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The Catch Of Texas
Lass Small
A MAN MADE FOR MARRIAGE Confirmed bachelorette Gerri Jones was convinced she'd never meet a man in all of TEXAS she could understand, let alone love. Then Frank Scheblocki walked into her life.He was a true gentleman, careful with her innocence, generous with his kisses… and teetering on the edge of falling in love. And though he'd made her the prize of his relentless pursuit, Geri wondered if Frank just might be the biggest catch of all!
“You’re Something Special.” (#uaa67298b-0850-52b3-8837-6016328294d5)Letter to Reader (#u33c56f5d-ae35-5811-95a3-1108bd89fd82)Title Page (#ub8b16b9e-6e96-51f8-8f1e-b7479c199198)About the Author (#ud1708a09-7c71-58c4-bfd5-a0cf789a173f)Chapter One (#u21730119-aa7a-5f04-8aae-455dae3e975c)Chapter Two (#u76c34b92-2010-57cc-8dc1-2bcf02863193)Chapter Three (#litres_trial_promo)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)Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
“You’re Something Special.”
Frank watched her, and his eyes and face were soft and gentle.
Geri just looked at him.
He told her, “I wish—”
She waited.
He continued to look at her in that same soft way.
She asked, “What is it that you...wish?”
He shook his head. He was still and said nothing more.
She asked again, “What exactly are you talking about that you wish?”
So he finally said the truth. “I’d take you away to a private place and make love to you.”
“I don’t do that sort of thing. I wouldn’t until I was safely married.”
“You haven’t—? At all?” His mouth was open. He couldn’t believe what she’d said. She was a virgin? He was boggled.
But he also couldn’t get his eyes off her. She truly was something special, and he would do well to be very careful with her.
Dear Reader,
Welcome to Silhouette Desire—where you’re guaranteed powerful, passionate and provocative love stories that feature rugged heroes and spirited heroines who experience the full emotional intensity of falling in love!
This October you’ll love our new MAN OF THE MONTH title by Barbara Boswell, Forever Flint. Opposites attract when a city girl becomes the pregnant bride of a millionaire outdoorsman.
Be sure to “rope in” the next installment of the exciting Desire miniseries TEXAS CATTLEMAN’S CLUB with Billionaire Bridegroom by Peggy Moreland. When cattle baron Forrest Cunningham wants to wed childhood friend Becky Sullivan, she puts his love to an unexpected test.
The always-wonderful Jennifer Greene returns to Desire with her magical series HAPPILY EVER AFTER. Kiss Your Prince Charming is a modern fairy tale starring an unforgettable “frog prince.” In a sexy battle-of-the-sexes tale, Lass Small offers you The Catch of Texas. Anne Eames continues her popular miniseries MONTANA MALONES with The Unknown Malone. And Sheri WhiteFeather makes her explosive Desire debut with Warrior’s Baby, a story of surrogate motherhood with a twist.
Next month, you’ll really feel the power of the passion when you see our new provocative cover design. Underneath our new covers, you will still find six exhilarating journeys into the seductive world of romance, with a guaranteed happy ending!
Enjoy!
Joan Marlow Golan
Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire
Please address questions and book requests to:
Silhouette Reader Service
U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., PO. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269
Canadian. P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3
The Catch of Texas
Lass Small
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
LASS SMALL
finds living on this planet at this time a fascinating experience. People are amazing. She thinks that to be a teller of tales of people, places and things is absolutely marvelous.
One
There’s a saying known by its four letters—TGIF or Thank God It’s Friday. Well, that isn’t exactly what women have in mind. Their definition of the quote is: Thank God I’m Female.
Men are slow and think it’s another quote entirely. But then, men are different from women.
Now Geri Jones was a normal woman and saw life as it was. At an early age, she was baffled by males. As time went along, she watched them silently. When she matured, she found all men are thataway! There is no change! Men are strange.
Just try to take a man to a concert when there’s a baseball game! They go to that.
Their... grandmother...is ill. That’s what they say when they leave the office.
It was after Geri was adult that she had TGIF put on her car license plate. She’d looked at males since she was ten, and she had never understood any, nor had she been snared by any one of them.
She searched. The town in TEXAS where Geri lived was big enough. Something over a million people. A good number to paw through and select some interesting males. She was thoughtful, considering, and careful. But few were acceptable. They were generally not what she had in mind. So she’d slowly withdrawn. She had just about been positive she’d either have to be a single woman or move away and search somewhere else for a man.
Frank Scheblocki thought Geri Jones was what he wanted. He smiled at her as she walked down the street toward him. He thought just his smile would be plenty and she’d swoon in his arms.
She did not.
Frank was not deterred by her being so difficult. He talked to his buddies about her. There was Tim Slamecki, Jack Smith, Mac Kraft, Mark Goode and Tommy Thompson.
The males discussed the stubborn female who at her age hadn’t the guts to smile back. They stood on the street corner and looked at her as she passed.
Geri didn’t notice. Not the actual males. They blocked the walk, and she had to cope with that stupidity. She walked around them with grim indignation. They laughed. She thought they were too old to be thataway.
