Cate Miller has scared off every suitor. Pete Treger has never failed at anything. Could he be the one to finally tame the fiery Cate? The Courtships of Lancaster County book 1. Views: 52
Days are hot on the Skylance Ranch, and the nights even hotter!New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Diana Palmer brings her readers back to Branntville, Texas, with Cort Brannt's story. The heir to the Skylance Ranch empire has women gallop into his life, but the handsome lone wolf sends them just as quickly on their way…until a pretty, vivacious neighbor appears on the range. Has the most eligible bachelor in Branntville met his match?Don't miss the classic tale by Diana Palmer Heart of Stone included in this book!Boone Sinclair is the ultimate Long, Tall Texan—reticent, noble and blessed with a Texas-size stubbornness! Can lovely Keely Welsh convince him that she's no longer a girl in need of protection, but a woman out to win his heart?About the AuthorThe 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.Maddie Lane was worried. She was standing in her big yard, looking at her chickens, and all she saw was a mixture of hens. There were red ones and white ones and gray speckled ones. But they were all hens. Someone was missing: her big Rhode Island Red rooster, Pumpkin.She knew where he likely was. It made her grind her teeth together. There was going to be trouble, again, and she was going to be on the receiving end of it.She pushed back her short, wavy blond hair and grimaced. Her wide gray eyes searched the yard, hoping against hope that she was mistaken, that Pumpkin had only gone in search of bugs, not cowboys."Pumpkin?" she called loudly.Great-Aunt Sadie came to the door. She was slight and a little dumpy, with short, thin gray hair, wearing glasses and a worried look."I saw him go over toward the Brannt place, Mad-die," she said as she moved out onto the porch. "I'm sorry."Maddie groaned aloud. "I'll have to go after him. Cort will kill me!""Well, he hasn't so far," Sadie replied gently. "And he could have shot Pumpkin, but he didn't..""Only because he missed!" Maddie huffed. She sighed and put her hands on her slim hips. She had a boyish figure. She wasn't tall or short, just sort of in the middle. But she was graceful, for all that. And she could work on a ranch, which she did. Her father had taught her how to raise cattle, how to market them, how to plan and how to budget. Her little ranch wasn't anything big or special, but she made a little money. Things had been going fine until she decided she wanted to branch out her organic egg-laying business and bought Pumpkin after her other rooster was killed by a coyote, along with several hens. But now things weren't so great financially.Maddie had worried about getting a new rooster. Her other one wasn't really vicious, but she did have to carry a tree branch around with her to keep from getting spurred. She didn't want another aggressive one."Oh, he's gentle as a lamb," the former owner assured her. "Great bloodlines, good breeder, you'll get along just fine with him!"Sure, she thought when she put him in the chicken yard and his first act was to jump on her foreman, old Ben Harrison, when he started to gather eggs."Better get rid of him now," Ben had warned as she doctored the cuts on his arms the rooster had made even through the fabric."He'll settle down, he's just excited about being in a new place," Maddie assured him.Looking back at that conversation now, she laughed. Ben had been right. She should have sent the rooster back to the vendor in a shoebox. But she'd gotten attached to the feathered assassin. Sadly, Cort Brannt hadn't.Cort Matthew Brannt was every woman's dream of the perfect man. He was tall, muscular without making it obvious, cultured, and he could play a guitar like a professional. He had jet-black hair with a slight wave, large dark brown eyes and a sensuous mouth that Mad-die often dreamed of kissing.The problem was that Cort was in love with their other neighbor, Odalie Everett. Odalie was the daughter of big-time rancher Cole Everett and his wife, Heather, who was a former singer and songwriter. She had two brothers, John and Tanner. John still lived at home, but Tanner lived in Europe. Nobody talked about him.Odalie loved grand opera. She had her mother's clear, beautiful voice and she wanted to be a professional soprano. That meant specialized training.Cort wanted to marry Odalie, who couldn't see him for dust. She'd gone off to Italy to study with some famous voice trainer. Cort was distraught and it didn't help that Maddie's rooster kept showing up in his yard and attacking him without warning."I can't understand why he wants to go all the way over there to attack Cort," Maddie said aloud. "I mean, we've got cowboys here!""Cort threw a rake at him the last time he came over here to look at one of your yearling bulls," Sadie reminded her."I throw