A Willing Wife

A Willing Wife
Jackie Merritt

Sexy widower Dallas Fortune may be Texas's most eligible bachelor but he's remained quietly on the sidelines, content to work the ranch and run the family empire.When he shows up in the nick of time to pull a curious boy out of harm's way, he gets a hands-on introduction to young Travis Randall…and his lovely mother, Maggie.Temporarily staying at the ranch after losing her banking job, Maggie just wants to get her life back on track. She appreciates Dallas's interest in her son, and is secretly thrilled by his apparent interest in her, but she's a divorced single mom struggling to make ends meet, hardly the type for Dallas Fortune. She's not looking to complicate her life with a passion that has no future. She's got more sense than that. Now if only she can convince Dallas…and her heart.

THE TEXAS TATTLER

All the news that’s barely fit to print!

Sinister Plot Stumps Feds

Divorce Scandal Takes the Spotlight

After a six-month no-stone-unturned search for missing “Midas” baby Bryan Fortune, the FBI closed their files on the case, declaring the debacle an unsolved mystery. The kidnappers remain on America’s Most Wanted list, and Red Rock Sheriff Wyatt Grayhawk vows to solve the puzzle that has boggled the best criminal experts money and prestige can buy. As always, the ever-vigilant family holds out hope.

Top-secret sources close to the family report that cattle mogul Ryan Fortune has been on bended knee, pressuring lost love Lily Redgrove Cassidy to be his bride. Lovely Lily would be “Mrs.” number three, by the way. Someone, please remind dear Ryan that a married man—even a Fortune—must get divorced before he can remarry.

Red Rock’s tall, dark and eligible widower Dallas Fortune has been “rendezvousing” on the wrong side of the tracks! Numerous sources have spied the wickedly wealthy rancher in the very close company of single mom Maggie Perez Randall, daughter of the Fortunes’ long-time housekeeper. Is it possible this solid gold cowboy has his very own Cinderella?

About the Author

JACKIE MERRITT

is still writing, just not with the speed and constancy of years past. She and her husband are living in southern Nevada again, falling back on old habits of loving the long, warm or slightly cool winters and trying almost desperately to head north for the months of July and August, when the fiery sun bakes people and cacti alike.

A Willing Wife

Jackie Merritt

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

Meet the Fortunes of Texas

Dallas Fortune: The wealthy bachelor had no plans to become a father, but ever since he rescued an adorable four-year-old, he’s found it impossible to resist the little boy and his delectable single mother. Is the marriage-shy rancher finally ready to say “I do”?

Maggie Perez Randall: She has no time for romance—raising her son is her number-one priority. But little Travis wants a daddy, and he’s chosen their handsome neighbor as his perfect father….

Sophia Barnes Fortune: The scorned woman will stop at nothing to make Ryan Fortune pay for daring to love another. She’ll even resort to kidnapping and harassment to claim her share of the Fortune wealth.

Logan Fortune: This dedicated businessman’s life is thrown into a tailspin when he discovers he’s the father of an adorable little girl. But what does this bachelor dad know about babies?

To all my friends in recreational vehicles

that we’ve run into during our travels.

Contents

Chapter One (#uac42eda2-f72a-5dcb-8cc6-166d98191504)

Chapter Two (#u64fa0861-b7ad-5049-a97a-c6ca47d36e72)

Chapter Three (#u1f5b77e6-0f13-5908-ae68-1239319eeeaf)

Chapter Four (#ua6c0f4dc-b938-5e01-a759-262fcced5af3)

Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)

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)

One

Dallas Fortune left his pickup truck parked near his sprawling adobe house, located not far from the ranch’s main house where his father lived, and walked the short distance to the barns and corrals. It was a sunny, clear day in late November, and the midday air was pleasantly warm. He’d been up since five and had already put in hours of work with the ranch hands.

More and more, Dallas was taking over duties that his father, Ryan, had once enjoyed doing, which was fine with Dallas for several reasons. First of all, he loved the Double Crown Ranch as none of his siblings did. Matthew was a doctor of medicine, Zane preferred working in the family’s corporation, Fortune TX, Ltd., and the twins, Vanessa and Victoria, had chosen careers that had nothing at all to do with the ranch or the family.

A second reason for Dallas’s dedication to the ranch’s operation was his father. Ryan’s plate was pretty full, considering the nasty divorce he was going through, the fact that Matthew and Claudia’s baby son Bryan had been kidnapped right from under everyone’s noses during a family get-together for the child’s christening, and last but certainly not least, Ryan was crazy in love with Lily Redgrove Cassidy and couldn’t marry her until his divorce was final.

But Dallas’s third reason for putting in long hours and deliberately exhausting himself so he could sleep nights was deeply personal. His wife Sara had died two years ago while giving birth to their stillborn son. The double tragedy still haunted Dallas—and a third tragedy was that he didn’t give a damn that it did. He’d become a loner, a man lost in his own past, and he often shunned social events and people, both friends and family, because some had the unmitigated gall to say right to his face that he had mourned long enough. Their attempts at matchmaking sickened Dallas. And the women who paraded themselves before him to get attention caused exactly the opposite reaction.

Dallas did have a few female friends, of course. His sister-in-law, Matthew’s wife Claudia, had been a friend since college, and he had developed a more recent friendship with Savannah Clark Perez. Not once, though, since Sara’s death had Dallas felt the slightest inclination toward anything but friendship with a woman.

He also did a bit of traveling now and again. In fact, he had just returned from Europe, a trip that had been mostly business, as almost everything was to him these days. Pleasure simply wasn’t on his agenda anymore, and he apologized to no one for his attitude or life-style, either.

He wasn’t thinking of those things as he hiked down to the barns and corrals today, however. His thoughts were on the herd of longhorns in one particular corral that had been sold and were scheduled to be picked up by a cattle truck at one o’clock. He had discussed the sale with his father, and Ryan had agreed with Dallas’s decision to weed out some of the older longhorns. Dallas intended to be there when the truck arrived.

Approaching the corral, Dallas heard the longhorns milling around and bawling much more than he’d anticipated. Frowning, Dallas broke into a jog, and as he got closer to the penned animals he saw the reason for their disturbance. A small boy Dallas didn’t recognize had climbed to the top rung of the corral fence!

Dallas’s heart skipped a beat. One wrong move and that kid could fall into the corral. The longhorns were already nervous over his presence; the boy could be trampled to death.