One billionaire…one tomboy…one night of magic. Miracle or mirage?
Empire builder Dominic Santorini is surrounded by women angling to share the luxurious life his wealth will buy. Eccentric, colorful tomboy Lexie Grayson encounters a hot guy in a hotter classic car broken down on the side of the road, and an afternoon as his mechanic leads to a scorching night with a man she knows only as Nikos—but when dawn arrives, he’s vanished, never to be seen again.
She buries her heartache in her new job, staging an extravaganza launch for a video game, that will give her a chance to snoop around for clues that the company is responsible for stealing from her best friend. But when she meets her new employer—
He’s an ice-cold version of that magical night’s unforgettable lover.
What kind of man did she fall for on that incredible night? Does he know his company has stolen from her best friend? Why does he act as if they never met? Was the magic they shared only a lie?
He’s as shocked as she is. Was the fairy sprite who touched his heart an illusion as false as the ones she is creating for his gala? Worse, could the woman he can’t forget be behind the leak that’s endangering his company’s survival?
What is truth, and who is real…and is love a luxury neither can afford?
THE TEXAS HEROES SERIES
The Gallaghers of Morning Star
Texas Secrets
Texas Lonely
Texas Bad Boy
The Marshalls
Texas Refuge
Texas Star
Texas Danger
The Gallaghers of Sweetgrass Springs
Texas Roots
Texas Wild
Texas Dreams
Texas Rebel
Texas Blaze
Texas Christmas Bride
The Book Babes of Austin
Texas Ties
Texas Troubles
Texas Together
More Sweetgrass Springs Stories
Texas Hope
Texas Strong
Texas Sweet
Be Mine This Christmas
Texas Charm
Texas Magic
Be My Midnight Kiss
Lone Star Lovers
Texas Heartthrob
Texas Healer
Texas Protector
Texas Deception
Texas Lost
Texas Wanderer
Texas Bodyguard
Texas Rescue
Texas Magic
A Sweetgrass Springs Story
Jean Brashear
Copyright © 2017 Jean Brashear
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Table of Contents
Cover
About Texas Magic
Title Page
Copyright Page
The Families of Sweetgrass Springs
Cast of Characters
Map of Sweetgrass Springs
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
Excerpt from Be My Midnight Kiss
About the Author
Connect With Jean
To see a larger version of the current generations of Sweetgrass Springs founding families, click or tap here
To see a larger version of the current generations of Sweetgrass Springs founding families, click or tap here
SWEETGRASS SPRINGS
Cast of Characters
(titles in parentheses mark a character’s primary story)
THE FOUR FOUNDING FAMILIES:
THE GALLAGHERS (Josiah Gallagher, Sweetgrass Springs founder)
Ruby Gallagher – diner owner and the heart and soul of this struggling small town
James Gallagher – Ruby’s brother and father of twins Jackson and Penny plus Rissa.
Scarlett Ross – Ruby’s granddaughter, New York chef whose deceased mother Georgia never told her they had family in Texas (Texas Roots, Texas Dreams)
Jackson Gallagher – video game tycoon and prodigal son of James who’s been missing for twenty years (Texas Rebel, Texas Christmas Bride)
Penelope Gallagher – Jackson’s twin sister, shark lawyer who left Sweetgrass Springs behind (Texas Blaze, Texas Christmas Bride)
Clarissa Gallagher – youngest child of James and horse whisperer; the only one of James’s children who cares about the ranch (Texas Wild)
THE MCLARENS (Ronald McLaren, Sweetgrass Springs founder)
Gordon McLaren – owner of the Double Bar M Ranch with his son Ian (Texas Hope)
Ian McLaren – Gordon’s son whose mother abandoned him as a child; now runs Double Bar M Ranch. Unofficial mayor of Sweetgrass Springs and its mainstay alongside Ruby (Texas Roots, Texas Dreams)
Sophia McLaren Cavanaugh – the mother Ian has never forgiven for leaving him behind (Texas Hope)
Michael Cavanaugh – Ian’s half-brother by Sophia’s second husband. Neither Michael nor Ian was ever told the other exists (The Book Babes, Texas Hope)
THE PATTONS (Tobias Patton, Sweetgrass Springs founder)
Vernon Patton – deceased, abusive father of Veronica and Theodore (Tank)
Veronica Patton Butler – Jackson Gallagher’s teenage sweetheart left behind when he vanished. She married Jackson’s close friend David Butler. Owner of a flower farm and David’s widow (Texas Rebel, Texas Christmas Bride)
Theodore “Tank” Patton – deputy sheriff and the most reviled man in Sweetgrass Springs (Texas Hope)
THE BUTLERS (Benjamin Butler, Sweetgrass Springs founder)
Raymond Butler – deceased father of David Butler
David Butler – one of the most beloved citizens of Sweetgrass Springs. High school buddies with Jackson Gallagher, Ian McLaren and Randall Mackey. Died leaving his widow Veronica with a son Ben and twins Abby and Beth.
