The Parker Sisters: Books 1 - 3 E-Book

Lorhainne Eckhart

• Herausgeber: Lorhainne Eckhart, INC.
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Serie: The Parker Sisters Box Set Collections
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 966

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

Discover the Heart of Love with The Parker Sisters – Books 1-3!

Get swept away by the irresistible charm of small-town Wyoming in this heartwarming box set of The Parker Sisters. Three emotional and passionate tales of romance, courage, and finding true love await as each sister faces the challenges of the heart.

Book 1: Thrill of the Chase
Taz Parker, a strong yet vulnerable EMT, has always put others before herself. But one fateful, stormy night, a roadside accident introduces her to Jerry O’Rourke. Sparks fly, but Jerry’s passing-through town and Taz’s close-knit family might be the biggest hurdles in their whirlwind romance. Will Taz take a leap of faith, or will her fears hold her back from true love?

Book 2: The Dating Game
Ivy Parker’s life as a dedicated nurse hasn’t left much room for romance—until two eligible bachelors shake things up. When a mysterious stranger and a charming doctor both vie for her heart, Ivy must navigate the thrilling world of dating to decide who truly holds the key to her future. Can she follow her instincts to find lasting love, or will she lose in the game of love?

Book 3: Playing Hard to Get
Naomi Parker, a fearless journalist, is determined to make her mark by investigating a powerful and enigmatic man. But as secrets unravel and emotions ignite, she discovers he’s not the villain she once thought. Torn between duty and desire, Naomi must decide if she’s willing to risk everything—her heart and her career—for the man she was meant to expose.

Fall in love with The Parker Sisters as they face life-changing moments, test the limits of their hearts, and discover that love is worth every risk. Three captivating love stories. One unforgettable journey.

Get your box set today and dive into the passion, drama, and heart-stopping romance!

Leseprobe

The Parker Sisters COPYRIGHT © Lorhainne Ekelund, 2017, All Rights Reserved

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

Contact Information: [email protected]

ISBN: 978-1-928085-52-2

The Parker Sisters: The Complete Collection

Lorhainne Eckhart

www.LorhainneEckhart.com

Contents

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The Parker Sisters

Thrill of the Chase

The Dating Game

Play Hard to Get

What We Can’t Have

Go Your Own Way

Please Leave A Review

What’s coming next

A June Wedding, Chapter 1

Other Works Available

Unexpected Consequences

About the Author

Links to Lorhainne Eckhart’s Booklist

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The Parker Sisters

The Parker Sisters, a spinoff of the romance series Married in Montana from a Readers’ Favorite award—winning author and “queen of the family saga” (Aherman)

The Parker Sisters

Thrill of the Chase

The Dating Game

Play Hard to Get

What We Can’t Have

Go Your Own Way

Thrill of the Chase: He stopped for an accident and stumbled upon the one woman he’d been looking for all his life.

The Dating Game: Twenty Six year old Ivy Parker is a Nurse by day, but an unlikely attraction with a mysterious man will turn her world upside down as she finds herself in, The Dating Game.

Playing Hard to Get: Twenty-four-year-old Naomi Parker is interning as a journalist when she stumbles onto a big story about a ruthless man, a destroyer of women. With two objectives in mind, to be the best she can be and to not let him find out who she really is, Naomi sets out to uncover everything Cameron Donnelly has been trying to hide. The only problem is that he might not be everything she believes him to be.

What We Can’t Have: Seventeen year old Mason Parker has been keeping a secret from her family about the boy next door. And after a chance encounter, the timing all wrong, Mason and Justin are faced with a dilemma as considering being together, could end up dividing two families.

Go Your Own Way: Scarlett Parker has big plans for her life which don’t include living the same life as her sisters or having anything to do with her father’s ranch. Until one day she meets a man who is everything she is not. A man who belongs to no one and turns the tables on Scarlett, when she is suddenly the one who is being tamed.

Thrill of the Chase

He stopped for an accident and stumbled upon the one woman he’d been looking for all his life.

From a Readers’ Favorite award-winning author and the “queen of the family saga” (Aherman) comes The Parker Sisters, a new spinoff of the Married in Montana series.

To everyone who doesn’t know her, dependable EMT Taz Parker is strong, capable, and confident. However, everything about her job terrifies her. She lives in a small Wyoming town, with four sisters, an overprotective father, and no dating prospects on the horizon, considering the lack of available men in the area. That is until one rainy night, while transporting a patient to the next town, she stumbles upon an accident.

Jerry O’Rourke is only passing through town when he witnesses a roadside accident. When he stops to help at the grisly scene, there’s only so much he can do, so he flags down a passing ambulance. A pretty EMT stops to help, and Jerry is unable to resist her.

Even though he lives in another state, Jerry seeks out Taz just one more time—but what he encounters is a naive young woman from a big family. Taz is beautiful and innocent, and he wonders where she’s been all his life. When he sets his sights on her, he soon realizes that the strong ties Taz has with her family could make having her far more difficult than he could have ever imagined.

Chapter One

Taz wanted a hot bath, a good book, and a slice of Hoover’s Meat Lover’s Paradise, the specialty pizza at the Dog House. In fact, she could see herself wrapped in her fluffy lavender robe, wool socks on her feet, curled up on the sofa, digging into that first slice, which would comfort her after a lousy day at the station. Her workplace was a run-down double wide, all the town of Kaycee could provide for its EMTs, and her arrogant partner from Buffalo was four years her junior.

Today, she had rushed to a scene only to be turned away by a chauvinistic good ol’ boy who’d rather have died than be rescued by a woman. Taz hadn’t minded the fact that the idiot saw her as a member of the weaker sex or the fact that he’d insisted Bradley Dunlop, a.k.a. her arrogant partner, who was still in training, be the one to administer first aid. It hadn’t been a big deal, even considering the man had had a hatchet sticking out of his back. How he’d managed that feat, she hadn’t a clue.

