Book 2 in The Montana Ranch series
Heat Rating - Sweet - 1 Flame
Contemporary Western Romance novella
Blurb
Melody Bennett’s parents trampled on her teenage romance
with a drifter ten years earlier. After he disappeared without a word of
goodbyes on the night they had planned to run away together, she casts aside
her foolish notions of happily ever after and works hard on her family’s ranch.
Max Fortaine returns with a heart guarded by secrets and a
sizable bank account that took blood, prayers, and tears to fund. The cowboy
disrupts Melody’s peaceful life with stolen kisses and a promise for more.
After a lifetime of running, mistakes and regrets, he vows to reclaim the only
woman he’s ever loved…if only her overprotective father didn’t stand in his
way.
Excerpt
“You were eighteen, fresh out of high school. The year we spent together was wonderful, but we were fools to think it would last forever.” Max tunneled his fingers through his short hair. “The only life you knew was what your father wanted you to know. I left because I loved you, and you’ve led a good, safe life without me in it.”
What a crappy excuse. “You stole my choice. Hardships and problems are part of every relationship. I wanted to work through them with you.”
“Please, darlin’, see this from my point-of-view. I didn’t want the woman I planned to marry to hitchhike, to sleep under bridges, or to rely on strangers for her next meal. I didn’t want you to beg or degrade yourself to get by. I would’ve tried to protect you from all that, and I would’ve failed.” He held his arms open as though in a plea for her to understand. “I couldn’t be a failure in your eyes. You probably would’ve headed back home to Willow Creek after a few months or a few years, and I wouldn’t have blamed you if you did.”
He left without a word of goodbye to protect her from the world—a rough, cruel place he had to survive in on his own? She hated and loved him for it. Who knows what would’ve happened back then if he’d explained his fears to her when they were making their plans to run off. She likely would have promised him anything to appease him. At the time, she would’ve meant it. Now, older and wiser, she wouldn’t deny the truth in his words—she might’ve left him. That shamed her, but she never would have deemed him a failure.
She rubbed tears from her cheeks. “Thank you for telling me. That’s actually better than I expected.”
“You thought I never loved you, that I used you, right?”
“Yes.” Her chest throbbed from her pounding heart. “How could I not?”
Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22460410-lightning-over-bennett-ranch
Buy Links
Amazon - http://amzn.to/1oUklll
Buy Links
Amazon - http://amzn.to/1oUklll
Smashwords - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/447623
Barnes and Noble - http://bit.ly/1uHLrTz
Nice in teraction here. What else could she think?
ReplyDeleteExactly!
DeleteWow. Young love. Young, stupid, think-you-know-it-all love. Bad to go through, great to read! ;)
ReplyDeleteSo true!
DeleteHe's right. He probably could have handled it better, but they were both young and foolish. It will be interesting to see what age and mileage will do for their relationship now. :-)
ReplyDeleteYep. Live and learn!
DeleteLove a good romance and this promises to be one.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteHow refreshing to have the star-crossed, reunited lovers actually talking to each other rather than just continuing to react to assumptions and a lack of communication.
ReplyDeleteI find myself wanting to know more of their relationship back when she was 18.
ReplyDelete