by Susan Fox
It was his butt Jess Cousins noticed first.
Monday morning, and the latest group of resort virgins bustled and chattered in her barnyard like a flock of nervous magpies. Amid them this one guy stood still, his back toward her as he studied the row of horses tethered to one of the hitching rails. She took in pleasant impressions of height, ranginess, breadth of shoulder, length of leg, and a truly outstanding butt. Many of the Crazy Horse’s guests were pudgy and a few were scrawny. It was rare to see an admirable physique and even rarer to see a world-class—
Jess snorted under her breath. What the heck was she doing, ogling a guest’s backside? Was it just because she hadn’t had sex in so long she’d almost forgotten what it was like, or was the backside in question really so outstanding? She was dragging her gaze away from the denim-clad object of her admiration just as the man turned around.
“Ev!” His name caught in her throat, emerging as a squeak. He’d changed a lot in ten years, but she recognized him instantly. Despite his pole-axed expression.
He strode toward her as his mouth formed her own name.
Her muscles locked her in place as he approached, and all her brain could do was repeat, Evan, my God, it’s Evan.
She pulled herself together to demand, “What are you doing here?” just as he spoke the identical words.
He grasped her by one shoulder and herded her away from the group. Dimly she was aware of the milling guests, but it was hard to care about anything other than the fact that this man stood in front of her, his hand burning through the cotton of her embroidered Western shirt. Her heart thudded so fast she could barely breathe and her mind was a jumble of thoughts. For the life of her she couldn’t pull a single one free and form a coherent sentence.
He gazed down at his hand as if only just realizing where it rested. Then he yanked it back as quickly as if he’d reached out to stroke a bull in a bucking chute.
Evan was at the Crazy Horse. Had he discovered her long-held secret? Was he here because he’d found out about Robin? The possibility stole what breath she had left. Finally, she managed to draw air and force out a few cautious words. “I work here.”
“Oh.” He seemed to be weighing the concept more carefully than it deserved. “They said the head wrangler would meet us here. TJ Cousins. That’s . . . not you?”
Her breathing settled a little. He really did seem surprised to see her. No, he couldn’t have known about Robin. And she mustn’t say anything to give away her secret.
She nodded. “I don’t use Jessica for my work. People kept making Man from Snowy River comments and it drove me nuts.”
He shrugged, clearly baffled. “Huh?”
Hadn’t she made him watch the movie, way back then? No, she must’ve had the sense to know Mr. City-bound wouldn’t be interested in a film about horses and cowboys in the Australian Outback. He wouldn’t know that the free-spirited, horse-loving heroine was called Jessica.
Now that she thought about it, they hadn’t watched many movies. When he wasn’t studying and she wasn’t outside with the horses, the two of them spent most of their time talking. Sharing dreams. The dreams they’d always known would take them in opposite directions.
And now he was back on her turf. Looking like a man rather than a boy. A striking man rather than a cute but nerdy kid. A kid she’d believed to be the love of her life, yet known she had to give up.
Robin’s father.
Jess had broken her heart over Evan Kincaid. How dare he come back?
He’d run away, and then—finally—e-mailed a couple of times from Cornell to apologize. E-mailed, didn’t even have the decency to phone! She didn’t remember the exact words she’d typed with such pain and deliberation, but she knew the essence of the message she’d sent: Get lost and stay lost.
“Cousins,” he said on a note of revelation. “Dave? You married Dave?”
She lifted her chin. “Yup.” No need to tell him they’d since divorced.
“You were friends in high school, hanging around with that in crowd”—he said it as disparagingly now as he had back then—“but I didn’t think the two of you—” He broke off suddenly and she knew what he was thinking. She and Dave had been friends, but not romantically, or sexually, inclined.
Evan was remembering the night at Zephyr Lake—when she’d had sex with him, not Dave. Even after all these years, she could still read his mind.
No, of course she couldn’t, nor did she want to. But the lake was so obvious. A pink elephant in her barnyard. Would they both tiptoe around it, pretending it didn’t exist?
He cleared his throat. “I never connected TJ with Jessica.”
Yup, Evan was going to tiptoe. Well, that was fine by her because her tongue was hog-tied, bound up good and tight by strands of conflicting emotions. Her bruised heart urged her to rail at him for rejecting her all those years ago, yet if she was going to be fair about it, she had rejected him, too. She’d refused his overture of continued, long-distance friendship. How could she write chatty letters to him while nursing a broken heart and holding back the huge secret of Robin’s existence?
