And Lacey gave herself up to the man who’d given her the dream, who had seen past the surface down to her most vulnerable self—and loved her anyway.
She shivered as his mouth branded her skin. She’d been so hollowed out. So lost. Now she had so much.
A family, brothers and sister.
A man to love, the man of her dreams.
Then Dev’s magical hands and restless mouth deprived her of thought. Gentleness vanished beneath a warrior’s possession, a sorcerer’s touch. Madness seized them both, fierce in its wonder.
With a sigh of relief, Lacey let go of decorum, cast away polite manners. The princess climbed down the trellis from her prison.
Waiting below was a daredevil knight on a black charger, his green eyes hot with power and passion.
The real Lacey jumped, knowing that Dev would always catch her.
Epilogue
Morning Star, Texas
Two weeks later
From the front of the old country church, Dev watched Lacey walk down the aisle first, Maddie following her as matron of honor at Mitch and Perrie’s wedding.
Lacey caught his eye and winked, and Dev winked back, his heart soaring. He would never get tired of this new Lacey who laughed so freely, who was learning to tease and play. When she slid her tongue across those lush lips while staring straight at him, it was all Dev could do not to stride across the church and grab her right now—and to blazes with anyone who might protest.
Then she reached the front and took her place as Perrie’s bridesmaid, her brothers blocking his view. Dev shifted to the left, to find her still watching him.
She winked again, her eyes full of promise.
Dev grinned.
Then Boone stirred in front of him, and Dev turned his head to watch Maddie come down the aisle. She only had eyes for Boone, a secret smile playing between the two of them. Only last night, they had shared the news that they would be parents in seven months. A new life to heal the pain of the past, the blood of Dalton and Jenny uniting in joy and celebration this time around.
Then Perrie appeared in the doorway, a vision in Jenny Gallagher’s wedding gown, her eyes fixed on Mitch and glowing with love. Davey proudly held her arm, all set to give her away. Mitch went very still, his dark eyes fastened on her and the small blond boy who already called him Dad.
Dev stood as groomsman behind Mitch and Boone, thinking how much life could change. A year ago, he’d never heard of any of the Gallaghers. Now one man and wife had come together from the ashes of tragedy and heartache; after today there would be two couples.
Dev intended to make it three as soon as possible.
Only one shadow remained—Lacey’s relationship with the DeMilles. She would never fully heal until she dealt with them. Dev felt a faint tug of nerves, hoping that his surprise didn’t blow up in his face.
Then the ceremony started, and Dev forced himself to concentrate.
Lacey stroked Davey’s hair at the reception on the lawn of Boone and Maddie’s two-story dream of a house. She’d loved it on sight, this place of her roots. “You were very dignified, Davey. And you look so handsome in your suit.”
The five-year-old grinned, then motioned her to lean down. “I was kinda nervous, Aunt Lacey. Don’t tell anybody, okay?”
Aunt Lacey. She couldn’t get over how wonderful it sounded. “Okay,” Lacey stage-whispered back, hugging him. She couldn’t wait for Christina to meet him. Then he scampered off to find his adored Mitch, and she looked around to see where Dev had gone.
Maddie appeared at her elbow, touching her lightly on the back. Lacey glanced over as Mitch and Perrie walked up to her other side, Davey in tow, and Boone moved toward them across the grass. They arranged themselves around her silently in a protective flank, expectation buzzing through the air.
Then Dev appeared before her, looking serious. She frowned slightly, wondering. He leaned close and murmured, “Do you trust me, sweetheart?”
“Yes, of course. Dev, is something wrong?”
Dev stepped away from in front of her. Lacey saw her parents approaching, looking uncertain in a way she’d never seen them before.
Lacey watched her mother’s eyes fill with tears she’d thought she would never see Margaret DeMille shed. She saw her father, looking much older, study Dev for a long moment.
The silence felt stilted. Awkward.
