Title: Texas Homecoming
Series: Night Riders, #1
Author: Leigh Greenwood
Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 9781492648796
She’s his last
chance to find peace…
Cade,
Captain of the Night Riders, is determined to lead his men home to Texas to
recover from a long and brutal war. But when a fellow Rider betrays the team,
Cade sets aside his hopes for peace and swears he will hunt down the traitor no
matter what it takes…
He has a
foolproof plan to use the feisty Pilar diViere to lure her traitorous brother
out of hiding. And yet when he takes the dark-eyed beauty into his arms, Cade
can’t help but remember the passionate past they shared. He would do anything
for a chance to rekindle that flame…even spare her brother’s life.
The war has changed
them all, and each of the Night Riders must decide what is more important: love
or revenge?
Leigh
Greenwood is the USA Today bestselling author of the popular Seven Brides,
Cowboys, and Night Riders series. The proud father of three grown children,
Leigh resides in Charlotte, North Carolina. He never intended to be a writer,
but he found it hard to ignore the people in his head, and the only way to get
them out was to write. Visit him at www.leigh-greenwood.com.
Buy Links:
EXCERPT
“A woman should
concern herself with her children and keeping her husband happy. Everything
else she should leave to him.”
Without realizing
it, her grandmother had just stated the reasons Pilar wanted to marry Cade
rather than Manuel. “That’s not the way Americans think, and we might as well
take advantage of it.”
“Will he not
insist that you marry him before he drives the squatters out?”
“No. Once an idea
starts to grow in Cade’s head, he can’t wait. I expect he’s already working out
a strategy to take the squatters by surprise.”
“And if he does
not?”
“Then we’ll have
to think of something else.”
There was an
abrupt silence when they rejoined the men. Cade looked so irritated, Pilar
wondered what Earl had said. As usual, Rafe’s expression was inscrutable.
“You ready to set
the day, girl?” Earl asked.
“My granddaughter
is overcome by modesty,” Senora diViere said. “She finds herself unable to do
this thing so quickly.”
“You’re not
backing out, are you?” Earl demanded. “Because if you are—”
“If you’ll let
her talk, I expect you’ll find out,” Cade said.
Pilar threw Cade
a grateful look, then turned away. She couldn’t look him in the eye. She was
about to do something unethical. She prayed he would turn her down.
“I haven’t been
thinking of marriage,” Pilar began.
“That’s a lie,”
Earl said. “You’ve been engaged to a fancy Mexican for I don’t know how long.”
“I don’t think
Manuel wishes to marry me any more than I wish to marry him.”
“I didn’t think
your kind paid any attention to that.”
“Gramps, will you
let her talk?”
“Well, she won’t
get to it.”
“She can’t, with
you interrupting all the time.”
“I could.”
“Not everybody is
as bullheaded as you.”
“I never thought
I’d see the day when you took her side against me.”
“He did when he
insisted she eat at the table,” Rafe pointed out.
“Do you want me
to gag him?” Cade asked Pilar.
“That’ll be more
than you can do,” Earl said, dancing about like he was on a hot stove. “Ain’t
nobody getting the best of Earl Wheeler.”
Pilar couldn’t
help smiling. If Cade could wrestle full-grown steers to the ground, he could
topple the old windbag in a second.
“We need time to
find out if we like each other well enough to live together for the rest of our
lives,” Pilar said.
“You’ve had
several weeks already,” Earl said. “What more do you need?”
“With all the
work he did, I hardly saw Cade,” Pilar pointed out.
“You saw him at
the table every day,” Earl said. “I should think that would be more than
enough.”
“It would for any
wife of yours,” Senora diViere said.
“The idea is too
new for me,” Pilar said, sticking closely to her main point and hoping to head
off a resumption of the battle between their grandparents. “Our families have
been enemies all my life. I’m sure you taught Cade to hate all of us.”
“But I didn’t,”
Cade said.
“You kidnapped
her,” Senora diViere reminded him.
“Just having a
bit of fun,” Cade said. “I’ve never had to force any woman to my bed.”
Pilar felt herself
grow warm. The memory of the kisses they shared had kept her warm for two
nights. The thought of sharing Cade’s bed threatened to scald her.
“I am not
interested in a litany of your conquests,” her grandmother said.
“I didn’t intend
to give it. Now, if everyone will let Pilar finish.”
“I have,
essentially,” Pilar said, pulling her mind from thoughts that made her feel far
too warm. “I don’t think we should make any promises before we can decide how
we feel about each other.”
“But you expect
us to run off those scalawags while you sit around trying to make up your
mind,” Earl said.
Pilar decided
Cade got his cleverness from his grandfather. The man might look old and
feeble, but he didn’t miss a trick.
“I’m not going to
tell you what you should do,” Pilar said.
“But you can’t
wait,” her grandmother said, “or there won’t be any cattle or hacienda for a
dowry.”
“Sounds like
they’re trying to bamboozle us,” Earl said to his grandson.
“Maybe,” Cade
replied, “but I agree Pilar needs time to make her decision.”
“What about the
time you need to
decide?” Earl asked.
“I already know
what I want.”
Pilar felt the
heat rise again. Cade was looking at her in a way that made her feel as if he
were undressing her. That had happened before, but never with a man she wanted
to marry. She could picture herself married to Cade, and that picture caused
every nerve in her body to sing.
Now that the
shock of the proposal had worn off, Pilar experienced a resurgence of the
feelings she’d experienced from time to time during the last few days. Only now
they came at her all at once. And they all said the same thing.
She wanted to
marry Cade.
Not because he
was going to run the squatters off her ranch. Not because he was capable of
turning both ranches into a very successful enterprise. Not because he was
strong and big and handsome. Not because he was kind and thoughtful and treated
her with respect.
Because she
really liked him.
What she didn’t
understand, nor had she anticipated, was the physical attraction she felt for
Cade. One minute she was feeling normal, and the next she felt as though she
would explode from the force of feelings that were at once unfamiliar and
frightening in their intensity. Her limbs started to feel weak, her muscles to
quiver uncontrollably. Her stomach felt queasy.
Could this be the
beginning of love, or was it simply lust?
Pilar didn’t
know, but she did know she didn’t find the sensations enjoyable. If this was
what love was all about, aristocrats were right to avoid affairs of the heart
like a plague. Because that was exactly what it felt like.
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