Welcome Home, Chloe Fortune!

“You’re family,” Graham Fortune tells his newly discovered half sister, Chloe Fortune Elliott, and just like that, Chloe has a new job and a new home in Austin. She works well with the troubled teens at Peter’s Place, but she’s having more difficulty managing a male of the grown-up variety. Ranch hand Chance Howell gets under her skin from the moment they meet.

The tall blond army veteran is good with horses and adolescents, but he’s a master at avoiding intimacy. Maybe that’s why Chloe is so drawn to him. Or maybe it’s the sadness she recognizes in his eyes. Her head tells her falling for Chance is a bad idea. Her heart tells her she may have no choice...

MEET THE FORTUNES

Fortune of the Month: Chloe Fortune Elliott

Age: 26

Vital statistics: Five foot two, eyes of blue and a heart as big as Texas.

Claim to Fame: None—until she discovers Jerome Fortune is her biological father.

Romantic prospects: Questionable. She has loved and lost. Once you’ve “fallen off the horse,” it can be hard to pick yourself up again.

“I’ve been working as a counselor at Peter’s Place ranch for just a few weeks now, and it’s just as challenging—and rewarding—as I thought it would be. One challenge I didn’t expect was Chance Howell. Graham Fortune’s new ranch hand makes me feel, well...he makes me feel. I thought my heart died along with my husband when Donnie got killed in Afghanistan.

I suppose any red-blooded female would respond to a cowboy as sexy as Chance. But he’s a former soldier himself, and he’s made it clear he doesn’t “do” permanent. And I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I’m a Fortune. There are a million reasons why we shouldn’t get involved. So why do they go flying out the window the minute he sidles up beside me?”

* * *

The Fortunes of Texas:

The Secret Fortunes—

A new generation of heroes and heartbreakers!

Fortune’s Second-Chance Cowboy

Marie Ferrarella

www.millsandboon.co.uk

USA TODAY bestselling and RITA® Award–winning author MARIE FERRARELLA has written more than two hundred and fifty books for Miils & Boon, some under the name Marie Nicole. Her romances are beloved by fans worldwide. Visit her website, www.marieferrarella.com.

To

Tiffany Khauo,

who is about to have her own population explosion.

Tiffany, this one’s for you.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Prologue

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

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

Prologue

“Hello, Chloe, are you still there?”

Chloe Elliott’s hand tightened around her landline’s receiver as she heard the caller’s deep male voice asking her the same question again.

Was she still there?

Part of Chloe felt like answering the question by simply hanging up. She’d had enough disappointments in her twenty-six years to last a lifetime, why would she set herself up for yet another one?

But there was this other part of Chloe, the part that needed to believe that good things could happen, that they still did happen. That was the part that had been instrumental in making her get out of bed every morning even after Donnie, the husband she’d adored, had been killed while serving in Afghanistan after they had been married for only an incredibly short two years. That was also the part that had decided to make her gather her courage together and to try to get to know her father’s family.

The father who had, up until just recently, been a complete mystery in her life.

Ever since she could remember—until she’d gotten married—it had been just her mother and her. There had been no other family members to speak of, and that had been just fine with her. Filling in the blanks for herself, Chloe assumed that her father had been her mother’s high school sweetheart who’d been killed in a car accident before he could marry her nineteen-year-old mother.

Because that had been her belief since forever, Chloe hadn’t been prepared to learn that her father was actually tech giant Gerald Robinson. And even more, that for years now he’d been living under an assumed name. Gerald Robinson was in fact Jerome Fortune, one of the famous Texas Fortunes, no less. Neither had she been prepared for the eight legitimate Robinson offspring, giving her half siblings she’d never known she had.

And that didn’t even begin to take into account the various illegitimate offspring the man had left scattered in his wake, as well.

All in all, it had been a great deal for her to take in and process.

Realizing that the man on the other end of the line, Graham Fortune Robinson, the third of Gerald’s eight children, was still waiting for a response, Chloe answered quietly, “Yes, I’m still here.”

Chloe could almost hear the pleased smile in her half brother’s voice as he continued. “You might not remember me, but we met at that big family dinner at Kate Fortune’s ranch.”

How could she not remember? Chloe thought. She remembered everything about that evening, which had come about when Keaton Fortune Whitfield had contacted her out of the blue to tell her that he was her half sibling and invited her to come. And just like that, she’d gone from having no living relatives, now that her mother was gone, to having so many of them that she needed a scorecard just to keep track of them all.

She remembered how frightened and excited she’d been, walking into that huge mansion that evening. She’d harbored such great hopes.

Hopes that had been completely dashed when she’d met Sophie Fortune Robinson, her father’s youngest daughter. At least his youngest legitimate daughter, Chloe silently amended. Everything had gone downhill from there when she’d introduced herself to Sophie. The latter had looked utterly appalled to meet her, and if looks could’ve killed, Chloe definitely wouldn’t be alive to take this phone call right now.

Not that she could really blame Sophie, Chloe thought. It had to be quite a shock to find out that the man she had thought of as her father all those years had a completely other identity that she knew nothing about.

“Yes, I remember you,” Chloe finally responded to Graham’s comment.

She recalled that Graham had been the handsome, energetic young rancher and businessman whom Kate Fortune had tapped to run Fortune Cosmetics for her. It was obvious that the reserved woman had been quite proud of him.

“I know this must seem strange, my calling you out of the blue like this,” Graham said.

“No stranger than finding out after all these years that my father was Gerald Robinson,” Chloe replied, wondering where all this was going.

After that family dinner, she would have bet that that was the last time she would ever see any of those people again. And, to be quite honest, the run-in with Sophie had left a bad taste in her mouth. She’d decided to keep her distance from the Fortunes, especially since her mother had never had an interest in reuniting with her father.

“If I remember correctly, you have a degree in counseling, don’t you?” Graham was saying.

She was surprised that anyone even noticed her that night—other than thinking of her as an interloper. After all, how else would anyone regard their father’s bastard child? Chloe thought ruefully.

“Yes, I do,” she said uncertainly, waiting for Graham to get to the point—and wondering if, once he did, she was going to regret it.

“I know this might seem unusual to you,” Graham continued.

Unusual doesn’t begin to cover the half of it, Chloe thought.

“—but I’m calling with a job offer.”

“A job offer?” Chloe echoed, stunned. “But you run Fortune Cosmetics. And I don’t know anything about cosmetics, other than what I have in my medicine cabinet.”

She heard Graham laugh. “You won’t have to. Have you ever heard of Peter’s Place?”

“Of course I’ve heard of it. That’s a therapeutic ranch for troubled teenaged boys.”

