Rodeo Dad Read online

  “Ten years is a long time for a man to go without a woman or a woman to go without a man.”

  Letter to Reader

  Title Page

  Books by Carla Cassidy

  About the Author

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Copyright

  “Ten years is a long time for a man to go without a woman or a woman to go without a man.”

  Johnny’s lips were achingly close to hers, and Marissa fought the desire to lean forward.

  “It’s still there, isn’t it, Marissa?”

  “What?” she asked, knowing exactly what he was talking about.

  “Passion. Desire. Physical want,” he whispered.

  “It doesn’t matter if it is or not.” With enormous effort she stepped back from him, her voice shaky with emotion. “There’s no going back, Johnny. At least not for us.”

  She desperately wanted to give in, to be Johnny’s girl once again. But she had a son to consider. They had a son. With that thought she said, “Not tonight, Johnny,” and closed the door....

  Dear Reader,

  I’m always getting letters telling me how much you love miniseries, and this month we’ve got three great ones for you. Linda Turner starts the new family-based miniseries, THOSE MARRYING McBRIDES! with The Lady’s Man. The McBrides have always been unlucky in love—until now And it’s wedding-wary Zeke who’s the first to take the plunge Mane Ferrarella also starts a new miniseries this month CHILDFINDERS, INC. is a detective agency specializing in finding missing kids, and they’ve never failed to find one yet. So is it any wonder desperate Savannah King turns to investigator Sam Walters when her daughter disappears in A Hero for All Season? And don’t miss Rodeo Dad, the continuation of Carla Cassidy’s wonderful Western miniseries, MUSTANG, MONTANA.

  Of course, that’s not all we’ve got in store. Paula Detmer Riggs is famous for her ability to explore emotion and create characters who live in readers’ minds long after the last page is turned. In Once More a Family she creates a reunion romance to haunt you. Sharon Mignerey is back with her second book, His Tender Touch, a suspenseful story of a woman on the run and her unwilling protector—who soon turns into her willing lover. Finally, welcome new author Candace Irvin, who debuts with a military romance called For His Eyes Only. I think you’ll be as glad as we are that Candace has joined the Intimate Moments ranks.

  Enjoy—and come back next month, when we once again bring you the best and most exciting romantic reading around

  Yours,

  Leslie J. Wainger

  Executive Senior Editor

  * * *

  Please address questions and book requests to

  Silhouette Reader Service

  US 3010 Walden Ave , PO Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269

  Canadian PO Box 609, Fort Ene, Ont. L2A 5X3

  * * *

  RODEO DAD

  CARLA CASSIDY

  Books by Carla Cassidy

  Silhouette Intimate Moments

  One of the Good Guys #531

  Try To Remember #560

  Fugitive Father #604

  Behind Closed Doors #778

  †Reluctant Wife #850

  †Reluctant Dad #856

  ‡Her Counterfeit Husband #885

  ‡Code Name Cowboy #902

  ‡Rodeo Dad #934

  Silhouette Romance

  Patchwork Family #818

  Whatever Alex Wants #856

  Fire and Spice #884

  Homespun Hearts #905

  Golden Girl #924

  Something New #942

  Pixie Dust #958

  The Littlest Matchmaker #978

  The Marriage Scheme #996

  Anything for Danny #1048

  *Deputy Daddy #1141

  *Mom in the Making #1147

  *An Impromptu Proposal #1152

  *Daddy on the Run #1158

  Pregnant with His Child #1259

  Well You Give My Mommy

  a Baby? #1315

  Silhouette Desire

  A Fleeting Moment #784

  Under the Boardwalk #882

  Silhouette Shadows

  Swamp Secrets #4

  Heart of the Beast #11

  Silent Screams #25

  Mystery Child #61

  Silhouette Yours Truly

  Pop Goes the Question

  Silhouette Books

  Shadows 1993

  Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

  The Loop

  Getting it Right Jessica

  *The Baker Brood

  †Sisters

  ‡Mustang, Montana

  CARLA CASSIDY is an award-winning author who has written over thirty books for Silhouette. In 1995, she won Best Silhouette Romance of 1995 from Romantic Times Magazine for her Silhouette Romance novel Anything for Danny. In 1998, she also won a Career Achievement Award for Best Innovative series from Romantic Times Magazine.

  Carla believes the only thing better than curling up with a good book to read is sitting down at the computer with a good story to write. She’s looking forward to writing many more books and bringing hours of pleasure to readers.

  Prologue

  She had never been in a prison before. The outside of the Montana Federal Penitentiary had been daunting. The interior was terrifying.

  Marissa Sawyer had taken the bus from her hometown of Mustang to the prison. There had been a dozen stops along the way, the bus picking up all kinds of mothers, sisters, lovers and wives of inmates.

  The man Marissa intended to visit was not her brother or father, her husband or lover. He was her past, and she hoped by coming here, by talking to him, she could keep him there.

