USA TODAY bestselling author Delores Fossen brings the Texas heat in this sizzling novella...
Lana Watley would do anything for her lovable, troublemaking grandfather. Except marry her ex, Marco Becker—that’s just too big an ask, even to safeguard the family ranch. Sure, Grandpa Benji isn’t wrong that there are still feelings between her and the gorgeous cowboy. Lust, for one. But also the kind of deep hurt that not even toe-curling chemistry can eclipse.
For once, Marco agrees with Lana. She crushed his heart when she walked away a decade ago. Yet after everything Benji has done for him, he hates to see the old man lose his ranch. Perhaps if Marco and Lana work together, they can solve this problem another way. If only every encounter didn’t leave him wishing this red-hot reunion could last forever.
Hot Summer in Texas
Delores Fossen
USA TODAY bestselling author Delores Fossen has had more than one hundred novels published, with millions of copies of her books in print worldwide. She’s received the Booksellers’ Best Award and the RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Award, and was a finalist for the prestigious RITA® Award. In addition, she’s had nearly one hundred short stories and articles published in national magazines. Married to an air force colonel, Delores is the mother of four children and has lived in England and all over the United States. She’s had a variety of careers and jobs: an air force captain, a special-education teacher and a rehab counselor. None were as fun or challenging as the time she spent as a stay-at-home mom. You can get updates about Delores’s books or contact her through her website at www.deloresfossen.com.
Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER ONE
LANA WATLEY SMELLED a rat the moment she stepped in front of the jail cell. A rat with two legs, a sly grin and blue eyes that were a genetic copy of her own.
She definitely wasn’t smiling. Lana was frazzled and out of breath. She’d hurried into the Lone Star Ridge Police Station with a mountain of worry and concern—and confusion—but apparently the grinning man didn’t see a reason for any of the emotional reactions she was having.
“Grandad, what are you doing in here in this cell?” Lana asked. She gave him a long once-over, making sure he wasn’t injured, and she thankfully didn’t see a scratch on him.
“You came,” he said, totally ignoring her question.
He slowly rose to his feet. There was no other way to describe it. Benji Watley—aka her grandfather—moved as if he had all the time in the world to amble the two yards from his cot to the front of his cell. Even though he was now eighty-one, he wasn’t feeble, far from it. He wrapped his fingers around the bars, peering out through them with his wrinkled narrow face, and he flashed her another smile.
“I wasn’t sure you’d come,” he added a moment later. “You’ve been so busy.”
Now, along with the other things she was feeling, Lana got a hefty dose of guilt. She had indeed been busy with her law practice and hadn’t made it to Lone Star Ridge in nearly three months. Way too long. But when Benji had called her today, it hadn’t been because he’d wanted a visit from his granddaughter. It was the lawyer he’d requested.
“You said I should get here ASAP,” Lana reminded him, “that you’d been arrested.”
“I was,” he readily admitted, and he hung his head as if remembering he should also be feeling some shame over whatever it was that had gotten him locked up here in jail.
Which was no easy feat for a man like her grandfather.
To the best of her knowledge, Grandpa Benji had never had so much as a traffic ticket. Plus, the town sheriff, Leyton Jameson, was as fair a cop as they came and wouldn’t just arrest someone on a whim. Lana was certain of that.
Even though she hadn’t lived in Lone Star Ridge in years, she still had plenty of friends here who kept an eye on her grandfather and kept her updated on the town talk. Lana included Leyton in the pool of “plenty of friends.” Also, his sister, Cait, who was one of the deputies. It was Cait who’d ushered Lana back into the jail area, but despite their friendship, the deputy had stayed mum on the charges, saying that it was something her grandfather had wanted to explain to her. However, Cait had spilled that Benji had refused bail even though many people, including Cait herself, had offered to pay it.
Yes, Lana smelled a rat all right.
Her grandfather was up to something. Something that would no doubt involve getting her to move back to Lone Star Ridge. Lana was still mulling over the possibility of doing just that, but she sure as heck hadn’t wanted to be lured here and given a hard sell by the man who’d raised her. By the man she loved.
And she remembered that now.
She loved him and owed him. He’d been the only one in her family to step up and raise her after both her parents had been killed in a car wreck when Lana was ten. It’d been a hefty task for a widower who’d already hit the sixty mark, but he’d done it, and she would be forever grateful to him. That’s why she softened her voice when she asked the next question.
“What happened?” Lana stroked her hand over his.
Her grandfather opened his mouth, but he didn’t get a chance to answer before Lana heard the sound of footsteps behind her. She glanced over her shoulder, expecting to see Cait or the sheriff, but instead she got another shock. Not as much of one as seeing her grandfather behind bars, but it still gave her heart a jolt.
Along with a little flutter.
Marco Becker could cause reactions like that. Not just for her but for most women. He had rock star looks and a cowboy’s swagger, all wrapped up in a nice package with his dark brown hair and amazing blue eyes. Yes, amazing, though Lana had heard many women call them bedroom eyes, followed by little sighs to go along with the heart flutters. Simply put, Marco was one hot cowboy.
