Had Hope just made the biggest mistake of her life?
She’d finally gotten what she wanted—time to spend with Jake McBride.
But what if she made a fool of herself over him again? No, she wouldn’t let that happen. She was an expert at hiding her thoughts and feelings. She could hide them from Jake, as well.
He’d made it sound as if she was doing him a favor to let him help her at her new ranch. But was this simply a way for him to get closer to her operation and figure out how to own it himself someday? It wouldn’t be the first time someone had lied to her to get something he wanted.
Hope didn’t want to doubt Jake’s motives for helping her, but wariness was long a part of her nature. A charming, handsome man was always dangerous to an innocent woman like her.
Even if he was the handsome Wyoming cowboy she loved.
Dear Reader,
Make way for spring—as well as some room on your reading table for six new Special Edition novels! Our selection for this month’s READERS’ RING—Special Edition’s very own book club—is Playing by the Rules by Beverly Bird. In this innovative, edgy romance, a single mom who is sick and tired of the singles scene makes a deal with a handsome divorced hero—that their relationship will not lead to commitment. But both hero and heroine soon find themselves breaking all those pesky rules and falling head over heels for each other!
Gina Wilkins delights her readers with The Family Plan, in which two ambitious lawyers find unexpected love—and a newfound family—with the help of a young orphaned girl. Reader favorite Nikki Benjamin delivers a poignant reunion romance, Loving Leah, about a compassionate nanny who restores hope to an embittered single dad and his fragile young daughter.
In Call of the West, the last in Myrna Temte’s HEARTS OF WYOMING miniseries, a celebrity writer goes to Wyoming and finds the ranch—and the man—with whom she’d like to spend her life. Now she has to convince the cowboy to give up his ranch—and his heart! In her new cross-line miniseries, THE MOM SQUAD, Marie Ferrarella debuts with A Billionaire and a Baby. Here, a scoop-hungry—and pregnant—reporter goes after a reclusive corporate raider, only to go into labor just as she’s about to get the dirt! Ann Roth tickles our fancy with Reforming Cole, a sexy and emotional tale about a willful heroine who starts a “men’s etiquette” school so that the macho opposite sex can learn how best to treat a lady. Against her better judgment, the teacher falls for the gorgeous bad boy of the class!
I hope you enjoy this month’s lineup and come back for another month of moving stories about life, love and family!
Best,
Karen Taylor Richman
Senior Editor
Call of the West
Myrna Temte
To Cherry Adair, Mary Buckham,
Susan Plunkett and Debra Sims.
You know why, girlfriends.
Many thanks.
MYRNA TEMTE
grew up in Montana and attended college in Wyoming, where she met and married her husband. Marriage didn’t necessarily mean settling down for the Temtes—they have lived in six different states, including Washington, where they currently reside. Moving so much is difficult, the author says, but it is also wonderful stimulation for a writer.
Though always a “readaholic,” Myrna never dreamed of becoming an author. But while spending time at home to care for her first child, she began to seek an outlet from the never-ending duties of housekeeping and child-rearing. She started reading romances and soon became hooked, both as a reader and a writer. Now Myrna appreciates the best of all possible worlds—a loving family and a challenging career that lets her set her own hours and turn her imagination loose.
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
Epilogue
Chapter One
Hope DuMaine was going to drive him nuts.
Gulping a stiff whiskey ditch, Jake McBride jerked his gaze away from the dance floor and forced himself to watch the sun dip behind the mountains. The bride and groom had left on their honeymoon. Half of the wedding guests had gone home. Jake’s official duties as the best man finally were over.
If he had an ounce of sense, he’d get off his duff, go in the house or out to the barn and get away from Hope for a while. But he didn’t move. He obviously didn’t have a lick of sense left.
No, he just sat here like an idiot, an elbow braced on one of fifty round tables he’d rented for the outdoor reception. Why? Because it was too late to save himself. Hope DuMaine couldn’t drive him nuts.
He’d already arrived.
Jake’s younger brothers, Zack and Cal, plunked themselves down beside him. Cal hummed along with the country-and-western band playing in the gazebo. Zack stretched his legs out and turned toward the dancers. In a heartbeat his brothers were doing exactly what Jake had been doing—watching their cousin, Marsh McBride, waltz Hope around the dance floor.
“I’ve been lookin’ at her all day, but I still don’t believe it,” Zack said with a bemused smile.
“No kiddin’.” His smile equally bemused, Cal let out an appreciative sigh, then took a healthy swig from his drink. “Emma said Hope was beautiful under all that wild paint and hair dye, but I never dreamed she’d clean up that good.”
“Jake didn’t either.” Zack grinned and elbowed Cal in the arm. “Hell, Jake, you should’ve let her catch you.”
Jake shrugged as if their teasing didn’t bother him one bit. A reasonable man might expect that, at thirty-eight and thirty-four, his brothers would ease up on the sibling rivalry, but no such luck. In the past two months they—along with the rest of his big, nosy family—had harassed him so much about Hope’s blatant crush on him, ignoring them had become as automatic as breathing.
Good thing he’d had so much practice at hiding his reactions.
Truth was, every time Marsh whirled Hope back into sight, Jake damn near swallowed his tongue. And he wasn’t the only guy doing it. Not by a long shot.
Audacious, flamboyant and unpredictable as a horse on locoweed, Hope DuMaine was something else.
A member of one of Hollywood’s most notable families, she was internationally famous. But not for acting. Oh, no, not her. Leave it to Hope to be even more unconventional than the rest of her relatives.
She’d published her first racy tattletale novel at the age of nineteen. Rocketing straight to the top of the bestseller lists, she’d set the film and publishing industries on their respective ears. Ten years later she was still doing it.