âAsk me to stay,â Travis said.
Sara sucked in a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
âStay,â she whispered. I must be crazy. Sara stared at her and Travisâs reflection in the hall mirror. Her dress made her feel beautiful and desirableâbut would she feel that way once it came off? Or would Travis see the plain Jane everyone in town saw?
Her gaze collided with Travisâs in the mirror and the heat in his eyes reassured her.
He slid a finger beneath her dress strap and moved it aside. She shivered at the feel of his fingertips on her skin.
âWhat are you afraid of?â he asked.
âNothing.â Everything. Women like her didnât win the hearts of fantasy men like Travis. He was out of her league.
Travis brushed aside a strand of hair clinging to her cheek. âFess up, Sara Sanders, because when I get you upstairs thereâs not going to be any room in that bed for doubts.â
Dear Reader,
Welcome back to Tulapoint, Oklahoma. When I began writing about the Cartwright siblings in The Cowboy and the Angel (November 2008), A Cowboyâs Promise (April 2009) and Samanthaâs Cowboy (August 2009), I had no idea there would be a fourth sibling. Then my imagination took off. What if there was another sonâa son the family never knew existed?
I wondered how Iâd feel if one day I learned that the father I was led to believe wanted nothing to do with me, never even knew Iâd existed. American Romance is all about family. When family dynamics suddenly change in a dramatic way, everyoneâs lives are thrown into chaos. Travisâs struggle to claim his rightful place in the family encounters a snag when he falls for Saraâhis fatherâs neighbor and longtime nemesis. Travis is torn between wanting to please his father and being with the one woman he trusts his heart with. Then Travis and Sara discover the secret responsible for the years of bad feelings between the families. Will their love be enough to heal the pain and bring both families together?
I hope you enjoy visiting the Cartwright family one last time. For more information on my books and to sign up for my newsletter please visit www.marinthomas.com. Information on Harlequin American Romance authors and their books can be found at www.harauthors.blogspot.com.
And if you like rodeo cowboys, get ready for my new Harlequin American Romance seriesâ¦Rodeo Rebels! Look for Rodeo Daddy available in April 2011.
Yippie yi yay!
Marin
Roughneck Cowboy
Marin Thomas
Marin Thomas grew up in Janesville, Wisconsin. She attended the University of Arizona in Tucson on a Division I basketball scholarship. In 1986 she graduated with a B.A. in radio-television and married her college sweetheart in a five-minute ceremony in Las Vegas. Marin was inducted in May 2005 into the Janesville Sports Hall of Fame for her basketball accomplishments. Even though she now calls Chicago home, sheâs a living testament to the old adage âYou can take the girl out of the small town, but you canât take the small town out of the girl.â Marinâs heart still lies in small-town life, which she loves to write about in her books.
To my niece, Tylesha
Find your inspirationâ
the one thing that feeds your soul. That makes you yearn to be more than you ever imagined you could be. Chase after it and donât look back. There will be times you want to give up. Donât. Dig harder. Longer. Deeper. The good stuff is always at the bottom. Everything you need to succeed is already inside you. Believe in yourself and dream big.
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
âI gotta use the bathroom, Dad.â
Well, shoot. Lost in thought, Travis Cartwright had all but forgotten that his eight-year-old daughter, Charlie, rode in the front seat with him. Theyâd departed Houston, Texas, hours ago and sheâd yet to release the glower from her face.
He sucked at fatherhood and had no one to blame but himself. His job as a roughneck kept him separated from his daughter for weeks on end, then whenever he returned to the mainland, he spent most of his time catching up on sleep and yard work.
âKeep an eye out for a place to stop.â Another ten miles and theyâd clear the outskirts of Tulsa, Oklahoma. From there theyâd drive northwest until they reached their final destinationâthe Lazy River Ranch. âIâm hungry. How about you, kiddo?â
One shoulder, no bigger than the bottom of a coffee mug, lifted, remained elevated a second, then dropped back into place. Her elfin face stared straight ahead, pale eyelashes blinking rhythmically in time with the windshield wipers.
Keep trying. âSnowâs coming down faster.â As dusk descended, flakes danced in the truckâs headlights and ribbons of white swirled across the road. Was he nuts for making this trip two days before Thanksgiving? âMaybe thereâll be enough snow to play in tomorrow morning.â
âI hate snow.â
Not the greatest attitude, but heâd take words over a shrug any day. Charlie was nothing more than an impâa blond-headed sprite with blue eyes. Heâd called her Twinkie as a toddler. Dripping wet, his daughter didnât weigh more than forty-five pounds. What Charlie lacked in size she made up for in pure stubbornness.