скачать книгу бесплатно
Once a Rebel
Sheri WhiteFeather
It's not easy living down a wild-child reputation. But Susan Fortune has never done anything the easy way. Who would have guessed she'd turn out to be a well-respected San Francisco psychologist with a knack for helping wayward teens? Not Ethan Eldridge, her secret crush who lived in Red Rock, Texas, seventeen years ago.Now back on the ranch to pay respects to ailing Ryan Fortune, Susan lets Ethan in on her little secret. However, the sexy and serious veterinarian has a surprise for her, too. Their longing was mutual. And how can he say no to a second chance with Susan? But Ethan's heart is scarred. And if she wants to keep him, Susan's got to prove that even rebels have to put down roots sometime.
Praise for Sheri WhiteFeather:
“WhiteFeather delivers hot sex, spicy sexual tension and pure old-fashioned love.”
—Romantic Times
“Not only does Ms. WhiteFeather…turn a phrase with considerable ease, she also delivers top-notch characterization and complex emotional development to create a pleasurable reading experience.”
—Romantic Times
“This book pushed the envelope right to the edge of the table and let it hang in precarious balance. The premise is edgy and sexy and the story is executed to perfection. The characters grabbed me by the heartstrings with their very emotional conflicts. The intensity of their attraction for each other nearly set the book on fire….”
—Writers Unlimited
“…this steamy, hot romance is fantastically written…the love scenes are passionate enough to ignite the pages. Ms. WhiteFeather knows her audience well and writes in a way to capture their attention while allowing them to ‘fall’ into the careful plotting and secrets of each character.”
—Writers Unlimited
Don’t miss Signature Select’s exciting series:
The Fortunes of Texas: Reunion
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
Once a Rebel
Sheri WhiteFeather
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Dear Reader,
In 1999, the year my first book was published, the original Fortunes of Texas was in full swing. I wasn’t part of the original series, but like most of you, I was enthralled with the Fortune family. And now here I am, all these years later, participating in the reunion.
If you’re curious about my hero and heroine, here’s the scoop. Ethan Eldridge, a large-animal vet, heals wounded creatures, and Susan Fortune, a psychologist, dedicates her life to troubled teens. Together, they create magic. At least for me. While writing their story, I consulted my own family: two open-minded teenagers and a veterinary technician husband who gave me his textbooks for research.
The other authors on this series were wonderful. The ladies who live in Texas shared information about the Lone Star State, and on top of that, Karen Rose Smith was gracious enough to send me a signed copy of her original Fortune book, with pages marked for reference. I was especially captivated by Ryan and Lily Fortune, returning characters that play a significant role in my story.
I hope you find THE FORTUNES OF TEXAS: REUNION an engaging experience, stories to treasure for years to come.
Love,
Sheri WhiteFeather
To Patience Smith (our amazing editor) and the other authors on this series—seeing you in Dallas was a blast. To those of you who weren’t able to be there, we missed you.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Epilogue
Bonus Features
One
Susan Fortune approached the barn, the weathered wood calling to her like an old friend, stirring scattered memories, making them swirl in her mind.
In the past seventeen years she hadn’t been home much. She’d returned now and then, but always in a rush, a day or two at Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter. But being back in Red Rock, Texas, back on the Double Crown Ranch, felt different this time.
Because this wasn’t a harried holiday weekend, a fast-paced trip she’d crammed into her busy schedule. This was the real thing. A homecoming that turned her heart inside out.
Her cousin Ryan, the Fortune family patriarch, was dying.
Susan moved closer to the barn, the slightly chilled, early February air stinging her skin. She’d spent the most important time of her life, her senior year in high school, on the Double Crown. Ryan had taken her in after her alcohol-enraged father had kicked her out. He’d offered her a place to stay, a place to feel loved, a home away from home, from the turbulence that had nearly destroyed her.
And now here she was, wishing she could save Ryan, but knowing she couldn’t.
Reflective, she looked around, watching the ranch hands do their jobs. And then a tall, tanned man in rugged denims, with a straw cowboy hat dipped low on his forehead, exited the barn. He strode toward a white dually, and suddenly she couldn’t breathe, every ounce of oxygen in her lungs refusing to cooperate.
Was that Ethan Eldridge?
Yes, she told herself. It had to be. He’d grown bigger, broader, more masculine, but she recognized him just the same. Even the way he wore his clothes bred familiarity. A hand-tooled belt that he’d probably made himself was threaded through his jeans, and the hem of each pant leg frayed around a pair of weather-beaten boots. When he adjusted his hat in a memorable manner, her girlhood dreams went up in a cloud of pheromone-scented smoke.
