December 3rd, 2024
Home | Log in!

On Top Shelf
THE DOLLMAKERTHE DOLLMAKER
Fresh Pick
NO RULES TONIGHT
NO RULES TONIGHT

New Books This Week

Reader Games

Video Book Club

Holiday Giveaways


December's delights are here! Thrilling tales, romance, and magic await you.

Slideshow image


Since your web browser does not support JavaScript, here is a non-JavaScript version of the image slideshow:

slideshow image
Family secrets aren't just dangerous, they are deadly.


slideshow image
A headstrong heiress and a noble gambler: wagers, intrigue, and irresistible romance.


slideshow image
An immortal vampire, a relentless agent, and a past that refuses to stay buried.


slideshow image
A PI protecting a determined daughter, a killer ready to strike again.


slideshow image
Three homeless puppies, two lonely hearts, and a massive snowstorm.


slideshow image
Two restless souls, one wild Christmas on the ranch�where sparks fly, and dreams ride free.


Excerpt of Mason's Marriage by Tina Leonard

Purchase


Cowboys by the Dozen
Harlequin American Romance
May 2006
Featuring: Mimi Cannady; Mason Jefferson
256 pages
ISBN: 0373751176
Paperback
Add to Wish List

Romance Series

Also by Tina Leonard:

The Trouble with Twins, September 2021
Mass Market Paperback / e-Book
Last of the Red-Hot Heroes, September 2016
e-Book
Burned by a Kiss, March 2016
e-Book
The Cowboy SEAL's Triplets, July 2015
Paperback / e-Book
Last of the Red-Hot Riders, June 2015
e-Book
The Bull Rider's Twins, April 2015
e-Book
One Wild Bull Rider, April 2015
e-Book
A Family for the Bull Rider, April 2015
e-Book
Heart of a Bull Rider, April 2015
e-Book
The Twins' Rodeo Rider, February 2015
Paperback / e-Book
The SEAL?s Holiday Babies, November 2014
Paperback / e-Book
The Rebel Cowboy?s Quadruplets, July 2014
Paperback / e-Book
Last of the Red-Hot Cowboys, July 2014
e-Book
More Than Expected, March 2014
Paperback (reprint)
Her Callahan Family Man, January 2014
Paperback / e-Book
Desperado, December 2013
e-Book
A Callahan Christmas Miracle, November 2013
Paperback / e-Book
It Takes Two, October 2013
e-Book
Never Say Never, August 2013
e-Book
Callahan Cowboy Triplets, August 2013
Paperback / e-Book
His Callahan Bride's Baby, April 2013
Paperback / e-Book
Hotter Than Hot, March 2013
e-Book
Hotter Than Texas, March 2013
e-Book
A Callahan Outlaw's Twins, January 2013
Paperback / e-Book
Christmas in Texas, November 2012
Paperback / e-Book
The Cowboy Soldier's Sons, September 2012
Paperback / e-Book
The Renegade Cowboy Returns, July 2012
Paperback / e-Book (reprint)
A Father's Vow, May 2012
e-Book (reprint)
A Callahan Wedding, May 2012
Paperback / e-Book
Cowboy Sam's Quadruplets, March 2012
Paperback / e-Book
His Valentine Triplets, January 2012
Paperback / e-Book
The Cowboy's Bonus Baby, July 2011
Paperback
Frisco Joe's Fiancee & Laredo's Sassy Sweetheart, June 2011
Paperback (reprint)
The Cowboy's Triplets, May 2011
Paperback
The Cowboy From Christmas Past, November 2009
Mass Market Paperback
The Texas Twins, June 2009
Mass Market Paperback
The Triplets' Rodeo Man, March 2009
Mass Market Paperback
The Secret Agent's Surprises, February 2009
Mass Market Paperback
The Texas Ranger's Twins, January 2009
Mass Market Paperback
Christmas Getaway, November 2008
Mass Market Paperback
Texas Lullaby, June 2008
Paperback
Her Secret Sons, March 2007
Paperback
The Christmas Twins, November 2006
Paperback
My Baby, My Bride, September 2006
Paperback
Mason's Marriage, May 2006
Paperback
Last's Temptation, March 2006
Paperback
Christmas, Texas Style, November 2005
Paperback
Crockett's Seduction, September 2005
Paperback
Belonging to Bandera, June 2005
Paperback
Archer's Angels, February 2005
Paperback
Catching Calhoun, December 2004
Paperback
Frisco Joe's Fiancee, July 2003
Paperback

Excerpt of Mason's Marriage by Tina Leonard

There were many important memories in Mason Jefferson's life, some so poignant that they were etched like sand- scratched glass in his mind. One was realizing his father had gone away, leaving him in charge of a family of rambunctious, grieving boys. That was the moment Mason had first learned the meaning of the word responsible.

After that, he'd been responsible for a hell of a lot. It wasn't easy being a parent when all he'd known how to be was a boy.

Another sharp memory was the day Mimi had gotten married. Right up until the moment she'd said "I do," he'd believed she would not marry another man. He'd had every right to think that, since just the night before he had made wild, uninhibited love with her. It was the only time in his life he could truly say he'd let loose the mantle of responsibility that he'd worn over the years — and he'd loved every sweet moment of it.

