Harlequin Desire July 2013 - Bundle 1 of 2: Zane\The Santana Heir\Temptation on His Terms by Brenda Jackson

Author:Brenda Jackson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Ten

They landed at the closest airport midmorning the next day and were driving through downtown Mountain Ridge by noon. Tate had chatted constantly but, worn out, he now slept in the back of the rental. In the passenger seat, Shelby held onto her seat belt and simply gazed out the window, watching people as they rolled down a wide small-town road. Dex hoped this would be a good time for her. A good time for them all.

“The first traders came here in 1871,” she told him. “The newspaper and post office followed five years later. We were a site for public lease options during the oil boom of the 1910s and ’20s. Then the Depression hit. Population withered from around six thousand to two.” She pointed. “That’s our City Hall.”

Dex ducked his head to check out the austere double-story Georgian building on the corner. The national flag fluttered on a pole planted in one sidewalk, a single old-fashioned light post stood on the other. Next door was a neatly trimmed park with a bucking bronco monument. An ice cream shop came into view. An old man stopped licking his vanilla cone to peer at the Lexus as they slid by.

Yep. They were a long way from L.A.

“Feel strange to be back?” he asked.

“I’m having one of those ‘seems like years ago and only yesterday’ moments. That’s the kindergarten I worked at.”

Clutches of kids were on recess, running around a bright plastic-molded fort and slide while a middle-aged lady straightened a toddler’s hat.

Farther down was a café, a real estate office and finally a hairdresser called Designer Elegance Salon. A woman around Shelby’s age was walking out the door. Her stride slowed as she shielded her eyes from the sun and examined the car. Next second she held her stomach as if someone had poked it. Beside him, Shelby hands fisted in her lap.

He glanced in the rearview mirror as the woman slipped out of view.

“Someone you know?” he asked as they rolled out of the town proper.

Putting on a smile, she wiped both palms down her skirt. “Everyone knows everyone here.”

“And that’s a good thing, right?”

“There are a lot of pluses. People tend to look out for one another when bad times come around. Death. Unemployment.”

He glanced at her rigid profile. Guessed at her thoughts. “But you have to keep a clean nose?”

“Well, you can try.” She nodded ahead. “Our place is a few miles out.”

The Scott Springs Ranch was off Quail Road. Dex turned the Lexus into a long drive beneath a big S, etched in the image of a curved rope, carved in the massive ranch gate. Soon a homestead appeared...painted timber, porch with well-kept railings all round. Not far from the front steps, a giant oak provided a pool of shade. To one side sat an old crippled tractor. Beyond that was a pond. A series of fenced pastures rolled off to the right and the backdrop of jagged mountaintops was so majestic, Dex’s breath was taken away.

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