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Redeemed By The Cowgirl
Silver James
Everything he does is for family—including moving in with a woman he can't trust… Cash Barron has always been the good son, protecting his father's billion-dollar empire. So when grifters target Barron Enterprises, Cash focuses on the femme fatale of the bunch. To keep tabs on Roxanne Rowland, he'll move her into his luxury condo. And one step closer to his bed…But Roxie is innocent—just a pawn in her family's criminal game. Worse still, she's long had a crush on ruthless Cash. So can Roxie find the chink in his armor and redeem this hard-hearted, hard-muscled man?
Everything he does is for family—including moving in with a woman he can’t trust...
Cash Barron has always been the good son, protecting his father’s billion-dollar empire. So when grifters target Barron Enterprises, Cash focuses on the femme fatale of the bunch. To keep tabs on Roxanne Rowland, he’ll move her into his luxury condo. And one step closer to his bed...
But Roxie is innocent—just a pawn in her family’s criminal game. Worse still, she’s long had a crush on ruthless Cash. So can Roxie find the chink in his armor and redeem this hard-hearted, hard-muscled man?
Redeemed by the Cowgirl is part of the Red Dirt Royalty series.
“Stop doing that.”
“Doing what?” He offered a smug grin. “Cleaning up after you?”
“No. Making me lose control.”
“Is that what I do to you?” Damn, but he hoped so.
Her breathing deepened, her chest expanding with her heavy breaths. “Yes.”
Things were progressing right on track. “Good. I think you need to lose control, Red.”
“No, I don’t. That’s not a good thing.” She pushed against his chest but the gesture seemed halfhearted.
“I think it’s a very good thing.”
“Ha. You would. You’re a man.” Her eyes glittered like whiskey in a cut-glass tumbler. “I think you need to lose control.”
To prove her point, she wrapped her hands around the back of his neck and tugged his face down to hers.
* * *
Redeemed by the Cowgirl is part of the Red Dirt Royalty series— These Oklahoma millionaires work hard and play harder.
Redeemed by the Cowgirl
Silver James
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
SILVER JAMES likes walks on the wild side and coffee. Okay. She LOVES coffee. A cowgirl at heart, she’s been an army officer’s wife and mum, and worked in the legal field, fire service and law enforcement. Now retired from the real world, she lives in Oklahoma, spending her days writing with the assistance of two Newfoundlands, the cat who rules them all and the characters living in her imagination.
To Clary. You know why.
And to my dream editor, Charles.
You know why, too.
Also to Stacy and Tahra, and the whole fantastic Harlequin Desire team! Y’all are made of awesomesauce.
Contents
Cover (#u37d51749-d892-5b26-b715-15504df7748f)
Back Cover Text (#ubff095fa-d01d-5d0a-a73c-c41da6d89b4b)
Introduction (#uce9365cf-fdb0-50de-b4b8-5a47dd71597e)
Title Page (#ubfff41d7-e889-53cb-bb41-44e268d453fe)
About the Author (#uccc9ca18-509c-5832-8e46-73772546b4b5)
Dedication (#u592a3b28-2f84-559c-9c58-b1e38cbfe600)
Chapter One (#u2e9e2e7b-20ab-5405-82c0-c658be04d1fc)
Chapter Two (#u9039c077-bfa5-5eef-9d45-d734eacd52e7)
Chapter Three (#u45609a6e-55a4-5e2d-b426-8461d4fa1991)
Chapter Four (#uc55ab82d-1947-5369-bf59-f9d421a79c3c)
Chapter Five (#u052110ee-0bbf-5038-a754-5511cc2a6acb)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
One (#u425a392b-c8b9-5f64-8b48-c8613b744528)
Cash Barron was a man who understood duty—especially to his family. Unlike his brothers. Staring out the window of his twin’s apartment on the fiftieth floor of Barron Crown Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, he did his best to stuff his anger into a corner of his mind. He’d watched his three older brothers turn their backs and walk away from the very thing that made them Barrons—their loyalty to one another. Even his twin, Chase, had chosen a woman so completely unsuitable that Cash could barely comprehend their marriage. And now Chase and Savannah were about to celebrate the first anniversary of their quickie Vegas wedding.
A sharp rap on the door jerked his attention from the vista outside the window. Bridger Tate, his cousin and second-in-command, entered without invitation. He didn’t like the look on the man’s face.
