Cattleman's Choice

Cattleman's Choice
Diana Palmer

Carson Wayne had come to Mandelyn Bush with the ultimate request: he needed her to teach him how to treat a lady. No doubt he'd asked the right person–Mandelyn was as polished and feminine as Carson was rough and reclusive. And she was the only person who could reason with him during one of his barroom brawls.It was too intriguing a challenge to turn down. Mandelyn was curious about what lay beneath the outlaw's hard shell. She suspected that the renegade was really a caring and sensitive man.But what she hadn't counted on were her own feelings for this irresistible rebel.

Carson Wayne had come to Mandelyn Bush with the ultimate request: he needed her to teach him how to treat a lady. No doubt he'd asked the right person Mandelyn was as polished and feminine as Carson was rough and reclusive. And she was the only person who could reason with him during one of his barroom brawls.

It was too intriguing a challenge to turn down. Mandelyn was curious about what lay beneath the outlaw's hard shell. She suspected that the renegade was really a caring and sensitive man.

But what she hadn’t counted on were her own feelings for this irresistible rebel.

“I need some help.”

“You!” Mandelyn burst out.

Carson glared at her. “Don’t make jokes.”

“Okay.” She sighed. “What do you want me to do?”

Uncharacteristically, he hesitated. His face hardened. “Hell, look at me,” he growled finally, ramming his hands into the pockets of his worn, faded jeans. “You told Patty I was too savage to get a woman, and you were right. I don’t know how to behave in civilized company. I don’t even know which fork to use in a fancy restaurant.” He shifted restlessly, looking arrogant and proud and self-conscious all at once. “I want you to teach me some manners.”

“Me?” Mandelyn exclaimed in shock.

“Of course you,” he shot back. “There’s no one else who could teach me as well as you could.”

Also available from MIRA Books and DIANA PALMER

THE RAWHIDE MAN

LADY LOVE

FRIENDS AND LOVERS

DIAMOND GIRL

PASSION FLOWER

CHAMPAGNE GIRL

ROOMFUL OF ROSES

AFTER THE MUSIC

ONCE IN PARIS

RAGE OF PASSION

PAPER ROSE

FIT FOR A KING

MOST WANTED

Coming soonDIANA PALMER’s newest blockbuster LORD OF THE DESERT October 2000

Cattleman’s Choice

Diana Palmer

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

For Alicia

And for Arizona’s Stephanie, Ellen,

Trish and Nita

Table of Contents

Chapter One (#u5074ceec-f989-5108-a3d1-8235de48d956)

Chapter Two (#ue0a99038-5b0c-5a3a-8ca4-b1db8898ec15)

Chapter Three (#ubf8df5f9-e8e3-59cf-919c-06f4ecf9809c)

Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter One

At first, Mandelyn thought the pounding was just in her head; she’d gone to bed with a nagging headache. But when it got louder, she sat up in bed with a frown and stared at the clock. The glowing face told her that it was one o’clock in the morning, and she couldn’t imagine that any of the ranch hands would want to wake her at that hour without cause.

She jumped up, running a hand through the glorious blond tangle of her long hair, and pulled on a long white robe over her nightgown. Her soft gray eyes were troubled as she wound through the long ranch-style house to the front door that overlooked the Chiricahua Mountains of southeastern Arizona.

“Who is it?” she asked in the soft, cultured tones of her Charleston upbringing.

“Jake Wells, ma’am,” came the answer.

That was Carson Wayne’s foreman. And without a single word of explanation, she knew what was wrong, and why she’d been awakened.