Amber Leigh Williams - His Rebel Heart

Can a rebel ever change his ways?

Being a single mother and successful florist is tough, especially when your new next-door neighbor is the man who shattered your heart. Eight years ago, bad boy James Bracken walked away from Adrian Carlton...and their unborn child. Now he’s back. And Adrian’s desire to protect her son from the truth of his biological father isn’t enough to hide the wild blue eyes of father and son, or to keep Adrian from surrendering to the raw passion between her and James. But is he truly the changed man he claims to be? Maybe this time his rebel heart really is home to stay.

“I don’t want you to be alone...”

Adrian sighed. “James, I have been alone, for a really long time.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Adrian...I am so, so sorry.”

When he drew her into his arms, she was helpless to stop him. She felt his lips come to rest on the top of her head. His arms wrapped around her back, closing her in, tightening.

He simply held her, for what seemed like ages.

A small eternity passed in the space of moments. Memories stirred, whispering to life, ghosts of what had been.

When his lips touched hers, it felt so natural. The simple press of his lips brought her back to life. Her heart fluttered, lifting and soaring.

She should have pushed him away. After everything, she should shove him back, make him leave. Instead, she let the moment stretch, deepen until she felt him brush up against the soul she’d buried from everything and everyone...

Dear Reader,

Revisiting my hometown, Fairhope, through the eyes and hearts of my characters is something I look forward to every time I write a book in this series. But there’s something about Adrian and James that made me anticipate writing this book more than any other. Penning their story was an emotional experience I won’t soon forget. Mostly because I wrote this story within a year of having my first child, a blue-eyed boy much like Adrian’s.

Writing love stories that involve single parents can be a delicate process. Being a mother opened my eyes to the special bond between mother and child. Even on days when writing had to be put off until bedtime, I wasn’t bothered because I knew that the bond he and I have built was the inspiration I needed to do justice to these characters.

And speaking of inspiration...I have to give props to my beloved husband. Not only is he a tall, bearded man in a tool belt—just like James—but his knowledge of engines, mechanics and BB guns was invaluable while researching this book, particularly for a certain scene involving a squirrel and a trip to the emergency room for my unfortunate hero.

I hope you enjoy Adrian and James’s story, readers! You can find more about James, Adrian and other characters from previous books in my Fairhope series at amberleighwilliams.com.

Amber Leigh

His Rebel Heart

Amber Leigh Williams

www.millsandboon.co.uk

AMBER LEIGH WILLIAMSlives on the Gulf Coast. A Southern girl at heart, she loves beach days, the smell of real books, relaxing at her family’s lakehouse and spending time with her husband and their sweet blue-eyed boy. When she’s not running after her young son and three large dogs, she can be found reading a good romance or cooking up a new dish. Readers can find her at amberleighwilliams.com!

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To my firstborn…. Live always in a world

where dragons fly and fairies dance.

Chase dreams and dragonflies.

Breathe deep and get your hands dirty.

Build wisely and love faithfully.

Listen to stories—and tell a few of your own.

And to Sassy, who we miss….

Dear friend and spirit animal.

Meet you at the Rainbow Bridge.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

PROLOGUE

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

Extract

Copyright

PROLOGUE

THENIGHT ADRIAN CARLTON first saw James Bracken naked, he was bloodied and bruised. He’d gone several rounds with a bottle of Wild Turkey 101, then crawled behind the wheel of his father’s old Mustang convertible.

The joyride ended abruptly on a backcountry road when the speeding muscle car skated off the pavement, plowed through the entry sign in front of Carlton Nurseries and skinned the side of a giant oak tree before barreling into the glass front of the office building.

From the farmhouse behind the nursery, Adrian had heard the deafening crash and gone running—out the front door and through the rows of her parents’ shrubs and saplings, her bare feet sinking into the damp earth. A light drizzle was falling from the leaden night skies and the humidity had swelled at the onset of rain. By the time she reached the nursery’s office and saw the cherry-red Shelby that had decimated it, sweat was crawling from her neck to her back.

“Oh, my...” She trailed off as she took in the scene. Her hands lifted to her mouth as she shook her head. “What in God’s name...”

She trailed off at the sound of a grunt and tinkling glass. Her feet unstuck and she took several steps forward. Surely no one had survived this carnage.

The grimacing man unfolding himself from the driver’s seat as he struggled to push the car door open suggested otherwise. Swearing under his breath, he grabbed the top of the car for balance. He hissed, lifting his arms away from the glass shards that were littered there, tilting his wrists to the dim light from the street to reveal fresh cuts on the undersides.

“Somabitch,” she heard him mutter, the foul words tripping over each other.

Adrian scoffed. The guy was drunk. Her lips peeled back from her teeth in a sneer as she hissed, “You stupid moron! You could have killed someone!”

He started at the sound of her voice. His head turned. Through the blood leaking from a large gash close to his dark hairline and the thin cut below his left eye, recognition struck her. Adrian’s eyes rounded in surprise. “James?” she said, her voice laden with dread. “James Bracken, is that you?”

He stared at her face for a moment, his eyes moving slowly, sluggishly over her features. Then he staggered forward, his mouth warming into a devilish grin. “Adrian.”

As he loped around the trunk of the car, it wasn’t just his towering height and lean, muscled form that struck her. Her heart rapped against her chest. He was bloody. He was bruised. He was grinning like a fool. And he was naked as a jaybird. She took a long step back and swallowed. “James, are you all right?”

He laughed, stumbled a bit. When she dove for him, he pulled himself up to his full height, his blue eyes winking with laughter and not a hint of remorse. She couldn’t be altogether sure that he wasn’t suffering from a concussion or worse, much less that he was completely aware of his surroundings.