Annette Broadrick - Branded

He stared at her as though she’d slapped him.

“What kind of question is that?”

“One you might want to take a look at. You say you can’t control your reactions to me and this is your way of having sex without guilt. Well, thank you for the offer,” she said, her heart crumbling into aching pieces. “But I believe I’ll pass.”

He looked shocked. Guess he’d never been turned down before. She fought the tears that threatened. The last thing she wanted was for him to know how devastated she was by his reasons for proposing. The irony didn’t escape her. Her youth had been filled with dreams of the time when he’d propose to her.

And now that he had, she’d refused him….

Dear Reader,

Welcome to another fabulous month at Silhouette Desire, where we offer you the best in passionate, powerful and provocative love stories. You’ll want to delve right in to our latest DYNASTIES: THE DANFORTHS title with Anne Marie Winston’s highly dramatic The Enemy’s Daughter—you’ll never guess who the latest Danforth bachelor has gotten involved with! And the steam continues to rise when Annette Broadrick returns to the Desire line with a brand-new series, THE CRENSHAWS OF TEXAS. These four handsome brothers will leave you breathless, right from the first title, Branded.

Read a Silhouette Desire novel from his point of view in our new promotion MANTALK. Eileen Wilks continues this series with her highly innovative and intensely emotional story Meeting at Midnight. Kristi Gold continues her series THE ROYAL WAGER with another confirmed bachelor about to meet his match in Unmasking the Maverick Prince. How comfortable can A Bed of Sand be? Well, honey, if you’re lying on it with the hero of Laura Wright’s latest novel…who cares! And the always enjoyable Roxanne St. Claire, whom Publishers Weekly calls “an author who’s on the fast track to making her name a household one,” is scorching up the pages with The Fire Still Burns.

Happy reading,

Melissa Jeglinski

Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire

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believes in romance and the magic of life. Since 1984, Annette has shared her view of life and love with readers. In addition to being nominated by Romantic Times magazine as one of the Best New Authors of that year, she has also won the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award for Best in its Series, the Romantic Times W.I.S.H. award, and the Romantic Times Lifetime Achievement Awards for Series Romance and Series Romantic Fantasy.

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

Epilogue

The Crenshaws were having a barbecue and everyone for miles around had been invited. Strings of lights decorated the large live oaks surrounding the hacienda-style homestead and dozens of tiki lamps discouraged mosquitoes. The patio had been cleared for dancing to the music of a local country-western band. Joe finished serving the last of the line of guests barbecued ribs, beef and sausage he’d prepared, pleased to see everyone having fun. He and Gail always enjoyed giving parties.

“Fill you a plate and c’mon over here and sit down, Joe,” Randy, one of his friends, called. “We’ve been talking about the Crenshaw family and my grandson’s asking all kinds of questions I can’t answer.”

Joe laughed, filled his plate and ambled over to the long picnic table where he sat down with some of the guests. After polishing off some ribs, Joe asked, “What’s your questions, Teddy?”

The twelve-year-old blushed. “I was wondering how long the Crenshaws have lived here.”

“Since 1845.”

Teddy’s eyes rounded. “Wow!”

“Yep, it’s been a long time since Jeremiah Crenshaw rode in to Texas. Back then, it was still a republic. So we’ve been here longer than Texas has been a state.”

“What made him come to the Hill Country?”

“He’d heard about the area from people he’d met after he arrived in Texas. When he checked out the place, he knew this was where he wanted to settle. Luckily for him, the Republic was struggling financially and he bought the land at a good price.”

“How much land?”

Before Joe could answer Teddy’s question, Randy said, “It’s not polite to ask how much land a person has, son. It’s like asking how much money a man’s got in the bank.”

Joe grinned. “Oh, I don’t think Jeremiah would have been offended by the question. He was proud of his holdings. I don’t have the exact figures in front of me, but I know it was several thousand acres. He tended to keep track of it in miles rather than acres.”

“I betcha he had to hire a bunch of people to work for him, didn’t he?”

“That’s true and once again J.C. lucked out. Once Texas joined the United States the following year, people from back East headed to Texas, where land was plentiful and cheap. Jeremiah sold off small parcels of land to those who wanted to work for him. He built homes and bachelor quarters for those who didn’t want to buy.”

“How did he feed so many people?” Teddy asked.

Joe grinned. “He was a wheeler-dealer, that’s for sure. He convinced the railroad owners to run tracks out here. That way he could ship his cattle, wool and leather products out and have needed supplies shipped back.”

“Was New Eden already a town?”

“More like a settlement at first. Some people didn’t want to ranch, so mercantile stores and livery stables and—”

“—And saloons!”

“And saloons, as well as feed stores and a hotel, were built around the end of the railroad line. Back then, the town was called Trail’s End.”

Randy said, “Well, I’ll be. I never knew that. You sure know your history, Joe.”

“It helped that as the years passed, some of the wives of the Crenshaw men decided to keep a sort of diary of events that eventually formed a history of the family and the area. My dad had it published several years back. You could find a copy in the library, if you want to know more.”

The table discussion turned to other things but Joe kept thinking about Crenshaw history. Once the others decided to listen to the live band and maybe dance some, Joe wandered over to the edge of the crowd and sat in one of the lawn chairs ranged beneath one of the large live oak trees.

The party was just one of many traditions handed down in the family. As time passed, schools and churches had been built, bringing in more people. The family helped newcomers settle and adjust to the western frontier. The common threat of Indian raids, rustlers and drought, as well as the loneliness that was part of living in Texas at the time, drew people together and forged the character of those who fought to keep their property. The Crenshaw heirs had always considered themselves guardians of their land. Each one inherited Jeremiah’s strength, determination, toughness and a rowdiness that was a part of life in Texas, Joe thought, smiling.