Here's an unedited excerpt:
“What the hell—”
Tess Gilmore held back her curse when she saw her two younger
sisters peering through the heavy curtains at whatever was making that horrible
racket. One might have called it singing if one had a tin ear. To Tess it
sounded like a wolf caught in a trap or maybe a bear clearing its throat. And,
because she just happened to be the new choirmaster at Alabaster Elementary
School, she knew a good voice when she heard one.
This was not one
of them.
In the background the television hummed. Outside the beat of
bass drums throbbed so loud it rattled the windows. Country music blared as
someone tried their best to out sing Garth Brooks’ song “Friends in Low Places”.
Tess cringed when the vocalist attempted a note too high for his baritone
voice.
Face buried between the curtains, her sister, Rachel,
beckoned Tess with several quick waves of her hand. “Oh, my God. You have to
see this?” The fair-haired beauty snorted. “I think it’s our next door neighbor.
Judging by the way he’s swaying while dancing on our retainer wall, I’d say
he’s drunk as a skunk.”
Clancy Wiseman?
Tess had heard the naughty rumors about that cowboy. The stories told were deliciously sinful. But of
course, she wouldn’t dare get involved with a rogue who was known for dabbling
into a little bondage and even more wicked adventures like threesomes. Their
brother, Levi, had warned them all about the man who occupied the ranch next to
them.
Still, curiosity had its claws in her. Tess quickened her
steps until she eased behind Rose, the youngest of the identical twins by two
minutes and the most forward and daring out of the two girls.
Grinning from ear to ear, her blue eyes laughing, Rose stared
up at Tess. “Isn’t he handsome?”
Tess peered through the black curtain of night hampered only
by truck lights that almost blinded her. She could barely make out the shadowy
shape that teetered on the three-foot stucco fence.
Her sister’s words drew Tess up short. “How do you know he’s
handsome?” How indeed?
Both girls’ teetering stopped abruptly.
Tess shook her head. “Tell me you haven’t been nosing around
his property?”
Their meddling would be the death of her. At fifteen they
were spreading their wings and soaking up as much independence as they could. Add
an almost nineteen-year-old brother and—
The burden of her guardianship swept over Tess. Her chest
tightened. Levi would be going off to college in less than a year. That is if
she could keep him away from the girls. The last thing she needed to deal with was
an unexpected marriage proposal or, God forbid, a pregnancy.
And Rose and Rachel—
“Well…” Rachel began pushing aside her waist length blonde hair
that matched both Rose’s and Tess’s, while her twin finished her sentence, “it
was a small peek. The girls at school say he is the most sought out cowboy in
all of San Antonio, maybe even all of Texas. Who knows, maybe the world.”
How was that for exaggeration?
“You two shouldn’t be listening to idle gossip,” Tess
chastised.
The trouble was she had heard the same rumors. Not only was
the man said to be tall, dark and handsome, but rich. Which was evident by his
holdings, an impressive Spanish manor that sat on two thousand acres of prime
land. His sully sullied reputation would only make him that much more
attractive to some.
Certainly not her.
Tess had her family and career to think about. A randy
cowboy was not in her plans. Tears came from out of nowhere to dampen her eyes.
She quickly blinked them away before her sisters could see her sorrow. In all
honesty, a year ago Tess wouldn’t have thought twice about taking on a man like
Wiseman, but not now—not since her parents’ death. Her siblings relied on her.
She had to set the standards so that they grew up in the environment their
parents had set for them.
Tess eased back so the cowboy was no longer in her sights. “Get
away from there. Maybe he’ll just go home.”
“Or pass out.” Rachel chuckled, before parting the curtains
once more and staring into the darkness. Rose joined her as Tess stepped away.
Clancy Wiseman.
Tess exhaled slowly, glancing around the large room, taking
in its comfortable leather couch, love seat, and two matching chairs positioned
before a large stone fireplace. Angus Cattle Ranch, the Gilmore’s new home, sat
on seven hundred acres. While not as grandiose as Wiseman’s, the two-story log cabin
was spacious and homey. The scent of mesquite burning in the grate lent truth
to its warmth.
She released a sigh of longing.
If only their parents hadn’t died in a car accident a year
ago. At twenty-three, she had never thought that her life would take such a
drastic turn. She wasn’t equipped to raise her sisters and brother. But then
when did anything make sense?
The change of scenery had been her idea. The move to San
Antonio had been her brother’s idea.
Levi had always dreamed of owning his own ranch and there
was plenty of room for Rachel and Rosie to kick up their heels. But when he
left for college, because no matter how he fought he was getting a degree, the
care of the ranch would fall upon her shoulders.
