Where family bonds are made and broken, and where young love sparks as old flames grow dim, Ransom Canyon is ready to welcomeand shelterthose who need it
With a career and a relationship in ruins, Jubilee Hamilton is left reeling from a fast fall to the bottom. The run-down Texas farm shes inherited is a far cry from the second chance she hoped for, but it and the abrasive foreman shes forced to hire are all shes got.
Every time Charley Collins has let a woman get close, hes been burned. So Lone Heart ranch and the contrary woman who owns it are merely a means to an end, until Jubilee tempts him to take another riskto stop resisting the attraction drawing them together despite all his hard-learned logic.
Desperation is all young Thatcher Jones knows. And when he finds himself mixed up in a murder investigation, his only protection is the shelter of a man and woman whojust like himneed someone to trust.
Praise for Jodi Thomas and her RANSOM CANYON series
Jodi Thomas is a masterful storyteller. She grabs your attention on the first page, captures your heart, and then makes you sad when its time to bid her wonderful characters farewell. You can count on Jodi Thomas to give you a satisfying and memorable read.
Catherine Anderson, New York Times bestselling author
Thomas sketches a slow, sweet surrender.
Publishers Weekly
Compelling and beautifully written, it is exactly the kind of
heart-wrenching, emotional story one has come to expect from Jodi Thomas.
Debbie Macomber, #1 New York Times bestselling author
Jodi Thomas has the ability to reel me in every time with her enterprising, intelligent and caring cast of characters and
Ransom Canyon has some of the best yet.
Fresh Fiction
This book is like once again visiting old friends while making
new ones and will leave readers eager for the next visit. A pure joy to read.
RT Book Reviews
Thomas could make a city girl hang up her pumps for a pair of boots with her descriptions of clear blue skies and dusk-red dirt. Fans will anxiously await the next book in the series because, like meeting with old friends, catching up with the characters of Ransom Canyon cant come soon enough.
BookPage
Ransom Canyon is a tale of redemption and hope filled with authentic dialogue and characters engaging enough to chat with over a cup of coffee.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Ransom Canyon introduces readers to a close-knit society that takes care of its own In true Jodi Thomas fashion, readers will be drawn into this tale, feeling empathy for the beautifully written characters, and enjoying the everyday life in a small town.
Romance Reviews Today
Western romance legend Thomass Ransom Canyon will warm readers with its huge heart and gentle souls.
Library Journal
Lone Heart Pass
Jodi Thomas
www.millsandboon.co.uk
Contents
Cover
Back Cover Text
Praise
Title Page
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
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Extract
Copyright
CHAPTER ONE
Jubilee Hamilton
November 2009
THE GEORGETOWN STREET in front of Jubilee Hamiltons office looked more like a river of mud than a beautiful old brick lane.
Why does it always have to rain on election day? she asked the life-size cutout of her candidate.
The few volunteers left in the campaign office were cleaning out their desks. The polls hadnt been closed an hour, and Jubilees horse in the race had already been declared the loser.
Or maybe she was the loser. Two months ago her live-in boyfriend, the man shed thought shed someday settle down with and have the two-point-five kids, had said goodbye. David had called her a self-absorbed workaholic. Hed accused her of being cold, uncaring, thoughtless, self-centered.
When shed denied it, hed asked one question. Whens my birthday, Jub?
Shed folded her arms as if to say she wasnt playing games. But this time her mild-mannered lover hadnt backed down.
Well, he stared at her, heartbroken.
When she didnt answer, David asked again. Weve been together three years. When is my birthday, Jub?
February 19, she guessed.
Not even close. David picked up his briefcase and walked toward the door. Ill get my things after the election is over. You wont have time to open the door for me before then.
Jubilee didnt have time to miss him, either. She had an election to run. She worked so many hours she started sleeping at the office every other night. Sometime in the weeks that followed, David had dropped by the apartment and packed his things. Shed walked in on a mountain of boxes marked with Ds. All she remembered thinking at the time was that she was glad hed left her clean clothes still hanging.
A few days later the Ds were gone and one apartment key lay on the counter. There was no time to miss him or his boxes.
Jubilee had thought of crying, but she didnt bother. Boyfriends had vanished before. Two in college, one before David while she lived in Washington, DC. Shed have time for lovers later. Right now, at twenty-six, she needed to build her career. As always, work was her life. Men were simply extras she could live with or without. She barely noticed the mail piling up or the sign on the door telling her she had six weeks before she had to vacate the premises.
