“With the plans she’s come up with in only a few days,” Chase loped an arm around Grace’s shoulder, “I think she missed her calling and should have been an interior designer.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Grace rolled her eyes. “Hurry up, we don’t have much time before we have to have the guys at the bachelor party and then we need to catch up with Becky and the girls.”
Hannah did her best to keep up with her cousin’s pace, but Grace was way more eager to reach the front steps. “Catherine says you’re going to take over the non-profit after the wedding tomorrow.”
“On Monday we’re going to sit down together and get me up to speed. Once we’ve got the direction properly mapped out, the foundation will be my baby.”
“I recognize the twinkle in that eye.” Ian Farraday, here for the big wedding bash, leaned into his baby sister. “Think Catherine has any idea what she’s getting into?”
“Don’t be silly.” Hannah smacked her brother on the arm. “Determination is an excellent quality in an attorney. Not to mention heading a program like they want, you need someone tough at the head.”
“She’s that all right.” Ian bit back a smile. He loved his cousin, he really did, but as one of the older members of the clan, he had a heap load of memories of a wild and reckless cousin Grace that could make a grown man think twice.
“Truthfully,” Hannah shrugged, “I’m not sure either of them know what they’re getting into.”
“Which is why you’ll be here to help.”
“I sure hope so.” From the first moment the plans to use some of the horse ranch for equine therapy came up, Hannah could barely stop herself from salivating at the possibilities. She loved what she did, but every day more and more people were moving to Dallas and Hannah just wasn’t meant to be a city girl.
Ian came to a stop halfway to the house and pivoted to face his sister. “I thought it was all set. You’ll be the therapy expert.”
“It is. Sort of.”
“Sort of?”
“Well. You know me. I don’t want to count my chickens before they hatch. Already things have changed from the original vision.”
“Yes, but wasn’t that because of your input?”
Hannah shrugged. “Some.”
“And Connor and Catherine took your advice?”
“Yeah.” She couldn’t help but smile. She’d been low man on the totem pole for a long while and it felt really good to have someone give her credit for a job well done. And she was good at what she did. Most of it she credited to a combination of a solid education and caring more than she should, some of it to having been raised her whole life around horses, and another big part to how much she loved what she did.
Ian shifted around toward the porch. The empty porch. “Where did they go?”
“Well, from what I’ve seen with all the cousins I’d guess, Grace and Chase, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.” Grace didn’t even try to hide her laughter.
“Good grief, how did I not catch sooner that their names rhyme?”
“You don’t sing enough.” Closer to the house, Hannah came to a stop. “Wow. They do say love is blind.”
“Grace did say the house was adorable.” Ian tilted his head to one side as if that might improve the view. “I hope they’re not planning on moving in anytime soon.”
“Agreed.” One careful step at a time, Hannah tested each wooden stair on her way to the porch. “This sucker does need work, but I guess I can see some charm. Hidden. Somewhere.”
Shaking his head, Ian nudged his sister through the open door. “Come on, Pollyanna. Let’s find the lovebirds.”
“Over here,” Grace called out from down the hall.
Following the voices, Hannah glanced from room to room. Maybe she could see the potential. Her adventurous cousin Grace had fallen into tranquil normalcy. An important job, a great guy who obviously adored her, and soon the picture of domestic bliss suitable for Architectural Digest. Talk about the brass ring.
“And this,” Grace waved her arm, “is what sold me on the house.”
“Right,” Ian smiled stiffly, “the bathroom.”
Under his breath Chase coaxed his soon to be in-law. “The tub.”
“And the tub,” Ian tossed in quickly. “Great tub. Well done, Cuz.”
“Men.” Grace turned on her heel and, pausing to kiss Chase’s cheek, marched from the room.
Grinning like a lottery winner, Chase shrugged and followed behind her.
