by Jennie Marts
He was so tall and good-looking, he took her breath away.
“Bre?” He took a step toward her, confusion in his eyes. “What are you doing here? Is everything okay on the farm? Is it the horses?”
She shook her head, struggling to swallow, trying to find the words to say. “No, it’s not the farm. The horses are fine. I just talked to my brother, and he told me the truth. The truth about what happened that night.”
“He did?” He narrowed his eyes.
“Yeah, he did. He came up to your room and found me crying because I’d just read your letter. I found it in your Bible, and I know I shouldn’t have read it, but I did, and I was crying, and he must have felt bad, because he told me the whole story.”
“Wait. You read my letter?”
“Yes, but that doesn’t matter. I mean, it matters, it was beautiful, and I loved it, but what matters is that he told me the truth. That he’d been driving the car, and that you took the blame for the accident, and that my dad bullied you into leaving me.”
Trip shook his head. “Slow down, woman. You’re talking so fast, and I’m trying to keep up here. I still can’t believe he told you the truth. Not even an hour ago, he made me swear to never tell you. And for the record, your dad didn’t bully me—he just made me see the sense of what was best for you.”
“He didn’t know what was best for me. And you leaving me like that was nowhere in the category of anything that was good for me. You two decided what was best for me without even consulting me.”
“You’re right. I was a kid. A stupid kid. I never should have left you.”
“None of that matters now. We can’t change the past.” She took a step closer, her heart pounding in her chest. “But we can change the future, and that’s why I came to find you”—she paused and took a deep breath—“to tell you that I still love you, and I’m willing to fight for a future with you.”
A grin tugged at the corners of his lips. “You are, huh?”
“Yes, I am. I’ve spent too many years of my life without you, and now that you’re back, I don’t want to let you go ever again.” She pointed to the envelope in his hands, the decision coming to her in that instant, and knew it was how she really felt. “I don’t care about being in Montana. I can be a vet anywhere, and I can move my practice to Wyoming. I don’t care, as long as I’m with you.”
His smile faltered, and his brows knitted together in surprise. “You would do that? Move your practice to Wyoming? For me?”
“No, not for you. For us.”
“Well, you don’t have to.”
She froze, her heart stopping in her chest. She was a fool.
It didn’t matter what she said. He didn’t want her anyway.
“Oh,” she said softly, her gaze falling to the ground.
He stepped closer, taking her chin in his hands and tipping her face up toward his. “Bre, you don’t have to move your practice to Wyoming because I’m not going to be there. I’m staying in Montana. I’m staying here.”
“What? You’re staying?”
“Yeah, that’s why I came in to see my realtor. I told him I’d changed my mind on the land in Wyoming, and he found me something here. It’s a farm about twenty minutes outside of Saddle Creek, and only about ten minutes from your vet clinic.” He passed her the envelope. “See for yourself.”
She took the envelope but didn’t open it, too stunned to move. “You already changed your mind about Wyoming and decided to stay? Why?”
“Because I want a future with you as well. And I wanted to prove to you that you were worth fighting for. And that I was willing to stay.” He slipped his arms around her waist. “I wanted you to know that I was willing to give up everything to be with you. That nothing else matters to me. Except you.”
She couldn’t believe it. He was staying. He’d already made plans to stay. Even before she knew the truth, before she drove like a bat out of hell to find him, before she’d told him she wanted him back. He’d already decided to stay.
She pressed her lips to his, kissed him for all she was worth, pouring all of the lost years and heartbreak of missing him into that kiss.
He pulled her against him, matching the intensity of the kiss with a passion of his own. Then he pulled back and looked into her eyes. “Did I hear you say something about you coming to find me to tell me that you love me?”
She grinned, feeling her smile cover her face as joy filled her soul. “Yeah, that’s what I said. I love you, Trip Turner.”
“I love you, too. I’ve loved you since I was sixteen years old, and I’ve never met another woman that has ever had a chance at owning my heart. Because it has always belonged to you.”
