by Leanne Banks
“I love you and I promise I’ll do my best to make you happy,” he said.
“You already have,” she said. He took her in his arms and pressed his mouth against hers in a kiss of undying commitment.
Sara clung to him until she could hardly breathe. “I have more exciting news,” she managed.
“What?”
“We have learned that my brother, Alexander, is alive. He sent a message through a complicated channel to reassure my sister and me. He’s trying to do something for Sergenia, and he doesn’t want anyone to know his whereabouts. I wish we could see him, but I can’t tell you how relieved I am to know that he’s alive and well. Another Christmas gift.”
Gavin squeezed her. “I hate that you’ve suffered all of this by yourself. Promise me you won’t keep secrets from me again. I swear I will always do whatever I can to help you.”
“I will,” Sasha said, her heart expanding at the depth of his commitment to her. She never dreamed a man like Gavin would love her with all his heart.
“There is one more thing,” she said.
“I’m listening,” he said.
“My real name is Sasha and I’m part of the royal family of Sergenia,” she said.
Gavin pulled back and stared at her in disbelief. “Royal family?”
“It’s why I can’t cook,” she said. “I’m a princess. A very broke princess.”
“Does this mean I need to address you differently?”
“Yes, of course,” she said with a mocking smile. “Your Highness is appropriate. Especially when I’m changing one of Adelaide’s messy diapers.”
He chuckled. “Your Highness. With you and Adelaide, I will have two princesses,” he said. “Oh, including your sister, it will be three. How will I manage it?”
“I will help,” she promised. She kissed him and she was too happy for words.
* * *
One month later, Sasha, wearing a wedding dress, stood across from Gavin in front of the village priest as they recited their wedding vows. She clung to his hands, feeling the presence of his children, her sister and the royal family witnessing their wedding.
She repeated her vows and he repeated his. They’d added one personal promise they’d wanted to share during the ceremony.
“I will love you, cherish you and remind you how wonderful you are for the rest of my life,” Sasha promised.
Gavin made the same vow.
“You may now kiss the bride,” the priest announced. Gavin swept her into his arms and claimed her with a kiss. She held him tight and kissed him back.
“I can’t believe I found you,” he whispered.
“I’m so glad you did,” she said, her heart so full of joy she could hardly stand it.
“I now present to you Mr. Gavin Sinclair and Mrs. Sasha Sinclair. May God bless this union and family.”
Sasha and Gavin turned to the crowd. Gavin still held her hand securely in his. The witnesses alternately applauded and wiped away tears. Sam rushed both of them. “You said there was gonna be cake,” he said. “When do we get the cake?”
Sasha and Gavin laughed. “Soon. Hang in there, buddy.”
* * *
Just two weeks later, Sam awakened in the middle of the night. He didn’t remember what he’d been dreaming, but he felt afraid. Very afraid. Usually when he woke up, he just listened to his ocean sound machine and he felt better. But tonight he still didn’t feel good after listening to the sound machine.
Mama Sasha had told him that if he was ever afraid, he could come to her and Daddy in the middle of the night. Sliding out of bed, he pushed the door of his Daddy’s bedroom open.
Daddy was snoring again, but his arm was around Mama Sasha, and she was sleeping. Cookie, the new puppy, sat on the floor at the foot of the bed and thumped his tail. Something inside Sam felt all better and he went back to bed. He lay down and pulled up his covers. Everything was okay. Maybe Mama Sasha would even let him wear his new frog suit to preschool tomorrow.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from WYOMING RUGGED by Diana Palmer.
SPECIAL EXCERPT FROM
When oilman Blair Coleman and the much younger Niki Ashton fall for one another, can the two overcome tragedy to find forever in each other’s arms?
Read on for a sneak preview of
WYOMING RUGGED,
the latest WYOMING MEN tale from New York Times bestselling author Diana Palmer.
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Wyoming Rugged
by Diana Palmer
SHE SIGHED. HE WAS very handsome. She loved the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled. She loved the strong, chiseled lines of his wide mouth, the high cheekbones, the thick black wavy hair around his leonine face. His chest was a work of art in itself. She had to force herself not to look at it too much. It was broad and muscular, under a thick mat of curling black hair that ran down to the waistband of his silk pajamas. Apparently, he didn’t like jackets, because he never wore one with the bottoms. His arms were muscular, without being overly so. He would have delighted an artist.
“What are you thinking so hard about?” he wondered aloud.
“That an artist would love painting you,” she blurted out, and then flushed then cleared her throat. “Sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
He lifted both eyebrows. “Miss Ashton,” he scoffed, “you aren’t by any chance flirting with me, are you?”
“Mr. Coleman, the thought never crossed my mind!”
“Don’t obsess over me,” he said firmly, but his eyes were still twinkling. “I’m a married man.”
She sighed. “Yes, thank goodness.”
His eyebrows lifted in a silent question.
“Well, if you weren’t married, I’d probably disgrace myself. Imagine, trying to ravish a sick man in bed because I’m obsessing over the way he looks without a shirt!”