Hannah blew out a soft sigh. Every guy she’d ever dated had been nice enough, but never one of those high in the sky firework metaphors applied to her guys. The youngest of her generation of Farradays, she knew she had plenty of time to find the right guy, but all this love-is–in-the-air stuff was starting to make her wonder if anyone would ever make her see stars.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Ian paused on his way to the hall, then doubled back. “You okay, sis?”
“Sure.” She plastered on a bright smile and shook her head. “Just thinking. Holy…” Movement in the window caught her eye. Had her brother not doubled back she would have missed it. Walking to the side, she lifted the glass and peered out. “That’s the dog.”
Ian came up beside her. “You mean dogs.”
“What is taking you two so long?” Grace came back into the room, her hand safely in Chase’s.
Just like Grace had said, first came love, then came marriage. K-I-S-S-I-N-G.
“Oh my God.” Grace ran to the window. “There’s two of them.”
Chase sidled up beside her. “Well I’ll be. That must explain why Finn thought his dog was bigger than ours.”
Ours. The mystery dog was theirs? Hannah didn’t get the whole matchmaking dog thing. Even now it made no sense. Grace had found her mate and Hannah was here with her brother. Figures. All good stories would come to an end before her turn. Then again, what the hell was she thinking? Dogs did not play matchmaker. Life is not a fairytale. And there won’t be any knights in shining armor riding up to sweep her off her feet.
***
Here's a note from Chris:
Thanks for joining Chase and Grace (yeah- they rhyme lol) on a fun ride in Farraday Country. By now many of you have read my explanation of how I love to see Star Ratings. The only catch is that we as authors have no idea what you think of a book if it's not reviewed. And yes, every book in a series needs reviews—LOTS of reviews. Even if a book has been out for a while, a fresh review can breathe new life into the reach of a book, so if you enjoyed reading GRACE, please take a second to let others know what fun it is spending time in Farraday Country. Reading reviews can make an author’s day.
For those of you who have not read a previous book in the Farraday series and have no idea why we authors keep asking you as a reader to take a few minutes to leave even a two word review, here's more explanation of reviews in this crazy business.
Reviews (not just ratings) help authors qualify for advertising opportunities and help other readers make purchasing decisions. Without triple digit reviews, an author may miss out on valuable advertising opportunities. And with only "star ratings" the author has little chance of participating in certain promotions. Which means fewer sales offered to my favorite readers!
Another reason to take a minute and leave a review is that often a few kind words left in a review can make a huge difference to an author and their muse. Recently new to reviewing fans have left a few words after reading a similar letter and they were tonic to tired muse! LOL Seriously. Star ratings simply do not have the same impact to thank or encourage an author when the writing gets tough.
So please consider taking a moment to write even a handful of words. Writing a review only takes a few minutes of your time. It doesn’t have to be a lengthy book report, just a few words expressing what you enjoyed most about the story. Here are a few tips of how to leave a review.
Please continue to rate the books as you read, but take an extra moment and pop over to the review section a
nd leave a few words too!
Most of all - Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed GRACE and come back to visit for the return of cousins Hannah and Ian and Jamison to Tuckers Bluff. All three are available now for preorder! I look forward to hearing from you.
Y'all come back now! (Yeah, I’ve lived in the South a LONG time…)
Chris Keniston
***
Turn the page for an excerpt from HANNAH!
MEET CHRIS
USA Today bestselling author of more than a dozen contemporary novels, including the USA TODAY Bestselling Aloha Series, Chris Keniston lives in suburban Dallas with her husband, two human children, and two canine children. Though she loves her puppies equally, she admits being especially attached to her German Shepherd rescue. After all, even dogs deserve a happily ever after.
More on Chris and her books can be found at www.chriskeniston.com
Follow Chris on Facebook at ChrisKenistonAuthor or on Twitter @ckenistonauthor
Chapter Excerpt - Hannah
There was something to be said for the comfort of plush leather seats in a superior made luxury car. Too bad Dale Johnson couldn’t say the same for the two wheels underneath him. At first, driving out of town, the roar of the engine beneath him and the wind in his face felt insanely good. The sense of freedom had been missing too damn long from his life. The long-forgotten sensations almost made up for the mess he’d gotten himself into. Almost.
