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A Match Made in Texas
Tess Buckton returns to the Blue Thorn Ranch from Australia, badly needing Texas comfort. But the Outback follows her home when celebrity Aussie horse trainer Cooper Pine rents the ranch next door. The other Buckton siblings are worried Cooper’s high profile will upset the idyllic Martins Gap community—but Tess isn’t so sure. Cooper is surprisingly down-to-earth and a doting father to his special-needs daughter. But getting close enough to learn his secrets could mean exposing hers, and Tess isn’t ready for that—even if Cooper and his matchmaking daughter are just what her heart is yearning for.
“You said it was somebody’s birthday. So I brought over some Buckton brownies.”
Cooper looked genuinely surprised. From behind him came the smiling face of a young girl. Then came an odd clicking sound as crutches came into view, flanking the ruffles of a frilly party dress. Tess told herself not to stare as the ruffled skirt ended in only one white cowboy boot.
“Sophie, this is the lady who told me about Lolly’s blondies,” Cooper said.
Sophie’s eyes grew wide. “They were super yummy!”
Tess felt herself smile. “Another of my favorites is my grandmother’s brownies, and she insisted I bring some over to the birthday girl.”
“I’m six now,” pronounced Sophie. She shifted to show off her solitary boot. “Do you like ’em? They’re my birthday present.”
There was something brave and bittersweet in how the child referred to her single boot as a pair. “Mighty nice,” Tess said. “White boots are extra special—you must be extra special yourself.”
She’d called a little boy in Adelaide “extra special”—a little boy she’d never get to buy birthday presents for now—and the words sat bittersweet on her tongue.
ALLIE PLEITER, an award-winning author and RITA® Award finalist, writes both fiction and nonfiction. Her passion for knitting shows up in many of her books and all over her life. Entirely too fond of French macarons and lemon meringue pie, Allie spends her days writing books and avoiding housework. Allie grew up in Connecticut, holds a BS in speech from Northwestern University and lives near Chicago, Illinois.
The Texas Rancher’s New Family
Allie Pleiter
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for
you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly
about my weaknesses, so that
Christ’s power may rest on me.
—2 Corinthians 12:9
To Linda
Because she’s stronger than she knows
Contents
“Just one—no, two.” Tess Buckton ogled the covered dish of Lolly’s Diner’s decadent blondies, fighting the urge to buy all of them. After flying halfway around the world in the last thirty hours, she could easily eat the whole plate without stopping. Not that she would, but she could. “Okay, three. But no more.”
“They that good?”
Tess’s jet-lagged brain struggled to distinguish the Texas surroundings she stood in now from the Australian settings she’d left behind. It took a few seconds to recognize that the Aussie accent she’d grown so used to hearing didn’t belong in her hometown of Martins Gap, Texas. She turned to see a tall, tanned cowboy, one eyebrow raised in question as a smirk turned up one corner of his mouth.
“Yeah,”