Spotlight & Giveaway: The Cowboy’s Unexpected Family by Nicole Flockton

Today, HJ is pleased to share with you Nicole Flockton’s new release: The Cowboy’s Unexpected Family

A Slow-burn cowboy love story with heart, heat, and a guaranteed happily ever after.

Single mom Rebecca Dorchester swore she’d never chase another bad decision—until she packs up her daughter and her sentimental father for a risky reunion with the biological mother and half-sisters she never knew in Marietta, Montana. She definitely doesn’t need the complication of a rugged, heart-stopping cowboy who catches her little girl mid-tumble on day one. But one smoldering look from Harrison Drake, and Rebecca’s carefully guarded heart starts to thaw.

Harrison Drake’s ranch is his entire legacy—land, cattle, and the family name he’s always expected to pass down. Lately, though, the empty spaces in his life have been louder than the Montana wind. When he meets Rebecca and her daughter, he knows exactly what he’s been missing: a woman to love, a family to build.

With old wounds, family drama, and hard-won trust on the line, can Rebecca risk her heart again—and can Harrison prove that this time, love isn’t just another complication?

Enjoy an exclusive excerpt from The Cowboy’s Unexpected Family 

Chapter One

The beautiful Montana scenery flashed by way too fast for Rebecca Dorchester’s comfort. The quicker it went, the closer they got to Marietta. A place where everything in her somewhat ordered life was going to come undone.

There was a lot of truth in the saying, Ignorance is bliss. She’d liked being ignorant about the woman who’d given birth to her. She’d known that her biological mother was alive, just not where she lived. Or what she did. Or even if she had another family. Rebecca had been happy with not knowing.

Now she and her father were on their way to meet her. Along with the three sisters she hadn’t known existed.

Sisters.

She was an only child—well, she had been up until a few weeks ago. Now she wasn’t. She was the oldest and had no idea how to deal with having siblings all of a sudden.

“Why are we doing this again?” she asked her father, James Dorchester, while making sure that her seven-year-old daughter, Vivian, was preoccupied with the movie she was watching on her tablet.

Rebecca didn’t like Vivian being on the device all the time, but on this occasion, she was okay with it. Vivian was excited about the prospect of going on a big adventure. It wasn’t her life that was about to be turned upside down. There was no way she was going to be upset with the prospect of more people doting on her.

“Because it’s time,” her father responded in his usual calm manner.

As the president and CEO of a major property development company, not much unsettled him. He’d faced down many an annoyed town planner or resident, who didn’t like what he had planned. By the end of such confrontations, he usually had everyone on his side.

Her father might be a smooth talker, but he was an ethical one. None of his business practices were dodgy.

“That’s not a good-enough reason. The time to have done this would’ve been after Mom died. Not all these years later.”

Dad looked over at her, his expression calm and thoughtful. “No, it wouldn’t have been.”

Rebecca returned her attention to the scenery. Maybe if they had made contact then, things could’ve been very different. If they’d traipsed to Montana all those years ago, Rebecca might not have sunk into the black part of her life, where hope had been a wishful dream.

She rubbed her right arm, the phantom ache of where it had been snapped, a reminder of how far her life had gotten off track.

Vivian laughed at whatever she was watching, and Rebecca’s heart softened at the sound. One of the consequences of every decision she’d made after her mother’s death was her daughter, and there was nothing Rebecca would change about that little girl. She was perfect and had been Rebecca’s saving grace in the end. Vivian had pulled Rebecca from the brink, and she wasn’t even aware of it. She would never know either.

“Honey, I know this is going to be hard. Meeting Eunice is going to bring up memories I know you’d rather forget. But it’s only for a month. You’ve got a chance to have what your mother and I couldn’t provide you with—siblings.”

Another thing she hadn’t known until her mother died was that Shirley Dorchester couldn’t have children. Rebecca had been a year old when her parents got together and two when they married.

Shirley had loved Rebecca fiercely, as if she were her blood daughter, not her adopted one.

Like Eric, Vivian’s father, Eunice had given up her rights to her daughter right after her birth. Her father had tried to explain Eunice’s reasoning for doing what she’d done. Rebecca hadn’t wanted to know. As far as she was concerned, her biological mother was just a person who’d carried her. She hadn’t provided Rebecca with love. She hadn’t been there to wipe her tears when she hurt herself. Hadn’t been there to hug and console her when her heart was broken by her high school boyfriend. Nor had Eunice been there when she graduated from high school and college. Shirley had been there each and every single time.

Rebecca sighed. She was thirty-five, so she should be over this hurt. She’d picked herself up and created a good life for herself and Vivian.

“I’m sure they’re going to welcome me with open arms,” she eventually answered her father, sarcasm dripping from every word.

“They might. From what Eunice told me about her daughters, they’re lovely, successful young women.”

“That was before they found out they had a sister they didn’t know anything about. I’m not sure how lovely they’ll be toward me.”

