Off Limits Lovers

by Reese Ryan

  He cradled her cheek and she leaned into his hand, missing his touch. “I’m saying that you matter so much more. As long as you’re by my side, Annabel, together we’ll find a way to slay all of those dragons.”

  Roarke leaned down, and captured her mouth in a kiss, his tongue seeking hers as he held her in his arms.

  God, she missed this man.

  She missed his subtle humor and sexy smile. His gentle touch and the warmth of his kiss. The perfect way in which their bodies fit together and the passion that ignited between them.

  Being with Roarke made her happy. But it was his work in Dallas that made him happy. Her bungled, backdoor attempt to persuade him to relinquish the practice made her no better than Mason with his selfish demand that she retire her vlog.

  If Roarke gave up the practice he’d been building, just to be with her, wouldn’t he eventually resent her for it?

  * * *

  Roarke was surprised when Annabel suddenly pulled away.

  “What about your practice in Dallas? I can’t ask you to give up something so important to you. And I know you’re not interested in a long-distance relationship.”

  Roarke pressed another kiss to her soft sweet lips. Then he slipped his hand in hers and led her to the sofa in her office, where they both sat down.

  “What’s that?” He indicated the loud pink envelope in her hand.

  A proud smile lit her eyes. “My first official piece of mail.” She held it up so that he could see the address. “I can’t believe how excited I am over a piece of mail I haven’t even read yet.”

  “Open it.”

  “Right now? In the middle of our discussion?”

  “This is a special moment for Fairy Godmother and for you, Annabel. I want to share it with you.”

  “Okay.” She carefully opened the envelope to preserve it as much as she could. She read the card aloud. It was a thank-you note from a twelve-year-old girl whose mother had been the recipient of one of Annabel’s makeovers.

  Their family had lost everything after her father’s death from a long painful illness that drained the family’s finances. They’d been living in temporary housing and her mother had been struggling to find another job. She’d lost hers while caring for her ill husband. The girl said her mother had found a new job a month after her makeover. Now, three months later, the family was moving into a place of their own.

  The family’s story was reminiscent of the woman she’d given her very first Fairy Godmother makeover and many of the women in between. She was grateful to have made a difference in those families’ lives at a time when they needed it.

  “That’s amazing.” Tears wet Annabel’s cheeks. “I’ll be able to do this for more women once Fairy Godmother is up and running. I’d even like to expand to helping men, especially struggling vets.”

  “I’m glad you’re doing this, too.” His heart swelled with pride. “You’re a gift to the world, Annabel. And I don’t want to lose you. Even if that means making a change.”

  She sniffled and wiped away tears. “What kind of change?”

  “The false fraud charges against my father helped him see the need to make sure everything is aboveboard, something I’ve been preaching for a long time. My father is finally ready to listen, for the sake of the company and his legacy. I’m going to be appointed as the Perry Holdings compliance officer or whatever title I think best suits the position.”

  “Will you be the compliance officer in name only, or will your father allow you to create real change to the company’s culture?” Annabel knew enough about Sterling to doubt the sincerity of his offer.

  It was a thought that had occurred to him, too. That’s why he made his father agree to his terms in writing.

  “I’m building our ethics department from scratch. I outlined my terms for taking on this project in writing, and my father has agreed to every one of them. I have complete latitude to implement new policies the way our ethics team sees fit.”

  “That’s fantastic, Roarke. But is that what you really want to do?”

  “It is. I’ve been trying to convince my father to do this for years.”

  “Is that what made you accept his offer?”

  “No. It was something else he said. He said that if I believed things needed to be cleaned up at Perry Holdings, who better to do it than a man with high character and a vested interest in this family’s legacy? Then he said that it was the best way to ensure that Perry Holdings is a company I’ll be proud to hand over to my children one day.”

  Annabel squeezed his hand. “And will you be happy?”

  He stroked her cheek, a wide grin making his blue eyes twinkle. “Being with you makes me happy, Annabel. Everything else is gravy.” He pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “Which brings me to my next question. I’ve never known anyone like you, Annabel. You are the only woman for me.” He kissed her hand. “Will you marry me?”

  She stared at him, her head cocked and her eyes blinking rapidly. “Are you serious?”

  Roarke got down on one knee and smiled. “I would never have believed in love at first sight if I hadn’t met you at Farrah’s that day, Lemon Ice. No one in the world is a better match for me than you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?”

  “Yes, Two Pies.” She smiled, tears falling down her cheeks. “Yes, I will.”

  Epilogue

  Angela and Ryder are engaged. Now Annabel and Roarke are, too. But the Perrys and Currins will pay for the devastation they caused my family.

