Ann Evans - That Last Night In Texas

He could be a businessman from Houston, but even in the city the men wore boots and Stetsons. He looked…

Cassie pulled in a sudden, shocked breath. She felt as though she’d been kicked, taken a blow, hard and fast.

Ethan.

Here. Back on Flying M property.

The man who had made her heart slip again and again into overdrive.

The man who had helped shape her entire existence.

The man who had given her Donny, the most precious thing in her life.

Dear Reader,

When I was much younger (and a lot thinner) my sister and I had horses. We spent all our free time with Shalimar, Sparky and Sheba. We rode the pine trails, played horseback hide-and-seek in the orange groves and used the rumps of our mounts as diving boards into the lake near our home. We took dozens of spills off their backs, chased them all over the pasture to get their hooves trimmed, and chanced getting nipped if we dawdled in giving them hay.

Having horses was hard work, expensive and time-consuming. But I wouldn’t have missed a minute of it. They’re wonderful creatures, and to this day, I still love the smell of molasses sweet feed and a leather saddle on a sweaty horse.

So I guess it’s only natural that sooner or later I’d draw on all those old memories. My Texas heroine, Cassie Wheeler, has a deep love of horses, but she’s seen the worst of them, too. The danger and unpredictability of a two-thousand-pound animal has left her scarred, both emotionally and physically.

Fortunately, that’s where Ethan Rafferty comes in. He was in love with her before her life changed so dramatically, and he’s in love with the woman she is now. Whatever the consequences, he’s ready to become part of her life again. If only she’ll let him.

I love to hear from readers, and a lot of romance novel fans have a love of horses, as well. Share yours by sending me an e-mail at abair@cfl.rr.com.

Happy trails!

Ann Evans

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Ann Evans has been writing since she was a teenager, but it wasn’t until she joined Romance Writers of America that she actually sent anything to a publisher. Eventually, with the help of a very good critique group, she honed her skills and won a Golden Heart from Romance Writers of America for Best Short Contemporary Romance of 1989. Since then she’s happy to have found a home at Harlequin Superromance.

A native Floridian, Ann enjoys traveling, hot fudge sundaes and collecting antique postcards. She loves hearing from readers and invites them to visit her Web site at www.aboutannevans.com.

For Sherri Angell, who has never lost her passion for horses, cowboys and living life to the fullest.

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

CASSANDRA RAFFERTY. Mr. and Mrs. Ethan Rafferty. Ethan and Cassie Rafferty.

With a pleased sigh, Cassie McGuire smiled down at the delicately scrolled words she’d written in her diary. She resisted the temptation to dot the i in her name with a tiny heart. After all, she was two days past her eighteenth birthday and a woman now, no longer a child.

She ran her fingers over the lines, as though they were braille symbols whose importance she could discover through touch. They were important, because very soon this was who she would become—Cassandra Rafferty—and nothing anyone said or did could change that.

Ethan’s wife.

She felt her heart go into a wild gallop. Sometimes she still couldn’t believe it.

There was a knock on her bedroom door and Cassie jumped, startled. As usual, her father didn’t wait for permission to enter. She had little time to slip her diary into her desk drawer before he appeared.

“It’s getting late, cupcake,” Mac McGuire said, offering her a tentative smile. They had barely escaped an argument earlier this evening, and he was obviously hoping all was forgiven.

She couldn’t leave tonight without trying to make it right between them. Crossing the room, she gave him a hug.

He was a big man, barrel-chested, with skin turned to leather by years of riding in the hot sun. His full name was Donald Alastair McGuire, Scottish through and through, but everyone in East Texas called him Mac. The Flying M wasn’t the biggest ranch in the Beaumont area, and it certainly wasn’t the richest, but her father was well-liked and respected.

Cassie adored him. After her mother’s death, it had been just the two of them. He was a good, loving father, a man of strong opinions, but possessing a tender heart. Especially where she was concerned.

Unfortunately, he could also be unbearably overprotective, and she hated that her marriage to Ethan had had to be planned in secret. When their absence was discovered tomorrow, her dad would be hurt and angry. Better to face him afterward with marriage license in hand. He would come to terms with it, though she couldn’t bear the idea that he might not. But somehow, one day, she would make it up to him.

“I’m heading over to the Wheeler place for a little while,” he said.

“Now? It’s so late.”

Josh Wheeler lived at the next ranch over from the Flying M. He had inherited River Bottom after his parents were killed in a car accident last year. The place was small, but had great potential, and Cassie’s father seemed to have taken Josh under his wing.

“Josh says his prize mare is looking colicky. Probably nothing, but I thought I’d drive over and take a peek. I suspect he’s just lonely and wanting company on a Saturday night.”

Oh, no, you don’t, Cassie thought. You’re not drawing me back into a discussion about how I ought to spend more time with him. Josh Wheeler was twenty-five. He was smart, had sunny good looks and had been her best friend for years. Lately, he’d made it pretty clear that he had a romantic interest in her as well.

Unfortunately, she felt nothing for him except friendship.

In fact, tonight’s near argument had been over Josh, who had asked her out on a date. She’d refused. Her father had thought she ought to reconsider, and Cassie had been forced to dig in and defend her decision without revealing the basic truth of the situation.

How could she go on a date with one man, when in less than twenty-four hours, she’d be married to another?

A sudden niggling worry made Cassie bite the inside of her cheek. In a few hours she was supposed to meet Ethan in the horse barn. The last thing she needed was to run into her father coming in the front door as she was going out. She’d have to be extra careful.

She faked a yawn. “Well, have fun, but don’t stay out too late. Since tomorrow’s Sunday, I think I’ll sleep in.”

“Don’t forget that we’re going to work Bandera at ten. Time for me to see what I’ve gotten myself into.”

Bandera was the new chestnut stallion her father had purchased during his last trip to Dallas. He’d been delivered today, and from the glimpse Cassie had seen of him from her bedroom window, his sleek red coat and her father’s auburn hair would make an arresting, impressive sight.

“Is Ethan supposed to help?” Cassie couldn’t resist asking.

Her father shook his head. “The horse doesn’t need to be broken. He just needs some manners.”