A Sparkle In The Cowboy's Eyes

A Sparkle In The Cowboy's Eyes
Peggy Moreland

TEXAS BRIDES BABY WRANGLIN' John Lee Carter was still the most irresistible cowboy this side of Texas, but these days the rugged rancher was packing more than a sexy grin. Seemed John Lee was now daddy to a sweet baby girl and looking at Merideth McCloud as though he'd like to make some more… .Well, Merideth didn't have a problem with making babies. Nor did she mind caring for John Lee's little darlin'. But it was high time the stubborn bachelor learned that all those early-morning feedings - and late-night seductions - could lead to only one thing… marriage!TEXAS BRIDES: Come on down to the McCloud family ranch - 'cause there's no place like Texas for a wedding!

“Sugar, where I come from, when a man is attracted to a woman, he lets her know by kissing her,” John Lee said. (#ua0502204-8d3b-5129-b7ad-89b532c20dd3)Letter to Reader (#ub892f5d8-36c4-5d86-938e-031741526253)Title Page (#ud92cbd23-3938-58f5-bc13-17abd18b8cf5)PEGGY MORELAND (#uc0c077dc-c8ef-5fc2-aa76-eeceaa484dcb)Dedication (#u6e3b6b14-ac28-59dd-97e1-e73786a6d3ed)Chapter One (#ud8fd9bce-a0f6-5492-8e27-f179508b9311)Chapter Two (#u8c404e9d-d37f-52a5-adf9-3cad397535f1)Chapter Three (#u13326329-06d9-5053-825a-c311bb6a1609)Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

“Sugar, where I come from, when a man is attracted to a woman, he lets her know by kissing her,” John Lee said.

Before Merideth could stop him, he closed his mouth over hers.

The capture was so complete, so unexpected, she felt her knees weaken, her heart slam against her ribs.

“And sometimes even touching her,” he murmured against her mouth as he pulled her body against his.

Willing herself not to respond, she took in a shuddering breath. “If you think I’m going to spend the next several months playing nanny while being pawed by you, you’ve got another think coming.”

He drew his head back just far enough to meet her eyes. “You Yankees might call it pawing,” he said, his eyes burning into hers, “but down here in Texas, we call it something else....”

Dear Reader,

This month, Silhouette Desire is celebrating milestones, miniseries—and, of course, sensual, emotional and compelling love stories. Every book is a treasured keeper in Lass Small’s miniseries THE KEEPERS OF TEXAS, but this month, the continuation of this wonderful series about the Keeper family marks a milestone for Lass—the publication of her 50th book for Silhouette with The Lone Texan, also our MAN OF THE MONTH selection!

Desire is also proud to present the launch of two brand-new miniseries. First, let us introduce you to THE RULEBREAKERS, Leanne Banks’s fabulous new series about three strong and sexy heroes. Book one is Millionaire Dad—and it’s a story you won’t want to miss. Next, meet the first of a few good men and women in uniform in the passion-filled new series BACHELOR BATTALION, by Maureen Child. The first installment, The Littlest Marine, will utterly delight you.

Continuing this month is the next book in Peggy Moreland’s series TEXAS BRIDES about the captivating McCloud sisters, A Sparkle in the Cowboy’s Eyes. And rounding out the month are two wonderful novels—Miranda’s Outlaw by Katherine Garbera, and The Texas Ranger and the Tempting Twin by Pamela Ingrahm.

I hope you enjoy all six of Silhouette Desire’s love stories this month—and every month.

Regards,

Melissa Senate

Senior Editor Silhouette Books

Please address questions and book requests to:

Silhouette Reader Service

U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269

Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, OnL L2A 5X3

A Sparkle In The Cowboy’s Eyes

Peggy Moreland

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

PEGGY MORELAND

published her first book with Silhouette in 1989 and continues to delight readers with stories set in her home state of Texas. Winner of the National Readers’ Choice Award, a nominee for the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award and a finalist for the prestigious RITA Award, Peggy has appeared on the USA Today and Waldenbooks bestseller lists. When not writing, she enjoys spending time at the farm riding her quarter horse, Lo-Jump, and competing in local barrel-racing competitions. She, her husband and their three children make their home in Round Rock, Texas.

To my good friend Willie Ferguson.

A survivor whose positive mental attitude

inspires us all.

One

Merideth lay back against the warm stones, letting the sun seep into her skin to work its healing magic on her body, on her mind. A month had passed since she’d arrived at the Double-Cross Heart Ranch, battered and bruised, both physically and emotionally.

