Kentucky Groom

by Jan Scarbrough

  “How special.” Bitterness tinged his voice.

  She turned a tortured gaze upon him. What if she had hurt him so badly that her words had no effect? After all, Rhett Butler walked away from Scarlet O’Hara. What if Jay deserted her? She’d been a fool, a blind, stupid fool.

  “Jesse said something to me just now that made me see I was wrong.”

  “From the mouths of babes.”

  “Stop it!” Carrie grabbed his arm and shook it. “Listen to me.”

  The clouds that had hidden the full moon parted, and for the first time, Carrie caught a glimpse of Jay’s features lined with weariness. There was grief deep in his heart that transmitted itself through the look he gave her.

  “I’ve been trying to get you to listen to me,” he said.

  “I know and I refused to hear,” Carrie admitted. She took a deep breath. “Jesse made me see that I was masking what was important. My daughter didn’t need a horse and the trappings of her old life to make her happy and secure. She needed me, and then you. Jay, she needed us together as a family.”

  He was slow to reply. Instead, he took a fingertip and pushed a strand of her hair away from her eyes, gently brushing the tears away as well. Carrie hadn’t realized she was crying, but now, with the warmth of his fingers against her skin, she choked back a sob.

  “Oh, Carrie,” Jay said.

  And suddenly she melted into his arms. Her tears now coming childlike, her words wet with emotion. “Jay, if I lost you, I couldn’t go on living. I was so scared in the house when I thought I had really ruined our marriage. What would I do if you weren’t my husband?”

  He smoothed her hair. “What would I do if you weren’t my wife?”

  “We’d be pretty miserable.”

  “Yes.”

  Jay lifted her face, cupping it in his large hands, stroking her cheeks with his thumbs. “Let’s not be angry and closed up again. Promise me.”

  “I promise.” The words were hardly out of her mouth before his lips captured them. His tormented kiss drew her breath away.

  “Tell me you love me.” His harsh whisper contained all his fear and heartache.

  Carrie lifted her hands to his face, her fingers lingering against the corners of his damp eyes. Over his shoulder, the moon showered silver light upon them, throwing his beloved face into shadows.

  “I love you, Jay Preston,” she murmured and offered him a watery smile. “I’ve loved you since you presented your backside to me while you were picking that horse’s hoof.”

  Jay returned her smile. “And I’ve loved you, Carrie Preston, ever since you accused me of shoveling too much horse manure.”

  “Show me,” she said. “Show me how much you love me.”

  Jay climbed to his feet and pulled her up beside him. “It will be my pleasure,” he said.

  Together they walked back to their temporary house. When they got to the door, Jay swept her into his arms, carried her over the threshold and straight to bed.

  The End

  About the Author

  Jan Scarbrough lives in Louisville, Kentucky, along with two dogs and four cats. Dreams do come true! On January 2, 2000, she married Bill, her soul mate. When she’s not writing, Jan takes riding lessons every week on her favorite horse, the American Saddlebred. She also volunteers at The Luci Center, a therapeutic riding center.

  Jan says, “The process of becoming a published author has been fun. My best friends are fellow writers. Who else will check a point plot for me or understand GMC and POV?”

  Jan Scarbrough is a member of Novelists, Inc., Romance Writers of America and the Kentucky Romance Writers, where she served as president, secretary, and newsletter editor. Jan is currently the web mistress of the KYRW chapter’s award-winning web site.

  To learn more about Jan Scarbrough, please visit her at www.janscarbrough.com.

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  Jan Scarbrough’s Bluegrass Reunions Series

  is available at

  Resplendence Publishing

  They thought the boys they loved were out of their lives. They were wrong.

  KENTUCKY COWBOY — She had dumped him in high school because he was a risk-taker.

  “Warmhearted and wonderful... Kentucky Cowboy is a keeper.” — Bestselling Author Joanne Rock

  *Winner of the 2006 PASIC Book of Your Heart Contest, Contemporary Series Romance

  A contender for the world title, professional bull rider Judd Romeo defies death for a living. Now he must deal with the death of his mother by settling her estate. Returning home to Kentucky, he runs smack dab into the arms of his high school sweetheart, a woman he has never forgotten.

  Veterinarian Mandy Sullivan learned early on that risk-takers are trouble. Having custody of her sister’s child, she is working hard to be both mother and father to the abandoned girl, and doesn’t count on trouble showing up next door.

  Mandy discovers she can’t avoid the famous cowboy she’s never quite put out of her mind. When Mandy’s sister comes back threatening to take away the little girl she loves as her own, will Mandy realize Judd is not the same man he was back then?

  KENTUCKY WOMAN — She had loved him when she was a teenager, but they never connected.

