Lass Small - Taken By A Texan

CAST OF CHARACTERS CAST OF CHARACTERS Rip Morris: This stubborn and seductive cowboy worked hard for the Keeper family. And though he had a reputation as a ladies’ man, he’d only reveal his true nature to one special lady. Could she be... Lu Parsons: This innocent Texas socialite was going to learn more about the birds and the bees than she ever dreamed. And maybe she’d find a permanent home on the Keeper ranch, though she’d only come to town to take care of her brother... Andrew Parsons: What had this greenhorn been doing, trespassing on Keeper land? And what would he remember once he awoke from his unconscious state? One person was determined to uncover the truth about the mysterious accident.... Tom Keeper: Heir to the Keeper ranch, he’d loved and lost one time too many. He claimed to have given up any thoughts of marriage, but Mrs. Right could be just around the corner! Letter to Reader Dear Reader, This month Silhouette Desire brings you six brand-new, emotional and sensual novels by some of the bestselling—and most beloved—authors in the romance genre. Cait London continues her hugely popular minıseries THE TALLCHIEFS with The Seduction of Fiona Tallchief, April’s MAN OF THE MONTH. Next, Elizabeth Bevarly concludes her BLAME IT ON BOB series with The Virgin and the Vagabond. And when a socialıte confesses her virginity to a cowboy, she just might be Taken by a Texan, in Lass Small’s THE KEEPERS OF TEXAS miniseries. Plus, we have Maureen Child’s Maternity Bride, The Cowboy and the Calendar Girl, the last in the OPPOSITES ATTRACT series by Nancy Martin, and Kathryn Taylor’s tale of domesticating an office-bound hunk in Taming the Tycoon. I hope you enjoy all six of Silhouette Desire’s selections this month—and every month! Regards, Senior Editor Silhouette Books Please address questions and book requests to Silhouette Reader Service U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave , P.O Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269 Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3 Title Page Lass Small Taken By A Texan www.millsandboon.co.uk About the Author LASS SMALL finds living on this planet at this tune a fascinating experience. People are amazing. She thinks that to be a teller of tales of people, places and things is absolutely marvelous. Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Copyright

You won’t want to miss any of the memorable characters in this newest series by bestselling author Lass Small. While each of THE KEEPERS OF TEXAS books stands on its own, the continuing saga of the Keeper family and ranch will surely keep you coming back for more!

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Rip Morris: This stubborn and seductive cowboy worked hard for the Keeper family. And though he had a reputation as a ladies’ man, he’d only reveal his true nature to one special lady. Could she be...

Lu Parsons: This innocent Texas socialite was going to learn more about the birds and the bees than she ever dreamed. And maybe she’d find a permanent home on the Keeper ranch, though she’d only come to town to take care of her brother...

Andrew Parsons: What had this greenhorn been doing, trespassing on Keeper land? And what would he remember once he awoke from his unconscious state? One person was determined to uncover the truth about the mysterious accident....

Tom Keeper: Heir to the Keeper ranch, he’d loved and lost one time too many. He claimed to have given up any thoughts of marriage, but Mrs. Right could be just around the corner!

Dear Reader,

This month Silhouette Desire brings you six brand-new, emotional and sensual novels by some of the bestselling—and most beloved—authors in the romance genre. Cait London continues her hugely popular minıseries THE TALLCHIEFS with The Seduction of Fiona Tallchief, April’s MAN OF THE MONTH. Next, Elizabeth Bevarly concludes her BLAME IT ON BOB series with The Virgin and the Vagabond. And when a socialıte confesses her virginity to a cowboy, she just might be Taken by a Texan, in Lass Small’s THE KEEPERS OF TEXAS miniseries.

Plus, we have Maureen Child’s Maternity Bride, The Cowboy and the Calendar Girl, the last in the OPPOSITES ATTRACT series by Nancy Martin, and Kathryn Taylor’s tale of domesticating an office-bound hunk in Taming the Tycoon.

I hope you enjoy all six of Silhouette Desire’s selections this month—and every month!

Regards,

Senior Editor

Silhouette Books

Please address questions and book requests to

Silhouette Reader Service

U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave , P.O Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269

Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3

Lass Small

Taken By A Texan

www.millsandboon.co.uk

LASS SMALL

finds living on this planet at this tune a fascinating experience. People are amazing. She thinks that to be a teller of tales of people, places and things is absolutely marvelous.

Prologue

It all began, oddly enough, because Thomas Keeper was a restless man who had been overlooked by the female gender. Of course he was also a selective man, and had limited the opposite gender to those females who attracted him.

Tom was a TEXAS man. Which meant that he wasn’t something as simple as just male. He thought like a man. He looked like one. He was strong and could bend just about anything. But more important than his strength, was his ability to persuade.

He knew cars and understood them. Any woman knows on sight that cars are obstinate and male. Men get along with cars. Women get towed.

