âWhat did you come here for?â Corinna asked bluntly.
He didnât hesitate. âTo see you. To ask you about having dinner with me tonight. Just the two of us.â
Her heart leaped with unexpected pleasure, yet she was careful to hide it in her words. âI had dinner with you last night.â
âWhat does that hurt?â
She decided to be truthful with him. âSethâafter last nightâI donât think it would be wise to go out with you.â
His hand tightened on hers. âDonât be scared, Corinna,â he said gently. âLast night was nice. Very nice. And you know it.â
Yes, she did know it, and everything inside of her wanted to experience it all again, to be with this man that had lingered in her thoughts for nearly two decades.
âI can see why you became a Texas Ranger,â she commented wryly. âYou like to live dangerously.â
Dear Reader,
Weâre smack in the middle of summer, which can only mean long, lazy days at the beach. And do we have some fantastic books for you to bring along! We begin this month with a new continuity, only in Special Edition, called THE PARKS EMPIRE, a tale of secrets and lies, love and revenge. And Laurie Paige opens the series with Romancing the Enemy. A schoolteacher who wants to avenge herself against the man who ruined her family decides to move next door to the manâs son. But things donât go exactly as planned, as she finds herself fallingâ¦for the enemy.
Stella Bagwell continues her MEN OF THE WEST miniseries with Her Texas Ranger, in which an officer whoâs come home to investigate a murder finds complications in the form of the girl he loved in high school. Victoria Pade begins her NORTHBRIDGE NUPTIALS miniseries, revolving around a town famed for its weddings, with Babies in the Bargain. When a woman hoping to reunite with her estranged sister finds instead her widowed husband and her children, she winds up playing nanny to the whole crew. Can wife and mother be far behind? THE KENDRICKS OF CAMELOT by Christine Flynn concludes with Prodigal Prince Charming, in which a wealthy playboy tries to help a struggling caterer with her business and becomes much more than just her business partner in the process. Brand-new author Mary J. Forbes debuts with A Forever Family, featuring a single doctor dad and the woman he hires to work for him. And the MEN OF THE CHEROKEE ROSE miniseries by Janis Reams Hudson continues with The Other Brother, in which a woman who always counted her handsome neighbor as one of her best friends suddenly finds herself looking at him in a new light.
Happy reading! And come back next month for six new fabulous books, all from Silhouette Special Edition.
Gail Chasan
Senior Editor
In memory of my father, Louis Copeland Cook,
a believer in doing things right. I hope he thinks I have.
sold her first book to Silhouette in November 1985. More than forty novels later, she still loves her job and says she isnât completely content unless sheâs writing. Recently, she and her husband of thirty years moved from the hills of Oklahoma to Seadrift, Texas, a sleepy little fishing town located on the coastal bend. Stella says the water, the tropical climate and the seabirds make it a lovely place to let her imagination soar and to put the stories in her head down on paper.
She and her husband have one son, Jason, who lives and teaches high school math in nearby Port Lavaca.
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
âOne riot, one Ranger. Isnât that the reputation you Rangers have down in Texas?â
The question prompted Seth Ketchum to cast a wry glance at his younger brother, Ross, who was standing just to the right of his chair.
Seth had almost forgotten what it was like to be back on the T Bar K with his family. Two years had passed since heâd seen his brother and sister. The time had slipped up on him and now as they crowded around him in the living room of the ranch house, he realized just how much heâd missed his siblings.
âThatâs what the saying isâone riot, one Ranger,â Seth responded to his brotherâs comment. âBut Iâm not a superhero, Ross.â
Ross reached down and slapped his brother proudly on the back. âThatâs right, Seth. Youâre better than a superhero. You donât have to waste time racing into a telephone booth to change out of your boots and hat.â
A few feet away, from her seat on a leather chester-field couch, their sister, Victoria, groaned. âRoss, this mess isnât funny. I donât know how you can joke at a time like this.â
Ross chuckled as he continued to squeeze Sethâs shoulder. âWhoâs joking?â Ross retorted. âCompany D down in San Antonio would fall apart without Seth.â
The two men were dressed similarly in boots and jeans and long-sleeved cotton shirts. As far as resembling each other, Seth was a fraction shorter and more solidly built than his six-foot brother. Where Rossâs hair was nearly black, Sethâs was a dozen shades of brown, ranging from light to dark. But the most striking difference in the men was in their demeanor. Ross was normally all grins and teasing laughter whereas Seth had always been a quiet, serious man.