Even though Bradley looked about twelve and weighed only one twenty, the balding overweight man had insisted he was his guy because, being male, he’d know more about what he was doing. That was laughable, considering Bradley still had to be reminded of some pretty basic rules—for example, that when he stepped out of the ambulance after getting the call, he needed to assess the scene and take a few commonsense steps. Look left, look right, and don’t forget to look up.

She could hear the victim caterwauling and listened to the back and forth as she stood five steps away, that is, after she’d cut down the smoldering tree branch the guy had been sitting under. If Bradley had only looked up and assessed the scene as he was supposed to have done, he’d have seen it was only moments away from falling onto the shirtless idiot, whose fat belly was sticking out over his ripped blue jeans. She took in what she supposed was the barn, or rather a shed with rotted boards, a door hanging from one hinge, and rusty farm implements and piles of black garbage bags scattered everywhere, obviously the source of the rank odor that had hit her as she first stepped out of the rig.

“So how, again, did you get an ax in your back?” Bradley asked. He was on the ground, squatting, wrapping the gushing wound. Blood was pooling on the gauze, and the man was glassy eyed. Taz had to bite her tongue, fighting the urge to correct Bradley. It was a hatchet, not an ax. Big difference.

“I tripped. Goddamn fool woman didn’t put the thing back, and next thing I knew, I had this blade jammed in my back.”

Taz took in Wilma, the wife of the idiot on the ground, who was also standing five feet back. She wasn’t a looker and appeared to be in her fifties, with salt and pepper hair that seemed to give her a bad hair day every day. She was wearing a faded house dress with an apron overtop, her face overly wrinkled, her eyes tired. She crossed her bony arms across her skinny chest. Her lips were thin, and she was shaking her head.

“Hap, you were weaving out here, dragging that thing and throwing it around, drunker than a skunk—”

“Oh, you hush up there, woman,” Hap snapped.

Taz couldn’t figure out why Wilma had stuck around, not that she knew these folks well. They had four grown boys, one doing a nickel of hard time for holding up a liquor store, another having enlisted in the army and been shipped off to some godforsaken country overseas, and the other two having fucked off somewhere. They had obviously been smart enough to realize that sticking around here with parents who took dysfunctional to a whole new level would get them a life in prison, living hand to mouth, or, if they were really lucky, following in their parents’ footsteps.

Taz hoped they’d found a better life as she watched Wilma pull a cigarette and lighter with a shaky hand from a torn pocket of her apron. She slipped it into her mouth, lit it, and took a heavy drag. Taz could hear her lungs scraping, and then she coughed deep and long, waving her hand at Taz when she started toward her. It was always the same with Wilma: the cigarettes, the coughing, the wheezing—and then there was the booze. Wilma just hid it better, but Taz could smell the cheap gin from fifteen feet away.

“Bradley…” Taz said and gestured with her chin to the spilled beer off to one side and what looked like dozens of empties tossed everywhere. “How much you had to drink there, Hap?” she added, wondering how people could live the way they lived.

“I ain’t going to tell you again there, missy. You let this young feller handle things and learn your place. Ouch, be careful!” the man shouted when Bradley bumped the head of the blade. Served him right, she wanted to say, and she was about to say something to Bradley when he stood up, gloves covered in blood, and stepped over to her.

“You think you could give me a hand securing that ax and then loading this guy up?” he snapped, always an asshole, acting as if he were the one who had been wronged.

“Why? What was it Hap said? I’m just a girl. You’re the expert. Pretty sure by your laugh that you agreed with him,” Taz said. She could hear the feline growl in her head. It wasn’t often she stooped to this bitchy level. She ground her teeth, feeling the pinch in her jaw. “You seen the beer cans, the mess. Guarantee by that glassy-eyed look he’s at least three times over the legal limit.”

Bradley said nothing as he stared at her. It was two, three seconds before he turned his head and took in the scene, the one he was supposed to have assessed before stepping from the rig. She knew he’d missed it, considering taking direction from her didn’t sit that well with him. He was young and thought he knew everything, just another asshole who fit in with what seemed to be a way of life out here.

He said nothing as he looked back to her, taking on the pissed-off expression that shouldn’t have bothered her as much as it did. Heavy clouds had started drifting in shortly after they’d pulled in, and the wind was whipping up. The temperature was dropping, too, and she expected rain to spit from the sky any second.

“Hmm,” Bradley said and then gave her his back, walking over to Hap just as the first drop of rain hit the ground. “Grab the stretcher, bring it on out here, and let’s load him up,” he ordered, obviously accepting the promotion Hap had bestowed. In Taz’s mind, this put Bradley somewhere between a shithead and a dung beetle.

Wilma gave her a pathetic look that seemed to say, “Come on, girl. Hurry the fuck up.” Then she lifted her hand to keep the gathering rain from soaking the cigarette still dangling from her lips, an inch of ash ready to fall.

With Hap now loaded in the back, Taz was behind the wheel, leaving Bradley with his newfound friend for the trek to Buffalo, where they would dump this idiot in the ER and get him off their—correction, her hands. She’d done the drive in thirty minutes before, but with the rain now pelting down in buckets, dropping visibility to piss poor, she’d have to tack on at least another ten as she kept the speed to something manageable. Even though the highway was flat and the traffic light, with the sun gone and the heavy clouds, the visibility was about as bad as it could be.

Then she saw something just ahead as she approached a sharp hairpin turn. There in the blind spot in a thick of trees was a car, hazards flashing. Someone was on the side of the road, waving. She gripped the wheel as she pressed the brakes, feeling the water under the wheels just as she rounded the bend. She thought it was a man waving his arms. One car was silver, small, and another was upside down in the ditch, smoke rising. The man waving his arms ran toward the rig. She pressed the brakes harder, slowing to a stop.