In chancy situations, Tom Keeper was calm. His face was stoic. He moved his glance to what was happening, but he didn’t have tunnel vision and ignore everything else. He kept the whole area under his observation without seeming to do so.

Just like his daddy.

Tom was a man in the sense we all suppose males are. He never took a hand, in anything, unless he was needed. Then he was logical. Or he was physical, if it came to that. He caught arms, stopped fists with his open hand, or just said, “Be quiet” like you would to a dog or a child or an adult male who wasn’t really in control of himself.

Women tended to go to Tom when they had problems with another man. Like Kayla Fuller had when she’d been baffled on how to regain her stupid ex-husband Tyler.

And it was Tom who took over the dogs from Kayla when she bought them at an illegal dog pit and didn’t know what to do with them.

The fact that Kayla had never been interested in anyone else but that budding lawyer, Tyler, was obvious to everyone but Tom. He had really thought he had another chance with Kayla.

During that time Tom had been with Kayla he’d listened to her. And after a while he’d mentioned to her that she still loved Tyler. The woman had been shocked and strongly denied it, but Tom had watched Kayla as she’d protested that she was finished with Tyler. She’d protested too emotionally. She’d cried.

It had been a sad time for Tom. He’d still felt the same way about Kayla as he had before Tyler had intruded onto the scene. Tom had always thought that when he wanted to settle down, Kayla would be available.

But she’d loved Tyler. That had been a stunning observation. A nasty realization. How could she?

Her marriage to Tyler had been a waste of a good woman. At best, Tom thought, women were a trial. It made Tom wonder why God had given men such odd companıons. Such baffling, complicated solutions to a man’s needs. Women were a chore for any needy man. Women wanted men to do so much else!

The men from the distant past were probably the smartest. They protected the village, hunted and supplied the meat while the women kept the village neat and did the planting.

Theirs was a better organization. Their women had other women to ease them and listen to them. Women understood other women. Men never really did.

But at the current time, in TEXAS, with the women being snatched up by other men, Tom felt like an abandoned coyote outside the corral. How was Tom to get his sheep? How was he to live like everybody else, here, on this land? He was of the age when he needed to be paired off and responsible.

Why was his family named Keeper? What had somebody, back long ago, been keeper...of? Did the long ago Keepers raid other places and not give anything back?

Tom’s eyes narrowed and he thought how he’d like to raid Tyler’s house, snatch Kayla and keep—her. His ancestors very probably raided other places and stole women. His name wasn’t keep-im or keep-it. It was keep-er.

Tom tilted his head and considered raiding. It was attractive to him. The urge was probably genetic. Since the Keepers had so much land and money, Tom finally wondered just how the devil they’d gotten all that land and all that money.

So the next time he saw his daddy, he asked him. They were out on the Keeper place, looking around, seeing what was going on. They’d come to a small stream with a large oak for shade.

The two were resting their horses. So they had stepped down and stood talking, letting the horses look around without the human weight on their backs.

There were three big dogs with them. The dogs were watching around and probably exchanging comments about where they were and what the humans were up to. The dogs were probably glad not to be horses. No saddles, no bridles, they went around almost free.

They listened as Tom asked his daddy, “How come we’ve got all this land and all this money?”

For the dogs it was not an interesting subject, so they went off a ways and looked around.

But Tom’s father looked at his son and replied soberly and with a tad of puzzlement, “The reason we got this place is that we worked our tails off.”

“How’d you go about getting the land?”

“I asked my daddy that same question when I was just a tad.” He then commented in an aside, “It’s interesting it took you so long to inquire about that.” Then he looked afar as he instructed his twenty-eight-year-old son, “When our family wanted to come here, back then, just by the strangest chance, our ancestor learned the Indian chief of the tribe that lived on this land then could speak English. Your seven greats grandfather heard a conversation by the purest accident. The chief not only spoke English, he’d been to Europe!”

“Now why had he gone there?”

Tom’s daddy said, “He was curious how come all us strange, pale people were invading their lands. He did sell us this plot and charged us a tad more than anybody else around here paid.”

“Where’d the tribe go from here?”

And his daddy told him, “North to Canada. They didn’t have the European rifles. Just their bows and arrows. They saw the future.”

Tom considered as he looked around. Then he said, “It must have been tough for them to leave here.”

“Apparently not. Other tribes were vicious in defending their land, but the small tribe we contacted was ready to leave here. They didn’t much cotton to us newcomers and went off on their own to another place.”

Tom said, “I’ve had it pretty easy.”

His daddy agreed, “Just saying that shows you’re getting ready to share the load. You’re through school five years, now. You’ve traveled. That part’s important. You got so’s you realize how lucky we are to have this spread, and you understand you need to pull your share. About time you settled down.”

Tom said sadly, “I thought I had the woman I wanted, but she went back to her husband.”