Not Just a Cowboy

Not Just a Cowboy
Caro Carson

This was what her life was like, he realized.

Everyone came to her when they needed something. She didn’t expect Luke to be there for any other reason. Did no one seek her out just to talk during a work shift? To play a game of cards in the shade when they were off duty? To share a meal?

He didn’t feel like smiling at the moment, but he did, anyway. She’d asked if he needed anything. “Nope. Nothing.”

She tilted her head and looked at him, those eyes that had opened so wide now narrowing skeptically. “Then what are you doing here?”

I can’t stop thinking about you. I want to feel you against me again.

* * *

Not Just a Cowboy

Caro Carson

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

Despite a no-nonsense background as a West Point graduate and US Army officer, CARO CARSON has always treasured the happily-ever-after of a good romance novel. After reading romances no matter where in the world the army sent her, Caro began a career in the pharmaceutical industry. Little did she know the years she spent discussing science with physicians would provide excellent story material for her new career as a romance author. Now, Caro is delighted to be living her own happily-ever-after with her husband and two children in the great state of Florida, a location which has saved the coaster-loving theme-park fanatic a fortune on plane tickets.

For Barbara Tohm,

my very own fairy godmother

Contents

Cover (#ue9013498-0141-58e7-bed9-a80a41300a94)

Introduction (#uc21398ae-b167-5a4e-a72c-f96902f000ce)

Title Page (#u556624eb-b7ce-55b0-8ddf-dc0034cfcd27)

About the Author (#u5b4a8a49-69b2-525b-9e10-f622a051c1b5)

Dedication (#ub16ff6c8-c745-50cf-a040-8b38e004af2b)

Chapter One (#ulink_b05ddc81-6d8c-5dff-88ed-a77d496e5cb1)

Chapter Two (#ulink_96b44b45-7876-58c8-9c72-b7c971550196)

Chapter Three (#ulink_ee56bf68-dc50-5837-a1e1-1b5b82b1469c)

Chapter Four (#ulink_98eaa062-7b48-5820-8621-2bad162a1dd9)

Chapter Five (#ulink_1b107589-242f-5692-9e92-f0b92bac0db1)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)

Extract (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter One (#ulink_d10009ca-093c-52e3-a51f-39f0040ccf84)

Patricia Cargill was not going to marry Quinn MacDowell, after all.

What a dreadful inconvenience.

She’d invested nearly a year of her life to cultivating their friendship, a pleasant relationship between a man and a woman evenly matched in temperament, in attractiveness, in income. Just when Patricia had thought the time was right for a smooth transition to the logical next step, Quinn had fallen head over heels in love with a woman he’d only known for a few weeks.

A year’s planning, a year’s investment of Patricia’s time and effort, gone in a matter of days.

She tapped her pen impatiently against the clipboard in her hand. She didn’t sigh, she didn’t stoop her shoulders in defeat, and she most certainly didn’t cry. Patricia was a Cargill, of the Austin Cargills, and she would weather her personal storm.

Later.

Right now, she was helping an entire town weather the aftermath of a different kind of storm, the kind that made national news as it made landfall on the coast of Texas. The kind of storm that could peel the roof off a hospital, leaving a town in need of the medical assistance that the Texas Rescue and Relief organization could provide. The kind of storm that let Patricia drop all the social niceties expected of an heiress while she assumed her role as the personnel director for a mobile hospital.

Her hospital was built of white tents, powered by generators, and staffed by all the physicians, nurses, and technicians Patricia had spent the past year recruiting. During Austin dinner parties and Lake Travis sailing weekends, over posh Longhorn football tailgates and stale hospital cafeteria buffets, Patricia had secured their promises to volunteer with Texas Rescue in time of disaster. That time was now.