Sexy ,Rancher Burke Dawson wants a family- including a wife who
has no expectations of love. Burke never bargained on Annie Douglas. Searching
for a place to belong, Annie Douglas heads to Texas, hoping to discover the one
thing she had never had, love and passion.
Deciding not to act on their attraction, they part ways. Burke
continues to search for a wife, but he realizes that only Annie will do.
Annie heads back to her lonely life in New York City and her controlling
Stepbrother. Annie is thrilled when Burke proposes.
Annie’s Stepbrother tries to stop the wedding, he doesn’t want
her to know about an inheritance she is supposed to receive upon her wedding
day. Failing that, he hires Burke’s caustic ex-wife, Alice to break up
the marriage at any cost. Alice has plans of her own that include her remarriage
to Burke. She just needs to get Annie out of the way.
Misunderstandings, accidents, and treachery cause Annie to
return to New York, shattered. Finding herself pregnant, Annie heads back to
Texas only to hear from Alice that Burke denies that the baby is his.
Discovering Alice’s misdeeds, Burke throws her off the ranch. He
tries his damndest to lasso Annie once again. Nothing seems to work. Making one
last effort, Burke takes Annie for a walk under the Texas stars and gives
her the one thing she wants most- his heart.
Author Bio
A voracious reader, Kathleen quickly discovered the world of romance novels and she knew she was home. Kathleen wrote her first book two years ago. She was shocked to find out that people loved what she wrote. All of Kathleen's novels are award winners. Callie's Heart is her first published novel. It is the first book in The Lasso Springs Series. Kathleen lives in Texas. She moved there from Rochester, New York and is having the time of her life exploring Texas culture. Kathleen is married to her wonderful husband Bruce and they have one son, Steven. They just welcomed new additions to their family, a new daughter in law, Brittany and her cute as a button son, Colt.
She feels blessed to be supported in her writing by her family and friends.
Twitter @kballauthor
Purchase Links:
Excerpt:
Annie felt enchanted. For all the show of not liking
cats, Burke seemed attached to this one. If only he had given her a better
name.
After a delicious dinner of steak, potatoes, and
homemade biscuits, they sat on the porch swing in the front of the house. The
night had cooled pleasantly with a refreshing breeze blowing the prairie grass
back and forth. Long-stalked sunflowers bent and danced to some unknown ballet.
Annie closed her eyes and took it all in. She wanted to make a memory of this
place, of this moment for when she was back in New York. It was going to be
harder to go back to her stark existence after this perfect night. She looked
at Burke’s profile hoping to memorize it too. There was such strength in his
features from his square jaw line to his crooked nose. She wondered if he had
broken it in a fight. His eyes were so blue that she had gotten lost in them
many times throughout the evening. All of Annie’s nerves tingled as her arm
brushed against his. There was no doubt about the attraction they had for each
other.
“Have you always lived on this ranch?”
Burke grinned. “All my life.”
“It must have been nice growing up here with your
family.”
“Well, my mother was a saint of course and my
father… let’s see, how can I describe him without chasing you away? He was a
strict old son of a gun who was about as mule-headed as a man could be. It was
his way or you suffered the consequences. I guess you could say that I was a
slow learner.”
Annie put her hand on his arm. “I grew up basically
the same way. I know all about consequences.”
*
* * *
They sat on the swing in complete silence. The sky
was beginning to darken. Burke put his arm around her, pulling her close. He
could feel her tremble at his touch and it humbled him. He couldn’t remember a
time when a woman had such a reaction to him. The urge to pick her up in his
arms and carry her to his bed was strong but he didn’t dare. He didn’t think
she was the type for a one-night stand and that was all he was willing to
offer.
Although he found her damn attractive, she was off
limits. All he needed equated to an unpaid housekeeper not a woman that
probably had no practical skills, even so, she was very tempting. There seemed
something so vulnerable about her that it made him long to protect her.
He made the mistake of looking down at her upturned
face. Her luminous green eyes trapped him. Unable to resist the pull of her he
carefully leaned down and brushed his lips against hers. He only intended for
the kiss to be brief, but she tasted like honey and he had to have more.
Annie moaned as Burke kissed her again. He swiped
his tongue along the seam of her lips, coaxing her mouth open and deepening the
kiss. His arms tightened around her, pulling her close to him. She smelled of
sunshine, sweet and warm. Reluctantly he let her go. Annie smiled back at him
anyway, and it pleased him. She looked lovely in her yellow sundress with her
curly auburn hair falling down her back, and he couldn’t help but admire her
cute figure.
Gently, he
removed her arms from around his neck and looked down at her with hooded eyes.
Highly aroused by her, it was by sheer willpower that he stopped his advances.
Her bruised lips looked inviting to him and her eyes shone with pleasure. God
he wanted her. Burke smiled at her enthusiasm. The last woman in his house had
overtly insulted every inch of it. He could hardly believe her reaction. She
seemed genuine in her pleasure over everything. But, he reminded himself that
it didn’t really matter. Burke grinned as he watched her scoop up the cat and
whisper in its ear, her happiness so apparent. For a second he was glad that he
adopted that ornery cat.
Regretfully, he stood up and moved away from her.
“It’s been fun.”
“Yes it has,” Annie stood. She wobbled a bit and
made her way to the porch stairs. She looked at Burke with her heart shining in
her eyes. “Maybe you could consider me as a candidate for a wife?” she asked
quietly.
He hesitated, not knowing what to say.
“Never mind.” She hurriedly rushed down the stairs
to her car.
Maybe in another life, it would have worked, but he
knew what the ending to their story would be.
Juls Review
Well I’m not gonna lie, the start was kinda disappointing. The harsh childhood that Annie had and the horrible things she went through made her very wary of men but Burke comes into the picture and she turns into a love sick spineless girl. And also the love scenes were a bit choppy. But towards the middle things picked up with a kick!
Now with that said, I loved the rest of the book. Alice, Burke’s ex comes into the picture and all hell breaks loose! Annie has to literally fight for her life!
Alice comes to Burke under false pretenses and stupidly Burke allows her to stay with him and his new wife, Annie. Not wanting to get burned again Burke wants to marry just for a partner and possibly children. He and Annie come to an agreement and voila they are saying “I do”.
Little do Burke and Annie know but Alice is working with Annie’s abusive stepbrother Sonny to get the inheritance that was left for her from her mother and believe me, the amount is staggering!!!
Every time something happened to Annie she would accuse Alice and Burke never believe her. This kind of reminded me of the movie Hush with Gwyneth Paltrow. The mom trying everything to get rid of the new wife. Well that’s what Alice was doing. Very creepy! I cant tell you how upsetting it was to have Burke not side with Annie. He just didn’t want to face anything or even protect his wife. I was NOT happy with him!
It takes one horrible accident and witnessing an act that is unforgivable for Annie to get up and move on with her life. She grows that spine that she lost when she fell for Burke at the beginning and becomes a woman of worth.
I still don’t understand why Burke was the way he was. Even after Annie left he had Alice stay with him. I just couldn’t believe how clueless he was and to feed of off Alice’s lies just made me cringe at his stupidity!
Lots and lots of misunderstandings and miscommunications between them led them to where they weren’t together. Had this marriage been a “normal” set up I think maybe they wouldn’t have fought love even though it was staring straight at them!
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