âJ.D. was a bastard.
âWhat he did was terrible,â Colleen said. âBut he did it because he loved you.â
âHe betrayed me,â Sage insisted.
âCanât you say J.D. did you a favor, too?â
âIâm not ready to thank him. But I can say that if he hadnât stuck his nose in, I might not be standing here with a woman who turns my blood to fire with a look.â
âSage â¦â
âIâve been trying to stay away from youââ
âI know,â she said. âWhy?â
âBecause I want you too much. Youâre in my blood, Colleen.â
âYouâre in mine, too.â
They kissed, but just as the kiss was spiraling out of control, Sage pulled back. âDamned if weâre going to be together in an old cabin, then in an equipment shed. Today, weâre going to try an actual bed. Come with me.â
* * *
The Black Sheepâs Inheritance
is a Dynasties: The Lassiters novelâ
A Wyoming legacy of love, lies and redemption!
MAUREEN CHILD writes for the Mills & Boon® Desire⢠line and canât imagine a better job. Being able to indulge your love for romance, as well as being able to spin stories just the way you want them told is, in a word, perfect.
A seven-time finalist for the prestigious Romance Writers of America RITA® Award, Maureen is the author of more than one hundred romance novels. Her books regularly appear on the bestseller lists and have won several awards, including a Prism, a National Readersâ Choice Award, a Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence and a Golden Quill.
One of her books, The Soul Collector, was made into a CBS TV movie starring Melissa Gilbert, Bruce Greenwood and Ossie Davis. If you look closely, in the last five minutes of the movie, youâll spot Maureen, who was an extra in the last scene.
Maureen believes that laughter goes hand in hand with love, so her stories are always filled with humor. The many letters she receives assures her that her readers love to laugh as much as she does.
Maureen Child is a native Californian, but has recently moved to the mountains of Utah. She loves a new adventure, though the thought of having to deal with snow for the first time is a little intimidating.
To Stacy Boyd and Charles Griemsman, two editors who make writing Desires such a terrific experience
One
The lawyerâs office at the firm of Drake, Alcott and Whittaker was too crowded for Sage Lassiterâs tastes. He much preferred being out on his ranch, in the cold, crisp air of a Wyoming spring. Still, he had no choice but to attend the reading of his adoptive fatherâs will.
J.D. Lassiter had been dead only a couple of weeks and Sage was having a hard time coming to grips with it. Hell, he would have bet money that J.D. was far too stubborn to actually die. And now that he had, Sage was forced to live with the knowledge that now he would never have the chance to straighten things out between himself and the man who had raised him. Just like J.D. to go ahead and do something whether anyone else was ready for it or not. The old man had, once again, gotten the last word.
Sage couldnât have said when the tension between him and J.D. had taken root, but he remembered it as an always-there kind of feeling. Nothing tangible. Nothing that he could point to and say: There. That was it. The beginning of the end. Instead, it was a slow disintegration of whatever might have been between them and it was beyond too late to think about it now. Old hurts, old resentments had no place in this room and nowhere to go even if he had let them take the forefront in his mind.
âYou look like you want to hit something.â His younger brother Dylanâs voice came in a whisper.
Shooting him a hard look, Sage shook his head. âNo, just canât really take in that weâre here.â
âI know.â Dylan pushed his brown hair off his forehead and gave a quick look around the room before turning back to Sage. âStill canât quite believe J.D.âs gone.â
âI was just thinking the same thing.â He shifted, folded his arms across his chest and said, âIâm worried about Marlene.â
Dylan followed his gaze.
Marlene Lassiter had stepped in as surrogate mother to Sage, Dylan and Angelica after Ellie Lassiter died during childbirth with Angie. Sheâd been married to J.D.âs brother Charles, and when she was widowed, sheâd come home to Wyoming to live on Big Blue, the Lassiter ranch. Sheâd been nurturer, friend and trusted confidante for too many years to count.
âSheâll be okay, eventually,â Dylan said, then winced as they watched Marlene hold a sodden tissue to her mouth as if trying to stifle a wail of agony.
âHope youâre right,â Sage muttered, uncomfortable seeing Marlene in pain and knowing there wasnât a damn thing he could do about it.
Marleneâs son, Chance Lassiter, sat to one side of her, his arm thrown protectively around her shoulders. He wore a leather jacket tossed on over a long-sleeved white shirt. Dark blue jeans and boots completed the outfit, and the gray Stetson he was never without was balanced on one knee. He was a cowboy down to his bones and the manager of J.D.âs thirty-thousand-acre ranch, Big Blue.