“Right.” He sounded pleased with her answer. “Currently, my wife, Sasha, is the only counselor there. Because of a recent, rather generous donation from the Fortune Foundation, we’re going to be expanding Peter’s Place. I’ve been doing double duty running the ranch as well as helming Fortune Cosmetics. Frankly, between that and taking care of a baby plus our eight-year-old daughter, I’m spread pretty thin. I—we,” he amended, including his wife, “could definitely use a bigger staff. Now, I realize that you’re just starting out, but I’ve got a good feeling about you, Chloe. I’d like you to come down to Peter’s Place for an interview—it’ll pretty much just be a formality. And while you’re here, you can take a look around the ranch—that is, if you’re interested,” he tagged on. It was clear from the way he spoke that he really hoped she was.

Life had robbed her of some of her optimism, making her suspicious of things that seemed to be too good to be true—which was why Chloe didn’t immediately jump at the offer, the way she might have only a few years ago.

“Like you said, I’m just starting out. Why would you be offering this to me?” she wanted to know. “It sounds like you could hire anyone you wanted to.”

“I know. And that’s what I thought I was doing,” he told her. “I’ve made inquiries about you, Chloe. According to my sources, you’re talented and you have a way with people. And,” he added most significantly, “because you’re family.”

You’re family.

Chloe felt a funny little sensation in the pit of her stomach. For most of her young life, it had been only her mother and her against the world. And then she’d married Donnie, only to have him taken from her all too soon two years ago. There was a part of her that was starving to be part of a family, even as part of her distrusted that feeling and the invitation she was being tendered.

Still, because there was that hunger to be part of something greater than just herself, to be accepted into a family, Chloe heard herself asking, “When would you like me to come down?”

Chapter One

Dear Lord, what am I doing?

The question echoed in her brain as Chloe pulled up before the main ranch house of Peter’s Place.

Yes, she really wanted to be part of a family, part of this family, but did she really want to leave herself wide open like this? To get this close to the Fortunes? After all, she sternly reminded herself, her encounter last month with the clan was less than successful to say the least.

It all came vividly rushing back to her now as she turned off the ignition and sat quietly in the car for a moment.

She never should have agreed to this interview. She was too intimidated by Kate Fortune, the family matriarch, who Chloe figured would be at this meeting. And why not? She seemed to run everything associated with the Fortune family.

Kate Fortune might well be ninety-one years old, but she looked decades younger and was sharp as the proverbial tack. The woman was not exactly the warm, cuddly grandmotherly type.

Was it too late to change her mind? Chloe thought not for the first time.

Then again, it wasn’t as if she was exactly hip-deep in job offers, able to pick and choose which position she was willing to accept. Given that, this job that Graham was offering her was at least worth a look. Heaven knew she wasn’t getting anywhere looking for work so far and she knew that Donnie wouldn’t have wanted her to give up on life just because he was gone. And who knew? Maybe she’d actually get it and things would work out for the best.

There was always a first time, Chloe told herself philosophically, doing her best to bolster up her flagging courage.

“Well, here goes nothing,” Chloe murmured under her breath as she unbuckled her seat belt and opened the door.

Glancing up into the rearview mirror before she exited the vehicle, she made one futile attempt to smooth down her wayward curly blond hair. Not that it did all that much good, she thought ruefully. Her hair seemed to have a mind of its own.

“Just like me,” Chloe murmured, thinking of what her mother had often said.

You just keep dancing to your own drummer, Chloe. The world’ll come around eventually to join you.

Satisfied that she looked as good as she was going to look on this crisp March day—the wind had seemed determined to restyle her hair the moment she’d stepped outside—Chloe got out of her sedan and closed the door.

She didn’t bother locking the vehicle because it wasn’t the kind of car that anyone would think to steal. It had already gone through several owners before she’d bought it a year ago. Close to ten years old, it ran mostly on faith and used parts.

Warning herself not to expect too much, Chloe went up the three steps to the ranch house front door. Mentally counting to ten as she took a deep breath and centered herself, she knocked on the door.

The second her knuckles made contact, the door seemed to fly open. As a matter of fact, she could have sworn that the door opened a second before she actually knocked on it.

But that had to be her imagination—right?

“Oh, Chloe, you’re here,” Graham said, looking startled to see her.

He wasn’t in the doorway alone. Chloe recognized the pretty blue-eyed blonde right behind her half brother. It was his wife, Sasha. The petite woman looked even more frazzled than Graham did.

“I’m sorry. Did I get the dates mixed up?” Chloe asked, looking from Graham to his wife. It was the only conclusion she could draw, given the expressions on their faces and their almost breathless manner.

“No, no, you’ve got the right date,” Graham assured her. “But something’s just come up. There’s been a sudden family emergency. I just got a call from our babysitter that Maddie—that’s our eight-year-old,” he explained quickly, “decided that she’d give flying off the swing a try.” He frowned, shaking his head. “It didn’t turn out quite the way our fearless daughter had hoped. From all the screaming and crying, the sitter thinks that Maddie broke her arm. We’re just on our way out to meet them at the hospital.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Chloe cried, genuinely concerned. She could just imagine what was going through their minds. But at least they had each other to lean on. “Is there anything I can do?”

It took him only a second to answer Chloe. “As a matter of fact, there is.”

“What do you need?” she asked, ready to pitch in and help.

Chloe thought he was going to ask her to accompany him and his wife to whatever hospital their little girl had been taken. Maybe they were too rattled to drive safely. But that wasn’t what he needed her to do.

“Would you mind sticking around for a while?” Graham asked her. “I’ve got someone else coming in for an interview and I couldn’t reach him on the phone. I was going to call you as soon as we were on the road,” Graham quickly explained. “When he gets here, tell him that as soon as I make sure that Maddie’s all right, I’ll be back. I know this is a huge imposition on you and I wouldn’t ask if—”

“That’s okay,” Chloe said, cutting him off. She could tell just by his tone of voice that if he remained, the man’s mind wouldn’t be on the interview. “Go. See to your daughter.” She all but shooed the couple out. “I’ll stay.”

“We won’t forget this,” Sasha promised, tossing the words over her shoulder as she and her husband rushed out of the house.

Chloe offered the couple an encouraging smile. “Glad to help,” she called after them.

After all, it wasn’t as if she was exactly pressed for time, Chloe thought, watching the duo get into their car and drive quickly away.

Besides, Chloe reasoned, walking back into the ranch house and closing the door behind her, this way she could get a look at whoever it was that she would be competing against for this job.

Chloe looked around. She liked the looks of the ranch from what she’d seen of it, driving up here. Maybe she was reading things into it, she thought, but it had a good feel about it.

Chloe sat down on the sofa, prepared to wait. She remained sitting for all of five minutes before she began to feel restless. On her feet again, she started to prowl around the large living room with its comfortable masculine furnishings.

Definitely a good feel to the place, she thought as she moved about, touching things and envisioning herself working here.

She looked at an old-fashioned clock with gold numbers on the fireplace mantel, and she could almost feel the minute hand dragging itself in slow motion, going from one number to the next.

How long was she expected to wait? If she’d had some sort of a handle on that, then she could put things into perspective—or at least know when it would be all right for her to leave.

The sound of a back door slamming made her jump. As did the sound of a wailing baby.