“Why are you stopping?” Bradley poked his head into the front.

“Looks like an accident,” she said as she pulled in behind the car, turning her flashing lights on.

“Just radio it in,” he said. “We’re already full up, and Hap needs to get to the ER now.”

“I will call it in, and Hap will see a doctor, but I’m stopping,” she said as she put the rig in park. Then she stepped out, looking up to see that the man was tall, gorgeous, and dripping wet. He ran his hands over his head, sweeping back his dark hair, water running down his face. Taz was already soaked from the two steps it had taken to reach him.

“What happened here?” she asked.

The man was nicely dressed, his shirt soaked through and sticking to his impressive chest, and his tailored pants appeared expensive, designer, name brand. His shirt sleeves were rolled up, with blood on his cuffs.

“Drove up on an accident,” he said. “One guy’s stuck, one pinned underneath—dead, I think. I just called it in.”

“Taz, leave it. Let’s go,” Bradley called out and actually honked the horn, sounding much like a two-year-old instead of a guy who was supposed to help others. He hadn’t even bothered to step out.

She had no patience to deal with idiots any more today, so she ignored him as she took a second to assess the overturned car. The man looked back to the rig, most likely looking for the idiot who wouldn’t get out and help. There was water on the road, still poor visibility, and she saw what she thought was smoke or maybe steam rising from the crash site.

Then the guy touched her arm and said, “Come on. I need some help.” As she started behind the guy, sliding into the ditch, he grabbed her arm. “Watch your footing,” he said. “It’s slippery.”

She heard tires squeal as her ambulance, the one she was responsible for, pulled away.

“Bradley, you fucking idiot!” she yelled out. Then, when she hit a patch of mud, she lost her footing and tumbled down, hitting the good Samaritan and knocking his feet from under him. They both tumbled down the embankment, and he landed right on top of her.

Chapter Two

It was a horrible scene, and one Jerry O’Rourke thought he’d never clear from his mind. The dead guy was pinned under the rundown import, its rear wheel still spinning. Everything about the situation was surreal, including the fact that he was now on the ground on top of the paramedic with dark hair and deep blue eyes. She had landed face first in the mud, and he pushed off her back and then slipped onto his ass. The once attractive lady lifted her face, gasping for air.

“I told you to watch your step,” Jerry said. He couldn’t believe any of this was really happening, especially that the ambulance was now speeding away. What kind of place was this? He was on his feet now, wiping the mud from his hands and his ruined Alfred Sung pants. His dress shoes too would need a heavy cleaning, as he could feel the wet muck squishing between his toes.

The paramedic was on her knees, wiping the mud from her face, which only smeared it more. Then she slid down the rest of the way to the car and squatted down. “You call for help?” she asked without looking back as she reached in. Then she said something to the guy hanging upside down, still belted in.

Jerry made his way down the bank and leaned over her, the rain still coming down in sheets. He was past feeling the chill, which had penetrated skin deep. He needed a towel—or better, a hot shower and coffee. Still, he wondered if even that would warm him. His suit jacket was in the backseat, but he wasn’t interested in ruining that as well. Was he going to have to call 911 again?

“I called it in just before you got here,” he said. “That’s why you’re here, right? So why did your partner take off, seriously?” He still couldn’t believe the sight of the guy yelling out the window as he climbed behind the wheel of the ambulance before flicking on the siren, lights still flashing, and speeding away. Jerry couldn’t hear the siren anymore now.

“Not us,” she said. “We were coming from another scene and had a guy in back who needed to get to a hospital.”

Then he caught it: The sound, although faint, was a siren in the distance. “That must be them, then. How is he?”

The guy in the car was quiet now. Before, he had been carrying on, his arms hanging, blood dripping. The paramedic pressed her fingers to his neck. She was concentrating through the mud and the rain that was washing it away in streaks, her hair dripping over the collar of her blue coat. “Weak pulse,” she said. “Sir, can you hear me? Can you tell me where it hurts?” When the guy moaned and said nothing, she leaned in and looked around. “You said there was someone else?”

Yeah, there had been, and Jerry wasn’t too keen to recall the image. “Other side, pinned under, not moving. Pretty sure he’s dead.”

It was the unseeing eyes, the way they looked up at the sky and there was nothing in them—the stillness, the fact he hadn’t been able to find a pulse. Creepy and unsettling.

She tapped the car as she went to stand and moved around the other side. He followed, hearing the sirens coming closer. He should go up to the road, but he also didn’t want to leave this lady even though he was pretty sure she may have seen and handled worse.

Her hands were on the man’s face, and she closed his eyes. She was squatting down beside him. His body below the shoulders was pinned underneath the car. “You’re right,” she said. “Dead, probably thrown.” She was looking into the car, bending over at the waist. “Not wearing a seatbelt, from the looks of things. Stupid idiot,” she muttered.

He could see the lights coming now, the blare of the siren louder. Just as she leaned in the vehicle again, there was a grinding sound of metal that had him reaching for her hips, pulling her back as the car slid. He linked his arms around her waist and lifted her, taking a giant step and moving her out of the way, his feet sliding in the mud. He landed with her on the ground just as there was another crash and bang. The car had slid into a boulder, and here he was with this young woman, his arms linked around her waist, holding her on the ground as the rain pelted down. The ambulance and rescue vehicle pulled up. A rock was jabbing into his hip.

“Well, you can let go of me now,” the woman snapped, pushing against his groin with her soft rounded ass as she got onto her knees. Whatever zinged between them in that moment was electric, but the look on her face was furious as she stared at him and wiped her hair back. Then she lifted her hand toward the arriving ambulance.

“Got one pinned in the car!” she said. “Need help getting him out.”

She was still talking as she made her way back up the hill, and he rolled to his side in the mud, the rain hitting his face as he squinted and looked up in the dark at the lights, the emergency vehicles and workers making their way down the hill.

