A cowboy committed to bachelorhood
...until these little Montana Twins change everything
Thanks to his dysfunctional family, cowboy-to-the-bone Colt Hardin insists marriage and fatherhood aren’t for him. But then his uncle dies, leaving Colt the ranch he’s always wanted—and the herd to his late cousin’s mischievous twin toddlers. Now Colt must find a solution with their pretty mother, Jane Marshall. Can these little cherubs show Jane and Colt what a family can truly be?
Was this what other people felt like when they had a family?
The door to the foyer opened and Jane appeared, her gaze landing on Colt with a look of surprise. She was beautiful standing there.
“Micha took off on me,” Colt whispered. “I wasn’t quick enough.”
“She does do that,” Jane whispered back, and she put one twin toddler down on the pew between them before reaching for the other. “Were you being a stinker, Michal Ann?”
Micha looked at her mother innocently as Jane scooped the toddler into her lap.
“I think you were,” Jane whispered, but there was a smile tickling the corners of her lips. “Be nice to him, Micha. He’s not used to this.”
Jane looked over at him and smiled, and he felt that sense of camaraderie again. It felt good coming from her. It wasn’t about pleasing a group or fitting in... It was just a moment between the two of them. Of all the people who had known him for years, Jane probably understood him best.
And that was dangerous ground...
Patricia Johns writes from Alberta, Canada. She has her Hon. BA in English literature and currently writes for Harlequin’s Love Inspired and Heartwarming lines. You can find her at patriciajohnsromance.com.
Books by Patricia Johns
Love Inspired
Montana Twins
Her Cowboy’s Twin Blessings
Her Twins’ Cowboy Dad
Comfort Creek Lawmen
Deputy Daddy
The Lawman’s Runaway Bride
The Deputy’s Unexpected Family
His Unexpected Family
The Rancher’s City Girl
A Firefighter’s Promise
The Lawman’s Surprise Family
Harlequin Heartwarming
A Baxter’s Redemption
The Runaway Bride
A Boy’s Christmas Wish
Her Lawman Protector
Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.
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HER TWINS’
COWBOY DAD
Patricia Johns
The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.
—Proverbs 21:1
To my husband, whom I love more every day. The years together only make it sweeter.
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
Epilogue
Dear Reader
Excerpt from The Rancher’s Redemption by Myra Johnson
Chapter One
Colt Hardin stood by a window on the second floor of an office building in downtown Creekside, Montana, cowboy hat under one arm, trying to calm his thoughts as he looked out over the street. The building itself was only three stories, but it was the highest one in that little ranching town. A few pickup trucks slowed to a stop at the streetlight, windows rolled down to let in the warm July breeze. One of the trucks had an old dog in the back, trotting back and forth along the truck bed. The light changed to green, and the trucks rolled forward again. Colt preferred trails and fields, horseback or the rattling old ranch truck. Town was just too busy for his liking.
Colt tapped his hat against his thigh, attempting to quiet that jitter inside him. Uncle Beau passed away a few days ago, and he had been called to the lawyer’s office for the reading of the will. If Uncle Beau hadn’t changed anything, Colt was inheriting it all.
Old Beau had been a complicated guy in life—a good rancher and a neighbor who could be counted on when weather went bad or times got tough. He was gruff, stubborn, often narrow-minded, but with a sensitive side that had surprised Colt more than once. But as kind as he could be to a neighbor, he was unmovable when it came to family. Once his mind was made up about someone, there was no changing it, and that character flaw had torn apart the family. It was only because those relationships were in tatters that Colt was set to inherit everything.
Beau’s marriage to his aunt had shown him that marriage was difficult...and, it turned out, so was keeping any kind of functional relationship with a man’s kids. Josh was an only child—it shouldn’t have been that complicated. And Colt didn’t have his own father in his life, so Beau had been the closest he’d had to a dad. That wasn’t a sweet sentiment, either, because Beau was the main reason he’d been steering clear of getting married and starting a family of his own.
A patter of little shoes came up the stairs, and Colt glanced over as two redheaded toddlers in matching floral-print dresses emerged into the hallway and immediately scampered in opposite directions. A slim woman with dark hair pulled into a messy bun at the back of her head appeared behind them and jogged after the squealing toddler who dashed down the hall, while the other little girl headed in his direction. The woman wore a pink sundress that fluttered behind her in a wave, and he couldn’t help but wonder how she’d catch both children.
The little girls had flaming-red curls that bounced at the sides of their heads in matching pigtails... Some distant relative of Beau Marshall, perhaps? The Marshalls were known for their fiery red hair. Colt was related to Beau through Beau’s wife’s side of the family, so his hair was a dark brown that women made a point of telling him shone auburn in the sunlight.
The woman scooped up the giggling girl and came back down the hall, a bag bouncing against one hip and the toddler secured on the other.
“Michal, come back here...” the woman called to the toddler who’d dashed in his direction, and the tiny girl looked up at Colt for a moment, round brown gaze meeting his soberly. She took a step to the side to head around him and he matched her, eyeing her with a small smile. He
