A shadow fell over them, and they looked up to find Slater standing there. His dark gaze lit up as he noticed the black smeared on them. His grin was also as wide as the state the Texas. “Hey, you two noticed you’re sitting in a pool of oil?”
“You have an uncanny grasp for the obvious,” Jared said, and threw a handful of the black mud at his friend.
“Shoot, I know that.” Slater winked at Annie and held out a hand to help to her up. “Looks like I’m going to have to find me another wife, too.”
“Looks like.” Jared stood and tucked Annie possessively into his side. “This one’s taken.”
Pandemonium broke loose then. Laughing and hollering, the crew gathered around, slapping each other on the back in their excitement. Annie gasped as one of the men pulled her from Jared’s arms and hugged her. Every other crew member quickly followed suit, and she found herself in half a dozen pairs of arms before she came back to Jared.
She hadn’t even time to catch her breath before he took her hand and dragged her up to the platform.
“What are you—”
He kissed her. A long deep kiss that left her trembling. When he pulled away and looked down at her, she saw the love in his eyes.
“This would have meant nothing without you. The rig, the oil, even this land.” He made a wide sweep with his hand. “None of it would have mattered if you weren’t here with me.”
The raw emotion in Jared’s voice brought tears to Annie’s eyes. A breeze blew wisps of hair across her face, but she hardly noticed. “I am here, Jared. I always will be.”
He crushed her tightly to him, whispering her name as he buried his lips in her hair. “I love you, Annie Bailey. More than you can possibly imagine.”
He turned her in his arms and pulled her against his chest, holding her close as they stared out at the stark West Texas land called Stone Creek.
Smiling, she laid her head back against Jared’s chest and felt the steady beat of his heart. She’d come home at last. This time to stay.
* * * * *
Look for TEXAS PRIDE, Jessica’s story, the final book in Barbara McCauley’s HEARTS OF STONE trilogy.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-8681-8
Texas Temptation
Copyright © 1995 by Barbara Joel
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
www.Harlequin.com
Texas Temptation Page 16