Children of Destiny Books 1-3 (Texas: Children of Destiny Book 9) Read online

  Then he walked slowly toward her, his boot heels echoing on the wooden floors. His handsome face was gentle yet haggard, as though he hadn’t slept at all, as she hadn’t during the long hours that had separated them. He stared at her, his gaze filled with doubt until at last he saw her love for him shining in her luminous dark eyes.

  “Don’t send me away,” she whispered, reaching toward him. “Please.”

  She touched his arm, and he felt as hard and unyielding as a statue. Yet he was hot; not a statue at all. She was afraid as she’d never been afraid.

  After an agonizing length of time he folded her into his arms.

  “As if I could,” he whispered on a hoarse, ragged note, burying his face in her hair.

  A sob caught in her throat.

  “I never thought in my wildest dreams...you’d come here,” he said.

  “I never want to be anywhere else.”

  “What?” He stared at her, stunned. “Leave New York? For good?”

  “It’s only a city.”

  “It’s much more than that. It’s your life…your career. It’s everything.”

  She reached up to touch his cheek with trembling fingers. “No. You’re my life. You’re everything.”

  “I love you,” he said. “More than I’ve ever loved anyone.” There was both agony and joy in his voice as his arm tightened and crushed her to him. She felt him shaking with intense emotion, and she began to tremble as well.

  He did not ask her again what she was doing here. He believed her.

  She kissed his face, and he began to laugh. His large hands spanned her tiny waist. Slowly he lifted her high above his head and let her slide down once more against his body.

  “You’re light as a feather,” he murmured.

  She smiled, pleased.

  “That wasn’t a compliment,” he said huskily.

  “To me it was. I like being skinny.”

  His hand moved beneath the silken mass of her dark hair. His palm traced the curve of her breast. “I’m going to change that.”

  “You can try,” she whispered.

  The laughter died in his eyes, and for a long moment he was silent. “Are you sure?” Again his tone held anguish. “Can you really give it all up?”

  Her breasts rested against his hot, muscled chest. Dawn felt a simple physical happiness that just being near him gave her.

  “I missed you so much,” she said in answer, knowing that she couldn’t live without him, couldn’t live without his voice, without his body. Without him. “It means nothing to me...without you.”

  He took her fingers and kissed them, one by one.

  The air was heavy with the smell of cooking. The steak was sizzling and popping.

  “Dawn! I forgot the damn steak! I’d better turn the stove off,” he cried, taking her by the hand and rushing her into the kitchen, “before I burn the house down.”

  Swiftly he turned off the oven. He smiled at her, a smile that was so warm and exciting that she dared not look at him for too long. When she kept looking at the floor, he ran his callused finger lightly along her delicate jawbone. “We’ll eat later,” he said softly.

  Outside the screened kitchen windows, the too-early darkness of the range and the afternoon smelled fresh and sweet. Someday soon he would teach her the individual smells of jasmine and climbing roses and huisache and mesquite. And all the wildflowers, too. But not now. Not now, when her presence was like a living thing heating his blood.

  His fingers tightened on hers. Inside the house, the air was charged with the jet of their sexual excitement.

  He led her into the bedroom and turned off the light, holding her quietly in the darkness. Slowly he pulled her down beneath him on the bed. Laying his face tenderly against her, he kissed her over and over.

  She stroked his cheek. Then she traced the hard muscles of his chest and shoulders with her eager hands.

  All that dark night, she would have him to herself.

  For all the rest of the dark nights in her life, he would be hers.

  And she knew that never again would she be afraid of the darkness, because he would be with her, holding her, loving her—forever.

  He would be her husband, the father of her children. Her life. Everything. No longer would she have to dance to feel alive.

  The future stretched before her like a dazzling light. A warming brilliance—no longer a terrifying one. It was a blazing happiness that would fulfill her completely and last forever.

  “Say my name,” she whispered.

  “Dawn.”

  “No! My real name!”

  “What?”

  “Say it,” she pleaded. “Call me Julia.” Her light yet urgent tone drifted away in the darkness.

  She felt his hands go still in her hair. For a long time he was silent.

  “Julia,” he said very slowly, very reverently. “My darling Julia.”