things at him all the time," Maddie pointed out."Yes, but Cort chased him around the yard, picked him up by his feet, and carried him out to the hen yard to show him to the hens. Hurt his pride," Sadie continued. "He's getting even.""You think so?""Roosters are unpredictable. That particular one," she added with a bite in her voice that was very out of character, "should have been chicken soup!""Great-Aunt Sadie!""Just telling you the way it is," Sadie huffed. "My brother—your granddaddy—would have killed him the first time he spurred you."Maddie smiled. "I guess he would. I don't like killing things. Not even mean roosters.""Cort would kill him for you if he could shoot straight," Sadie said with veiled contempt. "You load that .28 gauge shotgun in the closet for me, and I'll do it.""Great-Aunt Sadie!"She made a face. "Stupid thing. I wanted to pet the hens and he ran me all the way into the house. Pitiful, when a chicken can terrorize a whole ranch. You go ask Ben how he feels about that red rooster. I dare you. If you'd let him, he'd run a truck over it!"Maddie sighed. "I guess Pumpkin is a terror. Well, maybe Cort will deal with him once and for all and I can go get us a nice rooster.""In my experience, no such thing," the older woman said. "And about Cort dealing with him…" She nodded toward the highway.Maddie grimaced. A big black ranch truck turned off the highway and came careening down the road toward the house. It was obviously being driven by a maniac.The truck screeched to a stop at the front porch, sending chickens running for cover in the hen yard because of the noise."Great," Maddie muttered. "Now they'll stop laying for two days because he's terrified them!""Better worry about yourself," Great-Aunt Sadie said. "Hello, Cort! Nice to see you," she added with a wave and ran back into the house, almost at a run.Maddie bit off what she was going to say about traitors. She braced herself as a tall, lean, furious cowboy in jeans, boots, a chambray shirt and a black Stetson cocked over one eye came straight toward her. She knew what the set of that hat meant. He was out for blood."I'm sorry!" she said at once, raising her hands, palms out. "I'll do something about him, I promise!""Andy landed in a cow patty," he raged in his deep voice. "That's nothing compared to what happened to the others while we were chasing him. I went headfirst into the dipping tray!"She wouldn't laugh, she wouldn't laugh, she wouldn't…"Oh, hell, stop that!" he raged while she bent over double at the mental image of big, handsome Cort lying facedown in the stinky stuff they dipped cattle in to prevent disease."I'm sorry. Really!" She forced herself to stop laughing. She wiped her wet eyes and tried to look serious. "Go ahead, keep yelling at me. Really. It's okay.""Your stupid rooster is going to feed my ranch hands if you don't keep him at home!" he said angrily."Oh, my, chance would be a fine thing, wouldn't it?" she asked wistfully. "I mean, I guess I could hire an off-duty army unit to come out here and spend the next week trying to run him down." She gave him a droll look. "If you and your men can't catch him, how do you expect me to catch him?""I caught him the first day he was here," he reminded her."Yes, but that was three months ago," she pointed out. "And he'd just arrived. Now he's learned evasion techniques." She frowned. "I wonder if they've ever thought of using roosters as attack animals for the military? I should suggest it to someone.""I'd suggest you find some way to keep him at home before I resort to the courts.""You'd sue me over a chicken?" she exclaimed. "Wow, what a headline that would be. Rich, Successful Rancher Sues Starving, Female Small-Rancher for Rooster Attack. Wouldn't your dad love reading that headline in the local paper?" she asked with a bland smile.His expression was growing so hard that his high cheekbones stood out. "One more flying red feather attack and I'll risk it. I'm not kidding.""Oh, me, neither." She crossed her heart. "I'll have the vet prescribe some tranquilizers for Pumpkin to calm him down," she said facetiously. She frowned. "Ever thought about asking your family doctor for some? You look very stressed.""I'm stressed because your damned rooster keeps attacking me! On my own damned ranch!" he raged."Well, I can see that it's a stressful situation to be in," she sympathized. "With him attacking you, and all." She knew it would make him furious, but she had to know. "I hear Odalie Everett went to Italy."The anger grew. Now it was cold and threatening. "Since when is Odalie of interest to you?""Just passing on the latest gossip." She peered at him through her lashes. "Maybe you should study opera…""You venomous little snake," he said furiously. "As if you could sing a note that wasn't flat!"She colored. "I could sing if I wanted to!"He looked her up and down. "Sure. And get suddenly beautiful with it?"The color left her face."You're too thin, too flat-chested, too plain and too untalented to ever appeal to me, just in case you wondered," he added with unconcealed distaste.She drew herself up to her full height, which only brought the top of her head to his chin, and stared at him with ragged dignity. "Thank you. I was wondering why men don't come around. It's nice to know the reason."Her damaged pride hit him sound... Views: 52
