From “First Lady of the West” Linda Lael Miller and New York Times bestselling author B.J. Daniels come two tales of love and trust in big sky country
Creed’s HonorLinda Lael Miller
Conner Creed knows exactly who he is: a hardworking rancher carrying on his uncle’s legacy in Lonesome Bend, Colorado. Maybe a small-town cowboy’s life isn’t his dream, but he owes the man who took him in as a kid. When he meets Tricia McCall, a newcomer to the small town, he discovers a kindred spirit who knows a thing or two of her own about living someone else’s dreams. As they each struggle with their desires, together they might just find their own dreams in Lonesome Bend.
UnforgivenB.J. Daniels
In Beartooth, Montana, land and family are everything. So when Destry Grant’s brother is accused of killing Rylan West’s sister, the high school sweethearts leave their relationship behind in order to help their families recover from tragedy. Years later, Destry is dedicated to her ranch and making plans for the future. Plans that just might include reuniting with the love of her life. Rylan, too, is done denying his feelings for Destry. But when her brother returns to clear his name and the secrets of the past threaten to resurface, their last chance at love may turn them against each other for good.
www.LindaLaelMiller.com www.BJDaniels.com
Praise for the authors of Heart of a Cowboy
Praise for #1 New York Times bestselling author Linda Lael Miller
“Miller tugs at the heartstrings as few authors can.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Miller’s name is synonymous with the finest in Western romance.”
—RT Book Reviews
“Linda Lael Miller creates vibrant characters and stories I defy you to forget.”
—#1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber
“Miller is one of the finest American writers in the genre.”
—RT Book Reviews
Praise for New York Times bestselling author B.J. Daniels
“Crossing multiple genres, Daniels successfully combines Western romance, suspense and political intrigue with ease.”
—RT Book Reviews on Hard Rain
“Forget slow-simmering romance: the multiple story lines weaving in and out of Big Timber, Montana, mean the second Montana Hamiltons contemporary...is always at a rolling boil.”
—Publishers Weekly on Lone Rider
“[The Montana Hamiltons] should definitely be on the must read list... A great introduction for new readers to this amazing author.”
—Fresh Fiction on Wild Horses
“Fans of Western romantic suspense will relish Daniels’ tale of clandestine love played out in a small town on the Great Plains.”
—Booklist on Unforgiven
Heart of a Cowboy
Creed’s Honor
Linda Lael Miller
Unforgiven
B.J. Daniels
www.millsandboon.co.uk
Cover
Back Cover Text
Praise
Title Page
Creed’s Honor
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
EPILOGUE
Unforgiven
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
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
EPILOGUE
Extract
Copyright
Creed’s Honor
To some of my favorite Laels:
Mike and Sara and Courtney and Chandler
CHAPTER ONE
Lonesome Bend, Colorado
TRICIA MCCALL WAS not the type to see apparitions, but there were times—especially when lonely, tired or both—that she caught just the merest flicker of a glimpse of her dog, Rusty, out of the corner of one eye. Each time that happened, she hoped for the impossible; her heartbeat quickened with joy and excitement, and her breath rushed up into the back of her throat. But when she turned, no matter how quickly, the shepherd-Lab-setter mix was never there.
Of course, he wasn’t. Rusty had died in his sleep only six months before, contented and gray-muzzled and full of years, and his absence was still an ache that throbbed in the back of Tricia’s heart whenever she thought of him. Which was often.
After all, Rusty had been her best friend for nearly half her life. She was almost thirty now, and she’d been fifteen when she and her dad had found the reddish-brown pup hiding under a picnic table at the campground, nearly starved, flea-bitten and shivering.
She and Joe McCall had debugged him as best they could, fed him and taken him straight to Dr. Benchley’s office for shots and a checkup. From then on, Rusty was a member of the family.
“Meow,” interrupted a feline voice coming from the general vicinity of Tricia’s right ankle.
Still wearing her ratty blue chenille robe and the pink fluffy slippers her best friend, Diana, had given her for Christmas many moons ago as a joke, Tricia looked down to see Winston, a black tom with a splash of white between his ears. He was a frequent visitor to her apartment, since he lived just downstairs, with his mistress, Tricia’s great-grandmother, Natty. The separate residences were connected by an inside stairway, but Winston still managed to startle her on a regular basis.
“Meow,” the former stray repeated, this time with more emphasis, looking earnestly up at Tricia. Translation: It’s cat abuse. Natty McCall may look like a harmless old woman, but I’m being starved, I tell you. You’ve got to do something.
“A likely story, sardine-breath,” Tricia replied, out loud. “I was there when the groceries were delivered last Friday, remember? You wouldn’t go hungry if we were snowed in till spring.”
Winston twitched his sleek tail in a jaunty, oh-well-I-tried sort of way and crossed the small kitchen to leap up onto Tricia’s desk and curl up on a tidy stack of printer paper next to the keyboard. He watched Tricia with half-closed amber eyes as she poured herself a cup of coffee and meandered over to boot up the PC. Maybe there would be an email from Hunter; that would definitely lift her spirits.
Not that she was down, exactly. No, she felt more like someone living in suspended animation, a sort of limbo between major life events. She was marking time, marching in place. And that bothered her.
At the push of a button, the monitor flared to life and there it was: the screensaver photo of her and Hunter, beaming in front of a ski lodge in Idaho and looking like—well—a couple. Two happy and reasonably attractive people who belonged together, outfitted for a day on the slopes.
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