Winter Bride (9780345546197) (18 page)

He went still. “Years?”

She smiled. “I believe you mentioned fifty or so?”

“At least.” His voice was thick. “If that’s not too much commitment for you.”

“It’s not enough. No, don’t touch me.” She took a hasty step back as he moved toward her. “I have some more to say and I can’t think when you touch me.”

“Neither can I. Talk and it better be quick. Lord, it’s been
four
weeks, love.”

Dear heavens, she wanted to go into his arms. “I want to tell you why I came back to Winter Island.”

“Brooking told me,” he said impatiently. “And I’ve been thinking about it. Perhaps we should stay here until we’re sure all of Marino’s goons have been rounded up. I’ll hire private bodyguards after Brooking’s men leave. Later we’ll buy a condo in Seattle.”

“I’ve already taken care of that. Brooking put me in touch with four ex-Special Forces people and they’ll arrive tomorrow morning.”

“I suppose I should have expected you to beat me to the punch,” he said dryly.

“We’re going to pay them very well and I expect them to stay a long, long time.”

“You may not need them for more than six months or so. Marino’s finished on San Miguel and Perez will make sure his forces are disbanded.”

“We’ll need them.” She smiled serenely. “I’ve decided, if you continue in this extremely dangerous profession, you’re going to need a sanctuary to come home to. When we’re traveling, we’ll probably take one of the men with us.”

“A bodyguard?” He looked outraged.

“Listen to me, Jed.” A steely note entered her tone. “You
will
be as safe as I can make you. I won’t have it any other way.”

“I won’t be tailed by a—” He suddenly started to laugh. “Lord save me from a protective woman.”

“This protective woman will help the Lord save you from more dangerous hazards than herself.”

“I’m beginning to wonder if there is anyone more hazardous.”

“And there’s another reason why I came back to Winter Island.” She paused. “I want to be married here.”

“What?” His eyes widened. “You can’t be serious. You went through hell in that castle.”

“That’s why I want the marriage to take place there.” Her words tumbled out. “Don’t you see? We need new memories to replace the old. Beautiful memories. Your mother loved the island and so did you at one time. If you let Arnold destroy that for you, then you lose again.” She added in a whisper, “And so will I. We’re stronger than that, Jed. We don’t need to run away again.”

He gazed at her a moment. “You really want this?”

“I want to make this place our own. I want Winter Island to belong to you again. I told Ronnie I’d never had a home, but it’s important to put down roots. You already have roots here and we only have to make them healthy and strong again.” She smiled tremulously. “What do you think the Winter Bride would have done back in medieval times? She wouldn’t have packed up and moved to a condo in Camelot. She would have lived in her castle and changed circumstances to suit herself.”

He took a step forward and gently touched her cheek. “But, as you’ve often told me, you’re not the Winter Bride.”

“I was wrong.” A brilliant smile lit her face. “I’m the
new
Winter Bride and you’ll have to reckon with me as her husband did her.”

He lifted her chin with his fingers as he looked into her eyes. “Oh, I will,” he said tenderly. “And love you and cherish you for as long as we live.”

“You will?” she whispered.

His eyes suddenly twinkled with mischief. “I wouldn’t dare do anything else.”

They are stories of true romance and touching emotion. We believe those two very important ingredients are constants in our highly sensual and very believable stories in the
LOVESWEPT
line. Our goal is to give you, the reader, stories of consistently high quality that may sometimes make you laugh, sometimes make you cry, but are always fresh and creative and contain many delightful surprises within their pages.

Most romance fans read an enormous number of books. Those they truly love, they keep. Others may be traded with friends and soon forgotten. We hope that each
LOVESWEPT
romance will be a treasure—a “keeper.” We will always try to publish

LOVE STORIES YOU’LL NEVER FORGET

BY AUTHORS YOU’LL ALWAYS REMEMBER

The Editors

Welcome to Loveswept!

I have a little secret: when I’m shopping for gifts, I can never resist buying myself a little treat as well – usually in the form of a sexy and romantic read. If you’re like me, then you’re in luck because we have some exceptional books on sale this month. Like Juliet Rosetti’s
CRAZY FOR YOU
, the next book in her fun and sexy series featuring Mazie Maguire, everyone’s favorite escaped (but exonerated!) felon, and her hilarious capers. For historical romance fans, there’s Samantha Kane’s
DEVIL IN MY ARMS
, the last installment in her Saint’s Devils series which is heaping with steamy intrigue and mystery. Then there’s Lauren Layne’s
LOVE THE ONE YOU’RE WITH
, the next book in the clever and sassy Sex, Love & Stiletto series—which reminds me so much of Sex & the City, with the story of two high-powered magazine writers who find love amid a war of words. And don’t miss Toni Aleo’s
BLUE LINES
; if you’re not already a Toni Aleo fan, you will be after this book. Sports romance are so hot right now– and Toni’s sexy hockey book will have you craving for more sports in your life.

So treat yourself; you won’t regret it!

And, you can’t miss these classics:

Two sizzling books from Ruth Owen:
TAMING THE PIRATE
, where a woman in danger must hide the truth about her past from the sexy PI who’s bent on protecting—and loving—her, and,
LAST AMERICAN HERO
, where a seductive cowboy loner learns a lesson in love;
GREAT AMERICAN BACHELOR
, Adrienne Staff and Sally Goldenbaum’s story of a small-town girl who shows a high-powered bachelor that some things in life are more important than the perfect deal; Iris Johansen’s mesmerizing
WINTER BRIDE
, about a woman who risks her life to win the love she’s always dreamed of;
IMAGINARY LOVER
, a haunting love story and
HANNAH’S LOVER
, a scorching hot fantasy – both from Sandra Chastain; and as a special treat, we’re also releasing Connie Brockway’s — McClairen’s Isle trilogy featuring the restless, daring and proud Merrick siblings as they find a love as wild and glorious as the Highland isle they claimed as their own:
THE PASSIONATE ONE, THE RECKLESS ONE and THE RAVISHING ONE
.

