скачать книгу бесплатно
The Swinging R Ranch: The Swinging R Ranch / Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Debbi Rawlins
The West will never be the same…The Swinging R Ranch by Debbi RawlinsBoston playboy Maxwell Bennett needs cash–fast! So he's thrilled when he inherits a ranch in Nevada…until he discovers that the ranch is actually a brothel and that the "ladies" are all over sixty (the R that's swinging stands for Retiree!). Suddenly, Max has more women than he can handle. But the only one he's interested in is beautiful Abby Cunningham, the town's next mayor. Only she wants nothing to do with The Swinging R. Or its new owner…Whose Line Is It Anyway? by Debbi RawlinsAttorney Taylor Madison is tired of the Boston rat race. She needs to slow down and appreciate the finer things in life. And oh-so-sexy rancher Clint Southwick is definitely fine! So, when they hit it off at Max's wedding, Taylor decides a little fling might be in order…until a mix-up with their cell phones leaves her wondering if Clint is as honest as he seems. But how can she expose the man when she's quickly losing her heart to him?
Two brand-new stories in every volume…twice a month!
Duets Vol. #45
Popular Carol Finch always “presents her fans with rollicking wild adventures…memorable characters and fun from beginning to end,” says Romantic Times Magazine. Joining her this month is mother-and-daughter writing team Jennifer Drew with a delightful spin-off to their first Duets title, Taming Luke.
Duets Vol. #46
The West will never be the same after Debbi Rawlins serves up her first dynamite Double Duets. Affaire de Coeur says “Rawlins’s books are jammed packed with witty dialogue, crazy situations, excellent characters and a lot of laughs!” Enjoy!
Be sure to pick up both Duets volumes today!
The Swinging R Ranch
Whose Line is it Anyway?
Debbi Rawlins
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Contents
The Swinging R Ranch (#u6ce07607-05b0-5989-8270-0411d085ed39)
Chapter 1 (#u6d924a72-80b0-510b-9c38-35fbb2ab4ef1)
Chapter 2 (#ud770cf7a-abad-5cd3-b2a6-b81532768d37)
Chapter 3 (#u2fc01eee-9670-503d-9458-4202ac3404f9)
Chapter 4 (#u0d6c60eb-f4eb-53ae-a18b-49a0bfb3cff6)
Chapter 5 (#u27172c77-61b4-5907-800d-2036cb65dc8f)
Chapter 6 (#ub1a8757f-32fb-57fb-b096-709c71bb47b6)
Chapter 7 (#u65ac65a0-f094-5971-85c6-f003992cffb5)
Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)
Whose Line is it Anyway? (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 1 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 2 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 3 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 4 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 5 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 6 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 7 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
The Swinging R Ranch
Debbi Rawlins
“He’s taking over the ranch. Aren’t you, Mr. Bennett?”
Max blinked and took a good look at Rosie. Her hair wasn’t blond. It was white. Attractive, but white. Looking a little closer, he guessed her to be in her late sixties. Was she the cook?
His gaze strayed over the other woman and he tried not to gape. She’d removed her apron and her black lace top fit her like a second skin.
“Max.” Mona grabbed his hand. “I assume I can call you Max? And of course, you already know I’m Mona. Mona Lisa.” Pointing to the other woman, she added, “And this here is Rosie Peach.”
“Mona Lisa. Rosie Peach,” Max repeated slowly, not quite able to believe what he was seeing.
Mona nodded. “Candy Kane is out shopping, but she should be home soon. There’s only the three of us these days.”
Max swallowed.
Mona and Rosie exchanged knowing looks. Then Rosie smiled. “Don’t worry, Max,” she said, patting his arm. “There may be snow on the chimney, but there’s still fire in the furnace.”
Dear Reader,
The state of Nevada is the last place I thought I’d ever set a story. It’s a desert, for crying out loud! Well, not only did I set my first Double Duets in that wonderful, wacky place, but I actually bought a house there. And guess what? I love it!
Even reading the newspapers in Nevada is entertaining—and inspiring! In fact, I came up with the idea behind The Swinging R Ranch when I read an article about a local brothel. How could I help playing the “what if” game in my head with all the juicy material I was finding? I’m still not sure how I came up with the name of the town—Bingo. I’d never played the game, and thought I wouldn’t like it. Now I’m hopelessly addicted, and on most hot afternoons, you’ll find me feverishly daubing numbers in the Bingo Room of The Reserve Casino. Just don’t tell my editor. She thinks I’m writing.