The next second, a rather beleaguered-looking older man came in, holding the crying baby in his arms and looking as if he was at his wit’s end.

Without bothering to ask her who she was or to introduce himself, the man complained, “I can’t get her to stop crying. I’ve tried everything and she just keeps right on bawling. Do you know how to make her stop?” he asked pathetically, holding the baby out to her like an offering. “Please?”

Chloe stared at the stranger, stunned. She didn’t know the first thing about babies, and for all this man knew, she could have been some random thief who had just broken in to the house.

But he looked so distraught, she decided to skip pointing that out. Feeling sorry for the man, she said, “Give her to me,” although, for the life of her, she had no idea what she was going to do.

“Thank you, thank you,” the man cried. “This is Sydney. I’m Sasha’s uncle Roger, by the way,” he said as he placed the baby into her arms. “Graham and Sasha had an emergency and asked me to watch the baby while they were gone.” He flushed, embarrassed. “I said yes before I knew what I was getting myself into. I thought the kid would stay asleep. But the second they were gone, she started crying.” And then Roger stared at the infant, relieved and awestruck at the same time. “Hey, will you look at that,” he marveled, looking from Sydney to the woman holding her. “She’s really taken to you.”

To Chloe’s absolute amazement, the baby had stopped crying. She would have said there was some sort of magic involved, except it was obvious that Sydney appeared to be fascinated with the way the light was hitting the sterling silver pendant she was wearing around her neck.

The pendant that Donnie had given her just before he’d shipped out, she thought sadly.

Even now, you’re still finding ways to help me out, Donnie.

“More like she’s taken with my necklace,” Chloe told Sasha’s uncle.

To prove her point, she grasped the pendant and moved it around ever so slowly. Sunlight gleamed and shimmied along its surface. Sydney followed the sunbeam with her eyes, mesmerized.

“Hey, whatever it takes.” Roger laughed. “I’m just really relieved that Sydney’s finally stopped crying. I was afraid she was going to rip something loose inside that little body...or that I was going to start to lose my hearing. For a little thing, she’s sure got a mighty big set of lungs on her.”

For the first time, Roger turned his attention to Chloe. Apparently realizing that he didn’t know who she was, he asked, “You a friend of Graham’s and Sasha’s?”

“Not exactly,” Chloe replied.

She wasn’t really sure how to introduce herself. Yes, she was Graham’s half sister, but she was still getting used to that title herself. She didn’t know if she was comfortable enough to spring it on anyone else yet, not to mention that Graham might not welcome their connection becoming public knowledge.

Sitting down on the sofa as she continued to cradle and entertain the baby, Chloe evasively explained, “I’m here to interview for a job that’s opened up at Peter’s Place.”

“Ah.”

Roger nodded his head as he sat down, too. “Great place,” he told her. “Sasha and Graham do a lot of good here. And they could certainly do with a few more willing hands to help them out with the work. You got a job in mind?” he asked.

“I’m applying for the counseling job,” Chloe explained. Now that he was no longer distraught because he couldn’t get the baby to stop crying, the older man seemed very easy to talk to.

“Counseling, huh? Like my niece.”

She nodded. “Do you work at Peter’s Place, too?” she wanted to know.

Roger’s face registered surprise. “Me?” he cried, obviously stunned that she would think that. “No, I actually own the spread that Peter’s Place sits on. The Galloping G Ranch,” he told her proudly. “My house is down aways. I just came by when Graham and Sasha called, saying that they needed someone to watch Sydney here for a while. They forgot to tell me that I needed to bring my earplugs,” he added with a laugh. “You don’t mind my asking, how many kids have you got?”

“None,” she replied, sincerely hoping that the pang she felt making that admission wasn’t evident on her face.

She and Donnie had really wanted to start a family, but they had held off because Donnie was going overseas. He’d said that he wanted to be around while she was carrying his baby. Besides, he had told her, they had time. They had their whole lives in front of them.

Until they didn’t, she thought sadly. She really wished he had gotten her pregnant before he left. At least she would have had a part of him to help her ease the pain of loss.

“I’m sorry. Did I say something to upset you?” Roger asked, clearly concerned.

Chloe shook her head. “No, I was just thinking of something.”

“Oh, well, good. I wouldn’t have wanted to upset you, especially since you’ve been such a help with Sydney here and all.” He glanced at his watch, then looked up at her almost sheepishly. “Um, listen, I really need to make a phone call. Since Sydney here seems to really like you, would you mind holding her a bit longer while I make my call? Shouldn’t be too long,” he added.

The man was already edging his way toward the back of the house as he spoke. It was obvious that he was hoping she’d agree.

Chloe really wanted to hand the baby back to this man, but she couldn’t very well turn down his request. Besides, she had promised Graham to wait until whoever he hadn’t been able to reach on the phone turned up for his interview, so what was one more thing added to that?

“Sure, I can watch her,” she told Roger.

The heavyset man beamed at her. “Thanks,” he cried. “You’re going to love working here. They’re both really great people,” Roger told her, giving her a quick fatherly pat on the shoulder just before he turned on his heel and quickly disappeared, leaving the same way he had entered.

“Looks like it’s just you and me now, Sydney. I’m Chloe, by the way,” she told the baby, who was staring up at her with enormous blue eyes, looking as if she was hanging on every word. “Your dad’s half sister,” she explained. “What’s that?” Chloe pretended to lean in toward the baby to hear the “question” that Sydney had “asked.”

“You didn’t know he had a half sibling? Well, he does. Several of them from what I hear,” she added with a laugh.

“Your grandfather really took that ‘Be fruitful and multiply’ passage in the Bible to heart, I guess. I’ve got a feeling that there’s going to be lots of us popping up around here from now on. I hope when you start talking, Sydney, you’re going to be good with names,” she told the baby.

And then she smiled down at the sweet, innocent face that seemed to be listening to every word she said.

“You don’t have a clue what I’m saying, do you?” Chloe asked and then laughed. “Know what? Maybe it’s better that way. Maybe it’ll all sort itself out by the time you’re old enough to know what’s going on. Until then—”

Chloe stopped talking abruptly when she heard someone knocking on the door.

Knowing it wouldn’t be Graham and his wife, she figured it was the other candidate. The one who’s after my job. She set her shoulders to do battle. “Let’s go see if we can scare him off or talk him out of it, okay?”

Sydney made a little noise, and then the next moment Chloe saw that there were bubbles being formed around the infant’s rosebud lips.

Chloe laughed, delighted. She shifted the baby, holding Sydney a little closer to her as she rose and began to head for the door.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Chloe told the baby.

Sydney responded by making even more bubbles.

Chloe opened the door, but whatever greeting she had come up with to offer the person on the other side temporarily vanished.

This was not the type of person she had expected to see when she opened the door. Given the position that she assumed they were both competing for, Chloe had unconsciously thought that he’d be a rather scholarly-looking man. The kind who seemed to fade into the woodwork without anyone taking notice of him.

