This Love

by Kelly Elliott

  Kelly Elliott is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling contemporary romance author. Since finishing her bestselling Wanted series, Kelly continues to spread her wings while remaining true to her roots and giving readers stories rich with hot protective men, strong women and beautiful surroundings.

  Kelly has been passionate about writing since she was fifteen. After years of filling journals with stories, she finally followed her dream and published her first novel, Wanted, in November of 2012.

  Kelly lives in central Texas with her husband, daughter, and two pups. When she’s not writing, Kelly enjoys reading and spending time with her family. She is down to earth and very in touch with her readers, both on social media and at signings.

  Visit Kelly Elliott online:

  www.kellyelliottauthor.com

  @author_kelly

  www.facebook.com/KellyElliottAuthor/

  Also by Kelly Elliott (published by Piatkus)

  The Love Wanted in Texas series

  Without You

  Saving You

  Holding You

  Finding You

  Chasing You

  Loving You

  The Cowboys and Angels series

  Lost Love

  Love Profound

  Tempting Love

  Love Again

  Blind Love

  This Love

  PIATKUS

  First published in Great Britain in 2018 by Piatkus

  Copyright © Kelly Elliott 2018

  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  ISBN 9780349418490

  Cover photo and designer: Sara Eirew Photography

  Editor: Cori McCarthy, Yellowbird Editing

  Proofer: Amy Rose Capetta, Yellowbird Editing

  Developmental/Proofer: Elaine York, Allusion Graphics

  Interior Designer: JT Formatting

  Piatkus

  An imprint of

  Little, Brown Book Group

  Carmelite House

  50 Victoria Embankment

  London EC4Y 0DZ

  An Hachette UK Company

  www.hachette.co.uk

  www.littlebrown.co.uk

  Table of Contents

  About the Author

  Also by Kelly Elliott

  Title Page

  Parker Family Tree

  A Note to Readers

  Prologue

  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

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Preview of Reckless Love

  Playlist

  Thank You

  A Note to Readers

  This Love is book six in the Cowboys and Angels series. The books in this series are not stand-alone books. Stories intertwine between books and continued to grow within each book. If you have picked up this book and have not read Lost Love, Love Profound, Tempting Love, Love Again, and Blind Love I strongly suggest that you read them in order.

  For a list of characters in the series as well as other fun extras, please visit the series website: www.cowboysandangelsseries.com

  A note about Maebh’s dialect. Maebh is from Cork, Ireland. You’ll see she says “me” in place of “my”. I know it is written as “my” and pronounced as “me”, but to make the flow easier for the reader, I have made it all “me”. Even her internal thoughts.

  Also, the pronunciation of Maebh is, “Maebh. It’s like May with a V sound on the end.”

  I hope you enjoy Cord and Maebh’s story.

  I’d had enough of everyone talking about this new Irish bar coming to town. I didn’t want to think about a rival and what it would mean for my business. The pretty little thing on the other side of my bar was giving me a smile that screamed she wanted my attention, and I was happy to give it to her.

  Time to end the family conversation I’d been having with my siblings on this subject.

  “It’s been real, but I see fun over there. I need something to take my mind off the competition, if you catch my drift.”

  Waylynn frowned. I knew she had seen the girl staring at me. I also knew my older sister thought I was a manwhore, which, if I was being honest with myself, I was. I couldn’t deny it.

  Giving my sister a wink, I turned around and ran right into someone.

  “Shit!” I yelled out when her drink spilled all over me.

  “I’m so sorry!” she said. Her voice sounded different, so I looked from my ruined shirt to her face.

  My eyes caught on her green ones, and my breath stilled for a moment. Then she smiled and it felt like the fucking room tilted.

  What. In. The. Living. Fuck.

  “I didn’t mean to run into you,” she said. She had an accent, and I couldn’t pick it up, but fuck if it didn’t make her all the sexier, in a sweet, adorable sort of way.

  Except, I wasn’t into sweet and adorable. At least that was what I told myself to get rid of the weird feeling in my chest when I looked at this woman.

  I smiled and watched her eyes light up. “No worries, sweetheart.”

  Her tongue ran over her lips so fast that if I hadn’t been looking at her mouth, I’d have missed it. My cock instantly went hard. I needed to get away from this one, and fast.

  I headed toward the woman who hadn’t taken her eyes off of me since she walked into my bar. She grinned and told me her name, which I forgot in less than five seconds because I couldn’t pull my eyes off the pretty little thing I’d just run into.

  Nodding at Ms. No-Name, having no idea what she said, while my eyes were glued to Ms. Sweet & Adorable was not a good combo. What was it about her? She was a looker. Hell, even pretty. Pretty? Shit…she was gorgeous! I’d never seen a woman so beautiful. Her dark hair and green eyes made my chest tighten and that freaked me the hell out.

