The Cowboy’s Targeted Bride

by Carla Cassidy

  “It’s obvious somebody out there doesn’t want us to be together. Whoever it is, they’re playing dirty. What we need to do is stand united. I want you to come to me if anything like this happens again. Deal?”

  “Deal,” she replied.

  “Do you want me to call Dillon?”

  “No.” The idea of anyone else knowing about this totally appalled her. “I’m sure the person who put that in the mailbox didn’t leave any fingerprints or anything else that might help identify them. There’s really nothing Dillon can do, and I would prefer that nobody know about this.”

  “Lily, I will never, ever cheat on you or do anything to dishonor you. I swear to you I’m just not that kind of man.”

  In the very depths of her heart she believed him. But trust had only just begun to build with her, and it had been far easier to doubt him.

  “I’m sorry, Jerod. I’m sorry I doubted you,” she said. “I just saw what was in the package and I felt so betrayed...so angry that I couldn’t even think straight.”

  * * *

  Don’t miss the other exciting romances in the Cowboys of Holiday Ranch miniseries!

  * * *

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  Dear Reader,

  What would you do to gain your heart’s desire? If what you really wanted in life was a partner and a child, to what lengths would you go? Like the television shows now popular, would you marry a stranger? Meet a person who lived overseas and become a ninety-day fiancée? Or maybe you’d marry your best friend and hope that romance might grow.

  Jerod Steen is one of the last two original cowboys at the Holiday Ranch who hasn’t found love and marriage. More than anything Jerod wants a child of his own, and he comes up with a plan to get what he wants...with unexpected consequences!

  I hope you all enjoy reading Jerod’s journey as much as I loved writing it.

  Thanks for reading!

  Carla Cassidy

  THE COWBOY’S TARGETED BRIDE

  Carla Cassidy

  Carla Cassidy is an award-winning, New York Times bestselling author who has written over 170 books, including 150 for Harlequin. She has won the Centennial Award from Romance Writers of America. Most recently she won the 2019 Write Touch Readers Award for her Harlequin Intrigue title Desperate Strangers. Carla believes the only thing better than curling up with a good book is sitting down at the computer with a good story to write.

  Books by Carla Cassidy

  Harlequin Romantic Suspense

  Cowboys of Holiday Ranch

  A Real Cowboy

  Cowboy of Interest

  Cowboy Under Fire

  Cowboy at Arms

  Operation Cowboy Daddy

  Killer Cowboy

  Sheltered by the Cowboy

  Guardian Cowboy

  Cowboy Defender

  Cowboy’s Vow to Protect

  The Cowboy’s Targeted Bride

  Colton 911

  Colton 911: Target in Jeopardy

  The Coltons of Red Ridge

  The Colton Cowboy

  The Coltons of Shadow Creek

  Colton’s Secret Son

  Visit the Author Profile page at

  Harlequin.com for more titles.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from Agent’s Mountain Rescue by Jennifer D. Bokal

  Chapter 1

  “Tricia is pregnant again.” Dusty Crawford’s face beamed with happiness.

  “Congratulations, you lucky devil.” A punch of yearning hit Jerod Steen right in the pit of his belly.

  The two cowboys sat in the Bitterroot café enjoying a rare lunch together. They had been sent into town on separate errands and had decided to grab a quick lunch together while they were out.

  “We’re hoping for a girl this time,” Dusty said.

  “That would be nice. I would love to have a kid,” Jerod replied. “Lately I’ve been thinking about it all the time. I’m more than ready to be a father.”

  “Aren’t you missing an important ingredient?” Dusty raised a blond eyebrow with amusement.

  Jerod laughed drily. “Yeah, and that is a problem.”

  Dusty took a bite of his burger and eyed his friend as he chewed. “You seem to date off and on. None of those women have caught your fancy?”

  Jerod shook his head. “I really don’t date that much, and nobody I’ve seen or spent any time with has made me want to jump into marriage with them. I know the kind of woman I want to spend my life with and to have a family with, and none of those women has been right.”

  Dusty chewed some more and then took a drink of his soda. “Maybe you could pay some woman to be one of those surrogates. You know, you pay their expenses and then some and they would carry your baby and then give it to you.”

  Once again Jerod shook his head. “That’s not what I want. I want my child to have both a mother and a father. I want a marriage so my kid will know the security of having two loving parents in a home.”

  He reached up and touched the scar that raced down the side of his face, a permanent reminder of the last time he’d seen his mother. He’d been fifteen years old, and he’d never seen her again. There had never been a place in her life for him, and he’d never known his father. He wanted better for himself and any children he’d have.

  He grabbed a French fry from his plate and popped it into his mouth, dismissing thoughts of his mother. When it came time for him to have a child, he’d make sure to pick a very different kind of woman than the one who had given birth to him.

  “I don’t know what to tell you, buddy,” Dusty said. “Maybe you need to sign on to one of those internet dating sites. Who knows, maybe you’ll find a perfect match there.”

