"Seventeen years after their divorce the fire still burns for this woman and her cowboy.."
Reviewed by Kay Quintin
Posted September 1, 2014
Romance Contemporary
After seventeen years Loretta Bailey is spending her
vacation at the Lonesome Canyon
Ranch in the Texas Panhandle solely to convince her
daughter Nona to come
home to Oklahoma and finish her last year of college.
After catching her
husband kissing another woman in the barn all those years
ago, no
explanations were accepted and she picked her 4 year-old
daughter up and
left. Nona has been spending summers with her father,
Jackson, since and ranching is in her blood. This is
where she wants to be and not
back in Mustang with her mother.
Jackson isn't all too happy that his feisty and hot headed
ex has installed
herself in the ranch house and refuses to budge until she
has convinced her
daughter to leave with her. Through all their arguing and
fighting, neither
has expected the flame to still be burning hot and their
touch addling their
brains. Watching their daughter and her passionate
romance with the hired
hand brings back the days of their own passion. Helping
in the fields and
driving the tractor also brings back the things Loretta
loved about her life and
dreams with Jackson. Unable to stop the yearning to again
have what they
once had, can they start again and work past the
misunderstandings of the
past and can history repeat itself? This bullheaded but
sexy Texas cowboy is
too much for Loretta to turn her back on a second time.
Written with a background of the Palo Duro Canyon in
Texas, these two
stubborn people find the need to cool off and reassess
what was truly a
lifetime love. Throw in one stubborn daughter and Loretta
has finally met her
match. I loved the passion shared by this couple and
their amusing banter
back and forth. The story is well written and grabs your
attention from page
one.
I have read the works of Carolyn Brown before and am not
disappointed
this time either. She always gives the reader emotion,
eternal love and all the
excitement you can handle. I loved LONG, HOT TEXAS
SUMMER!
SUMMARY
A sassy redhead with an axe to grind… After catching her husband kissing another woman in the
barn, Loretta Sullivan Bailey left Lonesome Canyon Ranch
and
swore she’d never come back. But when her daughter
threatens
to drop out of college to become a rancher’s wife, Loretta
refuses to let her baby make the same mistake she did. She
returns to the ranch, determined to get her daughter back
in
school by the summer’s end…and resolute on ignoring her
feelings for her ex-husband. A bullheaded but oh so sexy cowboy… A cowboy from his hat to his boots, ruggedly handsome
rancher Jackson Bailey is none too pleased that his
feisty—and gorgeous—ex-wife has suddenly shown up
seventeen
years after their divorce. But despite all their fighting
and fussing, the two stubborn former lovers soon discover
that old flames burn the hottest. Can they finally put
aside
their differences and find happiness together…forever?
Excerpt“Dammit! Loretta! You can’t stay here all summer,” Jackson said.“Why not?” “Why would you want to?” “I don’t want to. I have to. Nona is going home at the end of
the summer. She is going to finish college if I have to chain
her to my wrist and go to every class with her.” “Did I hear…Oh. My. God!” Nona said from the doorway. “What in
the hell are you doing here? And who was that woman speeding out
of here, Daddy?” Jackson looked from his daughter back to his ex-wife, who was
still shooting daggers at him. “She says she’s here to make sure
you don’t get too comfortable here at the ranch. That she’s
going to make you go back to college come fall if she has to
chain herself to you and go to classes with you.” “And he doesn’t have the sense God gave a piss ant,” Loretta
said. Nona frowned. “Okay, you two. Call a truce. Momma, you can stay
and Daddy, you are going to let her. We are all adults here.
Besides she’ll be bored to tears in four days and itching to
leave. She hates the canyon. I’ve made up my mind, Momma. I’m
not going back to college. That’s settled, so you can go home
and not waste your time here.” “It’s only one more year, Nona.” “I don’t care if it’s only one more week. And, Daddy, it’s a
great idea that she’s here. She’ll see that I mean business and
it’ll give you two some time to work through this thing that
neither of you would ever talk about. Goodnight.” Loretta crossed her arms under her breasts. “It’s that damn
cowboy. He’s got his eye on Lonesome Canyon. One more year and
she’ll have her education, Jackson. Help me convince her.” “She’s too much like you to talk her into anything. Once you set
your mind, Jesus, God and angels with harps couldn’t change it,”
he said. Nona pushed past her, stopping long enough to kiss her on the
cheek. “Welcome home, Mama. Travis has his eye on me, not this
ranch, and I happen to love him. And, even if you two join
forces, I’m not going back to school.” “You love him?” Jackson and Loretta said in unison, their heads
jerking around to look at Nona instead of each other. “Well, at last you are in agreement about something. I’m going
to bed. You two can tear down the place with your snappin’,
bitchin’ and bitin’ if you want to. But you’d best have it
rebuilt before Rosie wakes up in the morning.” She flipped her
blonde hair over her shoulder as she headed up the stairs and
the bright chandelier lit up a silver dollar sized hickey right
there on her neck. “Did you see that?” Jackson’s eyes settled on Loretta’s gorgeous
lips. “I saw it. Did you hear what she said?” Loretta gasped. “I’ll tear that boy limb from limb.” “Over a hickey on her neck? It’s your fault, so you can’t be
judging her or him.” Loretta said. “If you didn’t bring women in
here with expectations of taking them up to your bedroom, then
by damn, she wouldn’t have a hickey on her neck. How old is this
Travis anyway?” He backed up a step. “Twenty-three.” She followed. “Where in the hell was your mind at twenty-three?
Think about that before you go runnin’ off with your bimbo and
leaving Nona to do whatever she damn well pleases!” “I was a father and we were married when I was twenty-three, if
you will do the math, woman.” Jackson’s tone was pure ice.
Loretta moved a few more inches into his personal space, but he
didn’t back up an inch. “You were a father and we were divorced
by the time we were that age. And don’t call me woman. You
surely haven’t gotten so senile you’ve forgotten how much I hate
it when you call me that.” “We still are divorced, so don’t be giving me any shit about
dating other women.” He rubbed a hand across his forehead.
“Surely, they aren’t sleeping…” She shook her finger at him. “I don’t imagine she got that
hickey from holding his hand, do you? And I’m pretty sure she
lost her virginity right here on this damn ranch at sixteen like
I did.” “I damn sure don’t like it,” Jackson said. “Well, you liked it back then,” Loretta chuckled. “I’m not talkin’ about that. You know what I mean.” Loretta spun around with all the grace of a green butterfly
about to take flight. “Yes, I do and I’m not leaving her here to
make the same mistakes we did. She is not going to get married
at her age, and that’s what’ll happen next. Goodnight, Jackson.” He took a step toward her. “Where are you sleeping?” “In our old bedroom. Rosie said that you don’t use it anymore.
Don’t worry, I won’t get in the way of your social life.” She
swept up the stairs in a fluff of emerald. Jackson poured a stiff drink of Jack Daniels and downed it like
a cowboy in an old western movie. He stared at the empty
staircase and poured another finger of whiskey, turned off the
lights and carried it with him up to his bedroom. He slumped
into an oversized leather recliner and kicked back. It was going to be one long hot summer. If they named tornadoes
like they did hurricanes, it would be named Tornado Loretta and
there wasn’t a shelter in the world that could protect anyone or
anything from that storm.
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