скачать книгу бесплатно
The Way to a Cowboy's Heart
Teresa Southwick
FAMILYMATTERSIT WAS JUST A HOUSE…Bachelor Cade McKendrick has no intention of filling his rugged ranch with a family. Then his hastily hired cook turned out to be a gorgeous single mom, and the place was promptly invaded by freshly baked cookies, toys and laughter. Soon, Cade longed for something he didn't even believe in…COULD IT BECOME A HOME?P.J. Kirkland was a mother, not a wife. Yet Cade's tender ways had her dreaming of a husband. Was it possible this cowboy wanted more than a place to hang his Stetson…that he desired his own loving family?Kisses, kids, cuddles and kin–the best things in life are found in families!
“You’ve turned this house into a home, P.J.” (#uf54eb40a-e4d3-52c3-8c77-43da986bfae9)Letter to Reader (#u6228e03b-d343-503c-ac5a-7ab05d86e734)Title Page (#ua4ea3d11-37e9-592d-9fa9-6f0f84f5099b)Dedication (#u841bbce5-0627-53ea-9af2-dfca770a85ef)About the Author (#u7cfbc923-7463-5436-af48-e3c127b6c86b)Letter to Reader (#ud84b5fbe-4ce0-5e9f-8c2d-6251f036dcab)Chapter One (#u95b4c672-ec24-5f80-8690-b8b9d0b89023)Chapter Two (#ue4e47705-b5fe-53b7-8e46-3a01384b198f)Chapter Three (#u8961359a-f57b-5f25-b56c-1f107356872e)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)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
“You’ve turned this house into a home, P.J.”
“It was a home when I got here.”
He shook his head. “Nope. Not even close,” he said. “How do you do it?”
Shyly she said, “I suppose it’s just because I’m a woman.”
She’d meant the remark in the most innocent way. But the feelings it generated in him went from touch-and-go to downright dangerous.
“It’s easier for women,” she said. “We’re naturally nesters. We pull in a bit of this, a smidgen of that, and—” she threw her arm out in a circular motion “—voilà. A building becomes a home.”
And when she left at the end of the summer, the nest would go back to being just bits of this and that with no one to breathe life and vitality and warmth into it. This home would be a ranch again. And he’d be a footloose cowboy once more.
Isn’t that what he’d always wanted?
Dear Reader
The wonder of a Silhouette Romance is that it can touch every woman’s heart. Check out this month’s offerings—and prepare to be swept away!
A woman wild about kids winds up tutoring a single dad in the art of parenthood in Babies, Rattles and Cribs...Oh, My! It’s this month’s BUNDLES OF JOY title from Leanna Wilson. When a Cinderella-esque waitress—complete with wicked stepfamily!—finds herself in danger, she hires a bodyguard whose idea of protection means making her his Glass Slipper Bride, another unforgettable tale from Arlene James. Pair one highly independent woman and one overly protective lawman and what do you have? The prelude to The Marriage Beat, Doreen Roberts’s sparkling new Romance with a HE’S MY HERD cop.
WRANGLERS & LACE is a theme-based promotion highlighting classic Western stories. July’s offering, Cathleen Galirz’s Wyoming Born & Bred, features an ex-rodeo champion bent on reclaiming his family’s homestead who instead discovers that home is with the stubborn new owner...and her three charming children! A long-lost twin, a runaway bride...and A Gift for the Groom—don’t miss this conclusion to Sally Carleen’s delightful duo ON THE WAY TO A WEDDING.... And a man-shy single mom takes a chance and follows The Way to a Cowboy’s Heart in this emotional heart-tugger from rising star Teresa Southwick.
Enjoy this month’s selections, and make sure to drop me a line about why you keep coming back to Romance. We want to fulfill your dreams!
Happy reading,
Mary-Theresa Hussey
Senior Editor, Silhouette Romance
300 East 42nd Street, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10017
Please address questions and book requests to:
Silhouette Reader Service
U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269
Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3
The Way to a Cowboy’s Heart
Teresa Southwick
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
For my brother Dan Boyle and his wife, Katie.
Your laughter, loyalty and love is always an inspiration.
