by Jodi Thomas
This novel is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
TO KISS A TEXAN
A Jove Book / published by arrangement with the author
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1999 by Jodi Koumalats.
Excerpt from To Wed in Texas copyright © 2000 by Jodi Koumalats.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Making or distributing electronic copies of this book constitutes copyright infringement and could subject the infringer to criminal and civil liability.
For information address:
The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
The Penguin Putnam Inc. World Wide Web site address is
http://www.penguinputnam.com
ISBN: 9781101219218
A JOVE BOOK®
Jove Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group,
a division of Penguin Putnam Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
JOVE and the “J” design are trademarks belonging to Penguin Putnam Inc.
Version_2
CONTENTS
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SIX
SEVEN
EIGHT
NINE
TEN
ELEVEN
TWELVE
THIRTEEN
FOURTEEN
FIFTEEN
SIXTEEN
SEVENTEEN
EIGHTEEN
NINETEEN
TWENTY
TWENTY-ONE
TWENTY-TWO
TWENTY-THREE
TWENTY-FOUR
TWENTY-FIVE
TWENTY-SIX
TWENTY-SEVEN
TWENTY-EIGHT
TWENTY-NINE
EPILOGUE
Praise for the national bestselling novels of two-time RITA award–winning author
JODI THOMAS . . .
THE TEXAN’S TOUCH
“The Texan’s Touch is a warmhearted tale of a different sort. Readers will find themselves drawn into Nichole’s dangerous life while falling for Adam, a hero to sigh for. Fans of Ms. Thomas will long remember this book. Readers are in for a treat!”—Rendezvous
“A terrific tale . . . the lead protagonists are a wonderful duo and the support cast add much authenticity to the moving novel . . . A winner.”—Harriet Klausner
“Delightful and memorable characters and a roller-coaster pace help set the stage for Jodi Thomas’s new series. Ms. Thomas has a handle on Texas like few authors, breathing life into the setting, era, and its people. Sit back and enjoy another wonderful read from a true shining star.”—Romantic Times
TWO TEXAS HEARTS
“Do you want a thoroughly delightful book that will warm you? Do you want characters that get under your skin? Two Texas Hearts is the book for you. Ms. Thomas shows her extra-special talent as a first-class author.”—Rendezvous
“Two Texas Hearts is a welcome gift from award-winning author Jodi Thomas. It’s filled with sensitive, sometimes funny, romance.”—Affaire de Coeur
“Jodi Thomas is at her remarkable best in Two Texas Hearts.”—Debbie Macomber
“Jodi Thomas writes with a true love of Texas and her characters. What makes Two Texas Hearts special is the unique twist on the marriage of convenience plot created by her special brand of humor and characters who stay in her heart.”—Romantic Times
“This is a wonderful book, destined for my keeper shelf simply because I felt happy while I read it.”—The Romance Reader
“Two Texas Hearts is a provocative, sensual story of a man and a woman trying to do the best they can in an awkward situation . . . clever and captivating. Author Jodi Thomas offers a tale that keeps you riveted from start to finish. Her characters are the kind of folks you’d want to have in your own family tree.”—Times Record News (Wichita Falls, Texas)
TEXAS LOVE SONG
“Texas Love Song is a warm and touching read full of intrigue and suspense that will keep the reader on the edge of her seat.”—Rendezvous
FOREVER IN TEXAS
“A winner from an author who knows how to make the west tough but tender. Jodi Thomas’s earthy characters, feisty dialogue, and sweet love story will steal your heart.”—Romantic Times
“A great western romance filled with suspense and plenty of action. It is the two tremendous lead characters, especially the pragmatic yet romantic Hannah, who will have the audience forever reading Forever in Texas.”—Affaire de Coeur
TO TAME A TEXAN’S HEART
Winner of the Romance Writers of America
Best Historical Series Romance Award of 1994
“Earthy, vibrant, funny, and poignant . . . a wonderful, colorful love story.”—Romantic Times
“Breathtaking . . . heart-stopping romance and rip-roaring action.”—Affaire de Coeur
THE TEXAN AND THE LADY
“The woman who made Texans tender . . . Jodi Thomas shows us hard-living men with grit and guts, and the determined young women who soften their hearts.”—Pamela Morsi, bestselling author of
Something Shady and Wild Oats
PRAIRIE SONG
“A thoroughly entertaining romance.”—Gothic Journal
THE TENDER TEXAN
Winner of the Romance Writers of America
Best Historical Series Romance Award of 1991
“Excellent . . . Have the tissues ready; this tender story will tug at your heart. Memorable reading.”—Rendezvous
“This marvelous, sensitive, emotional romance is destined to be cherished by readers . . . a spellbinding story . . . filled with the special magic that makes a book a treasure.”—Romantic Times
Turn to the back of this book for a special preview of
TO WED IN TEXAS
Titles by Jodi Thomas
TO KISS A TEXAN
THE TENDER TEXAN
PRAIRIE SONG
THE TEXAN AND THE LADY
TO TAME A TEXAN’S HEART
FOREVER IN TEXAS
TEXAS LOVE SONG
TWO TEXAS HEARTS
THE TEXAN’S TOUCH
This book is dedicated to
Pam Wilson
If bravery were a jewel
you’d be covered in diamonds.