He had thought it was a good idea to drive home from Billings to Denver after a meeting with a firm he was interested in buying as an addition to O’Rourke Security. The drive should have been relaxing, giving him the time he needed to plan out his next steps, but instead he’d almost been run off the road as those good ol’ boys blew past him. They had tossed a beer can out the window, tunes cranked, before losing control and flipping twice, then landing in the ditch. And here Jerry was in the middle of nowhere, freezing, soaked, muddy, and angry. One of the men was dead, and the other was barely alive, and all he could think as he sat in the mud was What a waste.

Chapter Three

“Taz, I know you’re angry. We’ve heard Bradley’s side too, and he may have jumped the gun, but you were both right and both wrong, so we’ve decided it would be best to just let things go. He was understandably concerned for the patient, who’d lost a distressing amount of blood, was in shock, and…”

Taz pulled the phone away from her ear, staring at the receiver, hearing Clarice, her boss, rattle on and on. She was pacing the floor of her small cabin, one of three her father had built for her and each of her sisters on his thirty-acre spread, which was less than fifty feet from the front door of her parents’ house. Clarice headed up the emergency services for Johnson County, and she was someone who never wanted to make waves. Taz was well aware that the “we” she spoke of was most likely the Johnson family, who Bradley was related to, who sat on the council and the fire department and held office in Buffalo, where Bradley was from.

“Clarice, he left me there, pulled away. He’s reckless and has no respect for authority. And, just so we’re clear, Hap’s wound wasn’t life threatening. Nothing major was hit, and he’d been stitched up and loaded with heavy antibiotics…” She stopped talking, as the heavy sigh coming through the phone had her feeling as if she were whining and Clarice had stopped listening. She didn’t have a clue how to get her point across, how to get Clarice to back her and reprimand the idiot she was stuck with. At times, she was sure Clarice was far more interested in fitting into a man’s world than doing what was right.

“You couldn’t have known that for sure,” she replied. “From what I understand from Bradley, the patient wasn’t comfortable with you, and he was forced to step in and run the scene.”

Her throat closed up. That little shit had twisted the entire situation. “That is not what happened, Clarice. That’s not fair. Hap is a good ol’ drunk fucker who hates women—” Again the sigh, so she stopped talking. “Fine, but from now on give Bradley to someone else. I’d just as soon work with one of the volunteer EMTs.”

The volunteers were three overweight balding guys over fifty who weren’t related but looked the same. They were polite, helpful, and always deferred to her, the only paid fulltime female EMT in Kaycee.

“Is this going to become an issue, Taz? Because you know that’s not going to happen. Bradley’s father is…”

Oh my God, here we go again. She pulled the phone away because she knew exactly how Bradley fit into the equation. He was the useless son of Buffalo’s fire chief, and the Johnson family was deeply ingrained in and around Buffalo. Bradley had the attitude and work ethic of a kid who’d never had to work at figuring out what he wanted to do. Everything he did had been handed to him. “I know, Clarice. Thanks for pointing out that Johnson County emergency services is about who you know and not your skill level. I for one will sleep a lot better at night knowing that if I were bleeding out on death’s doorstep and needed emergency help, chances are I would get the loser son who can’t get a job on his own and needs daddy to pull some strings. Got to say, not reassured at all that he’d put any effort into saving my life.”

As soon as it was out of her mouth, she wanted to take it back. That was one of her many faults, the fact that she often spoke before thinking of the consequences. It was one her mother had pointed out time and again would get her into more hot water and trouble than she could ever imagine.

“Taz, I’m going to say this again. Nothing is going to happen, but if you keep pushing this issue, I can tell you that it will be your actions that will be scrutinized. My advice is to let it go. You won’t win this one. I advised Bradley the same, considering his father has called and demanded you be written up.”

Yup, totally ground into the dirt. It would be best to end this, take the night to sulk alone, and try again in the morning, when she’d had a chance to prop up her pride again. “Fine, but this isn’t right, Clarice.”

“Taz, pick your battles. Be smarter about your eagerness to confront authority. And, by the way, how did the guy fare from the car in the ditch?”

That was one more reason for her miserable, cranky mood. “Didn’t make it,” she said. He’d bled out on the way after she and the others at the scene had gotten him out of the overturned wreck. He’d been only nineteen, working at the oilfield, twice over the legal limit. The guy under the truck had been his brother. That was all she’d heard from the fellow EMT who’d shown up at the hospital accompanied by a rough redneck who was the father of the two young men.

“Sorry to hear that,” Clarice said. “So we’re good?”

Taz shook her head and had to force the words from her lips. “Totally,” she said, and then she hung up and put the phone back in the holder.

She unbuttoned her coat, which was still damp and muddy, as she looked around her cozy cabin. The kitchen was small but efficient, the living room was quaint, with a fireplace, and her bedroom was a loft upstairs that overlooked the living area. There was a sharp knock on the door just before it opened.

No surprise that it was her mother, Susan, who was still quite beautiful, with shoulder-length salt and pepper hair and blue eyes that appeared soft and bright. It amazed her how they stood out so deceptively, making people think she was sweet and timid when she was actually tough as nails, hardworking, and strong willed. She was carrying a plate covered with a dishtowel and wearing her father’s heavy denim coat. “Your father watched you pull in. You okay? You look like you crawled through the mud.” She rested the plate on the small wooden table with two chairs that her father had made.

That was definitely her dad’s way; he worried about all his daughters. Most likely, a wordless look from him had sent her mom over to check on her. That was her role. Taz wanted a shower and a moment, not her mom walking in and questioning her, then reporting back to her dad, who’d probably be outside, wiping out her now muddy truck. Her mother gave her a look.

