He opened the door in a courteous manner that made her think chivalry was alive and well in Manhattan.
She glanced over her shoulder, taking in the stunning view one more time. But not through the office window that looked out at the Empire State Building.
It was the fair-haired “cowboy” who’d caught her eye and made her heart skip a beat.
He slid her a smile. “I’ll call you.”
She knew he was talking about the case. But somewhere, deep in her heart, she wondered what it would be like to wait for another kind of call from him.
A personal call.
Still, that was silly. The man probably had a legion of women clamoring for his attention.
And Priscilla wasn’t planning to ride off into the sunset with anyone….
Dear Reader,
No matter what the weather is like, I always feel like March 1st is the beginning of spring. So let’s celebrate that just-around-the-corner thaw with, for starters, another of Christine Rimmer’s beloved BRAVO FAMILY TIES books. In The Bravo Family Way, a secretive Las Vegas mogul decides he “wants” a beautiful preschool owner who’s long left the glittering lights and late nights of Vegas behind. But she hadn’t counted on the charms of Fletcher Bravo. No woman could resist him for long….
Victoria Pade’s The Baby Deal, next up in our FAMILY BUSINESS continuity, features wayward son Jack Hanson finally agreeing to take a meeting with a client—only perhaps he got a little too friendly too fast? She’s pregnant, and he’s…well, he’s not sure what he is, quite frankly. In Judy Duarte’s Call Me Cowboy, a New York City girl is in desperate need of a detective with a working knowledge of Texas to locate the mother she’s never known. Will she find everything she’s looking for, courtesy of T. J. “Cowboy” Whittaker? In She’s the One, Patricia Kay’s conclusion to her CALLIE’S CORNER CAFÉ series, a woman who’s always put her troublesome younger sister’s needs before her own finds herself torn by her attraction to the handsome cop who’s about to place said sister under arrest. Lois Faye Dyer’s new miniseries, THE MCCLOUDS OF MONTANA, which features two feuding families, opens with Luke’s Proposal. In it, the daughter of one family is forced to work together with the son of the other—with very unexpected results! And in A Bachelor at the Wedding by Kate Little, a sophisticated Manhattan tycoon finds himself relying more and more on his Brooklyn-bred assistant (yeah, Brooklyn)—and not just for business.
So enjoy, and come back next month—the undisputed start of spring….
Gail
Call Me Cowboy
Judy Duarte
To my favorite associates at WalMart #2094 in Vista, California:
Valeen Archibald, Lydia Bustos, Donna Camper, Sarah Colwell, Bobbie Hernandez, Judy Pace, Mary Murphy and Norma Rubio. Thanks for your support!
JUDY DUARTE
An avid reader who enjoys a happy ending, Judy Duarte loves to create stories of her own. When she’s not cooped up in her writing cave, she’s spending time with her somewhat enormous, but delightfully close family.
Judy makes her home in California with her personal hero, their youngest son and a cat named Mom. “Sharing a name with the family pet gets a bit confusing,” she admits. “Especially when the cat decides to curl up in a secluded cubbyhole and hide. I’m not sure what the neighbors think when my son walks up and down the street calling for Mom.”
You can write to Judy c/o Silhouette Books, 233 Broadway, Suite 1001, New York, NY 10237. Or you can contact her through her Web site at: www.judyduarte.com.
Dear Reader,
I hope you enjoy reading Call Me Cowboy as much as I did writing it.
In fact, as part of the fun, I’ll be sponsoring a special contest on my Web site during the month of March 2006.
What kind of contest?
Why a chili cook-off, of course!
If you think your favorite recipe can compete with Becky Epperson’s Snake-adillo Chili, enter online at: www.JudyDuarte.com. But since this is a cybercontest, your secret recipe will remain safe and yours alone. All you have to do is enter the name of your special chili.
The winner will be announced on my Web site on April 15, 2006, and will receive a six-month subscription to the Special Edition book club and have a choice of five autographed books from my backlist. There will be prizes for the runners-up, too.
So why not fire up your computer and head over to my Web site now? See you there!
Wishing you romance and a happy-ever-after.
Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Prologue
Cotton Creek, Texas
The stairway creaked, and Priscilla opened her eyes. It was dark, and someone big was carrying her.
“Daddy?”
“Shhh, baby girl. It’s okay. I have you.”
Only the Snoopy night-light lit their way.
“Where are we going?”
He shushed her. “Go back to sleep, honey.”
Priscilla rested her head on her daddy’s chest, nuzzling her cheek against the soft flannel of his shirt, feeling the steady beat of his heart, the familiar buckle in his step as he limped toward the front door.
She yawned.
