DO YOU NEED A COWBOY FIX?
New York Times bestselling author Vicki Lewis Thompson is back with more …
Sons of Chance
Chance isn’t just the last name of these rugged
Wyoming cowboys—it’s their motto, too!
Saddle up with:
SHOULD’VE BEEN A COWBOY
August 2012
COWBOY UP
September 2012
COWBOYS LIKE US
October 2012
Take a chance … on a Chance!
Dear Reader,
THE SONS OF CHANCE are back! You’ve already met brothers Nick, Gabe and Jack Chance. And boy, was it ever one hot summer, as each cowboy took on new responsibilities and paired up with the strong women they needed. The last book, Claimed!, ended with Gabe and Morgan’s wedding, plus a little rendezvous in the hayloft involving Morgan’s sister, Tyler, and Alex Keller, the DJ at the wedding reception.
I guess quite a few of you were paying attention, because I got many questions about that hayloft scene, and whether it would lead to anything. Well, it does. And this is the book that picks up Alex and Tyler’s story ten months later. As you might imagine, neither of them has forgotten that night in the hayloft!
The ranch itself is a haven for all those, including animals, needing a last chance to live the life they were meant for. That mission dovetails nicely with a new venture initiated by my fellow Blaze® authors, the Blaze Pet Project. We believe everyone, including our furry friends, deserves a last chance for a happily ever after. For more information, visit our blog at www.blazeauthors.com. And welcome back to the Last Chance Ranch in beautiful Jackson Hole, Wyoming!
Yours in cowboy country,
Vicki
About the Author
New York Times bestseller VICKI LEWIS THOMPSON’s love affair with cowboys started with The Lone Ranger, continued through Maverick, and took a turn south of the border with Zorro. She views cowboys as the Western version of knights in shining armor—rugged men who value honor, honesty and hard work. Fortunately for her, she lives in the Arizona desert, where broad-shouldered, lean-hipped cowboys abound. Blessed with such an abundance of inspiration, she only hopes that she can do them justice. Visit her website at www.vickilewisthompson.com.
Should’ve Been a Cowboy
Vicki Lewis Thompson
For my editor Brenda Chin,
who gave me the opportunity to create a multi-book
series about my favorite subject—cowboys.
A tip of the Stetson to you, Brenda!
Prologue
May 14, 1956, from the diary of Eleanor Chance
I LOVE GIVING birthday parties. And when your only child turns ten, well, today was a big day at the Last Chance Ranch. We had unseasonably warm weather in Jackson Hole, and after the kids left, tummies full of birthday cake and ice cream, Archie went to the barn and brought out Johnny’s big present.
She’s a beautiful little filly who looks exactly like the horse that the Lone Ranger’s sidekick, Tonto, rides—white with bay patches. While most kids would want an all-white horse like the Lone Ranger’s, Johnny loves Tonto’s horse, Scout.
And so this filly will be named Scout, even though she’s a girl. Everyone around here calls Scout a pinto, which is what Tonto’s horse is, but she’s actually a registered paint. That means she has pinto coloring, but she also has papers and can be bred later on.
She cost us a fair bit, but the money went to a good cause. One of our neighbors needed to sell this filly so he could pay for his wife’s back operation. The operation was Ginny’s last chance to avoid living in a wheelchair, and I’m happy to say the surgery was a success.
That’s what this ranch is about, giving people and animals one last chance. So everyone came out ahead on this deal. Besides, Archie says Scout is an investment as well as a birthday present for Johnny. Cattle ranching has been good to us, especially during the war when the army needed beef, but Archie thinks we should diversify, and for years he’s dreamed of raising horses.
Scout’s a dream come true for Johnny, who’s begged us for a pinto from the moment he saw his first episode of The Lone Ranger. But Scout could be the beginning of Archie’s dream, too. I sure hope so, because spending all that money on a registered paint was a gamble, even if it was for a good cause.
I keep reminding myself that Archie won the Last Chance in a card game nineteen years ago, and that’s turned out pretty well. As Archie always says, “Chance men are lucky when it counts.”
1
WHAT ROTTEN LUCK. Alex Keller ended the phone call, tucked his phone in his jeans pocket and nudged Doozie into a canter. He needed to get back to the ranch house and figure out what the hell to do now that the country band he’d hired wouldn’t be showing up tomorrow. He couldn’t expect to get a replacement at four o’clock on a Friday afternoon, which meant no live music for the open house. Damn.
The open house had been his idea. Two months ago, after accepting a job as the first-ever marketing director for the Last Chance, he’d proposed the event to increase the ranch’s visibility and establish it as the premier place to buy registered paints. Technically he was up to the challenge. He held a degree in marketing, and although he’d spent most of his career as a high-profile DJ in Chicago, he’d also been instrumental in the radio station’s marketing campaigns.
But this was his first event for the ranch, and he needed it to go well. The Chances were family now that Alex’s sister Josie had married Jack Chance, so the ranch’s bottom line had personal significance. The Chances weren’t in immediate financial danger, but spring sales had been slow. Alex had been hired to fix that.
He’d saddled Doozie earlier that afternoon, figuring a ride might settle his nerves. Instead he’d ended up with a phone call that added to his growing list of problems. Most of the issues involved keeping the invited guests dry. Rain-filled clouds hovered on the horizon and only one of the three canopies he’d ordered had shown up. Now he had no band, either.
Live music would have gone a long way toward setting the tone for tomorrow’s open house, even if it rained. Sure, he could rig up a sound system and use canned music and his DJ abilities, but it wouldn’t have the same feel as live music, and he couldn’t be stuck behind a microphone all day.
At this point on Friday afternoon, nothing could be done about either of those glitches. He’d spent all his life in Chicago and was used to its vast resources. If one band canceled, you hired another, and if one delivery of event canopies didn’t work out, you went with a different company. Jackson Hole, Wyoming, was a whole other situation, and he was screwed.
He had to make this work, though. All three of the Chance brothers—Jack, Gabe, and Nick—had put their faith in him, and he’d do his damnedest. Everyone knew Alex Keller was a hard worker, especially his ex-wife, who’d wanted him to work less and play more.
Oh, well. Crystal was back in Chicago cavorting with her new boyfriend, and he was out