  Though his mouth closed gently over hers, she could feel his desperate passion, his wild elation, the tornado whirling inside him.

  Tenderly, insistently, his hand flowed downward, warm, slow, but sure, touching her everywhere, arousing her, claiming her, making her his.

  He lifted his head, looking down into her beautiful face.

  “Julia...” His voice was husky, uncertain. “Darling.”

  Her eyes sparkled with unshed tears. He felt himself drowning in her beauty, flaming against her gentle loving warmth. Then he lost all sense of caution and clutched her tightly in a spasm of uncontrolled desire.

  His Julia had come back to him at last.

  She felt his cheek, and it was wet with his tears. Softly, gently, she began to kiss them away.

  THE END

  Connect with Ann to receive a free eBook, information about her latest books and freebies.

  If you enjoyed this book, it would be so lovely if you left a review on your favorite retailer’s site or Goodreads. In the past when I was published traditionally, your review wasn’t nearly as important to writers like me as it is now that I have started Indie publishing. I was always well-reviewed by major reviewers.

  But in this brave new world, reader reviews play a significant part in sales rank and in actual sales. With almost five million new books published this year alone, it is hard for a writer to gain readership.

  You can help! And your help will be much appreciated by whatever writer you choose to review! It certainly will be by me.

  If you have enjoyed my series, Texas: Children of Destiny series thus far, you might also enjoy, my Accidental Bodyguard series.

  Book 1 of this series is The Accidental Bridegroom.

  When love refuses to die…

  He was forced to leave her once, but he’ll never do it again.

  The past: Cathy Calderon was the wild, willful heiress her dangerous stepfather hired hard-edged bodyguard Rafe Steel to protect. Rafe never mixed business with pleasure until Cathy set her sights on seducing him.

  Six years later: Just as Cathy is about to marry a man her family deems suitable, Rafe discovers she never told him she'd had his daughter, who is an enchanting, pint-sized replica of the woman he can't forget. Even though her stepfather has threatened him if he ever goes near Cathy again, Rafe can't walk away from his daughter or her mother.

  Then Magic Goes Haywire: When Cathy commissions a curandera whose love spells always go awry to make a love potion for her bridegroom but "accidentally" shares it with Rafe on The Day of the Dead, the spark between them flares out of control.

  “Ms. Major highlights her classic tale with searing sensuality and a real dramatic flair.” –RT Book reviews

  Book 2 of this series is The Accidental Bodyguard

  The Man: Lucas Broderick—powerhouse lawyer.

  The Job: Millions had been left to a conniving "goody-two-shoes." Lucas's mission? To break the will.

  Accident about to happen: Beautiful mystery heiress Bethany Ann Moran—a.k.a. Chandra.

  Lucas Broderick had been hired for the case of the
century! The Moran family matriarch had died, leaving her fortune to Bethany Ann—the "dark horse" granddaughter. But Bethany never arrived to claim her inheritance…and coincidentally Lucas wound up with an alluring amnesiac hiding out in his house. Lucas knew the gorgeous stranger was trouble, but nothing would stop him from protecting her. Even though Chandra bore a remarkable resemblance to Bethany Ann Moran….

  MAN OF THE MONTH: Can Lucas save her from the dangerous past? He has to—and this time he'll make Chandra his bride!

  You might also enjoy Ann’s Lone Star Dynasty series.

  Love with an Imperfect Cowboy (Book1)

  Should she? Or shouldn’t she?

  When a rough-cut Texas cowboy haunted by his past saves a Park Avenue bride on the run, opposites attract in a big, Texas way in USA Today Bestselling Ann Major's Love With an Imperfect Cowboy.

  Hannah Lewis never imagined she’d run from her own magnificent, Upper East Side wedding. Born and bred in a penthouse on Park Avenue, she excels at everything - except maybe juggling a career, planning a wedding and paying attention to her fiancé. But couldn't he have chosen another day to cheat with her twin sister? Now Hannah's headed as far away as she can get from New York and her public humiliation. No one will expect to find her at a dude ranch in Lonesome, Texas … but just maybe she can find herself there.