“Sorry, yes, a bad scene. I fell in the mud. Just need a shower and—” She sniffed the aroma that hit her and had her mouth watering. “Is that your fried chicken?” She lifted the towel and took in the chicken with two biscuits covered in gravy, green beans, and a heap of mashed potatoes. Forget the pizza! Nothing came close to her mother’s fried chicken and biscuits, and no one in this county could make gravy like her mother. She reached for the chicken, but her mother smacked her hand.

“You’re a mess,” Susan said. “Wash up and then you can eat. What happened tonight? I got a call from Dixie, who saw the ambulance pull out of Hap and Wilma’s. You didn’t go in there alone, did you?”

Of course her mother had heard, and of course she was worried. Everyone knew Hap and Wilma weren’t exactly people you could be safe around. Added to that, every time there was a call around Kaycee and she responded, her mother knew the details before she even got home. Just once she’d like her family not to know something about her life, maybe have a secret or two of her own.

“Hap was drunk, as usual. Got a hatchet stuck in his back this time. You know I’m not alone. Got that newbie from Buffalo working with me.” She bit her tongue before she could add how much she hated that prick. As she looked up, she took in the horror on her mother’s face. She waved her hand in the air. “Hap’s fine. Be home tomorrow, I’m sure.”

Her mother was nodding, now rummaging in her fridge and pulling out a carton of milk Taz knew she hadn’t bought. She lifted a glass from the cupboard, and Taz strode to the sink, rolled her grungy sleeves up, turned on the water, and scrubbed her hands using the dish soap. The rain and mud had soaked through everything, and she should just climb in the shower, but the chicken was calling her. She leaned down and splashed water on her face, then scrubbed to get off as much as possible of the dirt she knew was still caked there before shutting off the tap. Her mother held out a towel.

“You know, Mom, I’m a grown woman, and you coming over every night with dinner is thoughtful, but you’re invading my space. And you need to stop filling my fridge with groceries.”

Her mother waved her hand and rested the glass of milk on the table beside the plate, calling to her. Then she moved through Taz’s kitchen, pulled open a drawer, and lifted out a napkin, a fork, and a knife to set the table as Taz dried her face and her hands. “I’m your mother, and it’s what I do,” Susan said. “Besides, if I left it to you, you’d starve. There was nothing in your fridge but two rotting cartons of leftover takeout, some dried cheese, and beer. Come on, sit and eat. Heard your partner left you high and dry on the side of the road, too. Heard that was a bad one.”

What, was her mother psychic? She was about to ask her, and maybe it was her expression that had her mother pulling out a chair and patting it for her to sit.

“Come on, Taz. Sit, eat.”

She did. Her mother sat across from her and handed her the napkin as if she’d forget, and she lifted the plump chicken thigh and took a bite. She groaned, as it tasted even better than it smelled. Some mothers were great cooks, but her mom was exceptional, taking comfort food to an entirely new level. “I would really like to be able to come home just one time without you knowing anything about my day,” she said as she chewed, noting the frown on her mother’s face.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Susan said and then nothing else. Her expression was all mothering, waiting, worried. She hovered at times and butted in, always checking on her daughters.

“It was bad,” Taz finally said. “Two young guys from the other side of Buffalo, drunk and joyriding, flipped in the ditch and both ended up dead.”

And the good Samaritan who had stopped to help… She’d last seen him standing with one of the police officers at the scene, giving a statement, as she climbed in the back of the ambulance with the other paramedic, trying her best to keep the young man alive. She found herself wondering now who the guy was. Someone not from around here, and most likely he was long gone.

“Bradley left me at the side of the road. Nothing will happen to him, either. Just got off the phone with Clarice before you showed up. What is it, Mama, with these young useless guys who can’t figure out how to stand on their own two feet? They also refuse to take direction from a woman, so they take great joy in grinding her into the dirt. I complained, and now I’m the one getting my hand slapped.”

Her mother was sitting across from her and folded her hands together, shaking her head. “Taz, I’ve talked to you before about being smart, told you that trying to take on some white boy with connections is just plain foolish. There are times when you do something, and times when you be smarter. This is one of those times where you need to be smart and know your place. Don’t you remember what I taught you? Take a minute or a day, and don’t let your crazy anger show. Hold your tongue, keep it together. Don’t fall apart, or cry and scream, or lose your temper and go off all half cocked, pointing figures about who’s right and who’s done what. Instead, you need to keep it together, and when it’s really tough and you feel ground down as if it can’t get any worse, don’t let anyone see how they’ve beaten you down. Just paste a smile on your face. It sounds to me as if you just got a reaction to your anger.”

Her mother lifted her hand to stop Taz when she took a breath as if to begin to set the record straight. “It’s got nothing to do with you being right and them being wrong and everything to do with you knowing your place,” she said. “There’s nothing fair in this world, and the difference between those with everything and those with nothing is how they play the game. I’m not talking about them being better than you. It’s that nobody wants to have a woman flipping out, acting all crazy and yelling and furious and righteous, even if she is right. They won’t hear you. Men and especially other women will label you crazy and problematic. You want to fix the problem, you need to be the sharp one. Use your head, Taz. Be smarter, and remember men will always see you as just a pretty face first, no matter what, so use that to your advantage and calmly find a way to fix the situation your way, the right way. Then be on your way before they figure out that you just turned the tables on them.”

Her mother winked and rested her hand on the table as a quiet smile touched her lips. “Finish your dinner, get in the shower, and then get some rest.” She stood up and started to the door. “Oh, and I’ll tell your father you’ll stop in and see him in the morning. Have coffee with him before he heads out. He’s picked up more work at the oilfield, machinery repair, so at least let him see for himself you’re okay so he can focus on work and not worry about you.” Her hand was on the door.

Taz knew what her mother was saying. Not a day went by that her father didn’t worry that one of his daughters would slip away like Brandyne, their eldest sister, whom they’d lost sixteen years earlier to a rodeo cowboy just passing through. Even though they’d since reconnected with her and her new husband, living in Montana, that was a grief she never wanted to see on her parents’ faces ever again.

