by Lily Everett
Closing his eyes, Sam huffed out a laugh. “So she knew about that.”
“I know Queenie isn’t a hopeless case, and she was never mistreated in quite the same way as some of the horses you’ve rescued, but this land is protected. There are strict rules about who can and can’t have contact with the wild horses, so even if Lieutenant governor Wallace tries to come back here with a warrant—”
“Queenie will be safe,” Sam finished. He glanced down at Andie for the first time since he figured out her plan, and the wonder in his dark chocolate eyes brought a lump of emotion to Andie’s throat. “Andie. I can’t believe … You’re amazing.”
The praise disconcerted her. She tucked her hair behind her ears and gestured nervously at the pair of horses. “It makes sense. And I thought, if we release Lucky and Queenie together, they can start their own band.”
“A second chance at love and family,” Sam said quietly, reaching out slowly to slide his hands around her waist and pull her in tight. He dropped his forehead to rest it against hers. “I can hardly believe you’re doing all of this. Andie Shepard, defender of the law.”
Even though the teasing lilt in his tone was gentle, Andie pulled back. She wanted to make sure he understood. “I know the law says I should turn Queenie over to her rightful owner, but I can’t believe that’s the right thing to do. Being with you—loving you—has given me a new faith in my instincts, even when they don’t agree with the letter of the law.”
The corner of Sam’s mouth kicked up in a wry half-grin. “I turned you into a rebel.”
“Maybe,” Andie said, shrugging. “But a rebel with a good cause. I believe in what you do, Sam. And I want to help.”
“You already have,” he told her, shaking his head. “More than you should. If anything blows back on you, or the town, because of this…”
Andie put her hand flat against his chest, feeling the steady thud of his heart vibrate through her palm. “Stop. I made my choice. We all did. Sanctuary Island is behind you, Sam. You’re one of us now, part of the community, whether you like it or not.”
“You too, Sheriff.” Sam raised a pleased brow. “I guess neither of us is an outsider anymore.”
Warmth and acceptance lit Andie up from the inside. “You’re right. We’re home.”
Bending his head, Sam sealed it with a kiss that sent sharply pleasurable tingles cascading over Andie’s whole body. When he lifted his head, he said, “Home. I like that.”
A short whinny from inside the trailer reminded Andie that they weren’t alone. “Are you ready to do this thing?”
Sam grinned, an eager light of anticipation gleaming in his eyes. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
Together they set up the ramp and unhooked the horses, backing them carefully out of the trailer. Andie held Queenie’s lead the way she’d learned during her volunteer hours at Windy Corner, and scratched her short fingernails along the line of the mare’s coarse mane.
“Thank you for bringing him to me,” she whispered into Queenie’s long, sensitive ear while Sam cautiously wrangled the more-volatile wild colt down the ramp.
The mare craned her neck to nudge her nose into Andie’s pockets, looking for a treat. With a sigh, Andie produced one last peppermint and stroked the side of Queenie’s face as she crunched it. The mare gave her an expectant look from her deep liquid eyes, a long silent moment of communication that made Andie wonder just how much Queenie understood. Maybe it was crazy, but Andie almost felt as if the mare was thanking her, too.
“Okay,” Sam said softly, even as the wild colt’s ears pricked and his head lifted to scent the salty breeze. “Time to go home, Lucky.”
With a deft move, Sam slipped the soft halter over Lucky’s ears and turned him loose with a fond slap to the hindquarters. The colt immediately cantered away, down the sloping hill toward the beach, but when he realized he was alone, he stopped. Glancing back over his shoulder, neck arched and long, tangled mane blowing in the wind, Lucky trumpeted a call for his mate.
Queenie jerked her head once, the lead rope almost flying out of Andie’s hands before she tightened her grip, startled. “I think she’s ready to go with him.”
Sam grabbed the sides of the halter with both hands and pressed a fast kiss to the white starburst on Queenie’s black forehead. “Be safe and happy,” he told her. “And live a good life.”
Stepping back, Sam nodded to Andie, who felt her insides clench. She offered him the rope. “Do you want to do it?”
“This is your plan, sweetheart,” Sam said with a quirked smile. “You do the honors. Unless you want plausible deniability.”
“I think it’s a bit late for that.” With fingers that shook, Andie unbuckled the halter that had Queenie’s name scrawled over a bit of masking tape on the side. It took her a second, but she got it off the mare in a jangle of hardware. Queenie shook her head, as if she enjoyed the freedom of movement.
Across the salt marsh, the wild colt called to her again, and Queenie whickered a response. She stepped closer to Sam, bumping him with her head hard enough to knock him back a pace, but Sam leaned into it and slung an arm over her withers. “Go on,” he told her, choking on the words. “Get out of here.”
