Linda Lael Miller - McKettricks Luck

A classic tale of a new generation of cowboys staking claims to their landand the women they love

Like his celebrated ancestors, who tamed the wilds of Arizona, Jesse McKettricks Indian Rock ties run deep. The Triple M Ranch is in his blood, along with the thrill of risk. But with his land at stake, this world-class poker player wont be dealt into Cheyenne Bridgess gambledespite the temptation she brings.

Cheyenne grew up in Indian Rock and left its painful memories behind to become a self-made woman. Now her job is to convince Jesse to sell his property. Jesses not the kind of man Cheyenne could ever forget, but hes too wild and dangerous for a woman committed to playing it safe. Yet sparks of attraction fly, tempting Cheyenne to lay it all on the line for the passion she sees in Jesses eyes.

Praise for the novels of #1 New York Times and
USA TODAY bestselling author Linda Lael Miller

Miller is one of the finest American writers
in the genre.
RT Book Reviews

A fine conclusion to Millers latest trilogy. Animal lovers will enjoy the creatures that make up a delightfully integral part of the story.
RT Book Reviews on The Creed Legacy

Only Linda Lael Miller can write the kind of romance that melts your heart and makes you want to shout Yippee ki-yay!
Single Titles on Creeds Honor

Miller excels at creating extended-family dynamics
in an authentic Western small-town setting
and richly populating her stories with animal
as well as human characters.
Booklist

Ms. Millers characters and their intense emotions
are what make McKettricks Luck such a winner.
Single Titles on McKettricks Luck

Millers ability to bring a cast of characters to life
is on full display here. The veteran romance author doesnt disappoint in her sizzling love scenes
and fine sense of place.
Publishers Weekly on McKettricks Luck

A true winner, McKettricks Luck takes the pot!
A Romance Review

Also available from

and HQN Books

The McKettricks of Texas

McKettricks of Texas: Tate
McKettricks of Texas: Garrett
McKettricks of Texas: Austin
A Lawmans Christmas

The McKettricks series

McKettricks Choice
McKettricks Luck
McKettricks Pride
McKettricks Heart
A McKettrick Christmas

The Montana Creeds series

Montana Creeds: Logan
Montana Creeds: Dylan
Montana Creeds: Tyler
A Creed Country Christmas

The Mojo Sheepshanks series

Deadly Gamble
Deadly Deceptions

The Stone Creek series

The Man from Stone Creek
A Wanted Man
The Rustler
The Bridegroom

The Creed Cowboys

A Creed in Stone Creek
Creeds Honor
The Creed Legacy

Coming soon

McKettricks Pride

Linda Lael Miller

McKettricksLuck

My Dear Readers,

Welcome back to the Triple M ranch! McKettricks Luck is the first of three books starring the modern McKettrick men, Jesse, Keegan and Rance, and the intrepid women who love them. Im so delighted these cowboys are back in print. Be sure to look for Rances story in McKettricks Pride, coming in March from HQN Books, followed by Keegans story, McKettricks Heart, in May.

Jesse McKettrick is Indian Rock, Arizonas bad boya poker-playing, heart-breaking horseman who happens to be a kink in Cheyenne Bridgess plans to buy and develop a piece of prime land. Cheyenne has a history with Jesseshes loved him since her teens. He, on the other hand, barely knew she was alive. Trouble in Indian Rock!

With love,

To Pam and Jon Reily, with love

Contents

CHAPTER ONE

M C K ETTRICK LAND , Cheyenne Bridges thought stoically, as she stood next to her rented car on a gravel pullout alongside the highway, one hand shading her eyes from the Arizona sun. A faint drumbeat throbbed in her ears, an underground river flowing beneath her pulse, and she remembered a time she could not have remembered. An era when only the Great Spirit could lay claim to the valleys and canyons and mesas, to the arch of the sky, blue as her grandmothers favorite sugar bowla cherished premium plucked from some long-ago flour sackto the red dirt and the scattered stands of white oak and Joshua and ponderosa pine.

It had taken Angus McKettrick, and other intrepidly arrogant nineteenth-century pioneers like him, to fence in these thousands of square miles, to pen their signatures to deeds, to run cattle and dig wells and wrest a living from the rocky, thistle-strewn soil. Old Angus had passed that audacious sense of ownership on to his sons, and the sons of their sons, down through the generations.

McKettricks forever and ever, amen.

Cheyenne bit her lower lip. Her cell phone, lying on the passenger seat of the car, chimed like an arriving elevatorNigel again. She ignored the insistent sound until it stopped, only too aware that the reprieve would be fleeting. Meanwhile, the land itself seemed to seep into her heart, rising like water finding its level in some dank, forgotten cistern.

The feeling was bittersweet, a complex tangle of loneliness and homecoming and myriad other emotions she couldnt readily identify.

She had sworn never to come back to this place.

Never to set eyes on Jesse McKettrick again.

And fate, in its inimitable way, was forcing her to do both those things.

She sighed.

An old blue pickup passed on the road, horn honking in exuberant greeting. A trail of cheerfully mournful country music thrummed in its wake, and the peeling sticker on the rear bumper read Save The Cowboys.

Cheyenne waved, self-conscious in her trim black designer suit and high heels. This was boots-and-jeans country, and shed stand out like the proverbial sore thumb the moment she drove into town.

Welcome home, she thought ruefully.

The cell chirped again, and she picked her way through the loose gravel to reach in through the open window and grabbed it.

Its about time you answered, Nigel Meerland snapped before she could draw a breath to say hello. I was beginning to think youd fallen into some manhole.

There arent any manholes in Indian Rock, Cheyenne replied, making her way around to the drivers side and opening the door.

Have you contacted him yet? Nigel didnt bother with niceties like Hi, how are you? either in person or over the telephone. He simply demanded what he wantedand most of the time, he got it.

Nigel, Cheyenne said evenly, I just got here. So, no, I have not contacted him. Him was Jesse McKettrick. The last person in this or any other universe she wanted to seenot that Jesse would be able to place her in the long line of adoring women strung out behind him like the cars of a derailed freight train.

Well, youre burning daylight, kiddo, Nigel shot back. Her boss was in his late thirties and English, but he liked using colorful terms, with a liberal smattering of clichs. Westernisms, he called them. Lets get this show on the road. I dont have to tell you how anxious our investors are to get that condo development underway.

No, Cheyenne thought, sitting down sideways on the car seat, constrained by her tight skirt and swinging her legs in under the steering wheel, you dont have to tell me. Ive heard nothing else for the last six months.

Jesse wont sell, she said. Realizing shed spoken the thought aloud, she closed her eyes, braced for the inevitable response.