adjacent to the big barn, working an unfamiliar black gelding on a lunging line.

Though it had been early by her standards, only a few minutes past eight, his jeans and buckskin vest were streaked with grime and sweat.

Stifling a yawn now, she forced herself to take another bite of the quiche she’d heated in the microwave and thought about the meeting she’d had that afternoon with the divorce lawyer. Terse to the point of rudeness, the man had asked a series of questions, then asked her to compile a list of assets she considered exclusively her own, and those she shared with Cassidy.

Assets, she thought with a sad shake of her head. Property.Things.

But what about her dreams? What about the threads of her life that were so firmly braided into Cassidy’s dreams?

And what about her daughter?

The attorney had sounded almost bored when he’d asked what kind of custody arrangement she wanted to set up. As though Vicki, too, was an asset to be divided.

She felt pressure in her sinuses, a sudden difficulty with her breathing. As she’d done too many times in the past few weeks, she banished the need to cry to the list of things she would do later, when she had some spare time.

Time? To spare? she thought glumly. What was that?

A nasty, sadistic gnome with a whip who hated her, she decided with a whimsy that was far from comforting.

“You look like a lady who could use a slug of my famous double strength cocoa,” Frank said, flashing that rogue’s smile of his as he came into her mother’s spotless chrome-and-glass kitchen, bringing a rush of vitality and leashed power with him.

“The man is a saint,” she said, fashioning a smile of her own as she straightened her slumped shoulders and made an effort to force down another bite.

“Not even close, darling Kari,” he said as he rattled through the pans in the cupboard until he found one he liked.

“No doubt that’s a big part of the reason Mom is so crazy about you.”

A chuckle rumbled from his deep chest. “That and the fact that I’ve never tried to change a hair on that gorgeous head of hers. Not that I’d want to, you understand.”

“A refreshing attitude in a male,” she muttered.

Frank let that pass as he opened another cupboard and took down three mugs, then fetched the cocoa, sugar and the milk—all with the easy familiarity of a man very much at home in the kitchen in spite of the aura of lethal toughness surrounding him.

“Of course, your mom is wise enough to offer me the same courtesy,” he said, prying open the lid on the cocoa tin.

“I assume you’re talking about Mom and you exclusively,” she said evenly, watching him.

“Who else would I be talking about?” he asked with a bland look that made her scowl.

“Haven’t a clue,” she said, struggling against a leaden need to throw her tired body into his arms and absorb some of his strength, the way Vicki ran to her father for comfort.

“Mother said you’re trying to talk her into a June wedding,” she said, deliberately changing the subject to one less troubling. “Again.”

“Yeah, well, sooner or later she’s going to get it into her head that I’m not giving up, no matter how many jumps she puts me over.”

Karen felt the skin of her face pulling into a frown. “Are you saying that my mother is deliberately keeping you…uh—?”