Jan Hudson - Wild About A Texan

A slow grin lifted one corner of his sensual mouth, a mouth that had haunted her for months after their encounter. She still remembered the taste of it, the feel of it on—

“Not likely, darlin’,” he said in a slow drawl as he ran a knuckle along her jawline.

Her spine started to soften, then Olivia caught herself and stiffened her resolve. She wasn’t going to fall into his trap again. There wasn’t room for a man in her plans. Certainly not a man like Jackson.

“Forget it,” she snapped. There will never be a repeat performance. Now, if you’ll excuse me…” She tried to push past him, but he blocked her way.

“Not so fast,” he said, pinning her between his arms and the wall. “Now that I’ve found you, I’m not about to let you get away….”

Dear Reader,

Celebrate the rites of spring with six new passionate, powerful and provocative love stories from Silhouette Desire!

Reader favorite Anne Marie Winston’s Billionaire Bachelors: Stone, our March MAN OF THE MONTH, is a classic marriage-of-convenience story, in which an overpowering attraction threatens a platonic arrangement. And don’t miss the third title in Desire’s glamorous in-line continuity DYNASTIES: THE CONNELLYS, The Sheikh Takes a Bride by Caroline Cross, as sparks fly between a sexy-as-sin sheikh and a feisty princess.

In Wild About a Texan by Jan Hudson, the heroine falls for a playboy millionaire with a dark secret. Her Lone Star Protector by Peggy Moreland continues the TEXAS CATTLEMAN’S CLUB: THE LAST BACHELOR series, as an unlikely love blossoms between a florist and a jaded private eye.

A night of passion produces major complications for a doctor and the social worker now carrying his child in Dr. Destiny, the final title in Kristi Gold’s miniseries MARRYING AN M.D. And an ex-marine who discovers he’s heir to a royal throne must choose between his kingdom and the woman he loves in Kathryn Jensen’s The Secret Prince.

Kick back, relax and treat yourself to all six of these sexy new Desire romances!

Enjoy!

Joan Marlow Golan

Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire

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a winner of the Romance Writers of America RITA Award, is a native Texan who lives with her husband in historically rich Nacogdoches, the oldest town in Texas. Formerly a licensed psychologist, she taught college psychology for over a decade before becoming a full-time author. Jan loves to write fast-paced stories laced with humor, fantasy and adventure, and with bold characters who reach beyond the mundane and celebrate life.

This one is for all the loyal readers who have been asking for and eagerly awaiting Jackson and Olivia’s story.

Also, special thanks go to Carolyn Lampman for SSS/IS and to Buddy Temple, former Texas Railroad Commissioner.

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

Epilogue

He woke suddenly, his heart hammering against his chest. He rolled over and reached for her, but the place where she had lain was empty. Something told him that she was long gone, but Jackson strode through the suite shouting her name. The only sign that she had been there was the second champagne glass beside his on the nightstand.

Cursing, he grabbed the phone and called her room.

“Miss Emory has checked out, sir,” the operator told him.

“Checked out? When?”

“I don’t know. Would you like the desk?”

“Yeah.”

He cursed some more while he waited, turned the air even bluer when he found out that it was ten o’clock in the morning and she had a three-hour head start on him.

Ten o’clock? He never slept that late. Then he remembered that they hadn’t done much sleeping the night before. God, he hadn’t been able to get enough of her. He’d never met anyone quite like Olivia, never experienced such a powerful connection with any woman. He’d known from the minute he saw her at the first prewedding shindig that she was a special lady. And he’d known that he wasn’t the only one aware of the chemistry between Irish Ellison’s bridesmaid and Kyle Rutledge’s groomsman. Everybody had seemed to notice.

Trouble was, he hadn’t been able to get Olivia alone; they had always been surrounded by people—and she had seemed to prefer it that way. In fact, she’d been feisty as a fractious filly when he’d tried to move in on her and cut her from the herd, telling him in no uncertain terms to get lost. But Jackson hadn’t let that stop him. God may have shorted him a bit on brains, but he’d made up for it with luck and determination. And Jackson was determined to have Olivia Emory, sass and all.

He had already been making plans to take her back to Texas with him, and damned if she hadn’t run off. Well, she wasn’t going to get away from him that easy. She couldn’t run far enough or fast enough.

Snatching his tuxedo pants from the bedpost, he yanked them on and pulled on his dress boots. He let loose another string of oaths when he couldn’t find the studs to his shirt. He grabbed a Dallas Cowboy jersey from a drawer and dragged it over his head as he made for the elevator.

Outside, when Jackson flagged a taxi, he saw that snow was really coming down hard. The cab driver earned his extra twenty bucks, but the few minutes he shaved off the ride to the Akron airport didn’t help. Jackson discovered that Olivia’s plane had left two hours before he had arrived, and now the runways were shut down. A mean snowstorm was moving in, and all the major airports in the area were closing. He tried to charter a plane or a chopper, but everything was grounded until the storm passed.

The ride back to the hotel was slower, and Jackson felt as if somebody had broken both his ankles and thrown him in a hole. He was miserable. Truth was, he had fallen for Olivia Emory—fallen hard.

Strange that he’d zeroed in on her. Even though she was a beautiful woman, she wasn’t the type he usually chose. Olivia was a bright lady with a string of letters after her name, and he was dumber than a barrel of horseshoes—coming from a family of smart go-getters, he’d figured that out when he was just a kid. And he’d never cared much for women who played hard to get; there were too many willing ones to put out the effort to chase one.

She was rare. He’d known it instantly.

He had watched her relentlessly the entire weekend of his cousin Kyle’s wedding, for, despite her words, he’d known sure as the dickens that she felt the same sparks sizzling between them that he did. Still, she wouldn’t even let him hold her close when they danced at the wedding reception. She acted prissier than Miss Culbertson, his third-grade teacher.