Thursday, February 19, 2015

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The Black Sheep's Inheritance (Harlequin Desire\Dynasties: The Lassiters), by Maureen Child

Follow the money…into bed! 

Estranged from his adoptive father, Sage Lassiter earned his own billions. But when J.D. Lassiter leaves a fortune to his private nurse in his will and cheats his own daughter of her rightful inheritance…Sage is enraged, to say the least. He's sure nurse Colleen Falkner isn't the innocent she appears. And he's willing to go to any lengths to expose her…even seduction. 

But using sex—crazed, incredible sex—to find out what she knows could backfire. Because Colleen is not what Sage expected. And like it or not, she's about to demolish all the barriers he's carefully constructed around his heart.

Pick up all six books in Harlequin Desire's bestselling series, Dynasties: The Lassiters—A Wyoming legacy of love, lies and redemption!

The Black Sheep's Inheritance by Maureen Child
From Single Mom to Secret Heiress by Kristi Gold
Expecting the CEO's Child by Yvonne Lindsay
Lured by the Rich Rancher by Kathie DeNosky
Taming the Takeover Tycoon by Robyn Grady
Reunited with the Lassiter Bride by Barbara Dunlop

  • Sales Rank: #1363748 in Books
  • Published on: 2014-04-01
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Dimensions: 6.63" h x .50" w x 4.15" l, .20 pounds
  • Binding: Mass Market Paperback
  • 192 pages

About the Author
Maureen Child is the author of more than 130 romance novels and novellas that routinely appear on bestseller lists and have won numerous awards, including the National Reader's Choice Award. A seven-time nominee for the prestigous RITA award from Romance Writers of America, one of her books was made into a CBS-TV movie called THE SOUL COLLECTER.  Maureen recently moved from California to the mountains of Utah and is trying to get used to snow.   

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
The lawyer's office at the firm of Drake, Alcott and Whittaker was too crowded for Sage Lassiter's tastes. He much preferred being out on his ranch, in the cold, crisp air of a Wyoming spring. Still, he had no choice but to attend the reading of his adoptive father's will.

J.D. Lassiter had been dead only a couple of weeks and Sage was having a hard time coming to grips with it. Hell, he would have bet money that J.D. was far too stubborn to actually die. And now that he had, Sage was forced to live with the knowledge that now he would never have the chance to straighten things out between himself and the man who had raised him. Just like J.D. to go ahead and do something whether anyone else was ready for it or not. The old man had, once again, gotten the last word.

Sage couldn't have said when the tension between him and J.D. had taken root, but he remembered it as an always-there kind of feeling. Nothing tangible. Nothing that he could point to and say: There. That was it. The beginning of the end. Instead, it was a slow disintegration of whatever might have been between them and it was beyond too late to think about it now. Old hurts, old resentments had no place in this room and nowhere to go even if he had let them take the forefront in his mind.

"You look like you want to hit something." His younger brother Dylan's voice came in a whisper.

Shooting him a hard look, Sage shook his head. "No, just can't really take in that we're here."

"I know." Dylan pushed his brown hair off his forehead and gave a quick look around the room before turning back to Sage. "Still can't quite believe J.D.'s gone."

"I was just thinking the same thing." He shifted, folded his arms across his chest and said, "I'm worried about Marlene."

Dylan followed his gaze.

Marlene Lassiter had stepped in as surrogate mother to Sage, Dylan and Angelica after Ellie Lassiter died during childbirth with Angie. She'd been married to J.D.'s brother Charles, and when she was widowed, she'd come home to Wyoming to live on Big Blue, the Lassiter ranch. She'd been nurturer, friend and trusted confidante for too many years to count.

"She'll be okay, eventually," Dylan said, then winced as they watched Marlene hold a sodden tissue to her mouth as if trying to stifle a wail of agony.

"Hope you're right," Sage muttered, uncomfortable seeing Marlene in pain and knowing there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it.

Marlene's son, Chance Lassiter, sat to one side of her, his arm thrown protectively around her shoulders. He wore a leather jacket tossed on over a long-sleeved white shirt. Dark blue jeans and boots completed the outfit, and the gray Stetson he was never without was balanced on one knee. He was a cowboy down to his bones and the manager of J.D.'s thirty-thousand-acre ranch, Big Blue.

"You have any idea what the bequests are?" Dylan asked. "Couldn't get a thing out of Walter."

"Not surprising," Sage remarked with a sardonic twist of his lips. Walter Drake was not only J.D.'s lawyer, but practically his clone. Two more stubborn, secretive men he'd never met. Walter had made calls to all of them, simply telling them when and where to show up and not once hinting at what was in J.D.'s will. Logan Whittaker, another partner in the firm, was also working on J.D.'s will but he hadn't been any more forthcoming than Walter.

Sage wasn't expecting a damn thing for himself. And it wasn't as if he needed money. He'd built his own fortune, starting off in college by investing in one of his friends' brilliant ideas. When that paid off, he invested in other dreamers, and along the way he'd amassed millions. More than enough to make him completely independent of the Lassiter legacy. In fact, he was surprised he had been asked to be here at all. Long ago, he'd distanced himself from the Lassiters to make his own way, and he and J.D. hadn't exactly been close.

"Have you talked to Angelica since this all happened?" Dylan frowned and glanced to where their sister sat beside her fiancé, Evan McCain, her head on his shoulder.

"Not for long." Sage frowned, too, and thought about the sister he and Dylan loved so much. Her muchanticipated wedding had been postponed because of their father's death and who knew when it would happen now. Angelica's big brown eyes were red rimmed from crying and there were lavender shadows beneath those eyes that told Sage she wasn't sleeping much. "I went to see her a couple of days ago, hoping I could talk to her, but all she did was bawl." His scowl deepened. "Hate seeing her like that, but I don't know what the hell we can do for her."

"Not much really," Dylan agreed. "I saw her yesterday, but she didn't want to talk about what happened. Evan told me she's not sleeping, hardly eating. She's taking this really hard, Sage."

Nodding, he told his brother, "She and the old man were so close, of course she's taking it hard. Not to mention, J.D. collapsing at her rehearsal dinner adds a whole new level of misery. We've just got to make sure she gets past this. We'll tag team her. One of us going to see her at least every other day…"

"Oh," Dylan said, chuckling, "Evan will love having us around all the time."

"He's the one so hell-bent on marrying into the Las-siter family," Sage pointed out wryly. "If he takes one of us, he gets all of us. Best he figures that out now anyway."

"True." Dylan nodded then sat back in his chair. "Okay, then. We'll keep an eye on Angelica."

Dylan kept talking, now about his plans for the restaurant he was opening, but Sage had stopped listening. Instead, he watched Colleen Falkner, J.D.'s private nurse, slip quietly into the room, then make her way to the front, where she took a seat beside Marlene. The older woman gave her a watery smile of welcome and took her hand in a firm grip.

Sage narrowed his gaze on Colleen and felt a hard jolt of awareness leap to life inside him-just as it had the night of the rehearsal dinner. The same night J.D. died.

That night, he'd really noticed her for the first time. They'd met in passing of course, but on that particular night, there had been something different about her. Something that tugged at him. Maybe it had been seeing her long, amazing hair loose, cascading down her back in beautiful shimmering waves. Maybe it had been the short red dress and the black heels and the way they'd made her legs look a mile long. All he knew for sure was when he'd caught her eye from across the room, he'd felt a connection snap into place between them. He had started toward her, determined to talk to her-then J.D.'s heart attack had changed everything.

She wasn't wearing party clothes today, though. Instead, she wore baggy slacks, a sapphire-blue pullover sweater and her long, dark blond hair was pulled back into a braid that hung down between her shoulder blades. She had wide blue eyes that were bright with unshed tears and a full, rich mouth that tempted a man to taste it.

If he hadn't seen her in a figure-skimming red dress at the party-a dress that remained etched into his memory-Sage never would have guessed at the curves she kept so well hidden beneath her armor of wool and cotton.

He hadn't had much interaction with Colleen, since he and J.D. hadn't exactly been on the best of terms, so Sage didn't spend much time on Big Blue. But that night at the party, she'd intrigued him. Not only was she beautiful, but when J.D. collapsed, she had sprung into action, shouting orders like a general and taking charge until the paramedics showed up.