Her mother spoke up first. “Darling, we’re so sorry. It was misplaced pride that kept us silent. You were ours from the first moment, you were a treasure we never thought to find. We didn’t want anyone to have a claim on you, but we should have told you. You have to know that you’ve been a joy to us for all these years, and if you leave us now—” Her mother choked up.
Charles DeMille took over. Voice slightly hoarse, he looked straight at Lacey. “Princess, what I did to keep you and Devlin apart was because I thought I knew what was best for you.” He cleared his throat. “I told Devlin that he was nothing, that he would never be good enough for my daughter. I was wrong. I know that now.”
He glanced at Dev. “I will have to live with the knowledge of what I did to the Marlowes in the name of keeping a business going. That won’t be easy, but neither will what he has offered be easy for him. He doesn’t want our past battles to tear you apart, so he’s informed us that he is not going to pursue the matter.” Charles shook his head. “The man cares enough for you to give up his chance for justice in order to spare you. If I ever needed proof of how wrong I was about him…”
Her father’s shoulders settled into resignation. “I still intend to do what I can to make it up to his family, but the only price he has asked is that we not make you choose between your two families. He seems to think that you still need us in your life, that you can forgive us.” He paused, then looked at her, bereft of his usual certainty. “Is he right?”
“Oh, Daddy…” Stunned and shaky, Lacey looked up at Dev, leaning into his side, feeling his support and strength. After what her father had done to him, Dev deserved better.
“Lacey, it’s all right,” Dev murmured, his green eyes soft and concerned. “I’ll be all right. You need this.”
It was true—she couldn’t live in this state of armed truce. It was the shadow that hung over all that was so good in her life now.
She looked around her at the new faces she already loved: big-hearted Maddie, strong, gentle Boone, solemn, steady Mitch, sweet Perrie and adorable Davey. They all smiled at her as if giving her their blessing.
She faced her parents and took an uneven breath. “Dev’s right. I don’t want it to be this way. I don’t want to let the past cloud the future anymore.” She swallowed hard. “I love you both very much. If you can accept my new family, I’d like us to start again and build a new future, all together.”
With a cry, her mother reached out. Lacey moved into their arms, hugging them both, feeling peace sweep over her.
Then from the porch of the two-story white house both Dalton and Jenny had loved, Lacey heard a song begin to play. When she realized what it was, she turned back to Dev.
He grinned, and memories of a night she’d never forget washed over her.
“They’re playing our song, sweetheart.” He held out a hand.
She swallowed back tears and went into his arms. “Oh, Dev. What you’ve given me…”
He held her close. She snuggled against him, wanting never to leave. Then he pulled away gently and looked down into her face, stroking her cheek.
“It was a selfish move on my part, getting everyone you love together in one place.” Dev grasped her hand, then dropped to one knee before her. He reached in his pocket and withdrew a small square box. “This comes a lot of years later than it should have, but not too late, I hope.”
Then his eyes grew very serious. “Lacey, will you do me the honor of becoming mine for the rest of my life? Will you build a family with me, starting with Christina?”
Tears flooded her eyes. She glanced quickly around her at all the
dear faces, then she fixed her gaze on the only man she would ever love.
“I never want to be apart from you again, Dev.” She smiled through her tears. “I’d love to marry you. Just say when.”
“Would after this dance be too soon?” Dev grinned, those devil’s green eyes sparkling. “Quick—somebody bring back the minister.”
There was laughter at his teasing, but Lacey saw tears and heard a few sniffs.
Dev rose and slipped the ring on her finger, gazing down into the silvery eyes that had bewitched him so many years ago and always would.
“Dance with me, my love.” He pressed a kiss to the hand that bore his ring. Never taking his gaze from her, lest this dream vanish as had a young man’s dreams so long ago, he swept her onto the dance floor.
Eyes locked on one another, they danced to the strains of the song that described who she was to him, who she’d always been.
His past. His present. His future.
His forever.
