by Jill Lynn
Other couples were already dancing. Mom and Dad. Luc and Cate. Gage and Emma. Even Vera and Dr. Bradley, who were still going strong.
“You don’t know everything about me, wife.” Jace spun her out and then back, and she stumbled to keep up, mentally and physically. Who was this man? And what had he done with her husband?
“Is that so? And here I thought you told me just a few months ago that you didn’t know how to dance.”
“I didn’t then.” He pulled her close, guiding her. “When I found out we were going to have a reception, I learned. I thought you might actually let me lead if I surprised you.”
She’d consider being offended if he wasn’t so right. Not having a clue where to step next made her totally dependent on Jace directing her.
“And just where and when did you learn to dance?”
His head tipped back, and eyes filled with mirth held hers. “YouTube.” She laughed, and his grin edged with mischief. “Actually, Vera taught me.”
He tucked her close again, slowing their pace, their cheeks aligning. “It’s almost like you don’t want to let me go, Mr. Hawke.”
“Ding-ding-ding, Mrs. Hawke. You’ve got me figured out.”
Her heart was doing all sorts of mushy things inside her chest. “Thanks for not leaving when I tried to shove you out of here.” To think...she could have missed all of this if she’d gotten her way at the start of the summer.
“Thanks for giving me another chance to love you. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted, Kenzie Rae.”
Sappy warmth rose up from her toes, cresting her skin along the way. It was almost as if she and Jace were meant to be. Almost as if Someone bigger than them had brought them back together. Almost as if the man holding her planned to be her constant, her forever, her place to belong.
And Mackenzie could get used to that. In fact, she planned to.
* * *
Be sure to pick up these previous books
in Jill Lynn’s Colorado Grooms miniseries:
The Rancher’s Surprise Daughter
The Rancher’s Unexpected Baby
Available now from Love Inspired Books!
Keep reading for an excerpt from Reunited in the Rockies by Mindy Obenhaus.
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Dear Reader,
Thanks for visiting Wilder Ranch for this third book in the Colorado Grooms series. When I started writing this story, Mackenzie and Jace were so frustrated with each other, I wasn’t sure how they were ever going to get along. Thankfully it came together, and I figured out who these characters were—what made them tick, fight, laugh and love.
Mackenzie and Jace have wounds, just like each of us. It can be easy to let those past hurts drag us down or define us, but lately I’m learning to do the opposite—to move through the past and into a brighter future. I hope the same for you—that you’ll know the great love and healing power of our heavenly Father to stitch up wounds and comfort hearts.
I’d love to stay in touch. Check out my latest giveaway at Jill-Lynn.com/news, find me on Facebook.com/JillLynnAuthor or visit me on Instagram.com/JillLynnAuthor.
Warmly,
Jill Lynn
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Reunited in the Rockies
by Mindy Obenhaus
Chapter One
Twenty-four hours ago, Jude Stephens had his life figured out.
Then his father started talking about retirement, and he clearly viewed Jude as the heir apparent to the business he’d spent decades building.
Hands clutched around the steering wheel of his police SUV, Jude made another pass down Ouray, Colorado’s Main Street, looking for anything out of place among the rows of quaint Victorian-era buildings. He was honored that his father thought so highly of him that he was willing to entrust him with the business he’d started with nothing more than a dream and a small patch of land. Problem was, Jude did not want to be a cattle rancher.
Clouds obscured the sun, spoiling what should have been a beautiful October day. Helping his father out was one thing; he’d done it all his life. But the man had four other sons. Why not turn the business over to one of them?
Jude drummed his fingers on the dash. Because he was the one Dad counted on while his brothers were out chasing their dreams.
He shook his head. Just because he was the only brother who had never left Ouray didn’t mean he didn’t have dreams, too. If only his father would recognize his woodworking for the viable business it was instead of just a hobby. Jude was passionate about the work he was doing, and his custom and reproduction millwork was already providing him with more income than his job as a police officer. He’d even talked with the chief about his desire to resign. He was simply waiting until they hired another officer. Then he’d be free to focus on his business and take it to the next level.
But first he’d have to find a way to tell Clint Stephens he wanted no part of his cattle operation. And with the man getting older, that wasn’t going to be easy. That bout of pneumonia he’d had last year had everyone concerned.
Passing the hot springs pool, he roughed a hand over his face. Couldn’t his father just sell off the cows and leave Jude to follow his own path? Dad knew all about dreams, after all. He’d chased his own all those years ago when he and Mama first started Abundant Blessings Ranch. Now, Jude’s oldest brother, Noah, had built a successful rodeo school on the land, and Jude longed to do the same with his business. All he needed was a bigger shop. Something he was more than capable of paying for.