She had been devoted to J.D., had earned the family's affections-as evidenced by the way Marlene reached out to take the woman's hand-yet through it all had remained a bit of a mystery. Where was she from? Why had she taken a job working for a grumpy old man on a remote, if luxurious, ranch? And why the hell did he care?

"Colleen do something to you?"

He glanced at Dylan. "What?"

"Well, you're staring at her hard enough to set her hair on fire. What's up?"

Irritated to have been caught out, Sage muttered, "Shut up."

"Ah. Good answer." Dylan just smiled, shook his head and leaned forward to ask Chance something.

Sage let his gaze slide carefully back to Colleen. She bent her head to whisper something to Marlene, and he watched that long, silky braid slide across her shoulder, baring the nape of her neck. Soft blond curls brushed against her skin and he suddenly had the urge to touch her. To stroke that skin, to slide his fingers through her hair, to- He cut that thought off as fast as he could and scowled to himself.

The only possible reason she had for being here was if she was mentioned in J.D.'s will. Sure, J.D. had needed a nurse over his last few months, with his health failing, but such a beautiful one? Was that why she'd taken the job of caring for the old man? Had she been hoping for a nice payoff someday? Maybe he should spend a little time looking into Colleen Falkner, he thought. Do some checking. Make sure-

"You're looking at her again," Dylan pointed out.

Glaring at his brother and ignoring the smile on the man's face, Sage grumbled, "Don't you have something else to do?"

"Not at the moment."

"Lucky me."

"I just think it's interesting how fascinated you seem to be by Colleen."

"I'm not fascinated." Much. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair and told himself to stop thinking about her. How could the woman have gotten to him so easily? Hell, he hadn't even really talked to her.

"Not what it looks like from where I'm sitting."

"Then maybe you should sit somewhere else." He wasn't fascinated. He was…interested. Attracted. There was a difference.

Dylan laughed shortly. True to form, Sage's younger brother was almost impossible to insult. He was easygoing, charming and sometimes Sage thought his younger brother had gotten all the patience in the family. But he was also stubborn and once he got his teeth into something, he rarely let it go.

Like now, for example.

"She's single," Dylan said.

"Great."

"I'm just sayin'," his brother continued, "maybe you could leave your ranch once in a while. Have an actual date. Maybe with Colleen."

Sage drew his head back and stared at his brother. "Are you running a dating service I don't know about?"

"Fine," Dylan muttered, sitting back in his chair. "Have it your way. Be a hermit. End up becoming the weird old guy who lives alone on an isolated ranch."

"I'm not a hermit."

"Yeah? When's the last time you had a woman?" Frowning, Sage said, "Not that it's any of your business, but I get plenty of women."

"One-night stands? Nice."

Sage preferred one-night stands. He didn't do commitment, and spending time with women who felt the same way avoided a lot of unnecessary hassle. If his brother wanted to look for more in his life, he was welcome to. As for Sage, he liked his life just the way it was. He came and went as he pleased. When he wanted a woman, he went and found one. When he wanted to be left the hell alone, he had that, too.

"Now that you mention it," he said quietly, "I haven't noticed you busy developing any serious relationships, either."

Dylan shrugged, folded his arms across his chest and said, "We're not talking about me."

"Yeah, well, we're done talking about me, too."

Then the office door opened, and lawyer Walter Drake stepped inside and announced, "All here?" He swept the room with a sharp-eyed gaze and nodded to himself. "Good. Then we can get started."

"I don't know if I'm ready for this," Dylan grumbled.

Sage was more than ready. He wanted this day done and finished so he could get back to his ranch.

After settling himself behind a wide oak desk, Walter, an older man who looked like the stereotypical image of an "old family retainer"-handsome, gray haired and impeccably dressed-picked up a stack of papers and straightened them unnecessarily. That shuffle of paper and the rattle of the window panes as a cold wind gusted against it were the only sounds in the room. It was as if everyone had taken a breath and held it.

Walter was clearly enjoying his moment in the spotlight. Every eye in the room was on him. Once again, his gaze moved over the people gathered there and when he finally came to Angelica, he gave her a sad, sympathetic smile before speaking to the room. "I know how hard this is on all of you, so I'll be as brief as possible."

Sage would be grateful.

"As you all know, J.D. and I knew each other for more than thirty years." Walter paused, smiled to himself and added, "He was a stubborn man, but a proud one, and I want you all to know that he took great care with his will. He remade it just a few months ago because he wanted to be sure to do the right thing by all of you."

Scraping one hand across his face, Sage shifted in the uncomfortable chair. He flicked a quick glance out the window and saw dark clouds rushing across the sky. April in Wyoming, he mused. It could be sunny in the morning and snowing by afternoon. And right now, it looked as though a storm was headed their way. Which only fed the urge to get back to his ranch before the bad weather hit.

"There are a lot of smaller provisions made to people J.D. thought well of over the years," Walter was saying. "I won't be reading them aloud today. Nor will I make mention of other estate business that will be handled separately."

Sage frowned thoughtfully and shifted his gaze to Walter. Handled separately? Why? What was the lawyer trying to hide? For that matter, what had J.D. been trying to hide? He braced his elbows on his thighs and leaned forward, keeping his gaze fixed on Walter as if the man was about to saw a woman in half. Or pull a dove from a magic hat.

"That part of the will is, at this time, not to be shared with the family."

"Why not?" Sage's question shattered the stillness left in the wake of Walter's startling statement.

The older man met Sage's gaze squarely. "Those were J.D.'s wishes."

"How do we know that?" An insulting question and he knew it, but Sage didn't stop himself. He didn't like secrets.

Dylan jammed his elbow into Sage's side, but he didn't so much as flinch. Just kept staring at the lawyer waiting for an answer.

"Because I tell you so," Walter said, stiffening in insult.

"C'mon, Sage," Dylan muttered. "Let it go for now."

Most helpful customer reviews

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Five Stars
By Amazon Customer Patricia Mullins
I thought it was very good.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful.
Pass me the Tylenol
By Becca
As someone else stated, I normally like Maureen Child books as well, but not this one. There were so many things that tripped my trigger, it's hard to know where to begin. At first I picked two stars but the more I thought about Colleen, who was a complete nitwit, I felt I had to pick one star.

First of all Colleen is a private nurse and Sage is the adopted son of the man she cared for. In the beginning Sage's father died and for some unknown reason, he left his daughter's fiance in charge of the company instead of his daughter. Now MOST people would have simply ASKED Colleen "did he give any indication as to why he made that change in his will?" because she spent so much time with him, but no, Sage decided to cozy up to Colleen and then to have "hot. crazy sex" with Colleen to get the information out of her. Can you say "making up any excuse you can to have sex, kids?". This was even AFTER his sister just asked if she knew anything about the will and Colleen denied it. Clearly, he's a hormone ridden Einstein. At one point, he said he was going to determine if Colleen "conspired with JD to cheat Angie out of what was rightfully hers". Colleen getting three million dollars had NOTHING to do with Angie becoming the CEO of the family company so this whole storyline was just some lame excuse to have sex. I was very disappointed in this entire book. It felt "lazy" as if the author didn't even bother to put any effort into it.

At the beginning of the book, Sage is referred to as a "hermit" as someone who rarely left his ranch by Daddy dearest and his siblings. And yet, Colleen managed to find a picture of Sage online at a Hollywood awards show with the "latest Oscar winner" on his arm. Sage himself reminisced how he was with "glamorous women who had their own fashion stylists and hair people" and yet he was "solitary" and a "hermit" and rarely left his ranch. Did these Hollywood starlets just stumble onto his ranch or what?

Then we have Colleen. Colleen who is considering buying a mountain cabin in which the end of the front porch borders a ravine. Yep, you read that right. She's looking at a mountain cabin, walks over to the end of the porch and leans against the railing. The railing starts to break and of course Sage, rushes over to save her and they watch as the porch railing falls down onto the rocks below and smashes into tiny pieces. What happens next? After lamenting for five seconds that that could have been Colleen, Sage has sex with her up against the front of the cabin--and may I just interject this isn't even HIS cabin. It belongs to his friend and when Colleen puts up a half-sassed "gee should we be sexing it up in the cabin of a complete stranger?" Sage reminds her that the cabin owner isn't a stranger to him! Well then by all means sex it up. Ewww. And lucky us when Sage has no condom, Nurse Colleen tells him it's nooooo problemo because--say it with me kids!--the gyne put her on birth control to regulate her period! Wish I had a quarter for every time I hear that ridiculous line. Apparently no women in romance novels actually go on birth control so they don't get pregnant. I guess Nurse Colleen forgets an unwanted pregnancy isn't the only thing you can get when a guy doesn't use condom. But--GASP!--during the sex Sage TALKS to Colleen. He "never talks to women when they're having sex". And the Neanderthalization of Sage is complete.