  She walked with the others through a metal detector, then stowed her purse and jewelry into a locker as they had been instructed. As she closed and locked the door, she tried to ignore the fluttering nerves that assailed her stomach.

  What would he look like? How had he changed? What physical and emotional trials had he undergone through his time in this place?

  The other women stored their personal items, not speaking to each other, not making eye contact at all.

  That was fine with Marissa. She wasn’t here to make friends. She was here to make certain her past didn’t collide with her future and destroy what she had managed to build in the last ten years.

  “Okay, ladies.” A uniformed guard clapped his hands for attention. “Let’s form a single line right here.”

  He indicated where he wanted them and they fell into place. “Now, before I take you into the visiting area, I’ll remind you of the rules.” He spoke in the monotone of a man who’d given the spiel a thousand times before. “You will go inside and sit across from where the inmate is sitting. There is to be no physical contact, and you will keep your hands on top of the table at all times.”

  As he opened the door to escort them into the next room, Marissa drew a deep breath, trying to still the anxiety that made her feel half-nauseous.

  The room they were led into was large, with columns of tables on each side. The inmates sat, one per table, facing the visitors. Each man was clad in a gray jumpsuit, an orange patch across his chest, identifying him as an inmate.

  Marissa saw him immediately.

  Johnny Crockett.

  He sat at the last table on the left side, as if he purposely chose to sit alone rather than follow standard procedur
e.

  He didn’t look at her. He appeared to be disinterested in the group of visitors who had come in. Instead he stared up at the ceiling, as if bored.

  As the other women made their way to loved ones, Marissa drew a deep breath, seeking the courage that had brought her this far. She concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, bridging the distance in long, determined strides.

  He hadn’t changed, she thought as she drew closer. Ten years in this hellhole hadn’t stolen any of his attractiveness. His hair was longer than she remembered, but still shone with the same blue-black lustre it had when he’d been a teenager.

  She stood within three feet of his table and he tilted his head down. His eyes locked with hers. Ice-blue eyes that should have appeared cold, but instead burned her with intensity.

  She’d been wrong. He had changed...changes she couldn’t even begin to imagine.

  For a long moment neither of them spoke. And in the space of that infinite moment, a million memories raced through her mind. The memory of his arms wrapped tight around her, the way his body had felt against hers as he possessed her as no other man had before or since. The final memory of the look in his eyes as he’d been led away by the sheriff.

  “What in the hell are you doing here?” he asked, his deep voice barely audible in the babble of conversation from the other tables.

  “I... I need to talk to you.” She cleared her throat and-edged closer to the chair opposite him.

  A derisive smile lifted one corner of his mouth. “After ten years, you decided you suddenly needed to talk to me?” He gestured toward the chair. “Sit down, you’re making the guards nervous.”

  She slid into the chair and folded her hands on the tabletop, grateful that by folding them she stopped their nervous trembling. She cleared her throat once again. “I understand you’re being released in three weeks.”

  “Three weeks, one day and fifteen hours.” His voice was flat, his gaze not wavering from hers. Once again a mocking smile curved his lips. “Checking up on me? Waiting for my return? Ah, Marissa, I didn’t think you cared.”

  She flushed, stung by his sarcasm. “My father got a letter from the warden announcing your release date and your intentions to return to Mustang.”

  “How is the good mayor?”

  “He’s fine. Johnny, please don’t come back to Mustang.” She blurted the words in a desperate flurry.

  His eyes flared, then narrowed. “Why shouldn’t I come back there? Mustang is my hometown.”

  “Johnny, the people in Mustang have long memories.” She stared at the table, finding it easier to look there instead of into his burning, angry eyes. “Even though it’s been ten years, nobody has forgotten you...or Sydney Emery.”

  The name hung in the air, which had suddenly become too thick, too heavy to breathe. She looked up to meet his gaze once again. Hot. Angry. His eyes bore into hers with the intensity of burning blue fire. He leaned forward, his fingers inches from touching hers. She instinctively curled her fingers into her palms.

  “Do you think I’ve forgotten?” he said, his voice dangerously soft. “I’ve had ten years of lonely nights and endless days to remember.” He leaned back in the chair, his hands still resting atop the table. “Let me guess. Your father sent you to try to talk me into settling someplace else. He’s afraid my presence in Mustang will make his constituents uncomfortable.”

  “My father doesn’t even know I’m here,” she protested. “I just know if you come back there’s going to be trouble.”

  “You’re damn right there’s going to be trouble.” He leaned forward again, this time his knuckles brushing against hers. “I just spent ten years in prison for a murder I didn’t commit.”

  “Johnny, please think about it,” she replied, desperate to change his mind.

  “I’ve done nothing but think about it. I’m coming home, Marissa, and there’s nothing you or anyone else can do about it. I’m going to find the person who killed Sydney. Then I’ll thank those people who always believed in me, and I’ll make sure those who didn’t pay.”

  A chill of despair swept through Marissa. “Johnny, I...”

