A Chance for the Rancher Read online

  Would you take a risk on a cowboy’s kiss?

  Dating a single mom? Patrick Stafford would never break that rule...

  Patrick Stafford trades his suit for a Stetson and boots and risks it all on a dude ranch. But it’s the veterinarian in Haven, Nevada, who really challenges him. Dr. Brooke Langley is all business, a devoted single mom who is off-limits to a fun-loving bachelor like him. But Patrick should have taken his own advice, because after just one kiss, he’s ready to make the biggest gamble of his life...with his heart.

  He was standing too close.

  “You don’t have a favorable opinion of me, do you?” he asked.

  “I don’t know you.”

  “And yet you assumed that after you turned me down, I went out and picked up another woman.”

  She shrugged. “No reason you shouldn’t.”

  “You’re the reason I didn’t. I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”

  “I have a child,” she reminded him.

  “You mentioned that.” He took a step toward her. “There’s definite chemistry between us.”

  “I don’t believe in chemistry.”

  “No?” He smiled. “Then why is your pulse racing?”

  She swallowed. “Because you’re crowding me. I don’t like to be crowded.”

  He stroked her cheek, a caress so sensual her blood heated.

  “How about being kissed?” he asked, the low timbre of his voice as seductive as his touch. “Do you like being kissed?”

  She couldn’t remember how it felt to be kissed.

  “I’ll let you know,” she said and pressed her mouth to his.

  MATCH MADE IN HAVEN:

  Where gold rush meets gold bands!

  Dear Reader,

  Welcome back to Haven, Nevada, where Patrick Stafford is living the life most men can only dream of. He’s got an executive position in the family business, more money than he can spend in his lifetime and the companionship of a willing woman whenever the mood strikes. Why then is he feeling so discontented?

  Brooke Langley never dreamed that she’d wind up pregnant before she even graduated from college. Being a single mom was definitely not part of her plan, but with the help of her family, she figured out a way to make it work. Now she’s got an amazing seven-year-old son and a growing veterinarian practice, and life is good.

  So what happens when Patrick decides to walk away from his desk job to open a dude ranch and the local vet who responds to a Valentine’s Day call turns out to be the sexiest woman he’s ever met?

  Cupid’s arrow takes aim, of course!

  But Patrick has no interest in complicated relationships, and a kid is a major complication. That’s okay with Brooke, because she’s too busy with real responsibilities to fall for a man who’s only playing at being a cowboy—isn’t she?

  Maybe neither of them is exactly what the other one wants, but it just might turn out that each is exactly what the other one needs.

  I hope you enjoy this new chapter in my Match Made in Haven series! Watch for more stories, coming later this year.

  Happy reading!

  Brenda Harlen

  A Chance for the Rancher

  Brenda Harlen

  Brenda Harlen is a former attorney who once had the privilege of appearing before the Supreme Court of Canada. The practice of law taught her a lot about the world and reinforced her determination to become a writer—because in fiction, she could promise a happy ending! Now she is an award-winning, RITA® Award–nominated national bestselling author of more than thirty titles for Harlequin. You can keep up-to-date with Brenda on Facebook and Twitter, or through her website, brendaharlen.com.

  Books by Brenda Harlen

  Harlequin Special Edition

  Match Made in Haven

  The Sheriff’s Nine-Month Surprise

  Her Seven-Day Fiancé

  Six Weeks to Catch a Cowboy

  Claiming the Cowboy’s Heart

  Double Duty for the Cowboy

  One Night with the Cowboy

  Those Engaging Garretts!

  Baby Talk & Wedding Bells

  The Last Single Garrett

  Montana Mavericks: Six Brides for Six Brothers

  Maverick Christmas Surprise

  Montana Mavericks: The Lonelyhearts Ranch

  Bring Me a Maverick for Christmas!

  Montana Mavericks: The Great Family Roundup

  The Maverick’s Midnight Proposal

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.

  This one is for Cheryl Paterson—an amazing mom, extraordinary teacher, fabulous friend and the most kick-ass woman I’ve ever had the privilege to know. XO

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Excerpt from Her Homecoming Wish by Jo McNally

  Chapter One

  Watching for the arrival of the veterinarian, Patrick Stafford exhaled a relieved breath when he finally spotted a vehicle coming down the long driveway. He didn’t recognize either the mud-splattered pickup that parked beside the barn or the woman who exited the vehicle, and the rancher felt a brief twinge of disappointment that his injured horse would have to wait a while longer to be tended. But as a man who appreciated women, his interest was immediately piqued.

  She was tall and slender, wearing a sheepskin-lined leather jacket unzipped over a plaid flannel shirt tucked into slim-fitting jeans with a wide brown belt around her waist and well-worn cowboy boots on her feet. Which only meant she was dressed like most of the other women who lived on the ranches that dotted the countryside of Haven, Nevada, and didn’t begin to explain why he found himself so drawn to her.