The bruises on her body had faded now, but those on her heart were still tender, a constant reminder of her loss. A son, she had been told, born much too early to survive.

Tears budded in her eyes and blurred the clouds drifting across the blue sky above her. She’d brought him home with her and buried him in the family plot next to her mother. Now they lay side by side—the mother she’d never known, and the child she would never hold. Placing him there had seemed fitting somehow, and it eased the ache a little, for she knew that her mother was in heaven to greet her grandson, to gather him close within her angel wings and to watch over him.

Merideth closed her eyes behind the dark sunglasses, squeezing back the tears. Even though she was home, back on the Double-Cross and surrounded by family, she felt so alone. So utterly and terribly alone. There was no child to lavish her love on, no husband with whom to share her grief. There was only Merideth. Merideth McCloud. Soap-opera star extraordinaire. The woman whose face and body men all over the world lust after... the same face and body that women all over the world despised her for. Her life-style was envied, her wealth whispered about over cocktails....

She almost laughed out loud.

She had no wealth. The life-style she’d chosen had robbed her of that. Clothes, jewelry, travel. The good life. That’s what she’d sought when she first moved to New York City. Fame, adoring fans, her name bandied about in gossip columns, linked with those of wealthy and handsome men. She’d wanted excitement, too, and adventure. And she’d had it all...but in retrospect it all seemed foolish, meaningless when stacked up against what she’d lost.

But regrets were senseless in Merideth’s opinion, and only a crutch used by the weak and foolish to atone for their mistakes. Merideth was neither weak nor foolish. She was a McCloud. She had the McCloud spirit, the McCloud pride. She was a fighter, a survivor. She’d suffered other tragedies in her life and triumphed. She’d survive this one, too.

But how? she wondered. She kept her money problems secret from her sisters. She knew that both Sam and Mandy would willingly give her the shirts off their backs if she asked, but she wouldn’t. Her pride wouldn’t let her, not when her sisters had succeeded where she had failed. They’d spent their inheritances both wisely and frugally, with an eye to their futures, while Merideth had squandered hers selfishly and foolishly.

They’d chosen the men in their lives with the same wisdom, the same care as they’d chosen their investments, men with integrity, men who loved and lived with a passion as wide as the Texas sky. Mandy had Jesse. Sam, Nash. But who did Merideth have?

No one...at least not now.

She’d chosen the men in her life in much the same way she’d spent her inheritance—foolishly, basing her selections on image, on power, not on the person within. Her last and biggest mistake had been Marcus. Her producer, her lover, the father of her child. A man with wealth and connections, a powerful and handsome man. A man without a conscience or scruples, a man without a heart or soul.

Angry with herself for even thinking of him, she shoved the thought away and focused again on her most pressing problem.

Money. Or the lack thereof.

She needed a job. But where? What? She didn’t want to go back to New York. She couldn’t. But she had no other skills to offer. What else could an actress do but act?

A sigh shuddered through her and she rolled to her stomach, blocking out the depressing thoughts. How could she contemplate the future when she hadn’t successfully dealt with the past, when at the moment, even the present seemed too much for her to deal with?

John Lee Carter reined his horse to a stop high on the cliff above the spring-fed pond, looked down...and almost fell out of his saddle. Expecting to find stray calves, instead he found a woman—a gorgeous, naked woman—stretched out, sunbathing, on one of the smooth limestone boulders that concealed the natural spring feeding the small pond. Blond hair haloed a stunning face with features so perfect they seemed unreal, as if shaped by a sculptor’s clever hand.

Perspiration pearled on her skin and pooled in the valley between her breasts, drawing his gaze there. He let his eyes drift along the graceful lines of her body, taking in the swell of breasts, the smooth stomach, the deep curve of waist. She lay with one knee raised, shadowing a nest of blond curls at the juncture of her thighs. An arm draped carelessly across her forehead shaded her eyes further from the bright sunlight.

Merideth McCloud.

Even at this distance, John Lee recognized her. He’d heard she was back in town. He’d also heard the reason why she was there. He shook his head, bracing his hands against his saddle horn, his gaze lingering on the woman below. Seemed even the rich and famous couldn’t escape the tragedies in life. As a man who’d served his own time in the limelight, John Lee knew that all too well.

Talk was that she’d suffered a nervous breakdown after losing a baby. But John Lee knew better than that. Oh, he didn’t doubt she’d lost a baby, but he did question the part about her having a nervous breakdown. Not Merideth McCloud. She was way too strong for that.