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  Praise for the novels of Sherryl Woods

  “Sherryl Woods writes emotionally satisfying novels about family, friendship and home. Truly feel-great reads!”

  —#1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber

  “During the course of this gripping, emotionally wrenching but satisfying tale, Woods deftly and realistically handles such issues as survival guilt, drug abuse as adolescent rebellion, and family dynamics when a vital member is suddenly gone.”

  —Booklist on Flamingo Diner

  “Woods is a master heartstring puller.”

  —Publishers Weekly on Seaview Inn

  “Once again, Woods, with such authenticity, weaves a tale of true love and the challenges that can knock up against that love.”

  —RT Book Reviews on Beach Lane

  “Woods...is noted for appealing character-driven stories that are often infused with the flavor and fragrance of the South.”

  —Library Journal

  “A reunion story punctuated by family drama, Woods’s first novel in her new Ocean Breeze series is touching, tense and tantalizing.”

  —RT Book Reviews on Sand Castle Bay

  “A whimsical, sweet scenario... The digressions have their own charm, and Woods never fails to come back to the romantic point.”

  —Publishers Weekly on Sweet Tea at Sunrise

  #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR

  Sherryl Woods

  West Texas Nights

  Also by Sherryl Woods

  Adams Dynasty

  A Christmas Blessing

  Natural Born Daddy

  The Cowboy and His Baby

  The Rancher and His Unexpected Daughter

  The Littlest Angel

  Natural Born Trouble

  Unexpected Mommy

  The Cowgirl and the Unexpected Wedding

  Natural Born Lawman

  The Unclaimed Baby

  The Cowboy and His Wayward Bride

  Suddenly, Annie’s Father

  The Sweet Magnolias

  Stealing Home

  A Slice of Heaven

  Feels Like Family

  Welcome to Serenity

  Home in Carolina

  Sweet Tea at Sunrise

  Honeysuckle Summer

  Midnight Promises

  Catching Fireflies

  Where Azaleas Bloom

  Swan Point

  Chesapeake Shores

  The Inn At Eagle Point

  Flowers On Main

  Harbor Lights

  A Chesapeake Shores Christmas

  Driftwood Cottage

  Moonlight Cove

  Beach Lane

  An O’Brien Family Christmas

  The Summer Garden

  A Seaside Christmas

  The Christmas Bouquet

  Dogwood Hill

  Willow Brook Road

  Lilac Lane

  Molly DeWitt Mysteries

  Tropical Blues

  Rough Seas

  Nonfiction

  A Small Town Love Story: Colonial Beach, Virginia

  For a complete list of all titles by Sherryl Woods, visit www.sherrylwoods.com.

  This one is for all the readers who’ve embraced my characters and stories through the years. You’ve been such a blessing in my life and I treasure the friendship you’ve offered.

  Table of Contents

  The Cowboy and His Wayward Bride

  Suddenly, Annie’s Father

  The Cowboy and His Wayward Bride

  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

  One

  Pure, gut-deep exhaustion had settled over country-music superstar Laurie Jensen weeks earlier, and now it seemed she was walking around in a haze from dawn to dusk. A new baby who didn’t know the meaning of a full night’s sleep, a concert tour, publicity demands and the burden of keeping a secret from the one person in the world with whom she had always been totally, brutally honest—all of it had combined to take a terrible emotional toll.

  She sat in her fancy dressing room long after her concert had ended and the fans had drifted away. With the sleeping baby nestled in her arms, her own eyes drifting shut, she relished the momentary silence, welcoming it just as she had the applause earlier.

  Bliss, she thought. The quiet was absolute bliss.

  Of course, it didn’t last.

  “Laurie, you ready?” her assistant called out in a hushed tone with an accompanying rap on the door. “The limo’s outside to take us back to the hotel.”

  Even the soft tap and whispered reminder were enough noise to wake the always restless baby, who began to fuss, then settled into a full-throated yowling that gave Laurie a splitting headache.

  “Shh, sweetheart. Everything’s okay. Mama’s here,” she soothed, gathering up her purse and easing toward the door.

  As the baby quieted and finally began to gurgle contentedly, Laurie did a quick survey of the room to be sure she’d left nothing behind, thankful once again for Val’s efficiency. Her assistant handled everything from toting diaper bags to making complex travel arrangements with total aplomb. She’d even been known to tuck Amy Lynn into the crook of her arm and feed her while answering Laurie’s fan mail with her free hand.

  Often, observing her whirlwind assistant at work, Laurie wished she were half so competent, even a quarter so adept with the multiple demands facing her. There were times—and tonight was one of them—when she felt thoroughly overwhelmed, when she wanted nothing more than to run straight back to Texas and into Harlan Patrick’s waiting arms. Assuming he was still waiting for her after all this time and after she’d made it clear that her singing career was what she wanted most in this world.