So when are you planning to tell the man?
Good question. He should have said something about his plans to resign after talking to the chief. But he hadn’t. Now he was faced with the very real threat of disappointing his dad. And just the thought of that nearly killed him. The last thing he wanted was to destroy the good relationship they had.
He straightened in his seat. Lately he’d been doing a fair amount of work for a builder in Telluride. Maybe that would help his father understand. Unfortunately, the majority of his sales were done online, and that was something his father couldn’t comprehend, no matter how many times a week that big brown shipping truck came rolling up the drive.
He wound past the sparsely populated RV park that had been bursting at the seams only a couple of months ago. Perhaps Noah would have some advice. Despite their eleven-year age difference, he and his eldest brother were quite close. Close enough that Noah had asked him to be his best man.
Jamming his fingers through his hair, Jude released a frustrated sigh. He was going to drive himself crazy if he kept dwelling on his father
. He needed to think about something else. Like the meeting with his soon-to-be sister-in-law, Lily. He didn’t have a clue as to why she’d asked him to meet her at the old Congress Hotel after work. The historic building had been closed for years and fallen into disrepair. Was Lily thinking about buying it? Restoring it, perhaps? If anyone could afford to do that, it was her. And in the right hands, the once grand structure definitely had the potential to be magnificent yet again.
He eased into Rotary Park to make his usual turnaround, noting a blue pickup truck near the ice rink. Not out of the ordinary. However, the woman standing beside the vehicle, staring at a flat tire, was a call to action.
Her back was to him as he pulled up beside her. Silky dark brown hair fell to her waist, reminding him of someone he once knew. Someone he’d never forget.
Killing the engine, he continued to watch her. Even her stance was familiar. The way she stood with her hands perched on the backside of her hips.
His heart raced. What if it was her?
You wish.
He reached for the door handle. His mind was all kinds of messed up today. As if Kayla would suddenly show up in Ouray after seven years.
The woman glanced over her shoulder as he stepped onto the gravel, though not long enough to give him a good look.
“I see you’re having a problem.” He rounded the front end of his vehicle, glimpsing her pancaked back tire. “May I assist you?”
Slowly she turned, and his world shifted as though he’d been transported back in time to the best summer of his life. The summer he fell in love for the first and only time.
“Hello, Jude.” The sweetness of her voice washed over him, along with more memories and regrets than he cared to count.
“Kayla?” He visually traced the face that still lived in his mind. All these years, he’d wondered what had happened. He only knew that one day they were talking about seeing each other again, and then the next there was nothing. She had never even returned his calls or texts. “What are you doing here?”
She hesitated a moment, seemingly transfixed on the tire. “My friend is getting married.” Her chestnut eyes finally met his. Gorgeous eyes he’d lost himself in thousands of times. “I’m Lily’s matron of honor.”
“Lily?” Wait, Noah’s Lily? Shifting his weight from one booted foot to the other, he scratched his head. “Lily Davis?”
A breeze hissed through the towering conifers.
“Yes.” Kayla casually tucked her hair behind her ear, the reappearing sun highlighting the gold band on her left hand.
His gut tightened as unwanted disappointment stole through him. After all these years, he shouldn’t care that Kayla was married. Not when she was the one who’d decided to end their relationship without even bothering to let him know. No, he shouldn’t care.
Unfortunately, he did. A fact that annoyed him more than he cared to admit.
Her hand fell to her stomach. Only then did he notice the bump beneath her fitted T-shirt.
Great. The woman who still haunted his dreams was not only married but pregnant. And she was his future sister-in-law’s best friend. The one he’d be forced to spend who knows how much time with in the coming days before walking her down the aisle a week from tomorrow.
He should have stayed in bed this morning. “You and Lily are friends?”
“Yes. We met back in Denver a few years ago.”
“You live in Denver?” When he’d known her, she’d been enjoying a nomadic lifestyle with her parents. Always roaming about the country, never staying put for more than six months. They were headed to Denver the last time he and Kayla spoke. Had she been there all this time?
“After my father died, I decided it was time to settle down.”
She couldn’t have done that in Ouray? “I’m sorry for your loss.”
Nodding, she took a step back. “Look, I’m sorry for creating such an awkward situation. I knew Noah was your brother, yet I never said anything to Lily about you and me. If I had, she could have at least prepared you.”
True. And he could have relegated his best man duties to one of his brothers while he hightailed it out of town. “No big deal.” He shrugged. “I’m just kind of surprised you’re here so early. I mean, the wedding isn’t for another week.”
