Carla Cassidy - Out of Exile

Lilly wanted to tell him she’d never seen anyone who needed as much as he did, but she knew this wasn’t the time. His features were stony and grim, giving no hint of the softer, gentler man who’d just made love to her.

The scent of him still clinging to her skin, the taste of him still in her mouth, she mounted. “I’m sorry your father was a mean, hateful bastard, Matthew,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean you have to become one.”

She rode away, but she’d gone only a short distance before she turned in the saddle and looked back.

Matthew stood in the shadows, staring after her. Never had she seen a man who looked so achingly alone.

Dear Reader,

Once again we invite you to enjoy six of the most exciting romances around, starting with Ruth Langan’s His Father’s Son. This is the last of THE LASSITER LAW, her miniseries about a family with a tradition of law enforcement, and it’s a finale that will leave you looking forward to this bestselling author’s next novel. Meanwhile, enjoy Cameron Lassiter’s headlong tumble into love.

ROMANCING THE CROWN continues with Virgin Seduction, by award winner Kathleen Creighton. The missing prince is home at last—and just in time for the shotgun wedding between Cade Gallagher and Tamiri princess Leila Kamal. Carla Cassidy continues THE DELANEY HEIRS with Matthew’s story, in Out of Exile, while Pamela Dalton spins a tale of a couple who are Strategically Wed. Sharon Mignerey returns with an emotional tale of a hero who is Friend, Lover, Protector, and Leann Harris wraps up the month with a match between The Detective and the D.A.

You won’t want to miss a single one. And, of course, be sure to come back next month for more of the most exciting romances around—right here in Silhouette Intimate Moments.

Enjoy!

Leslie J. Wainger

Executive Senior Editor

www.millsandboon.co.uk

is an award-winning author who has written over thirty-five books for Silhouette. In 1995, she won Best Silhouette Romance from Romantic Times for Anything for Danny. In 1998, she also won a Career Achievement Award for Best Innovative Series from Romantic Times.

Carla believes the only thing better than curling up with a good book to read is sitting down at the computer with a good story to write. She’s looking forward to writing many more and bringing hours of pleasure to readers.

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Epilogue

He stood in the shadows near the barn, staring at the big white house. At the moment only one light shone from the windows of the huge two-story home. He knew Matthew Delaney, the eldest of the Delaney heirs and the manager of this ranch, would be sitting in his study, where he’d sat every night for the past week.

But tomorrow the house would be ablaze with lights because she would be here. Euphoria cascaded through him and his heart raced so fast he feared it might beat right out of his chest.

Lilliana Marie Winstead. Lilly. Tomorrow she would arrive here. After all the time that had passed, after all the heartaches in his life, tomorrow he would be reunited with the woman who was his soul mate, his love…his very life.

He leaned back against the wooden side of the barn and closed his eyes, a vision of Lilliana materializing inside his mind. The first vision his brain produced was one of her as a young woman. She’d been sixteen years old when he’d first seen her, when he had first recognized that she was his destiny.

At that time her hair had been a curtain of darkness that he’d wanted to climb into and hide in forever. Her eyes had been the deep blue of ocean depths and he’d wanted to dive in and die there.

But before he had been able to make her understand that she belonged to him, that they belonged together, she was gone. He’d been devastated, ripped apart.

And in the years following her disappearance, he’d searched for her, had even tried to take up with other women who looked like her. But in the end they had been terrible disappointments…pale imitations of the woman who was meant to be his.

A swell of rage rose inside him as he thought of those two women. He’d had such hopes for each of them, but they’d been nothing but stupid whores who had refused to understand their fate.

Now they understood. As they rotted in their shallow graves, he was certain they now understood. Just as Lilliana would eventually understand.

She belonged to him.

It had been sheer accident that he’d found her once again. He’d gone into a supermarket he never frequented for a pound of hamburger, and there she had been…pushing a basket just ahead of him.

He’d been so shocked, so utterly overwhelmed, he’d left the store without the meat, but had sat in his truck and watched as, moments later, she’d left the store.

It had been fate, giving him a second chance. And now that he’d found her again he wasn’t about to let her go. She would be here tomorrow and he would be here waiting for her.

He opened his eyes once again and stared at the big house. Matthew Delaney was hiring new help for the ranch and he intended to get hired on. He intended to be here to watch her…to wait…and eventually to claim her as his own for eternity.

He just hoped she didn’t disappoint him like the others before her.

Seventeen years.

It had been seventeen years since she’d been to this ranch. But as she drove beneath the wooden entry that proclaimed the area to be the Delaney Dude Ranch, it felt as if the years had fallen away and she was once again a teenager eagerly looking forward to visiting members of her new family and spending time on a real ranch.

“Maybe I should have called or written to let them know we were coming.”

Lilliana Winstead shot a glance at the elderly woman in the passenger seat. “You didn’t tell anyone that you were coming?”

Lilliana’s adopted aunt, Clara, straightened in the seat. “I was going to, but it simply slipped my mind.” The frown that momentarily danced across her forehead disappeared. “But we’re family, Lilly. I’m sure we’ll be welcome here.”

Lilly hoped so. They had come a long way from Dallas to this ranch in Inferno, Arizona, and had been in the car for the better part of two days.

Lilly directed her attention back out the window. Years before when she had visited, the place hadn’t been a dude ranch but merely a working ranch.

In the distance the huge two-story white house came into view, along with a plethora of outbuildings that hadn’t been there before. Still, a small rush of happiness swept through her. Some of the best memories of her youth came from this place.

As they pulled closer, she spied two men standing near the weathered wooden corral and instantly she recognized one of them as Matthew Delaney.

Even though it had been seventeen years and his back was to them, she recognized his tall lanky length, the impossibly broad shoulders and the downward tilt of the black cowboy hat on his head.