“Let me go.”
Caitlyn flailed her arms and Judd pulled up and released her. She fell to the ground, her eyes firing blue flames at him. “You bastard.”
He rested back in the saddle, staring down at her. “Is that any way to talk to a man who just saved your life?”
She stood and dusted off the back of her jeans. “You’re trespassing, Judd. Get off my property.” She swung her cute butt around and headed back to the hive of cattle.
She stepped in the mud without hesitation and bent to a pipe that was gushing water.
He slid from the saddle and went to help her. His head told him to ride away. This woman had hurt him more than anyone in his life.
But his heart was the traitor, urging him forward.
Dear Reader,
I’m excited about the start of a new trilogy, THE BELLES OF TEXAS. The stories involve three sisters with the same father but different mothers. I’ve written a lot of cowboy books and I wanted to change the scenario and write about feisty, strong cowgirls.
I grew up on a farm/ranch and my mother knew more about the cattle than my dad. She knew when to sell calves, when to cull the herd and when to change pastures. My dad always went with her judgment. So I drew upon my years as a child watching my mother as I planned these books.
The sisters are independent, stubborn and know what they want. They’re willing to put their hearts on the line to protect family and each other. Maybe there’s a little bit of a cowgirl in all of us.
I hope you enjoy the Belle sisters as much as I enjoyed creating them.
From Texas with love,
Linda Warren
P.S. It’s always a pleasure to hear from readers.
You can e-mail me at [email protected] or write me at
P.O. Box 5182, Bryan, TX 77805 or visit my
Web site at www.lindawarren.net or
www.myspace.com/authorlindawarren.
Your letters will be answered.
CAITLYN’S PRIZE
Linda Warren
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Award-winning, bestselling author Linda Warren has written twenty-three books for Harlequin Superromance and Harlequin American Romance. She grew up in the farming and ranching community of Smetana, Texas, the only girl in a family of boys. She loves to write about Texas, and from time to time scenes and characters from her childhood show up in her books. Linda lives in College Station, Texas, not far from her birthplace, with her husband, Billy, and a menagerie of wild animals, from Canada geese to bobcats. Visit her Web site at www.lindawarren.net.
Books by Linda Warren
HARLEQUIN SUPERROMANCE
1049—ON THE TEXAS BORDER
1075—COWBOY AT THE CROSSROADS
1125—THE WRONG WOMAN
1167—A BABY BY CHRISTMAS
1221—THE RIGHT WOMAN
1250—FORGOTTEN SON
1314—ALL ROADS LEAD TO TEXAS
1354—SON OF TEXAS
1375—THE BAD SON
1440—ADOPTED SON
1470—TEXAS BLUFF
1499—ALWAYS A MOTHER
HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE
1042—THE CHRISTMAS CRADLE
1089—CHRISTMAS, TEXAS STYLE
“Merry Texmas”
1102—THE COWBOY’S RETURN
1151—ONCE A COWBOY
1226—TEXAS HEIR
1249—THE SHERIFF OF HORSESHOE, TEXAS
A special thanks to my editor, Kathleen Scheibling, and to Wanda Ottewell for making this series possible.
Thanks to J.O., Bobby and Chris Siegert for refreshing my memory and answering my pesky questions about ranching, cattle, windmills, oil wells and the sand and gravel business.
All errors are strictly mine.
DEDICATION
This past year has been especially difficult for me.
I dedicate this book to my husband, Billy, my Sonny,
who was always there to help me through it.
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 FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
EPILOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
IT WAS RECKONING DAY.
Caitlyn Belle knew that with every beat of her racing heart.
She stopped at the entrance to the Southern Cross ranch and shoved the stick shift of her old Chevy truck into first. The gears protested with a grinding noise, which she ignored. Her brain cells could process only so much, and right now her full attention was on the ranch’s owner, not a faulty transmission.
Once she crossed the cattle guard, there was a whole lot of reckoning waiting for her. Judd Calhoun, the man she’d jilted fourteen years ago, had requested a meeting with her. The question why kept jangling in her head like loose change.
Time to find out.
Reckoning or not.
She drove between the huge stone pillars that supported the decorative, arched wrought-iron sign that bore the name Southern Cross. White board fences flanked both sides of the graveled road, curling toward a massive ranch-style house with a red tile roof.
A circular drive with a magnificent horse-sculpture fountain made of limestone graced the front of the house. The place looked like something out of a magazine. The only things that signaled this was a working ranch were the corrals and barns in the distance and the white Brahman cattle that dotted the horizon.
High Five had once been like this, but not anymore. Cait felt a moment of sadness. She couldn’t change the past. The future was her main concern.
The High Five, owned by the Belles, and the Southern Cross, owned by the Calhouns, were the two biggest ranches near High Cotton, Texas, a stop in the road of less than five hundred people. It