Marie Ferrarella - Lassoing the Deputy

Can he rope her in?

Ten years ago Cash Taylor said goodbye to his close-knit hometown and hello to the fast track of big-city success. Now a criminal lawyer with a guilty heart and a lot of soul-searching to do, he’s back in Forever, Texas, for his grandfather’s wedding. Taking a walk down the aisle himself is the last thing on his mind. That is, until he sees Alma Rodriguez, the woman he was crazy about but left behind.

As a deputy, Alma knows how to keep her emotions in check. It’s not easy, especially when Cash looks into her eyes. He hurt her once, yet she can’t resist having him in her life again. Alma sees he’s troubled, and she wants to help—if she can keep love out of the equation. But it just might be the answer they both need!

“Cash, is something wrong?”

He looked at her for a long moment before finally answering. “Other than my realizing how badly I treated you?”

“Yes.”

“I’m just realizing how many wrong turns I’ve taken since I left Forever.”

He was lying to her.

And then he abruptly changed the subject by looking at her, a hint of a smile curving his mouth. “A deputy, huh?”

“Why not? I was always interested in criminology,” she reminded him.

“I know, but I guess I thought that you were ultimately going to go into ranching. That criminology was, you know, like a hobby with you.”

“I guess that maybe you didn’t know me as well as you thought.”

“No,” he agreed sadly. “I guess not.”

To hell with backing off.

And she intended to fix whatever was wrong with Cash. For old times’ sake.

Dear Reader,

Welcome back to Forever, the little Texas town you first encountered when Sheriff Rick Santiago discovered a baby on his doorstep. A lot has happened to the peace-loving citizens since then, and it’s his deputy Alma Rodriguez’s turn to have her story told.

Ten years ago Alma was in love with Cash Taylor, who went off to college on the west coast to make something of himself so that they could begin their future. However, along the way he was at first seduced by big-city life, and then lost his soul there. He felt he was no longer worthy of someone like Alma, who was feisty, loyal and loving. But when his grandfather, the man who raised him after his own parents died, asks him to be his best man at his wedding, Cash cannot bring himself to say no. When he arrives, Alma is determined to keep a tight rein on her heart, and Cash is just as determined not to open his heart again because the consequences would be just too great. Ah, the best laid plans of mice and men (and women)...

As always, I thank you for taking the time to read my book, and from the bottom of my heart, I wish you someone to love who loves you back.

Best,

Marie Ferrarella

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marie Ferrarella is a USA TODAY bestselling and RITA® Award-winning author who has written over two hundred books for Silhouette and Harlequin Books, some under the name of Marie Nicole. Her romances are beloved by fans worldwide. Visit her website at www.marieferrarella.com.

To

Helen Conrad

Who Has Gone

To A Galaxy

Even Further Away

Than Before.

Miss You.

Contents

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

Prologue

He almost hadn’t seen it.

The letter had arrived in his mailbox early this afternoon, tucked in between meaningless advertisements, flyers and catalogs offering him everything from overpriced steaks, uniquely packed and shipped overnight to his Beverly Hills apartment, to useless toys and gadgets only “the discerning professional could appreciate”—or hope to pay for, for that matter.

He’d tossed the lot of them into the garbage, but his aim was off and several pieces of mail fell to the kitchen floor instead of into the silver garbage pail.

He stooped to pick up the fallen pieces in order to throw them away, and that was when he found his grandfather’s letter stuck in between the catalogs.

Even so, he almost hadn’t opened the envelope.

He loved the man dearly. Harry Taylor was his only living relative and the best person—man or woman—that he knew, but the ever-widening dark vortex where he had resided these past four months was growing too large for him to crawl out of anymore.

He wanted his pain, his guilt to finally be over.

Others might have forgiven him for what had happened, but he couldn’t forgive himself, and lately, the burden had gotten to be too much for him to handle.

But the letter continued to call to him.

His grandfather, who staunchly refused to have anything to do with “modern nonsense” like computers or the internet, preferred to communicate the old-fashioned way and had written the letter using pen and paper.

Holding the envelope in his hand, Cash Taylor smiled for the first time in weeks, thinking fondly of the man who had written this.

His grandfather had always been there for him, taking him and his mother in when his father was killed in a freak accident on an offshore oil rig. And the man became his sole guardian when his mother died less than a year later, losing her battle with cancer.

A simple, hardworking, decent man, his grandfather knew nothing about what had happened, what was going on presently in his life.

His days on the ranch and living in Forever represented the best years of his life, Cash recalled, not for the first time.

Very slowly, he opened the letter. It wasn’t a long missive, as his grandfather had never been enamored with his own words. Consequently, the letter was incredibly short.

I’m getting hitched again, boy. To Miss Joan! Can you believe it? I finally wore her down. Wedding’s on a Saturday in three weeks. I know you’re real busy, but it would really make me proud to have you there, standing up for me. I miss you, boy.

Grandpa

That was all.

Folding the letter again, Cash tucked it back into the envelope. There was an ache in his soul, a yearning for what had once been.

“I miss you, too, Grandpa,” he whispered. “More than you could possibly know.”

In all the years that he had lived with the man, his grandfather had never come right out and asked him for a favor. But this invitation was clearly a request for a favor—his presence at the ceremony.

Cash looked at the gun he’d purchased just this week. The gun he’d bought to put him out of his misery.

The same gun, it now occurred to him, that would put his grandfather into misery.

He couldn’t pay the old man back for everything he’d done, for all his kindness, love and patience by killing himself. It wouldn’t be right or fair.

Cash picked up the weapon and crossed to his lavish bedroom with its vaulted ceiling and marble-tiled fireplace. He slipped the gun into the back of the bottom drawer of his bureau.

Disappointing his grandfather was not an option.

He was going to the wedding. There was time enough when he got back to do what he felt he had to do.

It wasn’t until later that he realized the invitation was a lifeline he’d grabbed on to and held with both hands.

His grandfather had saved him for a second time.

Chapter One

Sheriff Rick Santiago paused on his way back from the coffee machine, a filled mug in his hand. He looked thoughtfully at one-third of his team, his only female deputy, Alma Rodriguez. There was an odd expression on her face and she appeared to be at least a million miles away.