Later when her mother asks Colleen about the cabin she enthusiastically states that she "likes it"! Colleen doesn't hog all the stupidity for herself though because Sage actually BUYS the cottage then tells her in a tender scene that they'll bring their grandchildren to the cottage and tell them the story of how he saved her life. That's not going to happen. They're not going to have grandkids because all their kids will have fallen into the dang ravine and they'll be the first ones crying that they never saw it coming!! Any parent who buys a house that borders a ravine needs to have their genetic pool drained.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
4 1/2 stars for another great Maureen Child romance!
By Meagan @Teen Scene & By the Book Reviews
The first book in the Dynasties: The Lassiters series definitely doesn't disappoint. Although there were a few things I thought could have been better, I really enjoyed this story & finished it quickly. I don't think I've ever read anything by Maureen Child that I didn't like. She knows how to tell a good story & this one is no exception! It exposed you to the family yet left you wanting, which is the perfect way to start a series. I wish that I had realized that Beauty & the Best Man was a prequel to the series because I would have read it first, but I do still plan on reading it soon!

The main characters of this book, Sage & Colleen, are both so different. Colleen knows a lot about Sage, since she was his father's nurse but Sage seems to have some serious misconceptions about her, especially in the beginning. The relationship that develops between the two of them happens very quickly, due to the fact that they can't seem to fight their growing attraction to each other! I can 't wait to read more about the Lassiter family!

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Two classic love stories in a keepsake edition that will heat up your winter!

The Winter Soldier

Everyone in Jacobsville, Texas, steered clear of taciturn Cy Parks—everyone but the spirited Lisa Monroe, who electrified the formidable loner with her tantalizing kisses. Their fiery passion escalated when the soldier returned from the line of duty—and claimed Lisa as his bride, to shield her from a revenge-seeking desperado. Clearly Cy was getting mighty possessive of this enchanting woman who needed the type of safeguarding only he could provide. But who would protect the beguiling bride from him…?

Cattleman's Pride

He was strong, seductive and set in his ways. She was shy, unassuming and achingly innocent. Yet when Jordan made it his personal crusade to help Libby hold on to her beloved homestead, everyone in Jacobsville knew it was just a matter of time before wedding bells chimed. But a cattleman's pride was a force to be reckoned with. Could Libby accomplish what no woman had before and tame this Long, Tall Texan's restless heart?

  • Sales Rank: #1189531 in Books
  • Published on: 2010-09-28
  • Released on: 2010-09-28
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Dimensions: 7.50" h x 1.61" w x 5.58" l, 1.11 pounds
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 528 pages

About the Author

The prolific author of more than one hundred books, Diana Palmer got her start as a newspaper reporter. A New York Times bestselling author and voted one of the top ten romance writers in America, she has a gift for telling the most sensual tales with charm and humor. Diana lives with her family in Cornelia, Georgia.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.


It was Monday, the worst day in the world to try to get a prescription filled. Behind the counter, the poor harassed male druggist was trying to field the telephone calls, fill prescriptions, answer questions from patrons and delegate duties to two assistants. It was always like this after the weekend, Cy Parks thought with resignation. Nobody wanted to bother the doctor on his days off, so they all waited until Monday to present their various complaints. Hence the rush on the Jacobsville Pharmacy. Michael, the pharmacist on duty, was smiling pleasantly despite the crush of customers, accustomed to the Monday madness.

That group putting off a visit to the doctor until Monday included himself, Cy mused. His arm was throbbing from an encounter with one of his angry Santa Gertru disbulls late on Friday afternoon. It was his left arm, too, the one that had been burned in the house fire back in Wyoming. The angry rip needed ten stitches, and Dr. "Copper" Coltrain had been irritated that Cy hadn't gone to the emergency room instead of letting it wait two days and risking gangrene. The sarcasm just washed right off; Coltrain could have saved his breath. Over the years, there had been so many wounds that Cy hardly felt pain anymore. With his shirt off, those wounds had been apparent to Coltrain, who wondered aloud where so many bullet wounds came from. Cy had simply looked at him, with those deep green eyes that could be as cold as Arctic air. Coltrain had given up.

Stitches in place, Coltrain had scribbled a prescription for a strong antibiotic and a painkiller and sent him on his way. Cy had given the prescription to the clerk ten minutes ago. He glanced around him at the prescription counter and thought he probably should have packed lunch and brought it with him.

He shifted from one booted foot to the other with noticeable impatience, his glittery green eyes sweeping the customers nearest the counter. They settled on a serene blond-haired woman studying him with evident amusement. He knew her. Most people in Jacobsville, Texas, did. She was Lisa Taylor Monroe. Her husband, Walt Monroe, an undercover narcotics officer with a federal agency, had recently been killed. He'd borrowed on his insurance policy, so there had been just enough money to bury him. At least Lisa had her small ranch, a legacy from her late father.

Cy's keen eyes studied her openly. She was sweet, but she'd never win any beauty contests. Her dark blond hair was always in a bun and she never put on makeup. She wore glasses over her brown eyes, plastic-framed ones, and her usual garb was jeans and a T-shirt when she was working around the ranch. Walt Monroe had loved the ranch, and during his infrequent visits home, he'd set out improving it. His ambitions had all but bankrupted it, so that Lisa was left after his death with a small savings account that probably wouldn't even pay the interest on the loans Walt had obtained.

Cy knew something about Lisa Monroe because she was his closest neighbor, along with Luke Craig, a rancher who was recently married to a public defender named Belinda Jessup. Mrs. Monroe there liked Charolais, he recalled. He wasn't any too fond of foreign cattle, having a purebred herd of Santa Gertrudis cattle, breeding bulls, which made him a profitable living. Almost as prosperous as his former sideline, he mused.

A good champion bull could pull upward of a million dollars on the market.

Lisa had no such livestock. Her Charolais cattle were steers, beef stock. She sold off her steer crop every fall, but it wouldn't do her much good now. She was too deeply in debt. Like most other people, he felt sorry for her. It was common gossip that she was pregnant, be cause in a small town like Jacobsville, everybody knew everything. She didn't look pregnant, but he'd over heard someone say that they could tell in days now, rather than the weeks such tests had once required. She must be just barely pregnant, he mused, because those tight jeans outlined a flat stomach and a figure that most women would covet.

But her situation was precarious. Pregnant, widowed and deeply in debt, she was likely to find herself homeless before much longer, when the bank was forced to foreclose on the property. Damned shame, he thought, when it had such potential for development.

She was clutching a boxed heating pad to her chest, waiting her turn in line at the second cash register at the pharmacy counter.

When Lisa was finally at the head of the line, she put down her heating pad on the counter and opened her purse.

"Another one, Lisa?" the young female clerk asked her with an odd smile.

She gave the other woman an irritated glance as she dug in her purse for her checkbook. "Don't you start, Bonnie," she muttered.

"How can I help it?" the clerk chuckled. "That's the third one this month. In fact, that's the last one we have in stock."

"I know that. You'd better order some more."

"You really need to do something about that dog," Bonnie suggested firmly.

"Hear, hear!" the other clerk, Joanne, seconded, peering at Lisa over her glasses.

"The puppy takes after his father," Lisa said defensively. He did, she mused. His father belonged to Tom Walker, and the mostly German shepherd dog, Moose, was a local legend. This pup was from the first litter he'd sired—without Tom's knowledge or permission. "But he's going to be a lot of protection, so I guess it's a trade-off. How much is this?"

Bonnie told her, waited while she wrote the check, accepted it and processed it. "Here you go," she told the customer. She glanced down at the other woman's flat stomach. "When are you due?"

