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Overview
Rough, handsome cattle-station owner Steve Kinaneneeds a temporary housekeeper-and Chattie Winslowis perfect for the job.
Chattie and Steve try hard to resist the intense sexualchemistry between them. Then Steve discovers thereason for Chattie's presence in the Outback, and he hasa proposal to make: a marriage of convenience. Now thatSteve knows the secrets Chattie's been keeping, she'sforced to become his bride....
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781426872020 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Silhouette |
| Publication date: | 07/01/2010 |
| Series: | Lone Star Country Club Series , #3 |
| Sold by: | HARLEQUIN |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 384 |
| File size: | 746 KB |
About the Author
A born romantic, Beverly fell in love with The Beauty and the Beast epic at an early age, when her grandfather bought her an illustrated copy of the famous fairy tale. Even before she learned to read and write, Beverly's vivid imagination created magical words and fabulous characters inside her mind.
Movies fascinated Beverly, and by the time she was seven she was rewriting the movies she saw on television and at the local theater to give them all happy endings. By the age of nine she'd penned her first novel. She wrote short stories, TV scripts, poetry, and novels throughout high school and into college.
After her marriage to the "love of her life" and the births of her two children, Beverly continued to be a voracious reader and a devoted moviegoer, but she put her writing aspirations on hold until her children were teenagers. In her mid-30s, she returned to her former passion--writing--as a hobby, but before 40, she decided that she wanted to make writing a full-time career.
Beverly believes she has had it all, just not all at the same time. She devoted herself to her husband and children and considers herself one of the many selfless "supermoms" who put their family's needs first. At every age of their lives, from infancy to adulthood, Beverly's children have been a true joy to her.
And when Beverly rediscovered an old dream-- of becoming a published writer--no one was more supportive of her aspirations than her family. Her children are her greatest cheerleaders and her husband is her biggest supporter. After writing over 40 books and receiving numerous awards and nominations, as well as having books on the USA Today list and consistently on the Waldenbooks bestseller list, Beverly's career is indeed a dream come true.
Having a fantastic family and fabulous friends, as well as making a living doing the one thing she has loved doing since childhood, Beverly considers herself truly blessed.
Readers may contact Beverly by writing to her. And please check out her web site at beverlybarton.com.
Date of Birth:
December 23, 1946Date of Death:
April 21, 2011Place of Birth:
Tuscumbia, ALPlace of Death:
Tuscumbia, ALRead an Excerpt
The Rebel's Return
By Beverly Barton
Harlequin Enterprises
Copyright © 2002 Harlequin EnterprisesAll right reserved.
ISBN: 0373613547
Chapter One
Dylan Bridges glared across the courtroom at his father and for one horrific moment felt nothing but hatred for the man. He had kept hoping, up to the very last minute, that his dad would do something - anything - to help him. But the high and mighty, all-important Judge Carl Bridges hadn't lifted a hand - hell, hadn't lifted his damn pinky finger - to help his only child.Dylan felt like a fool for believing that his father would somehow find a way to stop the inevitable, that he'd pull strings, call in favors or at the very least speak in Dylan's defense. But oh, no, not Carl Bridges, the by-the-book, high-principled, no-excuses lawyer, judge, and absentee father. For the past four years, ever since Dylan's mother died, Carl had had no use for him. Leda Bridges had been the buffer between father and son, keeping peace in the family. It seemed to Dylan that once his mother was gone, his father had stopped loving him, and had devoted all his time and attention to his job.
Well, you've had it now, Dylan told himself. You're on your way to the Texas Reform Center for Boys.
Two years! He wouldn't be getting out until he turned eighteen. How the hell had this happened to him? He'd done a lot of stupid things in the past few years, even had some skirmishes with thelaw; but stealing a car had been a major screwup, even for him. A string of misdemeanors was one thing - auto theft was something else entirely.
"I've never been more disappointed by anyone in my entire life," Carl Bridges had said. "Son, what were you thinking? You took that car for a joyride and dragged Jock Delarue's daughter into this mess with you."