Be swept away with
Loveswept
!

Gina Wachtel

Associate Publisher

Accidental Cowgirl

“Roadkill?
Again
?” Kyla braked to steer around the third animal in as many miles, but this time, the ancient rental car jolted the other way, yanking her hands right off the wheel as it beelined for the carcass.

“Eww! No! Bad car!” She stomped on the brake pedal with both feet, but instead of slowing down, the car jerked back to the right with an ominous clunking sound that grew louder as she death-gripped the wheel. For a long half-mile she thought
she
might be the next body to litter this deserted Montana highway, but finally she managed to muscle the car to a stop in the breakdown lane. A loud hiss preceded another thump, and as the car leaned suddenly to the right, steam billowed from the hood. She looked in the rearview mirror, fully expecting to see pieces of metal strewn in a path behind her, but the highway was empty.

She whacked the wheel. “Seriously, car? You couldn’t think of a more original way to die?”

Kyla looked out the open driver’s-side window, where the shimmering August sun was heading toward the horizon. Perfect. It was about to be dark, she was still probably an hour south of the rent-a-ranch, and now her lemon of a rental car had imploded.

Never take the last car on the lot
, she could almost hear Gramps chiding her.
There’s a reason it’s still sitting there
. She sighed, wishing he had added,
And also, never agree to marry a man who’s planning to steal millions of dollars, send it to the Caymans, and set you up to take the fall
.

For a moment, she pictured the seedy hotel she’d spotted as the plane landed at the tiny airport. Even with hourly rates and a neon sign missing half its letters, it was looking better right now than this barren landscape. Too bad it was now two hours behind her and she had no way of knowing what was between here and the dude ranch her two best friends had booked for the next two weeks.

She dug her phone and AAA card out of her carry-on, but the phone’s empty bars just taunted her. Uh-oh. No signal. Prickles spiked the crown of her head, creeping downward toward her ears as she looked at the empty landscape. She tried to force her shoulders to relax as she exhaled again.

It was okay. She could handle this. It was just a little case of Dead Car. On a deserted highway. In freakin’ God’s Country, Montana, which was only about twenty-five hundred miles from her tiny Boston apartment. No problem.

She pushed the door open and stepped out gingerly to check the car, hoping maybe there was a way to milk it to the next town if she drove really, really slowly. The steam was clearing, but as she came around the rear, she saw that the back tire was so deflated the rim was practically touching the gravel shoulder of the road. She looked down at her silk blouse, pencil skirt, and heeled sandals. She was still dressed for court, not for doing a tire change on a dusty highway.

She took a deep breath and pulled on the trunk latch, trying to keep the panic at bay. So she was alone. So it was getting dark. She wasn’t helpless. She knew how to change a tire. She didn’t need any big, strapping AAA mechanic, right?

She opened the trunk and sighed as she viewed the contents. Her friend Hayley had promised big skies, fun, and cowboys. Kyla looked back at the setting sun, then up at the pink clouds. Big skies? Check. Too bad they were getting darker by the minute. Fun? Not yet. Cowboys? One with a lug wrench would be really handy right about now.

Once she had Gramps’s old army duffels lined up on the grass, she reached into the trunk and pulled on the loop that should have revealed the spare. Instead, all she found in the wheel well was a pile of fluff that looked suspiciously like a mouse nest. She shuddered and closed the hatch before a set of twitchy whiskers could appear.

Kyla walked around to the right side of the car to take another look at the tire, wondering how far she could get on just the rim. No way was she going to sit out here on this highway all night long with no way to get hold of anyone. How long would Hayley and Jess wait before they got worried and came looking for her?

She grimaced. When she’d called from the airport, they’d been headed out on a twilight trail ride. They wouldn’t get back to the ranch and find her missing until after dark.

Kyla muscled the duffels back into the trunk and slammed it shut, taking in one of the deep breaths her PTSD therapist was always advising. At least this time, she wasn’t trapped
inside
her car at the bottom of a ravine. At least
this
time, she could still walk. At least
this
time, her fiancé—
ex
-fiancé, that is—was in jail, rather than emptying her bank accounts while she lay unconscious in the hospital. So really, she was ahead of the game, right?

She glanced toward the sunset, trying to estimate how much daylight she had left. Unfortunately, she was used to gauging time by where the sun was in relation to the Prudential building, not an actual horizon. It looked like there was nothing but rolling prairie between her and the mountains in the distance.

She kicked off her heels and hoisted herself up on the trunk to see if she could get a better view from up higher. “Damn, damn, double damn,” she muttered as she looked around. The view was stunning, and if circumstances were different, she’d be awed by the darkening grass rippling toward the jagged Rockies.

As it was, she tried not to think about just how many animals emerged out here at dusk, hoping for a human-sized snack. She clambered up the back windshield to the roof, hoping against hope that she’d see something useful from that vantage point, but no. Still just grass.

Kyla looked up at the purpling sky and decided to try out her very rusty praying skills. “If I promise to be really, really good this entire vacation, could you please just send someone to help me, like maybe one of those cowboys in the brochure?” Right. Like those existed outside of a Madison Avenue studio shoot.

As she circled slowly on the roof, a low hum made her jump. She peered back toward where she’d come as the hum slowly grew louder. She thought she could see a dust cloud coming her way. Oh, happy day. She was saved.