  What was wrong with her? Was she completely out of her mind trying to tackle the demands of motherhood and a singing career all on her own? Especially when she knew with absolute certainty that the baby’s father would have flown to her side in a heartbeat if only she’d told him about Amy Lynn?

  But that was the trouble, of course. Harlan Patrick Adams would have taken the news that he was a daddy as reason enough to demand that she marry him at once, return to Los Piños, Texas, and be a rancher’s wife. There would have been no ifs, ands or buts about it.

  She’d known the man since she was in kindergarten. She knew how he operated. A bulldozer did gentle nudging by comparison. Oh, she knew Harlan Patrick, all right. They’d exchanged birthday presents at five, their first awkward dance at thirteen, their first real kiss at fifteen.

  Harlan Patrick had flirted with typical Adams abandon with every girl in town, but there’d never been a doubt in anyone’s mind that Laurie was the one he loved. With single-minded determination, he’d been asking her to marry him for years now. And she’d been saying no, while practically everyone in the universe told her she’d lost her mind.

  Unlike the music business, Harlan Patrick Adams and his love were a sure thing, her mother had told her repeatedly. His family was the richest and most powerful in Los Piños, practically in all of Texas. He could give her stability, the kind of rock-solid future most
women dreamed of, the kind her mother had always craved.

  Unfortunately, Laurie’s dreams tended toward a world that no one, not even an Adams, could guarantee. From the time she’d learned the words to an old Patsy Cline hit, she’d wanted to be a country-music sensation. God had blessed her with the voice for it. Whether it was the church choir or the school chorus, Laurie had always been the star soloist. The applause had been wonderful, but she would have sung for the sheer joy of it. And maybe, at one time, she would have been content with that.

  But over the years Harlan Patrick had unwittingly fed her obsession by seeing to it that she saw concerts by every country superstar who appeared anywhere in Texas. He’d even wrangled a backstage meeting with a few. Laurie had discovered her destiny.

  Somehow, though, he’d never taken seriously her desire to be up there on the stage, earning her own applause. For him, the gestures had been an indulgence. For her, they had been an inspiration. He’d thought time, a little coaxing and a few breath-stealing kisses would change her mind. She’d found his inability to recognize and accept her dream more annoying than her mom’s.

  After all, Mary Jensen had had a tough life. She was practical to the very core. Harlan Patrick, however, was supposed to be Laurie’s soul mate, the man in whom she’d confided her hopes and dreams all her life. The discovery that he’d merely been indulging what he called “her little fantasies” had brought on one of the most heated fights they’d ever had.

  Why hadn’t he been able to understand that singing was simply something she had to do with the gift God had given her? He’d let her—let her, she thought indignantly—sing in the neighboring towns if that’s what she wanted, but Nashville had been out of the question. His ultimatum had been phrased in a generous, condescending tone that had set her teeth on edge. As if the decision were his to make, she’d thought as she turned on her heel and walked out of his life for good.

  In one way she was grateful. It had made it easier to say goodbye, to head for Nashville without looking back. She’d dug in her heels, too, even when the going had been tough and she’d been waiting tables to make ends meet. Knowing that he’d welcome her back with an I-told-you-so smile had driven her to stay the course.

  It had been two long, lonely years before she’d been discovered by her agent, but then things had happened so quickly it had left her reeling. She’d captured the Horizon Award for up-and-coming stars with her first album, a Grammy and a CMA Award with her second. She’d gone from a show-starter for the superstars to a concert tour of her own that had broken box-office records. In no time, it seemed, every single debuted at the top of the charts and every album went gold.

  Only then, with rave reviews and money in her pocket, had she gone back to Los Piños. It was the only time she’d seen Harlan Patrick in the five years since she’d left. She was home just long enough to discover that the chemistry between them was as explosive as ever and that he was every bit as bullheaded as he’d been the day she walked out. He’d actually thought that she’d be ready to walk away from it all now that she’d proved to herself she could do it, as if it had been some cute little game she’d been playing. The man could infuriate her faster than anyone else on earth.

  Then, just a few weeks after their reunion, she’d discovered she was pregnant. From that moment on, all she’d been able to think about was keeping the baby a secret from Harlan Patrick. She’d been able to walk away from him not just once, but twice. Could she do it again, especially with a baby in the picture? She wasn’t sure she’d have the strength or even the will.

  For the first few months of her pregnancy, it had been simple enough to avoid his calls and keep the secret. She was either in Nashville or on the road and she was extremely careful that no one—not even the very discreet Val—had any idea she was going to have a child. Val knew only that she had no desire to speak to one Harlan Patrick Adams, which pretty much assured that there wasn’t a chance in hell he’d get through to her. Eventually he’d gotten the message and given up. Not even Harlan Patrick was stubborn beyond all reason. Nor was he a masochist. It hadn’t taken all that long for the Adams pride to kick in and assure her of a reprieve from his pestering.

  When Laurie could no longer disguise her expanding waistline, she had scheduled five months in seclusion at her home on the outskirts of Nashville. She’d let Val and no one else in on the secret and let her assistant run interference.