  But I couldn’t look away. I watched her as she walked to the bar and handed her glass to Jack, one of my part-time bartenders. She laughed at something he said, and I balled my fists, pissed at the idea that he was making her laugh.

  Jesus, take the wheel cuz I’m about to lose my shit and fuck all if I know why.

  I squeezed my eyes
shut and quickly opened them just in time to watch my green-eyed beauty walk out of the door. The entire place felt cold…something was off now that she was gone.

  Who was that? Where was she from? Was she walking over to talk to me and I blew her off? If so, I’m such a fucking prick! What in the hell made her eyes so green? I’d never in my life seen anyone with eyes like the color of an emerald. I couldn’t get them out of my head. They reminded me of the meadows on the ranch in spring.

  “So, want to take me back to your office, handsome?” the girl hanging on me purred into my ear. Her voice reminded me of my mission to get laid.

  I cleared my throat and stepped away. With a forced a smile, I replied, “Sorry, darlin’. I need to go take care of something.”

  Her smile fell and for a moment, she looked more pissed than disappointed. “Enjoy your evening, ladies,” I said to her and her three friends before I made my way through the crowd and back to my office.

  Sitting in my chair, I pulled up the camera feed from the bar and went back a few minutes until I found her.

  She was standing with her drink in hand as Jack pointed in my direction. My throat tightened as I watched her walk directly toward me. She looked like she might have said my name, but I never heard her. She went to talk to me again, taking a step closer when I turned and ran right into her.

  “Fuck,” I mumbled.

  My emerald-eyed beauty had been looking for me, and I blew her off. Raking my fingers through my hair, I let out a sigh.

  Zooming in on her face with the camera that caught people walking out of the bar, I stared at her. I scanned her face while I tried to memorize those eyes. I leaned back in my chair and slowly shook my head.

  “Who are you? And why did you say my name? And why in the hell do you have my stomach twisted in knots?”

  “What the fuck does Aisling even mean?” I asked Trevor as we stood outside and watched Jonathon put up a sign for the new Irish pub, or restaurant, or whatever the hell that place was going to end up being.

  “It means vision or dream.”

  I jumped at the sound of her voice.

  “Christ almighty, Maebh! Don’t be fucking sneaking up on people,” I spat.

  Maebh’s smile faded, and I felt like a prick.

  She glanced up at the dark sky. “Looks like it’s going to be lashing down.”

  Trevor and I looked at each other in confusion. It was bad enough I could hardly understand Maebh with her thick Irish accent, but when she threw in her little Irish sayings, I was lost.

  “Lashing down?” I asked.

  She looked at Trevor like he had asked the question. She grinned and my legs shook a little.

  “Raining hard,” she replied.

  Trevor glanced over to me. “Did you hear that, Cord? Lashing down means raining hard. Pay fucking attention, will ya?”

  “Makes sense,” I said, giving her a smile and praying like hell she would return one. She did, but it was nothing like the one she had given my brother.

  “Jonathon said you’ll be opening soon. Are you excited?” Trevor asked. I wanted to kick him in the balls. I hated that he was being so friendly. Not because I didn’t want him to treat her nicely; I did. But the way she looked at him had me wanting to hurt my own flesh and blood. Maebh was Trevor’s age, twenty-five. She stood at about five-feet-four inches, if that. We both towered over her with our six-two frames.

  “Yeah, I’m excited. Me da has been langered most of this last week though trying to chase away the nerves.”

  Trevor laughed, and I looked at him. He had no fucking clue what in the hell langered meant, just like I didn’t—yet that bastard laughed like he knew what she was talking about. What an ass. There was no way I was going to ask her. She probably would answer Trevor again and act like I wasn’t even standing there.

  Her eyes drifted up to mine, and we held each other’s gaze for a few moments. It was like she could read my mind.

  “Langered means drunk. It takes a lot for me da to get drunk so…” she shrugged. “It’s sort of funny.”

  This time I smiled bigger. I liked hearing her call her father da. I liked hearing her talk, even though I couldn’t understand her half the fucking time. Her voice was beautiful.

  She was beautiful.

  And all of that fucked with my head.

  “You should teach a class on Irish lingo so we all know what you’re saying,” Trevor said, pulling a slight giggle from between Maebh’s soft pink lips.

  I balled my fists. My brother was flirting, and I didn’t like it. Not. One. Fucking. Bit.

  “Do y’all need any help with anything, Maebh?”

  The offer was out of my mouth before I could take it back.

  When Maebh worried her bottom lip, I moaned internally. My cock slowly started to harden as it pressed against my jeans. I couldn’t pull my eyes from her mouth. Trevor cleared his throat, pulling my gaze from her mouth to him.