He nodded to the envelope that she still clutched in her hand. “I picked this place with us in mind, hoping that one day it would be our home. Knowing that I would do everything in my power to win you back. It’s got a big farmhouse on it and a barn where I can build a woodshop and plenty of room for our five kids to run around. All it needs now is for you to say yes that you want to build a life there. With me.”
“Yes,” she told him, unable to control the huge smile on her face. “Yes. A hundred times yes.” Her smile faltered. “Wait, did you say five kids?”
“Five is negotiable.” He laughed and kissed her again. A kiss filled with promise and hope. And new beginnings.
A kiss that went straight to her soul, his love winding through her as it worked to knit together the pieces of her broken heart.
THE END…
…and just the beginning
If you loved this story, or other stories about hot cowboys, cute cops, or hunky hockey players who fall in love with spunky heroines that bake cupcakes, ride horses, and have been known to play a mean game of strip foosball— then click HERE to find more of Jennie Marts’ western romances, mysteries, and romantic comedies!
Jennie Marts writes books filled with love, laughter, and always a happily ever after!
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Books by Jennie Marts, USA TODAY Bestselling Author
The Page Turners series (Romantic Comedy/Cozy Mystery)
Another Saturday Night and I Ain’t Got No Body
Easy Like Sunday Mourning
Just Another Maniac Monday
Tangled Up In Tuesday
A Cowboy For Christmas
A Halloween Hookup
The Bannister Brothers Books (Romantic comedy/Sports Romance)
Icing On The Date
Worth The Shot
Skirting The Ice
The Hearts of Montana series (Western Romance)
Tucked Away
Hidden Away
Stolen Away
Cotton Creek Romances (Romantic comedy)
Romancing The Ranger
Hooked On Love
Catching The Cowgirl – coming Summer 2017
If you enjoy funny, heartwarming Western Romance with a touch of mystery-
be sure to check out the Hearts of Montana trilogy.
Keep reading for an excerpt to Tucked Away - Book 1 in the Hearts of Montana series:
City girl, Charlie Ryan inherits a farm in small town Montana and when she gets there, she discovers a lonely teenager girl, a goat named Clyde, a super cute cowboy, and a place she can finally call home.
TUCKED AWAY
Chapter One
A bead of sweat trickled down her back as she stared into the cold brown eyes of her captor. A gold ring pierced his nostril. He snorted, his breath forming a circle of condensation on the window. She laid on the horn again, hoping this time to scare the beast away. He stood there, unfazed, staring at her and swatting flies away with his tail.
“Nice bull.” Keeping her voice low, she pulled on the handle and gently pushed open the car door a
fraction of an inch. The huge black bull, roughly the size of a small pickup truck, pawed at the ground, then put his head down and rammed the side of her bright red rental car.
She let loose a scream of terror and frustration. The car held all of her worldly possessions, packed in a few liquor store boxes and a couple of Louis Vuitton suitcases, her last shred of dignity tucked into one of the side pockets.
Charlie Ryan had spent the last hour trapped in a car that reeked of stale French fries, her silk blouse clinging to her damp back, desperately rethinking her decision to drink that large iced tea. Why had she ignored the sign reading Last services for 200 miles? Who knew that meant gasoline? She thought it meant cell service, and her phone had died hours ago as she’d crossed the never-ending flats of the Midwest, driving toward her new home and the promise of a fresh start.
Nothing was going as planned. Her dreams, once as bright as the pristine Montana sky, had faded like the paint on the large red barn standing sentinel over the Tucker farm. But this was too much. She’d had enough bull in her life, and she was getting out of this car.
Groaning, she looked around in desperation for a way out. An old two-story farmhouse sat at the end of a dusty driveway. The front door, and her means of escape, a mere twenty feet away.
She pulled her black designer pump from her foot and beat it against the window. Its ineffectiveness against her captor equaled its poor choice as driving footwear, evidenced by the large red blister forming on her right heel.
