Barbara Phinney - Rancher To The Rescue

A Practical Engagement

Clare Walsh isn’t too keen on marrying, but it’s the only way for her to keep her family home...and custody of her two younger brothers. So when rancher Noah Livingstone offers a union in name only, Clare reluctantly agrees. Accepting Noah’s strictly practical proposal has an unexpected catch, though—she’s actually falling for him.

Though Noah is drawn to vibrant, independent Clare, he knows romantic feelings will only complicate their marriage of convenience. But when secrets from his past threaten Noah’s fragile new family, he must make a difficult choice. Will Noah risk all his dreams to secure a real future with Clare?

“Did you want me to propose properly? On my knee?” Noah glanced around awkwardly.

Clare shook her head. “No! No, thank you. It’s all right. It’s not like we’re...in love.”

She cleared her throat and straightened further. “I’m not some silly woman who needs all that foolish romance and fuss. Our marriage is just an agreement to assist me at a difficult financial time. As much as I am grateful to you for it, Mr. Livingstone, I just need to say that I value my freedom. If college has taught me one thing, it’s that I should be deciding my own life.”

“Of course.” The soft words were slow. It was clear he had no idea what she was talking about.

“So if you think you will be making every decision for me,” Clare continued to explain, “I’m here to tell you that that won’t be happening.” There, she’d said her piece.

She looked up at him. Good grief, was that a sparkle in his eye?

One corner of his mouth twitched ever so slightly. “You’re welcome?”

BARBARA PHINNEYwas born in England and raised in Canada. After she retired from the Canadian Armed Forces, Barbara turned her hand to romance writing. The thrill of adventure and her love of happy endings, coupled with a too-active imagination, have merged to help her create this and other wonderful stories. Barbara spends her days writing, building her dream home with her husband and enjoying their fast-growing children.

Dear Reader,

Thank you for reading this book. I must admit, it wasn’t easy to write. There isn’t any of the suspenseful danger that often fills my stories, but rather, I focused on emotion.

Clare resented being abandoned by her parents, and yet she knew it was wrong to feel that way. It wasn’t until she understood love that she could forgive her parents.

Noah struggled against his father when he’d tried to bend him to his will. He also participated in a lie, but didn’t know how to fix either problem.

Asking God for forgiveness and help is the best way to start to fix any problem. But you need to trust Him. All in His perfect timing.

Love isn’t always easy, but its rewards are worth it when we set aside selfishness. Carry one another’s burdens. Love as God loves you.

Happy reading and God bless!

Read on for an extract from THE OUTLAW’S SECOND CHANCE by Angie Dicken.

Rancher to the Rescue

Barbara Phinney

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Who can discern his errors?

Forgive my hidden faults.

—Psalms 19:12

Dedicated to my loved ones. My patient husband and children and such local friends as Barbie, Joan, Eva, Karen and Sally. Thank you for all your support. I couldn’t have my writing without you. God bless.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

About the Author

Dear Reader

Title Page

Bible Verse

Dedication

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

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

Proud Bend, Colorado, April, 1883

“Did I read that right?” Clare Walsh peered up from her chair at the Recording Office in Proud Bend, Colorado. She blinked rapidly. “My parents are gone?”

Standing over her with a deep frown, Noah Livingstone lifted the telegram again. A moment ago, Clare had thrust it at her supervisor, hoping and praying she’d misunderstood the shocking words. She now watched him scan the paper yet again, her breath held so tight that her lungs hurt.

Please, Lord, let it not be so.

“I wouldn’t put it quite like that, Miss Walsh,” Noah hedged.

She rolled her eyes. “They’re on a ship that’s now missing! How else am I going to put it?” She didn’t care that her tone was sharp. The telegram that had arrived less than fifteen minutes ago held nothing that warranted polite hedging, even from the calm and reserved Mr. Noah Livingstone.

She swallowed and bit her lip. Her parents’ steamship had been lost at sea.

Noah pulled up a chair and sat close to her. The Recording Officer scanned the telegram one more time, as if, like her, he might hope to read something different in it. When his gaze lifted to hers, his intense blue eyes softened.

Her heart flipped.

“The telegram says that their steamship is overdue at Liverpool, England,” he said in a gentle tone that rolled over Clare in the soft, soothing way she so appreciated. “It says it may have been lost at sea.”

The office around them was small, already crowded with two desks, numerous filing cabinets and a small glassed-in private office for Noah. With the other clerk, Mr. Pooley, hovering close by, the whole interior felt suddenly claustrophobic. Noah carefully folded the telegram and set it down on Clare’s desk, before taking her cold hands into his.

His fingers were warm and the grip, while not hard, was firm enough to offer a welcome sense of security. When she sniffed, his fingers tightened around hers.

She could also smell the scent of his soap, faint and slightly stringent, as he leaned closer to her. She wanted to inhale deeply, it was so pleasing, but fought back the urge. This was hardly the time.

It had been six weeks since her parents left rather hastily for the Kurhaus in Baden-Baden, Germany. They were to be gone for six months in an attempt to bring relief to her mother’s crippling arthritis. A cure, touted by the new doctor who’d moved to Proud Bend last summer, offered hope where there hadn’t been any before.

She and her superior sat and did nothing for the longest minute of her life. Noah stared at their interlocking hands. Clare’s gaze wandered from his ruggedly handsome face to fall upon an open letter on her desk, another portent of bad news that had arrived by an errand boy mere minutes before the telegram. In it, the bank manager had firmly requested a meeting to discuss her parents’ overdue mortgage payment.

Her whole body then seemed to coil and tighten. She wanted to push everyone away, to shout and deny both sets of terrible news.

But then she shut her eyes again, took several deep breaths and fought the impulse. She was stronger than this. She could handle any situation.

She also wanted to stop herself from gripping Noah’s warm hands even tighter. In all the months she’d worked here, he had been nothing but professional with her. To have this—this sudden familiarity—was quite frankly too much of a comfort for the modern woman that she was.

Still, Clare took it just the same, as she recalled the last day before her parents left.

Six weeks ago, while Mother had ushered Clare’s much younger brothers into her bedroom with her so they could help her pack up the last few items, Clare’s father had divulged that he’d emptied his bank account, paying only March’s mortgage payment. He had been concerned that they might need extra funds for the long journey and promised to return whatever money he had left once they arrived in Germany. Clare had expected the money any day now.