And he was trouble.
Trouble for her anyway as ex-lovers often were. After all, there was a reason he was an ex, and that reason was slathered thick with old memories. Old wounds. And the heat, of course. That, too, was still obviously simmering between them.
Lana would have liked to deny that the attraction was even still there, but no way could she do that. Not when her body went haywire whenever she was around Marco. Like now.
In hindsight, it wasn’t a surprise that he was there. Marco owned the ranch nearest to Benji’s. They even shared a property line that included the creek. Also, according to Cait, Marco often helped Benji with running his own ranch so they’d managed to stay friendly despite the breakup between Marco and her. Then again, the breakup had happened over a decade ago so maybe she was the only one remembering it.
“I’m not filing charges against Benji, but he insisted that Cait arrest him,” Marco grumbled.
Now Lana had more than a split-second of speculation. She volleyed glances at Marco and her grandfather. “Why would there need to be charges or an arrest?”
Judging from the silence, neither man wanted to answer that, but it was finally her grandfather who responded. “I punched Marco.”
Lana immediately whirled back around to look at Marco, specifically at his face, and she spotted the bruise.
“You hit Marco?” she asked Benji.
Her grandfather nodded, and he did the head-dip maneuver again as if trying to prove he was sorry about that. He didn’t prove it very well at all. There was still some slyness in his expression, and since Lana didn’t want to play twenty questions with him, she turned back to Marco.
“What happened?” Lana demanded.
Marco dragged in a long weary breath and scrubbed his hand over his face. He winced though when his fingers brushed against the bruise. “Benji came over to my place this morning, and he was mad about one of my bulls breaking fence and messing up his garden. I tried to tell him I’d fix it, but he punched me. Then, he called Cait and told her to come out and arrest him.”
There were so many things wrong with that explanation. For starters, bulls broke fence, period. That happened on ranches, and she knew of at least two incidents where Benji’s livestock had done the same to Marco’s property. Well, not to his garden because to the best of her knowledge, Marco didn’t have one. Ditto for her grandfather.
“Since when do you have a garden?” she pressed Benji. “And since when do you get mad and punch someone?”
Her grandfather shrugged. “I’ve taken up tending roses, and when I saw his Angus bull had trampled my Mr. Lincolns and Buff Beauties, I just lost it. I went right over to Marco’s and slugged him.” He was quick to answer which made her wonder if he’d rehearsed it.
Mulling over that info, she shifted back to Marco, and she could tell from his frustrated huff that he hadn’t made any more sense of this than she had. It also told her that whatever was going on, Marco wasn’t part of it. Nope. He wasn’t a happy camper right now.
“Benji’s up to something,” Marco concluded.
Yep. She was back to smelling that rat, and both Marco and she aimed a long stare at Benji.
“Start talking,” Lana insisted. “Tell me what’s going on.”
Her grandfather had the nerve to act surprised that they wouldn’t believe his righteous ire over trampled roses. “Nothing’s going on. Like I said, I just lost it.”
They continued staring at the old man until Cait stepped back in. The deputy went straight to the cell and opened the door. That’s when Lana realized it hadn’t even been locked. Apparently, Cait knew that Benji wasn’t a threat to the safety of others. However, he had slung out some prime BS with this story he’d concocted. That said, the punch had been real.
“Marco’s not filing charges,” Cait repeated, motioning for Benji to come out of the cell. “Which means you owe him an apology.”
Her grandfather didn’t budge. “I already told him I was real sorry, and now I’m ready for my punishment. I figure I should get at least a day or two behind bars.”
That brought on frustrated sighs from everyone outside the cell.
“Consider yourself punished,” Marco assured him. “Now come out of there so we can all get to work.”
Benji looked at Lana then. “You’ll be leaving right away, I guess?”
Lana checked her watch. She had an appointment with a client in a little less than two hours, and it’d take her an hour to get back to San Antonio. That gave her some time but not much.
“Come out of the cell, and we can have some coffee and talk,” Lana offered.
Benji nodded but still didn’t budge. This time, when he lowered his head, he shook it. “I’m afraid I’m losing it. You know, like old people do.”
Lana felt the spike of concern from head to toe. Was her grandfather talking about dementia?
“What do you mean?” she asked just as Marco said, “Say what?”
Marco’s obvious surprise meant he hadn’t picked up on anything off with Benji. Well, nothing other than being assaulted by him. And until this second, Lana had thought that maybe it’d been a ruse to get her here. But maybe it was something more. Like a cry for help.
“I can’t take care of my place any longer,” Benji went on. “It’s just getting too hard.”
Lana swallowed the lump in her throat and hated that she’d ever believed this was a ploy. “I can hire someone to help you,” she offered.
Though she wasn’t sure how she could afford it. She wasn’t pulling in a huge income since most of her legal services were for low-income families. Still, she’d manage it somehow.
“I can help more,” Marco added. “You just tell me what needs to be done, and I’ll do it.”
