Home with You (A Silverlake Ranch Novel, Band 2) - Softcover

Kendall, Liza

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0593098021 ISBN 13: 9780593098028

Verlag: Berkley, 2020

Inhaltsangabe

Anything is possible in Silverlake, Texas when love takes the reins...

Rhett Braddock swore to himself that he'd never return to Silverlake. But when the opportunity arises to buy a piece of his lost, happier youth, he's drawn to the community--and the family--he once loved. Mending fences might not be as hard as he thought--until he ends up in bed with his best friend's sister.

Julianna Holt is over Rhett Braddock. So what if he's a self-made billionaire? His less than flattering dash the morning after they spent the night together made it clear he wants nothing to do with her. Besides, she has her horses and the Holt stables to save.

So when Rhett buys the Holt property as a favor to her brother, Jules makes him feel as welcome as a skunk at a garden party … but is it possible that Rotten Rhett isn’t so rotten after all? Or is the Texas heat melting her resolve to hate him?

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Liza Kendall is the combined pen name of two award-winning, bestselling authors who've known each other forever and decided they could work together without someone ending up dead.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Chapter 1

Everett “Rhett” Braddock was not the type to hear voices in his head, especially not over the smooth, steady purr of Scarlett, his unapologetically red Porsche. Scarlett always sounded like she ran on single-malt Scotch and sex, not gasoline. But hear voices he did, on the afternoon that he pulled into Silverlake, Texas. His hometown had changed.

Silverlake still retained the charm of a small Texas Hill Country town, but it had gotten spit shined, become more picturesque.

He couldn’t argue with the changes from a business point of view. Clearly, the town was doing better than it had been when he’d been unceremoniously booted out of it. But it just wasn’t the same.

Rhett took in all the storefronts as he cruised down Main Street. Piece A Cake. Obviously a bakery. Amelie. Looked like a fancy dress shop. Sunny’s Side Up—thank God, something was the same, besides Griggs’ Grocers. The Tooth Fairies? A dentist. Schweitz’s . . . he sighed with relief. Schweitz’s had a new coat of paint and an awful garden gnome outside with a pint in his hand, but it was still there.

Oh, and something else was familiar: Silverlake’s famous sparkling Fool Fest garlands. He couldn’t help grinning. The garlands were a bonus for April Fool’s, strung between lampposts lining the main drag. Better watch out, Pop used to say with a chuckle, Silverlake fools are fair game all month. Practical jokes were a given.

Mama had been a glue gun–carrying member of the town’s holiday committee, and before everything changed, each spring the living room down at the ranch was festooned with tinsel, ribbon, fake flowers, and crepe-paper jesters. The good folk keeping up the tradition of hanging the awful decorations used to say the neighboring towns that mocked them were jealous.

That last year in Silverlake, Rhett had been telling his family about his rodeo dreams for the New Year. They’d been telling him something else.

As he idled in front of a florist called Petal Pushers, which hadn’t existed in his time, he heard, quite clearly, Pop’s voice ricochet through his brain. Son, I ain’t gonna tell you again. You get your butt back in that desk chair and fill out those applications.
So he had.

He heard Mama’s voice say, Rhett, you’re special. The places you are gonna go . . .

So he had.

Colonel Akers, his high school algebra teacher: Sure, you stay here at Silverlake High, you’ll be valedictorian by a mile. But life isn’t about the easy choices, son. I can’t teach you any more than I know myself. Full scholarship? Go. Go to Deerville Academy and push your own envelope. Strain that crazy-smart brain of yours.

So he had.

Declan’s voice came to him, too, booming over all the others after their parents had died. Stoic, acerbic, an older brother learning on the fly how to be a father. You’ll get on that plane to Connecticut if I have to knock you out, hog-tie you, and toss you in the luggage hold. The horses will always be here. That scholarship won’t. Go to Deerville. Go to Harvard or Yale. Go to Wharton. And go to Wall Street.

So he had.

Except not all of the horses are still here, are they, Deck?

Not at Silverlake Ranch. When he’d found out Declan now kept only a few horses on the property, it felt like a slap in the face. That wasn’t the hardest slap, though. Rhett’s mouth twisted as he remembered one particular conversation. His brother had dropped it casually into a discussion about interest rates. Deck had had the unmitigated gall to give Rhett’s old rodeo horse away to the Holt family—without even talking to him about it!

At least the new deal Rhett had just struck with Mr. Holt would allow him to ride Frost whenever he wanted.

Rhett allowed himself a small smile at the thought of Declan’s face when he told him what he’d gone and bought this time.

Still idling in front of the ridiculously named florist, Rhett leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. The leather interior suddenly smelled all wrong. It was buttery and processed, a cologne and not a hide. It wasn’t something he thought about in Dallas, but in Silverlake, the difference was notable.

Real leather smelled like a well-worn saddle, a bridle or a harness soaked in a horse’s sweat. Real leather wasn’t a pale cream color; it was dark and chocolaty and rough in places where a man’s calloused hands hadn’t buffed it to a working shine.

He clenched the stitched, cushioned steering wheel. German engineers didn’t know about what reins felt like between a rider’s fingers, and probably didn’t care.

Scarlett cost upwards of $300,000 and there were plenty of days Rhett thought she was worth it; he certainly enjoyed her company more than any woman he’d dated in recent memory, and she was nothing if not loyal. Still, he’d trade her in half a second just to be home before the accident, fifteen again, and back on Frost, his silvery Appaloosa. He couldn’t wait to see the old boy. He’d rather see him, in fact, than his brother Declan, though he was worried about him after the devastating loss of the Old Barn. What did that say about Rhett, exactly?

His mouth twisted as he glanced at the passenger seat next to him. Three Red Delicious apples knocked heads in a plastic bag. A bunch of carrots roped together eagerly stared up at him. In the footwell, six Shiner Bocks patiently waited for him to free them from their plastic yokes, condensation staining the top of his crocodile-hide briefcase, which lay outraged on the floor.

The beer was for Frost, who loved it. Pour that dark, fizzy liquid into a bowl and Frost would slurp it right down, twitching his velvety muzzle when the bubbles popped on his tongue. Then he’d show his teeth in a big horsey grin.

Damn, Rhett had missed him.

But you didn’t trailer a horse and a western saddle the size of an armchair up to Deerville Academy in Connecticut. And you sure didn’t talk to anyone about 4‑H or rodeos—especially when they’d already started mocking the fact that he went by Rhett.

Where’s Scarlett, Rhett?

I got her right here, boys. He smiled and gave the dashboard a pat.

Of course, if he wanted to see Frost, he’d have to see Julianna Holt, too. A blessing or a curse? Rhett’s smile faded at the thought of her. He’d messed that situation up but good. You didn’t screw around with your best friend’s little sister, and he’d gone and done just that—only weeks ago in Dallas. He’d bolted from her bed in the morning. And ever since then, he’d been trying to come up with any acceptable explanation to give Grady. Problem: There was no explaining to Grady, who’d kill him if he ever found out—and worse, Rhett couldn’t stop thinking about Jules. He needed to erase her from his mind.

“You’re leaving?” Jules had mumbled, still half-asleep. She opened her hazel eyes and peered at him, the sleepiness chased away by hurt.

“Yeah,” Rhett had said, trying not to look at her. He hadn’t intended for anything like this to happen, but seeing Julianna Holt all grown up had done something to him that he never could have anticipated, so he went with it. And now he had to make it stop. For even though these last few hours felt about as right as anything Rhett could remember, reality had shown up with the morning sun. And reality was, Rhett...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Berkley
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2020
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0593098021
• ISBN 13: 9780593098028
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 352
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar