“She-Devil…”
“Is that what you think of me?” Lyric asked.
Trevor set his hat more firmly on his head. “Let’s just say that I don’t think much of a woman who kisses one man while engaged to another.”
“Lyle needed me—especially after the accident.”
“The car wreck wasn’t all that serious,” Trevor said with undisguised bitterness. “It didn’t maim him or call for a life-or-death operation, did it?”
Lyric hesitated. “No,” she said. “It didn’t.”
“Would you have broken the engagement and come to me…if I’d asked?”
Lyric thought of endless nights at the hospital, Lyle thinking that he was going to be all right, not realizing he was slipping further and further away…
Studying the strong, healthy man beside her, she sighed. “No. I couldn’t have come then.”
Trevor’s face hardened. “Then why the hell did you come now?”
Dear Reader,
It’s hard to believe that it’s that time of year again—and what better way to escape the holiday hysteria than with a good book…or six! Our selections begin with Allison Leigh’s The Truth About the Tycoon, as a man bent on revenge finds his plans have hit a snag—in the form of the beautiful sister of the man he’s out to get.
THE PARKS EMPIRE concludes its six-book run with The Homecoming by Gina Wilkins, in which Walter Parks’s daughter tries to free her mother from the clutches of her unscrupulous father. Too bad the handsome detective working for her dad is hot on her trail! The M.D.’s Surprise Family by Marie Ferrarella is another in her popular miniseries THE BACHELORS OF BLAIR MEMORIAL. This time, a lonely woman looking for a doctor to save her little brother finds both a healer of bodies and of hearts in the handsome neurosurgeon who comes highly recommended. In A Kiss in the Moonlight, another in Laurie Paige’s SEVEN DEVILS miniseries, a woman can’t resist her attraction to the man she let get away—because guilt was pulling her in another direction. But now he’s back in her sights—soon to be in her clutches? In Karen Rose Smith’s Which Child Is Mine? a woman is torn between the child she gave birth to and the one she’s been raising. And the only way out seems to be to marry the man who fathered her “daughter.” Last, a man decides to reclaim everything he’s always wanted, in the form of his biological daughters, and their mother, in Sharon De Vita’s Rightfully His.
Here’s hoping every one of your holiday wishes comes true, and we look forward to celebrating the New Year with you.
All the best,
Gail Chasan
Senior Editor
A Kiss in the Moonlight
Laurie Paige
LAURIE PAIGE
Laurie has been a NASA engineer, a past president of the Romance Writers of America, a mother and a grandmother. She was twice a Romance Writers of America RITA® finalist for Best Traditional Romance and has won awards from Romantic Times for Best Silhouette Special Edition and Best Silhouette in addition to appearing on the USA TODAY bestseller list. Recently resettled in Northern California, Laurie is looking forward to whatever experiences her next novel will send her on.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter One
Lyric Gibson felt the headache as a throb centered behind her eyes. She tried to consciously relax the tension that tightened the muscles of her forehead and those across her shoulders. That worked as long as she concentrated, but she was looking for road signs, and her attention was on that task.
“Have we passed it, do you think?” her great-aunt, Fay Gibson, asked in slightly querulous tones.
Lyric flinched as guilt joined the other emotions that swirled through her innermost self. She should have stopped in Boise for the night. Her aunt was sixty-eight years old and, although usually cheerful and persevering, much too tired from the long hours they’d spent on the road.
But it had been early afternoon—not quite four—so there’d been hours of July daylight left when they’d driven through the city. The mountain town of Lost Valley was only an hour north of there, according to her information, so she’d pushed on. They’d found the town without a problem.
The Seven Devils Ranch, their hoped-for destination, was supposed to be less than an hour west of Lost Valley, so they should have arrived by six at the latest.
It was now half past eight.
She had no idea if they were any closer to their destination now than they’d been an hour ago. Glancing at the western sky, she fought worry and the headache that accompanied it. She was no longer sure where they were. The back roads of Idaho all looked the same, and she’d obviously taken a couple of wrong turns. Or three or four.
Maybe this whole trip was a mistake. She’d been stunned when her great-aunt had delivered the invitation that had included her. Then she’d been elated. Now she was simply unsure.
“It’ll be dark soon,” Aunt Fay said, then gave an impatient tsk. “I’m sorry, Lyric. I shouldn’t have said that. I know you’re concerned about me, but this wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been lost and slept in a car.”
Lyric managed a confident laugh. “We’ll find it. We’re bound to be close. We passed a sign that said He-Devil Mountain was thataway.” She pointed toward the west. “The ranch is supposed to be within sight of the peak. We’re just taking the scenic route.”
A shiver ran over every nerve in her body as she recalled a dark-haired, blue-eyed, tall, handsome cowboy who’d once told her about his family’s ranch and its splendid view, its crystal streams and lakes, the majestic sweep of the land.
She’d longed to explore the mountains and valleys with him, but fate had intervened, temporarily at any rate.
Trevor had listened to her rushed, disjointed explanation of why she’d had to leave, first in disbelief then with growing anger. With his jaw set as hard as stone, he’d nodded as if he understood, but then he’d left. Without a word. Without a backward glance.
That had been almost a year ago.
During the endless fall and winter, through storms that brought floods to much of the southwest, she’d waited, sure he would write. But he hadn’t contacted her, not even when she’d sent a note that explained more fully. She’d given up hope. Then out of the blue came an invitation to visit the ranch. That had to mean something.
She put the shaky elation and haunting doubts aside to concentrate on finding the right road. She didn’t want to make another wrong turn.
“I see a trail of dust,” she said, peering through her driving glasses at this welcome indication of another