Lana muttered a heartfelt thanks, but she had to do that over the buzzing of her phone. She intended to hit the decline button, but when she looked at the screen, she realized she couldn’t do that.
Matthew Devane’s name popped up on the screen.
Lana got another slam of concern because it was the middle of the day. A school day, at that. Which was exactly where Matthew should be—in his fifth grade classes at the elementary school in San Antonio. The boy definitely shouldn’t be calling Lana and likely wouldn’t unless this was some kind of emergency.
“I need to take this,” Lana said, stepping away. “Matthew, what’s wrong?” she immediately asked.
“I left my science project at the house and wondered if you could bring it to me?” Matthew answered. His words were so rushed they ran together.
Lana frowned, mentally reminded herself of the day of the week. “It’s Monday. Your dad should be working from home today. Why can’t he bring it to you?”
“Because he’ll get mad at me for forgetting it.”
Yes, he would. Nolan Devane, Matthew’s father, could be testy when something threw off his schedule. Setting aside whatever architecture project he was working on to help his son would definitely result in fussing.
“Mom’s out of town on a business trip so I can’t ask her. Plus, it’s not her week. It’s Dad’s. Please, Lana,” Matthew went on. “You wouldn’t have to do it right now. I just need to turn it in before the end of the day.”
The end of the school day was probably four o’clock. It was doable, but Lana had to deal with her grandfather first, and then meet with her client. There was also the issue of whether this “favor” would even do any good.
“If I go by your house, your dad will know about the science project,” Lana pointed out.
There were several seconds of silence. “Maybe you could use your key to get in? The project’s in a box on the foyer table.”
Lana sighed. “I don’t have a key. I haven’t had one since your father and I stopped seeing each other a year ago.”
“There’s one in the flowerpot at the end of the porch,” Matthew immediately assured her.
“I’m not sneaking into your house.” Lana sighed again. “But I will get the project and bring it to you.”
“Thanks, Lana. You’re the best. Love you,” the boy rattled off.
“Love you, too,” Lana said even though Matthew had already ended the call.
Lana, turned and realized that everyone had been listening to her. Of course, the area was postage stamp–sized so that shouldn’t have been a surprise.
“Trouble?” her grandfather asked.
Lana shook her head. “That was...”
And her explanation ground to a halt. Her ex-boyfriend’s son was the simple answer. What wasn’t so simple was what Lana felt for the child. No. Nothing simple about that. Besides, it didn’t apply here. She needed to finish up with her grandfather, take him home and then she could hurry back to San Antonio for her appointment and to help out Matthew.
“That was Nolan’s little boy?” her grandfather asked.
She nodded and left it at that. Benji knew that she’d dated Nolan for nearly two years, and Lana had told him about Nolan’s eleven-year-old son. But Marco and Cait probably didn’t know those details, and judging from Marco’s slightly raised eyebrow, he was curious about that conversation. Not for long though. When Lana didn’t add anything else to her nod, Marco turned back to Benji.
“I’ll help out on your ranch,” Marco repeated. “I’ll replace any of the roses the bull trampled and repair the fence. Just let me know if there’s anything else that needs to be done.”
Lana felt the tightness in her chest ease up some. It was a generous offer on Marco’s part. She’d make the same offer, and on the drive back to the ranch, she could have Benj
i write a list of anything else that might need to be done.
“Let’s go,” Lana said, opening the cell door even wider.
Once again, Benji stayed put. Their eyes met, their gazes holding for a few seconds, before he finally muttered some profanity under his breath.
“I did hit Marco to get you here,” Benji admitted.
Lana groaned. She’d just about decided there was no rat to smell after all and now this confession.
“Sorry I used you like that,” her grandfather quickly added to Marco, “but I thought this was the fastest way to get Lana here.”
Since Marco didn’t say anything, Lana decided he must have been too shocked or riled to speak. Lana had no such problem.
“The fastest way,” she repeated in a snarl. “Why was it so important that you get me here?”
Her grandfather didn’t hesitate. “Because I needed to get started on a project. An important one.” He paused, sliding glances at both Marco and her. “I need the two of you to get married.”
CHAPTER TWO
MARCO WASN’T SURE who repeated the word married in the loudest voice. Lana, Cait or him, but Marco knew he had to be the most shocked.
Or maybe not, he amended when he looked at Lana.
Her mouth was open, literally, and her wide, stunned blue eyes were fixed on Benji as if he’d lost his mind. Which Marco believed Benji had if the man truly believed Lana and he should get married. And here Marco had thought that the punch Benji had thrown and his self-arrest were the craziest parts of his day. Apparently though, the crazy was just getting started.
“Is this a joke?” Lana finally managed to say to her grandfather.
Benji shook his head. “I’ve been trying to get you to come home for weeks now so we could talk about this, and I figured it shouldn’t wait any longer. You’ve got to marry Marco.”
Lana kept up her intense stare and muttered something about hell having to freeze over before she said I do to Marco. He tried not to let that sting. After all, Lana and he hadn’t exactly had an easy breakup, but he didn’t like being lumped in any hell-freezing scenario.
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