Brynne pretended to punch him. “Did you tell Cord and J.P. about the boys’ names?”

Eli shook his head. Michael’s middle name was Cord and Jesse Patrick was named for J.P., whose full name was John Patrick. “Sara said that was your job,” he replied.

“Dad was so pleased to have his first grandson named after him,” Brynne said, grinning at the memory of Mike’s reaction, which had been very moving indeed.

“Cord will be happy. J.P. will ask if we remember why he goes by his initials instead of his full name, since he never liked it. Just the same, he’ll be flattered, whether he lets on or not.”

Brynne looked mildly troubled. “You’re sure you don’t want to call one of our boys ‘Eli’? We haven’t signed the birth certificates yet, so there’s still time.”

“I’m sure,” Eli replied. “I like my name just fine, but I think every kid deserves his or her own. Just my humble opinion.”

Brynne’s worry was replaced by a sweet smile. Again, she pressed her soft palms to the sides of his face.

“I love you so much,” she said.

Again, he kissed her. “And I love you so much,” he replied.

Just then, two nurses entered the room in single file, each one pushing a wheeled cot containing a brand-new—and very hungry—baby boy.

Eli stepped away, moved one of the two giant blue teddy bears occupying the only two chairs in the room, and sat down.

And so it begins, he thought.

Excerpt

Welcome back to Painted Pony Creek where three best friends’ strength, honor, and independence exemplify the Montana land they love... in the next book in New York Times bestselling author Linda Lael Miller’s irresistible series!

Ever since his two closest friends married and started families of their own, rancher and military veteran J.P. McCall realizes what he’s been missing. And then single mom Sara Worth comes crashing back into his life. She’s his buddy’s sister, the woman who was always out of reach. But when a man from Sara’s past resurfaces, threatening everything she holds dear, J.P. will do whatever it takes to protect the woman who’s stealing his heart.

Read on for Chapter One of

Country Born

****

SARA’S CALL HAD COME through at 6:00 a.m. sharp, jolting J.P. McCall a little, even though he was a lifelong rancher and thus an early riser.

Sara was, after all, the sister of one of his two closest friends, Eli Garrett, the current sheriff of Wild Horse County, Montana, a man with a dangerous job, and it didn’t help that she opened with a breathless, “This is an emergency, J.P.”

“What is it?” he’d asked, hoarse with alarm. “What’s going on?”

In moments like that, his PTSD, a relic of his tour of duty in Afghanistan, always spiked.