She’d done the right thing, and yet she’d missed him so badly. Even now, a part of her mushy heart yearned to envelope him in a gigantic hug.
But the strongest emotion, by far, was maternal instinct. She had to protect Robin, the product of that night at Zephyr Lake. Jesus, this is Robin’s biological father. She’d thought she’d never see him again, but here he stood, strong and solid and very male.
Again, fear caught her breath. Why was he here? Evan, who had his own investment counseling firm in New York City—and yes, she’d Googled him. Evan, who’d sworn to never set foot in Hicksville again. Had he somehow found out? Come to claim his daughter?
But why on earth would he do that? He’d never wanted children.
She couldn’t stand the uncertainty. “What in holy blue blazes are you doing here?” she demanded, her voice one notch south of a holler.
He shot a glance toward the dudes who chattered nervously as they eyed the horses tied to the hitching rails. She lowered her voice. “You’re not a guest?”
He shrugged uncomfortably. “Actually, yes.”
“Ac-tu-al-ly,” Jess parroted the word, exaggerating the cultivated accent he’d acquired since she last saw him, “you’re the last person I’d have expected. Back in school you couldn’t wait to shake the country dust from—” She paused, snagged on another memory. This one triggered a surge of affection, a response as unexpected as it was undeniable. “From those beautifully polished leather loafers you hitchhiked into Williams Lake to buy, back in grade twelve.”
Suddenly, the mess of unresolved issues flew out of her mind. All she could think of, in that moment, was that this was Ev, the guy who’d for years been her best buddy.
She smiled freely and, after his mouth fell open in surprise, he smiled back. “Good Lord, Jess, it’s actually you. You look”—he eyed her up and down—“just great.”
She read sincerity in his blue-green eyes. And something else, something that made her blood fizz.
Now came the scary memories. The memory of feelings she’d never experienced in the same way with any other man. Not even her ex-husband, Dave. She moistened lips that had gone dry. “You look good, too.”
The package-creased tan denim shirt and well-worn designer jeans hugged a fine body. She’d always found him appealing—a scrawny kid with beautiful eyes and ears too big for his head—but now he was a total hottie. His face was craggy and his eyes were devastating. To her chagrin she remembered those eyes perfectly, the mingled blues and greens of brook water flowing over gray stones, flecked by sparkles of golden sun.
She closed her own eyes briefly, then looked again. He was beyond handsome; he was compelling. And sexy.
An image flashed into her mind. Evan’s gangly young body rising above hers, the moon on his shoulder, as they made love on the lakeshore. She sucked in her breath and, afraid he could read her face, droppe
d her gaze.
Happily, the new image brought her down to earth. Literally. She saw exquisitely tooled chestnut leather Tony Lama boots. She cleared her throat. “They’re not loafers, but I see you haven’t lost your touch with the shoe polish. Hate to tell you, but the dust is going to stick. And we have far worse than dust to dish up at the Crazy Horse.” She tilted her head and dared to look at his face again.
He glanced down to where his feet were planted in a mixture of dirt and manure. His grimace of distaste was so typically Ev that she gave a snort of laughter.
“Okay, city slicker, enough of the chitchat. I have work to do.” Jess strode toward the other guests, trusting that habit would carry her through.
Evan Kincaid. At the Crazy Horse. This couldn’t really be happening, could it?
He hadn’t mentioned Robin. If he’d come about her, surely he’d have said something by now.
Jess had made the decision not to tell him when she found out that those few rushed minutes at the lake, combined with her too old condom, had resulted in pregnancy. A baby would ruin all his long-held dreams. It wasn’t fair to do that to him, and besides, it wasn’t like things could have worked out for her and Ev. He’d have spent his life resenting her and their child for tying him to the place he’d scornfully called Hicksville.
Her own dreams were more flexible, and could easily, joyfully, bend to incorporate a child. Her and Evan’s child.
No, not Evan’s. Robin’s father—the man who’d raised and loved her—was Dave Cousins.
Evan had never wanted kids. He wouldn’t have wanted to know about Robin all those years ago, and he didn’t deserve her. Not then, and not now. Nor could Jess have her daughter learn that her mom and dad had been lying to her ever since she was born.