  “Guard!” he yelled and pushed away from the table. “Get out of here, Marissa. You’re wasting your time and mine. I’m coming home to Mustang. I’ll see you in three weeks.” As one of the uniformed guards led him away, he didn’t look back.

  For a long moment Marissa remained seated at the table, unable to move, unable to do anything but think about what would happen in three weeks’ time.

  Johnny’s return would reopen old wounds, renew the anger and divisiveness that had once ripped the town apart. But more frightening than any of these things, was the knowledge that when Johnny returned, Marissa’s nine-year-old secret would be exposed.

  In three weeks, one day and fifteen hours, all hell was going to break loose in Mustang, Montana.

  Chapter 1

  Three weeks later

  The door to the flower shop burst open, the bell ringing discordantly as a plump blonde flew to the counter. “Guess who’s back in town?”

  Marissa Sawyer clipped the end off a pink rose and added it to the floral arrangement she was putting together. Leaning against the counter, she smiled at her friend, Lucy. “Let’s see, it’s almost three-thirty and the one and only bus that stops in Mustang must have just pulled in. I guess Johnny Crockett is back in town.”

  Lucy’s expression of eager anticipation in sharing a secret fell away. “How did you guess?”

  Marissa picked up another rose. “Bad news travels fast. I knew he was getting out today. The prison warden sent Dad a letter letting him know the day of Johnny’s release.”

  “I can’t believe he would dare come back here,” Lucy exclaimed.

  Marissa shrugged with feigned nonchalance. “Where else would he go? At least here he has a ranch to live on.”

  “Yeah, if you want to call that broken-down old shack a ranch.”

  “It’s not Johnny’s fault that the place fell to ruin while he was in prison.” Marissa shoved the rose into the arrangement, trying to still the sick dread that rolled in her stomach.

  Johnny was back. Here in Mustang, Montana. Hopefully he would stay out on his ranch and never venture into town. Hopefully his and Marissa’s paths would never cross and he would never find out about the secret she’d kept for ten long years.

  Yeah, right, a small voice said dryly...and tomorrow pigs will fly. She shoved these thoughts aside, unwilling to face her fears until necessary.

  “Who’s the arrangement for?” Lucy asked, touching the pink ribbon that wove through the roses and greenery.

  “Elena Richards. Trent came in and ordered it for their anniversary.”

  Lucy pouted. “How come all the good guys in Mustang are already taken?”

  Marissa laughed. “You seem to do all right. You have a date with a different guy every weekend.”

  Lucy tilted her head and gazed at her friend. “And you never have a date. Why is that?”

  Again Marissa shrugged. “Who has time? With Benjamin and this shop, by the end of a day, I’m too tired to think about love.”

  “Ah, but love is in the air. Prom is just a couple of weeks away and the Summerfest Dance will be here before we know it.”

  “I know, I’ve already let my supplier know to stock up on roses and baby’s breath for the prom, and I haven’t decided yet what flowers I’m going to use for the table centerpieces.”

  “Roses and baby’s breath, the stuff high-school proms are made of,” Lucy replied.

  Marissa frowned, remembering her high-school prom. There were no memories of baby’s breath and roses, only memories of the murder of a young girl and the arrest of the man Marissa loved.

  “I’d better get back to the café. Stella told me if I was late from my break she’d make me wait on every creep that walked through the door, and this time of year we get plenty of cheap, nasty cowboys drifting through town.” With a wave of her hand, Lucy
started out the door, colliding with Marissa’s nine-year-old son, Benjamin.

  “Whoa, cowboy,” Lucy said as she leaned down and kissed his cheek. “See you guys later,” she said, heading back to work.

  “Hi, Mom.” Benjamin walked over to the counter where she was working.

  “Hi, honey.” As always Marissa’s heart swelled with pride as she gazed at her handsome son. “How was school today?”

  “Okay.” He stowed his books beneath the counter “I got a B-plus on my math test.”

  “Hey, that’s terrific,” Marissa replied. “I know you were worried about that test.”

  “Yeah, but it wasn’t too bad.” He leaned against the counter and watched her for a few minutes.

  His dark hair was longer than Marissa liked, but she had to admit the style emphasized the features that every day seemed to be losing childhood and galloping toward manhood. Although he had Marissa’s thin face, his blue eyes and the cleft in his chin were all his father’s.

  “Can I go over to Billy’s house? He got a new computer game.”

  “We’ll see after your chores are done.” Benjamin was saving money for a computer of his own. He and his mother had agreed that after school each day he would help her in the flower shop for an hour or two and she would pay him a reasonable hourly salary.

  “The floor in the backroom needs sweeping and the sink needs to be scrubbed,” Marissa said.

  “Okay.” With a whirl of boyish energy, he disappeared into the backroom.

  A smile remained on Marissa’s lips as she finished the arrangement and placed it in the refrigerated showcase. She’d just finished cleaning up her work area when the bell rang to announce another customer. She looked up with a welcoming smile that instantly fell from her face.