"Eight months and two weeks," Lisa said quietly, wincing as she recalled that her husband, away from home and working undercover, had been killed the very night after she'd conceived, if Dr. Lou Coltrain had his numbers right. And when had Lou ever missed a due date? He was uncanny at predicting births.

"You've got that Mason man helping you with the ranch." Bonnie interrupted her thoughts. "You shouldn't need a dog with him there. Can't he protect you?"

"He only comes on the weekends," Lisa replied.

Bonnie frowned. "Luke Craig sent him out there, didn't he? But he said the man was supposed to spend every night in the bunkhouse!"

"He visits his girlfriend most nights," Lisa said irritably. "And better her than me! He doesn't bathe!"

Bonnie burst out laughing. "Well, there's one bright side to it. If he isn't staying nights, you only have to pay him for the weekends…Lisa," she added when she saw the guilty expression on the other woman's face, "you aren't still paying him for the whole week?"

Lisa flushed. "Don't," she said huskily.

"Sorry." Bonnie handed her a receipt. "It's just I hate the way you let people take advantage of you, that's all. There are so many rotten people in the world, and you're a walking, talking benevolence society."

"Rotten people aren't born, they're made," Lisa told her. "He isn't a bad man, he just didn't have a proper upbringing."

"Oh, good God!" Cy said harshly, glaring at her, having kept his mouth shut as long as possible without imploding. The woman's compassion hit him on a raw spot and made him furious.

Lisa's eyes were brown, big and wide and soft through the plastic frames of her glasses. "Excuse me?"

"Are you for real?" he asked curtly. "Listen, people dig their own graves and they climb into them. Nothing excuses cruelty."

"You tell her!" Bonnie said, agreeing.

Lisa recognized her taciturn neighbor from a previous encounter, long ago. He'd come right up to her when she'd been pitching hay over the fence to her cat tle one day and told her outright that she should leave heavy work to her husband. Walt hadn't liked that comment, not at all. It had only been a few days after he'd let her do the same thing while he flirted with a pretty blond parcel delivery employee. Worse, Walt thought that Lisa had encouraged Cy's interference somehow and they'd had a fight—not the first in their very brief marriage. She didn't like the tall man and her expression told him so. "I wasn't talking to you," she pointed out. "You don't know anything about my business."

His eyebrows rose half an inch. "I know that you overpay the hired help." He looked pointedly at her flat belly. "And that you're the last person who should be looked upon as a walking benevolence society."

"Hear, hear!" Joanne said again from behind Bonnie.

Lisa glared at her. "You can be quiet," she said.

"Let your erstwhile employee go," he told her. "I'll send one of my men over to spend nights in the bunk-house. Bonnie's right about one thing, you don't need to be by yourself after dark in such a remote place."

"I don't need your help," she said, glowering at him.

"Yes, you do. Your husband wouldn't have liked having you try to run that ranch alone," he added quietly, even though he didn't mean it, and he hoped that his dis taste for the late Walt Monroe didn't show. He still recalled watching Lisa heft a huge bale of hay while her husband stood not ten paces away flirting with a pretty blond woman. It was a miracle she hadn't miscarried, the way she hefted heavy things around. He wondered if she even knew the chance she was taking…

She was looking at him with different eyes now. The concern touched her despite her hostility. She sighed. "I guess you're right," she said softly. "He wouldn't have."

He hated the way that softness made him feel. He'd lost so much. Everything. He wouldn't admit, even to himself, how it felt to have those dark eyes look at him with tenderness. He swallowed down the ache in his throat.

She let her gaze fall to his arm, the one that had just been stitched, and her soft gasp was audible. "You've been hurt!"

"Two prescriptions, Mr. Parks," Bonnie said with a grin, holding up a prescription sack. She bent to pick up the package, a strand of her short blond hair falling around her pretty bespectacled face. "And Dr. Coltrain said that if you don't take this pain medication, he'll have me flogged," she added impishly.

"We can't have that, I guess," Cy murmured dryly.

"Glad you agree." She accepted his credit card as Lisa turned to go.

"You drive into town?" Cy asked the widow.

"Uh, well, no, the car's got a broken water pump," she confessed. "I rode in with old Mr. Murdock."

"He'll be at the lodge meeting until midnight," he pointed out.

"Just until nine. I thought I'd go to the library and wait."

"You need your rest," Cy said curtly. "No sense in waiting until bedtime for a ride. I'll drive you home. It's on my way."

"Go with him," Bonnie said firmly as she waited for Cy to put his credit card back into his wallet and sign the ticket. "Don't argue," she added when Lisa opened her mouth. "I'll phone the lodge and tell Mr. Murdock you got a ride."

"Were you ever in the army?" Cy asked the young woman with a rare twinkle in his green eyes.

She grinned. "Nope. But it's their loss."

"Amen," he said.

"Mr. Parks…" Lisa began, trying to escape.

Cy took her arm, nodded to Bonnie and herded Lisa out of the pharmacy onto the street where his big red Ford Expedition was parked. On the way they ran into the second pharmacist, a dark-eyed woman with equally dark hair.

"Hi, Nancy!" Lisa said with a grin.

Nancy gave a gamine smile. "Don't tell me, the line's two miles long already."

"Three. Want to go home with me?" Lisa asked.

Nancy sighed. "Don't I wish. See you!"

Nancy went on toward the pharmacy and Lisa turned back to let Cy open the door of the Expedition for her. "Imagine you with a red vehicle," she said dryly. "I would have expected black."

"It was the only one they had in stock and I was in a hurry. Here." He helped her up into the huge vehicle.

Most helpful customer reviews

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Great Book I looked for The Winter Soldier for over a year.
By Belinda Sawyers
The Winter Soldier is part of the Mercenary series. I read them all. More than once. A must read for any Diana Palmer fan. I liked Cattleman's Pride too, but I loved Winter Soldier.

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
lone star winter
By Masrha L. Masters
aome more of her books continuing with people in same area, good stories, sometimes too grapic in the romance but I enjoy the story line otherwise

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Two GREAT READ's!!!!!
By Amazon Customer
I enjoyed both of these books very much. I recommend them to all adults. I always enjoy reading Diana. I loved the character's and the story.

See all 10 customer reviews...

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Friday, February 13, 2015

~ Free Ebook Sweet Laurel Falls (Hope's Crossing), by RaeAnne Thayne

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Sweet Laurel Falls (Hope's Crossing), by RaeAnne Thayne



Spring should bring renewal, but Maura McKnight-Parker cannot escape the past. Still reeling from the loss of one daughter, the former free spirit is thrown for a loop by the return of her older daughter, Sage, and the reappearance of her first love, Sage's father. Jackson Lange never knew his daughter—never even knew that he'd left the love of his life pregnant when he fled their small town—but he has never forgotten Maura.

Now they are all back, but Sage has her own secret, one that will test the fragile bonds of a reunited family. Thrown together by circumstances and dedicated to those they love, Maura and Jackson must learn to move forward and let go of the mistakes of their past for the bright future that awaits them and their friends in Hope's Crossing.

  • Sales Rank: #52664 in Books
  • Brand: Harlequin HQN
  • Published on: 2012-09-25
  • Released on: 2012-09-25
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Dimensions: 6.62" h x 1.02" w x 4.21" l, .30 pounds
  • Binding: Mass Market Paperback
  • 384 pages
Features
  • Great product!

Review
"Romance, vivid characters and a wonderful story; really who could ask for more?"

--Debbie Macomber, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author on Blackberry Summer

"If you're going to read only one book this season, make it Blackberry Summer. --Debbie Macomber, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author

About the Author

New York Times bestselling author RaeAnne Thayne finds inspiration in the beautiful northern Utah mountains where she lives with her family. Her books have won numerous honors, including four RITA Award nominations from Romance Writers of America and a Career Achievement Award from RT Book Reviews magazine. RaeAnne loves to hear from readers and can be reached through her website at www.raeannethayne.com.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.


Forget Christmas vacation. This year, Maura McKnight-Parker wanted a vacation from Christmas. Wouldn't it be wonderful if she could just crawl into a warm cave somewhere and sleep through the holidays?

With a sigh, Maura took a final look around at the cozy nook where she had arranged several of the plump sofas and chairs normally scattered throughout her bookstore-slash-coffeehouse. Everything appeared ready for the Books and Bites book club Christmas party and gift exchange tonight.

