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Cowboy at Midnight
Ann Major
With his prosperous ranch and independence, Steven considers himself a lucky man. He's smart enough to stay far away from love–he's learned it only brings heartache.But then he meets events planner Amy Burke-Sinclair, who has beauty and the brains to match–and is just as cautious as he is. Despite that, she seduces him into a night of passion that leaves him stunned, and ready to admit that perhaps he doesn't have all the answers. When they have to work together on a function honoring patriarch Ryan Fortune, Steven finds himself falling even harder. He soon changes his mind about the benefits of love and commitment…but will Amy change hers?
Praise for Ann Major:
“Engaging characters, stories that thrill and delight, shivering suspense and captivating romance. Want it all? Read Ann Major.”
—Nora Roberts, New York Times bestselling author
“Ann Major delights readers with memorable characters, sparkling dialogue and tension that sizzles.”
—bestselling author Mary Lynn Baxter
“Whenever I pick up a novel by Ann Major, I know I’m guaranteed a heartwarming story.”
—bestselling author Annette Broadrick
“No one provides hotter emotional fireworks than the fiery Ann Major.”
—Romantic Times
“Compelling characters, intense, fast-moving plots and snappy dialogue have made Ann Major’s name synonymous with the best in contemporary romantic fiction.”
—Rendezvous
“Ann Major’s SECRET CHILD sizzles with characters who leap off the page and into your heart… This one’s hot!”
—bestselling author Lisa Jackson
Don’t miss Signature Select’s exciting series:
The Fortunes of Texas: Reunion
Starting in June 2005, get swept up in twelve new stories from your favorite family!
COWBOY AT MIDNIGHT by Ann Major
A BABY CHANGES EVERYTHING by Marie Ferrarella
IN THE ARMS OF THE LAW by Peggy Moreland
LONE STAR RANCHER by Laurie Paige
THE GOOD DOCTOR by Karen Rose Smith
THE DEBUTANTE by Elizabeth Bevarly
KEEPING HER SAFE by Myrna Mackenzie
THE LAW OF ATTRACTION by Kristi Gold
ONCE A REBEL by Sheri WhiteFeather
MILITARY MAN by Marie Ferrarella
FORTUNE’S LEGACY by Maureen Child
THE RECKONING by Christie Ridgway
Cowboy at Midnight
Ann Major
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Dear Reader,
I hope you are well.
I had so much fun writing Cowboy at Midnight.
I think the most important skill a human being can have is the ability to grow and change and be flexible. We all start off in the Garden of Eden, or rather childhood, where life seems simple and sometimes miraculously wonderful—at least, if we are born into happy homes.
Then something happens, like a tragedy, that forces us to grow up too suddenly, and we see ourselves and our world in a brand-new light, sometimes a darker light. We can get stuck, not wanting to move on or accept ourselves as adults or forgive ourselves for not living up to some childish, untenable ideal.
Amy, my story’s heroine, lost her dearest friend at an early age and blamed herself. She has punished herself for eight years.
Then she meets Steve, my hero, and falls in love. She can’t let herself have him unless she changes.
I hope you enjoy THE FORTUNES OF TEXAS: REUNION.
Happy reading,
“We must have the courage to allow a little disorder in our lives.”
—Ben Weininger
I dedicate this book to Tara Gavin, Patience Smith, Shannon Godwin, Karen Solem, Nancy Berland, and Dianne Moggy—all brilliant women! I owe you more than I can say! Thank you!
Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Epilogue
Bonus Features
Prologue
Double Crown Ranch
Red Rock, Texas
S omebody was going to die!
Rosita Perez knew this as she threw off her sheets and cotton quilt and sprang out of bed.
The room felt as icy as a meat locker. Even so, her long black hair with its distinctive white streak above her forehead was soaking wet, as was her pillow. Hot flashes, her gringo doctor would say.
Smart gringo doctors thought they knew everything.
Rosita shuddered.
Somebody was going to die. Somebody close at hand.
She was descended from a long line of curanderos. Since birth she’d been cursed, or blessed, with the sight. Like her ancestors, who’d been natural healers, she saw things. She felt things that other people didn’t feel.
Life wasn’t lived on a single plane. Nor was the world and its machinations entirely logical, much as her good-hearted bosses, Ryan and Lily Fortune, might like to think. She’d learned to keep her visions to herself because most people, including her beloved husband, Ruben, didn’t believe her.
