Jared's Texas Homecoming

Jared's Texas Homecoming
Patricia Thayer

Always the black sheep, Jared Trager came to Texas, looking for the truth about his heritage, not to get hitched! But sassy single mom Dana Shayne, and her spunky son, Evan, needed Jared's help to save their ranch…and he needed them more than his heart was willing to admit.Dana was crazy to fall for another man promising her the moon, yet she couldn't resist Jared's generous proposal. He seemed determined to care for them, but Dana worried he might leave to pursue old dreams. How could she convince him that the path to true happiness led back to home…to her and Evan?

“If we decided to get married, how soon do you think…?”

Dana didn’t need to finish the sentence. Jared had already thought through their marriage of convenience.

“As soon as possible,” he said firmly. “I don’t receive the money from the trust fund until I have a marriage certificate.”

“Of course, it wouldn’t be a real marriage.” Dana gave him a questioning look. “I mean, you can’t expect me—us…”

Jared bit back a groan. Oh, he wanted her all right, and if she were honest, she’d admit she wanted him, too. The two times they’d kissed diminished any doubt of that. They’d been nothing less than explosive. “To consummate the marriage,” he finished for her.

She nodded as a blush covered her cheeks.

“Dana, if you’re worried I’m going to jump you, I’m not. If you want to take the relationship further, I’ll leave that up to you.”

Jared’s Texas Homecoming

Patricia Thayer

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

To Tyler

My buddy, I’ll miss sharing my office with you.

To Hence,

Your knowledge is invaluable to me; so is your friendship.

PATRICIA THAYER

has been writing for the past sixteen years and has published seventeen books with Silhouette. Her books have been nominated for the National Readers’ Choice Award, Virginia Romance Writers of America’s Holt Medallion and a prestigious RITA

Award. In 1997 Nothing Short of a Miracle won the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award for Best Special Edition.

Thanks to the understanding men in her life—her husband of thirty-two years, Steve, and her three grown sons and two grandsons—Pat has been able to fulfill her dream of writing romance. Another dream is to own a cabin in Colorado, where she can spend her days writing and her evenings with her favorite hero, Steve. She loves to hear from readers. You can write to her at P.O. Box 6251, Anaheim, CA 92816-0251, or check her Web site at www.patriciathayer.com for upcoming books.

Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Epilogue

Prologue

He only came back because of his brother.

Jared Trager Hastings stepped into his father’s office. The musty-smelling room looked dull and gloomy with its dark-stained paneling and opaque drapes. The heavy oak desk and chairs were the same pieces his grandfather had used years ago.

With his brother, Marshall’s, death, Jared knew that he had just moved to the head of the line to take over the family business, Hastings Development. That was never going to happen. Jared had always been a major disappointment to his father, unable to live up to Graham Hastings’s high standards. Marsh had been the perfect son. Now he was gone, dead at thirty-one from leukemia.

A strange numbness claimed Jared. Two brothers couldn’t have been more different—one doing everything to please his father, the other doing whatever possible to alienate the man, including running off at twenty. The one regret Jared had was that he’d missed knowing his brother. Now it was too late.

Jared checked his watch. He needed to get on the road. It was a long drive to Nevada. Suddenly the door opened and Graham walked in, along with Marsh’s wife, Jocelyn. She was slender to the point of looking frail. Her dark brown hair was pulled back in a bun and her eyes seemed too big for her face, but she appeared to be the one helping GH into the room.

“I thought you’d be gone by now,” his father said.

Graham had aged rapidly. At fifty-nine, he easily looked an extra ten years older with his deeply lined face and thinning gray hair. Today, his back was bent and his gait shaky.

Jared refused to let the man rile him. “You asked me to stay so we could talk.”

“Since when did you care what I wanted?”

“Like you ever wanted me around,” Jared threw back.

“Please, no fighting today,” Jocelyn pleaded. “Marsh wouldn’t have wanted this.”

Jared felt ashamed. “I’m sorry, Jocelyn.”

She nodded her appreciation. “I’m the one who wanted you to stay, Jared. To tell you how grateful I am you could be here today. If we could have gotten word to you sooner—”

“Hell, boy,” Graham snapped. “Your own brother was dying and no one knew where the hell you were.”