Nibbles? Check. M&M's, spiced nuts and popcorn mix waited in holiday-printed bowls, and she had even dragged out her Christmas china and coffee mugs for said nibbles.

Decorations? Check. Not much to do there, since the halls of Dog-Eared Books & Brew had already been decked the week before Thanksgiving with artificial Christmas trees adorned in elegant blues and whites and silver. Snowflakes and gleaming ornaments in the same color scheme dangled from the ceiling, lightly dancing in the currents of air whenever anybody opened the front door.

Gifts? Yes. She had set up a little tabletop tree with handmade blown-glass ornaments for each of the book club members that she had commissioned from an artist with a gallery in town.

In addition to that pretty bit of swag, she had spent the past few days scouring shelves and boxes in her office and had filled gift bags for all the book club members, brimming with coffee and tea samples and some of the promotional bookmarks, notepads and other tchotchkes authors and their publicists were always sending to the store.

Despite a deep-seated wish that she could just hole up in her house for Christmas like a fox in a cozy den, she had worked tirelessly for days to make this party a success. If she were a scam artist, she would have called this baiting her trap. She had to convince her dearest friends and family members that she was indeed trying to move forward with her life after the hell of the past year. To accomplish that, she needed to put on a convincing show for them.

Maybe then, everybody would back off and give her a little space to find her own way.

"What do you think?" she asked April Herrera, who was taking a load of Books & Brew coffee mugs out of the small dishwasher behind the counter.

The assistant manager for the coffeehouse side of her business gazed at the setup with an enchanted look in her eyes that seemed at odds with her henna-colored hair, pencil-thin eyebrows and various diamond studs.

The silk long-underwear shirt she wore underneath her barista shirt and apron hid the various tattoos Maura knew adorned her arms.

Judging only by appearances, April ought to be wild and cynical. Instead, she was just about the sweetest person Maura knew. More important, she was smart and hardworking and intuitive about her customers.

"It looks super in here. Just perfect. You guys are going to have such a great time."

Maura tended to have a soft spot for rebellious girls, probably because she'd been one in another lifetime. "Are you sure you can't stay?"

"I really wish I could. Your book club meetings are always a hoot. Your mom cracks me up every time she comes in, and it's hilarious to watch Ruth and Claire together. Do they ever agree on a book?"

"Rarely," she answered. Or anything else, for that matter. Ruth Tatum worked in the bookstore, and she and her daughter had what could best be described as a complicated relationship. "You should really stay. You know everyone would love to have you again. Your comments on the last book were really insightful."

"I can't. Sorry. I've really got to take off as soon as Josh gets here. This is my very first time night-skiing with the team."

"How's that going?" she asked.

"Excellent." The young woman's face lit up. "I think they're ready to put me on the schedule on a regular basis."

April was training for the ski patrol and also taking classes in hope of eventually becoming a paramedic. Maura didn't know how she juggled work and class and her two-year-old son, especially on her own. Maybe that was another reason she had taken April under her wing—she could certainly relate to being a young single mother just trying to survive.

"That's terrific. If you need me to make any adjustments to your work schedule here, just say the word. I'm flexible. And I'm happy to babysit Trek whenever you need."

"Thanks, Maur."

"Maybe you can come to the book club meeting in January, if it fits around all the plates you have spinning."

"Definitely!" April started to add something else, but a customer at the coffee counter rang the little bell, and she gave Maura a "later" kind of wave and headed back to take the order.

Personally, Maura couldn't wait for January, to finally turn that page of her calendar to a new year. Maybe once the holiday craziness was over, she could escape some of the pressure of trying to act as if everything was fine when she was frozen solid inside.

She grabbed one more bowl of spicy nuts and set it on a side table, then moved a bowl of plump, airy peppermints to another spot. Having dear friends and family members surrounding her in Hope's Crossing was both a blessing and a curse. She knew they loved her and worried for her. While she understood their concern and tried to be grateful, mostly she just found it exhausting and overwhelming.

Sometimes that ever-present concern made her feel as if she had been buried alive under an avalanche. It pressed down on her, heavy and suffocating, until all she wanted to do was scramble for an air pocket.

Even her little bungalow on Mountain Laurel Road wouldn't remain a haven for long. In a few days, her daughter Sage would be coming home from college for the holidays, bringing yet another pair of watchful eyes.

She could do it. A few more weeks of pretending, and then she could have the cold nights of January to herself.

After one last look around, she suddenly remembered she'd meant to grab a couple extra copies of this month's book club selection off the shelf, in case anybody forgot theirs and needed it for reference. She had several copies in the display near the front, she remembered, and hurried in that direction.

A light snow drifted past the front display window, the big, fluffy flakes reflecting the colorful Christmas lights on storefronts up and down Main Street. Hope's Crossing was a true winter wonderland and local businesses worked hard to make the town glow with an old-fashioned, enticing charm. Nearly every store had some kind of light display. Hers were LED icicles that appeared to be dripping.

The effort seemed to be working. Her store bustled with customers and, judging by the pedestrian and vehicle traffic on a normally slow Thursday night, the other businesses on Main Street were enjoying the same success.

An SUV snagged the last parking space in front of the cafe across the street and a few stores down from her. A man in a leather jacket and Levi's climbed out and snowflakes immediately landed on his wavy dark hair and the shoulders of his warm cocoa-colored coat. He looked sharp and put together.

Everyone would be arriving any second now and she should go put the finishing touches on the scene she had created, but for some reason she was drawn to the man she could still barely see.

Some indefinable aspect of him—the angle of his jaw or the way he moved—called to mind the image of her first love. Jackson Lange, sexy and dangerous, young, angry, ferociously smart.

She rarely thought about Jack anymore, except on the rare occasions when his unpleasant father came into the store. Why she would be wasting time wondering about him now when she had so much to do was a mystery.

The man walked around the other side of the vehicle to let someone out of the passenger side, a gesture she didn't see enough these days. She was curious to see his companion, but before she could catch a glimpse of the woman, the front door of the shop opened and Claire and Evie burst through, bringing the scent of snow and Christmas. Their mingled laughter chimed more sweetly than carols.

"I know," Claire said. "That's what I told him. But this is his first Christmas as a stepfather, and I swear, he's more excited than Owen or Macy. I've had to hide the present stash a half-dozen times, and he finds every blasted spot."

"What do you expect, honey?" Evie untwisted her scarf, hand-knitted in a heathery wool that dangled with beads instead of fringe. "He's a trained detective. It's kind of what he does."

The two of them had probably walked over from the bead store Claire owned, just down the street a block. Evie rented an apartment upstairs from Claire. For now, anyway. Evie was dating Brodie Thorne, her friend Katherine's son, and Maura expected their relationship was progressing quickly.

Claire's soft, pretty features lit up when she saw her. "Maura, honey, the store looks fabulous. I keep meaning to tell you every day when I come in for coffee, but you're never standing still long enough."

"Your mom did a lot of the work. It was her idea to hang all the snowflakes and the ornaments. Isn't that brilliant?"

Ruth had been working at the bookstore for months, but Claire still seemed baffled by it. Maura couldn't blame her. No one was more surprised than Maura when Ruth's offer to help out temporarily during those dark days and weeks in the spring had turned into a permanent arrangement that had worked out beautifully for everyone concerned.

"Ruth is a great employee," she assured Claire again. "Hardworking and dependable, with these wonderful, unexpected flashes of ingenuity, like the snowflakes."

"And here she is now," Evie announced.

Sure enough, a moment later Ruth walked in, along with Maura's mother, Mary Ella, and Katherine Thorne. With them was Janie Hamilton, a fairly new addition to town and another lost lamb Katherine had taken under her wing, and right behind them was Charlotte Caine, who owned the candy store in town.

Maura took a deep breath and put on her game face, that forced smile that had become second nature since her world had changed forever eight months earlier. "Welcome, everyone. I'm so happy you can all come."

She stepped forward to hug and brush cheeks with everyone as they all began to shed coats and scarves and hats like penguins molting in the spring. Everyone seemed to have on holiday party clothes: shimmery blouses, festive patterned scarves, dangling earrings and beaded necklaces.

She felt drab in her suede jacket, tailored cream shirt and jeans, though she was wearing one of her favorite chunky wood-bead necklaces she had made at String Fever last year.