  He continued his perusal anyway: long brown hair that was tied away from her face in a neat braid that fell to the middle of her back. As she drew nearer, he realized that her hair wasn’t actually brown but auburn, and that it shone with hints of bronze and copper in the afternoon sun. Her eyes were the color of dark chocolate and fringed by long lashes. Her mouth was unsmiling but temptingly shaped. And as his gaze lingered on her lips for just a moment, Patrick realized it had been a long time since he’d kissed a woman—or even wanted to.

  He pushed the wayward thought aside to focus on his visitor. “Can I help you?”

  “Actually, I’m here to help you.” Now her lips curved into a smile and she proffered a hand. “Dr. Langley.”

  He shook it automatically, noting the long, slender (and ringless!) fingers, neatly trimmed, unpainted nails and firm grip. “Patrick Stafford,” he replied automatically. Then her words registered, and he frowned. “You’re not Dr. Langley.”

  “Well, I don’t carry a copy of my diploma with me, but I can show you my driver’s license,” she offered, shifting the backpack he hadn’t noticed was on her shoulder so that he could now see the patch bearing the letter V superimposed on the staff of Asclepius—the immediately recognizable symbol of her profession.

  Apparently she was a vet, but he still felt confident in asserting, “I r
emember Dr. Langley from his visits to Crooked Creek Ranch when I was a kid, and you’re definitely not him.”

  “That would have been my father,” she said. “Dr. Bruce Langley. I’m Dr. Brooke Langley.”

  Which made sense, as the other Dr. Langley had been older, with salt-and-pepper hair and a stocky build that promised he was capable of handling the ranch animals that were the foundation of his rural practice.

  “Where’s Ranger?” she asked.

  “I might not have been clear when I called,” he said now. “But Ranger is a twelve-hundred-pound stallion and rather ornery right now.”

  “This isn’t my first rodeo,” she assured him. “It’s also not the first time I’ve been out here to tend to one of Gus Sterling’s animals.”

  “They aren’t his animals anymore,” he pointed out. “They’re mine.”

  “Right now, I’m more interested in Ranger’s injury than in who’s paying the bill, but if you want to wait for my father—who’s currently tied up out at Whispering Pines helping to birth a breech foal—that’s entirely up to you.”

  Her response didn’t eliminate all his doubts, but he decided that if Gus had trusted her with his horses then Patrick could, too. He slid open the barn door and gestured for her to enter.

  The heels of her boots clicked on concrete as she made her way down the center aisle to the stallion’s stall, but it was the subtle sway of her hips and sweet curve of her derriere that held Patrick’s attention. And though he regretted the circumstances that had required him to contact the veterinarian office, he wasn’t sorry that Dr. Brooke Langley had answered his call.

  Haven wasn’t so small that everyone knew everyone else, but there were usually only two or three degrees of separation between one person and the next. As he’d already mentioned to Brooke, he remembered her father from his visits to Crooked Creek Ranch, but he had no memory of her. And though she must have attended the same high school he did—because there was only one in Haven—he drew a blank there, too.

  But Ranger seemed to know her, and Patrick was reassured by the animal’s acknowledgment of her presence. The stallion’s long nose appeared over the door of his enclosure as she approached and actually seemed to nod, as if in greeting.

  Brooke lifted a hand to rub the horse’s cheek, and Ranger whinnied softly.

  Patrick stood back, both mesmerized by the wordless interaction and a little terrified for the woman who boldly opened the gate and stepped inside the stall. He’d guess that she was about five feet eight inches tall, but next to the horse, she looked small.

  And breakable.

  Of course, anyone who’d spent any amount of time around horses had to respect the powerful strength of an animal whose muscular legs and flashing hooves could do serious damage, even inadvertently. But Brooke didn’t hesitate to enter the enclosure, and Ranger didn’t shy away from her presence. And somehow, her quiet confidence only added to her allure.

  “How are you doing, Ranger?”

  Her tone was quiet, soothing, but the hands stroking the animal were steady and sure. Everything she said and did seemed to reassure the animal that she was in charge. Her quiet murmuring trailed off when she crouched down far enough to examine the wound. After a moment’s hesitation, she resumed her monologue and continued her study.

  When she rose up again and turned to Patrick, her voice was as hard as her gaze. “He’s cut all the way through the coronary band. How did this happen?”

  “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I put the horses out in the paddock this morning but somehow Ranger got out and—”

  “Somehow?” she interjected.

  “I thought I latched the gate, but when I went back to check on the horses, it was swinging free.”

  “Is Ranger the only one who got out?”

  “No, but he’s the only one who got hurt.”

  “I’m going to need more light,” she said, reaching over the door for Ranger’s halter and lead rope.

  It was a testament to Ranger’s training—and reassuring to Patrick—that the animal didn’t balk in any way as she secured the halter and led him to the cross-tie area, where textured rubber mats provided stable footing for both the animal and the vet, and additional lighting illuminated the area even in the dark of night.

