A Cowboy's Plan

A Cowboy's Plan
Mary Sullivan

C. J. Wright has a simple strategy for his life. Get his ranch going. Sell the family's candy shop. And fix his relationship with his young son.Nowhere in his plan is there room for a woman like Janey Sweeter-than-She-Looks Wilson, his new employee. A tempting mix of contradictions, she's a puzzle he'd love to solve. More, her city-girl exterior calls to his wild side–that rodeo-riding guy he turned his back on. The one who could jeopardize all he's working for now.But things get interesting when his son becomes attached to Janey. C.J.'s forced to look beyond her surface to the woman inside. Could the emotional connection he finds persuade him to change all his plans?

Holding her had done something to him

C.J. had held Janey before. When he’d taught her to knead the candies and had felt the sharp, adolescent lust that she’d provoked.

But last night? Last night had been different, deeper, more disturbing. Dancing face-to-face, with her breasts against his chest, quickly became too intimate and scared him to his toes.

Something had changed between them and he didn’t know what to think, or how to be with her.

She looked different.

Under his gaze her cheeks turned a darker red, the way his own cheeks felt, burning hot, like someone had stretched the skin on his face too tightly. The skin on his entire body felt too tight.

Damn.

Dear Reader,

When I wrote my first Harlequin Superromance, No Ordinary Cowboy, I included a character at the end of the novel with whom I was immediately intrigued. I wanted to write her story.

Janey Wilson lived a tough first twenty-two years of her young life. She experienced more hardship than any woman her age should. Despite this, she has maintained a beautiful but vulnerable core that she protects with a tough Goth shell. The girl is attitude walking on two legs.

I began to wonder how a young woman could heal from the things Janey has known—how much fortitude it would take, and whether she nursed a tender flame of hope in her core that kept her going: the belief that someday her life would be happy.

I wanted to write a story about a woman whose flame is never extinguished no matter what the world throws at her. She finds a new family to support her and returns to her old family to heal wounds.

With the hero’s help, Janey heals, and in return she teaches him to hope and helps him to slay dragons from his past.

In this story, a little hope goes a long way!

Mary Sullivan

A Cowboy’s Plan

Mary Sullivan

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

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mary loves writing romance novels, especially for Harlequin Superromance, because no matter what happens in these stories, no matter how difficult the hero’s and heroine’s lives are, or how hopeless the success of their love might seem, the ending will always be happy. As well as writing it, she reads romance for those happy endings. Romances are an affirmation of hope. Every romance, whether in real life or invented for reading pleasure, is hope realized. Readers can reach her through her Web site at www.MarySullivanbooks.com

Books by Mary Sullivan

HARLEQUIN SUPERROMANCE

1570—NO ORDINARY COWBOY

To my wonderful agent, Pamela Hopkins; thank you for having faith in my writing.

To my editor, Wanda Ottewell; thank you for your amazing editing skills, but even more for your love of a good story.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER ONE

C. J. WRIGHT STARED at the stubborn jut of his son’s jaw and prayed for patience.

“I want Gramps.” The request in Liam’s whisper-soft voice hurt more than C.J. could say.