"What about Alex?" she asked. "Isn't she coming?"

"Angie's picking her up," her mother assured her. "They texted me a few minutes ago to tell me they're running late. As usual."

"Whew. That's a relief. She's supposed to be bringing dessert, those delicious pumpkin spice cupcakes she makes."

"The ones with the cinnamon buttermilk icing? Oh, yay!" Claire said. "I guess since I'm not trying to fit into a wedding dress anymore, I might be able to let myself have one."

Maura could probably afford to eat five or six, since all her clothes fit her loosely now. Amazing how little appetite she had these days. "Everybody grab coffee or tea or whatever you're drinking from the counter. I've got us set up in the corner."

She ushered everyone over to the coffee counter in time to see April hang her apron on the hook. Josh Kimball had come in to replace her for the evening shift. He waved and grinned his charmer of a grin at her, and she managed to dredge up a small smile for his perpetual raccoon eyes, white in an otherwise bronzed face where his goggles blocked the sun while he was snowboarding.

"I'm off. I'll see you later," April said as she grabbed her coat.

"Thank you for everything. Good luck with the night patrol. See you tomorrow."

"You got it." April swung open the door just as a couple walked in—and suddenly all the air whooshed out of Maura's lungs.

It was the man she had seen a half hour earlier entering the cafe, the same impractical leather jacket, the same wavy dark hair, the same plaid scarf.

In the hanging track lights of her store, she could clearly see her mistake.

This man didn't simply bear a mild, passing resemblance to Jackson Lange.

He most definitely was Jackson Lange.

For one crazy second, her mind became a tangle of half-buried memories, the kind that came from being young and impulsive and passionately in love. The first time he held her hand in a darkened theater, shared confidences on a sun-warmed boulder high up the canyon, tangled bodies and mouths, the peace she found only with him—then the vast heartache and the sharp, gnawing fear after he left.

Someone was talking to her. Evie, she thought vaguely, but the words couldn't register past her dismayed shock.

Jack had vowed never to step foot in Hope's Crossing, with the fierce, unwavering determination only an eighteen-year-old young man could claim.

Yet here he was.

Yeah. Like she needed one more thing to make this Christmas really suck. This was definitely the cherry on top of the fruitcake—for Jackson Lange to come into her store with his undoubtedly lovely wife to have a cappuccino or maybe browse through one of the nonfiction sections. Travel, maybe, or her small but adequate architectural design shelf.

And in the middle of her book club meeting, for crying out loud.

She could just ignore him. If she ducked behind a bookcase, with luck, he wouldn't see her. He probably had no idea she owned Dog-Eared Books & Brew—why would he possibly know that? She could send one of the clerks over to escort him to the farthest corner away from the book club—or better yet, have Josh come with all his delightful snowboarder muscles and throw him out in the cold. She'd never heard of a bookstore having a bouncer, but there was always a first time.

Too late. He turned just at that moment and his blue-eyed gaze met hers. She saw definite recognition there. Oddly, he didn't seem at all surprised to see her, almost as if he had come looking for her. That was impossible, of course. In nearly twenty years, he hadn't made the smallest effort to find her. Not that it would have taken much work on his part. She hadn't gone anywhere.

The years had been unfairly kind to him, she saw, had taken a teenage boy who had been brooding and angry and undeniably gorgeous to all the other teenage girls and turned him into a sexy, potent male, with intense blue eyes, a firm mouth and the resolute jaw-line that just might be the only thing he shared with his father.

"Are you all right?"

She managed to look away and saw her mother studying her with concern. "What?"

"You've gone pale, darling. And I asked you three times if you made these delicious truffles. What's the matter?"

Most helpful customer reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful.
How 'sweet' it is
By Vox Libris
One thing is for certain: this book is very sweet. So sweet, in fact, that it might induce a diabetic coma.

Maura McKnight's life at the moment is dark and sad. Her youngest daughter, Layla, passed away in a car accident, and her oldest daughter, Sage, is away at college. The girls have two different fathers; Layla's is Maura's ex-husband, and Sage's is Maura's first love, Jackson Lange. The two men have something in common other than Maura in that neither is around. Chris travels with his rock band, and Jackson bolted from their small Colorado hometown of Hope's Crossing shortly after he graduated from high school.

Jackson left more than Maura behind. She was pregnant, but did not know it when he went away. She tried to get in touch with him, but he didn't return her calls. Over the twenty ensuing years, Maura has gotten accustomed to life without Jackson, believing he will never return.

But he does show up ... as a visiting speaker to one of Sage's college classes. The two have a chat, and in the course of their conversation discover that they share some DNA. Neither is happy with Maura's refusal to disclose Jackson's parentage, but when Jackson returns to town, he manages to forget his ire when he comes face to face with Maura. Old attraction, it appears, does not die, it just lies in wait for a reunion.

The two must come to terms with their lingering love for each other, and Jackson has some fences to mend with his cranky old father. Sage is a soothing restorative, but she has secrets of her own and needs her parents to help her find solution and solace.

The romance between Maura and Jackson unfolds slowly, as they come to rediscover their feelings for each other. This is very much a G-rated romance, so no fear of any hot headboard rocking. Even the kissing scenes are chaste.

Fortunately, what saves this from complete sugar overload are Maura and Jackson. These are two flawed adults. She is too raw with hurt over Layla's death, fear over possibly losing Sage to Jackson, and heartbroken over Jackson leaving in the first place. He, on the other hand, is angry with her for not disclosing that he is a father, and he's also bitter over his father's past manipulation. They have to get past those barriers before they can come together.

The setting is as much a character as the humans, and just as charming. You will find yourself wanting to visit this tiny ski village in hopes of dining at the cafes and visiting Maura's bookstore. RaeAnne Thayne does an excellent job of showing us Hope's Crossing and its effect on its residents.

Thayne tells the story slowly (sometimes too slowly) and gently, if not occasionally repetitively. I felt like I read the same scene more than once, and the "shocking news" that Sage delivers is not all that shocking. As a means to bring Jackson's father closer to his family, it works, if not predictably so.

Sweet and gentle: that's the best summary of this book I can give.

Published on cupcake's book cupboard. @VivaAmaRisata
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
A Fantastic must read!!!
By Karen Miner
This is a fantastic book. Laughed & cried & laughed some more. It is about a single mother raising her daughter alone. Another daughter by marriage has been killed in aq car accident & then her daughter that is in college walks in with er father. Only thing was... no one had told her he was her father...and no one had told him about having a child!!! So good. I'm not good at writing reviews but this is a terrific book.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
x read
By Jbarr5
Sweet Laurel Falls by RaeAnne Thayne
ISBN: 9780373776702
Maura McKnight-Parker wanted a vacation from Christmas.
She runs a book/coffeehouse and is open to book clubs to meet.
Hope's Crossing is the type of town that belongs in a snowglobe. Everything is in place and it looks so magical especially when it snows.
The straw that broke the camel's back is when her grown daughter, Sage brings her father into the bookstore on the night of the Christmas party. Maura has had a tough year, she buried her younger daughter.
They head to her office and she admits that Jackson Lunge is her bio father. She had tried to contact him when he went away to college. She's not seen him in twenty years and it's been quite a shock to her system.
He's now an architect and he does lectures at college and that's where Sage had a conversation with him.
He now plans to stick around for a few weeks to get to spend time with his daughter as it's the slow time of the year for him. He also sees his father at the bookstore, being mean and rude and when he sees him he becomes ill and falls.
Harry agrees to be attended by EMT's and the hospital. Jackson thinks things would go back to normal if he just left.
They each daydream about their sensual sex life as teens, the places they shared their life's together.
When a crises hits someone in town the angel of hope pays a call, either by giving them cash or a much needed gift, or food.
The angel is about to be uncovered as Jackson has seen the person in action.
Tempers flare as Sage informs them both she is taking a semester off from college. He has a plan that might work for them all and it's accepted.
It helps them all out but it brings them all closer to one another. He's going to bid on the new town project, open an office in town and Sage can work there til the next semester to even see if she likes that type of career.
Sage is hiding major secrets and her parents both have feelings for one another but won't even 'go there'. They each have enough going on in their lives to not further complicate matters...
There are more turmoils ahead that can ruin many others life's.
Love the butterfly envelope and the significance...
Love this series and can't wait to read the next one.