He burst out laughing. “Go away, you bad girl.”
Her own eyes twinkled. “I’ll banish myself to the kitchen and make lovely things for you to eat.”
“I’ll look forward to that.”
She smiled and left him.
He looked after her with conflicting emotions. He had a wife. Sadly, one who was a disappointment in almost every way; a cold woman who took and took without a thought of giving anything back. He’d married her thinking she was the image of his mother. Elise had seemed very different while they were dating. But the minute the ring was on her finger, she was off on her travels, spending more and more of his money, linking up with old friends whom she paid to travel with her. She was never home. In fact, she made a point of avoiding her husband as much as possible.
This really was the last straw, though, ignoring him when he was ill. It had cut him to the quick to have Todd and Niki see the emptiness of their relationship. He wasn’t that sick. It was the principle of the thing. Well, he had some thinking to do when he left the Ashtons, didn’t he?
* * *
CHRISTMAS DAY WAS BOISTEROUS. Niki and Edna and three other women took turns putting food on the table for an unending succession of people who worked for the Ashtons. Most were cowboys, but several were executives from Todd’s oil corporation.
Niki liked them all, but she was especially fond of their children. She dreamed of having a child of her own one day. She s
pent hours in department stores, ogling the baby things.
She got down on the carpet with the children around the Christmas tree, oohing and aahing over the presents as they opened them. One little girl who was six years old got a Barbie doll with a holiday theme. The child cried when she opened the gaily wrapped package.
“Lisa, what’s wrong, baby?” Niki cooed, drawing her into her lap.
“Daddy never buys me dolls, and I love dolls so much, Niki,” she whispered. “Thank you!” She kissed Niki and held on tight.
“You should tell him that you like dolls, sweetheart,” Niki said, hugging her close.
“I did. He bought me a big yellow truck.”
“A what?”
“A truck, Niki,” the child said with a very grown-up sigh. “He wanted a little boy. He said so.”
Niki looked as indignant as she felt. But she forced herself to smile at the child. “I think little girls are very sweet,” she said softly, brushing back the pretty dark hair.
“So do I,” Blair said, kneeling down beside them. He smiled at the child, too. “I wish I had a little girl.”
“You do? Honest?” Lisa asked, wide-eyed.
“Honest.”
She got up from Niki’s lap and hugged the big man. “You’re nice.”
He hugged her back. It surprised him, how much he wanted a child. He drew back, the smile still on his face. “So are you, precious.”
“I’m going to show Mama my doll,” she said. “Thanks, Niki!”
“You’re very welcome.”
The little girl ran into the dining room, where the adults were finishing dessert.
“Poor thing,” Niki said under her breath. “Even if he thinks it, he shouldn’t have told her.”
“She’s a nice child,” he said, getting to his feet. He looked down at Niki. “You’re a nice child, yourself.”
She made a face at him. “Thanks. I think.”
His dark eyes held an expression she’d never seen before. They fell to her waistline and jerked back up. He turned away. “Any more coffee going? I’m sure mine’s cold.”
“Edna will have made a new pot by now,” she said. His attitude disconcerted her. Why had he looked at her that way? Her eyes followed him as he strode back into the dining room, towering over most of the other men. The little girl smiled up at him, and he ruffled her hair.
He wanted children. She could see it. But apparently his wife didn’t. What a waste, she thought. What a wife he had. She felt sorry for him. He’d said when he was engaged that he was crazy about Elise. Why didn’t she care enough to come when he was ill?
“It’s not my business,” she told herself firmly.
It wasn’t. But she felt very sorry for him just the same. If he’d married her, they’d have a houseful of children. She’d take care of him and love him and nurse him when he was sick...she pulled herself up short. He was a married man. She shouldn’t be thinking such things.
* * *
SHE’D BOUGHT PRESENTS online for her father and Edna and Blair. She was careful to get Blair something impersonal. She didn’t want his wife to think she was chasing him or anything. She picked out a tie tac, a fleur de lis made of solid gold. She couldn’t understand why she’d chosen such a thing. He had Greek ancestry, as far as she knew, not French. It had been an impulse.
Her father had gone to answer the phone, a call from a business associate who wanted to wish him happy holidays, leaving Blair and Niki alone in the living room by the tree. She felt like an idiot for making the purchase.
Now Blair was opening the gift, and she ground her teeth together when he took the lid off the box and stared at it with wide, stunned eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she began self-consciously. “The sales slip is in there,” she added. “You can exchange it if...”
He looked at her. His expression stopped her tirade midsentence. “My mother was French,” he said quietly. “How did you know?”
She faltered. She couldn’t manage words. “I didn’t. It was an impulse.”
His big fingers smoothed over the tie tac. “In fact, I had one just like it that she bought me when I graduated from college.” He swallowed. Hard. “Thanks.”
“You’re very welcome.”
His dark eyes pinned hers. “Open yours now.”
