Sins Of A Tanner

Sins Of A Tanner
Peggy Moreland

Years ago, Whit Tanner had taken Melissa Jacobs into his bed - into his heart - only to have her marry his best friend.Now the pretty widow was struggling to raise her son alone. And Whit was bound by Tanner honor not to deny her request for help…. Melissa Jacobs had a son to think of, a future to protect. But once she saw Whit Tanner, surrendered to his tender touch, she found herself wanting it all, wishing for what could have been.Wondering if the rugged cowboy would ever love her again once he discovered the secret she kept….

She’d Forgotten How Tender A Kiss Could Be, How Sweet.

Tears filled her eyes. She realized now how badly she’d wanted his kiss, how long she’d yearned for his touch.

As if sensing her need, he drew her closer. Heat spilled through her as he deepened the kiss, holding her body against his. Each place his body touched hers tingled with awareness.

Much too soon, he withdrew and she opened her eyes to find his gaze on her. Lifting a hand, he swept a thumb beneath her eye, catching a tear that had escaped.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“No,” she said. “You didn’t upset me. It’s just that I—”

She dropped her gaze, unable to tell him that the tears were tears of joy, not anger or hurt. But the feelings were too unexpected, too confusing to share.

And the secrets she’d kept were too long hidden to reveal….

Dear Reader,

As expected, Silhouette Desire has loads of passionate, powerful and provocative love stories for you this month. Our DYNASTIES: THE DANFORTHS continuity is winding to a close with the penultimate title, Terms of Surrender, by Shirley Rogers. A long-lost Danforth heir may just have been found—and heavens, is this prominent family in for a big surprise! And talk about steamy secrets, Peggy Moreland is back with Sins of a Tanner, a stellar finale to her series THE TANNERS OF TEXAS.

If it’s scandalous behavior you’re looking for, look no farther than For Services Rendered by Anne Marie Winston. This MANTALK book—the series that offers stories strictly from the hero’s point of view—has a fabulous hero who does the heroine a very special favor. Hmmmm. And Alexandra Sellers is back in Desire with a fresh installment of her SONS OF THE DESERT series. Sheikh’s Castaway will give you plenty of sweet (and naughty) dreams.

Even more shocking situations pop up in Linda Conrad’s sensual Between Strangers. Imagine if you were stuck on the side of the road during a blizzard and a sexy cowboy offered you shelter from the storm…. (Hello, are you still with me?) Rounding out the month is Margaret Allison’s Principles and Pleasures, a daring romp between a workaholic heroine and a man she doesn’t know is actually her archenemy.

So settle in for some sensual, scandalous love stories…and enjoy every moment!

Melissa Jeglinski

Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire

Sins of a Tanner

Peggy Moreland

PEGGY MORELAND

published her first romance 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 Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award and a two-time finalist for the prestigious RITA

Award, Peggy’s books frequently appear on the USA TODAY and Walden-books bestseller lists. When not writing, you can usually find Peggy outside, tending the cattle, goats and other critters on the ranch she shares with her husband. You may write to Peggy at P.O. Box 1099, Florence, TX 76527-1099, or e-mail her at peggy@peggymoreland.com.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

One

It was said that there wasn’t a woman in the state of Texas who couldn’t be seduced by a Tanner once he set his mind to the task. Tall in stature and richer than sin, with their coal-black hair and bedroom-blue eyes, the Tanner brothers were hard to resist.

Whit Tanner was the exception.

Though he stood over six feet tall and was easy enough on the eye, Whit looked nothing like the men whose name he shared. His hair was brown, not the expected black, and streaked with blond from years of working beneath a hot Texas sun. His eyes were brown, too, rather than the trademark blue, and almost the same color of his hair, thanks to the gold shot through the irises.

And the differences didn’t stop there.

While it was a well-known fact the Tanner men could charm the panties off a nun, the only females Whit felt comfortable around wore shoes shaped from iron and walked on four legs. When confronted with the human form of the gender, he tended to stammer and stutter and turn three shades of red—which might explain why he was still a bachelor at the ripe old age of twenty-nine.

Truth be known, Whit had never really thought much about his bachelor status one way or the other. He’d accepted his single state as just another curve life had thrown his way—or he had until all his stepbrothers had started marrying and settling down.

First Ace had hitched himself to Maggie, then Woodrow had taken the fall with the doctor from Dallas. Ry had followed shortly thereafter when he’d hooked up with Kayla, the waitress from Austin who had stolen his heart. Together the two had stirred up a media blitz that had kept the Tanner name in the news for weeks. But it was when Rory, the confirmed bachelor of the bunch, had married Macy Keller that Whit had come to the slow realization that he was the last single Tanner.

“Last single Tanner,” Whit muttered as he dragged the saddle down from the top rail of the round pen and swung it over the mare’s back. He wasn’t a Tanner. Not by birth, at any rate. He was the adopted son, the charity case Buck Tanner had taken on when he’d married Whit’s mother.

Everybody in Tanner’s Crossing, Whit included, had known that the marriage between Buck and Lee Grainger was no love match. A divorcée supporting herself and her young son on the tips she made waiting tables, Lee had been looking for security, while Buck had wanted someone to raise his four motherless sons. In the deal they’d cut, Lee had gotten the home and security she’d desired and Buck had gotten himself a built-in maid and baby-sitter.

And Whit had gotten the Tanner name.

A rivulet of sweat coursed down between his eyes and dripped from the end of his nose. Shoving back his hat, he dragged a sleeve across his face. But looks and blood weren’t all that distinguished him from the Tanners, he thought wearily as he settled his hat back over his head. Tanners didn’t have to sweat out a living beneath a broiling sun.

Not unless they chose to, at any rate.

Puffing his cheeks, he blew out a breath, then reached beneath the horse for the cinch. But things could be worse, he told himself as he threaded the leather strap through the rigging ring. He could be stuck behind a desk in some office, shuffling papers, or trapped in some windowless factory putting together widgits. Few men were able to work at a job they enjoyed…and Whit purely loved working with horses.

He supposed that was one thing he had Buck Tanner to thank for, as it was while working for Buck on the Bar-T, the Tanners’s ranch, that Whit had discovered his affinity with horses. But that was all he’d thank Buck for, he thought bitterly. The man had made a lousy stepfather and, according to Whit’s stepbrothers, a lousy father, as well.

He paused to frown. But was there such a thing as a good father?

He snorted a breath and fed another loop through the ring. How the hell would he know. His own had lit out just shy of his third birthday, leaving him and his mother to fend for themselves. He had thought the two of them were getting along just fine without a man around the house when one day, out of the blue, his mother had announced that she was marrying Buck and that he was going to adopt Whit. That Buck had agreed to adopt Whit had surprised some, as Buck had seldom had time for his own four sons. Whit soon learned he’d had even less for a stepson.

Scowling at the reminder of his stepfather’s less than benevolent attitude toward him, he gave the cinch one last tug, making sure it was tight. The horse he was saddling—a green-broke sorrel mare—flattened her ears against her head and danced sideways at the increased pressure. He stroked a hand along the sorrel’s neck.