Montana Creeds: Logan

Montana Creeds: Logan
Linda Lael Miller

After years of wandering, Logan Creed, a cowboy with a dusty law degree, has returned home.To put down roots, to restore his family’s neglected ranch…to have kids of his own proudly bearing the Creed name. Divorced mum Briana Grant has heard the stories about her gorgeous neighbour.So Logan’s kindness with her young boys is a welcome surprise, especially when her ex reappears. And when an unknown enemy vandalises her home, Logan shows Briana – and the folks of Big Sky country – just what he’s made of.

Dear Reader,

Welcome to the first of three books about the rowdy McKettrick cousins, the Creeds.

Logan Creed, the eldest of three estranged brothers, returns to the small town of Stillwater Springs, Montana, and the run-down ranch that has been in his family for well over a century. He’s determined to rebuild both the ranch and the Creed name. He soon meets his fiercely independent neighbour, Briana Grant, and her two spirited sons, and the term family takes on a whole new meaning.

I also wanted to write today to tell you about a special group of people with whom I’ve recently become involved. It is the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), specifically their Pets for Life programme.

The Pets for Life programme is one of the best ways to help your local shelter—that is, to help keep animals out of shelters in the first place. It offers tips as basic as keeping a collar and tag on your pet all the time, so if he gets out and gets lost, he can be returned home; being a responsible pet owner; spaying or neutering your pet; and not giving up when things don’t go perfectly. If your dog digs in the yard or your cat scratches the furniture, know that these are problems that can be addressed. You can find all the information about these and many other common problems at www.petsforlife.org. This campaign is focused on keeping pets and their people together for a lifetime.

As many of you know, my own household includes two dogs, two cats and four horses, so this is a cause that is near and dear to my heart. I hope you’ll get involved along with me.

With love,

Praise for the novels of LINDA LAELMILLER

“As hot as the noontime desert.”

—Publishers Weekly on The Rustler

“This story creates lasting memories of soul-searing redemption and the belief in goodness and hope.”

—RT Book Reviews on The Rustler

“Loaded with hot lead, steamy sex and surprising plot twists.”

—Publishers Weekly on A Wanted Man

“Miller’s prose is smart, and her tough Eastwoodian cowboy cuts a sharp, unexpectedly funny figure in a classroom full of rambunctious frontier kids.”

—Publishers Weekly on The Man from Stone Creek

“[Miller] paints a brilliant portrait of the good, the bad and the ugly, the lost and the lonely, and the power of love to bring light into the darkest of souls. This is western romance at its finest.”

—RT Book Reviews on The Man from Stone Creek

“Sweet, homespun, and touched with angelic Christmas magic, this holiday romance reprises characters from Miller’s popular McKettrick series and is a perfect stocking stuffer for her fans.”

—Library Journal on A McKettrick Christmas

“An engrossing, contemporary western romance.”

—Publishers Weekly on McKettrick’s Pride (starred review)

“Linda Lael Miller creates vibrant characters and stories I defy you to forget.”

—No.1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber

Also available fromLINDA LAEL MILLER

The Stone Creek series THE MAN FROM STONE CREEK A WANTED MAN THE RUSTLER

The McKettricks series

McKETTRICK’S CHOICE

McKETTRICK’S LUCK

McKETTRICK’S PRIDE

McKETTRICK’S HEART

A McKETTRICK CHRISTMAS

MONTANA CREEDS: LOGAN

LINDA LAELMILLER

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

For Steve Miller—

gifted Western artist,

cherished friend and

incredibly generous spirit.

10,000 thanks for

showing a country girl and her

loved ones the

Big Rodeo, in style!

CHAPTER ONE

Stillwater Springs Ranch

THE WEATHERED wooden sign above the gate dangled from its posts by three links of rusty chain. The words, hand-carved by Josiah Creed himself more than 150 years earlier, and then burned in deeper still with the edge of an old branding iron, were faded now, hardly legible.

Logan Creed, half inside his secondhand Dodge pickup—“previously owned,” the dealer had called it—and half outside, with one booted foot on the running board, swore under his breath.

Startled, the bedraggled dog he’d picked up at a rest stop outside of Kalispell that morning gave a soft, fretful whine, low in his throat. Little wonder the poor critter was skittish; he’d clearly been from one end of lost-animal hell to the other.