Thanks for the verbal crash course, no pun intended, in
horseback riding. I’m grateful that you didn’t call me
crazy for asking, “But he could touch her leg now, right?”
TERESA SOUTHWICK
is a native Californian with ties to each coast, since she was conceived in the East and born in the West. Living with her husband of twenty-five years and two handsome sons, she is surrounded by heroes. Reading has been her passion since she was a girl. She couldn’t be more delighted that her dream of writing full-time has come true. Her favorite things include: holding a baby, the fragrance of jasmine, walks on the beach, the patter of rain on the roof, and above all—happy endings.
Teresa also writes historical romance novels under the same name.
Dear Reader,
Relatives. Gotta love ‘em. Right?
I was one of six kids in a close-knit family. My brothers and I still get together one weekend a year, without spouses and children, to reconnect. We actually like each other.
My husband and I tried to give our two sons the foundation of family that we both enjoyed. Then along came their teenage years. The kids tried to grow up while we struggled valiantly to keep them little and convince them that we knew best. I found that often what I didn’t say was more profound than platitudes tuned out by selective teenage hearing. There were times when we fought, but we always loved each other. We were always family, and that relationship—good or bad—shapes our lives.
This is the theme of The Way to a Cowboy’s Heart—a father’s stern discipline and a rebellious teenager’s interpretation that he’s no good. Cade McKendrick is convinced that he has nothing to offer anyone, including the teenagers he’s forced to take in for the summer. He hires single mom P. J. Kirkland as a cook and she soon sets out to show him he’s one of the good guys.
Because family has always been such an important element in my life, I’m very proud that The Way to a Cowboy’s Heart is included in FAMILY MATTERS. Silhouette Romance’s promotion this month. I fell in love with Cade McKendrick and hope this cowboy finds his way into your heart too.
Chapter One
“You’re a woman.”
“You’re a man.” P. J. Kirkland shot back, then winced after the words popped out.
Open mouth, insert foot. The first time she’d laid eyes on her new boss too.
Would she ever learn to think before letting words come out? Cade McKendrick didn’t seem a warm, fuzzy—forgiving—sort of man. She was relieved when his lips curved up slightly in a smile.
“Can’t argue that.” He glanced down at the paper on the desk in front of him. “I just figured P. J. Kirkland was a guy.”
“That happens a lot.”
“Hmm.” The leather chair creaked loudly as he sat down. Not surprising. His approximately six-foot-two-inch, solid-as-a-rock frame would make any piece of furniture groan. Not to mention most females she knew. Luckily, she was the exception.
A good-looking man held no appeal for her. Not anymore. But she couldn’t help noticing that Cade McKendrick, with his deep blue eyes, sun-streaked brown hair and chiseled jaw, would not have to wear a bag over his head in public—unless he wanted to avoid female attention.
P.J. held out her hand. “It’s nice to meet you Mr. McKendrick.”
“Cade,” he said leaning forward to squeeze her fingers. He indicated the chair in front of his desk and said, “Please sit down. What does P.J. stand for?”
“Would you believe pajamas?”
“No.”
So much for trying to distract him with humor. Although brief, that flash of amusement on his rugged face moments ago had charmed her, and she’d hoped to bring it out again. But it was gone, as if it had never happened, replaced by an unreadable mask. He watched her intently, expectantly, waiting her out. He was going to make her tell him her full name. She would make him pay.
“Penelope Jane,” she said quickly. “It’s nice—”
“What’s wrong with Penelope Jane?” Even as he innocently asked, the corners of his eyes crinkled slightly as his mouth twitched. She had hoped to impress him with her razor-sharp wit, not her dippy name.
She sighed. “Sounds like a character from a bad Doris Day movie.”
“What’s wrong with Penny?”
“Too cutesy. My older brother started using the initials and it stuck.”
“Okay. So tell me what you know about kids.”
“In twenty-five words or less?” she joked.
“Okay.”
He sounded serious. P.J. frowned. Her experience and qualifications were in the résumé she’d sent him. Now that she thought about it, the fact that she was a woman was clear in her introductory letter. But maybe this was his way of breaking the ice.
“I teach high-school kids. Just completed my fourth year.” Her job in Valencia, California, was a far cry from his ranch near Santa Barbara. Hard to believe the two places were in the same state, only a couple hours apart by car.
