âYou live in Texas, I live in Montanaâ¦â
Cassie saw the unexpected glimmer of amusement in Andrewâs eyes as she spoke. She tried again. âBesides, I donât even really know you.â
âThe lawyer I need to see is out of town for a week. Means I have to stick around a little longer than Iâd planned. That gives us the perfect opportunity, if you ask me.â
The humor was there, all right, sexy and dangerous. How tempting it would be to follow his leadâ¦not to worry about the future, just to enjoy a day or two, a week perhaps, with an alluring stranger. But it was a luxury Cassie couldnât afford.
She stood, setting her lemonade on the table beside her. âSorry, Andrew,â she said lightly. âIâm not in the market to start anything new, no matter howâ¦temporary.â She saw the regret in his eyes and felt her own regret. But it didnât hurt; that was the blessed thing. Thank goodness sheâd learned how to stop before she did get hurt. Before her son got hurt, too.
And so she walked away from Andrew Morris.
Dear Reader,
Iâve always been fascinated by Montana, with its mountains and prairies, its rivers and ranchlands. Iâm therefore delighted to be part of this trilogy about the women of Montanaâwomen with hopes and passions as grand as the Big Sky state itself. Thea, Jolie and Cassie Maxwell are Montana sisters who grew apart over the years, as they struggled to deal with their difficult father and their rebellious kid brother.
I hope youâve enjoyed the stories of Thea and Jolie, the youngest and oldest Maxwell sisters. After finding love with wonderful men, and in the process learning to open their hearts, Thea and Jolie are hoping that their sister Cassieâthe âmiddleâ Maxwellâwill have the same luck in love. Cassie, however, has too many reasons not to fall in love. Sheâs determined to protect herself as well as her young son, Zak, from ever being hurt again.
Please join me now as Cassie tries as hard as she can not to fall for handsome Dallas lawyer Andrew Morris. When Montana meets Texas, though, anything is bound to happen.
Happy reading,
Ellen James
This book is dedicated to my husband.
Robert, hereâs to many more Montana dreams.
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
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CASSIE WARREN STARED at the drop below her with a mixed sense of wonderment and panic. She knew the tree house stood no more than seventeen feet above the backyard of freshly mowed bluegrass. And climbing up the rope ladder had been so easily accomplishedâegged on as she had been by her seven-year-old son, Zak. Yet now, to her chagrin, the rope ladder had disappeared, and Cassie had no idea how she could descend to terra firma without breaking her neck in the process.
âZak!â she called again. âWilliam Zachary Warren! Iâm not kidding. Iâll count to ten and thenâ¦â
This morning had started out innocently enoughâsix oâclock alarm; twenty minutes of Jazzercise with her Fit or Flab video; a quick shower; then breakfast and some time with Zak before work. Only, that quality time with Zak had turned sour again, and mushroomed into what amounted to a full-blown therapy sessionâforcing Cassie to push back her first two appointments of the day and cancel lunch with her boss. Zak had withdrawn severely since the breakup of Cassieâs marriage over a year ago. Sheâd tried everything she knew in order to reach him, to get him to express the pain and anger he kept bottled up inside. So today, when Zak retreated into his usual forlorn silence, sheâd been willing to do anything to spark a response in her son. Acting on sudden inspiration, sheâd ascended with him to the one place where he seemed to feel safe and at home: this old backyard tree house perched high in a venerable oak.
Once ensconced, Zak had seemed to relax just a bit, answering her attempts at conversation with guarded monosyllables. Finally sheâd settled back, allowing her eyes to drift shut. Sheâd been so tired lately, trying to juggle motherhood with a job at Child Services that drained her emotions while scarcely paying the bills. Sheâd been so worried, tooâworried about her kid brother, Bobby, and all the trouble heâd been in. The drunk-driving accident heâd causedâ¦the baby daughter heâd fathered at the young age of nineteen. And then there was Robert Maxwell, Cassieâs dadâan impossible man in so many ways, refusing to take care of himself the way he shouldâ¦
Yet up here in the tree house, sheâd left all that behind for a moment. It was so peaceful, with only the chatter of sparrows and a rustle of leaves in the warm breeze. No wonder sheâd fallen gently asleep.
And meanwhile, her darling, infuriating young son had left her stranded. She knelt to peer once again at the drop below. Since heâd taken the ladder, there was only one way Zak himself could have made it to the groundâshinning down the tree trunk. Not exactly her idea of funâ¦