Saved by the Rancher (40 page)

“They look just like Jack and Sam did when they were born.” Summer touched a finger to the baby’s soft hair. “I remember pictures of the two of them bundled with their little caps of almost white hair sticking out.”

“It’s uncanny how they look like their Dad already.”

“So, what are their names?” Caleb asked, holding Lily up so she could stare at the baby in Jack’s arms.

“I’d like to introduce Matthew,” whom Jenna held, “and Jack has Samuel.” Jack moved closer to Lily and Caleb, so Lily could get a good look at Sam.

“Does Sam know you named one of the babies after him? He must be so excited.” Summer beamed.

“I called him early this morning and told him. He’s on some assignment. Ever since they moved him to the San Francisco office, he’s been working like a demon. He’ll try to come for a visit soon. He said he misses us, but I think he just misses Jenna.” Jack smiled. “He’s still jealous.”

Jack winked at his wife. He couldn’t believe after everything ended, they’d finally been married. The image of Jenna in a white gown walking toward him was never far from his mind. They’d gotten married at the ranch with flowers, friends, and family surrounding them. Ben walked her down the aisle. Jenna’s mother attended and stayed for a month. Jack arranged for the visit as a wedding gift. Jenna cried that day. For the first time in a long time, they were tears of joy.

“They’re so cute, Aunt Jenna. Maybe they can play with baby brother, Jacob,” Lily said, handing over the flowers to Summer to put on the bedside table.

“I think it will be a little while before they can play together. When they get bigger, I’m sure you’ll all be good friends.”

“That’s right, honey. You’ll all grow up on the ranch and play together.” Jack couldn’t imagine anything better than the ranch with all these children, and hopefully more to come, running around and riding the horses. Thanks to Jenna, the children would someday have children, and they’d play on the ranch, too. He hoped the future generations would be as close as they all were today.

He thought of Sam back at work and wished he could have been there with them to celebrate the day the twins were born.

Jenna pictured the children growing up together on the ranch. It was a nice image, one she’d hoped and dreamed about for a long time. She looked around the room at all the faces of her family. She had everything she’d ever dreamed. Jack caught her gaze and held it. He mouthed I love you, their son in his arms. Her heart was so full. She was healed, home, safe and loved.

Read on for a sneak peek at the next
in THE HUNTED series,

LUCKY LIKE US,

by Jennifer Ryan

on sale April 9, 2013

from Avon Impulse

An Excerpt from

LUCKY LIKE US

A
WISP OF
smoke rose from the barrel of his gun. The smell of gunpowder filled the air. Face raised to the night sky, eyes closed, he sucked in a deep breath and let it out slow, enjoying the moment. Adrenaline coursed through his veins with a thrill that left a tingle in his skin. His heart pounded and he felt more alive than he ever remembered feeling in his normal life.

Slowly, he lowered his head to the bloody body lying sprawled on the dirty pavement at his feet. The Silver Fox strikes again. The smile spread across his face. He loved the nickname the press had dubbed him after the police spoke of the elusive killer who’d staged eight deaths. Who knew how many more? He did. He remembered every one of them in minute detail.

He kicked the dead guy in the ribs. Sonofabitch almost ruined everything, but you didn’t get to be in his position by leaving the details in a partnership to chance. They had a deal, but the idiot had gotten greedy, making him sloppy. He’d set up a meeting for tonight for a new hit, but hadn’t done the proper background investigation. His death was a direct result of his stupidity.

“You set me up with a cop!” he yelled at the corpse.

He dragged the body by the foot into the steel container, heedless of the man’s face scraping across the rough road. He dropped the guy’s leg. The loud thud echoed through the cavernous interior. He locked the door and walked through the deserted shipyard indifferent.

Maybe he’d let his fury get the best of him, but anything, or anyone, who threatened to expose him or end his most enjoyable hobby needed to be eliminated. He had too much to lose, and he never lost.

Only one more loose end to tie up.

About the Author

JENNIFER RYAN lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, three children, her dog, Bella, and cat, Shadow.

When she isn’t writing a book, she’s reading one. Her obsession for both is often revealed in the state of her home and how late dinner is to the table. When she finally leaves those fictional worlds, you’ll find her in the garden, playing in the dirt and daydreaming about people who live only in her head until she puts them on paper.

Please visit her website at www.jennifer-ryan.com.

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An Excerpt from

by Lauren Hawkeye

In Lauren Hawkeye’s second erotic romance featuring the fierce gladiators of Ancient Rome, Lilia is the rarest of commodities—a champion female gladiator. When Christus, a warrior with the body of a god, is sold to the
ludus
that owns Lilia, she finds herself forced to defend her position and guard her body against the erotic sensations only he can bring. But beneath the tantalizing flesh of the gladiator, Lilia finds a man determined to protect her—and to love her—no matter the cost.