Instead, what she found herself looking at was a cowboy, most definitely an adrenaline-stirring cowboy. The kind whom women were given to fantasizing about whenever the word cowboy came up.

The man standing before her had to be about six foot three with shoulders wide enough to give him trouble getting through narrow doorways. He had somewhat unruly, dirty-blond hair and eyes so blue they looked as if they’d been cut right out of the sky. He was wearing tight jeans, a long-sleeved denim shirt, boots and a Stetson—set at what could only be described as a sexy angle. In summation, he looked picture-perfect.

If she had to guess, she would have said that the cowboy was somewhere in his late twenties.

What she didn’t have to guess at was that the man was utterly gorgeous.

The second the thought occurred to her, it hit her with the force of a thunderbolt.

Gorgeous?

She hadn’t even so much as noticed another man since Donnie had died, much less labeled that man as “gorgeous.” What was happening here? she upbraided herself. Had she just lost her mind?

Chapter Two

Chance Howell realized that he wasn’t just looking at the petite blonde holding the baby, he was actually staring at her. That couldn’t be viewed as exactly getting off to a good start with who he assumed was the potential boss’s wife. He’d gathered some background on Graham Fortune Robinson and knew the man had two kids, one of whom was an infant. Hence the logical leap.

“Um, excuse me,” he began, feeling rather tongue-tied as he took off his hat and held it in his hands. “I’m Chance Howell. I’ve got an appointment with Graham.”

“He’s not here right now,” the woman told him. “He was called away because of an emergency, but he wanted me to tell you that he’ll be back soon.”

“You must be Sasha. His wife,” Chance added when the woman who was looking at him with large cornflower-blue eyes gave no indication that he had guessed her name correctly.

“What? Oh, no, no, I’m not. I’m Graham’s half sister.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, ‘Graham’s half sister,’” Chance acknowledged, putting his hand out to her.

The woman shifted the baby to her other side so that she could shake hands with him.

“Chloe,” she told him. “My name is Chloe. Chloe Elliott. And I guess we’ll be interviewing for the same job once Graham gets back.”

Chance could only stare at her. What was she, five-one, five-two? Did she say they were going to be competing for the same job? She didn’t look like a rancher, and she certainly didn’t look like any former military person he’d ever met. The ad he was answering was for a rancher, and it had said that preference would be given to any veterans who applied.

But then, what did he know? The world had been doing a lot of changing in these last few years. Black was white and white was black, and he’d heard that with proper drilling, tiny little ladies like her could mop the floor with guys like him.

That might even turn out to be an interesting experience, Chance caught himself thinking. The one thing he was certain of was that he was glad that the petite blonde wasn’t married to the man who he hoped would be hiring him.

He glanced down at her hand, which she had tucked around the baby. It was still clearly visible for his purposes.

There was no wedding ring.

Maybe things were looking up, Chance mused. He could use a little good luck right about now.

“What branch of the service were you in?” he asked her, curious.

Chloe looked at him quizzically. “Service?” she repeated.

“Yeah, you know, navy, army, marines, air force. Service,” he repeated. Had she been in some sort of secret branch? he wondered. Was that why she looked so reluctant to say anything?

“I wasn’t in any branch,” Chloe told him, looking bewildered. “What makes you think I was in the service?”

Aware he might have made a mistake, Chance backtracked. He didn’t want to get off on the wrong foot by insulting the woman.

“Well, the ad said that preference would be given to veterans,” he began, feeling as if he was on really shaky ground here.

“I didn’t see the ad,” she told Chance. “Graham just called to tell me about the position and he asked me to come out to the ranch to interview for it. And then he got called away because of that emergency.”

He nodded. “Right. The emergency,” he repeated. “So you said. Um, do you have any idea when he might be coming back?” He wasn’t much for small talk, but this had to be a new low, even for him.

Chloe shrugged. “Not a clue. He just said he’d be back as soon as he could.” She paused for a moment, as if searching for something to say in order to fill the stillness. “So, you served?” she asked.

Chance nodded. “Special Forces in Afghanistan—until that IED sent me straight to the hospital, and eventually, stateside.”

“Recently?” she asked, trying but failing to covertly scan his appearance.

The cowboy looked perfect, but she knew that there were some injuries and scars that weren’t visible.

But in her opinion, the worst ones were the ones that didn’t allow you to come home at all, other than in a coffin.

“No, I’ve been home for a few years now,” Chance told her.

“Where’s home?”

“Here and there,” he answered vaguely. “I go wherever the work is.” He didn’t want it to sound as if the reason for his nomadic existence was because he didn’t do a good job and was let go. “I don’t stick around long in any one place,” he confessed.

“Why? Are you looking for something?” Chloe asked.

“Not particularly.”

It wasn’t that Chance felt he was actually searching for something specific, he just stayed in one place until he began feeling restless. It was as if something inside him would suddenly tell him that it was time to go.

“I already know that the only place I ever feel like I’m at peace is on the back of a horse. I guess you could say that’s my haven, my church,” he explained.

She smiled at him, and it seemed to make its way to her eyes. “Lucky for you, you can keep your church close by so it’s there whenever you need it.”

He smiled back at her. “Something like that.”

It wasn’t really like that, but he wasn’t about to correct the blonde right off the bat. They hadn’t even known each other for a total of five minutes yet. Correcting her wasn’t exactly the way to get to know her any better.

He did, however, appreciate the fact that she wasn’t grilling him, trying to make him explain his thinking. Some of the women he’d encountered would try to do just that—especially the ones who made it clear that they wanted him to stay with them.

Just as Chance was searching his mind for something to say, an older man burst into the living room.

Chloe looked at the older man in surprise. She’d completely forgotten he was in the house, making a call. “Did you finish making your call?”

He looked at her a little sheepishly. “It took longer than I thought,” he apologized.

Obviously realizing that Chance had no idea who this man was, Chloe made the necessary introductions.

“Chance, this is Sasha’s uncle Roger. Roger, this is Chance Howell. He’s the other person Graham was going to interview today.”

“The one he couldn’t reach,” Roger acknowledged, nodding his head as he shook hands with Chance. “Matter of fact, that’s why I came back. Graham just called me to say that he and Sasha will be home soon. Looks like Maddie just broke her wrist, not her whole arm, but she’s still got a big cast and from what I could tell, that is one unhappy eight-year-old,” he added sympathetically.

“Anyway,” Roger continued, addressing Chance, “Graham told me to tell you that you can reschedule your interview if you don’t want to wait around until he gets in.” He turned to Chloe. “Same goes for you if you’re getting a mite antsy, waiting for him. Course, since you’re so good with the baby and all, I’m hoping you’ll stay.”

“Sure, that’s okay,” Chloe told Sasha’s uncle. “I’ll stay until he gets here. No point in my going back and forth.”

“Same here,” Chance chimed in. His eyes met Chloe’s and just for a moment, the job he had come out to apply for slipped into the background for him. “I’ll be happy to stay.”

What he really meant was that he was happy spending a little more time talking to the petite blonde with the sunbeam smile—even if talking didn’t exactly come easy for him.