Also, a special thanks to the Mary E. Bivins Library and to all the libraries of Texas.
ONE
1868
Texas during Reconstruction
THE AIR HELD THE HEAVY STILLNESS OF AUGUST, warning of a late summer storm. The kind of storm that leaves a simmering dampness over the land. Weather that reminded Weston McLain of battlefields hot with gunfire and wet with blood and sweat.A thin scar on his left cheek was another reminder. Along with nightmares that still stole his sleep and kept his Colt never far from his grip.
As the sun melted away, Wes rolled his wide shoulders along the rough brick building. His lean form straightened from the shadows of the alley and took a step toward the street. Without crossing into the lamplight, he watched in darkness while the good folks of Denton, Texas, filed into the church across the road. The A-frame building looked peaceful amid a town and state primed to explode.
But tonight, Wes wasn’t concerned about the town, or the state. The explosion would erupt between him and a lovely lady he hadn’t seen in two months. Angela Montago. She’d promised to marry him after a few moonlight kisses, though neither had spo
ken of love. He no longer believed in love anyway. He guessed she saw the marriage as a bargain, just as he did. Wes wanted a family, and she wanted a man as wealthy as her father.
He’d had no chance to tell her about his sudden loss of funds or how he planned to rebuild. The news of his poverty reached her before he could, and now the Montago gates were closed to him. He needed to explain how he would be back on his feet in a matter of weeks. She wouldn’t see him, but he knew he wouldn’t have long to wait, for Angela Montago was predictable.
She would attend church tonight. This time, she’d talk to him. There’d be no servants or family barring the door. If she had ended their plans of marriage after hearing of his loss, she could tell him to his face. He deserved that, at least, if her belief in him was so shallow. He’d never tell her of the map and the fortune in gold waiting for him if she refused to stand beside him now.
Angela and her older sister, Maria, never missed a traveling preacher—though tonight’s bill seemed to belong more in a circus than a revival. Some circuit minister from Austin planned to exhibit a wild woman who’d lived with the Indians so long he claimed even her soul was savage. Wes had no doubt the benediction would ask for prayers and money to save her.
As he waited, a wagon rattled to a stop in the alley just behind him. Rough boards framed a cage in the wagon bed. A tiny creature could be seen between the slats’ shadows. She was almost too small to be a fullgrown woman, huddling in the center with her hands chained to a ring. She wore a filthy, ragged dress several sizes too big. Her mud-colored hair was long and matted wildly about her. Wes couldn’t tell if the smudges he saw along her bare arms were bruises or dirt. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
‘‘Get back!’’ the crusty driver yelled. ‘‘You’ll see her at the service.’’
Wes ignored the warning and leaned toward the cage. There had been hundreds of accounts of kidnapping of settlers and their children. Most of the men and women didn’t survive, but every few months children would be ransomed in trade or brought back by a friendly tribe. Wes had seen more than once, over the three years he’d been in Texas, children who’d grown up Indian and saw their rescue as a kidnapping from their tribe.
The man atop the wagon waved a withered hand and shouted again, ‘‘She’s crazy wild and she’ll kill you without blinking if she gets the chance.’’ The driver lowered his voice when Wes didn’t cower away. ‘‘So step back, mister.’’ His tone grew more conversational. ‘‘I was told to wait here in the alley until time for the meeting to start. Nobody’s s’posed to notice her till then.’’
Wes folded his arms and widened his stance as he glanced toward the street. No one looked in the direction of the alley. Most hurried toward the church.
The driver climbed down and tied the horses to the same railing Wes had used for his own mount. He pulled a bottle from beneath the seat and took a long draw as he eyed the street to see if anyone besides Wes witnessed.
The evening shadows hid his actions from any passerby, but the driver nodded toward Wes before leaning over and taking another drink.
In that glance, Wes met his stare in the moonlight and what he saw chilled the air. The man’s eyes were tombstone gray, void of all kindness. Wes had seen men in the war with hate-fevered eyes and a few with a lust to kill reflected in their stare. But Wes would bet his last twenty-dollar gold piece that this man didn’t hate, he simply didn’t care about anything or anyone in life.
Wes didn’t take his gaze off the girl in the cage as he asked the driver, ‘‘You the preacher talking about her tonight?’’
‘‘Naw.’’The man rested his withered arm against the wagon. ‘‘I’m just hired to get her here. The Rangers who found her gave her over to the reverend I work for parttime. No family would claim her. Can’t say as I blame them. A woman who’s caught like that living out in the wild. . . . She’d be better off dead.’’
He took another drink. ‘‘She fights us like a wildcat when we pull her through the crowds. Preacher’s even tried to beat the devil out of her while a whole congregation watched, but there just ain’t no helping her.’’