Beth Butler – David’s sister who died in the car accident that caused Jackson Gallagher to be banished
OTHER IMPORTANT SWEETGRASS SPRINGS CHARACTERS:
Randall Mackey, close friend of Ian McLaren, Jackson Gallagher and David Butler. Joined the Navy after high school; became a SEAL. After leaving the service, wound up as a stuntman in Hollywood (Texas Wild)
Bridger Calhoun, former SEAL buddy of Mackey’s, now a firefighter (Texas Blaze, Texas Christmas Bride)
Harley Sykes (wife Melba, a quilter) – one of the coffee group that meets every morning at Ruby’s. One of the town’s most colorful characters.
Raymond Benefield (wife Nita, also a quilter) – one of the coffee group regulars.
Arnie Howard – coffee group regular at Ruby’s who’s been warming Ruby’s bed for many years but can never convince her to marry him
Jeanette Carson – sharp-tongued veteran waitress at Ruby’s. Attended high school a few years behind Ian McLaren, for whom she’s been carrying a torch for years (Texas Charm)
Brenda Jones – skittish teenaged waitress at Ruby’s who just showed up in Sweetgrass one day and
has secrets she keeps (Texas Sweet)
Henry Jansen – busboy turned cook at Ruby’s; young man whose chivalry towards Brenda turns to blushes when noticed (Texas Sweet)
Spike Ridley – tattooed Goth pastry chef with an attitude; her skills are unparalleled, but her motto might as well be “have mixer will travel.”
Walker Roundtree – country music superstar; spars with Jeanette and performs at several Sweetgrass weddings (Texas Charm)
Chapter One
“The food for the launch gala is going to rock your world.”
Lexie Grayson grinned at pastry chef Spike Ridley’s assurance.
Beside her gourmet chef Scarlett McLaren, toddler on her hip, smiled. “Spike never lacks for confidence,” she noted, “But she isn’t wrong. We will do you proud, and we appreciate the business. I know you have a ton of details to manage, but take this one off your plate.”
“Your reputation precedes you.” Both Scarlett and Spike had practiced their craft in some of the finest restaurants in the world. “And having tasted samples today, I’d be a fool to disagree.” Lexie blessed the day that she’d walked into the tattoo parlor in Austin and struck up a conversation with the pierced and tattooed pastry chef. Spike had not only become a friend she valued, but she’d introduced Lexie to this fascinating little town of Sweetgrass Springs. She was still astonished that world-class talents like Scarlett and Spike had chosen to settle there, though less surprised the more she met the residents. The tiny burg surely had the most intriguing cast of characters Lexie had ever met. From movie stars to hot firemen to ranchers to tech geeks, this town that refused to die would keep anyone entertained in perpetuity.
And that was before they heard Harley Sykes’s internet radio station with its trading post three times a week offering everything from baby goats to farm fresh eggs to all the latest gossip around town. She’d taken to listening to it on her phone whenever she had cell coverage.
Scarlett’s little girl Georgia reached out and patted Lexie’s cheek. “Pretty, Mama.”
Lexie turned to mush. “You’re the pretty one, sweetheart.” With curly black hair, blue eyes and a dimple in one cheek, the child was a striking blend of her beautiful, petite mother and her handsome cowboy father, Ian McLaren.
“Can you tell Lexie thank you?” Scarlett nudged her daughter.
Georgia lifted a coy shoulder and smiled from beneath thick lashes.
“Georgia?”
“Tank oo,” the toddler lisped, then buried her head in her mother’s neck.
“Naptime wasn’t quite long enough, but Ian has a horse foaling, so I had to bring her with me.”
“She’s precious,” Lexie responded, for a moment fiercely envious of what she wondered if she’d ever have. “I really appreciate the two of you meeting me on a Sunday afternoon. I’m sorry I had to reschedule, but I’m juggling events like flaming batons lately.”
“Sounds as if you need more help,” Scarlett noted.
“I can’t afford it yet. That’s why I have to pull off this launch for Poseidon Productions’ new video game.” Her event planning business was at an awkward stage. She was getting a few bigger and better events but not enough to justify bringing on someone full-time.
“You’re preaching to the choir,” Scarlett said. “I could write a book about needing more help. Success isn’t without its problems.” She smiled and rocked from one foot to the other, patting her little girl’s back. “I’ll get this one home and down. Safe trip back to Austin.”
“Thank you again.”
Scarlett nodded, her attention already shifting to her child.
“I’ll walk you out,” Spike said.
Lexie and Spike headed for her classic pickup, one she’d restored herself. “Spike, thank you. First you help me find my place, then outdo yourself with pastries and appetizers.” Lexie had lived in Austin for a long time and probably still should for efficiency’s sake, but when Spike had told her about the geodesic dome on ten acres ten miles from Sweetgrass Springs, Lexie hadn’t been able to resist taking a look…then losing her heart. She’d used the last of her grandmother’s bequest to make the down payment.
“We’ll make you proud. As you can tell, Scarlett is a killer chef.”