My Girl.
~THE END~
There are two more Texas Heroes series (list of titles and excerpts below):
The Marshalls
The Gallaghers of Sweetgrass Springs
Maddie and Boone are major characters also in TEXAS ROOTS and all the Morning Star couples appear in TEXAS DREAMS.
If you enjoyed TEXAS HEROES VOLUME 1, I would be very grateful if you would help others find this book by recommending it to your friends on Goodreads or by writing a review on Amazon. If you would like to be informed when my next release is available, please sign up for my newsletter here.
Thanks!
Jean
Get the entire 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 (upcoming)
Please enjoy the following excerpts…
THE MARSHALLS:
TEXAS REFUGE
(Quinn and Lorie, The Marshalls #1)
Wounded hero Quinn Marshall is haunted after nearly dying in a failed attempt to save his sister. The last thing the former homicide detective wants is another woman to watch over, but someone important to his brother is in trouble, and Quinn’s basic nature is to protect. Soap opera star Lorie Chandler has already lost her husband to an obsessed fan and now her son is the madman’s new target.
While the police hunt the killer, Quinn’s rugged Texas ranch is the ideal hiding place for Lorie and her child. Neither Quinn nor Lorie expects the explosive heat or the powerful emotion that flares to life in his canyon refuge, yet there is no future for them and both are painfully aware that their time together can only be temporary. When the madman finds them, Quinn’s sole focus is on keeping Lorie and the boy he’s come to love safe, even though his success will mean that he will have to give them up to a life where he cannot belong.
Quinn Marshall jolted awake in his seat.
The acrid scent of candle smoke seared his nostrils. He glanced around and remembered he was on a plane. Took a deep breath.
The passenger beside him still slept.
But the flight attendant’s gaze was locked on his.
Had he cried out in his sleep?
“Sir?” she whispered, dark curls falling forward. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.”
“Can I get you something?”
My old life back. “No. Thank you.”
She hesitated. He flattened his gaze and sat still, willing her to give up. What he needed was beyond even her best intentions.
She worried her bottom lip between her teeth, then nodded her head. “Well, let me know if you change your mind.”
“I will.”
After she retreated, he shook his head hard, as if that would dislodge the sense of evil clinging to the curves inside his skull. Why had the dreams started again? First the dark-haired boy, now this. For months after he’d left the force he hadn’t experienced any.
He never wanted another one. After the first one, his sister had been murdered. He’d been too late to save her, nearly died himself.
But now they were back. Who was the little dark-haired boy around whom he felt such danger? Who was the blond woman in the picture?
A blonde…. Like Clarissa.
I don’t want this. It’s useless. I didn’t save her.
Let me be.
To settle himself, he visualized the table rock at the canyon’s edge where he’d found respite. Grounded by earth, the only sound the constant wind sweeping his mind clean of shadows, he could find rest for his troubled mind.
Peace he didn’t deserve.
He felt the change in the engines and stirred, raised his seat back and prepared for the landing. When they touched down and rolled to a stop, he uncoiled his tall frame and rose to grab his carry-on. The flight attendant caught his eye, her expression intimating that this didn’t have to be the end. With regret, he shifted his gaze to stare at the ceiling. She had no clue what she’d be tackling.
“56 West 66th,” he told the cab driver a few minutes later, then settled back into the seat of the taxi, gathering himself for the charade he must act out. He hated to be less than honest with his younger brother, but Josh knew nothing about this crack in the steadiness he’d always counted on from Quinn, how it had swallowed him up, how damned scared Quinn was that the darkness seemed to have become a permanent part of him.
Once they had shared practically everything, the three orphaned siblings, but Clarissa was gone, and Josh had a new life and a bright future. Their one surviving relative, their grandmother’s sister whom they called Tía Consuela, was aging and carried her own burdens.
This was his battle to fight.
