He must face his own demons To rescue his childhood friend Dade Butler’s father ruled with an iron fist. Carrie Palmer was bounced around the foster system. But they found solace as childhood friends. Neither imagined their grown-up reunion would involve the six-foot-four handsome rancher rescuing Carrie from a would-be assault. But when a stalker nearly kills Carrie, Dade will stop at nothing to save her—and turn this friendship into a permanent relationship. Crisis: Cattle Barge USA TODAY bestselling author BARB HAN lives in north Texas with her very own hero-worthy husband, three beautiful children, a spunky golden retriever/standard poodle mix and too many books in her to-read pile. In her downtime, she plays video games and spends much of her time on or around a basket ball court. She loves interacting with readers and is grateful for their support. You can reach her at www.barbhan.com. Sudden Setup Endangered Heiress Texas Grit Stockyard Snatching Delivering Justice One Tough Texan Texas-Sized Trouble Texas Witness Texas Showdown Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk Texas Grit Barb Han ISBN: 978-1-474-07899-3 TEXAS GRIT © 2018 Barb Han Published in Great Britain 2018 by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental. By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher. ® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries. To my editor, Allison Lyons, for being a dream to work with—thank you! To my agent, Jill Marsal, for always having the right words of encouragement—thank you! To my children, Brandon, Jacob and Tori, who inspire me to be the best version of myself every day. I’m eternally grateful. Whether we’re up late carving pumpkins or cheering each other on in our daily adventures (some might say antics) I’m always grateful for our close relationships. Brandon, welcome to the 1m challenge. I’d wish you luck but since you’re one of my competitors...game on, buddy! I love you all so very much! And to John, for laughing no matter how silly we get and for jumping in with both feet for every challenge no matter how crazy. I can’t imagine a better partner in crime and in life. I love you! Contents