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MEET THE FORTUNES!
Fortune of the Month: Toby Fortune Jones
Age: 28
Vital Statistics: Dazzling blue eyes, broad, strapping shoulders, strong arms that could hold a woman all night long …
Claim to Fame: Has a heart bigger than Texas.
Romantic Prospects: He’s raising three foster kids and running a ranch. Are you kidding?
“I must be the king of bad timing. I finally meet a gal that’s something special, and my nights are tied up with math homework and braiding pigtails. Angie is the first woman who seems to ‘get’ me. But let’s be real. How many females are really in the market for a family of five? Forget about settling down—I haven’t even been able to kiss her proper. How’s a guy supposed to get to first base when there’s always a first-grader underfoot?”
* * *
The Fortunes of Texas: Welcome to Horseback Hollow!
A House Full
of Fortunes!
Judy Duarte
JUDY DUARTE always knew there was a book inside her, but since English was her least favorite subject in school, she never considered herself a writer. An avid reader who enjoys a happy ending, Judy couldn’t shake the dream of creating a book of her own.
Her dream became a reality in March 2002, when Mills & Boon® Cherish™ released her first book, Cowboy Courage. Since then she has published more than twenty novels. Her stories have touched the hearts of readers around the world. And in July 2005 Judy won a prestigious Readers’ Choice Award for The Rich Man’s Son.
Judy makes her home near the beach in Southern California. When she’s not cooped up in her writing cave, she’s spending time with her somewhat enormous but delightfully close family.
MILLS & BOON
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To my daughter, Christy Duarte, who has been an awesome critique partner, brainstorm wizard and editor. You are a creative and talented author who will soon hold your first of many of your published books in your hands. I love you, T.
Contents
Chapter One
“Justin! Get down from there!”
At the sound of the baritone voice spiked with irritation, Angie Edwards looked up from the cash register, stopped totaling her mother’s grocery purchases and looked across the Superette to see a little red-haired boy high atop the stock clerk’s ladder.
She was just about to rush over to the child before he fell when she spotted Toby Fortune Jones standing near the bottom rung, waiting for the little imp to climb down.
Toby, who owned a small ranch just outside of town and volunteered his time as a coach at the YMCA in nearby Vicker’s Corners, had become a foster parent to the three Hemings children last fall.
Who would have guessed that the hunky rancher had such a paternal side? Just seeing him with those kids each time they came into the Superette gave Angie pause. And it warmed her heart, too.
What didn’t warm her heart, however, was her mother checking up on her. Again.
“Don’t forget that you’re always welcome to come stay at my house if you need to,” Angie’s mother said, drawing her back to the task and the conversation at hand.
Angie loved her mom—she truly did—but there was no way she’d ever consider living with the woman again. There were times she couldn’t get her mom off the telephone or, in this case, through the Superette checkout line fast enough for comfort.
“That’ll be fourteen dollars and seventeen cents,” Angie said, after she’d finished totaling her mother’s purchases.
Why would Doris Edwards, who now lived and worked in Lubbock as a real-estate agent, drive all the way into Horseback Hollow to buy fifteen dollars’ worth of groceries?
To check up on Angie and give her another lecture, no doubt. Thank goodness no one had gotten into line