Frank was trying to catch her eye. He thought she was...wonderful. He wanted her in his house so that when he got home from work, she would be there with all the goodies on the table. The biggest goody being her.
To him, she was special. Frank smiled his hello smile at her. She never noticed. She didn’t look at him at all.
Sadly, Frank said to his buddies, “She doesn’t like me all that much.”
Mark soothed, “She’s shy.”
Tim agreed. “She’s woggled by all us males. Some of us ought to move back and quit looking at her.”
“You get back.” That was Mark.
Tim shook his head. “I have to stay close to Frank so’s he won’t bungle the entire encounter.”
Mac gasped. “The entire encounter.” And he put his hand to his chest in shock.
Tommy said, “Cut it out.”
“—of the paper?” Mac gasped again.
Tommy groaned and laughed.
It went on thataway. Long past the time that Geri Jones had disappeared. Gotten into her car. Left them. Gone.
The males all noted that she had TGIF on her license plate. They smiled. They were not functioning correctly or they would have known it wasn’t Thank God It’s Friday but Thank God I’m Female.
That would have boggled the men.
Sometime back, in spite of her mother’s tears, Geri had moved from home and gotten an apartment of her own. She lived in a large old apartment house that was back from the river.
When she got home to her apartment after work, she liked the quiet. She took the elevator to the third floor, or she walked it. Whichever she wanted.
She chose which TV programs she wanted and adjusted the sound to suit her. She was tidy. She liked her apartment that way. She’d chosen the third floor because she could see over the TEXAS trees to the river.
Twice a year, Geri had her family there for her mother’s birthday and her father’s birthday. She was becoming a solid woman. She was twenty-eight. Still single. Alone.
Her parents had given up on her. She would be a single woman all the rest of her life, they grieved. They had discussed her from the time she’d left them.
Geri gave bridge parties now and again. She included men. They liked cards. They visited with the other men. The males paid little attention to the women.
However—
Two of the men thought Geri was a good partner. She worked, she had her own apartment, she had a car, she was very well set financially. They smiled at her and each separately offered to bring the bread and wine for supper—each told her that would be between just him and her.
Geri smiled. She said, “I’ll call.”
She never did.
Geri went to visit her parents before the drive home. Her mother Ann told her, “You’re too picky. Find a man you can endure and get married.”
Geri replied, “I’ll see.”
It was a nothing reply. Her mother was aware of that. It silenced her. She realized Geri probably wouldn’t ever be interested in any man. There were women like that. Ann looked at her husband and thought he wasn’t at all difficult.
When Geri left, her mother saw the TGIF but then she realized it was different.
That made her mother think for a while. She said thoughtfully to her husband John, “I wonder if Geri will ever marry.”
Her husband lifted his eyebrows without moving his eyes from the evening paper and said, “Ummmmm.”
Ann looked at her husband and breathed in indignation. But she said nothing.
Geri drove to her apartment house and thought about what and who she had to consider seriously. Frank? She thought about him as she drove into the open garage under her apartment.
She nodded to people who called to her without replying vocally. She was lost in time. She stopped and looked out to the river. The land between was kept empty of houses because the river rose and flooded.
If houses were in that area, they would be a part of the mess. She didn’t consider it because her mind was on her own life. What did she want?
And at that time, two cars came along and honked as they stopped. It was Frank Scheblocki and some of his friends.
Frank got out of his car and stood, allowing her to admire his body and his smile. The other guys got out also, but they stayed closer to the cars.
Frank moved slowly to Geri.
Geri sighed silently. There were men who liked concerts and men who studied newspapers and magazines to know what was happening where. But this male saw her, and he followed her, and he noticed her. He made her feel special.
She smiled and turned out her hand. “Are all those males along to take care of you?”
Soberly watching her, Frank asked, “Could I come back by myself? Would you mind?”
She looked at him and nodded. “I’ll fix you supper.”
He grinned. “I’ll be back.” Frank went back, calling openly, “In the cars. I’ve been invited to supper.”
Some male gasped, “You have?”
And Frank nodded. “Just me!”
As the various males got into their cars, they protested not being invited, too.
Geri slowly shook her head, being sure the rest of the males would not come back, too.
They laughed and protested and called out, but they all left in the two cars.
Geri wondered what she’d done. Well, she could control any male. She’d feed Frank after all, and she’d shoo him out after they’d eaten. If he walked over to her place, or someone came by and dropped him off, she’d call a cab for him when the supper was finished.
So she went inside her apartment to the kitchen and looked at what all was available to eat. Shocked, she saw she had very little. And Frank was coming right back. So she went next door to another apartment and asked her neighbor, Paul Gorden, “May I use some of your goodies? I’ve asked a young man to have dinner with me. He is willing.”
Paul said, “Only if I can share the supper you’re preparing.”
She laughed. “Do you suppose that there will be enough to eat?”
Paul said, “I’ll help. Of course, you’ll have to include me for dinner. Not to eat me, you realize, but to feed me also.”
She tilted her head and said, “Okay. It’s a deal. What all do you have to eat?”