  The proposed marriages between the families will build an even stronger alliance between them.

  I tried to play by the rules. To work hard and bide my time. But my life keeps spinning out of control while the Perrys and Currins grow wealthier and more powerful.

  I lost my beloved father and my child was stolen from me. And Sterling Perry and Ryder Currin and their broods are at the root of it all.

  I just wanted them to know a little of my pain. Murder was never part of the plan. But Vincent Hamm left me no choice. Now I’ll never be able to scrub the image of his dying expression from my brain or his blood from my hands. But I’ve come too far. I can’t deviate from my plan. Or else poor Vincent will have died in vain.

  There’ll be no more killing, if it can be helped. But there are fates worse than death a person can suffer.

  The Perrys and Currins reign over their gilded kingdoms, flaunting their joyous good fortune. But that won’t last for long, starting with Melinda Perry.

  Why on earth should she get to be happy and pregnant when her father destroyed my life?

  She won’t. Not if I have anything to say about it.

  * * *

  Is Melinda really pregnant? Who wants revenge

  on the Perry and Currin families?

  Find out in the upcoming installments of

  Texas Cattleman’s Club: Houston

  Read every scintillating episode!

  Hot Texas Nights by USA TODAY

  bestselling author Janice Maynard

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  That Night in Texas by Joss Wood

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  bestselling author Joanne Rock

  Married in Name Only by USA TODAY

  bestselling author Jules Bennett

  Off Limits Lovers by Reese Ryan

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  bestselling author Katherine Garbera

  Tangled with a Texan by USA TODAY

  bestselling author Yvonne Lindsay

  Hot Holiday Rancher by USA TODAY

  bestselling author Catherine Mann

  Keep reading for an excerpt from Redeemed by Passion by Joss Wood.

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  Redeemed by Passion

  by Joss Wood

  One

  Liam Christopher tipped his head up and tracked the winking light of a jet above him. That could, for all he knew, be Brooks Abbingdon’s jet carrying Teresa away from him. The image of Teresa curled up in Brooks’s lap, him comforting her as she cried—because, hell, if anyone deserved to cry it was Teresa St. Claire—flashed on his retina and his grip tightened on the crystal tumbler in his hand. He heard a sharp crack and a second later, expensive liquor ran over his palm and under the wristband of his watch.

  Liam opened his hand and looked at the cracked glass and its sharp shards. Surprisingly, there was no blood. Transferring the broken glass from his hand to the coffee table on the balcony, he shook the droplets of his Manhattan cocktail off his hand before reaching for his pocket square and wiping the liquid away.

  Well, that was a waste of good booze. Liam looked back into the luxurious Presidential Suite of the Goblet Hotel and saw his friend Matt Richmond pacing the area between the designer sofas and the dining table. Matt was pissed and he had a right to be. His gala evening was ruined and would be long remembered for all the wrong reasons.

  And it was all Teresa’s fault. Well, not her fault exactly—she hadn’t known that her brother would show up and ruin months of work—but as the event planner, the buck stopped with her.

  Would her company recover from this? He doubted it. Would she? Teresa was tough but she’d had a couple of hard knocks lately. When Matt asked her to leave the retreat immediately, taking her brother with her, Teresa knew that her reputation was about to take another beating, and Liam understood why she felt the need to run. Why would she want to stay and witness the pitying looks, the cruel smirks, hear the caustic comments?

  She also wanted to run from him. And that, he understood most of all.

  Seeing movement in the room behind him, Liam turned his head to watch Nadia approach Matt, her eyes on her man. Matt was still on the phone but he held out his hand and Nadia tucked herself into his side, her arms encircling his waist. Matt dropped a kiss on her head before continuing his conversation. Liam’s stomach cramped with what he thought might be jealousy. He’d never believed in true love—hadn’t been exposed to it growing up—but maybe it did exist; maybe it was just as rare as hell. Matt had found his Holy Grail in Nadia but Liam wasn’t naive enough to believe that everybody, most especially him, would be that lucky.

  Love, he was convinced, wasn’t for him.

  Matt threw his phone onto the sofa behind him and pulled his wife into his body, burying his face in the crook of her neck. Although Nadia was a foot shorter than Matt, Liam knew that he was sucking strength from her, that Matt was leaning on her. They were a unit, taking turns to lead and to follow, to give and receive strength. They were two trees growing together, sharing soil and water, their branches and roots intermingling.

  It struck him that he and Teresa were two separate pine trees planted in a regimented row. They both stood tall, took the wind, never bent. They’d been planted too far apart—and too much had happened between them and to them—to bridge the gap to be able to even start to explore anything deeper than flash point sex.