She sighed, knowing her fate was sealed. “I will, Mama, first thing,” she said, realizing she’d die here on this spread with her four sisters, single and alone. She’d never find herself a man.

Chapter Four

Jerry pulled open the door to Jimmy’s Café, a diner at the edge of Kaycee with a large sign on the roof. For a small town, the place seemed crowded, and it took him a moment as he pulled his shades from his face to spot an empty stool at the counter. He’d get coffee and eggs and then hit the road. That was the plan. He smiled at a passing waitress, a short, plump older woman with a bad dye job and a wide gap between her front teeth.

“Want a table, honey?” she asked him as she lifted a menu from the stack and walked behind the counter to set it down.

“Nope, here’s fine,” he said.

She reached for a coffee pot and mug and set it in front of him, then started pouring before he could confirm he wanted coffee. “Cream and sugar is right here.” She reached for a bowl of sweetener packages and creamer and slid those in front of him. “Just passing through?” She was chewing gum and had dimples and a spark in her eyes. Deanna was the name pinned to her pink polyester chest.

“I am, Deanna. What’s good here?”

“Just about everything. The morning special is chicken fried steak with two buttermilk biscuits and Jimmy’s special sausage gravy. It’s spicy and has a kick, but we can tone it down if you don’t like the heat.” She winked, and it took him a second to realize she was flirting with him. He was stuck on the idea of the fat in that meal, thinking of the heart attack that would come with something likely floating in grease.

“How about just eggs, two, poached, with whole wheat toast?” He slid the menu to the waitress, who tsked and was staring as if he’d asked for the unthinkable.

“Sure that’s all you want, honey?” She seemed disappointed, but then, he noticed a fair amount of thick bellies among the patrons in the diner.

“It’s enough. Thank you kindly,” he added, taking a look at the creamer, which had nothing in it, but the waitress was now gone. He spotted another container beside the lady on his right. The big guy on his left had a heavy beard and was deep into his stacked platter of flapjacks, pouring more syrup overtop. “Could you pass the cream?” he asked the woman—and then took in the startling blue eyes and the face he’d never forget. “Hey, I know you, from yesterday at the accident.”

She was beautiful minus the muddy drowned rat look. She reached for the small metal pitcher and set it in front of him. Not a smile, nothing. She held her coffee, then mopped up gravy with a biscuit and chewed.

“So the gravy’s good here?” he asked.

She wiped her hands and slid her plate away. “The best,” she said. “That’s it for me, Deanna. Can I get the bill?”

The plump waitress stopped in front of her. “Honey, told you before your money ain’t any good here. It’s on the house. You saving Ricky the way you did, you’re a hero,” she said, smiling. “Take care now. Say hello to your mama and daddy for me.”

The woman stood up, pulling two bills from her pocket to set on the counter. She wore dark blue pants and a shirt, a uniform, but he couldn’t help taking in her trim figure and imagining the curves hidden under it. Her hair was dark, with natural waves, just past her shoulders. She was ignoring him.

“So did he make it?” he asked, wondering about the guy in the car. Freddy, he remembered the name. The guy had pleaded with Jerry to get him out, but that had been right after the accident happened, before the paramedics had arrived, when he’d still been talking.

She stilled, and her expression was haunted when her gaze flicked to him. He wondered, by the look, what she’d seen. Her lips firmed, and she shook her head. “No, he didn’t. We tried, but his injuries were far too severe. It’s a waste for someone that young.” She seemed to hesitate and was about to say something else, but instead she lifted her hand to the waitress. Her attention was gone again, and she gave him her back. Of course his gaze drifted to her ass. It was perfection, and he was suddenly walking right behind her and out the door. She turned startled eyes to him. “I, uh…” She was rattled.

“Listen, I never got your name, and considering the circumstances we met under, I figured it would be nice to know who you are.”

She had the most expressive face he’d ever seen. “Taz,” she said and held out her hand.

He took it and squeezed. It was small, soft. “Taz, pleasure to meet you. Jerry O’Rourke. Would you like to have dinner with me?”

Her mouth opened, and her breath caught as if she was surprised or shocked. He held her hand, looking again at the ring finger. “Or am I overstepping? Is there a special someone already in your life?”

She pulled her hand away and her expression changed again, no longer rattled. “There’s plenty of someones in my life.” She still hadn’t answered him, and he wondered for a minute whether she’d turn and leave or tell him to get lost. Maybe she was married and didn’t wear a ring, or maybe she had a lover or boyfriend she spent her evenings with? Whatever it was, he couldn’t pinpoint exactly where he stood.

“Dinner is all I’m asking, tonight,” he said. “Unless you’re seeing someone,” he added again a little more forcefully. In fact, his car was packed, and he needed to get back on the road and home to Denver.

“I work until seven,” she said and then nothing else. Single, taken? No idea.

“Great. Why don’t I pick you up at seven and take you…” Take her where, to the diner?

A smile touched her lips, her round cheeks rosy. “How about I meet you here, say seven thirty?”

“Dinner at seven thirty. See you then, Taz,” he said, and he watched as the woman he knew nothing about yet hopped into a deep green pickup and backed out. Only when she began to drive away did she turn her head to the side and look at him, and Jerry knew from that face, that look, and the energy zinging between them that there was something about this girl he had to know more about. If he explained it to anyone, they’d have said he was crazy.

Chapter Five

Her day hadn’t exactly gone as planned. She’d spent one half of it in Buffalo doing paperwork and the last half playing solitaire in the rundown EMT trailer at the edge of Kaycee. She hadn’t said a word to Bradley other than “Hey there,” but she’d had to listen to him bouncing a small rubber ball against the wall over and over, then talking dirty with who she presumed was his girlfriend, all while she prayed for any type of call to come in and save her. Even a stubbed toe would have been welcome.

