Kissed by a Cowboy by Lacy Williams Page B

jaw.
    "So what did you figure out?" she
whispered.
    "Well, the financial situation is still a
little sticky," he said. "But mostly, I realized that I was
focusing on the wrong things, like your dad did."
    He brushed a kiss across her temple.
    "And letting the best thing in my life get
away, kind of like my dad did."
    Now he brushed a kiss across her cheek.
    "And I don't want to be like either of
them."
    "You're not—" she started to say.
    And he sure kissed her like he agreed.
    When they broke away minutes later, both
panting and out-of-breath, he noticed the keys dangling from her
hand. "Going somewhere?"
    "I was on my way to Redbud Trails." She
couldn't help the shy smile. "You're not the only one who was being
less-smart than they should be." She looked down briefly but then
back up at him, his overwhelming presence—and his kisses—giving her
courage. "I shouldn't have left without telling you I was in love
with you."
    He lit up from the inside out.
    "And not because of your bank account," she
went on. "Or your farm."
    He lifted his eyebrows.
    "It's definitely because of your niece's ice
cream." She stood on her tiptoes and brushed a kiss against his
lips. "I want a piece of the business."
    He leaned down and kissed her beneath her
jaw. "You already own a piece of it."
    "Hmm." She giggled and tucked her chin down
when his hot breath tickled her neck. "I guess it must be something
else, then."
    She pushed on his shoulders until he was far
enough away that she could see his face. "It's because of who you
are. The man who wouldn't give up on his brother. Who redid the
kitchen to make a little girl's dream come true."
    The quiet joy on his face made the heartfelt
confession easy.
    "Wanna know why I'm in love with you?" he
asked.
    Her heart soared up into her throat, and she
nodded.
    He cupped her jaw in one hand. "Same reason.
Because of who you are. Your quiet spirit and gentle heart that saw
my niece's needs and found a way to meet them. You reached out to
Justin when the rest of the outside world forgot him and gave him
the courage to go on." He swallowed hard. "And you found a way
inside my heart when I thought it was too full of worrying about
everything else." His expression darkened. "I don't know how
everything's going to work out."
    "That's okay. We can figure it out
together."
    "Together." He breathed in deeply. "That
sounds so right."
    And he kissed her again.
     
    THE END

 
    Dear Reader
    Thanks for picking up this INSPY KISSES
novella! I hope you enjoyed it. Please consider leaving a review.
Reviews help other readers find books!
    Don't miss the other
novellas in the first INSPY KISSES collection, available March 15.
If you want to receive an email when the collection releases,
please sign up here: http://eepurl.com/M6d9z .
    You can also keep up with us
on the web at www.inspykisses.com and www.facebook.com/inspykisses .
    Turn the page for a sneak
peak at the First Kisses Collection ...

 
    Excerpt from
Linda Goodnight's The Rambler's Bride
    So that's where she lived-the harlot who had
killed his brother.
    Jericho North shifted in the well-worn saddle
and stared down upon the small ranch spread in the valley below,
his lip curled in loathing for the woman he'd never met. He'd
warned Silas against her, hadn't he? He'd done his best to stop his
brother's foolish decision. And now Silas was as dead as Jericho's
insides.
    Beneath him the paint horse stomped, blowing
nostril smoke into the chill March afternoon as if to question his
master's pause. A swirl of wood smoke rose from the cabin into the
slate gray heavens, the promised warmth a lure. Like the woman had
been to his brother.
    For a hundred miles or more he'd considered
exactly what he'd do when he arrived at Silas's homestead on the
Kansas prairie. He still didn't know if he'd stay. One thing for
certain, the harlot had to go.
    While he squinted, thinking, a red roan horse
came into sight and stopped in front of the log cabin. A woman came
out onto the