  He watched as she opened her pack and began rifling through the contents. “He was favoring his right foreleg when I found him.”

  “No wonder.” She unwrapped a syringe, slid the point of the needle into the vial and measured out the medication.

  “This is a tetanus antitoxin,” she told Patrick. “He’s also going to need a shot of penicillin to combat any infection. Then I’m going to flush the wound and pack it with ichthammol ointment.”

  “What can I do?” he asked, feeling responsible and guilty and wanting to help.

  “You know how to make coffee?” she asked.

  He almost breathed a sigh of relief that she’d assigned him a task he could handle. He nodded. “What do you take in it?”

  “Black is fine.”

  “Coming right up,” he promised.

  * * *

  While Patrick was gone, Brooke took her time tending to Ranger’s injury. She knew the stallion had to be in pain, but at least he seemed to understand that she was there to help. Though initially agitated and skittish—as any wounded creature would be—he stoically endured her ministrations.

  In her experience, most animals tolerated necessary treatment if they were given an opportunity to understand that the hands poking and prodding wanted to heal. Sure, she’d endured occasional kicks and nips—and once even a nasty headbutt from a nanny goat that resulted in a concussion—but the veterinarian-patient relationship was generally one of mutual respect and understanding. And if she was ever in doubt, she sedated the animal in the interest of their mutual safety.

  She wasn’t worried about Ranger. Though pain could make any man or beast unpredictable, he was a gentle soul. She suspected he was also confused by the change in his circumstances, as evidenced by the departure of the ranch’s former owner and the arrival of Patrick Stafford in his stead, and her heart went out to the animal.

  “I can’t believe Gus left you behind,” she lamented aloud. “But maybe there aren’t a lot of places to stable a horse in a retirement community in Arizona. And a horse born and bred in Nevada probably wouldn’t like Arizona much, anyway.”

  She’d heard rumors about the old rancher selling, but it was only when she’d turned into the gravel drive and saw the freshly painted barn bearing the new logo of Silver Star Ranch that she realized they were true. A couple of rough years had resulted in the Sterling Ranch teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and one more would have pushed it over, so she could hardly blame Gus for looking for a way out.

  But she did blame him for selling to Patrick Stafford—and she definitely blamed the new owner for the horse’s nasty injury. The man obviously knew nothing about ranching and even less about caring for the animals that had apparently been entrusted to him as part of the deal.

  A deal that would turn the failing ranch into a tourist attraction.

  A dude ranch, for Christ’s sake.

  As if she needed any more proof that Patrick Stafford was just a bored rich guy playing at being a cowboy and opening his doors to other bored rich guys who wanted to do the same thing.

  It was only too bad he didn’t appear to have the soft, pale body of a man who’d spent his life behind a desk and under artificial light. Instead, he was tall with broad shoulders and lean hips, looking very much like the rancher he was pretending to be.

  And if the checkered shirt with the polo pony embroidered on the chest pocket and distressed designer-label jeans detracted a little from the authenticity of the cowboy image, he was handsome enough to compensate, with sun-bleached sandy-brown hair, tanned skin, surprisingly green eyes, a straight nose,
thin lips and a strong jaw shadowed with stubble. But aside from his hard body and striking good looks, he possessed an aura of confidence that added to his overall appeal.

  Of course, Patrick Stafford had probably been born with swagger. Certainly he’d had it even in high school. Though she hadn’t known him back then, she’d known who he was, because his mother was a Blake and the Blakes were the wealthiest family in Haven, Nevada. And Blake Mining was the town’s single biggest employer—which made her wonder why he’d chosen to leave the family business to embark on this new venture. Not that she was going to ask. After all, his rationale had nothing to do with her reason for being at his ranch.

  And though Brooke wasn’t ordinarily the type of woman who got all tongue-tied or weak-kneed in the presence of a handsome man, she’d definitely felt a quiver of something low in her belly when Patrick looked at her. It had been a long time since she’d experienced such an immediate attraction to a man—eight years, in fact—and she was unnerved by her response to this man now. Thankfully, she was a lot older and wiser than she’d been eight years earlier, and she had a much better understanding of what was at stake.

  So she pushed her personal observations of the rancher aside to focus on her task. When she was done, Ranger gently bumped her shoulder with his nose, as if to say thank you.

  She rubbed her palm over his cheek. “You’re very welcome. But try to remember—as tempting as unlatched gates might be, it’s not safe to wander off on your own.”

  He blew out a breath, as if to sigh, and she smiled.

  “Do you always talk to your patients?” Patrick asked curiously.

  Brooke hadn’t heard him return and started now at the sound of his voice, but she responded to the question without missing a beat.

  “Always,” she confirmed. “I mean, I’m no Doctor Dolittle, but I believe the animals understand my tone and intent if not the actual words.”

  “Ranger certainly seems to,” he acknowledged. Then, offering the mug he carried, he added, “Your coffee.”