There were days when everything happened and days she was bored to tears. Those were the days she should have enjoyed, should have looked forward to, but she didn’t. She loved the days she was neck deep in trauma, in an accident scene, where a split-second decision, wrong or right, would be what stood between life and death for the victim. It was those days that had her adrenaline pumping, her excitement soaring, and those days that Taz knew she was doing what she loved to do. But not today. Today had been one of the longest, most boring, most painful days in her career. To escape the dark, hateful energy she knew Bradley was shooting her way, she’d stooped to scrubbing the trailer from top to bottom, even removing the coffee stains from the burner of the pot, which had been caked on for ages.

As soon as the clock hit seven, Taz was out the door of the trailer and home to shower and change into a soft blue cowlneck sweater and new blue jeans. She added a pair of hoops, a hint of shadow, and was out the door before her mother could reach her.

“Where you off to?” Susan asked as she emerged from the house, holding another plate.

Taz could smell the meatloaf, another dish of her mother’s that no one could top. “I have plans. Sorry, Mom. Smells good, though.” She started down her steps, noting her mother’s narrowed gaze.

“Plans with who?”

With a gorgeous guy she’d met at the side of a road in a rainstorm, trying to save the life of a young man. “Just meeting someone for dinner, is all. No one you know.” She took another step, wearing the black boots with a slight heel that she’d bought on a whim a year ago but had never worn.

“Is this a guy or a girl kind of friend, because you look rather dressed up?” Her mom was still holding the towel-covered plate, her other hand on her hip, wearing faded baggy jeans and one of her older striped shirts.

Taz glanced over to the house, seeing her dad on the front porch. He’d lit his pipe, as she could see smoke. He lifted his hand to her, making her feel as if she were sixteen and needed their permission to go out. It was ridiculous. “Mom, I’m a grown woman, twenty-eight years old, and you’re grilling me as if I’m a teenager. I have a job…”

“Taz Parker, how old you are doesn’t make you any less our daughter. It’s called being respectful and courteous and not adding any unnecessary worry. If you’re going out, we’d like to know just so we’re not wondering if you’re hurt somewhere or something has happened to you. I don’t understand why you wouldn’t want to tell me. Are you going out to the bar? If that’s the case, I don’t want you drinking and driving.”

She wanted to roll her eyes. She should have expected this, knowing it was easier to give her mother something than to be coy. She looked at her watch: seven twenty. She needed to go.

“I’m going to the diner for dinner. You don’t know them. I promise I won’t be late. I really have to go.” She wondered as she started walking whether her mother was going to grill her more. She reached for the handle of the truck door and pulled it open as her mother stepped down, lifting her hand in a wave, and she wondered about the expression on her face, whether it was sadness or concern. At the same time, the ties binding her here to this place, this property, and her family were beginning to choke her.

She was five minutes late as she pulled up to the diner. She parked in front and wondered whether he’d still be there. She stood in the doorway and saw Peggy, one of the waitresses, who was tall, slim, dark haired, and in her late thirties, also single and still looking. Taz nodded to her, taking in the half-filled diner, and then she spotted him, Jerry, at a booth at a window halfway down. He stood up and waved to her, looking tall and classy, his white dress shirt unbuttoned at the collar, his sleeves rolled up. She couldn’t help staring at his chest as she walked toward him. He was not only good looking and fit, clean shaven, with dark hair and full lips, but his eyes had butterflies flitting in her stomach. They were green and bold and held something that scared her a lot.

“Was wondering whether you changed your mind,” he said. Add in his great smile and she had to remind herself to breathe. She reached out, and he touched her hand again in a strong, confident handshake. He looked down at her. At the same time, he seemed to be taking in the room. She wondered what that was about.

“Sorry, just took longer than expected with work,” she said and slid down onto the brown vinyl bench. He was across from her, and there was already a menu on the table in front of her. She pasted a smile to her lips and opened it, at a lack of what to say to the man across from her. “Did you order?”

“No, what’s good here?” he asked and smiled again. Good Lord, he had nice teeth too.

“Everything, almost, except the meatloaf and fried chicken—or maybe I’m just partial to my mama’s.” What was she doing, bringing up her family? She dropped her gaze to the menu and looked up when Peggy approached.

“Hey there, Taz. Well, who is this?” Right to it, of course. Peggy’s gaze was one of appreciation. Taz could feel her fingers tightening around the menu.

“This is Jerry. Jerry, Peggy—the waitress,” she added, her voice sounding rough. But then, she didn’t like feeling this jealousy for a man she didn’t even know. There it was again, Peggy giving him a wide flirty smile.

“Cute. You’re not from around here. Why, we’ll just have to keep you here, considering eligible men around these parts are as scarce as white buffalo.”

He wasn’t smiling as he took in Peggy, and Taz could feel him staring her way now as if he didn’t have a clue how to respond.

“You know what, Peggy?” she said. “I think I’ll have a lemonade.” This was so awkward.

“Do you have beer?” He flipped over the menu, and Taz stared over to him as Peggy tapped her notepad.

“Sorry, we’re not licensed, just a family place. We’ve got soda pop, juice, lemonade, coffee, tea…” She was going on, and Taz wondered whether Jerry was regretting asking her out to dinner.

“Coffee it is,” he said, leaning back, his arm lifted over the back of the bench as Peggy hurried away. “So, Taz, you have family here?”

“Yeah, mother and father and five sisters—well, four who live here. My older sister, Brandyne, lives out in Montana with her sheriff husband.” Why she’d added that part, she didn’t know. “So tell me about yourself, Jerry. You were just passing through?”

“I am passing through still,” he said. “On my way home to Denver.”