Then the rain came. The election ended. Her candidate had lost. Shed lost. No job would be waiting for her at dawn. No David would be standing in the door of their apartment this time, ready to comfort her.
Her third loss as a campaign manager. Three strikes, youre out, she thought.
She walked through the rain alone, not caring that she was soaked. Shed given her all this time and shed ended up with nothing. The candidate shed fought so hard for hadnt even bothered to call her at the end.
When she unlocked the door to the apartment that now looked more like a storage unit than a home, she wasnt surprised the lights wouldnt come on. David had always taken care of minor things like paying the bills.
She sat down on one of the boxes and reached for her phone before she realized she had no one to call. No friends. No old school buddies shed kept up with. All the numbers in her contacts were business related except the three for her family. She scrolled down to the Hamiltons.
First number, her parents. They hadnt spoken to her since shed missed her sisters wedding. Jubilee shrugged. Really, how important was a bridesmaid?
Destinys wedding was beautiful anyway. Jubilee saw the pictures on Facebook. Had she attended, as the too tall, too thin sister, she would have only crumbled Destinys perfection.
She moved down the list. Destiny. Her sister, six years older, always prettier, always smarter, never liking having her around.
Jubilee ran through memories like flashcards of her childhood. Destiny had cut off all her hair when she was three. Told Jubilee she was adopted when she was five. Left her at the park after dark when she was seven. Slashed her bike tires when she was ten so she couldnt follow along.
Oh, yeah, Jubilee thought, dont forget about telling me I was dying when I got my first period. The whole family was laughing as shed written out her will at twelve.
The flashcards tumbled to the floor in her mind along with any need to talk to Destiny whatever-her-last-name-was-now.
If big sisters were measured on a scale of one to ten, Destiny would be double digits in the negative.
She moved down to the next Hamilton on her contact list. Her great-grandfather. Shed lived with him the summer shed been eleven because her parents wanted to tour college options with Destiny. Theyd all waved as they dropped her off at Grandpa Levys with smiles as if theyd left a bothersome pet at the pound.
Two weeks later theyd called and said they couldnt make the trip back to Texas to get her because of car trouble. A week after that there was another school to consider. Then her father wanted to wait until he had a few days off so the trip from Kansas to Texas wouldnt be so hard on the family.
Jubilee had missed the first two weeks of school before they made it back, and she hadnt cared. She would have stayed on the ranch forever.
Grandpa Levy was ornery and old. Even at eleven she could tell the whole family didnt like him or want the worthless dry-land farm hed lived on since birth. Levy talked with his mouth full, cussed more than Methodists allow, only bathed once a week and complained about everything but her.
Jubilees parents barely took the time to turn off the engine when they picked her up. The old man didnt hug her, but his knotted, leathered hand dug into her shoulder as if he couldnt bear to let her go. That meant more than anything he could have said.
She never told anyone how wonderful Grandpa Levy had been to her. He gave her a horse and taught her to ride, and all summer she was right by his side. Collecting eggs, birthing calves, cutting hay. For the first time in her life no one told her what she was doing wrong.
Jubilee stared at his number. She hadnt talked to him since Christmas, but the moment shed heard his raspy voice, shed felt like the eleven-year-old again, giggling and telling him things he probably cared nothing about. Her great-grandfather had listened and answered each rant she went through with comments like, Youll figure it out, kid. God didnt give you all those brains for nothing.
She wanted to talk to him now. She needed to say she hadnt figured anything out.
Jubilee pushed the number and listened to it ring. She could imagine the house phone on the wall between his kitchen and living room ringing through empty bedrooms and hallways that always smelled dusty. He lived in the two rooms off the kitchen and left the other rooms to sleep, he claimed.
Answer, she whispered, needing to know that someone was out there. Right now, tonight, she could almost believe she was the only one left alive. Answer, Grandpa.
Finally, after twenty rings, she hung up. The old guy didnt even have an answering machine, and hed probably never heard of a cell phone. Maybe he was in the barn or over near the corral where the cowhands who worked for him lived from spring to fall. Maybe hed driven the two-lane road to town for his once-a-month trip. If so, hed be having dinner at the little café in Crossroads. He was probably ordering two slices of Dorothys pie right now.
She wished she were there in the booth across from him.
With the streetlights glow from the window, she crossed to her fireplace and lit the logs. Strange how after more than a dozen years she still missed him when shed never missed anyone else. She had lived years with her parents and remembered only slices of her life, but she remembered every detail of that summer.