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Wednesday, February 11, 2015

!! PDF Download Mackenzie's Legacy: Mackenzie's Mountain\Mackenzie's Mission (NYT Bestselling Author), by Linda Howard

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Mackenzie's Legacy: Mackenzie's Mountain\Mackenzie's Mission (NYT Bestselling Author), by Linda Howard



Mackenzie's Legacy: Mackenzie's Mountain\Mackenzie's Mission (NYT Bestselling Author), by Linda Howard

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Mackenzie's Legacy: Mackenzie's Mountain\Mackenzie's Mission (NYT Bestselling Author), by Linda Howard



Mackenzie's Mountain

Mary Elizabeth Potter is a self-appointed spinster with no illusions about love. When she meets Wolf Mackenzie, a man with a chip on his shoulder the size of Wyoming, she sets out to convince the whole town he's a man worth loving. But Wolf's not sure he's for the taming of Wolf Mackenzie.

Mackenzie's Mission

Night Wing—the revolutionary test plane with a top secret weapons system—is Colonel Joe "Breed" Mackenzie's number one priority—and weapons expert Caroline Evans his number one distraction. When someone on the inside sabotages Night Wing, Caroline's late hours and expertise come under suspicion, forcing Joe to choose between allegiance to his country…and love for his prime suspect.

  • Sales Rank: #189507 in Books
  • Brand: HQN Books
  • Published on: 2009-08-25
  • Released on: 2009-08-25
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Dimensions: 6.62" h x 1.01" w x 4.21" l, .46 pounds
  • Binding: Mass Market Paperback
  • 480 pages
Features
  • Great product!

About the Author

Linda Howard is the award-winning author of many New York Times bestsellers, including Up Close and Dangerous, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Cover of Night, Killing Time, To Die For, Kiss Me While I Sleep, Cry No More, and Dying to Please. She lives in Alabama with her husband and two golden retrievers.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.


He needed a woman. Bad.

Wolf Mackenzie spent a restless night, with the bright full moon throwing its silver light on the empty pillow beside him. His body ached with need, the sexual need of a healthy man, and the passing hours only intensified his frustration. Finally he got out of bed and walked naked to the window, his big body moving with fluid power. The wooden floor was icy beneath his bare feet but he welcomed the discomfort, for it cooled the undirected desire that heated his blood.

The colorless moonlight starkly etched the angles and planes of his face, living testimony to his heritage. Even more than the thick black hair worn long to touch his shoulders, even more than the heavy-lidded black eyes, his face proclaimed him Indian. It was in his high, prominent cheekbones and broad forehead, his thin lips and high-bridged nose. Less obvious, but just as fierce, was the Celtic heritage from his father, only one generation removed from the Scottish Highlands. It had refined the Indian features inherited from his mother into a face like a blade, as clean and sharply cut as it was strong. In his veins ran the blood of two of the most warlike peoples in the history of the world, Comanche and Celt. He had been a natural warrior, a fact soon discovered by the military when he had enlisted.

He was also a sensualist. He knew his own nature well, and though he controlled it, there were times when he needed a woman. He usually visited Julie Oakes at those times. She was a divorced woman, several years older, who lived in a small town fifty miles distant. Their arrangement had lasted five years; neither Wolf nor Julie was interested in marriage, but both had needs, and they liked each other. Wolf tried not to visit Julie too often, and he took care that he was never seen entering her house; he accepted the fact, unemotionally, that her neighbors would be outraged if they knew she slept with an Indian. And not just any Indian; a rape charge stuck to a man forever.

The next day was a Saturday. There would be the normal chores, and he had to pick up a load of fencing materials in Ruth, the small town just at the base of his mountain, but Saturday nights were traditionally for howling. He wouldn't howl, but he'd visit Julie and burn off his sexual tension in her bed.

The night was turning colder, and low heavy clouds were moving in. He watched until they obscured the moon, knowing they meant new snow. He didn't want to return to his empty bed. His face was impassive, but his loins ached. He needed a woman.

Mary Elizabeth Potter had numerous small chores to occupy her time that Saturday morning, but her conscience wouldn't let her rest until she had talked to Joe Mackenzie. The boy had dropped out of school two months before, a month before she had arrived to take the place of a teacher who had abruptly quit. No one had mentioned the boy to Mary, but she'd run across his school record, and curiosity had led her to read it. In the small town of Ruth, Wyoming, there weren't that many students in school, and she had thought she'd met them all. In fact, there were less than sixty students, but the graduation rate was almost one hundred percent, so any dropout was unusual. When she had read Joe Mackenzie's record, she'd been stunned. The boy had been at the top of his class, with straight A's in all subjects. Students who did poorly would get discouraged and drop out, but every teaching instinct she had was outraged that such an outstanding student would just quit. She had to talk to him, try to make him understand how important it was to his future that he continue his education. Sixteen was so young to make a mistake that would haunt him the rest of his life. She wouldn't be able to sleep at night until she had done her best to talk him into returning.

It had snowed again during the night and had turned bitterly cold. The cat meowed plaintively as it wound around her ankles, as if complaining about the weather. "I know, Woodrow," she consoled the animal. "The floor must be cold to your feet." She could sympathize. She didn't think her feet had been warm since she had moved to Wyoming.

Before another winter came, she promised herself, she would own a pair of warm, sturdy boots, fur-lined and waterproof, and she would stomp about in the snow as if she'd been doing it all her life, like a native. Actually she needed the boots now, but the expenses of moving had wiped out her cash reserves, and the teachings of her thrifty aunt prevented her from buying the boots on credit.

Woodrow meowed again as she put on the warmest, most sensible shoes she owned, the ones she privately called her "old maid schoolteacher shoes." Mary paused to scratch behind his ears, and his back arched in ecstasy. She had inherited him with the house, which the school board had arranged for her to live in; the cat, like the house, wasn't much. She had no idea how old Woodrow was, but both he and the house looked a little run-down. Mary had always resisted owning a cat—it seemed the crowning touch to an old maid's life—but finally her fate had caught up with her. She was an old maid. Now she owned a cat. And wore old maid shoes. The picture was complete.

"Water seeks its own level," she told the cat, who looked back at her with his unconcerned Egyptian gaze. "But what do you care? It doesn't hurt you that my personal water level seems to stop at sensible shoes and cats."

But as she looked in the mirror to make certain her hair was tidy, she sighed. Sensible shoes and cats were just her style, along with being pale, slight and nondescript. "Mousy" was a good word. Mary Elizabeth Potter had been born to be an old maid.

She was dressed as warmly as she could manage, unless she put on socks to wear with her sensible shoes, but she drew the line at that. Dainty white anklets with long ruffled skirts were one thing, but knee socks with a wool dress were something else entirely. She was willing to be dowdy for the sake of warmth; she was not willing to be tacky.

Well, there was no point in putting it off; it wasn't going to get any warmer until spring. Mary braced herself for the shock of cold air on a system that still expected the warmth of Savannah. She had left her tidy little nest in Georgia for the challenge of a tiny school in Wyoming, for the excitement of a different way of life; she even admitted to a small yearning for adventure, though of course she never allowed it to surface. But somehow, she hadn't taken the weather into account. She had been prepared for the snow, but not the bitter temperatures. No wonder there were so few students, she thought as she opened the door and gasped as the wind whipped at her. It was too cold for the adults to undress enough to do anything that might result in children!

She got snow in her sensible shoes when she walked to her car, a sensible two-door, midsize Chevrolet sedan, on which she had sensibly put a new set of snow tires when she had moved to Wyoming. According to the weather report on the radio that morning, the high would be seven degrees below zero. Mary sighed again for the weather she had left behind in Savannah; it was March now, and spring would be in full swing, with flowers blooming in a riot of colors.

But Wyoming was beautiful, in a wild, majestic way. The soaring mountains dwarfed the puny man-made dwellings, and she had been told that, come spring, the meadows would be carpeted in wildflowers, and the crystal-clear creeks would sing their own special song. Wyoming was a different world from Savannah, and she was just a transplanted magnolia who was having trouble getting acclimated.