She nodded and wondered whether he always asked women out in strange places. Was this something he did, and then he’d be in his car on his way, or did he want something? “Denver, never been. So what do you do in Denver, Jerry?” She took in his watch, its simple design, classy and expensive. The way he dressed also said he was well off.

“You could say I have my own business, security. What about you, Taz? You’re a paramedic, saving people. You probably have a lot of stories.”

The waitress brought his coffee and her lemonade.

“Thank you, Peggy,” Taz said.

“Don’t mention it. You all decided what you want to order?”

Of course she didn’t have a clue, even though she knew the menu inside and out. “Any special tonight?” she asked as she glanced over to Jerry, who opened the menu and seemed to take it all in.

“Chicken fried steak with greens, biscuits, and gravy.”

She slid the menu to the side of the table. “Sounds great.”

She wasn’t sure what she saw in Jerry’s expression—humor and something else. “I guess low fat probably isn’t on the menu,” he said. She wasn’t sure what to say, and he lifted his hand as if he were the only one who’d gotten the joke. “I’ll have the steak, rare, with a side of salad.”

Taz watched as Peggy walked away, and Jerry said, “So how do you like being a paramedic?”

What could she say? She loved being needed, helping, and even though she’d never admit it to anyone, she loved the hero worship that came at times from saving a life. “I love it some days, but one day is never the same as the next. It’s not all glory, but I like helping people, making a difference.” Enough about her. What about him, mister mysterious, just passing through? “So what kind of security did you say you do?” There were all types, and he looked as if he didn’t do the easy kind.

“People security. Big names, politicians, those in the public eye or in positions where public scrutiny brings challenges.”

Wow, even more impressive.

“In Denver?” she said. “Wouldn’t have thought there’d be a need there.”

Again he smiled. “There’s always a need everywhere. But again, five sisters, so six of you? That’s an impressive family.”

She shrugged. “I guess. So where’s your family, Denver?”

He was just staring at her. In the green of his eyes was a depth she couldn’t remember having seen before. “No, not here,” he said. “My mother remarried and is living down in Australia. I have a brother in London, and my father is retired in Honolulu. So we all seem to have a piece of the world someplace. What about yours? Other than your one sister in Montana, they all live here?”

What could she say that wouldn’t sound too weird? “Yeah, all of us still live here.” Herself, Ivy, and Naomi each had their own cottage built fifty feet away from their parents’ house, whereas Mason and Scarlett still lived at home. “So, Jerry, where are you staying?”

He tapped his fingers on the table, stirring cream into his coffee. “In the motel at the edge of town, the, uh…”

She could see him thinking. “The Red Dog?” It was one of two motels in town and was family owned, family run, and surprisingly nice, as they didn’t take kindly to shenanigans of any kind.

He lifted his spoon and gestured her way. “Yeah, that’s it.” He sipped his coffee. “You didn’t answer me before when I asked if there was a special someone in your life.” The way he was watching her was bordering on intimate and had her squirming a bit in her seat.

“I remember I said there are a lot of special someones in my life.” Now who was being coy? “My family,” she said. “If you’re asking if I’m dating someone, the answer is no, very much single.” She held up her hand as if to stress the point, which was silly, considering eligible single men didn’t happen around here. “What about you? Wife, girlfriend, significant other?” Did he have children, or was he just looking to sleep around? She was having a hard time believing a guy like him hadn’t been snatched up.

He was shaking his head. “No, wouldn’t be sitting here with you if I had.”

Well, this was becoming even worse, a man of values. This was so not good. There had to be something. “When are you leaving?” she said. She couldn’t help herself. Was this just a night, and she was someone to share a meal with before he moved on? What was this? He wanted fun, or was he just messing with her?

“Well, that depends,” he said, and it sounded so mysterious.

“On what?” She swallowed as he leaned forward, his arms on the table.

“On you.”

Chapter Six

He’d spooked her, and he still couldn’t believe he’d said what he had. It had taken him all of two minutes to pick up something different about Taz after she’d slid into the booth. She may have a job that took her into harm’s way and into life or death situations, he was sure, but there was also an innocence about her that he hadn’t picked up on until he’d said it. The fact was that he didn’t know why he had. Staying for her? She could have been taking it all manner of ways, and none of them good, which was probably why she’d become so quiet and had rushed off to the restroom.

“All finished here?” said the waitress, Peggy, who’d been far from shy with her flirting. She lifted his empty plate and Taz’s half-eaten gravy-sodden dinner.

“Ah, yeah.” He reached for his wallet as she rested the check on the tabletop, and he noticed Taz walking out of the restroom. He pulled out his credit card but then saw the amount and decided to pay cash instead.

Taz sat down and lifted her glass to down the rest of the lemonade.

“So what do you say about a drink?” he said. “Is there like a lounge or a bar or someplace to get a beer?” He didn’t want the night to end, and he wanted a chance to redeem himself.

“There’s the Toad’s Hole. They also serve great burgers, but then, we ate,” she said.

He could see her getting ready to leave. She pulled keys from her pocket—a woman with no purse. Then she lifted her hand to Peggy with a smile as Peggy took the money Jerry held out.

“Keep the change,” he added before following Taz to the door and outside into the night. Kaycee wasn’t crazy busy like the city, but there was still traffic going up and down the road. She stopped then on the sidewalk, a polite smile pasted to her lips as she looked up at him.

“Jerry, thank you for dinner, but I’m thinking it would be best if I just went on home.”

There it was, the awkwardness.

“Taz, please, just one drink, a beer,” he said, and she glanced across the road as if thinking.

“Jerry, I don’t know what kind of girl you think I am…”

He reached out and touched her shoulder a second before pulling his hand back. “That’s the thing, Taz. It’s not like that,” he said, feeling as if he were stumbling blind along a path, which was something he never did. He was determined, organized, planned, and anticipated problems before they happened, yet here he was, screwing things up royally with a girl he’d completely misread.