“And your pastries blow me away. Not only sinfully delicious but so imaginative.”
“It’s what I love.”
“Someday you’ll have to explain how on earth you got from Manhattan to the back of beyond in Texas.”
Spike grinned. “Have stand mixer, will travel, I always thought. I’m rethinking that now.”
“Oh?”
Spike blushed.
Wow. Spike didn’t blush. “There wouldn’t be a man involved, would there?”
Spike shook her head, maybe too quickly. “Didn’t you say you had a lot to do today?”
Lexie’s brows rose. “Okay, now I really wish I didn’t need to go.”
Spike waved her off. “Sweetgrass just…the town has a way of making you question your certainties.”
Lexie couldn’t decide how Spike felt about that. “Spike, if you need a shoulder…”
“It’ll keep. Go on now—the gaming world is waiting to be electrified.”
Lexie left, but not without a note to herself. When this gala is over…
That list was as long as her arm. And growing.
Mentally running through a list of materials she would need and tasks to complete before the most important meeting of her life, Lexie ignored the harsh late afternoon slant of the Texas sun—until she almost ran right into the sweetest ’56 T-bird she’d ever seen. She slammed on her brakes and swerved, muttering under her breath about the fool who would stop such a cherry car at this blind spot on a deserted country road.
A figure straightened from beneath the hood, and the scolding died in her throat.
Dark, wavy hair, slightly long. A striking face, strong and exotic features. Tall and lean, he had broad shoulders straining the fabric of her number-one favorite outfit on a man: a plain white T-shirt tucked into jeans so worn they belonged in someone’s rag bag.
Lexie cleared her throat. “Need some help?”
His voice was deep and slightly accented. “No, thank you. I am going to call someone. I need another set of hands.”
“How about mine?” Midnight black eyes raked her from head to toe with obvious skepticism.
She rolled her eyes, then nodded her head toward her candy-apple red ’67 Chevy pickup. “I restored it myself.”
One eyebrow lifted. “From what condition?”
Drawing closer, she saw that his eyes were actually a brown so deep they looked black, defined by slashing dark brows and thick lashes. His cheekbones could have been carved from stone, his skin a rich olive tone.
Wow. Double wow. Lexie turned away. Tried to focus on his engine. “The body was sound—just needed paint—but everything else had to be replaced.”
He grunted, not yet convinced. “How much do you know about the electrical system?”
“Stand back and I’ll show you.”
The faintest crinkling around his eyes gave her the first hint that he knew how to smile, despite the powerful intensity about him, the sense of a man watchful and always on guard.
Then he frowned. “It will be dark soon. You should not be stopping to help a strange man.”
He sounded like Max. Her best friend lectured her about impulses like this, but Lexie had a different view of the world. It would only become a better place by putting your beliefs in action. She wasn’t foolhardy, but she believed that people were basically good. And not too many criminals lectured you about being foolish.
“Do you plan something terrible?”
“No, but you cannot know that.” He was used to being in charge. The tone of command was unmistakable.
Her overbearing, distant maternal grandfather had given her a long-standing prejudice against powerful men who were sure they knew best, but this man sounded so disgruntled that she couldn’t help
smiling. “Max would love you.”
“Who is Max?”
“My best friend and overactive conscience. He thinks I’m naïve about people.”
“Aren’t you?”
She wasn’t. She’d weathered her own rough seas when her parents had perished in a plane crash, and she’d been caught between a dictatorial, wealthy grandfather who wanted to toss her in an ivy tower prison and her mother’s mom who had battled him for custody and only partially won.
“No. I believe in my instincts about people.” Which were mostly good, except when she gave her college boyfriend too much credit and lost not only her virginity but, for a while, her self-respect.
His frown deepened.
She took another stab, though she wasn’t sure why she was bothering. “Tell me this—did you restore this beauty by yourself?”
His proud smile was all she needed. “Every inch. It took four years.”
She shrugged. “There you have it. I’m perfectly safe.”
“And just how do you figure that?”
She ticked off the reasons on her fingers. “One, you care about building, not destroying. Two, you have a boatload of patience—classic cars require that. Three, you’ve made a serious investment.” She smiled. “You’re not risking anything that might put this baby in someone else’s hands while you’re in jail for years. God knows how they might neglect it.”
He smiled back, teeth blinding white against that olive skin. A marauder’s smile, breath-stealing in its impact, but still, Lexie had a sense that he didn’t do it often. There was something so serious about him, as if he carried a heavy burden.
“The law enforcement community would welcome your unique take on criminal profiling.”
Lexie had to laugh. “So are you going to let me look under the hood of that honey or not?”
“It depends. Are you going to admit that you had help with the heavy lifting?” His gaze swept her body once more. “No offense, but you lack a certain physical strength.”
“You want to see me flex my biceps, but I never do that on a first date.” Lexie tossed her head and slanted him a smile. “Of course I had help lifting. Brains beat brute strength any day.”
Texas Magic Page 1