Now that he’d been on these never-ending Texas back roads for more hours than he cared to count, he wished he’d bought himself a secondhand car instead of this two-wheeled kickstand that unlike a car, would not require frequent refueling, gas station cameras be damned.
Of course, maybe after a good night sleep on a real mattress, caution will win out again. Then again, he was going to need a lot more than a single night’s sleep to put his life back in order—and his back. According to his calculations and the last road sign he’d seen, he should be arriving in Tuckers Bluff in about another hour or so. What he needed now was to just get off this machine for at least a few minutes and stretch, walk off the numbness taking over the few body parts that didn’t hurt like an SOB. It hadn’t taken long after leaving Dallas to realize he would not be getting away with riding for a few hours straight without stopping. At this point, with every added mile, his back strenuously voted for more rest stops. Too bad he couldn’t plug the heating pad into the engine. Slowing to the side of the road, he came to a stop and gingerly eased his way off the bike. A whole hell of a lot slower than he would have liked, but at least he was moving. Sure beat the alternative.
A swig of cool water went an even longer way to easing the burn in his throat, if not the ache in his back. Careful not to twist, he did his best to stretch the sore muscles and decided walking a few minutes more could only help. Propping one foot up on the nearby fence, he gazed at the horizon laid out before him. It had been one hell of a long time since he’d seen so much of nothing in one place. Focusing on the clear sky as blue as a child’s crayon, he forced himself to think of childhood drawings, the bright blue dress his date wore on prom night—the one he’d worked so hard to talk her out of—and the twinkle in his grandmother’s slate blue eyes while she sang an Irish limerick. Anything not to think of the similarities to the dry, flat and hotter than Hades sandbox.
Some days the Marine Corps seemed so far away, so long ago. Other days, the years spent someplace nobody wanted him to be, certainly not the natives, seemed too close for comfort. Now back in the civilized world—and on occasion he questioned exactly what about modern day urban life constituted civility—hanging onto hope for a better world seemed an awfully damn hard thing to do.
Screwing the cap back on the water, he gave himself a mental kick. Wallowing in his own dang thoughts wasn’t going to make things any better either. Things were what they were. Tucking the bottle back in his backpack, he took one lingering look at the vastness before him. Time to get moving. Swinging his leg over the seat with a little more agility than when he’d climbed off the new motorcycle, he knocked up the kickstand and started the engine.
Spitting bits of roadside dirt and gravel, the tires gripped the asphalt road. Ready to push every single horsepower to its limits, he leaned forward and that sixth sense that more than once had saved his life pushed him to glance quickly across the road. His heart and his motorcycle skidded to a sudden stop.
The last thing he’d expected to see in the middle of Damn Nowhere West Texas was a horse up on its hind legs, front feet kicking, and a petite beauty sliding off its back—crashing hard on the unforgiving dirt. Flashes of heavy hooves with a thousand pounds of momentum coming down on her was all it took for him to spin around and race across the road. Both in the sandbox and the civilized world, he’d had enough of needless death to last him a lifetime. Enough was enough.
***
“Whoa.” Hannah gripped the reins, pulling tightly on the horse. “Whoa girl,” she repeated, but there was no calming the animal down. She knew from the second Starburst's ears twitched that she might be in trouble. The sound of the rider back on his bike, kicking the engine into gear and roaring to life from across the road had put the mare on high—and nervous--alert. It was Hannah’s own fault really. At first when she’d seen the driver stopped in the distance, she taken too long to debate whether to hightail it out of there or go find out if the stranger needed help. Sometimes cell phones didn’t cooperate out here.
In this neck of the woods stranded riders on motorcycles was not the most common thing in the world. On the other hand, strangers passing through did happen, so anything was possible. After all, West Texas wasn’t exactly outer space.