  “She’s working on songs for her next album,” Val had told any and all callers, including Laurie’s agent. That had kept him, if not the media, satisfied.

  Now she had Amy Lynn to remember her childhood sweetheart by, and it was both the most miraculous blessing on earth and a painful reminder of what might have been. When she thought of how Harlan Patrick would have adored their precious child, she hated herself for keeping silent. And yet, what choice had she had?

  None, she assured herself. Handsome as sin, but stubborn as a mule, Harlan Patrick had given her none. The man didn’t know the meaning of compromise. He’d made it impossible for her to do anything other than exactly what she had done.

  After Amy Lynn’s birth, she had scheduled recording sessions for the next two months. There’d been a short break, barely long enough for her to catch her breath while the album had been rushed to market, followed by the grueling pace of a concert tour set to coincide with the album’s release.

  By then, those closest to her knew about the baby, but they’d all been sworn to secrecy and they had united to protect both Laurie and the baby from the glare of the spotlight. It couldn’t last forever, but it had to last long enough that Harlan Patrick wouldn’t connect her child with that last visit to Los Piños.

  It meant sneaking in and out of concert halls and clubs, using hotel back doors and heavily tinted limo windows, but the worst of it was over. One more month, mostly in small towns and out-of-the-way clubs to which she owed a debt, and they’d be home again. She could drop out of sight completely there, live in seclusion with her daughter. Just thinking of it was enough to have her sighing with relief.

  They were halfway down the hall when Val muttered a curse. “I left that package of autographed pictures in the office. Wait for me at the back door, and I’ll check the alley before you go out.”

  It was an established routine. When Laurie had the baby with her, Val always preceded her to make sure the coast was clear, that there were no paparazzi or overly zealous fans lurking in the shadows. Sometimes it was Val who carried Amy Lynn tucked in her arms as if the baby were her own.

  Tonight, though, Laurie was thinking only of crawling into the back of the limo, resting her aching head against the smooth-as-butter leather and catching a ten-minute nap on the way back to the hotel. That was how bad it had gotten. Even ten minutes of uninterrupted sleep sounded heavenly.

  She was so anxious to reach the car and settle in that she opened the door of the auditorium without waiting for Val. The instant she did, a photographer’s flashbulb exploded in her face. Panic had her whirling to shield the baby, but she knew in her heart it was too late. The man had had a clear shot in that instant before she’d been aware of his presence and time to click off a few more shots while she’d been temporarily blinded by the first brilliant flash of light.

  “Oh, God, no,” she murmured, imagining the picture splashed across the front of every tabloid in the country. Tears slid down her cheeks even as Val exited the building, saw what was happening and took off after the photographer with fire in her eyes.

  To Laurie’s relief, Val caught him at the end of the alley, but all of her pleading and cajoling could not make him relinquish the prized roll of film. Nor could the swift kick she aimed at his shin or the knee she tried to place deftly in his groin, but Laurie had to admire her courage in trying. She vowed to give the woman a raise for going way above the call of duty, even if her efforts had failed.

  Defeated, Val returned to the limo. “I
’m sorry,” she whispered. “I should have checked the alley.”

  “It’s not your fault,” Laurie reassured her wearily. “I should have waited. I was just so tired.”

  “Maybe he was just some local guy and the picture won’t make it beyond here,” Val suggested hopefully.

  “Ever heard of wire services?” Laurie inquired, wishing she could believe Val, but knowing that she was doomed. Harlan Patrick was going to see the picture. Sooner or later someone would bring it to his attention, and then, no matter what conclusion he reached when he saw it, it was going to rip his heart in two.

  Then, she thought with a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach, all hell was going to break loose. It was just a matter of time.

  * * *

  “I say we buy up all the copies in town and burn them,” Sharon Lynn said vehemently, tossing the offending tabloid onto her parents’ kitchen table. “If Harlan Patrick sees this, he’s going to freak out.”

  This was a half-page picture of country-music superstar Laurie Jensen with “Her Secret Love Child.”

  “He’s finally over her,” Sharon Lynn said of her brother. “He’s not even playing her songs on the new jukebox down at Dolan’s anymore.”

  “No, now he plays them on that boom box he carries with him everywhere he goes,” her mother said. “We have to show it to him. Maybe this will finally close that chapter in his life. He’ll have to move on once he sees she has a child.”

  Harlan Patrick stood outside the kitchen door and listened to the whole conversation. His stomach had clenched and his hand had stilled on the screen door the instant he’d realized the topic. The merest mention of Laurie was all it took to get his heart to thudding dully and his forehead to break out in a cold sweat.

  How the hell was he supposed to get over Laurie when she was a part of him, as vital to him as breathing? Losing her had made him question everything, every choice he’d made, even his commitment to the family ranch. There were times when the weight of the family’s expectations and his sense of his own destiny almost combined to crush him.