Earl Stanton’s Journal Entry
That was some birthday party! Eighty, and as good as I ever was!
It was great Gabe could make it from Montana—two steps ahead of an outraged husband, if I know Gabe!
Could be brothers, my grandsons—Gabe and Randall. Never saw two men more alike. Only in their looks, mind you. Gabe never grew up. As long as he knows where to find the next whiskey bottle, the next cow to rope and the next woman to fool with, Gabe’s happy.
Not Randall. He grew up too far and too fast. Being heir to an earldom is no joke, and Randall is naturally serious. But he’s in his thirties without ever having been in his twenties, and that’s all wrong.
What they need is the right women, one to knock some sense into Gabe and one to knock it out of Randall.
Though where you could find women crazy enough to take on those two, Lord only knows….
Dear Reader,
This Fourth of July, join in the fireworks of Silhouette’s 20th anniversary year by reading all six powerful, passionate, provocative love stories from Silhouette Desire!
July’s MAN OF THE MONTH is a Bachelor Doctor by Barbara Boswell. Sparks ignite when a dedicated doctor discovers his passion for his loyal nurse!
With Midnight Fantasy, beloved author Ann Major launches an exciting new promotion in Desire called BODY & SOUL. Our BODY & SOUL books are among the most sensuous and emotionally intense you’ll ever read. Every woman wants to be loved…BODY & SOUL, and in these books you’ll find a heady combination of breathtaking love and tumultuous desire.
Amy J. Fetzer continues her popular WIFE, INC. miniseries with Wife for Hire. Enjoy Ride a Wild Heart, the first sexy installment of Peggy Moreland’s miniseries TEXAS GROOMS. This month, Desire offers you a terrific two-books-in-one value—Blood Brothers by Anne McAllister and Lucy Gordon. A British lord and an American cowboy are look-alike cousins who switch lives temporarily…and lose their hearts for good in this romance equivalent of a doubleheader. And don’t miss the debut of Kristi Gold, with her moving love story Cowboy for Keeps—it’s a keeper!
So make your summer sizzle—treat yourself to all six of these sultry Desire romances!
Happy Reading!
Joan Marlow Golan
Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire
Blood Brothers
Anne McAllister
Lucy Gordon
Contents
In darkest Devon…GABE
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…RANDALL
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Epilogue
Dear Reader,
Two years ago on a cold damp night in Bath, England, the two of us were sitting in a restaurant talking—as writers are wont to do—about what if…
What if we wrote a book together…what if we each had a hero…what if one was British and the other American…?
Of course, one what if led to another, and when Anne went home to America and Lucy went home to Northampton, we e-mailed each other more what ifs…and Gabe and Randall—and their crusty grandfather, the earl—were born.
What we’ve written is a book about two men who look alike but think differently, cousins from opposite sides of the Atlantic, cast adrift in each other’s world, floundering until two feisty, loving women take them in hand.
We wrote the Prologue and Epilogue jointly. Individually, Anne wrote about Gabe and Frederica (and counted on Lucy for advice on “darkest” Devon) and Lucy wrote about Randall and Claire (and depended on Anne to get her unscathed through a Montana winter).
Working together was a fresh and fun experience. We had a great time. We hope you do, too.
In darkest Devon…
GABE
ANNE MCALLISTER
RITA Award-winning author Anne McAllister fell in love with a cowboy when she was five years old. Tall, dark, handsome lone-wolf types have appealed to her ever since. “Me, for instance,” her college professor husband says. Well, yes. But even though she’s been married to the man of her dreams for over thirty years, she still likes writing about those men of the West! And even though she may take a break from cowboy heroes now and then, she has lots more stories planned for CODE OF THE WEST. She is always happy to hear from readers, and if you’d like, you can write to Anne at P.O. Box 3904, Bozeman, Montana 59772. SASE appreciated.
Prologue
As Gabe McBride’s plane touched down in England he didn’t have a clue that he was about to have a meeting with Destiny.
His cousin, Lord Randall Stanton, waiting for him outside Customs, didn’t look like Destiny. Randall looked, as he always had, like an English version of Gabe: same tall figure and broad shoulders, same dark hair and eyes, and lean, handsome features that had a strong family likeness. Their differences lay less in looks than mannerisms.
Randall carried his head with the proud air of an English toffee.
“You’d know he was a lord, just looking at him,” Gabe thought with an inward grin.
His own “air” suggested something entirely different. Generally it was one part horse, one part leather, one part bull rope rosin and several parts substances that polite society didn’t talk about. At the moment he’d done his best to scrub all that away. No sense walking into the drawing room smelling like a barn.
Drawing room! Now there was a term he didn’t use often. Didn’t reckon he’d said it aloud since the last time he was here—and that had been fifteen years ago. The very notion made him smile, a drawing room was such a far cry from the homely lived-in clutter of the Montana ranch he called home—when he was home.
Usually he wasn’t.
Usually he was going down the road from rodeo to rodeo. He’d be doing it now if it hadn’t been for getting hung up on that little spinning bull at the National Finals in Vegas last month.
“Shoulder separation,” the doc had said. “Again.” He’d looked at Gabe over the top of his glasses. “How many is that?”
“Five,” Gabe had admitted.
He didn’t like to think about it even now. Didn’t like to think about the surgery that had become inevitable, the months of recovery that would follow, the enforced idleness. A guy could get into trouble if he didn’t have something to keep him busy. A guy could meet a girl like Tracy…
Even