Cheryl St.John - Her Montana Man

“I wondered why you never got married. You’re more’n pretty enough.”

Eliza’s cheeks grew warm. The cover of night coaxed words into the open. “There was one special someone once. But he just…disappeared.”

“Man was a damned fool,” Jonas said with enough conviction to bring tears to her eyes. He must have noticed her reaction, because he pulled her closer, releasing her hand so he could envelop her in his warmth and strength. She didn’t resist, didn’t even want to.

She had no reason on earth to deny herself this pleasure, nothing more to lose, so she met his kiss.

She savored the warmth of his mouth, loved his hands on her waist. Eliza was starving for affection, for attention…for someone to recognize and want her for who she was. This was her moment. Her tiny dash at satisfaction, and she meant to grab it.

Her Montana Man

Harlequin ®Historical

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“Ms. St.John knows what the readers want and keeps on giving it.”

—Rendezvous

“Ms. St.John holds a spot in my top-five list of must-read Harlequin Historical authors. She is an amazingly gifted author.”

—Writers Unlimited

His Secondhand Wife

Nominated for a RITA ®Award. “A beautifully crafted and involving story about the transforming power of love, this is recommended reading.”

—Romantic Times BOOKreviews

Prairie Wife

Nominated for a Romantic Times BOOKreviews Reviewers’ Choice Award. “Prairie Wife is a very special book, courageously executed by the author and her publisher. Her considerable skill brings the common theme of the romance novel—love conquers all—to the level of genuine catharsis.”

—Romantic Times BOOKreviews [4 1/2 stars]

The Tenderfoot Bride

“Cheryl St.John once again touches the hearts of readers…Not many readers will be able to hold back their tears as they reach the conclusion.”

—Romance Reviews Today

Rain Shadow #212

Heaven Can Wait #240

Land of Dreams #265

Saint or Sinner #288

Badlands Bride #327

The Mistaken Widow #429

Joe’s Wife #451

The Doctor’s Wife #481

Sweet Annie #548

The Gunslinger’s Bride #577

Christmas Gold #627

“Colorado Wife”

The Tenderfoot Bride #679

Prairie Wife #739

His Secondhand Wife #760

Wed Under Western Skies #799

“Almost a Bride”

The Lawman’s Bride #835

The Preacher’s Daughter #851

A Western Winter Wonderland #867

“Christmas Day Family”

The Magic of Christmas #915

“A Baby Blue Christmas”

Her Montana Man #923

Other works include:

Silhouette Special Edition

Nick All Night #1475

* Marry Me…Again #1558

Charlie’s Angels #1630

Million-Dollar Makeover #1688

Montana Mavericks

The Magnificent Seven

The Bounty Hunter

With thanks and appreciation to the ladies who can’t eat as much chocolate as I can, but who definitely help me out of the jams I write myself into and know how to celebrate a birthday in style. Smooches to Bernadette Duquette, Barb Hunt, Donna Knoell, Debra Hines, Lizzie Starr, Chris Carter, Sherri Shackelford and Julie Breese.

And thanks to Heartland Writers Group

for honoring my RWA milestone!

DON’T MISS THESE OTHER NOVELS AVAILABLE NOW:

#924 AN IMPROPER ARISTOCRAT—Deb Marlowe

The scandalous Earl of Treyford has no time for the pretty niceties of the ton. He has returned to England to aid an aging spinster facing an undefined danger. But Miss Latimer’s thick eyelashes and long ebony hair, her mix of knowledge and innocence, arouse far more than his protective instincts…. A scandalous Earl becomes the gentleman she’s dreamed of!

#925 THE MISTLETOE WAGER—Christine Merrill

Harry Pennyngton, Earl of Anneslea, is surprised when his estranged wife, Elise, arrives home for Christmas—especially as she is still intent on divorce! But when Harry and Elise find they are stuck with each other under the mistletoe, the magic of Christmas is just what they need to reignite their love! Mistletoe works its magic as passion is rekindled in this festive Regency story….

#926 VIKING WARRIOR, UNWILLING WIFE—Michelle Styles

War drums echoing in her ears, Sela stood with trepidation on the shoreline. The dragon ships full of warriors had arrived—but it wasn’t the threat of conquest that shook Sela to the core. It was her heart’s response to the proud face of Vikar Hrutson, leader of the invading force—and her ex-husband! Now the warrior must conquer his woman’s heart!

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Silver Bend, Montana, May 1885

Jonas Black looked up from his ledgers and flipped open his ornately engraved gold pocket watch. Nearly three already. In preparation to leave his desk, he blotted the numbers he’d just tallied, then rubbed his ink-stained fingers on his denim trousers. There was something he did every afternoon at this time.

“Gonna be trouble at the North Star!” The tall stoop-shouldered man who tended bar rapped on Jonas’s open office door at the same time as he shouted.

The North Star was the three-story hotel a few doors down, where Jonas and most of his employees lived. Jonas owned the hotel as well as the Silver Star Saloon.

“Tall fella, but not beefy,” Quay told him. “He’s hollerin’ for Mrs. Holmes.”

Jonas didn’t bother to grab his jacket. He might talk this man into leaving peaceably, but experience had taught him it might take more than a simple please to appeal to an abuser. No call to ruin a perfectly good coat.

He glanced at the holstered Colt hanging on a peg just inside the door, but deliberately walked past and locked the door behind him.

With the shutters open to the warm afternoon sun, the saloon was warm and bright. The freshly scrubbed floors, the two patrons and the woman polishing the top of the mahogany bar barely registered as he strode for the door and out onto the shaded boardwalk.

“Madeline, come out here now! Don’t make me come in and get you.”

The stranger stood in the street, a sweaty bay tethered to the post in front of the hotel. His tailored black suit was coated with a layer of dust as though he’d been pushing the mare for the better part of a day. In Jonas’s book, men who abused horses ranked right up there with men who mistreated women. Jonas had heard Madeline Holmes’s story and drew the easy conclusion that this was the man she’d run from before finding refuge in Silver Bend.