“I wanted to be here to help Lily with some of the preparations.” Her hands went to her hips again as her gaze traveled from the redstone cliffs that hugged the back of the park to Mount Hayden’s peak at the opposite end of town. “That and I needed a change of scenery.”
“Well, we’ve got plenty of that around here.” Though he had no business doing it, he found himself staring again. She was even more beautiful than he remembered. Yet while the hair and eyes were the same, something was different about Kayla. She seemed...troubled. Maybe it was just the awkwardness of the moment.
Shaking off the notion, he added, “But then, you already know that.”
She peered up at him through long lashes, sending his heart slamming into his ribs. “I wasn’t sure if you were still in Ouray.”
Wasn’t sure? Kayla knew better than anyone that this was where he belonged. “It’s my home. Where my roots are.” And while that was the exact reason he could never leave, it was also what had prevented him from asking her to stay. Kayla needed to roam, meaning their relationship would have been doomed from the start and he would have ended up brokenhearted anyway.
Looking for an escape, he turned his attention to her tire. “I’ll get this taken care of so you can be on your way.”
“You always were the chivalrous one.” Her smile did strange things to him. Had him feeling things he had no business feeling for a married woman. Things that were going to make this next week excruciatingly long.
* * *
Kayla Bradshaw had known that agreeing to be in Lily’s wedding could mean coming face-to-face with the first man she ever loved. Something that seemed relatively benign, until now.
Jude still had that slightly dangerous look about him. Those piercing dark eyes that seemed to see right through her. To read her thoughts and know her heart. His dark hair had a military cut with close-cropped sides and the longer top brushed to one side. But, oh, that smile...
Pulling out of the park with a fresh tire, she gave herself a stern shake. It wasn’t like her to be so affected. Then again, a lot of things were different with her lately. Chalk it up to pregnancy. Or stress. After all, when her husband died five months ago in a single-car rollover, she hadn’t even known she was pregnant.
She continued into the old mining town, eyeing the mountains that enveloped Ouray. She hoped God forgave her for the relief she felt following Shane’s death.
If only she’d known he was an alcoholic before they married. He was a different man when he drank.
After his death, she’d wanted nothing more than a do-over. A fresh start for her and her baby. And while she had yet to find that perfect place to begin anew, Lily had done her best to fill in the gap.
When Kayla decided to sell the house she’d shared with Shane, Lily had encouraged her to move into her place and house-sit while she and her kids spent the summer in Ouray. Four months later, she was still there.
Kayla puffed out a laugh. She never would have imagined that her friend would decide to stay in Ouray, let alone fall in love with the brother of the man who’d captured Kayla’s heart seven years ago and given her a glimpse of how good life could really be.
She was surprised, if not a little disappointed, to see that Jude was a police officer, though. With his woodworking talents and love for historic buildings, she’d thought for sure he’d follow his passion.
Slowing her speed as she entered town, she tried to ignore the question that had been plaguing her brain. But like a nasty mosquito bite, it refused to be ignored. Was Jude married?
Not that it mattered. Their time together was
water under the bridge. He’d made that clear during their last phone conversation. He’d said he was done. Then he’d hung up. And she never had the opportunity to talk to him again.
She had no doubt Jude assumed she was married, though. The way his gaze moved from her left hand to her baby bump.
Taking in Ouray’s Main Street, she was happy to see not all that much had changed. Sure, the names on some of the businesses were different, the paint colors may have been altered, but the essence of the town remained the same. Warm, inviting... The kind of place she’d longed for her entire life. A place she could not only call home, but where she felt at home.
Looking back, she wished she’d had the guts to tell her parents to leave Ouray without her. But she’d been too immature.
In Denver, though, she’d finally put her foot down, thinking that staying there would satisfy her desire. No more traveling around the country in an RV. Then she’d married and Shane owned a house. Something she’d never had. Yet her longing was far from fulfilled, and her dream turned into a nightmare.
If only she’d made better choices. If only—
“Would you stop thinking about Jude already?” Pounding her fist against the steering wheel, she made a left turn onto one of the side streets. “You’re here for Lily, not to relive seven-year-old might-have-beens.” She wasn’t that carefree young woman Jude had once known. Her two years with Shane had changed her. Made her more cautious and unable to trust her own judgment.
A right turn one block later had her searching for the bed-and-breakfast where she would be staying. According to Lily, Granger House Inn was a historic home owned by another of Jude’s four brothers and his wife. Fortunately, she’d never met this brother, so there’d be no need for explanations. Yet.