He nodded, apparently satisfied. “You can cook, right?”
Shouldn’t this have been ironed out before she arrived? “If I couldn’t, I wouldn’t have answered your ad, in spite of the fact that this job is exactly what I need. The idea of a youth summer program on a ranch is innovative and a terrific opportunity. For children,” she added, knowing she was babbling. She was nervous. She couldn’t help it. He kept looking at her with those blue eyes that seemed to read every secret she had.
“These kids aren’t children. They’re teenagers,” he said. “What’s your specialty? In food, I mean.”
“I don’t do gourmet/fancy. But I know what kids like—hot dogs, hamburgers, tacos and fries are about as sophisticated as they get. I can make biscuits from scratch that will melt in your mouth. And my chocolate chip cookies wouldn’t be mistaken for hockey pucks,” she added, sacrificing modesty for honesty and complete objectivity.
Small doubts began to creep in on her. This felt an awful lot like a job interview, but she’d been under the impression that she already had the position. He’d left the message on her answering machine that she was hired and the date he wanted her to start.
She was about to ask a few incisive questions of her own when there was a loud crash outside his office door. P.J. jumped up and raced into the hall with Cade right behind her. There beside an antique accent table, she saw her daughter, Emily, with a shattered crystal photo frame on the distressed-oak floor at her feet.
“Mommy—” Her child’s fearful gaze darted to Cade just before she scurried forward and buried her face against P.J.’s jean-clad leg.
P.J. crouched down and gathered the seven-year-old in her arms. ‘ “What happened, sweetie? I told you to sit quietly and not touch anything while you waited for me.”
“Mommy?” Cade frowned. “You brought a kid with you?”
“Not a kid. My daughter, Emily.” PJ. took a deep breath to keep her anger at bay. How long before she learned that when something looked too good to be true it usually was? Case in point: a job on a ranch where she and Emily could live for the summer. It had seemed ideal. She would be able to work and still save money on child care. She might actually get ahead financially.
She glared up at him. “I stated clearly in the letter accompanying my résumé that I had a child. I told you she would be coming with me. When you left the message that I had been hired, I assumed that you had gone over my qualifications carefully. But you haven’t even looked at my résumé, have you, Mr. McKendrick?”
Before he could answer, Emily looked at him with red-rimmed green eyes. Her lips quivered when she said, “I—I’m sorry about the picture, mister.”
He went down on one knee and lifted the photograph from the shards of glass. He studied the granite features of the gray-haired man, then said, “Forget it.”
Emily stared at the picture in his hands. “But it must be special—”
“Just my father,” he said.
She rubbed a knuckle beneath her nose. “You’re lucky. I don’t have a daddy.”
Her words tugged at P.J.’s heart.
“Me either. He died three months ago.” He looked up at P.J. “Don’t lose any sleep over it,” he said reading the sympathy she knew was on her face. “I won’t.”
Emily sniffled again. “I’m extra sorry, mister.”
P.J. pulled her little girl more protectively against her. “I’ll see that the frame is replaced, Mr. McKendrick. ”
“Don’t worry about it. And I already told you the name is Cade,” he said, standing.
“I insist. As soon as—” She looked down when she felt a tug on her jeans pocket. “What is it, Emily?”
“Do ranches have bathrooms?”
Cade smiled for the second time in the last fifteen minutes. Once at her, once at Emily. He mumbled something that sounded a lot like “double trouble.”
Great, she thought, already planning to apply for work at her local fast-food place. She would figure out some way to arrange child care.
When Emily tugged again, she said, “T’m sure there’s a powder room. Let’s ask Mr.—” she stopped when he slanted her a look. “Cade. He’ll tell you where it is.”
He pointed down the hall. “Go that way and it’ll be on your right.”
“Do you want me to go with you, Em?”
The girl shook her head, then looked uncertain. “But which side is right?”
“It’s the side you hold your pencil. Okay?”
She smiled. “Okay.”
They watched her until she’d found the right door, then P.J. turned to him. “You didn’t answer my question. Did you read my résumé?”
He rubbed his neck. “No.”
“Was mine the only one you received?”