"I'm not the baby's father!"When a beautiful brunette wheeled a baby carriage into Dominic Hunter's office, he knew he could not have forgotten making love to her! But Tina was convinced that Dominic was Bonnie's father—even if he did insist on denying paternity—and she was determined to make this heartless seducer face up to fatherhood.Heartless? Even Dominic couldn't resist baby Bonnie, whether she was his or not. Seducer? Suddenly Dominic couldn't resist being that, either; never before had he wanted a woman—Tina—so much.... Views: 52
AURORA'S FINEST ARE ON THE CASE AGAIN IN USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR MARIE FERRARELLA'S CAVANAUGH UNDERCOVER Confronting "Ben Cartwright" in a seedy motel room, Detective Tiana Drummond is more than suspicious. A member of the CSI team, she's sure the handsome hunk is connected to the underground ring holding her sister captive. And like him or not, he's her only lead to finding Janie before it's too late. But Tiana, always distrustful of men, more than likes him. "Cartwright" makes her feel like she's never felt before--desired, protected...and totally chagrined when she discovers he's undercover cop Brennan Cavanaugh! Teaming up on a dangerous search, they'll have to risk their lives. But keeping their covers isn't as easy as falling in love! Views: 52
Hard on the heels of The Russian Endgame comes Allan Topol’s next great thriller. Rife with the exotic backdrops and hairpin plot turns that put Topol on the best-seller list, The Argentine Triangle is a heart-stopping foray into human vice coupled with power accelerating towards catastrophe. In a world fraught with global conspiracy, Craig Page is king. Views: 52
Re-read this classic romance by New York Times bestselling author Penny Jordan, previously published as Tiger Man in 1981 Jago Marsh thrives under pressure. So when he gets more than he bargained for in his latest business venture in the form of feisty redhead Storm Templeton, he decides this is a challenge he will take great pleasure in rising to! Storm is dedicated to her job, so understands that her new boss is right for the company - even if he is so very wrong for her! Commanding, arrogant and infuriatingly sexy, she wants to resist him, but his relentless seduction soon has Storm admitting that she craves her boss's touch... Views: 52
In Danielle Steel's epic new novel, the lives of four generations of women in one family span fortune and loss, motherhood, tragedy and victories. From the glamorous San Francisco social scene of the 1920s, through war and the social changes of the '60s, to the rise of Silicon Valley today, this extraordinary novel takes us on a family odyssey that is both heartbreaking and inspiring, as each generation faces the challenges of their day. The Parisian design houses in 1928, the crash of 1929, the losses of war, the drug culture of the 1960s—history holds many surprises, and lives are changed forever. For richer or for poorer, in cramped apartments and grand mansions, the treasured wedding dress made in Paris in 1928 follows each generation into their new lives, and represents different hopes for each of them, as they marry very different men. From inherited fortunes at the outset to self-made men and women, the wedding dress remains a... Views: 52
Derek wasn’t always the man he is now. After repeated mistakes, a life that lacks any morals, he finally feels remorse for what he did to Nancy, one of his closest friends. Now that all of his friends are paired off, the loneliness sets in. He wants—needs—to feel connected to someone. The only problem is, there is no one that catches his eye. Until Paola… A professional surfer with a confident attitude, Paola doesn’t need anyone to take care of her. She’s independent, intelligent, and beautiful. Derek immediately falls for her, and when she rejects him, he only works harder. He may have been a jerk in the past, but his bachelor days are over. He’ll only have one woman, whether she takes him or not. ReviewHawaiian Crush Series Book #1 - Connected by the Sea (Sydney and Coen) (Available Now)Book #2 - Breaking Through the Waves (Sydney and Coen) (Available Now)Book #3 - Connected by the Tide (Henry and Renee) (Available Now)Book #4 - Taking the Plunge (Nancy and Thatcher) (Available Now)Book #5 - Riding the Surf (Derek and Paola) (Available Now)Book #6 - Caught in the Undertow (Sydney and Coen) (Available Now)Book #7 - Lying in the Sand (Cheyenne and Bryce (Available Soon) Views: 52
