Roosevelt Ranch

I slept with the wrong twin.

And all I got for it in return was a broken heart.

Oh yeah, and a baby on the way—there’s that too.

But I’m determined to make it on my own. I don’t need a man, thank you very much. Not rich, charismatic, and decidedly flighty Rex Roosevelt, and especially not his twin brother, Justin.

No matter that the gorgeous former military doctor makes my heart beat a little faster . . . and all spots lower than that pay careful, careful attention.

None of that matters. The Roosevelt men are dangerous and I’m steering clear.

The trouble is, Justin refuses to leave me be.

And deep down, I don’t want to avoid him.

Deep down, I want to be even closer.

I had it all. Two beautiful children. A gainfully employed husband. A successful food blog.

The only thing missing from my life was . . . heat.

And I wanted to live. To live loudly and without fear.

I also wanted my husband to think I was as hot as I was when we were high school sweethearts. More, I wanted what my sister had: love, passion, and a husband whose love was infinite.

Because something was happening with Rob. Had he fallen out of love with me? Had he found someone else? Was I not—

Sigh.

Was I not enough?

Not any longer anyway.

He used to be an up and coming chef in New York City, training under one of the most famous celebrity chefs in the world. But that had been five years before.

When he’d been itching to leave the small-town life of Darlington, Utah behind and become rich and powerful and famous. He’d been on his way too—had the fancy apartment, the great job, the gorgeous fiancé.

Isabella had been generous, sweet, and beautiful inside and out . . . or so he’d thought. Because the moment he’d taken leave from his job to come home and care for his father, the moment he’d slipped free of the outer edges of celebrity by returning to Utah to help his mother run the diner, Bella had dumped him.

Without a word and definitely without any explanation, Bella had disappeared from his life faster than a Michelin star from a restaurant that had lost his shine.

And he was fine with that. He’d moved on, rebuilt a life in Darlington and found, if not fulfillment, then at least peace in cooking at his father’s old diner.

Until Isabella showed up in town with a new fiancé in tow.

Until Bella wanted him to cook the food for her wedding at Roosevelt Ranch.

Until . . . he found out why she had left.

Suddenly, the peaceful but boring life Henry had built for himself was chaotic and frightening and it potentially, maybe . . . possibly might be punctuated with a happy ending.

He believes in women, in sex, and in avoiding any and all types of responsibility.

What he doesn’t believe in is playing the white knight by rescuing women . . . even though he’s been making a habit of doing just that over the last few months. Being the white knight is more in his twin’s wheelhouse. Justin spent a lifetime rescuing women from Rex’s ill-deeds before swooping in to save the day with the only woman Rex had ever felt the slightest bit of connection to.

Of course, that connection had made him run and he’d blown his chance with Kelly Hamilton.

Which was just as well. Rex was cold. He didn’t feel like normal men. He shut down and selfish and—

She was better off.

But lately, Rex had begun to feel. First, he’d been unable to steal his heart against the pleas of a gorgeous Italian woman and next . . .

Tilly.

She’d needed rescuing and even though Rex didn’t know the first damned thing about being a white knight, he’d helped her.

And then?

Well, she made him feel something he’d never thought his cold, dead heart would ever feel again.

Love.

The most miserable time of the year.

Elizabeth hated it. She had too much work to do to stop and hang lights or wrap presents or waste time beneath the mistletoe.

Or maybe she hated it—and especially the mistletoe—because she didn’t have anyone to kiss.

Yeah, maybe that, too.

But the she was derailed by a flat tire, a broken doorknob, and . . . an extremely handsome mechanic.

And perhaps the best laid plans were made to be broken, especially when this Christmas might prove to warm even her Scroogey heart.