AN AVON RED NOVEL

“W
hat are you doing?” My words were a hiss as I looked frantically around the room. We were alone for the moment, thank the gods, but someone could come in at any moment.

Weak was the least of the things that I would appear to be if someone were to come upon this scene, me flushed from the steam, Christus’ sure fingers lightly massaging the purpling skin of my ankle.

Every touch of his fingers sent a lick of fire straight between my legs. Though I tried to swallow it down, a groan escaped my lips.

His touch felt so incredibly
good.

“I cannot let myself be seen like this.” There was no point in denying that I found his touch pleasurable. Against my better judgment, I closed my eyes for a moment—just a moment—and let sensation wash over me.

When I again opened my eyes, Christus’ fingers had trailed upward to my calf. His eyes burned brightly and were fixed on my own.

“I told the men that anyone who bothered you while you bathed would find himself without a cock.” My mouth fell open at the words, and inexplicably a giggle bubbled up from my throat.

I clapped a hand over my mouth as it escaped. I never giggled. I rarely even laughed.

Sobering myself, I tried to tug my leg from Christus’ reach. “That does not mean they will listen.”

“I assure you they will.” Christus did not allow me to pull my flesh away, instead trailing his fingers ever higher. My breath caught in my throat as he stroked the tender skin beneath my knee.

“If it eases you, Darius is keeping watch. No one will disturb you. No one will disturb us.”

I heard the double meaning in his words, and though I felt as though I should run, I found myself doing nothing of the sort. Instead I reached out, my hand shaking, and ran uncertain fingers over the stripe of his cheekbone.

I shuddered as my fingers made contact with his skin. It had been so long since I had been touched with anything but violence or desire that was twisted at its root. Darius touched me sometimes, but his caresses were friendly and reassuring.

They did not affect me in nearly the same way that these small caresses did.

“Christus. I cannot do this.” I wanted to. I could no longer lie to myself. I wanted this man, wanted the moments of pleasure that he could bring to me in this strange life that I called my own. “If the men found out that I took you as a lover, we would both be under attack.”

My voice had a breathless quality to it, one that I had never heard before. I was feeling things that I had never felt before, too, as Christus lowered his head and laid his lips on my knee.

When he again looked up, the expression on his face—the longing, the desire—was my undoing.

“Why should anyone find out? It is no one’s business but our own.” The fingers that still softly stroked the skin beneath my knee moved with excruciating slowness, tracing a stripe up and up, until they found the edge where my leather wrap met my skin.

“Christus.” What was happening to me? I was not weak—I made my own decisions. Yet I could no more have stopped this encounter than I could have stopped breathing.

Slowly, giving me time to say no, Christus worked at the knot in my leather. When the fastening was loose, he pulled the garment away from my body, hanging it on the edge of the tub.

Leaving my skin bare from the waist down.

I felt my lower lip tremble, but apart from that small movement I was still, tensed, my breath caught in my throat with anticipation. With his eyes on my own, drinking in every nuance of my expression, he inched his fingers up, then up again, trailing them over my inner thighs as the muscles beneath quivered.

I inhaled sharply when those fingers grazed over the heated skin between my legs. Christus paused at the noise, again giving me time to say no.

I waited a long moment, my innermost thoughts whirling through my head in a great rush. Sex had been tied up with violence for so long, it had made me feel cheap at best. The idea that I could embrace it for pleasure was strange and oddly thrilling, if I could but take that leap.

My eyelids lowered, I looked down from the edge of the bath, where I still perched, looked at the god of a man who was rising out of the water at my feet. He was golden and sleek and beautiful, and he wore an expression of reverence and of need that looked to be nearly painful.

It was this exact combination that pushed me the last step. With an exhalation of the breath that I had been holding, I covered his wrist with my hand, holding his fingers in place even as I arched my hips to meet his touch.

“You are certain that we will not be disturbed?” I could not quite believe that I was prepared to accept his word when he nodded. The Lilia of even a day before would never have taken anything at face value, would have had to see for herself.

But this man inspired trust. Trust, as well as lust.

For the first time since I had come to the ludus, I decided to embrace the sensations.

Copyright

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Excerpt from
Lucky Like Us
copyright © 2013 by Jennifer Ryan.

Excerpt from
Seduced by the Gladiator
copyright © 2013 by Lauren Hawkeye.

SAVED BY THE RANCHER
. Copyright © 2013 by Jennifer Ryan. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.