Branded by Fire by Tina Leonard

Author:Tina Leonard
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781635761795
Publisher: Diversion Books
Published: 2017-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

• • •

Kayla couldn’t have explained to anyone why she’d decided to accept Romero’s surprising proposal. Yet if anyone could understand, it was Mary Chapman, and most importantly, Kayla was certain she wouldn’t gossip—not about something this personal. So Kayla sat the next day in the Midnight Bar and Grill, and poured out the tale to the café owner.

“It wasn’t the whiskey,” Kayla said, “though we’d all had some of that. Not a lot, but enough to fire up some liquid courage. I didn’t need any courage from a bottle, though.” She’d wanted to say yes to Romero in the worst way, and for so many different reasons she wasn’t sure she could articulate them all.

She’d been crazy about him for a very long time. He was hot, he was kind, and he was well-respected in Star Canyon. Her big secret? She loved a dark hero, which is what he was to her—and being married to the man you loved, even if he didn’t necessarily love you back, wasn’t the worst thing that could happen.

Maybe those weren’t the best reasons to marry Romero, but they were her reasons, and she was sticking to them. Like glue.

“It was a cold night. No one could blame you for falling back on some sweet fire in the belly. Even some sweet fire in other parts of your body,” Mary said, pouring her another cup of hot tea.

Kayla jumped. “That’s a far different tale.” She wasn’t prepared to admit that they hadn’t yet had sex. Even expensive label whiskey couldn’t bring down that wall between her and Romero.

“Let’s go upstairs to my apartment. We can be more comfortable there, and no chance of nosey ears listening in.”

Kayla thought Mary’s ears managed to do quite enough listening, but she appreciated the chance for some privacy. Every once in a while she had the sudden feeling that diners were glancing at her and talking about her—which, Kayla reasoned, would be totally normal given the circumstances. Eloping over the weekend without any warning was a pretty shocking thing in Star Canyon. Upstairs in Mary’s cozy apartment, maybe she’d get up the courage to share what was really on her mind.

Now that she had Romero’s ring on her hand—the silver one they’d bought in Las Vegas—she wouldn’t mind a few tips on how to keep her marriage from dying from his regret. Romero had seemed very certain about marrying her, but she didn’t want him reconsidering what they’d done.

“Starla, mind the store, will you?” Mary called, asking the young, pretty waitress to take over for her—which meant not so much make certain the patrons were served well, Kayla knew (though that would happen, too) but that Starla Smythe should keep her eyes and ears open for anything that happened that might be of interest to Mary.

And everything that happened in Star Canyon was of interest to Mary.

They seated themselves in Mary’s small kitchen up the stairs from the main dining room. Kayla wondered why food smells didn’t filter

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