  *Winner of the 2007 San Diego RWA’s Spring into Romance Contest

  *Second Place in the 2007 PASIC Book of Your Heart Contest, Contemporary Series Romance

  Years of hard work and schooling have paid off for single mom and ex-jockey Alexis Marsden. She now has a desk job she loves and she’s paying her bills—barely. But she can’t give her son everything he needs, especially a father. When the big brother of her child’s father asks her to marry him, does Alex give up her hard-won independence and settle for an old-fashioned marriage of convenience?

  Workaholic banker Jackson Breckinridge has spent his life meeting the expectations of his parents and protecting his younger brother. When his brother fathers Alex’s child, Jack must protect his parents from the truth and fix his brother’s screw up. Marriage to the childhood playmate he’s loved since his school days is just the right thing to solve his problems. He accepts her terms for a marriage of convenience, but he longs to convert it into a one that’s for real.

  KENTUCKY FLAME — She had his baby, but he left not knowing the truth.

  Horse trainer Jake Hendricks arrives to take charge of Royalty Farm from his one-time mentor. After the main barn goes up in flames, Jake must do everything he can to save the farm that is already under financial pressure from a greedy local real estate developer.

  After gathering the courage to leave an abusive marriage, horse trainer Melody O’Shea returns to Royalty Farm when her father needs her help. Coming home to the famed American Saddlebred farm is bittersweet because it is also the home of her daughter, the secret child she gave up for a private adoption.

  Mel doesn’t count on Jake being there. The man left h
er nine years earlier not knowing she was carrying his baby. Forced to work with Jake to save her daughter’s home and heritage, Mel grapples with the mistakes of her past and her love for a man who once rejected her, but who she never forgot. When danger escalates, Mel’s life is in jeopardy and she must work with Jake to solve the mystery that threatens her safety and the safety of the daughter they both love.

  KENTUCKY BRIDE — She rejected him once, but he’s willing to try again.

  Champion equestrienne Aimee Elliott wants to be in taken seriously. An over-protected only child, she’s tired of being just window dressing. Refusing financial support from her parents, Aimee goes to work for a horse trainer. For the first time, she’s free of her parents’ control. Determined to marry for love, Aimee can never be sure if a man loves her for herself or for her father’s millions. Besides, she’s unsure if she can make it without Daddy’s money.

  Camden Brennan owes the man who adopted him a lot. Now CEO of his father’s heavy equipment company, Cam stands to win a million dollar contract-if he can convince eccentric Ray Elliott to accept his bid. Too worried about the behavior of his only daughter to concentrate on negotiations, the road construction magnate makes it clear to Cam that he’ll show his gratitude to any man who marries his daughter and takes her off his hands.

  Realizing if he captures the hand of the wayward Miss Aimee Elliott, he’ll also capture the biggest deal of his life, Cam sets out to do just that. Trouble is, six years earlier, their summertime fling ended badly. Aimee is the only woman who’s ever rejected him, and the only woman Cam has ever loved.

  Also available from Resplendence Publishing

  Ladies of Legend: Finding Home by Janet Eaves, Magdalena Scott, Maddie James and Jan Scarbrough

  What happens when four writers who love romance get together and create a town, the people who live in it, and the stories of those people’s lives? You get Legend, Tennessee — where four women from different backgrounds find purpose, love and their future in a town intent on preserving its past.

  Ladies of Legend: Finding Home is an anthology including four novellas:

  Claiming the Legend by Janet Eaves... Lilly Peach is running from something so frightening it finally takes a whole town to cover her back.

  Midnight in Legend, TN by Magdalena Scott... Lovely Midnight Shelby finds Legend on the Internet after becoming tired of being one of her now ex-husband’s “beautiful things.”

  Bed, Breakfast, and You by Maddie James... Suzie Schul finds home only when the “fling” she had many months earlier shows up with a plan on her B&B doorstep.

  The Reunion Game by Jan Scarbrough... Plain Jane Smith reunites with her long lost love by playing a game of “bait and switch” with her famous twin sister.

  Beauty and the Beast: A Ladies of Legend Novella by Janet Eaves

  Special Agent Polly Chapman has multiple identities... She is known to many as a savior. To others she is a killing machine. But all who know her, or think they know her, believe her untouchable.

  Until she’s injured.

  Now the man sent to piece her back together when “The Agency” considers her broken has only two choices— Catcher Stevens must fix her, or kill her.

  Harvest Moon: A Ladies of Legend Novella by Janet Eaves

  After her sadistic husband is dead, Winifred Butler believes herself finally free of his horror. But he continues to torment her from the grave as his secrets and lies, treason and terror, bring Agent Tom Green to her door. She is as determined to keep her past a secret as Tom is committed to bringing her secrets to light. Only one of them can win. So both must fight the attraction to the other, knowing they have everything to lose...