Chloe felt a quickening in the pit of her stomach. It was identical to the one she’d experienced when she’d first opened the door and caught sight of the tall, rangy-looking cowboy.

Careful, Chloe. Remember, been there, done that. You really don’t want to go down that road again, do you? You know exactly where that road leads.

Donnie had been her first love. She’d fallen really hard for Donnie and had felt like jumping out of an airplane without strapping a parachute to her back. The feeling was nothing short of exhilarating, but in the end, leaping out of an airplane without a parachute was just asking for trouble, and that was the very last thing she wanted in her life: the kind of trouble that led directly to heartache.

But on the other hand, Chloe reasoned, she didn’t want to come across as rude, either, and being nice—cautiously nice—to Chance didn’t hurt anything, she silently insisted.

The trick was that she had to remember not to get carried away.

Before she could say anything to him, Sasha’s uncle stepped up.

“While you’re waiting for Graham to get back,” Roger offered, “I could give you two a tour of the place if you’re interested.”

“You mean of the house?” Chloe asked, looking down at the baby in her arms.

Sydney, to her surprise, had fallen asleep. Chloe had been so taken with the handsome cowboy, she hadn’t even realized. Nor did she realize the pain in her shoulder till now. She didn’t want to take a chance on waking the baby up, but on the other hand, she would really welcome the opportunity to set Sydney down in her crib.

“Well, the house to start with,” Roger said, answering her question. “And then the rest of the ranch. I could take you two on a quick tour in my truck,” he added in case they were worried about missing Graham when he and his wife returned.

Chloe looked down at the baby. “I don’t want to risk waking Sydney up.”

Roger looked as if he suddenly realized the position that Chloe was in.

“I guess I completely forgot about making you hold that little one,” he confessed, embarrassed. He looked at Chance.

“It’s up to you, Chloe,” he said. “If you don’t feel comfortable about waking that little baby, we can stay right here and wait for Graham and his missus. I don’t need special entertaining,” he went on to tell her as he smiled. “I’m just fine the way I am.”

You certainly are, Chloe thought.

The next minute, ashamed of herself, feeling guilty at being so flippant about Donnie’s memory, she admonished herself for thinking that way. She really had to get hold of herself. What was wrong with her? This wasn’t like her at all.

“I don’t want to keep you from seeing the ranch,” she protested, ready to wave Chance and Roger off on their way.

“If I get the job, I’ll be seeing it soon enough,” Chance told her. “And if I don’t get the job, well then, there’s really no point in taking a tour around the place, now is there?”

Roger looked a little perplexed as he listened to the exchange between the two younger people. Lifting his somewhat sloping shoulders, he shrugged and then let them fall again.

“Suit yourselves,” he told them. “But meanwhile, I can show you where Sydney’s room is so you can at least put her down in her crib. That way you can see if you can still move your arms.” Turning, Roger beckoned for her to follow. “It’s this way, Chloe.”

She saw no reason not to do that, as long as she could hear the baby if she started crying again. She was fairly confident that there had to be a baby monitor in Sydney’s room.

Feeling a sense of relief that she’d at least be away from Chance for a minute or two—enough time to break whatever spell he’d seemed to cast over her—Chloe happily fell into step behind Sasha’s uncle.

“Guess I might as well come, too,” Chance said to them. “No sense in standing around, talking to myself.”

Oh, joy. Just what she needed. More of the handsome cowboy.

Chapter Three

Chloe eased the baby ever so slowly into the crib. She held her breath the entire time until she was able to successfully withdraw her hands from around the baby’s little body.

Sydney made a little noise, then sighed before settling back to sleep.

Success! Chloe silently congratulated herself.

She took a step back and almost gasped as she bumped up right against Chance.

“Oh, sorry,” he whispered, immediately moving aside. He wasn’t sure if he was apologizing for being in her way or for feeling that sudden zip of electricity surging through his body when it made contact with hers. Granted the contact wasn’t of the intimate variety that he was normally accustomed to, but there was still just enough to get him going.

Chloe instantly turned around and nearly caused another, far more dead-on collision between them. At the very last minute, because Chance had moved back so quickly, the one-on-one collision between their two bodies was avoided.

She wasn’t really sure if she was relieved—or perhaps just a little disappointed.

Again? What is the matter with you? she silently demanded.

Yes, the man was attractive, she acknowledged, but lots of men were attractive and she hadn’t been drawn to them. So why was this man, this cowboy, different from the others?

He’s not. Get a grip, Chloe, she ordered herself angrily.

“Um, that’s okay.” She flushed, absolving him of any guilt in what had just transpired. “I shouldn’t have moved so suddenly.” She looked down at the sleeping infant. “I just didn’t want to take a chance on saying something too loud and waking up the baby.”

Since the room was relatively small, Roger had kept back, standing almost out in the hallway. He peered in now at the sleeping infant.

“She sure is a pretty little thing, ain’t she?” The whispered rhetorical question was steeped in complete admiration. And then he looked from Chance to Chloe. “You got any kids?” he asked Chance.

The cowboy looked surprised by the question. “No.”

“You already told me that you don’t have any,” Roger said to Chloe. And then he laughed to himself, as if he knew something they weren’t privy to yet. “Well, you two are young yet. You’ve got time.”

Time—that was what Donnie had thought. They had time. Time to be together, time to enjoy one another before they took that step to become parents. Again she wished with all her heart she had insisted on getting pregnant before he had left for overseas. At least she would have had Donnie’s child to hold in her arms instead of all that emptiness that he left behind.

“But once you’ve got ’em,” Roger was saying, “there’s just nothing like it in the world. Makes you realize just what you were put down here on earth for, what makes everything else all worthwhile.” Rousing himself, he beckoned them out into the hallway. “C’mon, we’d better slip out before I forget myself and start talking loud again.”

Roger put a hand on each of their shoulders—he had to stretch in order to reach Chance’s—and he guided them both out ahead of him.

The hallway was too narrow to accommodate all three of them. Roger fell behind them again.

As she and Chance fell in step beside each other, he glanced her way. “You want kids?” he asked her out of the blue as they made their way back down the stairs ahead of their unofficial escort.

“Right now, I just want a job,” she told him honestly. The next second, she realized that he might think she was trying to guilt him out of competing for the position he was here for. “I mean, if I turn out to be more qualified for it. But if it turns out that you are, well then, I’ll just have to keep on looking for something,” she concluded.

Chance caught himself studying her. Something just wasn’t adding up for him.

“Just how much do you know about ranching?” he finally asked her.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, she stared at him, confused. Why would he ask her such a strange question? “Not much. Why?”

Something’s really not adding up, Chance told himself. “Well, because that’s the job I’m here about. The one I’m interviewing for. Graham wanted someone to run the ranch. Someone who was good with horses,” he finally said when she just kept looking at him.

“Run the ranch?” Chloe repeated, confused. She’d gotten the impression from Graham that she and Chance were here about the same job. She looked at him now. “You’re here about ranching?”

