That Last Night In Texas

That Last Night In Texas
Ann Evans

It was supposed to be the most wonderful night of their young lives. Cassie McGuire was barely eighteen and ready to elope with the man of her dreams, when tragedy struck.With the new future now facing her, there was no way Cassie was going to saddle the adventurous Ethan Rafferty with a woman who might never ride again, much less walk. So she sent him away.Cassie gets the shock of her life when Ethan returns to Texas. The sexy wrangler is as handsome as ever–but he'll be fit to be tied once he discovers her secret. Will he forgive her–or will he fight her for the son he didn't know he had?

The man was dressed in a suit, distinctly out of place here amid longhorns and chaps

He could be a businessman from Houston, but even in the city the men wore boots and Stetsons. He looked…

Cassie pulled in a sudden, shocked breath. She felt as though she’d been kicked, taken a blow, hard and fast.

Ethan.

Here. Back on Flying M property.

The man who had made her heart slip again and again into overdrive.

The man who had helped shape her entire existence.

The man who had given her Donny, the most precious thing in her life.

Dear Reader,

When I was much younger (and a lot thinner) my sister and I had horses. We spent all our free time with Shalimar, Sparky and Sheba. We rode the pine trails, played horseback hide-and-seek in the orange groves and used the rumps of our mounts as diving boards into the lake near our home. We took dozens of spills off their backs, chased them all over the pasture to get their hooves trimmed, and chanced getting nipped if we dawdled in giving them hay.

Having horses was hard work, expensive and time-consuming. But I wouldn’t have missed a minute of it. They’re wonderful creatures, and to this day, I still love the smell of molasses sweet feed and a leather saddle on a sweaty horse.

So I guess it’s only natural that sooner or later I’d draw on all those old memories. My Texas heroine, Cassie Wheeler, has a deep love of horses, but she’s seen the worst of them, too. The danger and unpredictability of a two-thousand-pound animal has left her scarred, both emotionally and physically.

Fortunately, that’s where Ethan Rafferty comes in. He was in love with her before her life changed so dramatically, and he’s in love with the woman she is now. Whatever the consequences, he’s ready to become part of her life again. If only she’ll let him.

I love to hear from readers, and a lot of romance novel fans have a love of horses, as well. Share yours by sending me an e-mail at abair@cfl.rr.com.

Happy trails!

Ann Evans

That Last Night in Texas

Ann Evans

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ann Evans has been writing since she was a teenager, but it wasn’t until she joined Romance Writers of America that she actually sent anything to a publisher. Eventually, with the help of a very good critique group, she honed her skills and won a Golden Heart from Romance Writers of America for Best Short Contemporary Romance of 1989. Since then she’s happy to have found a home at Harlequin Superromance.

A native Floridian, Ann enjoys traveling, hot fudge sundaes and collecting antique postcards. She loves hearing from readers and invites them to visit her Web site at www.aboutannevans.com.

For Sherri Angell, who has never lost her passion for horses, cowboys and living life to the fullest.

CONTENTS

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 ONE

CASSANDRA RAFFERTY. Mr. and Mrs. Ethan Rafferty. Ethan and Cassie Rafferty.

With a pleased sigh, Cassie McGuire smiled down at the delicately scrolled words she’d written in her diary. She resisted the temptation to dot the i in her name with a tiny heart. After all, she was two days past her eighteenth birthday and a woman now, no longer a child.

She ran her fingers over the lines, as though they were braille symbols whose importance she could discover through touch. They were important, because very soon this was who she would become—Cassandra Rafferty—and nothing anyone said or did could change that.

Ethan’s wife.

She felt her heart go into a wild gallop. Sometimes she still couldn’t believe it.