She hadn’t seen him since they were teenagers, since she’d pined for him like the emotionally torn, desperate-for-affection female she’d been.
Should she call his name? Get his attention before he climbed into his truck and drove away?
Or would that make her look foolish? Susan Fortune, the reformed bad girl, flaunting herself in front of Ethan Eldridge all over again.
Unsure of what to do, she simply stood where she was, the wind whipping her hair across her cheek. But before she could come to a decision, Ethan reacted to her presence. Like a solitary animal, a cougar sensing an intruder, he slowed his pace and turned around.
Leaving Susan exposed to his gaze.
Chiding herself, she smoothed her hair, batting it away from her face. She wasn’t reverting to promiscuity. If anything, she was able to diagnose her teenage self, the rebellious girl who’d paraded other boys in front of Ethan. Susan understood the wild child that had festered inside her. She’d graduated from Stanford and earned a Ph.D. in psychology.
She decided to greet him with a friendly yet noncommittal hello, so she started off in his direction, cutting across the dirt path that separated them. But as she analyzed his catlike posture, she realized that he hadn’t identified her.
He had no idea who she was.
Beneath the brim of his hat, his eyebrows furrowed. A frown of curiosity, she thought. A country boy wondering why a citified blonde, dressed in designer jeans and a form-fitting blazer, was determined to talk to him.
Finally when they were face-to-face, with sights, sounds and smells of the ranch spinning around them, recognition dawned in his eyes.
Those stunning blue eyes.
“Susan?” He beat her to the punch, saying her name first.
“Ethan.” She extended her hand, preparing to touch him. “It’s good to see you.”
“You, too.” He accepted her hand, enveloping it with callused fingers.
They gazed at each other, silence sizzling between them. She could feel the soundless energy zapping the air, conjuring invisible fireflies.
So much for her Ph.D.
Suddenly she was a smitten seventeen-year-old, reliving the day they’d met. He had been a ranch hand’s hardworking, properly reared son, and she had been as untamed as the Texas terrain, a lost girl aching for attention. So much so, she’d parked her butt on a fence rail, as close to him as possible. Then she’d unbuttoned the top of her blouse, complaining about the heat, trying to get him to look at her.
He did, but only for a second. Just long enough to stop working and offer her a bottle of water. His water. A plastic container he’d yet to open, to drink from.
An elusive boy. A gallant gesture.
In her young, needy soul, Susan had fallen like a ton of shattered bricks, wanting Ethan even more. But she’d never gotten him. Nothing. Not even a kiss.
“I’m sorry about what’s happening to Ryan,” he said, bringing her back to the present. “You know how much I care about him.”
She nodded. Ethan had practically grown up on the Double Crown. He knew Ryan well. “He’s such a good man. Everyone loves him.”
“I’m sure he’s glad to have you home.”
Home. The word never failed to strike her heart. She’d lived with her parents in Katy, Texas, a suburb of Houston, until Ryan took her in. Sixteen years in Katy and one year in Red Rock. Yet Red Rock would always seem like home, even though she’d moved away from Texas altogether.
Ethan shifted his stance, drawing her attention to his tall, muscular form. He’d been lean and wiry as a teenager, a boy who’d spent all of his free time with the animals on the ranch.
“Ryan told me you became a large-animal vet,” she said.
“And he told me you became a child psychologist.” A smile ghosted across his lips. “I guess we both grew up, didn’t we?”
“Yes, we did.” As a girl, she used to dream about that uneven smile. Slow and sexy, she thought. One corner of his mouth tilting in a lazy sort of way.
Caught up in the moment, she stole a glance at his left hand. The last she’d heard, he was single, but that was a few years ago. She hadn’t made a habit of grilling Ryan about him.
When she noticed the absence of a ring, she sighed. Ethan was thirty-five, the same age as she was, and she’d never married, either. But her work was her priority, the heartbeat of her existence.
Did Ethan feel that way, too? Or was she jumping to conclusions? Just because he didn’t wear a ring didn’t mean he wasn’t involved in a committed relationship. Or that he wasn’t looking for a partner, someone to share the ups and downs in his life.
“Did you just get here today?” he asked.
“Yes.” She told herself to quit psychoanalyzing him, to leave her textbook curiosity at the curb. “I arrived this morning.” She flipped her wrist and checked her watch. “A few hours ago. Ryan is taking a nap, so I decided to go for a walk.”
“How’s Lily holding up?”
“She’s doing the best she can. When I left the house, she was fussing in the kitchen, giving herself something to do.” Lily was Ryan’s third wife, a woman he’d loved since his youth but hadn’t married until many years later.
The wind rustled Ethan’s shirt. “How long are you going to stay?”