“Funny, I thought I just said that,” Chance answered. Judging by the expression on her face, she wasn’t here to apply for that job the way she’d made it sound earlier. “What are you here about?”

“Why, counseling, of course,” Chloe replied in no uncertain terms.

“Counseling what?” Chance asked, clearly surprised by her answer. And then it suddenly occurred to him what the sexy-looking blonde was saying. He had to admit that what he’d just asked made him feel like an idiot. “You mean the boys?”

Her smile was a natural reflex. “I kind of have to. Horses don’t listen to me.”

Chloe’s sense of humor tickled him and he laughed. Now it all made sense. They were here about two different positions. “I could teach you how to make them listen to you.”

“You’re talking about the horses, right?” she asked, a hint of mischief dancing in her eyes.

He found himself being pulled in and mesmerized by those deep pools of blue. It took effort to tear his gaze away. “Right,” he finally replied. “I’ve got no trouble getting horses to listen to me. Most people, though, just ignore me like I wasn’t there.”

“I don’t believe that for a minute,” she told him with feeling. How could anyone, male or female—especially female—not notice this man? His presence seemed to just fill up the very space around him. Heaven knew he certainly did that for her.

The way he was looking at her right now made her feel like nervously shifting from foot to foot. The butterflies in her stomach were multiplying at a phenomenal rate. It was hard to gather her thoughts together to answer him.

“For one thing, you’re really tall.” She knew that wasn’t much of an answer, so she searched for a better one. “And you have this commanding air about you. If you were a counselor, I’m sure that the boys here would listen to whatever you had to say.”

“Good thing we won’t have to put that to the test,” Chance answered, then confessed, “I’m not much when it comes to giving orders. I had enough of that when I was over in Afghanistan.”

The mention of the place that had seen Donnie die had her quietly saying, “At least you got to come back.”

The words slipped out before she could think to stop them. Any hope that Chance might not have heard her died the second she looked up into his eyes. He’d heard. There was curiosity mingled with a touch of pity in his blue orbs.

The moment grew more uncomfortable for her.

“Did you lose someone?” Chance asked kindly.

Her first impulse was to deny his assumption. But that would be like denying Donnie had ever existed, and she couldn’t bring herself to do that.

So after a couple of beats had gone by, she answered him. “Yes.”

“Brother? Father? Husband?” Chance kept guessing when she made no acknowledgment that he had guessed correctly. By the time he’d reached the word husband, with no visible response from her, Chance shook his head. “No, never mind. Don’t tell me. It’s none of my business. Sorry I asked,” he apologized. “It’s just that sometimes it feels like some kind of exclusive veterans club—the kind you really don’t want membership to,” he added ruefully.

“Does that mean you wish you hadn’t gone?” she asked, curious.

How many times had she lain awake at night, wondering if Donnie ever regretted enlisting before the war had taken him from her. Even now, after all this time, she hadn’t really come to any sort of a satisfactory conclusion.

“No,” he told her honestly. “I went to fight for my country, and I’m proud of that part. I just wish I hadn’t seen what I’d seen. Nobody should see that kind of thing,” he said quietly. “Nobody should have to live through it, either.”

Then, as if he replayed his own words in his head, Chance blew out a breath, mystified. “How’d I get started on that?” he asked. The question was meant more for him than for her. Clearing his throat, he abruptly changed the subject. “Anyway, at least now we know that we’re not out for the same job.”

Roger, who had been hanging back quietly this whole time, finally spoke up.

“Well, glad that’s been cleared up—and just in time, too.” His attention was immediately redirected to the sound of the front door being opened. “Looks like your future bosses are back,” he told Chloe and Chance with a broad wink.

They turned toward the front door in time to see Graham and Sasha walking in, along with a little girl. With her straight blond hair and her delicate features, she looked like a miniature version of her mother. All except for the arm that was in a cast and held by a sling around her neck.

Chloe winced in sympathy. That had to be Maddie, she thought, her heart immediately going out to the little girl. She hoped that Maddie wasn’t in too much pain.

“Well, we made it back,” Sasha announced. “Sorry for the wait.” She looked around. “Uncle Roger, where’s the baby?”

Roger pointed to Chloe. “This one got her to go to sleep just like that.” He snapped his fingers to illustrate just how fast Chloe had performed what was clearly a magic trick to him.

Sasha smiled warmly at Chloe.

“Well, I’m won over. You’ve got the job,” Sasha quipped.

“You’re not serious, are you?” Chloe asked uncertainly.

“No, she’s not,” Graham agreed. “But almost,” he told Chloe. “Sasha goes on gut instincts, same as me,” he told her.

“Hey, kiddo, you want to go upstairs and lie down?” Roger asked his grandniece, who had momentarily gotten lost in this verbal exchange between the adults.

“No,” Maddie cried, protesting the very idea. “They had me lying down forever when I was in the hospital, getting all those pictures took of my arm.” She looked at her cast. “What I want is you to sign my cast,” she declared, pointing to the newly applied cast with her other hand. Barely an hour old, the cast already had a handful of autographs and well-wishes written on it. “I got these from the nurses. And that’s from that doctor who put it on,” she told her granduncle, pointing out the different signatures. “Isn’t it neat?”

“It sure is,” Roger agreed with the kind of enthusiasm that appealed to young children. “Neatest thing I’ve ever seen. What do you say you and me go get us a sandwich in the kitchen and I’ll see if I can come up with something real good to put on that cast?”

Maddie perked up visibly. “Can I have anything I want to eat?” she asked eagerly.

“You can have anything that’s in the refrigerator,” Roger qualified with a wink.

Maddie’s grin all but split her face. “Cool!”

Roger pretended to misunderstand her declaration. “Cool or hot. Whatever’s there, is yours.”

Sasha exchanged looks with her amused husband. “I think maybe I should go supervise,” Sasha said, following her uncle.

Wanting to be as accommodating as possible, Chloe called out after Sasha’s departing back, “I’ll just sit right here until you get back.”

“You can if you want to, but feel free to move around if you like. You’ve already got the job,” Sasha called back over her shoulder, accompanying her injured daughter to the kitchen.

Chloe looked at Graham. Sasha hadn’t asked her a single question that had to do with the job she was applying for. Just what had gotten the woman to decide in her favor?

“I’m confused,” Chloe confessed.

He laughed. “Sasha’ll do that to you,” he said in a completely understanding voice. “I feel like my head’s been spinning ever since I first met her. But since she’s a better judge than I am when it comes to this position, I’ve made up my mind. You do have the job.” And then he grew more serious. “Do you mind being left alone for a few minutes?” he asked. “I’d like to ask Chance some questions in private.”

Then, before she could answer him, he made a suggestion. “Feel free to look around the house, or to join Sasha, Maddie and Uncle Roger in the kitchen.”

Chloe shook her head, declining both offers. Right now, she just wanted to sit exactly where she was and absorb what had just happened.

