Christmas at Cade Ranch
(Rocky Mountain Cowboys #1)
by Karen Rock
Contemporary Romance
Paperback & ebook, 384 pagesby Karen Rock
Contemporary Romance
November 7th 2017 by Harlequin
The Christmas they never had.
James Cade has one priority: keep the family ranch running smoothly in the wake of his younger brother's death. With Jesse's ex, Sofia Gallardo, and her young son, Javi, stranded at Cade Ranch over Christmas, this task just got a lot harder. The longer Sofia and Javi stay, the harder it is to imagine the ranch without them. James couldn't save his brother from his inner demons, but he can give his nephew a secure future. Maybe more—if he can figure out how to trust Sofia, and stop feeling like he's betraying Jesse. Because trying to stop thinking about beautiful, determined Sofia is impossible.
Excerpt
Sofia’s glossy black mane swung back from her face as she tilted it to study James. “No. I feel guilty because I’m glad you’re here and not—not—Jesse.” Tears welled in her eyes. “That makes me a monster.”
He cupped her shaking shoulders and their feet stilled. Something exploded in his chest. His heart maybe. She cared about him. She experienced the same powerful emotions that had taken him by storm from the moment he’d laid eyes on her. “Then I’m one, too, because I want you here, would have wanted you even if Jesse had brought you home, and I’m glad I don’t have to compete for you.”
She brushed something from his cheek, her touch achingly tender. “I’m not sure it would have been much of a competition.”
“We’ll never find out, just like we can’t change what happened.”
The sparkling light reflected in her brown eyes. “No. And maybe we shouldn’t wallow in it, either.”
He nodded. “Ma’s right. Jesse would want us to be happy. He cared about that most of all.”
Suddenly, the heaviness that’d been buckling his shoulders since Jesse’s death eased. The grief, the remorse he’d been carrying all these years was his own making. Not Jesse’s. He saw that now.
Jesse would want him to be happy. And nothing made him happier than Sofia.
And Javi.
“You care about others as much as Jesse did,” Sofia insisted and her indignant expression, her defense of him, stirred him deeply. “You just show it differently. I used to believe you wanted to control me because you didn’t think enough of me, and maybe that was true at first. Now I know it’s coming from a good place. You just want to keep everyone safe.”
“Protected,” he murmured, touched that she alone understood him. It felt like a homecoming. “I want to be that person for you and Javi. Controlling you or anyone is wrong, but I’ll always be the kind of man that looks out for others, especially my family.”
“Am I part of your family?” She choked up a bit on the last word. His eyes whizzed to the ceiling and he blinked fast, thinking about her lonely, difficult life.
With every breath he took while on this earth, he’d make it all up to her.
“Yes. More than that, even.”
About the Author
In a quest to provide her ELA students with quality reading material, educator Karen Rock read everything out there and couldn't wait to add her voice to the genre. In addition to her work as a Young Adult romance novelist, she's now an author for Harlequin's Heartwarming line and thrilled to pen stories that moms can share with their teenage daughters. She's loved Harlequin books since she spent summers going through her grandmother's Presents books that she passed along in paper grocery bags each year. As half of the writing duo J.K. Rock, Karen also pens young adult romance. When she's not busy writing, Karen enjoys scouring estate sales for vintage books, cooking her grandmother's family recipes, reinventing her gardens to suit her moods and occasionally rescuing local wildlife from neighborhood cats. She lives in the Adirondack Mountain region with her husband, her very appreciated beta-reader daughter, and two Cavalier King cocker spaniels, who have yet to understand the concept of "fetch" though they know a lot about love. For more information about Karen's upcoming books, check out her website.
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