Rave reviews for
âNobody does it better.â
âAward-winning author Linda Howard
âPalmer knows how to make the sparks fly.... Heartwarming.â
âPublishers Weekly on Renegade
âA compelling tale...[that packs] an emotional wallop.â
âBooklist on Renegade
âSensual and suspenseful....â
âBooklist on Lawless
âDiana Palmer is a mesmerizing storyteller who captures the essence of what a romance should be.â
âAffaire de Coeur
âNobody tops Diana Palmer when it comes to delivering pure, undiluted romance. I love her stories.â
âNew York Times bestselling author Jayne Ann Krentz
âThe dialogue is charming, the characters likable and the sex sizzling....â
âPublishers Weekly on Once in Paris
âDiana Palmer does a masterful job of stirring the readerâs emotions.â
âLezlie Patterson, Eagle (Reading, PA), on Lawless
CHAPTER ONE
EBENEZER SCOTT STOOD beside his double-wheeled black pickup truck and stared openly at the young woman across the street while she fiddled under the hood of a dented, rusted hulk of a vehicle. Sally Johnsonâs long blond hair was in a ponytail. She was wearing jeans and boots and no hat. He smiled to himself, remembering how many times in the old days heâd chided her about sunstroke. It had been six years since theyâd even spoken. Sheâd been living in Houston until July, when she and her blind aunt and small cousin had moved back, into the decaying old Johnson homestead. Heâd seen her several times since her return, but sheâd made a point of not speaking to him. He couldnât really blame her. Heâd left her with some painful emotional scars.
She was slender, but her trim figure still made his heartbeat jump. He knew how she looked under that loose blouse. His eyes narrowed with heat as he recalled the shocked pleasure in her pale gray eyes when heâd touched her, kissed her, in those forbidden places. Heâd meant to frighten her so that sheâd stop teasing him, but his impulsive attempt to discourage her had succeeded all too well. Sheâd run from him then, and sheâd kept running. She was twenty-three now, a woman; probably an experienced woman. He mourned for what might have been if sheâd been older and he hadnât just come back from leading a company of men into the worst bloodbath of his career. A professional soldier of fortune was no match for a young and very innocent girl. But, then, she hadnât known about his real lifeâthe one behind the facade of cattle ranching. Not many people in this small town did.
It was six years later. She was all grown-up, a schoolteacher here in Jacobsville, Texas. He wasâ¦retired, they called it. Actually he was still on the firing line from time to time, but mostly he taught other men in the specialized tactics of covert operations on his ranch. Not that he shared that information. He still had enemies from the old days, and one of them had just been sprung from prison on a technicalityâa man out for revenge and with more than enough money to obtain it.
Sally had been almost eighteen the spring day heâd sent her running from him. In a life liberally strewn with regrets, she was his biggest one. The whole situation had been impossible, of course. But heâd never meant to hurt her, and the thought of her sat heavily on his conscience.
He wondered if she knew why he kept to himself and never got involved with the locals. His ranch was a model of sophistication, from its state-of-the-art gym to the small herd of purebred Santa Gertrudis breeding cattle he raised. His men were not only loyal, but tightlipped. Like another Jacobsville, Texas, residentâCy ParksâEbenezer was a recluse. The two men shared more than a taste for privacy. But that was something they kept to themselves.
Meanwhile, Sally Johnson was rapidly losing patience with her vehicle. He watched her push at a strand of hair that had escaped from the long ponytail. She kept a beef steer or two herself. It must be a frugal existence for her, supporting not only herself, but her recently blinded aunt, and her six-year-old cousin as well.
He admired her sense of responsibility, even as he felt concern for her situation. She had no idea why her aunt had been blinded in the first place, or that the whole family was in a great deal of danger. It was why Jessica had persuaded Sally to give up her first teaching job in Houston in June and come home with her and Stevie to Jacobsville. It was because theyâd be near Ebenezer, and Jessica knew heâd protect them. Sally had never been told what Jessicaâs profession actually was, any more than she knew what Jessicaâs late husband, Hank Myers, had once done for a living. But even if she had known, wild horses wouldnât have dragged Sally back here if Jessica hadnât pleaded with her, he mused bitterly. Sally had every reason in the world to hate him. But he was her best hope of survival. And she didnât even know it.