About the Author
Award-winning author Susan Fox (who also writes as Susan Lyons and Savanna Fox) writes “emotionally compelling, sexy contemporary romance” (Publishers Weekly). Susan is a Pacific Northwester with homes in Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia. She has degrees in law and psychology and has had a variety of careers, including perennial student, computer consultant, and legal editor. Fiction writer is by far her favorite, giving her an outlet to demonstrate her belief in the power of love, friendship, and a sense of humor. She was thrilled when Cosmopolitan excerpted her book Sex Drive as a Red-Hot Read, and even more excited when Publishers Weekly selected His, Unexpectedly as one of its Top 10 Romances for spring 2011.
Visit her on the web at www.susanfox.ca
In this exciting new series,
author Susan Fox welcomes you
to Caribou Crossing, a small western town
made for love and adventure . . .
For Evan Kincaid, the best thing about his dusty hometown was watching it fade into the distance. Jessica Bly was the only one who didn’t treat him like an outsider, and their friendship ended with one mind-blowing night of young passion. Now they’ve both got the lives they planned—Evan in New York, Jess with her beloved horses in Caribou Crossing. But business has brought Evan back to Jess’s Crazy Horse ranch on a mission that could destroy whatever’s left of her trust.
Ten years ago, Jess wanted one perfect night to remember Evan by. What she got was a broken heart and a secret that’s kept them strangers ever since. The boy she knew was sexy and sweet; the man he’s become leaves her breathless. And no matter how much she tells herself that country girl and city boy don’t belong together, in her heart she wants to believe his home has been right here all along . . .
Also features the full-length prequel novella
Caribou Crossing.
It’s Getting Hot in Here . . .
Maura Mahoney expects to spend her thirtieth birthday the way she’s spent so many others. She’ll work at the Cherry Lane retirement community, have a quiet dinner with her parents, and end the evening with a solo hot chocolate before turning in early. Sedate, but safe. Then Jesse Blue turns up at Cherry Lane, ready to do community service to avoid jail time. And suddenly, prim, by-the-books Maura can’t stop thinking about a sexy, motorcycle-riding bad boy who seems wrong for her in almost every way.
But beneath his gruff exterior, Jesse is a man of surprises. He’s filling the once drab community center with color and life. He’s bonding with the residents. And he’s prompting scorching, wild dreams Maura would never be bold enough to act on. Or would she? Because the way Jesse looks at her, Maura could swear that this heated, smoldering attraction runs both ways . . .
Take Me There . . .
At thirty-one, Kat Fallon’s luck with men shows no sign of improving. But when she asks her best friend Nav Bharani to be her date at her younger sister’s wedding in Vancouver, she has no idea that she’s about to get on board the most surprising ride of her life . . .
Nav has been secretly in love with Kat ever since he moved in next door. When she reveals that she loves taking train rides, especially the meeting-strangers part, Nav devises a plan to win Kat’s heart. On every leg of her trip to Vancouver, he shows up disguised as a different sexy stranger. Stunned by Nav’s daring, Kat finds herself succumbing to his inventive transformations. But what starts out as an innocent adventure soon becomes much more for Kat as she is forced to choose between her long-held fantasies of the perfect mate—and the prospect of something far more real . . .
A Pleasure Trip to Remember . . .
Shying away from commitment of any kind, Jenna Fallon’s rules in life are to have none. So when her car breaks down en route from California to Vancouver—and she’s forced to hitch a ride with a sexy stranger—she’s thrilled to discover they share the same no-holds-barred views . . .
As a globe-trotting marine biologist, Mark Chambers is used to changing locations—and women. Yet as he and Jenna make their way up the Pacific coast, camping, skinny dipping, and having scorching hot sex, Mark’s not so sure he wants to say good-bye. But is Jenna brave enough to meet the challenge of a man who may be perfect for her?
The Wedding May Be Off,
But the Honeymoon Is On . . .
Merilee Fallon has been planning her wedding to Matt Townsend since she was seven, and now the big day is only two days away. But suddenly she has an unexpectedly serious case of cold feet. So she shocks both Matt and herself—and calls off the wedding.
They may not get their happily ever after, but both Merilee and Matt agree they shouldn’t let their nonrefundable honeymoon go to waste. So they take the Mexican Riviera cruise—as friends. It’s Merilee’s chance to be adventurous, and maybe even put her newfound freedom to the test. But she’s about to discover that sometimes there’s nothing more arousing than first love—especially on a cruise ship where there are no rules and anything goes . . .
ZEBRA BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2013 by Susan Lyons
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the Publisher and neither the Author nor the Publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”
Zebra and the Z logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.
ISBN: 978-1-4201-3192-5
eISBN-13: 978-1-4201-3193-2
eISBN-10: 1-4201-3193-1
First Electronic Edition: September 2013
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