God. She should have thought this through better.
“Oh no!” Rose reared back, eyes wide with concern. “He
fell.”
All three of them rushed to the front door, but it was Tess
who got there first. Back against the cool wood, she spread her arms out wide
to bar the way. “No you don’t. I’ll take care of this.” Her demand was met with
a choir of disapprovals.
“Please, Tess, can’t we come with you?” Rachel asked.
“Absolutely not. It’s late. You both should be in bed. You
have school tomorrow.”
“Puleeezzze…” Rose whined, while Rachel echoed her.
“No. Now upstairs with you both.” Tess waited a heartbeat before
she pivoted, turned the porch light on and opened the door to step outside.
Dressed in old flannel pajamas and no robe, she crossed her
arms beneath her full chest and hurried toward where she had last seen the man waltzing
along the retainer wall. The wet grass beneath her bare feet chilled her. She
should have returned for slippers, but concern kept her on track. His singing
had stopped and that couldn’t be a good sign.
I hope the idiot
didn’t hurt himself. Then again, it would serve him right. What was he
doing here anyway?
Tess peered over the wall. “Mr. Wiseman?”
Lying prone, he didn’t move.
Her heart stuttered. Oh
God. Was he breathing? Her pulse took flight as she quickly crawled over
the abrasive stone wall. Kneeling so that her heels touched her butt, she
placed her fingertips to his neck just beneath an obstinate jawbone and felt
for life.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Okay. So he wasn’t dead, but he might as well be. The man appeared
to be out cold. He smelled of whiskey, spicy cologne, and a heady mixture of
masculinity that she didn’t want to affect her, but it did. Her pulse picked up
a beat of temptation. She willed herself to look at him as an inconvenience, but
the lock of dark hair that swept across one eye called to be brushed back.
Before she knew it she reached out and her fingertips skimmed his forehead.
“What on God’s green earth am I going to do with you?”
The only good thing about this situation, the cowboy’s
inebriated state granted Tess the opportunity to really look at the man who had
provoked so many rumors. Moonlight and headlights bathed his face in shadows,
giving him a mysterious and sexy mien. In didn’t help that the truck radio
switched over to a dreamy love song. A steel guitar whined softly in the
background.
Clancy Wiseman really was tall, dark, and definitely handsome.
She sighed.
Long black eyelashes lay like crescents atop his cheeks. A
five o’clock shadow was rough beneath her gentle caress, as she stroked her
palm over his bristly cheek. He didn’t wear a jacket, only a damp t-shirt that
stretched over a broad chest and a firm muscled abdomen, and an impressive set
of bulging biceps. Those enticing veins that ran up a healthy man’s forearms
had always turned her on, and then there were his hands. Large. Strong.
Tess shuddered wondering what they would feel like against
her skin. She inhaled the scent of him again, before she slowly continued her
perusal.
Hmmm…
Tight blue jeans didn’t hide the fact the man had what was
needed to keep a woman satisfied. She swallowed hard. It had been one difficult
year of celibacy. Maybe that’s way she wasn’t surprised by the image that
suddenly filled her head.
Her. Him. Wrapped in a hot embrace. His firm body pressed
against hers and his cock spreading her wide, filling her inch by delicious
inch. She trembled, closing her eyes and reveling in the stolen moment of
arousal. That familiar tingle in each nipple felt so good as it radiated
throughout, making her breasts grow heavy before it moved lower.
“Oomph…” Air
rushed out of Tess’s lungs as she was suddenly grabbed and jerked forward. With
a thud and a little squeal of bewilderment, she landed spread-eagle atop the cowboy,
nose to nose.
Half-shuttered, dark eyes stared up at her.
“Are you an angel?”
His rich deep voice slid across her like a sensual touch, sending
a shiver up her spine, a fact that irritated the crap out of her. Tess didn’t
need any more complications in her life, and this man screamed of complications.
“No!” Pushing and shoving followed her sharp reply.
Any attempts to break his hold were fruitless. The man was
strong. She wasn’t a lightweight. At five-nine, she could hold her own. Well,
usually.
His nose nudged hers. “Did you fall from Heaven?” Lips a
breath away from hers tempted her, but she wasn’t a fool. Before she could
laugh at his audacity and put him in his place, he continued. “Will you be my
angel tonight? Take me home? Make love to me?” His breathy request made her
eyelids rise swiftly.
“Absolutely not!”
****
I can't wait for this release.
Mac
Posts
Ooooo, I loved it. :)
Congratulations Mac!
Marika