  Liam Stark is trying to hold it together on the anniversary of the worst night of his life. When a stuck-up beauty walks into the Lonesome Dove Bar, full of rough truckers and ranch-hands, she's trouble in red cowgirl boots—trouble that Liam doesn't need. Especially when he offers her safe haven from a storm on his ranch, and she stirs up memories he'd give anything to forget. Liam has lost too many people he loved—his wife and son on a dangerous stretch of Texas highway, and men under his command in the Afghan conflict. This beauty will be gone in a New York minute as well … unless he asks her to stay.

  Attraction flames between them, hot as the Texas sun. But when their pasts cause problems, can they trust each other enough to believe they can share a future?

  Praise for Ann Major:

  “No one provides hotter emotional fireworks than the fiery Ann Major.” –Romantic Times

  “Ann Major’s name on the cover instantly identifies the book as a good read.” –New York Times bestselling author Sandra Brown

  “Want it all? Read Ann Major.” –New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts

  Ann Major Classics

  The Accidental Bodyguard Series

  Book 1 – The Accidental Bridegroom

  Book 2 - The Accidental Bodyguard

  Texas: Children of Destiny Series

  Book 1 – Passion’s Child (free)

  Book 2- Destiny’s Child

  Book 3- Night Child

  Book 4-Wilderness Child

  Book 5-Scandal’s Child

  Book 6-The Goodbye Child

  Book 7- Nobody’s Child

  Book 8- Secret Child (Coming soon)

  Men of the West Series

  Book 1 - Wild Lady

  Book 2 - The Fairy Tale Girl

  Book 3 – Meant To Be

  Stand-alone novellas

  Santa’s Special Miracle

  The Baby Machine

  Fantasy Lovers

  Short Stories

  In Love With The Enemy (free)

  One Night? Or Forever? (free)

  I Will Find You (free)

  New Releases by Major Press LLC

  Lone Star Dynasty Series

  Book 1- Love With An Imperfect Cowboy

  All books can be found at Ann’s Website http://www.annmajor.com/

  ANN MAJOR

  E-BOOK LIST (Harlequin)

  The Golden Spurs Series

  The Girl with The Golden Spurs (Bk 1)

  The Girl with the Golden Gun (Bk 2)

  The Throw-Away Bride (Bk3)

  The Bride Hunter (Bk 4)

  The Fantasy Series

  Midnight Fantasy (Bk 1)

  Cowboy Fantasy (Bk 2)

  Stand-alone Novels (Romantic Suspense)

  Secret Lives of Doctors’ Wives

  Wild Enough for Willa

  Marry a Man Who will Dance

  The Hot Ladies Murder Club

  Stand-alone Novels (Contemporary Romance)

  Her Pregnancy Secret

  The Amalfi Bride

  A Cowboy & a Gentleman

  A Scandal So Sweet

  His for the Taking

  Terms of Engagement

  Marriage at the Cowboy’s Command

  Ultimatum: Marriage

  To Tame Her Tycoon Lover

  Mistress for a Month

  Shameless

  Love Me True

  A Cowboy Christmas

  http://www.annmajor.com

  http://www.annmajor.com

  ANN MAJOR is a USA Today bestselling author, who lives in Texas with her husband of many years. Newly-retired, he harbors ambitions of encroaching on her territory, so she faces new challenges on the domestic front. She has three grown children and several grandchildren. A former English teacher, she has a master’s degree from Texas A&M at Kingsville, Texas. She is a co-founder of Romance Writers of America and a frequent speaker at writers’ groups.

  Besides her writing, Ann loves to hike in the mountains, sail, kayak, travel, and play the piano. More recently she enjoys stand up paddle boarding. Most of all she enjoys her friends and family... and, last but not least, her muy macho cat, Jack.

  Connect with Ann

  Website

  Twitter

  Facebook

  Goodreads

  Passion’s Child copyright 2016

  Destiny’s Child copyright 2016

  Night Child copyright 2016

  Copyright 2016 Ann Major

  ISBN: 1 942473-22-0

  MAJOR PRESS LLC

  241 Rosebud Ave.

  Corpus Christi, Texas 78404

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Major Press LLC.

  All of the characters in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Cover Design and Interior format by The Killion Group

  http://thekilliongroupinc.com