  Liam turned away and walked to the edge of the balcony, gripping the balustrade with tight fingers. Maybe Teresa’s leaving, her breaking it off for good, was—as she’d said—what was best for her, him, Christopher Corporation. For everybody involved.

  And if that was true then why did he feel like week-old crap?

  Hearing Matt’s footsteps he turned his head and saw Matt approaching him, a bottle of bourbon in his hand. Matt raised his eyebrows at the broken glass and, without words, handed Liam the bottle. Liam took a hefty sip before dropping the bottle to his side, holding it in a loose grip. By the time dawn broke, he was going to be best buds with this bottle.

  “Where’s Nadia?”

  Matt leaned his butt against the railing and rolled his head from side to side to release the knots in his neck. Liam didn’t bother; his knots were now permanent residents. “She went to bed,” Matt replied. He glanced at his watch. “It is almost three in the morning.”

  “It was a hell of a night.” Liam took another hit from the bottle, ignoring his still-sticky hand. He glanced up, saw another jet and forced himself to meet Matt’s eyes. “I feel like I should apologize.”

  “For what?” Matt asked, his eyes and tone weary. “You didn’t cause Teresa’s brother to ruin my gala evening.”

  “Neither did Teresa,” Liam responded, needing to defend her.

  “Tell me about her brother,” Matt said, moving to the sofa and dropping down. He immediately tucked a pillow under his head and propped his feet up onto the coffee table.

  Ordinarily, Liam would never consider divulging someone else’s secrets but this was Matt, his best friend, and he trusted him implicitly. He also needed Matt’s sharp brain to help him make sense of what was, at this crazy hour, the senseless.

  “It’s a tangled mess but I’m going to tell you what I do know, gathered from what Teresa has told me, along with what my investigator dug up.

  “So years ago, Joshua, her brother, liked drugs and alcohol a little too much and got himself in debt with some unsavory characters. They offered him a job to pay off the money. He became a chauffeur—”

  “And he, knowingly or unknowingly, ferried drugs,” Matt finished for him.

  Matt was, by far, the sharpest tool in the shed. “Yep. He was busted and was jailed. Via Mariella Santiago-Marshall, Teresa employed the talents of The Fixer—”

  Matt whistled his astonishment. “I’ve heard of him. He’s—”

  Liam raised an eyebrow. “Effective?”

  “I was going to say ruthless but that works, too.”

  “Anyway,” Liam continued, “he got Joshua’s charges dropped, him out of jail and across the country. The kid didn’t learn and has raked up another huge gambling debt. A mafia-type organization has bought that debt from the original crew and it’s rocketed to an impossible sum.”

  “How much?”

  “Seven million dollars,” Liam replied. “Several weeks back Teresa was told that he’d been kidnapped but that turned out to be BS. Teresa’s been informed that she needs to repay his loan, but she doesn’t have that kind of cash, and they’ve never called her back, as far as I know.”

  “Pay it for her, offset it against the cost of the shares you are going to buy from her when she’s completed her yearlong mandatory stint on the board of Chris
topher Corporation,” Matt suggested. “As per the terms of your father’s will.”

  “Teresa is hoping that she can delay repaying them until she’s sold her shares. She wants to keep me out of the equation. Hell, maybe she’s shopping around for a better deal for the shares.” The thought of Teresa selling those shares to anyone else made his stomach whirl. If she did that, he would no longer have the thin sliver of control over Christopher Corporation he did now.

  “Nobody has given Teresa, or Joshua, a firm deadline for the repayment of the debt.”

  “Weird,” Matt agreed. “So it should be imperative that he keep his head down, even stay out of sight. Then why would Joshua crash a highly visible, live-streamed event?

  “What does Teresa think?” Matt asked, after a moment’s silence.

  “I don’t know since she blew me off and hightailed it back to Seattle in Abbingdon’s private plane,” Liam muttered his sour reply. He pulled his cell out of his pocket and hit the speed dial number that would connect him to Teresa. It didn’t mean anything that he’d moved his personal assistant, Duncan, to number two on his list and Teresa to number one. It meant nothing. At all.

  Liam listened to her phone ring and urged her to pick up. He needed to know that she was okay, that Joshua was okay—God, the kid hadn’t looked, or sounded, good. And he wasn’t talking about the bruise his fist made on his jaw. Her phone went to voice mail and he dropped a hard “Call me” order into her message system.

  Liam placed the bourbon bottle on the coffee table, sat down in the chair opposite Matt and rested his forearms on his knees. He released a series of low but intense f-bombs.

  “That kind of sums up my feelings about this evening,” Matt commented. “I’ve been doing damage control but there’s not much spin you can generate when everything is caught on video and then live-streamed.”