She had gotten instructions on how to get to the Mackenzie residence, though the information had been reluctantly given. It puzzled her that no one seemed interested in the boy, because the people in the little town had been friendly and helpful to her. The most direct comment she had gotten had been from Mr. Hearst, the grocery-store owner, who had muttered that "the Mackenzies aren't worth your trouble." But Mary considered any child worth her trouble. She was a teacher, and she meant to teach.

As she got into her sensible car, she could see the mountain called Mackenzie's Mountain, as well as the narrow road that wound up its side like a ribbon, and she quailed inside. New snow tires notwithstanding, she wasn't a confident driver in this strange environment. Snow was… well, snow was alien, not that she'd let it stop her from doing what she had set her mind on doing.

She was already shivering so hard that she could barely fit the key into the ignition. It was so cold! It actually hurt her nose and lungs to inhale. Perhaps she should wait for better weather before attempting the drive. She looked at the mountain again. Maybe in June all of the snow would have melted… but Joe Mackenzie had already been out of school for two months. Maybe in June the gap would seem insurmountable to him, and he wouldn't make the effort. It might already be too late. She had to try, and she didn't dare let even another week go by.

It was her habit to give herself pep talks whenever she was pushing herself to do something she found difficult, so she muttered under her breath as she began the drive. "It won't seem so steep once I'm actually on the road. All uphill roads look vertical from a distance. It's a perfectly negotiable road, otherwise the Mackenzies wouldn't be able to get up and down, and if they can do it, I can do it." Well, perhaps she could do it. Driving on snow was an acquired skill, one she hadn't as yet mastered.

Determination kept her going. When she finally reached the mountain and the road tilted upward, her hands clenched on the steering wheel as she deliberately refrained from looking over the side at the increasing distance to the valley floor. Knowing how far it was possible for her to fall if she drove off the edge wouldn't help her at all; in Mary's opinion, that would be in the category of useless knowledge, of which she already had quite enough.

"I won't slide," she muttered. "I won't go fast enough to lose control. This is like the Ferris wheel. I was certain I was going to fall out, but I didn't." She had ridden the Ferris wheel once, when she'd been nine years old, and no one had ever been able to talk her into trying it again. Carousels were more her style.

"The Mackenzies won't mind if I talk to Joe," she reassured herself in an attempt to get her mind off the drive. "Maybe he had trouble with a girlfriend, and that's why he doesn't want to go to school. At his age, it's probably all blown over by now."

Actually the drive wasn't as bad as she'd feared. She began to breathe a little easier. The incline was more gradual than it had appeared, and she didn't think she had too much farther to go. The mountain wasn't as enormous as it had looked from the valley.

She was so intent on her driving that she didn't notice the red light appear on the dash. She had no warning of overheating until steam suddenly erupted from beneath the hood, the frigid air instantly converting the mist into ice crystals on the windshield. Mary instinctively hit the brakes, then uttered a discreet oath when the wheels began sliding. Quickly she lifted her foot from the brake pedal, and the tires found traction again, but she couldn't see. Closing her eyes, she prayed that she was still going in the right direction and let the car's weight slow it to a stop.

The engine was hissing and bellowing like a dragon. Shaking in reaction, she turned off the ignition and got out of the car, gasping as the wind lashed her like an icy whip. The hood release mechanism was stiff from the bitter cold, but finally yielded, and she raised the hood to see what had happened, on the grounds that it would be nice to know what was wrong with the car even if she couldn't fix it. It didn't take a mechanic to see the problem: one of the water hoses had split, and hot water was spitting fitfully from the break.

Instantly she recognized the precariousness of her position. She couldn't stay in the car, because she couldn't let the motor run to keep her warm. The road was a private one, and the Mackenzies might not leave their ranch at all that day, or that entire weekend. It was too far, and too cold, for her to walk back to her own house. Her only option was to walk to the Mackenzie ranch and pray it wasn't very far. Her feet were already numb.

She didn't let herself dwell on the thought that she might not make it to the Mackenzie ranch, either. Instead she began to walk steadily up the road and tried to ignore the snow that got inside her shoes with each step.

She rounded a curve and lost sight of her car, but when she looked ahead there was still no sign of a house, or even a barn. She felt alone, as if she had been dropped into the middle of a wilderness. There was only the mountain and the snow, the vast sky and herself. The silence was absolute. It hurt to walk, and she found that she was sliding her feet instead of picking them up. She had gone fewer than two hundred yards.

Her lips trembled as she hugged herself in an effort to retain her body's heat. Painful or not, she would just have to keep walking.

Then she heard the low growl of a powerful engine, and she stopped, relief welling in her so painfully that tears burned her eyes. She had a horror of crying in public and blinked them back. There was no sense in crying; she had been walking less than fifteen minutes and hadn't been in any real danger at all. It was just her overactive imagination, as usual. She shuffled through the snow to the side of the road, to get out of the way, and waited for the approaching vehicle.

Most helpful customer reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
The BEST of the Mackenzies!!!
By Kindle Customer
Hey!

I absolutely adored both of these books!!!! Mackenzie's Mountain is a great novel about a schoolteacher (Mary) who just can't let Joe Mackenzie quit high school, so she sets off up the mountain that he lives on with his father, Wolf, to see what she can do to get him back in school. What she finds up on that mountain is a passion she's never imagined existed before with a tall, tough and rugged warrior with a past. Wolf, for his part, has been to jail for a rape he didn't commit and isn't willing to ruin Mary's reputation in their small town, so he refuses to begin a relationship with the sweet lady.

Then, a real rapist is on the loose in this quaint, little town and targeting people who are close to Joe and Wolf Mackenzie. And Mary is one of the top targets on his list...

Mackenzie's Mission is about Joe Mackenzie all grown up and in the Air Force. He meets Caroline, a weapons expert who is working on a top secret weapons system for their latest fighter plane, and finds himself instantly attracted to the prickly beauty. Caroline is overwhelmed by her first taste of passion and initially falls back on her old stand-by of treating men with disdain and instantly going on the defensive. But Joe uses the excuse of the other men's attraction to Caroline to make her agree to pretend to date him so she won't be bothered by the obnoxious fighter pilots (or, at least, so he claims). Caroline reluctantly agrees to fake date Joe, but then the dates become all to real.

But there is one little problem that these two have to overcome before they can really get together. It just so happens that there's someone on the base who's sabotaging the weapons system and all evidence is pointing to Caroline...

These two books are the best in the Mackenzie series, and I think they are some of the best books Linda Howard has written in her entire career. I love these books, and am so glad to add them to my Linda Howard collection!

If you love a good dose of mystery, a great, steamy romance, and reading about two powerful, aggressive characters learning that they are simply meant for each other, these books are for you. Hope all this helps you potential buyers and I hope every one of you has a wonderful day!

Luv ya,
Tashi :)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
2 great books in the mackenzie series.
By denise222
both books are great!!!! linda lael miller is a great writer!!!!
Mackenzie's mountain is about mary elizabeth potter who is a self-appointed spinster that has no illusions about love. she meets wolf mackenzie (who has a checkered past) and she sees the good in him and the young boy, joe, that he is raising on his own. joe is half indian and no one want to have anything to do him. they both have chips on their shoulders because of how they have been treated. mary treats them normally and breaks through the barriers they have put up. wolf lives on the mountain and seldom ventures off.
mackenzie's mission is the story of joe as an adult. he has always been fascinated with planes and mary had helped him get into an exclusive flying school and he is now a colonel joe "breed" mackenzie and he is in charge of the top secret weapon system-night wing- and everything to do with it. there is a problem with the plane but he has fallen for the weapons expert, caroline evans, but now he has to wonder if she is behind the problems.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
EBOOKS
By older reader
i love all of the mackenzie books. glad to see chance to get his own book. i have most of ms howaRD's books in hardback or paperback. i have arthritis that make holding books painful & i like the larger print of my kindle. why are the older books not available as ebooks? If i like a book enough to wear out a paperbook and then buy it again i can't be alone

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!! PDF Download Mackenzie's Legacy: Mackenzie's Mountain\Mackenzie's Mission (NYT Bestselling Author), by Linda Howard Doc

!! PDF Download Mackenzie's Legacy: Mackenzie's Mountain\Mackenzie's Mission (NYT Bestselling Author), by Linda Howard Doc
!! PDF Download Mackenzie's Legacy: Mackenzie's Mountain\Mackenzie's Mission (NYT Bestselling Author), by Linda Howard Doc