  Murder on the Mountain: A Ladies of Legend Novel by Maddie James

  In the two long years since her Tennessee state trooper husband’s murder, Kate Carpenter thinks she’s coped with his death, although everyone in Legend, Tennessee tells her she hasn’t. She can’t see what the problem is, really. She has her parents, and her best friend Patti Jo, and her students. What else could a twenty-nine year old woman want?

  A man, Patti Jo keeps telling her.

  Sent to Kate’s classroom on an investigation, ATF Special Agent Mike Lehmann uses his drug prevention training as his cover. His mission? To find out what Kate knows about her husband’s “death.” Recent reports indicate he is alive and that he faked his death because of his involvement in a drug-running operation. Mike’s task is to expose Carpenter, and if she’s involved, Kate.

  And he’ll stop at nothing to get the answers he seeks.

  The Christmas Gift: A Legendary Christmas Novella by Janet Eaves

  Christina Montgomery dreads another Christmas with the questions about her soldier husband, Johnny, hanging over her and her daughter’s heads. She believes he died with his small sniper squadron a little over two years earlier, even though his was the only body unaccounted for. The Marine Corp has indicated they are leaning towards calling Johnny a defector. There are even a few Legend locals who believe it, too. This is something Christina refuses to consider. Until one snowy evening, two weeks before Christmas, a man looking very much like Johnny arrives at her Tennessee farm with no idea of who he is.

  Stunned, confused, Christina doesn’t know what to do with him. Is this man’s sudden appearance a Christmas miracle? Or is it Christina’s worst nightmare come true?

  Christmas Collision: A Legendary Christmas Novella by Magdalena Scott

  Rebecca Mayfield, the divorce lawyer in New York City, doesn’t believe in happily ever after. Why would she? Her beloved husband and law partner died of a heart attack a couple of years ago, and she spends every day of her lucrative work life ending someone’s marriage.

  Her friend and former client, Midnight Shelby McClain, invites Rebecca to her new “hometown” of Legend, Tennessee for the holiday. Small town Christmas—probably incredibly hokey. But Legend worked some magic in Midnight’s life. What might be there for Rebecca?

  Her rental car slides off the icy road and is stuck in a ditch. She hikes through the dark in the deep snow toward the only light she can see…from a little cabin on the mountain.

  David keeps a vigil each Christmas Eve in a little weekend cabin on the mountain outside Legend. He needs this time alone—away from his high stress life in Knoxville. He does not appreciate the interruption of having to take care of yet another lost soul—no matter how cute and spicy the package it’s wrapped in.

  The power goes off, but the sparks continue to fly between these two strangers… There’s something magical about this cabin. Maybe this is the Christmas to find love—and a new beginning—in Legend, Tennessee.

  Home for the Holidays: A Legendary Christmas Novella by Maddie James

  The last thing Chelly Schul wants is to go home for the holidays. She left her hometown of Legend, Tennessee on a wing and a prayer two years earlier and hasn’t returned. Her leaving humiliated her entire family, particularly her sister Suzie, since she ran off with Suzie’s (almost-ex) husband.

  Legend Police Officer Matt Branson values being alone. Even during the holidays, he enjoys the solitude. Dubbed the town hermit, he tells himself he prefers his “cave” to socializing. His friends say he still pines after that lost love…although he begs to differ.

  All that changes the snowy day he pulls over the older model sedan heading into Legend. His gut slams against his backbone as Chelly rolls down the car window and looks up into his eyes.

  His high-school sweetheart is back in town—the woman who sent him into his cave in the first place.

  Santa’s Kiss: A Legendary Christmas Novella by Jan Scarbrough

  Actress Dawn Smith’s world is crumbling. She’s always lived on the edge, seeking thrills, making herself into someone different. That’s why her success in Hollywood came so easily for a small town girl from Legend, Tennessee. But things have changed. Dawn needs to get away from the bright lights, but it’s Christmastime and that has always meant going home to family. She can�
��t face family this year.

  Clint Roberts, former high school football hero and current car dealership owner, is a popular fixture in Legend. Affable and fun-loving, the bachelor is everyone’s best buddy. Most people know about his infatuation for one-time Legend girl, now superstar Dawn Smith.

  Dawn needs someone to turn to, but she’s rejected her family. When Clint shows up on her doorstep in a snowstorm dressed as Santa bearing gifts and food, she welcomes him. Will their night of lovemaking bring Dawn more heartache or can Clint convince the actress that it’s time for her to come home for good?

  Where Her Heart Is: A Ladies of Legend Novel by Magdalena Scott

  Two years ago, Betsy McClain gave up on her husband and her hometown. She packed up her baby daughter and moved to the City. Now she’s temporarily back in Legend, Tennessee. But when Betsy agreed to this house-sitting job, she didn’t know her favorite room was being renovated, or that her handsome almost-ex-husband was the carpenter.