She just about undid him with a single touch.
âLucy ⦠stop.â
She didnât move her hand. âI canât.â
He couldnât have moved away if heâd tried. She was pure temptation. And he wanted her.
When he dipped his head, his intention clear, a tiny moan escaped her. It was the sweetest kiss heâd ever experienced, almost as though it possessed a kind of purity that had never been matched and never would.
Brant suddenly felt as if heâd been sucker-punched. Because heâd known, deep down, that kissing Lucy would be incredible. Everything about her had been tempting him for months. Every look, every word, every touch had been drawing them toward this moment. His pulse galloped, knees grew weak, until he pulled back and looked into those honest eyes.
What was he doing? Lucy was the hometown girl who wanted romance, marriage, the white picket fence. Brant didnât do any of those things.
Her eyes shimmered with a kind of longing that heated his blood even further. But he fought the urge to kiss her again, because he knew where it would lead. Heâd want to make love to her forever. and that was the one thing he couldnât give.
Cedar River Cowboys:
Riding into town with romance on their minds!
HELEN LACEY grew up reading Black Beauty and Little House on the Prairie. These childhood classics inspired her to write her first book when she was seven, a story about a girl and her horse. She loves writing for Mills & Boon Cherish, where she can create strong heroes with a soft heart and heroines with gumption who get their happily-ever-after. For more about Helen, visit her website, www.helenlacey.com.
Chapter One
Brant Parker grabbed the T-shirt stuffed in the back pocket of his jeans and wiped his brow.
It was cold out, but heâd been working for four hours straight without a break and it was quite warm inside the closed-up rooms of the Loose Moose Tavern. Heâd spent the best part of three weeks stripping out the old timber framing and flooring that had gone through a fire eight months earlier.
Most people said he was crazy for buying the place, like it had some kind of hoodoo attached to it. But he didnât believe in hoodoo or bad luck, and he wasnât swayed by anyone telling him what he should or shouldnât do. The Loose Moose had been a part of Cedar River for over thirty years and he believed the old place deserved another chance.
Maybe he did, too.
Brant dropped the piece of timber in his hands, stretched his back and groaned. It had been a long day and he wanted nothing more than to soak under a hot shower and to relax in front of some mindless TV show for an hour or two. But first he had to go to the veterans home to visit his uncle, as he did every Tuesday and Friday.
Uncle Joe was his fatherâs oldest brother and a Vietnam veteran whoâd lost a leg in the war. He also had a heart condition and suffered from the early stages of Parkinsonâs disease. He lived in full-time care at the home adjacent to the small community hospital. Brant cared deeply for his uncle. The older man knew him. Got him. Understood the demons he carried.
He headed upstairs to the small apartment and took a shower, then dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. It was snowing lightly, a regular occurrence in South Dakota in winter, but quite unusual for mid-November. He shouldered into his lined jacket, pulled on woolen socks and heavy boots, and grabbed his truck keys. The home was a ten-minute drive in good weather from the main street in town and since snow was now falling in earnest, he knew the roads would be slippery. Brant took his time and arrived about fifteen minutes later. It was late afternoon and the parking lot was empty, so he scored a spot easily and got out of the truck.
The wind howled through his ears and he pulled the jacket collar around his neck. It promised to be a long and chilly winter ahead. But he didnât mind. It sure beat the relentless, unforgiving heat of a desert summer like the last one heâd endured in Afghanistan. The light blanket of snow made him feel as though he was home. And he was. For good this time. No more tours. No more military. He was a civilian and could lead a normal life. He could get up each morning and face a new day. And he could forget everything else.
Brant headed for the front doors and shook off his jacket before he crossed the threshold. When he entered the building, heat blasted through him immediately. The foyer was empty and the reception desk had a sign and a bell instructing to ring for attendance. He ignored both and began walking down the wide corridor.