The Rancher Next Door But to young Katie Fitzgerald, the sun rose and set on rugged Jack Darby. Jack was her childhood hero, her secret teen beau. But he hadn’t loved her enough to leave their feuding families behind, and blinding heartbreak had led her into another man’s arms – and 11 years of loneliness. When Katie returned to the ranch next door, emotions tore through Jack like a Texas twister. Anguish over her youthful betrayal, tenderness for her shy son – and a hunger so deep it hollowed him out. But hadn’t 11 lonely years taught him he was a fool to love a Fitzgerald? Unexpectedly Expecting! Abandoned by her dad and betrayed by her fiance, she was anti-man, anti-marriage and mouthy about it to boot. All of which suited Stephen Remington, M.D., to a tee. Though the townsfolk considered him the ideal candidate to scale Nora’s defenses and soften her heart, the sexy widower had vowed never to love – and lose – again. But their public battle of the sexes led to a night of shocking, private passion…and an unexpected pregnancy…leaving no-strings Nora and love-shy Stephen staring straight down the shotgun of motherhood and – shudder! – matrimony…