Had that been the real problem, the fact that he'd dared to corrupt Mission Creek's reigning princess, Maddie Delarue, whose old man had more money than God? If he had simply borrowed the car from the country club and hadn't whisked Maddie off her feet and practically kidnapped her, would he still be in as much trouble? Probably not. Had his father decided it was easier to betray his son than to displease Jock Delarue? If Dylan knew one thing about his dad, it was the fact that he enjoyed being a golf buddy with the movers and shakers in Texas, especially men like Delarue, Archy Wainwright, and Ford Carson.
So, why, of all the girls at Mission Creek High, had Dylan set his sights on Maddie? He'd known she was way out of his league. Was it because the fiery-haired cheerleader was the most popular girl in school? Was it because she represented the unobtainable? Or was it simply because every time he looked at her, he got hard? Whatever the reason, he had become obsessed with the one girl who wouldn't give him the time of day. Other girls found the tough-guy, bad-boy image he'd cultivated intriguing. At sixteen, he was considered the hellion of Mission Creek, Texas - and the bane of his father's existence.
He supposed he could lay all the blame on Maddie; after all, she was the reason he'd taken the sleek silver Porsche that day. Like a fool, he'd been damned and determined to impress her, to show off, to get her alone, even if only for a few minutes. The whole thing had started several months ago, the day he'd finally worked up enough courage to ask Maddie for a date. He had cornered her in the school parking lot that afternoon as she and several of her giggling fellow cheerleaders passed by.
He leaned casually against the hood of his old truck. Unlike a lot of the other guys whose fathers had given them new cars on their sixteenth birthdays, Dylan had been told that if wanted a vehicle, he'd have to work for it. His two part-time jobs - as a weekend valet at the country club and his summer and after-school job at the local hardware store downtown - had earned him just enough money to buy the beat-up, aqua-blue Chevy pickup.
"Hey, Red," he called as she walked past him. Maddie paused momentarily, shook her head just enough to toss about her long red hair, but didn't turn or acknowledge his presence in any way. But her girlfriends turned and looked at him, all smiles and fluttering teenage silliness.
"Look, Maddie, it's Dylan Bridges," one girl said as she curled a lock of her blond hair around her index finger and gave him the once-over.
"Why don't you leave Maddie alone?" Another perky blonde asked. "She's not interested in the likes of you. Why would she want anybody else when she's practically going steady with Jimmy Don Newman?"
Ah, yes, Jimmy Don Newman, a high school senior and captain of the football team. Every girl's dreamboat. Not rich by Wainwright, Carson, and Delarue standards, but acceptable because his mother's family had deep roots in Mission Creek and Jimmy Don's athletic prowess had gained him the town's admiration.
"Is that right, Maddie?" Dylan eased away from the truck and took a tentative step toward her. "Do you really agree with all these other airheads who think Jimmy Don's so wonderful? Or are you dying to find out what it would be like between you and me?"
Maddie jerked around and glared at him. "There is no you and me and there never will be."
"Never say never." He winked at her. She huffed.
When he walked toward Maddie, her friends stepped aside and moved behind her.
"Come on, honey, let me drive you home." Maddie lifted her chin, stuck out her snooty little nose and glowered at him; then she glanced at his rusty, battered, old truck. "I wouldn't be caught dead in a rattletrap like that. I'd never date a guy who didn't have a decent car."
Her words stung him, but what pissed him off royally was the fact that she stood there so smugly, looking down her nose at him while the tittering laughter of her friends echoed in his ears.
Oh, yeah, he could certainly lay the blame for his present predicament at Maddie Delarue's feet. But his father shared at least half the blame. The very morning he'd borrowed the Porsche from the country club, he and his father had gotten into another rip-roaring argument and he'd stormed out of the house, bitterly angry. Adding to his bad mood when arriving for his valet job at the Lone Star Country Club was Maddie's arrival to play tennis with Jimmy Don. When he saw the two of them together, he'd never wanted anything more in his life than to grab Maddie and run away with her.
And that was just what he'd done.
Excerpted from The Rebel's Return by Beverly Barton Copyright © 2002 by Harlequin Enterprises
Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.