“What?”
“Last night’s video from the casino floor has been analyzed.”
A series of curse words ricocheted through his brain but he refrained from speaking them. “Is it them?”
Bridge looked angry but resigned. “Yeah. Tucker isolated images of the Rowland clan on the casino floor.”
Tucker Tate was Bridger’s brother and vice president of Barron Entertainment, the media and hotel conglomerate that was Chase’s domain. They’d been dealing with a security problem at the casino for almost a year. As president of Barron Security Services, all problems—from the security detail for his brother Senator Clay Barron to the theft of oilfield pipe from a Barron Energy drilling site—landed on his desk. The occasional missing cow from the ranch, the odd employee embezzlement, the more frequent crackpot sending threatening emails—these bucks all stopped with him. It was his job to protect his family, even from themselves.
“Cash?”
Glancing up, he realized he’d tuned out Bridger’s play-by-play. “Sorry. What were you saying?”
“Tuck did a good job isolating the Rowlands.”
“Are they all present and accounted for?”
“Yup. Max, Alex and Ajax, Braxton, Dexter. The king of cons and his larcenous princes. I had IT highlight their positions in each of the videos.”
Cash huffed out a breath that was a thinly disguised sigh. He strode to Chase’s in-home office, settled heavily at the desk and called up the info on the giant monitor. He leaned back, eyes tracking the glowing orbs highlighting faces on the screen.
Bridger settled a hip on the corner of the desk and twisted his head to see the monitor. “I have our IT team checking footage from Scottsdale, Nashville, Miami and New Orleans.”
“What’s their objective?”
“Who knows? Seems they really like Barron properties, though.”
“Jolly.”
“Yeah, figured that would please you.”
“Are we the marks or is it a guest?”
“Probably both.”
Cash closed his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck. Could it get any more complicated?
* * *
Roxanne Rowland lined her lips with red pencil before adding bright red gloss. The woman in the mirror staring back at her was a stranger. Dragging fingers through her red hair, she fluffed the waves, startled anew by the bright color tipping her nails. She wasn’t used to the manicure, either. Dark, smoky shadows fringed her eyes, making them sparkle like amber. She refused to wear the tinted contacts sitting in a case on the counter.
Smoothing down the borrowed body-hugging black dress, she opened the bathroom door and collided with her older brother. His fingers gripped her biceps none too gently. “Time to go, Rox.” He studied her a moment. “You didn’t wear the contacts.”
She winced at the accusatory tone in his voice. “They hurt and make my eyes water. I had to redo my makeup three times before I gave up.”
He squeezed her arm as he strode away, pulling her along. She wobbled on the stiletto heels and teetered for a moment as she scrambled to find her balance. The high heels were as foreign to her as the rest of her getup. She wore jeans and boots. Not haute couture. Especially not a dress that cost close to a month’s salary—a dress she’d been told to tuck the tag inside and not to get dirty. That meant it would be returned to the store for a credit.
“What’s going on, Dex?”
“You don’t need to know, little sister.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Max is working.”
Maximilian Rowland—her father and sire of her four older brothers, Lex, Jax, Brax and Dex—whom they never called “Dad.”
“That doesn’t explain why I’m here. I don’t work with him.”
“You do now.” His voice remained implacable as he ushered her out of the hotel room. “This is big, Rox, and you’ll do your duty to the family. Or else.”
Or else? What did that mean? Dex didn’t enlighten her as they rode down in the elevator. When he’d picked her up at Las Vegas’s McCarran International Airport, all he’d said was that their father needed her help, and it was time to take her place in the family.
“Stop fidgeting.”
“I can’t help it.”
Dex cut his eyes in her direction and smirked. “What’s wrong, your feet hurt?”
“As a matter of fact.” Her feet didn’t just hurt, they ached like someone was shoving cold needles into her toes and hammering her arches with rusty nails. “You try wearing these shoes for five minutes.”
“I’m a guy. I don’t wear heels.”
“So?”
“So, you’re a girl. You do.”
“No, I don’t. I—” She didn’t get to finish her argument. The elevator doors opened and Dex grabbed her arm, jerking her out into a swirl of color and noise. He guided her into a corner, his gaze fixed on the ceiling.
“Stand here until one of us comes to get you.”