Ugh, she needed to stop acting like a petulant teenager. She had an impressionable daughter. The last thing she wanted was for Vivian to think this type of behavior was acceptable. She’d tried to instill good values and manners into her daughter. Something increasingly harder to achieve in this day and age, especially considering her grandfather was a very wealthy man, and Vivian didn’t want for anything.

“Just give it a chance. For me. If it gets too much, we can go back home early,” her father requested quietly.

It would’ve been so easy for her dad to turn his back on her. After all the headlines she’d created with her outrageous behavior. And it wasn’t like she’d been a teenager when this had all happened. No, she’d been in her twenties and had a good job at her father’s firm in the marketing department—a job she’d worked hard to achieve and had gotten all on her own.

She wasn’t a nepo baby, even though she’d been acting like one since her mother died.

Rebecca smiled and laid her hand over his. “I’m sorry, Dad. I’m better than this. I’ll give Eunice and her daughters a chance. As I said, I’m sure they’re just as discombobulated about all of this as I am.”

“It’s okay. I understand how all of this is bringing up memories of that time after Mom died.”

“It is,” she admitted. “It’s hard not to. Mom’s death wa—”

“Hard on both of us,” he finished her sentence. “And you know I’ve always accepted that I was partly responsible for what happened with you.”

Rebecca shook her head vehemently. “No, you were grieving the loss of your wife. The woman you loved with your whole heart. It was a bleak time for all of us. I don’t blame you for not seeing what I was doing, and even if you had, I don’t think you would’ve been able to stop me. I was an independent woman. I wasn’t living under your roof. You weren’t responsible for the decisions I made at that time. I was.”

Dad gave her hand a squeeze before returning his own hand to the steering wheel. “I know we dealt with it years ago. Did the work to repair everything. But part of me still feels guilty.”

“Likewise, and as the therapist said, it’s something that will always live with us, but we can’t let it bring us down again, considering what we’re about to do. It’s understandable that everything from that time is going to come back to the both of us.” She looked at the quaint vacation home they’d booked to stay in. “It’s a good thing we did the work we needed to do. It wouldn’t be good to bring our past issues into this situation with Eunice and her daughters.”

Dad chuckled. “Yes, I guess it is. Whatever we face now, we face together. We’re a team. Remember that.”

Rebecca released her seatbelt and leaned over the console to give her father a kiss on the cheek. “The best team.”

“Are we here?” Vivian’s sweet voice piped up from the back of the SUV.

“Yes, sweetie, we are.”

“Cool. Is this where we’re staying?” She pressed her face to the window, fogging up the glass with her excited breaths.

“It sure is, pumpkin. Now, how about you help your Pop find where the keys to this house are. I was told they’re in a rock in the garden.”

“Sure. And they’re in a rock? How can that be? Rocks are hard and don’t have holes in them.”

“We’ll just have to investigate, won’t we?” James said.

“Yep.” Vivian clapped excitedly.

Rebecca remained in the car and watched her father and daughter traipse up the stairs, Vivian swinging their joined hands back and forth. Their grandfather-granddaughter relationship was another thing Rebecca was grateful for. Her father had taken one look at her in that hospital bed, bruised and tired, and told her she was going home with him. She hadn’t even had a chance to tell him she was pregnant. When she did, he had tears in his eyes.

There’d been no discussion of where’d she’d live after she gave birth to Vivian. She’d spent her whole pregnancy in the house she’d grown up in, and that was where she’d brought baby Vivian home to from the hospital for the first six months of her life. Once Rebecca had recovered from her trauma and was mentally healthy again, she’d moved into the carriage house on the property. Still close to her father, but far enough away that she could be independent, pay for her and Vivian’s needs, while creating their own home.

The three of them had built a unique and strong family unit that couldn’t be torn apart. She had to remember that when she met with the Bloom women.

Whatever the outcome, it was always going to be her, Vivian, and her father. She didn’t need anyone else. She was perfectly happy with her life the way it was. No matter how much she wanted to go back to California right at that moment, she’d promised her father she would give this trip and her new family a chance. After all, he’d supported her when she’d needed him, and she would support him in this because it seemed to be more important to him than it was to her.

Excerpt. ©Nicole Flockton. Posted by arrangement with the publisher. All rights reserved.
 
 

Giveaway: An ebook copy of THE COWBOY’S UNEXPECTED FAMILY + one additional Tule ebook of the winner’s choice

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Meet the Author:

USA Today Bestselling author Nicole Flockton writes contemporary romances that sparkle and seduce you one kiss at a time. Nicole likes nothing better than taking characters and creating unique situations where they fight for their true love.

On her first school report her teacher noted “Nicole likes to tell her own stories”. It wasn’t until after the birth of her first child and after having fun on a romance community forum that she finally decided to take the plunge and write a book. She is a hybrid author and has been published since 2012.

When she’s not busy writing she’s looking after her very own hero – her wonderfully supportive husband, as well as her two fabulous kids and various fur babies. Her kindle is never far from her reach. She’s a flower crown wearing certified chocoholic, Cinderella lover, major BTS fan, sports lover and a glitter aficionado.

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