  He smirked. The damn bastard must have known where my eyes were focused and where my thoughts were going.

  “I hate to ask, but me da can’t really help with this, and it’s really got nothin’ to do with Aisling.”

  With a shrug, I said, “That’s okay. Just tell me what you need.”

  Her nose scrunched in the most adorable way, and I nearly had to reach for Trevor to hold myself up. My fucking legs were about to give out on me. I thought I was having a fucking heart attack; it was the only explanation.

  “It’s sort of a big undertakin’, and I feel bad asking. It’s just, I don’t know a lot of people around here and…”

  Her voice trailed off in sadness. It nearly brought me to my knees. Again. What was this, like the fourth time in the last ten minutes?

  The idea of her not having many friends and feeling lonely made my chest ache.

  “I can help,” Trevor piped in.

  Maebh’s eyes sparkled with happiness.

  “No, you can’t.” I quickly snipped. “You promised Mom you were going to get that fence taken care of at the front gate.”

  Trevor stared at me for a few seconds like he had no idea what in the hell I was talking about.

  “I’ll help, Maebh.”

  It hit him slowly. I was making up a story to get my own brother out of the picture. It wouldn’t take him long to call everyone in the family and insist I had a thing for Maebh, when all I really wanted to do was get information on her new restaurant. That was all.

  Wasn’t it?

  “Riiight. The fence. That needs repairing,” Trevor said, a shit-eating grin on his face.

  “Yep, the fence,” I stated with a look that dared him to fuck with me.

  Thunder cracked across the sky in the distance.

  “Is it safe for you to be working outside in the rain?” Maebh asked Trevor. Why did she care? The fact that she harbored any concern for Trevor pissed me off.

  “It’s fine,” I said before he could interject that it would be dangerous and that he should stay and help me with whatever project Maebh had in store.

  “See ya later, Trevor.” I motioned with my hands for him to move along.

  His eyes widened in amusement. He looked between me and Maebh, and I could tell she was starting to wonder if she should have asked for help after all with the way we were glaring at each other.

  My younger brother laughed and shook his head. “Maebh, it’s been a pleasure, as always.”

  Trevor grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it. I saw red. Fucking red. I’d never wanted to hit my brother over a woman before. Never.

  I grew even more angry when Maebh’s cheeks turned slightly pink.

  What in the hell?

  “Bye, Trevor,” I said, pulling him back and away before he moved his lips anywhere else. Lifting his hands in defeat, he laughed.

  “I’m going! Jesus, Cord. See ya later, Maebh!”

  She lifted her hand. “See ya!”

  Trevor focused back on me as he took a few steps backwards, giving me a look that said h
e was going to tease the fuck out of me for this. At the moment, I didn’t care. I had a chance to get to know the woman who was my direct competition. Shaking his head again, Trevor spun around and headed to his truck, but not before calling over his shoulder, “Talk to you later, Greedy Smurf.”

  My mouth dropped open. “I’m not a fucking Smurf, you asshole!” I shouted.

  “What’s a Greedy Smurf?” Maebh asked, her nose crinkled up again in the most adorable way.

  Did the ground just move? Or was that my knees buckling?

  My cock jumped, and my whole body trembled. I wanted to lean down and kiss her. This woman was driving me mad.

  I took a step back and pushed my hand through my hair. “You don’t know who the Smurfs are?” I asked, a smile on my face as I tried to ignore the weird feeling in my gut and the strain against my zipper.

  She shook her head. “Nope.”

  “Then we’re going to have to fix that problem and quickly.”

  She pressed her lips together, as a shy smile moved over her face. When she looked at me through her eyelashes, I saw her cheeks turn the most beautiful shade of red. I had made her blush just like Trevor had with the kiss on her hand, but this was different. The shade on her face screamed embarrassed and excited.

  Clapping my hands to distract myself from those blushing cheeks and beautiful eyes, I said, “So, what did you need me to do?”

  Me hands shook as I unlocked the door to the apartment above Aisling and let Cord in.

  “Where’s your father?” he asked, looking around the room.

  “Me da’s in Ireland.”

  His head jerked back, and he stopped walking. Almost like he was afraid to be in here alone with me.

  “Ireland?” Cord asked, his voice filled with something that sounded very much like fear.

  I nodded. “Yep. He went to go pick up a few things from our house and some more whiskey.”

  “You couldn’t just order the whiskey?” Cord asked, his brows pulled together. “That’s how I get mine at the bar, no traveling for me.”

  “Not this kind,” I replied, leaving it at that. He didn’t need to know that da was only bringing one bottle back. The last bottle of whiskey me ma had drunk from. He’d been saving it for a special occasion and the opening of the Aisling was that occasion.