Her Dakota Man (Book 1 - Dakota Hearts) (16 page)
Read Her Dakota Man (Book 1 - Dakota Hearts) Online
Authors: Lisa Mondello
Tags: #contemporary romance, #western romance, #Badlands, #reunion romance
* * *
He was dying
. Logan was sure of it. He could only remember one other time when his life felt as hopeless as if did right at that moment.
Kate came up behind him.
“Keith’s settled in front of the TV watching his favorite movie.”
“He’ll be fine,” Logan said.
“Sure he will. But you won’t be.”
He looked at his mom and saw that she was none too happy. “What do you mean?”
“You didn’t die with Kelly, Logan. Some people never get a second chance to make things right. Only a fool would let a woman he loved get away twice. And I didn’t raise a fool.” With that she turned and walked back in the house.
Logan looked back at the car making its way down the driveway. He was a fool. How could he let Poppy leave like this? Years ago they didn’t have a choice. But now he did. And he knew exactly what he had to do.
* * *
Poppy paused at the end of the driveway before pulling out onto the main road. Tears stained her cheeks and blurred her vision. There was no way she could possibly drive all the way to Rapid City crying like she was. As she swiped at her wet face, she heard the sound of an engine. She sniffed and looked down the road to see if a truck was coming. The road was clear so she put her foot on the gas to take the left turn. Before she made it half way into the road, the ATV came charging through the muddy pasture, spitting up gravel and mud all around and spraying the car with debris before it stopped in the middle of the road.
Startled, Poppy slammed on the breaks just in front of the ATV. Logan climbed off the 4-wheeler and ran to her car. With her heart in her throat, she pushed open the door.
“Are you crazy?” she said. “I could have hit you!”
“Shut up for a second.”
“Don’t tell me to shut up! You’re driving that thing like a maniac. You nearly gave me a heart attack.”
“I need to tell you something and don’t want you to interrupt while I do,” he said, taking her by the hand and helping her out of the car. “Now do you want to hear it or not?”
“What?”
Dragging her into his arms, Logan crushed her against his chest in an embrace. He cupped her face and smiled down at her as his mouth claimed hers, kissing her as soulfully as he had the day they’d made love, leaving her breathless right there on the street. She reached up, daring to pull him ever closer to him. She didn’t want to let him go. She never wanted to leave this moment.
She heard a car horn blare nearby, shocking her senses. Logan pulled away slowly and smiled down at her, revealing the deep dimple on his cheek.
“Everything okay?” an elderly man asked smiling as he rolled down his car window.
His wife, sitting next to him in the front seat, smacked him with a rolled newspaper playfully. “Oh, leave them alone and get going.”
The man laughed and waved at the two of them, then drove away.
Poppy’s heart swelled with joy. “Is that what you wanted to tell me?”
“Yes, and no,” he said with a smile. “I have a whole lot more I want to tell you. We have ten years worth of loving to make up for. I want a lifetime of making love to you like we did the other day. I don’t think if I lived to be a hundred I’d get my fill of you Poppy Ericksen. You’ve ruined me.
“Kelly deserved better than what I gave her…but so do you. I’ve been beating myself up for so long about the way I feel about you. The way I’ve always felt about you. Kelly knew that. She told me in her letter and she carried the burden of what she’d done to her death. I would have never known the truth if you hadn’t come back. I’m grateful for that, not just for me, but for Kelly.”
“It’s what she’d wanted in the end. For you to know the truth.”
“I don’t think I would have ever allowed myself to go into Kelly’s things because I was afraid of what I’d find. And when I had the truth staring right at me, I felt like I was…”
“Betraying Kelly?”
He nodded. “But now I know it was Kelly’s gift to both of us. She set me free from all that guilt I’d been feeling. My marriage to Kelly had been doomed from the start. But I did love her. I’m always going to love her.”
Tears filled Poppy’s eyes. “I know you will.”
“But I also know that I have always been in love with you. Ever since you got here I’ve been having a hard time reconciling that. But not anymore. I saw you drive away and thought I’d die. And suddenly all the years melted away and all I knew was I needed to get to you. I should have done it then.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, breathing in the scent of him along with the smell of the mud that was splattered on his shirt. But she didn’t care. She was in Logan McKinnon’s arms.
“So where do we go from here?” she asked.
“I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable living in the house I lived in with Kelly. If you want, we’ll tear this one down and build a new one.”
She frowned. “Tear down the house? Are you out of your mind?”
“Or we could sell this place and get a new one. We can even move to Manhattan. I’ll adapt. I just want to be wherever you are.”