  “No way,” Jerod replied firmly. “On most days I don’t even like to answer my cell phone. There’s no way I want to date through it.”

  Dusty laughed. “I hear you on that.”

  “I just feel like time is passing me by, and I don’t want to be an old-man father,” Jerod said.

  Dusty laughed once again. “Jerod, you’re not exactly ready for the grave yet.”

  “I’m thirty-five. That’s ancient in father years.”

  “I’d think you get your kid fix working at the community center.”

  “I love my work there, but those aren’t my kids, and it’s not the same. I want a baby to raise from birth.” For the past three years, Jerod had worked with some of the youth in town a couple of evenings a week. Most of the kids only had one parent in the home, or their parents worked in the evenings and the time at the community center for the kids helped take up some of the slack for the parents.

  A lot of his time there was spent with several fatherless boys who needed a male mentor in their lives. And while Jerod found it very rewarding, it didn’t take the place of his desire to start his own family.

  “Maybe you need to start spending your time off in Oklahoma City. The dating pool there has to be bigger than it is here in Bitterroot,” Dusty said.

  “Maybe,” Jerod replied without conviction. Dating in a city a couple hours away definitely was
n’t an ideal situation. Bitterroot, Oklahoma, was a small town, but Jerod wished he could find his perfect woman here, where he lived and worked.

  Thankfully, the topic of conversation changed to things that needed to be done at the ranch, and by that time they’d finished eating. The two of them left the café and walked outside and into the brisk, cool October air.

  “Won’t be long before winter will be here,” Dusty said.

  “Yeah, I know.” It would be another long, lonely winter, Jerod thought.

  “I’m heading to the grocery store to pick up supplies for Cookie,” Dusty said. Cord Cully, aka Cookie, was the cook at the ranch.

  “You’d better hurry—you know how Cookie gets if he thinks you dawdled in town.”

  Dusty laughed. “He can be a cantankerous old coot.”

  “Yeah, but the man definitely knows how to cook. I’m going to the feed store, but first I need to head to the bank and get some cash out,” Jerod said. “I just spent the last of my pocket money on lunch.”

  “Then I’ll see you back at the ranch.” As Dusty turned to head to the grocery store, Jerod went the opposite direction toward the bank. While he walked, he tried to dismiss the depression that had fallen over him.

  For the past couple of years, he’d watched his fellow cowboys at the Holiday Ranch fall in love, get married and start families of their own, and while Jerod was happy for all of them, he yearned for the same thing for himself.

  He pushed these thoughts aside as he entered the bank lobby. There was only one teller working, and he was currently occupied talking to Lily Kidwell.

  Jerod knew Lily because her nine-year-old son, Caleb, came to the community center a couple evenings a week. Caleb was a good kid but had some anger issues, and there had been times Jerod had driven out to the Kidwell ranch to discuss Caleb’s behavior with Lily. Standing behind her in line, he couldn’t help but hear her conversation with Larry Graham, the teller.

  “Please, Larry, go back again and tell her I really need to speak with her,” she said. Jerod assumed Lily was talking about Margery Martin, the bank president.

  Margery was a snooty old maid who enjoyed wielding financial power over people and was known as one of the town’s biggest gossips. Jerod had little respect for the older woman.

  “I can’t go back and ask her again,” Larry said to Lily. “I’ve already asked her twice, and she’s adamant she doesn’t want to speak with you. I’m sorry, Ms. Kidwell.”

  “Then please just give her a message that I need another month...just one more month. I swear I should be able to pay the mortgage up in the next month, but tell her please not to foreclose on me.” Lily’s voice was filled with a desperate appeal. She reached up and tugged on the ends of her thick brown hair, a nervous gesture Jerod recognized from the few occasions when he’d talked to her about her son.

  “I’ll give her the message, but that’s really all I can do for you,” Larry replied in obvious sympathy.

  “Thanks, Larry. I appreciate it.” Lily turned and saw Jerod. Her cheeks instantly turned pink. “Oh hi, Jerod,” she said.

  “Hey, Lily. How are you doing?” He smiled, hoping she didn’t realize he’d overheard her conversation with Larry. He knew it would greatly embarrass her for him to know her personal business. She’d always seemed like a private person.

  “I’m doing just fine,” she replied and flashed him a quick smile that didn’t quite reach the blue of her eyes. “I’ve got errands to run and I’m on my lunch hour from school, so I’ll see you around later.”

  She scooted out of the bank as if her black slacks were on fire. Despite speaking to Lily about her son, Jerod didn’t know much about her. She was a respected teacher at the elementary school, and he knew she had a spread south of town, where she lived alone with Caleb. And now he knew she was apparently having some very serious financial troubles.

  Not his problem, he told himself as he conducted his bank business and then headed for the feed store. He dismissed all thoughts of Lily Kidwell as he finished his errands in town and then drove back to the Holiday Ranch.

  When he turned in to the ranch entrance, he felt the usual sense of homecoming. This had been his home since he was fifteen. At that time the place had been owned by Cass Holiday, otherwise known as Big Cass.