"May God forgive me," he muttered to himself as he sat in a hard-backed wooden chair, one of the pieces of furniture that came with the sheriff's office.

"May God forgive me for the sin of loving another man's wife."

But there was no forgiveness for that, which he knew too well by now. The price to pay for stealing forbidden love was that you paid forever. He'd paid every time he'd seen Mimi, every holiday, every waking moment of his life.

The price was never enough to stop a man from the folly of his ways. Love would not stop just because a man knew the price was out of his reach.

Mason crossed his ankles and rested his boots on the old, well-worn desk that had belonged to Mimi's father, the former sheriff, Sheriff Cannady. This was his office, and it would take a long time for Mason to be able to believe the truth of the bronze door placard that read Sheriff Mason Jefferson.

In contrast to the office, the sign was bright and shiny, with its black letters stern against the bronze. So official. So steeped with responsibility. He had the sheriff's office, and his chair, and his desk. But he did not have the sheriff's daughter.

And now, whether he liked it or not, the final price to pay for all he'd been given, for all he'd pushed aside to be with Mimi that one night, was learning that Nanette was his daughter. Mason sighed, and stared at the ceiling, barely noticing the new coat of paint.

He remembered the day Nanette had been born. He'd helped deliver her, his own hands trembling with amazement as he'd held her. Stubborn Mimi had refused to leave her very ill father to go to a hospital, and her husband, Brian Flannigan, had been working in Houston or Austin or somewhere. Mason had stepped in, the mantle of responsibility heavy on his shoulders, to help Mimi, though the biggest part of his heart was fiercely glad that he'd gotten to share that moment with the woman he cared so much about.

The baby had let out a fierce wail of welcome to her new world, and the sound was another sharp-scratched memory he would never forget — God's miracle writhing between his big palms. Mason had shaken a mental fist at the price he would pay for being unrepentantly glad that it was he in that room and not Brian.

He had never cared about mental costs, anyway. If he had one goal in life that he would never speak aloud — not to his youngest brother, Last, not to anyone, not even Mimi — it was that he would never, ever crack as his father had. "Damn it," he whispered under his breath. "I will never leave anything behind that I love."

In spite of the anger and too-deep sense of betrayal he felt for Mimi now, Nanette was never going to think that her father had left her behind. It was his solemn vow. For stealing forbidden love, he was willing to pay the price forever.

Mimi was just going to have to deal with that.

THERE WAS NOTHING HEROIC about a man who

decided that he would be a father to his child, no matter what, Mimi decided, watching Mason pack up Nanette's things.

"Mason," she said, "you're being an ass. You cannot take my daughter and move her out to Malfunction Junction."

Mason didn't stop folding Nanette's clothes as he put them methodically in her little pink suitcase.

"Mason!" Mimi reached out to take the suitcase away from him. "No."

Silently, he looked up and met her eyes. His gaze was so flat and devoid of the friendship they'd once shared that Mimi released the suitcase when he put his hand on it.

This was not the result she'd envisioned when she'd confessed her secret, and her heart was completely broken. Not only had she lost Mason, who was her best friend and the man she'd loved all her life, but he seemed determined to take the one fragment of her world that she'd hung on to with gratitude and wonder. Nanette was her salvation, her dream come true, her only piece of Mason — Mimi had accepted that there would be no more than the child of their one stolen night.

"Mason, please," she said. "You know a child needs its mother. Nanette won't understand."

He snapped the suitcase shut. "Nanette would understand even less a father who didn't put her first in his life. She belongs on my ranch, and that's where she's going to live." His tone had flattened out, and now he picked Nanette up in his big arms. "A father puts his family in front of everything else on the planet. And if you don't agree, ask your father if he was putting you first all the years he raised you after your mother left."

She stepped back from his words. "Mason, it's not the same thing!"

He walked out the door and her words fell unheeded. Over his shoulder, Nanette looked at her with big eyes, completely satisfied to rest her chin on her father's shoulder and go with him.And why shouldn't she?All she'd ever known was that Uncle Mason was one of the three people who loved her most: her mother, her grandfather and her uncle Mason.

Only Uncle Mason was really her father, and it was time Nanette knew it. Mimi blinked back fast tears and resisted the urge to run after Mason. He couldn't just take his child, Mimi thought wildly. But who would stop him? He was Nanette's father, he was completely within his rights to at least partial custody and he was the sheriff.

A growing sense of desperation filled her, tightening her stomach. She ran out the front door to his truck as he switched on the engine. The truck window was open and she put imploring fingers on Mason's strong chest. "Mason, I'm coming, too! Don't rip us apart!"

He removed her fingers and shook his head. "You've done enough, Mimi. Some space between me and you is what is badly needed."

He drove off, leaving Mimi stunned. Watching the truck pull away felt like a slow-motion tragedy from a movie. Her breath caught in her throat and her chest cramped, hurting more than anything she had ever felt. It was her heart, she was certain it was. Two of the three people she loved most on the planet had just left her, and the pain was more than she could bear.

She sank to her knees. Yes, she'd made the wrong choice. She'd lied. But she couldn't believe that the man she'd grown up with had turned away from her in her hour of greatest need.

Excerpt from Mason's Marriage by Tina Leonard
All rights reserved by publisher and author

© 2003-2024 off-the-edge.net  all rights reserved Privacy Policy