Wyoming Brave

Wyoming Brave
Diana Palmer

International Bestselling author Diana Palmer’s Wyoming men are back!These ranchers are bold and brave enough to protect the women who need them.Ren Colter may own an enormous ranch, but he scorns his wealth. He's closed himself off from everyone since his fiancée left him, so even he is shocked when he allows Meredith Grayling to stay. He tells himself it's only to protect a vulnerable woman from a stalker, but the blonde beauty arouses all Ren's alpha instincts.The last thing Merrie wants is a devastatingly handsome man like Ren distracting her. He's too experienced, too masculine, too appealing for her already stressed nerves. What she needs is just to get away from men, all men: the irresistible man haunting her waking dreams and the one hunting her! But this Colter cowboy won’t let this woman go!

The Wyoming men are back! In their quest for true love on the range, are these ranchers bold enough to open their hearts to the women under their protection?

Ren Colter may own an enormous ranch in Wyoming, but he scorns his wealth. He’s closed himself off since his fiancée left him months ago, so he’s shocked when he allows Meredith Grayling to stay with him. He tells himself it’s only to protect the blonde beauty from a stalker, but Ren’s alpha instincts soon kick in.

The last thing Merrie wants is a devastatingly handsome man like Ren lurking around her. He’s too experienced, too appealing for her already shot nerves. What she needs is just to get away from it all: the man haunting her waking dreams and the one hunting her like an animal. But no woman escapes this Colter cowboy!

Wyoming Brave

Diana Palmer

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

Dear Reader (#ue808035e-a859-5043-a3de-8bc1260d119a),

As I write this, we are mourning Jim’s brother Doug. We lost him after a long illness. He leaves behind his wife of fifty years, Victoria, as well as sons Rodney, Paul and James and his wife, Jennifer; Valerie and her husband, Wayne; grandchildren and great-grandchildren; sister Kathleen; brothers John and Jimmy; and nieces and nephews.

This book is dedicated to him. He was a twenty-year navy man, a veteran of the Vietnam War. He was brave and kind, and he loved his family and all sorts of animals, most especially his cats, and wild birds.

We will miss him a lot. I imagine him sitting now by a pond in a green meadow, with a fishing pole in his hands. Waiting for the rest of us to show up.

So long for now, Doug. It was a privilege to know you.

Robert Douglas (Doug) Kyle

1946–2016

Patriot. Vietnam veteran. Father, grandfather, great-grandfather. He loved birds and NASCAR, cats and fishing. We loved him.

Contents

Cover (#u40425eb7-9778-5377-815c-78711ad264dc)

Back Cover Text (#u232910e9-cc8c-57c1-9568-f69cd4d26faf)

Title Page (#u9b07476b-93a8-58fb-96aa-253b809554fe)

Dear Reader (#ue4e4e2d8-e22e-51a6-9747-5d81d2fedc97)

Dedication (#ue8214b1b-d3c5-5231-83d6-f5b12fb73559)

CHAPTER ONE (#ue4dec119-9e09-55f8-bcc2-de346ed5b568)

CHAPTER TWO (#u7e494d43-7da0-5a56-87a4-8dffde8211eb)

CHAPTER THREE (#ub217bd34-1db7-52ba-8324-569830c79e75)

CHAPTER FOUR (#ue65e6ec6-b9b5-5865-a7bc-b7baaab7a560)

CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

Extract (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER ONE (#ue808035e-a859-5043-a3de-8bc1260d119a)

REN COLTER WASN’T WELCOMING. In fact, he was immediately hostile when Merrie Grayling walked in the door of his Wyoming ranch with his brother.

Merrie looked at him and felt as if someone had hit her in the stomach with a bat. He was glorious. Tall, broad-shouldered, narrow-hipped, with beautiful lean hands and a mouth that was chiseled and sensual-looking in a face topped by thick black hair and a straight nose. He was as handsome as his brother, but in a darker way. He scowled at her. But, she could hardly take her eyes off him. He was wearing work clothes; jeans and boots that had seen their share of action in the trenches, along with shotgun chaps and a sheepskin jacket. A black Stetson was set at a slant over one eye. Both glistening black eyes were on Merrie, making comments that he didn’t even have to put into words.

She moved closer to Randall, which seemed to set Ren off even more. Randall was tall and blond, with laughing blue eyes and the face of a movie star. He was very different from his brother.

“It’s only for a few weeks, Ren,” Randall said softly. “She’s...well, she’s been through a lot. Her father just died and she’s had some trouble with a...with that person I told you about.” He didn’t look at Merrie, because what he’d told Ren wasn’t quite the truth. “You have state-of-the-art surveillance and plenty of bodyguards around the place. I thought she’d be safe here.”

“Safe.” He had a deep, velvety voice. He studied Merrie with his sensuous lips pursed, but he seemed to find nothing enticing in the woman with the long, platinum hair in a braid down her back, her pale blue eyes trained on him like spotlights. She was pretty enough, but Ren had had enough of pretty women. Her figure wasn’t easily discernible in what she was wearing. She had on jeans and a sweatshirt, both loose on her slender body, and she wore no makeup. Odd, he thought, for one of Randall’s women not to show up in a tight and trashy outfit, batting her eyelashes at Ren and flirting with him. Randall’s women were experienced and aggressive. Ren hated having them around. Of course, Randall was usually around to entertain them. But here he was, bringing in an odd female and leaving her while he traveled around the world for Ren, lauding their ranch’s prize bulls. Randall was a born salesman. Ren was more introverted, withdrawn. He didn’t really like people much. He hated their mother and had no contact with her. But he loved his brother.

He avoided women like the plague since his fiancée, Angie, had been caught with not one, but two other men, only two weeks before they were supposed to be married. Ren called off the ceremony and left Angie to deal with the aftermath. She’d been Randall’s girl first, until she realized that he wasn’t about to marry anyone. She set her cap at Ren instead, and teased him out of his mind for the three months of their engagement. To Randall’s credit, he’d tried to warn his brother. Ren had been in love for the first time in his life, and wouldn’t listen.

Angie, meanwhile, had been looking forward to living a life of luxury. Ren chaired a mining company that was Fortune 500. That was in addition to the very profitable purebred Black Angus herd that graced the thousand acres of his ranch, and the champion seed bulls that commanded millions in sales of both young bulls and semen straws (which held bull semen) that were sold internationally. The bloodlines of his cattle were impeccable.

The worst part of their broken engagement was that Ren had read all about himself on Angie’s Facebook page. He’d had to buy a new laptop afterward, since he’d thrown the damned thing clear through a window out into the yard. One of the kindest things she’d said about him was that he was a clumsy, boring lover, and his hick ranch was a joke.

Attorneys had taken care of Angie’s lies online. He hadn’t heard from her again. He hoped he never did. He was never letting another woman get close to him. Once burned, twice shy.