Mary Baxter - Heart Of Texas

“I Wouldn’t Look At Me Like That If I Were You, Unless...” “I Wouldn’t Look At Me Like That If I Were You, Unless...” Clark let the rest of his sentence trail off, but the message was clear. “Sorry,” Sara muttered, ducking her head. This urban cowboy was toying with her affections big time, and she was wallowing in it like someone starving for love and attention. So why didn’t she call a halt to this madness and insist he take her home? Now. She licked her lips. “I’d... better go home.” He moved his head close to her face and whispered, “Not now.” “When?’ she whispered back, swaying toward him. He closed his arms around her. “After we make love.” Letter to Reader Dear Reader, Hey, look us over—our brand-new cover makes Silhouette Desire look more desirable than ever! And between the covers we’re continuing to offer those powerful, passionate and provocative love stories featuring rugged heroes and spirited heroines. Mary Lynn Baxter returns to Desire and locates our November MAN OF THE MONTH in the Heart of Texas, where a virgin heroine is wary of involvement with a younger man. More heart-pounding excitement can be found in the next installment of the Desire miniseries TEXAS CATTLEMAN’S CLUB with Secret Agent Dad by Metsy Hingle. Undercover agent Blake Hunt loses his memory but gains adorable twin babies—and the heart of lovely widow Josie Walters! Ever-popular Dixie Browning presents a romance in which opposites attract in The Bride-in-Law. Elizabeth Bevarly offers you A Doctor in Her Stocking, another entertaining story in her miniseries FROM HERE TO MATERNITY. The Daddy Search is Shawna Delacorte’s story of a woman’s search for the man she believes fathered her late sister’s child. And a hero and heroine are in jeopardy on an island paradise in Kathleen Korbel’s Sail Away. Each and every month, Silhouette Desire offers you six exhilarating journeys into the seductive world of romance. So make a commitment to sensual love and treat yourself to all six! Enjoy! Joan Marlow Golan Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire Please address questions and book requests to Silhouette Reader Service US.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269 Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont L2A 5X3 Title Page Heart of Texas Mary Lynn Baxter www.millsandboon.co.uk MARY LYNN BAXTER MARY LYNN BAXTER A native Texan, Mary Lynn Baxter knew instinctively that books would occupy an important part of her life. Always an avid reader, she became a school librarian, then a bookstore owner, before writing her first novel. Now Mary Lynn Baxter is an award-winning author who has written more than thirty novels, many of which have appeared on the USA Today bestseller list. 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 Epilogue Copyright

“I Wouldn’t Look At Me Like That If I Were You, Unless...”

Clark let the rest of his sentence trail off, but the message was clear.

“Sorry,” Sara muttered, ducking her head.

This urban cowboy was toying with her affections big time, and she was wallowing in it like someone starving for love and attention. So why didn’t she call a halt to this madness and insist he take her home? Now.

She licked her lips. “I’d... better go home.”

He moved his head close to her face and whispered, “Not now.”

“When?’ she whispered back, swaying toward him.

He closed his arms around her. “After we make love.”

Dear Reader,

Hey, look us over—our brand-new cover makes Silhouette Desire look more desirable than ever! And between the covers we’re continuing to offer those powerful, passionate and provocative love stories featuring rugged heroes and spirited heroines.

Mary Lynn Baxter returns to Desire and locates our November MAN OF THE MONTH in the Heart of Texas, where a virgin heroine is wary of involvement with a younger man.

More heart-pounding excitement can be found in the next installment of the Desire miniseries TEXAS CATTLEMAN’S CLUB with Secret Agent Dad by Metsy Hingle. Undercover agent Blake Hunt loses his memory but gains adorable twin babies—and the heart of lovely widow Josie Walters!

Ever-popular Dixie Browning presents a romance in which opposites attract in The Bride-in-Law. Elizabeth Bevarly offers you A Doctor in Her Stocking, another entertaining story in her miniseries FROM HERE TO MATERNITY. The Daddy Search is Shawna Delacorte’s story of a woman’s search for the man she believes fathered her late sister’s child. And a hero and heroine are in jeopardy on an island paradise in Kathleen Korbel’s Sail Away.

Each and every month, Silhouette Desire offers you six exhilarating journeys into the seductive world of romance. So make a commitment to sensual love and treat yourself to all six!

Enjoy!

Joan Marlow Golan

Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire

Please address questions and book requests to

Silhouette Reader Service

US.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269

Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont L2A 5X3

Heart of Texas

Mary Lynn Baxter

www.millsandboon.co.uk

MARY LYNN BAXTER

A native Texan, Mary Lynn Baxter knew instinctively that books would occupy an important part of her life. Always an avid reader, she became a school librarian, then a bookstore owner, before writing her first novel.

Now Mary Lynn Baxter is an award-winning author who has written more than thirty novels, many of which have appeared on the USA Today bestseller list.

One

Sara Ann Wilson.

Her name had rattled around in Clark Garrison’s mind since he’d left Houston and headed for River Oaks. Although he finally spoke the name aloud, he still couldn’t believe the connection.

Why not? he asked himself as his Lexus sports utility vehicle hit the city limits of the small town—so small that it had only one caution light, a gas station and a grocery store of sorts. Some things, least of all small towns, never changed.

He didn’t know anything about the “grown-up” Sara Wilson. All he remembered was that he had dated her younger sister, Alice, and that Alice’s sister and mother hadn’t particularly liked him.

Alice had never said as much, but he knew that Katherine Wilson had thought he wasn’t good enough for Alice, that he was wild and unsupervised, the town’s bad boy. A snarl curled Clark’s lip. If she’d only known about her darling daughter—talk about wild.

As for Sara, he remembered very little, except that she’d been five years older than Alice and him, making her thirty-nine now. He racked his brain trying to recall what she looked like. No specifics came to mind other than she was tall and willowy and had auburn colored hair. She must not have been attractive or he would’ve remembered. A pretty face or a great body rarely got past him.

However, he did recall that Sara had been quiet and on the shy side, that she never seemed to have much to say. Smart. Alice always used to whine that Sara got all the brains in the family.

Not only did she have to be smart, but she had to have money to buy a nursing facility. Hell, as far as he knew she could be a millionaire, but he doubted that. In that postage-stamp-size town, there were no secrets.

It was open season on what went on behind closed doors. If Sara had come into a fortune, he would have heard it through the gossip pipeline. On second thought, maybe he wouldn’t have, since neither one of them lived in River Oaks, hadn’t for years.

After his boss, Lance Norton had given him the folder on the nursing facility, he’d had time only to glance at it, the owners’ names popping up first thing: Don and Opal Merrick and Sara Wilson.