Things were looking up for his brother now, and Quinn wasn’t going to screw it up. Josh’s grief over Clarissa had faded in the demands of his new leading role. He’d worked hard for what he’d accomplished, and Quinn wanted him to savor it.
Quinn only wished his brother would leave him alone in the canyons to seek his own peace. But Josh and Tía Consuela had conspired to corner Quinn into paying Josh a visit in New York, and Quinn had run out of excuses.
He hated cities. The years he’d spent as a Houston homicide detective couldn’t be forgotten so easily, but he damn sure tried. Visiting New York brought back too many unwelcome memories of crowded streets. Of danger, of darkness.
“Here we are.” The driver’s voice broke into his thoughts.
Quinn paid the fare and stepped from the cab, looking around him. God, the noise. A pang of longing for the crisp, clean air of the High Plains, the endless stars in the Texas nighttime sky, squeezed his heart.
It was only a few days. He squared his shoulders and entered the building.
…Excerpt from TEXAS REFUGE by Jean Brashear © 2012.
Buy TEXAS REFUGE
Buy book 2 TEXAS STAR
Buy book 3 TEXAS DANGER
* * *
THE GALLAGHERS OF SWEETGRASS SPRINGS:
Nestled in the Texas Hill Country, tiny Sweetgrass Springs was founded by four veterans of the Texas Revolution, and for over a century the town and their ranches grew and prospered. Nowadays, however, too many of the town’s children leave for the big city as soon as they can escape, and Sweetgrass is barely hanging on. The heart and soul of Sweetgrass is Ruby Gallagher, once a scandal for bearing a child out of wedlock and refusing to identify the father. Her daughter vanished from Sweetgrass right after high school, but Ruby, owner of community gathering place Ruby’s Café, remains, keeping vigil, hoping for her daughter’s return. She is fighting to save her ancestors’ legacy, but the town is dying, and it’s breaking Ruby’s heart.
TEXAS ROOTS
(Ian and Scar
lett, The Gallaghers of Sweetgrass Springs #1)
When scandal and an ambitious prosecutor wreck talented chef Scarlett Ross’s life and she learns of a grandmother she never knew she had, she flees the notoriety to pay an anonymous visit to Sweetgrass Springs, Texas, a town kept alive only by her grandmother’s determination and carried on the strong shoulders of sexy Texas cowboy Ian McLaren. There she is surprised to discover a yearning to sink roots deep in the Texas Hill Country—but she is terrified that the secrets she’s hiding will endanger everyone she’s come to love.
What had possessed her mother to keep Sweetgrass Springs a secret for thirty-two years? To tell her that they had no family?
Scarlett Ross pressed the accelerator and tried to think about that mystery instead of the fear that tangled beneath her breastbone: would she be safe there?
She crested the last hill, the tiny town a small diamond of light cushioned in flocked green velvet as the smudged violet of night stole over the Texas Hill Country. January here was far kinder than in New York. While the grass was a flaxen hue and some trees were only bare trunks and branches, many were still green.
The road curved left, right, left again, while Sweetgrass Springs winked in and out of view. Dead tired from the long drive fleeing the wreckage of her life in Manhattan, Scarlett longed for a meal and a bed. Best she’d been able to tell from the limited information available online, however, only the meal would be available in this town of fifteen hundred sixty-seven. The nearest motel was an hour back the way she’d come, but after running full-speed halfway across the country, Scarlett couldn’t bear to wait another night to find out if she, in fact, was not alone in this world, after all.
She had nowhere else to go. Her career was in ruins and the media hounded her every step, screaming for juicy details of her affair with a drug lord. For two years she’d been a meteor on the rise in the only city that mattered…and now she was a star in a tragedy. A farce, except that a cop had died in the raid.
She wasn’t a criminal…but she was criminally stupid, no question. How could she not have seen? How could she have blithely accepted Andre’s assurances that it was his love for her that made him want to showcase her talents in the gem of a restaurant into which she’d put her heart and soul?
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