She studied the beast. His shiny coat seemed to glisten in the afternoon sun. Horns protruded two feet off either side of his huge, triangular block of a head, and his neck was thick as a tree trunk. She leaned closer to the window and noticed his horns dotted with red bits that looked like blood, but were probably flecks of the paint that used to be on her rental car door. A large scar extended several inches above and below his left eye. The scar, combined with the way he stamped his foot and shook his enormous head at her, told her this bull meant business.
Turning away from the animal, she tried the ignition once more, hoping the tank had been visited by the services fairies and magically filled with gasoline. What little fumes were left in the tank had sputtered out just as she pulled into the driveway and coasted to a stop in front of the house.
She would have to think about that coincidence later, but for now, the car battery still worked, so she depressed the button to roll the window down a few inches. Hot, dry air, smelling of what she assumed was hay, wafted into the car, and the bull, alerted by the sudden movement, slid his tongue up the window, leaving a shiny trail of saliva filled with bits of grass.
Charlie screamed again as his tongue, finding the opening in the glass, snaked into the car, as if searching for the source of the fast food scent. She continued to shriek as she alternately whacked at the huge tongue with her shoe and tried to roll up the window.
Having rid her car of the offensive appendage, she now heard the blessed sound of an engine and turned to see a blue and white pickup pulling into the driveway. She registered a black cowboy hat and dark hair as the truck rumbled past her in a cloud of dust. The window was wide open, the radio blared guitar-picking country music, and a tan, muscled arm rested against the faded blue paint.
The truck pulled to a stop in front of her car, and she sighed with relief. How low had her life sunk that her hero had just arrived in an ancient pickup sporting a decal silhouette of a naked woman wearing high heels and holding a shotgun, an NRA emblem, and a bumper sticker that read Git Er Done?
Click HERE to keep reading Tucked Away.
About the Author
Jennie Marts is the USA TODAY Best-selling author of award-winning books filled with love, laughter, and always a happily ever after. Readers call her books “laugh out loud” funny and the “perfect mix of romance, humor, and steam.” Fic Central claimed one of her books was “the most fun I’ve had reading in years.”
She is living her own happily ever after in the mountains of Colorado with her husband, two sons, two dogs, and a parakeet that loves to tweet to the oldies. She’s addicted to Diet Coke, adores Cheetos, and believes you can’t have too many books, shoes, or friends.
Her books include the contemporary western romance Hearts of Montana series, the romantic comedy/cozy mysteries of The Page Turners series, the hunky hockey-playing men in the Bannister Brothers Books, and the small-town romantic comedies in the Lovestruck series of Cotton Creek Romances.
Jennie loves to hear from readers. Follow her on Facebook at Jennie Marts Books, or Twitter at @JennieMarts. Visit her at www.jenniemarts.com to signup for her newsletter to keep up with the latest news on sales and new releases.
**If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review!**
And thanks for reading!
Acknowledgements
My thanks always goes out first to my husband, Todd, for standing beside me, for making me laugh, for walking this crazy journey of life with me, and for loving me through it all.
Huge thanks to my sprinting sisters, Beth Rhodes and Cindy Skaggs. Your accountability and support is invaluable!
Special thanks to Kristin Miller, Susan Hatler, and Ginger Scott for helping me plot this one during a two in the morning plotting session in a crazy and fun week of RT!
My thanks and credit for this fantastic gorgeous cover goes to Kim Killion and the team at The Killion Group.
Thanks to my editor, Arran McNicol, at Editing720, for your editing talents and for squeezing in my edits at the last minute.
For my fellow Heartbreakers sisters—thanks so much for your encouragement and support! This project was a fun and crazy ride, and I am so happy to have met all of you. Thank you Hayson Manning for your lovely words of encouragement and friendship. And special shout-out to Michelle Major and Sharla Lovelace, for your friendship and support and for always making me laugh! Love you girls! XO
Copyright © 2015 Jennie Marts
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