And, in her opinion, what had just happened amounted to being given a job, a rather important job in her estimation, practically sight unseen.

Well, she’d been seen, Chloe amended, but obviously a great deal had just been read into whatever Sasha Fortune Robinson thought she saw in her.

“I’m good, thank you,” she told Graham, turning down his offer.

In response, her half brother smiled at her and nodded. “I won’t be long,” he promised.

Her half brother.

It was still hard to think of him that way, Chloe thought as she watched him take Chance into what appeared to be a den that was directly off the living room.

Hard to think of herself as being anyone’s half sister.

Or a half sister to what amounted to practically a legion of other half siblings, she added silently. She’d grown up thinking she had no family at all beyond her mother and now she had more family than she could shake that proverbial stick at.

And one of those half siblings had just given her a job.

Not just any job but the kind of job she had set her heart on before she’d ever sent in her application to college. So far, she’d been stitching together a living taking anything she could get—even working at a local coffee shop on weekends to help pay her rent. She felt as if she’d finally crossed a threshold into her field.

Talk about luck.

Glancing around to make sure no one could see her, Chloe pinched herself. And then, just to make certain, she pinched herself again because she had to admit this all seemed like some sort of dream. A dream that she was going to wake up from at any minute now.

Except for the part about Donnie, she thought grimly. If this was a dream, he’d be right here beside her.

But he wasn’t.

She was sitting in this big old living room all by herself, waiting for her half brother to come back in and tell her all the details she needed to know about this job she was going to be starting. She was convinced that she’d gotten this position strictly because she was “family” despite all of Graham’s talk about instincts and gut feelings.

No matter, she was determined to prove to them that they hadn’t made a mistake in hiring her. She was going to work really, really hard and be the best counselor they could have possibly hoped for. She owed it to them.

Most of all, she owed it to herself—and to the memory of her husband, who had always encouraged her and told her she could be absolutely anything she wanted to be once she set her mind to it.

She glanced toward the door that Graham had closed behind him and Chance. She wondered how the interview was going.

She really hoped that Chance was going to get the job. She’d gotten the impression that although Chance wasn’t down on his luck, landing this position at Peter’s Place was really important to him.

Without realizing it, Chloe crossed her fingers for him, wishing that she was one of those people who actually believed in sending good vibes. Because if she was, she’d be sending them right now.

She watched the door intently.

And when it finally opened, only a few minutes later, she popped to her feet like a newly refurbished jack-in-the-box. Fingers still crossed, her eyes immediately went to the taller of the two men emerging from the room.

Chance was smiling.

She was confident that she knew the results before he said a word.

Chapter Four

Chance’s smile was as broad as his shoulders as he crossed to her.

“Looks like you turned out to be my good-luck charm,” he told Chloe. “’Cause I got the job.”

“Luck has nothing to do with it,” Graham told him, reaching up just a little to put his hand on his newest ranch hand’s shoulder. “The people you worked for all spoke very highly of you. As a matter of fact, Kyle McMasters said to tell you that if it doesn’t work out for you here, he’d be more than happy to have you come back to work for him at the Double M.”

Chance made no comment regarding his former boss’s remark. Instead, he looked at his new boss and asked, “When can I start?”

“Bright and early tomorrow morning’ll be fine.” As a rule, ranch hands were usually up around sunrise, if not before, so Graham made a suggestion. “How does seven o’clock suit you?”

The early hour didn’t faze him in the slightest. He was accustomed to being up earlier, even when he wasn’t working. It was just the way his inner clock worked. “I can be here earlier if you need me to be,” Chance told him.

“No, seven’ll do fine. You can bring your gear then and move in to the bunkhouse,” Graham told him. “We’ve got two on the premises. One just for the ranch hands and the other one’s where the boys stay.”

“Sounds good to me,” Chance replied. “All I really require is enough space to stretch out at the end of the day, nothing more.”

Graham nodded. “We’re going to get along just fine,” he predicted. “Just to let you know, I’ve got plans for you. You’re not just going to be a ranch hand. After you get the lay of the land around here, and things look like they’re going well, I want to make you the coordinator for Peter’s Place.”

Graham smiled. “I think your being ex-military might just come in handy. The boys who are here now need a firm hand and they need to be made to respect authority. That’s not to say I want you coming down hard on them. Just make sure they don’t take advantage of you or anyone else here,” Graham added. He looked deliberately at Chloe as he said the last part.

Chloe appreciated the thought, but she had been looking after herself for a long time now.

“You don’t have to worry about me,” Chloe told her half brother. “I might not be as tall as you two, but I’m not a pushover, either. And I can definitely take care of myself.”

Graham held up a hand. “I never meant to imply that I thought of you as a pushover. But knowing someone has your back certainly doesn’t hurt in this kind of a situation,” Graham assured her.

Then he launched into a rundown of the current residents staying at Peter’s Place. “Right now, we’ve got four boys staying here. They’re all decent kids, but for one reason or another, they’ve lost their way and all of them feel like they’ve been dealt a pretty bad hand.” He spared a glance at Chloe. “Sasha can do a better job filling you in,” he said to Chloe.

As if on cue, his wife came in from the kitchen. “Did I just hear my name being mentioned?” she asked, a bright smile on her face. Before Graham had an opportunity to respond to her question, Sasha told her husband, “You’ll be happy to know that breaking her wrist did not affect our daughter’s appetite. She’s eating up a storm in there. Uncle Roger’s whipping up his ‘famous’ corn dogs wrapped in bacon for her. I set the limit at two but I’ve got a feeling he’s not going to stick to that. Maybe you can make him understand the wisdom of not letting Maddie stuff herself to the gills.”

“I’m on it,” Graham said, beginning to leave the living room.

Sasha looked at Chance and Chloe. “So, I take it that they both said yes.”

“That they did,” Graham said, tossing the words over his shoulder.

“Well then, welcome to Peter’s Place,” Sasha told the duo warmly. “I hope you like it here,” she added. “We try to keep it homey. For some of these boys, this is the first actual ‘home’ they’ve had in quite a while.”

The sound of a baby crying was heard coming over the monitor that Chloe had positioned on the wide coffee table.

Sasha sighed wearily as she looked at the monitor. “Looks like I’m being summoned,” she told Chloe as she started to get up.

“Why don’t you stay here and get Chloe up to speed on the boys who are currently here?” Graham suggested. Sasha began to point out the obvious, but never got very far. “I’ll go see to Sydney,” Graham told her. “I’m sure Uncle Roger knows enough not to overfeed Maddie. If he doesn’t, Maddie’s got enough sense to stop.” Pausing for just a moment before he went up the stairs, he turned toward Chance. “And I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Count on it,” Chance told him. Putting his Stetson on, he tipped it ever so slightly to the right, unaware that he was creating a rakish image as he did so. Chance nodded first at Graham’s wife and then at Chloe. “Ladies, I’ll see you tomorrow,” he promised just before he headed for the door.

Chloe just stared at his retreating form. A very sexy form, she had to admit.

