and twisted hard to the right. Then he leaped into the air, all four feet off the ground, writhing like a bass on the end of a hook. Luke hung on for eight bone-jarring, neck-snapping, arm-wrenching seconds. When the horn sounded, he let go, and the bull’s next buck sent him flying through the air. A second later, he landed on his feet on the arena floor, exhilaration surging through him.
Everything after that seemed to move in slow motion. Luke ripped off his helmet. He wiped the sweat out of his eyes with his shirt sleeve, then turned to the scoreboard. He’d ridden the bull the full eight seconds, but he still needed a score of ninety-one to beat Hanson. The arena fell silent as everyone waited to find out who was the new world champion.
And there it was, in glowing lights. Ninety-one.
The crowd went wild, the roar so loud the rafters creaked. The exhilaration that surged through Luke at that moment was unlike anything he’d ever felt before, but it had nothing to do with the applause of all those people watching he didn’t even know.
There was only one person he wanted to see.
He turned to the stands. Scanned the crowd. He sifted through hundreds of people, and when he finally met Shannon’s eyes, she threw her arms up in a jubilant gesture, shouting with joy. She pushed her way through the masses, dodging people left and right, trying desperately to make her way down to the arena floor. Luke took off running toward her. With no other way to get to him, she finally climbed over the railing. He caught her on the way down, sweeping her into his arms for a triumphant kiss.
Later, after the prizes were awarded, the crowd left the arena, and the lights went out, Luke felt the bittersweet realization that his career was over. Then he looked at Shannon and knew something better was waiting for him. He was going to have the life he’d always wanted with the woman who would love him forever, and to start living it, there was only one thing he had to do.
Go home, and home was Rainbow Valley.
Single dad Marc Cordero has spent his whole life taking care of others.
But with his daughter off to college and his brother taking over the family winery, Marc is ready for an adventure.
He just didn’t expect it would start with a runaway bride in a heap of trouble landing on his doorstep one stormy night…
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As Marc Cordero went down the elevator of San Jacinto Hall to get Angela’s last box from the car, he wondered where along the way he’d lost his mind. He should have insisted she go to a smaller school. Or maybe to junior college for a year or two. Hell, he should have locked her in her bedroom and thrown away the key so he’d never have to deal with any of this.
The University of Texas had sounded so safe and civilized when the college counselor at her high school had talked about it, and when he and Angela visited the campus, it had seemed relatively tame. Of course, that had been during the summer session, when only a fraction of the place was occupied.
Neither of those things had prepared Marc for the chaos of move-in day.
The madness had actually begun an hour ago, twenty miles from Austin, where they’d crept along the highway for what seemed like forever. Marc had sworn there had to be a five-car pileup ahead, but Angela said it was just a traffic jam caused by students heading to UT.
Unbelievable.
The moment the campus came into view, Marc got a sick, sinking sensation in his stomach. Lack of control always did that to him, and dropping his daughter off at this place was making him feel more out of control than he had for the past eighteen years, and that was saying a lot. Angela, on the other hand, took one look at the campus and her face lit up exactly the way it had when she was six years old and saw the Magic Kingdom for the first time.
Six years old. Magic Kingdom. Where the hell had the time gone?
Marc grabbed the last box from his truck and headed back into the building, sidestepping one person after another, feeling as if he was navigating a sidewalk in Shanghai. A few minutes later, he got off the elevator and