Unwrapping The Rancher's Secret

Unwrapping The Rancher's Secret
Lauri Robinson

A ghost of Christmas past…Heiress Sara Johnson is shocked when the step-brother she believed was dead returns to Colorado to claim his inheritance! It might be the season of good will, but Crofton Parks seems determined to destroy his late father’s empire.Sparks fly as Crofton and Sara are forced to work together, and soon she begins to uncover the secrets behind his disappearance and need for revenge. But a far more unsettling discovery is the desire he awakens in Sara…this roguish rancher might just claim her heart by Christmas!

A ghost of Christmas past...

Heiress Sara Johnson is shocked when the stepbrother she believed was dead returns to Colorado to claim his inheritance! It might be the season of goodwill, but Crofton Parks seems determined to destroy his late father’s empire.

Sparks fly as Crofton and Sara are forced to work together, and soon she begins to uncover the secrets behind his disappearance and need for revenge. But a far more unsettling discovery is the desire he awakens in Sara. This roguish rancher might just claim her heart by Christmas!

“I don’t deserve to inherit any of Winston’s holdings. You’re his son. His blood relative. And I’m—”

“Not up to the challenge?” Crofton asked.

“But Winston would have wanted you to have it,” she said, with an exuberant amount of passion. “I know he would have.”

Crofton ran both hands over his thighs. When she got all emotional he wanted to wrap his arms around her, but he couldn’t. If he did that he might kiss her. Not a peck on the cheek, but really kiss her. Where the hell had these yearnings come from? He’d never been known for his chivalry, and he had kissed more than his fair share of maidens, but this was out of the ordinary even for him. As was the misery it provided. She was a young innocent girl, with more on her plate than she could handle, and all he could think of was her. Kissing her. Holding her. Protecting her.

Author Note (#udc57d5ba-7cb8-5619-99cb-f4ea417fad06)

Ideas for stories come to me in many ways. I’ve dedicated this book to one of my granddaughters because she was behind my inspiration for Unwrapping the Rancher’s Secret. While she was at our house one day we watched a cute cartoon about a little girl whose mother married a king, turning the little girl from a commoner into a princess overnight. I found that concept intriguing, and that gave birth to Sara Johnson Parks—a girl who was born in a dirt dugout in Kansas and didn’t own a pair of shoes until she was five, when her mother married a lumber baron. Upon the death of her stepfather Sara becomes the richest woman in Royalton, Colorado. But that is also when Crofton Parks appears. The stepbrother she believed had died as a child…

I hope you enjoy Sara and Crofton’s story!

Unwrapping the Rancher’s Secret

Lauri Robinson

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

A lover of fairytales and cowboy boots, LAURI ROBINSON can’t imagine a better profession than penning happily-ever-after stories about men—and women—who pull on a pair of boots before riding off into the sunset…or kick them off for other reasons. Lauri and her husband raised three sons in their rural Minnesota home, and are now getting their just rewards by spoiling their grandchildren. Visit: laurirobinson.blogspot.com (http://www.laurirobinson.blogspot.com), facebook.com/lauri.robinson1 (https://facebook.com/lauri.robinson1), or twitter.com/LauriR (https://twitter.com/LauriR).

Books by Lauri Robinson

Mills & Boon Historical Romance

Daughters of the Roaring Twenties

The Runaway Daughter (Undone!)

The Bootlegger’s Daughter

The Rebel Daughter

The Forgotten Daughter

Stand-Alone Novels

Christmas Cowboy Kisses

‘Christmas with Her Cowboy’

The Major’s Wife

The Wrong Cowboy

A Fortune for the Outlaw’s Daughter

Saving Marina

Her Cheyenne Warrior

Unwrapping the Rancher’s Secret

Mills & Boon Historical Undone! ebooks

Testing the Lawman’s Honour

The Sheriff’s Last Gamble

What a Cowboy Wants

His Wild West Wife

Dance with the Rancher

Rescued by the Ranger

Snowbound with the Sheriff

Never Tempt a Lawman

Visit the Author Profile page at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk) for more titles.

To my granddaughter, Hayley.

Love you to the moon and back!

Contents

Cover (#ud11d0016-ea9e-5f64-bf91-eb2d1c77a4e1)

Back Cover Text (#u8d159cf3-90eb-5962-ab2c-cc6d0056df2a)

Introduction (#u9d6e67db-cbdd-5651-9f16-a4fefdde301a)

Author Note (#u74c3fde5-cdfb-56c0-9af1-b597968d7770)

Title Page (#u1d446963-d580-5b1d-a45d-fb8d21b373f8)