He slammed his fist against the slats as if to keep back a wild animal. ‘‘She’s a lot of trouble. I liked it better when the preacher did a traveling magic show. You wouldn’t believe the act he had. He could disappear with you standing right beside him.’’ The driver finished off the bottle. ‘‘ ’Course, it don’t pay like preaching does.’’
The man lifted his empty bottle, then moved onto the boarded walk. ‘‘Get near her at your own risk,’’ he warned. ‘‘I’ll be right back.’’
Wes glanced at the woman huddled like a wounded animal. She might be acting as part of the scam, or she might be insane. Either way, she’d fill the offering baskets.
An open carriage, flanked by well-armed guards, pulled to a stop between Wes and the street lamp. In sharp contrast to the chained creature in the alley’s shadows, a young woman dressed in white stepped from the carriage. She was tall and walked like a queen. Her every movement spoke of breeding and wealth.
For a moment Wes could only stare. Angela was a woman who expected the world to stop and notice her entrance. Individually, none of her features were outstanding, but combined, they created an air about her. He hardly noticed her older sister and mother move from the carriage and flank her like twin generals.
‘‘Evening, Angela.’’ Wes crossed in front of her, guessing she would be angry at him. But his pride wouldn’t allow him to start with an apology. ‘‘I was hoping I’d find you here. We need to talk.’’
She looked straight ahead. One gloved hand pushed back a wayward strand of velvet black hair. Wes had thought she’d be upset about his sudden poverty, but he never thought she’d lose faith in him. All his promises to her would still come true, they’d just take a little longer.
But she wouldn’t look in his direction.She obviously thought her denial of attention would be a punishment worse than death for any man.
Her older sister, Maria, was the only one who faced him. ‘‘She doesn’t wish to speak to you, Weston Mc-Lain, so step aside. You no longer exist in her world.’’
Wes glared past Maria to their mother. ‘‘I need to talk to Angela alone for a moment.’’ He tried to keep the anger from his voice as he turned back to Angela. ‘‘I need to explain.’’ He had to tell this stately woman who had never wanted for anything in her life that he’d lost a fortune and had only himself to offer. He might have barely enough cattle left to feed them through the winter, but they’d make it. They could still start the family he’d planned and, in time, the ranch would grow. ‘‘Nothing’s changed.’’ Surely the strength he saw in her carriage was equaled in her character. She’d given her word and she’d take him as is now without knowing about his plan to be wealthy again in a few weeks.
Maria took a step forward, blocking Wes’s view of the woman he’d hoped to marry. ‘‘You are wrong. Everything has changed, Mr. McLain.’’
‘‘But we—’’
Maria’s anger snapped, sharpening her already angular features. ‘‘You are no longer engaged to my sister. As a former cavalry officer, I assume you will be gentlemen enough not to bother her again.’’
Wes advanced. ‘‘I’ll hear that from her!’’
He was so lost in the hardness of Maria’s words and the coldness of Angela’s stare, he didn’t notice the Montago guards.
The riders were off their mounts and at his side. As he took another step toward Angela, their shoulders closed like a gate, blocking him from passing. He felt the cold press of a gun barrel against his ribs.
Maria smiled as Angela and her mother moved toward the church. ‘‘We have nothing else to say to you tonight—or ever.’’
Wes struggled against the guards. ‘‘But we agreed.She promised we’d be married as soon as I returned. You’ll not stop me—’’
A sudden blow into his midsection ended Wes’s threat.
Moving a step closer, Maria
whispered, ‘‘As a rich man, that scar across your face added character; but poor, Angela cannot stand the sight of you. Do not muddy her world with your presence again, or my father will have you killed.’’
Wes jerked against his bonds.
Another blow slammed into his rib cage.
Maria made a motion with her hand as though sweeping away trash toward the alley.
The Montago guards dragged Wes the few feet into the shadows. He fought wildly, angry more at Angela and life than at the men surrounding him. As others advanced, he downed several before two caught him from behind. While they held him, the others took turns plowing blows into his midsection.
Wes took the pounding without a sound. No one in Denton would help him if he called for aid. No one would go against the Montago family. Most would think he deserved such a beating. After all, he, an outsider, had courted a rich rancher’s daughter. He dared to think he could step into the closed circle of ranchers with only his hard work to stake him.
Finally, a blow knocked him against the cage. He crumbled to the ground.
‘‘Stay away from the Montago ranch, Yank,’’ a Southern voice ordered. ‘‘Or the next time you won’t be treated so kindly.’’
Wes tasted blood and felt along his ribs. ‘‘This isn’t over.’’
The guard laughed and kicked Wes hard, folding him over in the dirt. ‘‘Yes, it is.’’
When Wes raised his head again, they were gone.
With great effort, he wrapped his fingers around one board of the cage and pulled himself up. Fighting not to cry out in pain, he held his side and stood in the darkness,knowing no one could see him from the street.