Tears trickled down Poppy’s cheeks. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted, Logan. I love you so much. I don’t care where we are. And I don’t want the memory of your life with Kelly to be something we run away from. After all, she was Keith’s mother and I want to fill him with as many memories of Kelly that I have so he’ll know her and always remember her.”
“I’m so happy to hear that. I love you so very much. Marry me, Poppy Ericksen. I don’t think I want to live another day without you in it.”
She threw her head back and laughed loud. “Logan McKinnon, what the hell took you so long? Of course, I’ll marry you…but on one condition.”
He looked at her intently. “What’s that?”
“We live every day as an adventure. We eat breakfast for dinner sometimes. We sit on the porch roof and look up at the stars on warm nights. We get muddy then sit around on rainy days in our pajamas and watch old movies and…”
He laughed. “You know you’re way past one.”
“Who cares? I want to live every day as if it was the last day, because if losing Kelly has taught me one thing it’s that you never know when that last day will come.”
“Agreed.”
He picked her up and spun her around in the middle of the street. When he put her down, he said, “Let’s go tell Keith.”
She gave him a devilish grin. “I’ll race you to the house.”
Laughing loud, she climbed into her rental car and Logan climbed on the ATV, both setting out to live the adventure they’d started years ago. Poppy didn’t know everything the future held, but she knew for sure that it would be filled with love.
The End
Thank you so much for reading HER DAKOTA MAN, book 1 in my new DAKOTA HEARTS series. If you enjoyed the book, please help other readers find this book by:
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Write to me at
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and let me know what you thought! I love hearing from readers!
I love reunion stories and have written several of them over the years. THE MARRIAGE CONTRACT, book 2 of my Fate with a Helping Hand series is one. HER HEART FOR THE ASKING, book 1 of my Texas Hearts series is another. And be on the lookout for Book 4 of DAKOTA HEARTS, Ethan McKinnon’s story because that is another reunion story! Sign up for my newsletter for updates on new releases and for a chance to win an EReader!
Over the next few months I will be releasing 4 DAKOTA HEARTS books including, Hawk’s story called BADLAND BRIDE, DAKOTA HEAT, which features Logan’s HotShot brother Sam, and of course, Logan’s sexy Navy Seal turned cop twin brother Ethan’s story, WILD DAKOTA HEART.
And I do have on more surprise for the McKinnon clan planned where answers regarding the oldest McKinnon brother, Wade, will be answered. But that’s for 2014.
I’m adding a preview of each of the DAKOTA HEARTS books below with links for Pre-Order (in case they’re not currently available) just to give you a peek into the McKinnons. This way you won’t miss a story!
Write to me. Let me know what you think of this new series. And check out my other books, available at all online retailers.
My best,
Lisa Mondello
Fate with a Helping Hand Series:
All I Want for Christmas is You
Leaving Liberty
Her Dakota Man
Badland Bride
Dakota Heat
Wild Dakota Heart
His Dakota Bride
Material Witness by LA Mondello
Amazon UK Readers order here:
Lisa Mondello Amazon Page
Raised an Army brat, Regis Simpson was used to calling new towns home, learning to quickly make friends but never letting anyone get too close. When devastating floods tear through the Badlands of South Dakota, she thinks Rudolph is just another town that needs to be rebuilt. Nothing more. The sooner she gets her work done, the sooner the people of Rudolph can heal and she can move on to the next town in need. She never counted on the sexy town doctor, Keith “Hawk” McKinnon or his determination to break down walls she’d spent a lifetime building, making it impossible for her to leave.
Nothing pained Hawk McKinnon more than seeing people he’d known his whole life hurting. He traded a high-paying salary at a city hospital to come back to Rudolph and make a difference where he’d dug his roots. When the beautiful Regis Simpson comes to town offering help, he’s immediately drawn to her even though she’s spent a lifetime packing armor around her heart. But once her work is done, she’ll be leaving again. He’s determined to everything possible to maker her stay.
Order BADLAND BRIDE by Lisa Mondello
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Lisa Mondello Amazon Page
Hotshot Sam McKinnon was always leaving town, chasing another fire under his own hometown became vulnerable during the fire season after ice storms and spring floods left debris and devastation in its path. He didn't expect out of town dispatcher, Summer Bigelow, to catch his eye or his heart.
It hadn't been Summer's idea to move from Providence to South Dakota, but when a serial murderer suddenly turns his attention on Summer, her boss insists she leave town. She's dealt with high tension, life or death situations many times in her job. It isn’t until she meets Sam McKinnon and falls for the sexy hotshot that she really begins to know fear. The fear of losing someone she loves.
Order DAKOTA HEAT by Lisa Mondello
Amazon UK Readers order here:
Lisa Mondello Amazon Page