But before she’d had a chance to process moving forward with this new horse, the stranger had seen fit to rev the engine, scaring the living hell out of her mount. If that wasn’t enough he’d done it twice more before taking off like the hounds of hell were on his heels. The overused cliché from one too many romance books fit the situation all too well.
Next thing she knew, Hannah found herself on a very agitated horse. Leaning over the saddle horn, preparing to sweet talk the nervous equine, she’d been caught totally off guard as the mare’s hind legs went up high and landed hard. Hannah might as well of been on a busting bronc at the rodeo. There was no time to shift her weight or soothe the horse. With a quick jerk, the animal’s forelegs came up off the ground one more time. This time, Hannah’s grip broke free of the reins, and staring up at the clear blue sky, she went flying through the air. It all happened so fast, she’d had no time to exhale or mentally prepare. The animal had thrown her as easily as a tempestuous child could throw a rag doll. Only rag dolls didn’t break.
“Miss,” a muddled voice seemed to whisper in her ear. “Don’t move.”
Move? At this point her eyelids seemed too heavy to lift, never mind an arm or leg. Sucking in a slow almost gasping breath, Hannah managed to open one eye and then the other. Sunlight made her want to clamp the lids closed once again, but instead, squinting, she turned her head toward the voice.
“Please try not to move. Does anything hurt?”
“You mean besides breathing?”
Worried eyes twinkled down at her with a hint of amusement. “Yes. Besides breathing.”
She moved her fingers and wiggled her toes. Shifting her arms, she pushed up on her elbows.
“Whoa. I don’t think it’s a good idea to move just yet.”
Well how the heck was she supposed to know if anything hurt if she didn’t move? “I’m pretty sure I just got the wind knocked out of me.” And rubbing her hand to a tender spot behind her ear, she suspected she was going to have one hell of a knot.
“You hit your head, didn’t you?” That serious look of concern took over the stranger’s face again.
“Amongst other things.”
“I’ll give you extra points for a sense of humor. But if you don’t mind, I’d like to check for broken bones.”
She wasn’t
sure if he expected her to agree or argue, but the minor attempt at bobbing her head sent a shooting pain up her neck to the burgeoning knot. “Mm hmm,” she muttered instead.
Strong hands carefully swiped from her shoulders down each arm, and then from hip to ankle. The way he held her foot and tenderly turned it left then right, she had the distinct feeling this was not the first time he’d been in a situation like this. Not that he had made a habit of knocking women off their horses, but she guessed he had some experience in first aid. As a matter fact, the way gentle fingers maneuvered across the bone much like a concert pianist making love to the ivory keys, she wouldn’t be surprised to learn he was actually a doctor.
“Nothing seems broken, but the EMTs will probably want to get you on a backboard before taking you to the hospital.”
EMTs? Did this guy have a clue where they were? Despite his concerns, Hannah pushed herself upright.
“I really wish you wouldn’t do that.” The stranger put his phone to his ear.
“If it’s 911 you’re calling, at this time of day you’re going to get Esther at the station, she’s going to call my cousin Brooks, and he’s going to ask me how do I feel. I’ll tell him fine, just had the wind knocked out of me, and he’ll come over for dinner just to make sure. Or, we could do this the easy way.”
Phone still at his ear, his brows dipped. “How’s that?”
“You let me get up. Let me get on the horse. Then wait for me to ride away before turning that horse-spooking Honda back on.”
“It’s a Harley. I’m sorry about the horse, but I’d still like you to stay put until a professional sees you.”
Now that she was sitting upright and breathing easier, she actually took a moment to look at the leather-clad stranger. Not exactly a suit of armor, though he certainly had a streak of male chivalry suitable for a knight rescuing a damsel in distress. That was, if she were in distress. “I’m fine. If it makes you feel any better I promise to call my cousin myself and let him know what happened as soon as I get home.”
Grace Page 15