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Captivating A Cowboy
Jill Limber
THE RANCHER…A man would have to be blind not to notice pretty, sophisticated Julie Kerns, Ferndale's newest arrival. And good-looking Tony Graham was far from visually impaired. But when the fiercely independent beauty needed him to renovate her grandmother's old Victorian, he couldn't stop the unsettling images of them living together in the house–as a family.AND THE CITY SLICKERReturn to Ferndale? Never! Julie envisioned herself among the bright lights and bustle of L.A. forever. Yet she found herself a reluctant homeowner in the tiny town of bad childhood memories. Could the sexy, small-town cowboy make her see there was joy to be found in country life…with him in the picture?
Boy, they sure didn’t grow them like this in Los Angeles.
From the top of his cowboy hat to the tips of his leather boots, he was one tall, gorgeous hunk of man.
Julie flashed him her best smile and tried to focus on what he was saying. “You could help me with what?”
She liked the way he squirmed just a little as she studied him. Handsome as he was, he didn’t strike her as the kind of guy who’d be bashful around women. She also liked the muscles that showed through his white T-shirt. Brawn like his was the result of hard outdoor work and not a gym.
He took off his hat and ran a hand through his cropped dark chocolate-brown hair. “Handling the sander, ma’am.”
Was it possible he was just being neighborly and not flirting?
She hoped not….
Dear Reader,
We’ve been busy here at Silhouette Romance cooking up the next batch of tender, emotion-filled romances to add extra sizzle to your day.
First on the menu is Laurey Bright’s modern-day Sleeping Beauty story, With His Kiss (#1660). Next, Melissa McClone whips up a sensuous, Survivor-like tale when total opposites must survive two weeks on an island, in The Wedding Adventure (#1661). Then bite into the next juicy SOULMATES series addition, The Knight’s Kiss (#1663) by Nicole Burnham, about a cursed knight and the modern-day princess who has the power to unlock his hardened heart.
We hope you have room for more, because we have three other treats in store for you. First, popular Silhouette Romance author Susan Meier turns on the heat in The Nanny Solution (#1662), the third in her DAYCARE DADS miniseries about single fathers who learn the ABCs of love. Then, in Jill Limber’s Captivating a Cowboy (#1664), are a city girl and a dyed-in-the-wool cowboy a recipe for disaster…or romance? Finally, Lissa Manley dishes out the laughs with The Bachelor Chronicles (#1665), in which a sassy journalist is assigned to get the city’s most eligible—and stubborn—bachelor to go on a blind date!
I guarantee these heartwarming stories will keep you satisfied until next month when we serve up our list of great summer reads.
Happy reading!
Mary-Theresa Hussey
Senior Editor
Captivating a Cowboy
Jill Limber
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To Kathy—best buddy and cosmic sister. This one’s for you!
Acknowledgments:
Many thanks to James Weippert—for letting me pick his brain and for his service to his country as a Navy SEAL. Thanks to Dr. Dick O’Connor and Dr. Ernie Tucker for all things medical, along with friendship. Special thanks to Bryn Willson for her wonderful poetry.
Books by Jill Limber
Silhouette Romance
The 15 lb. Matchmaker #1593
Captivating a Cowboy #1664
JILL LIMBER
lives in San Diego with her husband. Now that her children are grown, their two dogs keep her company while she sits at her computer writing stories. A native Californian, she enjoys the beach, loves to swim in the ocean, and for relaxation she daydreams and reads romances. You can learn more about Jill by visiting her Web site at http://www.JillLimber.com (http://www.JillLimber.com).
Contents
Chapter One (#u6f31322a-72da-5aad-a800-5549e8c942ff)
Chapter Two (#ub218b208-2a29-5760-a62c-de5d8c8b48d4)
Chapter Three (#ud233d2bc-150d-5f4d-a08f-d57d724ae4c8)
Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)
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 One
Tony saw her the instant she walked into the hardware store. He paused in the aisle and studied the fine piece of eye candy that had sauntered in off the street, putting every fiber of his male being on alert. Her long ponytail twitched over bared shoulders. Snug shorts dipped below a slim waist, showing a band of firm brown flesh where her cropped top didn’t quite meet up with denim. Long slender legs completed the sexy little female package he judged to be about twenty-five years old.
Conversations dropped off one by one until every man in the store, including old Mr. Dunn, turned his head. Cliff, working behind the counter, looked like a deer caught in headlights as she approached him.
Tony was too far away to hear what she asked, but he could see the tips of Cliff’s ears turn a bright red. He pointed to the back of the store. She turned, and Tony felt like someone had sucked all the oxygen out of the place. She had a face like an angel, with big blue-green eyes and a generous upper lip over a full lower lip. A mouth made for kissing and a body built straight out of every man’s fantasy.
Suddenly the fact that every guy in the store was probably thinking the same thing annoyed the hell out of him. He had a sudden irrational and possessively childish urge to tell them he had seen her first.
He shook his head at his own foolishness. He had better things to do with his time than stand in Nilsen’s Hardware and have fantasies that could get him arrested in half the states in the country. If he was going to get his house finished on his land before the cold weather set in so he could move out of his tiny unheated trailer, he needed to get going.
Yeah, right, he thought, rooted to the spot as he watched the utterly female way she walked.
