Peggy Moreland - Hard Lovin' Man

Eyes wide, Lacey let him pull her into his arms. “But there isn’t any music!”

“Sure there is. Listen real close,” he whispered in her ear.

Her cheek resting against his, she listened. “I don’t hear anything.”

“You’re not concentrating hard enough,” he scolded. “Close your eyes.”

Dutifully Lacey did as he instructed.

“Feel that?” He flattened his hand against her back and pressed her close to his chest. “That’s my heart beating for you.”

The music flowed through Lacey like wine, warming her blood. She stared up at him. “Yes,” she murmured. “I can hear it.” She watched his eyes darken. Then his face was lowering to hers.

“I am going to seduce you,” he warned.

“Too late,” she whispered as his lips touched hers. “You already have.”

Dear Reader,

Please join us in celebrating Silhouette’s 20th anniversary in 2000! We promise to deliver—all year—passionate, powerful, provocative love stories from your favorite Desire authors!

This January, look for bestselling author Leanne Banks’s first MAN OF THE MONTH with Her Forever Man. Watch sparks fly when irresistibly rugged ranch owner Brock Logan comes face-to-face with his new partner, the fiery Felicity Chambeau, in the first book of Leanne’s brand-new miniseries LONE STAR FAMILIES: THE LOGANS.

Desire is pleased to continue the Silhouette cross-line continuity ROYALLY WED with The Pregnant Princess by favorite author Anne Marie Winston. After a night of torrid passion with a stranger, a beautiful princess ends up pregnant…and seeks out the father of her child.

Elizabeth Bevarly returns to Desire with her immensely popular miniseries FROM HERE TO MATERNITY with Dr. Mommy, about a couple reunited by a baby left on a doorstep. Hard Lovin’ Man, another of Peggy Moreland’s TEXAS BRIDES, captures the intensity of falling in love when a cowgirl gives her heart to a sweet-talkin’, hard-lovin’ hunk. Cathleen Galitz delivers a compelling marriage-of-convenience tale in The Cowboy Takes a Bride, in the series THE BRIDAL BID. And Sheri WhiteFeather offers another provocative Native American hero in Skyler Hawk: Lone Brave.

Help us celebrate 20 years of great romantic fiction from Silhouette by indulging yourself with all six delectably sensual Desire titles each and every month during this special year!

Enjoy!

Joan Marlow Golan

Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Life is full of disappointments, some stemming from

circumstances beyond our control. To all who have

suffered but managed to find the rainbow after the

storm, joy in the simple things, love when least

expected…this book is for you.

published her first romance with Silhouette in 1989. She’s a natural storyteller with a sense of humor that will tickle your fancy, and Peggy’s goal is to write a story that readers will remember long after the last page is turned. Winner of the 1992 National Readers’ Choice Award, and a 1994 RITA finalist, Peggy frequently appears on bestseller lists around the country. A native Texan, she and her family live in Round Rock, Texas.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Double-Cross Heart Ranch.

Frowning, Lacey looped an arm around the steering wheel and leaned forward to peer through the windshield at the wrought-iron sign hanging above the ranch’s entrance. Fitting, she decided bitterly. In her estimation, the owner of the ranch—Lucas McCloud—was a double-crossing, heart-breaking, low-crawling snake, so it seemed only appropriate that his ranch’s name would reflect those same traits.

And today she planned to tell him face-to-face what a lowlife she thought he was. Firming her lips in determination, she made the turn into the ranch’s entrance and bumped her way across the cattle guard.

Cattle grazed along both sides of the long drive, unaffected by the dust she stirred, but a small herd of horses lifted their heads as she passed by, curious. Another time, another place, she might have stopped just to enjoy the beauty of the animals and the rugged Texas landscape. But not today. Today she was on a mission.

She’d waited two years for this moment. The rodeo in Fort Worth the night before had put her in close enough proximity to Austin and the Double-Cross Heart Ranch to justify the trip. Not that she needed justification. To her way of thinking, a confrontation with Lucas McCloud was long overdue.

As she topped a small rise, a sprawling ranch house popped into view—and, without warning, butterflies the size of bats took wing in her stomach. She pressed a hand to her middle, and tried to swallow back the unexpected attack of nerves. She could do this, she reminded herself firmly. And once she’d had her say, she was hightailing it back to Missouri, and she’d never have to so much as think the man’s name again.

Parking her truck in front of the house, she hopped down and marched to the porch. She rapped her knuckles hard against the thick oak door then stepped back and folded her arms across her chest, waiting.

She had just about decided to knock again when the door opened and a harried young woman appeared. But before Lacey could state her business, someone inside the house shouted, “Mandy! Where’s the Bible?”

The woman called over her shoulder, “In the bookcase in the office,” then rolled her eyes as she turned back to Lacey. She offered an apologetic smile. “Sorry. Things are a little crazy around here at the moment. We’re getting ready for a wedding.”

A wedding? As usual Lacey’s timing sucked wind. Didn’t matter, though, she told herself. Wedding, or not, she was staying until she’d seen Lucas McCloud and said her piece.

The woman extended a hand in greeting, her smile growing warmer. “I’m Mandy Barrister. What can I do for you?”

Reluctantly, Lacey unfolded her arms and shook the offered hand. “Lacey Cline. I’m here to see Lucas McCloud.”

“Lucas?” the woman repeated, her smile slowly fading.

“Yeah,” Lacey replied, not bothering to hide the bitterness in her tone. “Tell him his daughter is here to see him.”

The woman grabbed for the doorframe, her eyes going wide. “You’re Lucas’s daughter?”

Ignoring the question, Lacey leaned to peer around her. “Is he here? I’m in kind of a hurry.”

Drawing in a long breath, the woman uncurled her fingers from the doorframe and straightened, lifting her hand helplessly. “No. He’s—” She dropped the hand limply to her side. “Lucas is dead.”

A hoof with fifteen hundred pounds of horsepower behind it could have hit the wall of Lacey’s chest and had a lesser effect on her ability to breathe. “Dead?” she managed to choke out.

“Yes. For about thirteen years now.”

Lucas was dead? Lacey raked her fingers through her hair, trying to get a grip on her spinning emotions. She’d waited two years for the opportunity to tell the man who had sired her what a low-crawling snake she thought he was for refusing to acknowledge her as his daughter. She supposed she should be glad he was dead…but for some reason, all she felt was a huge gaping hole in her chest. She backed up a step. “I—I’m sorry,” she stammered, then, unable to think of anything else to say, turned and ran down the steps.