With one last lip at Sam’s caressing hand, Queenie trotted away, picking up speed until she met Lucky, who wheeled and paced her as she thundered across the beach. The horses’ churning hooves kicked up sand and splashed through the foamy shallows, their tails streaming behind them like pennants caught in a gale.
Andie’s heart swelled until it pressed at the confines of her ribs, a solid ache that felt strangely good. “We let them go, released them into the wild. It’s strange, but I’m the one who feels free.”
Sam’s strong arms wrapped around her from behind, his broad chest against her back. “You gave them a new life,” he murmured into her hair. “Together.”
She hummed with pleasure as anticipation, hope, and joy welled up in her chest. Spinning in his arms, Andie crashed her mouth into his with reckless abandon. She felt everything at once, as if the entire universe were contained in a single kiss, in the wild freedom of her body against Sam’s.
“Now it’s our turn,” she whispered against his lips before he deepened the kiss. Every touch was a promise, ever caress a vow for their future, and Andie gave herself up to it.
Amidst the near perfect joy of the moment, she winged a swift prayer of thanks up to the heavens—for the quirk of fate that had landed Sam Brennan, horse thief and ex-con, in the arms of the law of Sanctuary Island. For the family of her heart, the townspeople here, and for the family she’d created with Sam and Caitlin.
And even though no joy could be perfect for her until she could give her niece the knowledge of exactly what had happened to Owen, Andie seized the gift of this moment, and the gift of the man in her arms, and vowed never to let him go.
Epilogue
Landstuhl Regional Medical Center
Germany
Everything was darkness. Waves of pain crested and receded like the ocean. The soldier swam in that ocean, he didn’t know how long. Time meant nothing. The words he heard in snatches from time to time meant nothing, either. If he got too close to the surface, to the patchy light drawing him up from the depths, the pain would wash over him and tumble him back under.
The soldier floated in the black depths and waited for the light to come back. It hurt—everything hurt—but beneath the need to escape the pain, a stronger need began to beat in time with the faint pulse of his heart.
Home.
Get home.
Home.
He didn’t even know what that meant, couldn’t picture “home” in his fractured, tormented mind, but he felt its draw like a hook in his chest. And every time the darkness threatened to drown him, the soldier kicked and flailed, lungs bursting and heart thundering, pushing himself closer to the surface where the pain waited. Because that was the way home. And he had to get there. Not just for himself, but for …
Loud beeping and frantic voices, hands pressing on his arms and legs, a burning rasp in his throat, and a hoarse voice shouting.
Owen Shepard, Sergeant First Class of the Army Rangers of the 3rd Battalion, 75th Rangers Regiment, woke up.
“Calm down,” a German-accented voice said. “Sergeant, please. You must be calm.”
Owen sucked in a shallow breath, and the shouting died away. He was the one who’d been shouting. The other voice leaned in nearer as the IV attached to Owen’s left arm burned slightly. He couldn’t see, everything was blurry white, and when he tried to lift his right hand to pull away the softness covering his face, nothing happened.
“You’re in a military hospital,” the voice said swiftly. “Med-evaced from Ramstein. You were in an explosion, but you are recovering.”
The medic went on, detailing injuries, but it was all static in Owen’s ears. He was messed up pretty bad. That was all he knew, and he’d known that even before he woke up.
Panic welled in Owen’s chest as the dark ocean began to rise, sucking at his consciousness. Whatever the medic had injected in his IV worked fast. Before he slid under again, Owen gritted his teeth and forced his heavy right hand to move, grasping the medic’s sleeve.
“Yes?” the German accent said. “What is it?”
Owen licked his dry, cracked lips. “Get me home for Christmas, Doc. My little girl is waiting for me.”
Don’t miss Owen’s story in Lily Everett’s next Sanctuary Island novel
Home For Christmas
Coming Fall 2015
About the Author
Lily Everett grew up in a small town in Virginia reading Misty of Chincoteague and Black Beauty, taking riding lessons, and longing for a horse of her own. Sadly, her parents gave her a college education instead—but she never forgot what the world looked like from the back of a horse. She currently lives in Austin, Texas, where she writes full-time. You can sign up for email updates here.
ALSO BY LILY EVERETT
Sanctuary Island
Shoreline Drive
Homecoming: The Billionaire Brothers
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Epilogue
About the Author
Also by Lily Everett
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
HEARTBREAK COVE
Copyright © 2015 by Lily Everett.
All rights reserved.
For information address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
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eISBN: 9781466808096
St. Martin’s Paperbacks edition / March 2015
St. Martin’s Paperbacks are published by St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
