Texas Rebels: Phoenix. Linda Warren
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Kate Rebel: Matriarch of the Rebel family.
Falcon: The oldest son—the strong one. Reunited with his wife, Leah, and proud father of Eden and John.
Egan: The loner. Married to Rachel Hollister, daughter of the man who put him in jail.
Quincy: The peacemaker. Married to Jenny Walker, his childhood best friend.
Elias: The fighter. Falls in love with the archenemy of the family’s daughter.
Paxton: The lover. Never met a woman he couldn’t have, but the woman he wants doesn’t want him.
Jude: The serious, responsible one. Back together with his first love, Paige Wheeler, and raising their son, Zane.
Phoenix: The wild one and the youngest. He’s carefree until Child Protective Services says he’s the father of a small boy.
Abraham (Abe) Rebel: Paternal grandfather.
Jericho Johnson: Egan’s friend from prison.
Texas Rebels: Phoenix
Linda Warren
A two-time RITA® Award–nominated author, LINDA WARREN has written thirty-eight books for Mills & Boon and has received the Readers’ Choice Award, the Holt Medallion, the Booksellers’ Best Award, the Book Buyers Best Award, the Golden Quill and the RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Award. A native Texan, she is a member of Romance Writers of America and the West Houston chapter. She lives in College Station with her husband and a menagerie of animals, including a Canada goose named Broken Wing. You can learn more about Linda and her books at www.lindawarren.net.
To Christi Hendricks—for organizing sixteen years of book signings.
A special thanks to Vanessa Carmona Hoke for taking the time to share her knowledge of the Department of Family and Protective Services.
And to Carrol Abendroth, barrel racer, for discussing the rodeo and barrel racing.
And to PRCA for all their information.
Contents
My name is Kate Rebel. I married John Rebel when I was eighteen years old and then bore him seven sons. We worked the family ranch, which John later inherited. We put everything we had into buying more land so our sons would have a legacy. We didn’t have much, but we had love.
The McCray Ranch borders Rebel Ranch on the east and the McCrays have forever been a thorn in my family’s side. They’ve cut our fences, dammed up creeks to limit our water supply and shot one of our prize bulls. Ezra McCray threatened to shoot our sons if he caught them jumping his fences again. We tried to keep our boys away, but they are boys—young and wild.
One day Jude and Phoenix, two of our youngest, were out riding together. When John heard shots, he immediately went to find his boys. They lay on the ground, blood oozing from their heads. Ezra McCray was astride a horse twenty yards away with a rifle in his hand. John drew his gun and fired, killing Ezra instantly. Both boys survived with only minor wounds. Since my husband was protecting his children, he didn’t spend even one night in jail. This escalated the feud that still goes on today.
The man I knew as my husband died that day. He couldn’t live with what he’d done and started to drink heavily. I had to take over the ranch and the raising of our boys. John died ten years later. We’ve all been affected by the tragedy, especially my sons.
They are grown men now and deal in different ways with the pain of losing their father. One day I pray my boys will be able to put this behind them and live healthy, normal lives with women who will love them the way