She fumbled with the small box he’d had hidden in his suitcase until this morning. She tore off the ribbons and opened it. Inside was the most beautiful brooch she’d ever seen. It was a golden orchid on an ivory background. The orchid was purple with a yellow center, made of delicate amethyst and topaz and gold.
She looked at him with wide, soft eyes. “It’s so beautiful...”
He smiled with real affection. “It reminded me of you, when I saw it in the jewelry store,” he lied, because he’d had it commissioned by a noted jewelry craftsman, just for her. “Little hothouse orchid,” he teased.
She flushed. She took the delicate brooch out of its box and pinned it to the bodice of her black velvet dress. “I’ve never had anything so lovely,” she faltered. “Thank you.”
He stood up and drew her close to him. “Thank you, Niki.” He bent and started to brush her mouth with his, but forced himself to deflect the kiss to her soft cheek. “Merry Christmas.”
She felt the embrace to the nails of her toes. He smelled of expensive cologne and soap, and the feel of that powerful body so close to hers made her vibrate inside. She was flustered by the contact, and uneasy because he was married.
She laughed, moving away. “I’ll wear it to church every Sunday,” she promised without really looking at him.
He cleared his throat. The contact had affected him, too. “I’ll wear mine to board meetings, for a lucky charm,” he teased gently. “To ward off hostile takeovers.”
“I promise it will do the job,” she replied, and grinned.
Her father came back to the living room, and the sudden, tense silence was broken. Conversation turned to politics and the weather, and Niki joined in with forced cheerfulness.
But she couldn’t stop touching the orchid brooch she’d pinned to her dress.
* * *
TIME PASSED. Blair’s visits to the ranch had slowed until they were almost nonexistent. Her father said Blair was trying to make his marriage work. Niki thought, privately, that it would take a miracle to turn fun-loving Elise into a housewife. But she forced herself not to dwell on it. Blair was married. Period. She did try to go out more with her friends, but never on a blind date again. The experience with Harvey had affected her more than she’d realized.
Graduation day came all too soon. Niki had enjoyed college. The daily commute was a grind, especially in the harsh winter, but thanks to Tex, who could drive in snow and ice, it was never a problem. Her grade point average was good enough for a magna cum laude award. And she’d already purchased her class ring months before.
“Is Blair coming with Elise, do you think?” Niki asked her father as they parted inside the auditorium just before the graduation ceremony.
He looked uncomfortable. “I don’t think so,” he said. “They’ve had some sort of blowup,” he added. “Blair’s butler, Jameson, called me last night. He said Blair locked himself in his study and won’t come out.”
“Oh, dear,” Niki said, worried. “Can’t he find a key and get in?”
“I’ll suggest that,” he promised. He forced a smile. “Go graduate. You’ve worked hard for this.”
She smiled. “Yes, I have. Now all I have to do is decide if I want to go on to graduate school or get a job.”
“A job?” he scoffed. “As if you’ll ever need to work.”
“You’re rich,” she pointed out. “I’m not.”
“You’re rich, too,” he argued. He bent and kissed her cheek, a little uncomfortably. He wasn’t a demonstrative man. “I’m so proud of you, honey.”
“Thanks, Daddy!”
“Don’t forget to turn the tassel to the other side when the president hands you your diploma.�
��
“I won’t forget.”
* * *
THE CEREMONY WAS LONG, and the speaker was tedious. By the time he finished, the audience was restless, and Niki just wanted it over with.
She was third in line to get her diploma. She thanked the dean, whipped her tassel to the other side as she walked offstage and grinned to herself, imagining her father’s pleased expression.
It took a long time for all the graduates to get through the line, but at last it was over, and Niki was outside with her father, congratulating classmates and working her way to the parking lot.
She noted that, when they were inside the car, her father was frowning.
“I turned my tassel,” she reminded him.
He sighed. “Sorry, honey. I was thinking about Blair.”
Her heart jumped. “Did you call Jameson?”
“Yes. He finally admitted that Blair hasn’t been sober for three days. Apparently, the divorce is final, and Blair found out some unsavory things about his wife.”
“Oh, dear.” She tried not to feel pleasure that Blair was free. He’d said often enough that he thought of Niki as a child. “What sort of things?”
“I can’t tell you, honey. It’s very private stuff.”
She drew in a long breath. “We should go get him and bring him to the ranch,” she said firmly. “He shouldn’t be on his own in that sort of mood.”
He smiled softly. “You know, I was just thinking the same thing. Call Dave and have them get the Learjet over here. You can come with me if you like.”
“Thanks.”
He shrugged. “I might need the help,” he mused. “Blair gets a little dangerous when he drinks, but he’d never hit a woman,” he added.
She nodded. “Okay.”
* * *
BLAIR DIDN’T RESPOND to her father’s voice asking him to open the door. Muffled curses came through the wood, along with sounds of a big body bumping furniture.
“Let me try,” Niki said softly. She rapped on the door. “Blair?” she called.
There was silence, followed by the sound of footsteps coming closer. “Niki?” came a deep, slurred voice.