She made her way to the power tools and bent over the boxes that contained sanders. Tony bit back a groan and headed for the counter to pay for his supplies.
A man could only take so much.
Cliff rang up the sack of nails and caulking. He made change, his attention not on what he was doing. Tony had to grab the coins before they dropped on the counter.
“Who is she?” Tony asked, resisting the urge to turn around and take another long look.
Cliff shrugged and leaned to the side so he could see around Tony. “Don’t know. This is the first she’s been in here.”
She had to be new in town, Tony thought. In Ferndale strangers never went unnoticed. Especially women who looked as good as this one.
He lingered until Cliff straightened up and smoothed a hand down the front of his shirt, alerting Tony to the fact she was on her way to the counter. He moved a few feet away to look at a display of saw blades.
She walked by him carrying a box and trailing the fragrance of summer flowers, sweet and fresh.
“Does this sander come with instructions?” She laid a credit card beside the box.
Tony stifled a groan. He was all for equal opportunity, but unskilled women and power tools were generally a bad combination.
Cliff slid her plastic credit card across the counter, swiped it through his machine and handed it back before Tony could read the name on it.
Cliff mumbled and reached to open the box. He waved a piece of paper. “Sorry, miss, no operating instructions. Just the usual safety warnings.” He handed her the credit slip to sign.
Unable to help himself, Tony stepped closer, hoping his carnal thoughts didn’t show on his face. “Excuse me, miss. Maybe I could help.”
Julie turned to glance at the great-looking man she had noticed lurking by a display of big metal wheels with wicked teeth. Boy, they sure didn’t grow them like this in Los Angeles. From the top of his cowboy hat to the tips of his leather boots, he was one tall gorgeous hunk of man.
She flashed him her best smile. “Could help me with what?” she asked, wondering exactly what he meant.
She liked the way he squirmed just a little as she studied him. Shy, perhaps. Handsome as he was, he didn’t strike her as the kind of guy who would be bashful around women. She also liked the muscles that showed through the close fit of his white T-shirt. Brawn like his was the result of hard outdoor work and not a gym.
He took off his hat and ran a big square hand through his cropped dark chocolate-brown hair, then gestured to the box the middle-aged clerk struggled to repackage. “The sander, ma’am.”
The cowboy was blushing. She swallowed a smile. Was it possible he was just being neighborly and not flirting?
She hoped not.
She was going to be in Ferndale all summer, and had no friends here. No one she knew from Los Angeles was likely to come for a visit. She’d been dreading being stuck in this small town for three long months.
Quaint Victorian Ferndale hadn’t changed any since she’d left almost ten years ago to go to college. Now that she’d used her credit card, within hours everyone in town would know she was back in Northern California. Give her a big city any day. There was no such thing as privacy in a small town.
She winked at him. “Thanks, cowboy, but I think I can manage.”
At least she could learn. With her budget and time limit, she had to become adept quickly to finish all the things that needed doing to her grandmother’s house.
Her house now.
She wanted get the place fixed up and put it on the market. She had to get back to L.A. before the school year started.
He tapped his forefinger on the box. “Do you have any experience with power tools?”
The cowboy had a polite earnestness about him she found appealing. The men she knew were so into their own image and being cool they would never show the kind of interest she saw on his handsome face.
She shrugged, amused that he would assume she couldn’t manage by herself because she was a woman. She was smart and could figure out how to do what needed to be done.
Julie glanced around at the men who had gathered to listen openly to their conversation, then gave them a smile.
“How hard can it be? You all know how to use them, don’t you?” she asked sweetly, then picked up the box and sauntered out onto Main Street.
Every pair of eyes watched her leave. As she disappeared from sight, Tony swore he heard a collective male sigh from inside the store.
Tony turned to Cliff. “Who is she?”
Cliff scratched his bald head, still staring at the now empty door. “Dunno.”
Tony reached over and pulled the credit slip out of Cliff’s fingers.
“Julie Kerns.” He read aloud.
“That was little Julie Kerns?” Mr. Dunn peered around Tony trying to see the slip of paper.
Tony turned to stare at the old man. “You know her?”
Mr. Dunn nodded. “She used to live here. Moved in with her grandma when she was a little girl after her folks died.”
“Where does her grandmother live?”
“Doesn’t. Her grandma was Bessie Morgan. Died about two months ago.”
Tony thought for a minute. The name was vaguely familiar. “The blue-and-white Queen Anne style house with the vines over by the church?”
Mr. Dunn nodded. “Yup. Heard Julie got the house. Must be moving in.”
Tony stored that bit of information away and left the store whistling.
He’d find a reason to go and pay the little lady a call and remind her how neighborly Ferndale could be.
Tony stood on the sidewalk in the hot noon sun and shifted the ladder on his shoulder to a more comfortable position. He contemplated the cottage belonging to the very enticing Julie Kerns.
Two things came to mind.
First, the house was a marvel of workmanship, with all the trim and special touches that went into a Queen Anne. Not as fussy as most Victorians, he’d always liked the design.
Second, the place needed a heck of a lot of work.
For starters, the top two wooden steps to the porch were rotten. He glanced up and noted the rain gutter had rusted through in several places. That explained the rot.
