Gina Wilkins - The Texan's Tennessee Romance / The Rancher & the Reluctant Princess

“For a pet,” he added.

Natalie looked at him through her lashes. “So you think we’ll be able to find a home for him?”

“I’m sure we will.” He brushed a strand of hair away from her face. “Don’t worry so much about it. He’s pretty good at taking care of himself.”

“I know.” She glanced up at him.

He toyed with the ends of her hair around her face, then touched her mouth with one finger, teasing her lips apart.

A faint flush tinged her cheeks. He felt his own pulse beating as his body reacted to the nearness of hers. He wanted to tell her how beautiful she was, but he couldn’t think of a way to do so without sounding trite or clichéd. He hoped she could see the sentiment in his eyes as he lowered his mouth to hers…

Sophie gave a small, almost imperceptible shake of her head.

“That’s what I thought,” he murmured, and cupped her face with both hands.

It’s just a kiss, he told himself, lowering his head to hers. Just a kiss to take away that lonely look from her eyes. But that was before he felt the softness of her mouth beneath his and breathed in her small sigh.

The quick heat darting through him demanded that he kiss her more deeply, pull her taut little body into his arms, know the feel of her small breasts against his chest. She would fit perfectly there. She would fit perfectly everywhere.

With his body demanding more, but his mind telling him he’d already done more than he should, his hands drifted from her face. “That wasn’t because you’re a princess…”

By

By

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The Texas Billionaire’s Bride by Crystal Green & The Texas Bodyguard’s Proposal by Karen Rose Smith

Kids on the Doorstep by Kimberly Van Meter & Cop on Loan by Jeannie Watt

The Texan’s Tennessee Romance by Gina Wilkins & The Rancher & the Reluctant Princess by Christine Flynn

Loving the Right Brother by Marie Ferrarella

A Weaver Baby by Allison Leigh

A Small-Town Temptation by Terry McLaughlin

A Not-So-Perfect Past by Beth Andrews

By

GINA WILKINSis a bestselling and award-winning author who has written more than seventy novels for Mills & Boon. She credits her successful career in romance to her long, happy marriage and her three “extraordinary” children.

A lifelong resident of central Arkansas, Ms Wilkins sold her first story to Mills & Boon in 1987 and has been writing full-time since. She has appeared on the Waldenbooks, B Dalton and USA TODAY bestseller lists. She is a three-time recipient of the Maggie Award for Excellence, sponsored by Georgia Romance Writers, and has won several awards from the reviewers of Romantic Times BOOKreviews.

As always, for my family:

John, Courtney, Kerry, Justin and David.

He was quite possibly one of the worst maintenance men Natalie Lofton had ever seen. Pretty, but incompetent. Watching as he fumbled with a leaky pipe under her kitchen sink, she wondered where on earth her aunt and uncle had found this twenty-something guy, who had introduced himself only as Casey. She couldn’t imagine what had made them think he was qualified to be a handyman for the vacation cabins they owned in the Smoky Mountains around Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

“Is there anything I can do to help you?” she asked the third time she heard an ominous clang followed by a muttered curse.

Her voice from the doorway must have startled him. She saw his nice backside jerk, heard what sounded like a painful thump from beneath the sink and then yet another colorful expletive, bitten off midway.

He emerged ruefully rubbing a spot on the top of his head, and she couldn’t help noticing again that he was certainly good-looking. His appearance, she decided, defied simple, one-word adjectives. His hair was just a shade more brown than blond, and his almost-crystalline-bright eyes looked blue one moment, green the next. His jawline was sharply carved, but flashing dimples softened his cheeks. She suspected his personality was just as multifaceted.

“What did you say?” he asked.

She moved closer, bending over to see what he’d been doing under there. How much time did it take to replace a leaky trap, anyway? “I asked if there’s anything I can do to help.”

“Thanks, but I’ve got it. It won’t be much longer.”

“Uh-huh.” She hoped she didn’t sound as skeptical as she felt.

His polite smile fading, he ducked back under the sink, flipping over to lie on his back this time. She couldn’t help noticing that he looked just as good from waist down as he did above. Long legs, flat stomach, nice…

“Could you hand me that wrench, please? The big one?”

She picked up the biggest wrench she saw in his box and leaned over to hand it to him. “This one?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

She watched as he fitted it to the pipe. “Um, don’t you think you should—”

“What?” he asked loudly, unable to hear from beneath the sink. Even as he spoke, he gave the wrench a big twist. She saw the wrench slip, smashing through the thin copper water pipe next to him.

Cold water sprayed in a geyser from the broken pipe, hitting her squarely in the face. Gasping, she heard Casey sputter as he lay at the bottom of a veritable waterfall. While she stumbled backward, he scrambled frantically clanging and muttering until he reduced the gushing to a dribble by turning off the water valve.

“—shut off the water supply?” she finished her question in a grumble.

“I am so sorry,” he said, awkwardly climbing from beneath the sink. He was even wetter than Natalie, if that was possible. His light brown hair dripped around his face, and his blue polo shirt was plastered to his well-defined chest.

Which reminded her…

Glancing downward, she noted that her thin, yellow cotton shirt had molded itself to her, going almost transparent when wet. She grabbed hold of the front, pulling the fabric away from her body. “I’ll go find some towels.”

He raised his gaze quickly to her face. “Yeah, okay. I’m really sorry.”

She nodded and darted out of the kitchen, heading straight for the cabin’s only bedroom. She wasn’t bringing towels to him until she had changed her shirt.