Back to Eden
Where her heart is concerned, Rachel isn't about to take any risksPilot Rachel Quinlan is fearless fighting forest fires, but on the home front it's a different story. She's still not completely over her crush on Cole Hudson, love of her sister Missy's life–and he left Eden eleven years ago. Not that it matters, because now she has Missy's kids to raise and her family's failing business to run. But that's before the past collides with the present–and an accident brings Cole to the rescue.Rachel wants to know if what she feels for Cole is adolescent fantasy or adult attraction. But how can she spend time with him when she has so much to hide?
Читать Back to Eden онлайн беплатно
âWhat Iâm trying to say is that your daughter needs stability.â
Rachel continued. âShe doesnât need someone like you coming into her life only to fall out of it because youâve taken one risk too many or you want to be somewhere else.â
Cole stared at Rachel for a moment without speaking. Then he leaned forward and asked, âWhy are you so good for her when youâve done the same thingârisking your life on some stunt?â
âThat stunt saved the lives of a fire crew.â A crew sheâd been certain was Coleâs.
âYou know as well as I do how lucky you are to be alive.â Cole leaned even closer. âDonât talk to me about stability, either. I canât imagine you make it home to cook dinner every night.â
Dear Reader,
Have you ever had an unrequited high school crush? If so, youâll relate to Rachel Quinlan, who adored Cole Hudson in high school, even though he always treated her like a younger sister. Now that Cole is back in Eden, she has to learn to see him through the eyes of the woman she is today, not the starry-eyed gaze of a teenage girl.
Cole has a lot to learn himself. Heâs always been protective of others, and now he wants to enclose Rachel and her family in a bubble, despite the fact that doing so will keep all of them from achieving their dreams.
I love to hear from readers, either through my Web siteâwww.melindacurtis.comâor regular mail at P.O. Box 150, Denair, CA, 95316. To the many whoâve written about Victoria, yes, her story is coming!
Warm regards,
Melinda Curtis
As always, with much love to my family, who continue to
think of pepperoni pizza as fulfilling all major food groups
Special thanks to Susan Floyd and Anna Stewart
for providing inspiration and reality checks when I needed them most
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
EPILOGUE
PROLOGUE
COLE HUDSON WAS NEVER going to love her.
Rachel Quinlan stared at Coleâs parked truck. The engine wasnât even pinging or popping because it had long since cooled, and the sick sensation caused by unyielding truth settled in her gut.
Oh, Cole liked her well enough and had even taken her out to dinner and to the movies a time or two. If pressed, he might even say he loved her. But it would be clear that he didnât âlove herâ love her, not in the happily-ever-after kind of way.
With tear-filled eyes, Rachel stared up at the blue sky blossoming above Eden, Wyomingâa sky that cruelly promised a beautiful October day fit for a weddingâsomeone elseâs wedding.
It wasnât just that Cole was four years older than Rachel and treated her as if she still hadnât reached puberty. Heck, sheâd filled out a bra three years ago, and Cole hadnât seemed to notice.
And it wasnât for lack of bodily contact. He gave Rachel a hug every time he saw her, sweeping her up and twirling her around, his deep laughter rumbling through to her soul.
Rachel sighed. Nope. The problem was Cole Hudson didnât love her like a man loved a woman. He could never love her that way.
Because heâd lost his heart to Rachelâs older sister, Missy.
Not that this was a news flash. But in that moment, staring at Coleâs truck on Missyâs wedding day, the reality of it all smacked into Rachel harder than it ever had before. She was a silly, daydreaming girl, just like Missy always told her, wasting time staring at the sky and weaving fantasies that would never come true.
Missy didnât understand Rachelâs dreams, which tended to involve leaving home. Missy was a big homebody. Heck, Missy protested if she had to leave Sweetwater County. Sheâd refused to fly anywhere since their mother had gone away, claiming to want only to provide a good home for Rachel and their father. And Missy had. Because of her, Rachel could dream. Sheâd earned her pilotâs license, reveling in the joy of soaring through the sky. Rachel had even helped her father rebuild the engine on his C119 warplane.
It did seem disloyal to have such strong feelings for someone Missy had once so dearly loved, but Missy had let Cole go, which left the door open for Rachel, didnât it?
Rachel fidgeted. Only if Missy and Cole didnât still love each other, which didnât seem to be the case. The impossibility of having Cole love her threatened to overwhelm Rachel as she stared at his truck parked in front of room twenty-two of the Shady Lady Motel on the outskirts of Eden.
The question was: Who was in the motel room with Cole?
Rachel shivered, crossing her arms against her suspicions and the early-morning chill.
In less than four hours, Missy was supposed to be marrying Lyle Whitehall in front of God and everyone at the Chapel in the Valley on Main Street. Lyle was the son of Edenâs shyster mayor, who was also the bank president and holder of the note on the small Quinlan ranch and airstrip. Brian Quinlan ran an air freight business, but he wasnât very good at making money, and Lyle and his daddy knew it.
