Heart’s Desire

When Jesse Landry comes upon a woman swimming naked in his creek, he has every intention of getting better acquainted with the beauty--as long as she's not marriage-minded.

New to the town, Isabel O’Malley is spitting mad at the arrogant cowboy who just happens to be her neighbor. She’d like nothing better than to never see him again.

But there’s something wrong in Triumph. Someone doesn’t want her family to succeed and to survive she'll need the help of the cowboy who didn’t look away. To read an excerpt, click here.

Washington Territory, 1883

She had the pie plate out before she felt the burn. She nearly dropped it on the stovetop before the squeal of pain left her lips.

Within a second he was standing behind her, reaching his arm around to gently grasp her wrist and turn her palm upward for his inspection. The length of his hard chest pressed against her back. She was trapped.

“Let’s run some cold water on that,” he breathed in her ear. She felt a quiver all the way down to her toes, the sting in her fingers all but forgotten. He smelled of leather and sunshine, drowning out the odor of apples and cinnamon.

What was she doing letting him stand so close to her, letting him touch her? She jerked her hand to pull it away but his fingers increased their pressure on her wrist and held it tight. She turned her head round to look at him. Like captured prey her heart began beating at the sight of his face, so close she could see the bronze stubble of the day’s growth of beard on his firm chin and the changing colors of his bruised eye. “Let me go, Mr. Landry.”

“It’s Jesse and I’ll let you go when we get some water over this.”

His free arm came from behind her, ensnaring her as he reached for the lever of the hand pump and began to prime it. Each pump caused him to brush his arm against her, barely rubbing her breast in the process but it was enough for her to experience an uncomfortable though not unpleasant sensation. She could hardly breathe.

He leaned into her from behind as he stretched her hand out over the cool cascading water, still pumping, still brushing against her. She felt his breath on the nape of her neck, his arm stroking her breast, his hand gripping her wrist, his hips pressing against her. She was paralyzed, unable to move, her breath coming fast, her heart beating faster.

“Stop,” she blurted out.

He pulled back, air wafting over where the heat from his body had nearly scorched her. His grip loosened on her wrist and the water stopped. A strong hand rested on her shoulders as he turned her around to face him. Long fingers brushed her hair back with a gentle touch that sent a tingle through to the core of her stomach.

She drew in her breath as she realized how close he still was, standing tall and powerful before her, looking at her with a dare in his eyes. “Just trying to help.” A smile crossed his face. “Does it still hurt?” he asked in a slow drawl as if he was meaning something else entirely than the burn on her fingers.