“He’s a tall one, don’t you agree?”

The comment snapped Chloe to attention. She hadn’t even realized she was still staring at the closed door. “What? Oh, you mean Chance. Yes, I guess he is at that,” she murmured.

When she looked at Sasha, she thought she saw a hint of a grin on her lips. She hoped that Sasha didn’t think that there was anything between her and Chance—or that there would be in the future. She’d come here strictly because she wanted work as a counselor and nothing more, she silently insisted.

“So tell me about the boys at Peter’s Place,” Chloe urged. She thought it best to change the subject immediately.

Sasha sat down beside her on the sofa, and then a sudden thought occurred to her. “Oh, where are my manners? Having your daughter break her wrist kind of knocks everything else out of your head,” she apologized, then asked, “Can I get you anything? Something to drink perhaps?”

Chloe shook her head. She didn’t want anything to distract her. Right now, all she wanted to do was focus on any information that Sasha could give her. She wanted to be as fully prepared as possible when she finally met the boys who had been sent here to atone for their misdeeds and to ultimately become better people.

“No, I’m fine. Really,” she stressed when Sasha looked at her somewhat skeptically. “Just tell me about the boys I’m going to be working with. I want to learn all I can about them.”

Sasha seemed to ponder her reply for a moment, no doubt wanting to cite the boys in the proper order.

Then she began. “The first teen we took in here at Peter’s Place is Jonah Wright. A basically good boy, Jonah kind of hit a rough patch when his father ran off, deserting the family. Consequently, to make ends meet, his mother had to hold down two jobs. Because she wasn’t home very much, she expected Jonah to look after his three younger siblings. I don’t have to tell you that that’s a lot of responsibility to heap on such young shoulders. Jonah loved playing baseball after school and he had to give that up in order to be there for his siblings.

“After a while, life felt as if it was crashing in on him and Jonah just kept getting angrier and angrier. He started ditching school, vandalizing property and getting into fights almost all the time. He started shoplifting and got away with it the first couple of times.

“And then he got arrested. They were going to send him to jail, then at the last minute, the authorities decided to send him here instead. It was kind of touch and go with Jonah for a while, but he turned things around and it looks like he’s on the road to getting his life back.” Sasha smiled, clearly pleased to be able to relate this to Chloe. “Things look pretty promising and he’s even going to be playing baseball soon, just like he always wanted to.”

Sasha stopped for a moment, seeming to gather her thoughts.

“The second teen who was sent here was Ryan Maxwell. He was a lot less hostile than Jonah was when he came here, but he was also a great deal more depressed and withdrawn.”

“Do you know why he was depressed?” Chloe wanted to know.

Sasha nodded. “Both of his parents died and social services sent him to live with his uncle. Family isn’t always the best way to go,” Sasha told her. “In Ryan’s case, his uncle turned out to be a lowlife. He stole and spent all of the money that Ryan’s parents had set aside to pay for his college education. Personally, I suspect that Ryan got into trouble and vandalized private property just to get away from the man.”

“You’re probably right,” Chloe agree. “He probably felt he had nothing to lose and just maybe something to gain if he got away from his uncle.”

Sasha smiled. “Since he came here, he’s been doing a lot better. He’s now in both a math club and a science club in school. If he keeps things up this way, he’s on track to get a college scholarship,” Sasha told her proudly. “And if that happens, he can write his own ticket. His future is a great deal more promising than his past.”

“And the other boys?” Chloe asked, wondering if their stories would wind up ending this well.

“Well, the last two are newer and I’m afraid they haven’t really adjusted to living here—yet,” Sasha emphasized, obviously holding out a great deal of hope for the fates of both of these newer residents at Peter’s Place. “Brandon Baker lost his older brother in Afghanistan, and I get the distinct feeling that he’s just mad at the whole world right now.”

Chloe could certainly identify with the way Brandon felt. When Donnie had been killed, there was a point when she’d been convinced that her anger was going to suffocate her. It had been touch and go for a while.

“And the last boy?” Chloe prompted.

“That would be Will Sherman. His mother is a single parent, and she has her own share of problems. The woman is an alcoholic,” Sasha confided. “The Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde kind who takes all of her frustrations out on Will. A social worker found him wandering the streets one night, so battered she didn’t know how he was able to even stand up, much less walk.” Tears shone in Sasha’s eyes as she told Chloe, “When the social worker questioned him, he denied that his mother had beaten him. It was heartbreaking how protective he was of that woman. But it was obvious to everyone who came in contact with this boy that he couldn’t be allowed to go back home. It was just as obvious that it would be just a matter of time before Will turned to less than acceptable ways, trying to support himself on the street.

“He’s been here for a while, and I think he still feels that life has abandoned him, just like his mother has. He needs to learn how to relate to people and how to trust again.”

Finished with her brief summation, Sasha paused and looked at Chloe. “Well, have I managed to scare you off yet?”

Chloe didn’t have to hunt for words in order to answer her. As far as she was concerned, what Sasha had just outlined was her mission in life. Helping boys like the ones she spoke of.

“No, of course not. It’s obvious that all these boys need help, and that’s what I’m here for. What kind of a counselor would I be if I turned tail and ran at the first sign of a problem?”

“Possibly one who slept better at night?” Sasha suggested, a hint of a smile playing on her lips.

“The exact opposite,” Chloe contradicted with feeling. “I wouldn’t be able to sleep, knowing I didn’t even try to help these boys. That I’d failed to reach out to them. Nobody deserves to have their dreams shattered the way these boys have, or to have their mothers beat them every time they descend into an alcoholic stupor.”

Chloe knew the sort of first impression she made and the image that she projected when people first met her. She made people think of a sweet Girl Scout selling cookies door-to-door. But she wasn’t interested in selling cookies.

“Believe me,” she said, “I know life isn’t all milk and cookies, but it shouldn’t be all pain and sorrow, either.”

As she spoke, Chloe could feel that she was really getting into the spirit of this new job she was about to undertake. She also felt she had a lot to offer.

“I know what it’s like to grow up without a father and be raised by a single mother. I know what it’s like to have to do without things other kids have, and I definitely know what it’s like to lose someone and how that can cut right into your very soul.” Her eyes met Sasha’s, determination shining in them. “I think I can really help these boys,” Chloe told her sister-in-law with fierce feeling.

Sasha beamed at her as she took the woman’s hands in hers.

“I think you can, too,” she said. “And I’m really glad Graham suggested that we hire you.” She let go of Chloe, then tilted her head as if in thought for a moment. Then she said, “You know, we have an extra bedroom right here in the house. It might be easier for all of us if you lived here, on the premises.”

Chloe hesitated, which prompted Sasha to quickly make another suggestion.

“We also have a small guest cottage on the property right behind the house. Now that I think of it, that might be more to your liking. You’d still be on the premises, but there wouldn’t be that feeling of having Graham and me breathing down your neck,” she added with an understanding smile.

“Oh, no, I wouldn’t feel that,” Chloe protested.

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