She’d had a strange nightmare that was both a riddle and a warning. In her dream a red moon had broken out of fierce, black whirling clouds and had hovered directly over the Double Crown Ranch. When she’d run outside and looked up, the red ball hadn’t been the moon but a gigantic human skull floating above Lily and Ryan Fortune’s ranch house. Rosita had awakened screaming to the skull, “No! Go away!”
Feeling too afraid to risk sleep again, she pulled on her robe and tiptoed out of the bedroom and down the dark hall, taking care not to wake Ruben. Just when she thought she’d made it, she crashed into her enormous bookcase in the hallway that was crammed with books and jars of herbs. Two books tumbled to the floor with loud thumps.
She prayed silently when she heard Ruben’s snoring stop in midbreath. She barely breathed until he flopped his heavy, barrellike body onto his other side and resumed his snoring. Her house was too small, and all the rooms were cluttered, even the hall.
The bed groaned. Only when Ruben continued his roaring for a full minute did she tiptoe toward the front windows of her living room.
The ominous red glow that lit the window shades made her shake even more. Sensing evil, she felt her throat tighten every time she thought about going out on her front porch.
Which was ridiculous. She’d faced cougars and bobcats and convicts on the loose while living alone on ranches. Besides, Ruben was right down the hall.
Despite her misgivings, or maybe because of them, she opened the front door and forced herself to pad bravely out onto the porch of her small house.
The dense night smelled sweetly of juniper and buzzed with the music of millions of cicadas.
Summer smells. Summer sounds. Why did they make her tremble tonight?
“Help!”
She jumped. The plaintive cry had come from nowhere and yet from everywhere. She whirled wildly, sensing a deadly presence. She sucked in a breath and stared at the dark fringe of trees that circled her home like prison walls.
“Who are you?” she whispered.
A bloodred moon the exact shade of the skull in her nightmare hung over the ranch. Circling it was a bright scarlet ring. She stared at the moon, expecting it to turn into a skull.
She kept watching the moon until it vanished behind a black cloud. She wasn’t feeling any easier when a bunch of coyotes began to hoot. Then she heard a man’s eerie laughter from beyond the fringe of juniper long after the coyotes stopped.
“Who’s out there?” she cried.
The cicadas halted their serenade. A thousand eyes seemed to stare at her from the silent wall of dark trees.
Stark fear drained the blood from her face. She felt like a target.
With a muted cry, she raced back inside her living room with its dozens of velvet floral paintings and cozy, overstuffed furniture.
Slamming her door, she flipped on all her lights. Then she stared unseeingly at the sofa piled high with her recent purchases from a flea market—mirrored sunglasses, towel sets, children’s clothes and toys, all in need of sorting. Breathing heavily, she triple-bolted the door and sagged against it.
Maybe the moon hadn’t been a human skull floating above the house, but one thing was for sure—she’d never seen anything like that bloodred moon circled with a ring of fire before. Never in all her sixty-six years.
And that cry for help. And the laughter—that terrible, inhuman laughter coming from the trees…
Someone was out there. Someone with murder in his heart.
Rosita could trace her blood to prehistoric civilizations in Mexico. She knew in her bones that this moon was a sign.
The Fortunes were in trouble—again.
She’d worked for them for a long time. Too long, Ruben said. He wanted her to retire so she could focus on him. “We’ll move away, not too far, but we’ll have a place of our own.”
Ruben had always wanted his own land, but she loved Ryan Fortune and his precious wife, Lily, as if they were members of her own family. She couldn’t leave them. Not now! Not when she knew they needed her more than ever. In the morning she would try to warn them as she cooked them eggs and bacon and tamales and frijoles. They teased her because she cooked frijoles with every meal.
They would probably laugh at her for warning them, too. Ryan and Lily had loved each other since they were kids, but they’d had to wait a lifetime to realize their love. They wanted to be happy, and she wanted that for them, too. Why, then, did her heart feel heavy with the thought that they were doomed? Oh, dear. Maybe when the sun was high in the sky tomorrow she would be able to laugh at her fears and believe all would be well.
She made a fist. “I have to tell them anyway! First thing, when I go to the ranch house!”