  When Cass’s husband had died, most of her ranch hands had left, not believing that she was strong enough or smart enough to run the big spread. With the help of a social worker, Cass had wound up staffing her ranch with a dozen runaway boys who were living on the streets and looking for a better life.

  They had all come from abusive backgrounds, and initially they had been mistrustful of the tough-talking woman and most of them had no self-worth at all. But it had been a match made in heaven. The boys had developed a brotherly bond with each other and had become fiercely loyal to Big Cass. Unfortunately she’d been killed in a tornado that had swept the area several years ago, but she’d left the ranch to her niece, Cassie, and the cowboys had all bonded to her, as well.

  He parked his truck in the big shed and then walked the short distance to what they all referred to as the cowboy motel. Each of the dozen men had his own small room in the building, and in the back was the dining/rec room.

  He headed to the dining room now. The men should all be finishing up with their lunches now. Most of them were still there. They all greeted him as he walked in, and he slid into a seat at the table next to his closest friend, Mac McBride.

  Of the original twelve boys who had come here from the streets, one was dead, and the others had all married. Mac and Jerod were the only bachelors left.

  “Hey, man, what’s up?” Mac greeted him.

  “Not much.”

  “You going to fill a plate before Cookie starts putting things away?”

  “Nah, Dusty and I grabbed lunch at the café,” Jerod replied. “Anything new here?”

  “Yeah, you were voted to muck out the horse stalls this afternoon,” Mac said with a grin. “You know when you’re gone for a while, that’s what happens.”

  Jerod laughed. “I read the work schedule this morning, and I know that particular job was assigned to you. I’m on horseback this afternoon checking out the herd.”

  Mac grinned. “Well, it was worth a try.”

  Jerod waited until Mac had finished eating, and then the two of them left the dining room and went their separate ways for their chores. Minutes later Jerod was saddled up on his horse and headed out to the pasture.

  Autumn was his favorite time of year. He’d arrived here in the fall, when the leaves were beautiful oranges and reds. Even though he’d been scared to death, he’d harbored the hope that Big Cass and this ranch could offer him a better life than living on the streets.

  Although the social worker, Francine Rogers, had tried to talk all of the runaways into returning to their homes and reuniting with their parents, none of the young boys had seen that as an option. So she’d brought each of them here to Big Cass.

  He’d known nothing about being a working cowboy, but Cass had been a patient and sometimes tough teacher, and now Jerod couldn’t imagine doing anything else. He loved the smell of the pastures and working with the livestock. As much as he enjoyed living and working here, his real dream was to have his own place.

  A vision of Lily Kidwell suddenly filled his mind. She wasn’t a beautiful woman, although he found her pleasant enough to look at. She had kind blue eyes and ordinary shoulder-length brown hair. She was slender, but he’d never seen her without a worried frown creasing her forehead. He also knew she was involved in charity work.

  He’d never considered her as a romantic partner. As far as he knew, she didn’t date at all. He had no idea who her son’s father was, but it was apparent the man hadn’t been in the picture for years.

  And she might be losing her ranch.

  Maybe he could... No, it wa
s way too crazy to even consider. He tried to dismiss the wild idea out of his head, but surprisingly, it lingered. Jerod had never been much of a risk taker in his life. He was a hard worker, a steady and reliable man. He didn’t do wild and crazy things, so why was he even entertaining a wild and crazy idea now? Apparently his conversation with Dusty at lunchtime had completely addled his brain.

  A gust of wind caught the underside of his black cowboy hat. Before it blew from his head, he slammed his hand on top to set it down more firmly. Now it was time to put silly ideas away and focus on his job.

  * * *

  Lily Kidwell walked out of the Bitterroot Elementary School and into the brisk October air. After the debacle at the bank that had occurred during her lunch hour, she was just eager to get home. Normally she’d be walking out with her nine-year-old son, Caleb. However, today Caleb was being picked up by a friend’s father so the two boys could work on a science project together.

  “Hey, Lily...wait up.”

  She turned to see her best friend and fellow teacher, Krista McNight, hurrying toward her. “You sure are in a hurry,” she said as she caught up with Lily. The two had been best friends since Lily had moved to Bitterroot and started teaching at the school.

  In the past ten years, they had been there for each other during a lot of good and bad things. Krista had been there for her when Cody had walked out on her, and Lily had been there for her friend when her husband had divorced her and they’d begun a coparenting arrangement that left Krista frustrated most of the time. The one thing Lily hadn’t shared with her friend was the ugly state of her finances.

  “I’m just tired and ready to get home and relax,” Lily replied.

  “Where’s Caleb?” Krista asked.

  “He went home with Benny Granger’s father to work on the boys’ science fair project. I’m supposed to pick him up there at six thirty. What about you? Where is Henry?” she asked, referring to Krista’s nine-year-old son.

  “At Jimmy Richland’s place, working on their science fair project.” Krista laughed, and her bright blue eyes sparkled with humor. “The science fair has taken on a life of its own.”