I hope the people of Bingo brighten up your days the way they’ve brightened mine.
Enjoy,
Books by Debbi Rawlins
HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE
691—MARRY ME, BABY
730—THE BRIDE TO BE…OR NOT TO BE?
741—IF WISHES WERE…HUSBANDS
780—STUD FOR HIRE?
808—HIS, HERS AND THEIRS
This is for the ladies of The Reserve Bingo Room—the best bingo agents in Nevada!
And a special acknowledgment to Carol, “the pretty one.”
1
“EVER CONSIDER WORKING for a living?”
The voice seemed to echo down a long tunnel. Max Bennett buried his head deeper under his pillow. It was practically the middle of the night. He was alone. Had to be a dream.
At a slight scraping sound, he peeked through one eye. Light flooded the room. Someone had opened the drapes.
He cursed into the pillow and closed his eye again. He’d thought he was alone. Had what’s-her-name from last night come home with him? You’d think he’d remember that.
“Come on, you bum. Rise and shine.”
Max let out a sigh of relief. It was only Taylor’s voice. Rolling over, he glanced at the clock on the nightstand. His vision blurred and he had to squint. Groaning, he let his head drop back to the pillow. “For God’s sake, it’s only noon.”
“So, you can waste just half the day for a change.” She tugged at the covers he was trying to pull over his head and they landed bunched at his waist. “Did I tell you Hastings submitted his resignation? My firm will need a good contract lawyer.”
All Max had on was a pair of black silk boxers but that wouldn’t faze Taylor so there was no chance of embarrassing her into leaving. She’d been his best friend since their first year in law school. Although they’d dated once, they decided they made better friends. Taylor was ambitious, dedicated, serious. Everything he wasn’t. Of course she didn’t have three generations of blue-blooded Bennetts paying her tab.
“Very funny,” he mumbled and tried to get comfortable again.
“I wasn’t being funny. I’m dead serious.”
Oh, man. Serious was even worse. He hated when she got serious. When any woman did.
“If you came all the way over here to offer me a job, then you just wasted half your day,” he said, and she gave him a disappointed look. “Your time would be better spent finding a way to break into my trust fund.”
He squinted at the top of the nightstand again. His gold watch sat next to an engraved lighter he didn’t recognize. Where the hell was the aspirin?
“If you weren’t so damn lazy you’d have read the will and already figured out that’s impossible. Your grandmother was very specific about your money being dispensed in five-year increments.” Sighing, she reached behind the lamp and produced a small bottle of aspirin. “Why did you bother going to Harvard? You don’t need a law degree to be a vagrant.”
He didn’t even flinch. “Get me some water, huh?”
She stayed put and held up an envelope. “You should have told me about this.”
He stared at the unfamiliar envelope. “I’ve got the Aspen ski trip coming up, then the baccarat tournament in Monte Carlo. I need some serious cash. So unless that pertains to me getting at my trust fund early, I’m not interested.”
Shaking two white tablets out of the bottle into his palm, he contemplated trying to down them without water. A nasty thought. But so was rolling out of bed and trudging all the way across his room to the bathroom.
“You’ve inherited a ranch.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.” He sank back against the pillows. “I’ll give you a hundred bucks to get me some water.”
“Did you know it’s located in Nevada?”
“Yeah, I even know that’s a state. I checked.”
“Hope you didn’t strain yourself,” she said as she walked toward the bathroom. She returned with a crystal goblet of water and handed it to him. “This is only because I want you alert and concentrating. Now, who in the world is this Lily McIntyre who left you the ranch? Surely not one of the Bennetts. I doubt they’ve ventured west of Boston. Too uncivilized for them.”
He wasn’t offended by her remark. It was true. “Lily’s my great-aunt on my mother’s side.”
“Have I met her?”
“Nope. Neither have I.”
Taylor frowned. “I always thought you had a pretty close family.”
“Ah, but we like to leave the skeletons in the closet.”
Curiosity sparkled in her eyes as she sat at the edge of his bed. “I can’t wait to hear this.”
He grinned, then grimaced. His head still hurt like hell. “Okay, I confess…I don’t know anything about Aunt Lily. But she’s gotta be the family skeleton because everyone has suddenly developed acute hearing and speech losses. Then there’s the fact she was stuck out on some small ranch in the desert.”
