Kai Tiernan hires on with the Triple H Ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming as a mechanic and wrangler. She learned her trade in the Army, working on aircraft in Afghanistan. However, she grew up on a ranch and knows her stuff as a wrangler as well. Kai is very thankful for this job, as it is the twentieth ranch she has visited because no one takes her seriously as a mechanic.
While putting her things in the wranglers' lockers, Kai runs into the ranch foreman, Gil Hanford. They are both shocked to see each other. Gil was her late husband Sam's best friend and best man in their wedding. He was with Sam when Sam was killed in a fire fight in Afghanistan. But Kai and Gil also have a jaded past beyond just being acquaintances. They spent five days and nights as passionate lovers when Gil's brother was killed in action. He came to Kai for comfort, and things escalated from there. Then Gil disappeared one morning and Kai never heard from him again. That was five long years ago.
For a few days, things are strained at best between them. Gil tries to talk to Kai, but she is too bitter to even hear him. When he has her as a captive audience in his truck on a trip into town, he shares the reason he was unable to contact her during those five years. Kai suddenly realized her bitterness is unfounded. Maybe they can pick up where they left off. Maybe this strong attraction she still feels between them is very real.
Lindsay McKenna has penned another great romance in NIGHT HAWK, the tenth tale from her Jackson Hole, Wyoming Series. It's a story about loss and starting over. Kai and Gil come from very different family backgrounds. Those beginnings make them the people they are today. They are both headstrong characters who don't mince words when speaking their mind. Ms. McKenna incorporates sex trade and drug trafficking into the story line and brings back characters whose stories she has previously told as minor characters. Although NIGHT HAWK is set in Wyoming, most of the characters have military backgrounds and are SEAL or Delta Force operators. Ms. McKenna is a master of the military romance genre.
ONCE UPON A RANCH IN WYOMINGโฆ
After losing his comrade, Sergeant Gil Hanford thought a
visit to the man's widow would be the decent way to honor
his late friend. But Gil found more than comfort in Kai
Tiernanโhe had always secretly desired beautiful Kai, but
a
sudden, mutual passion helped assuage their griefโฆuntil
duty
reared its head, removing him from her arms, seemingly
forever.
Four years later, Kai is starting over at the Triple H
Ranch
in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Born a rancher, she is looking
for
a new beginningโbut her new boss is unforgivably
familiar.
Kai has tried to move past the memory of what happened
between her and Gil, even though she's never forgiven him
for leaving her. But even as they begin their journey
toward
something new and oh-so-uncertain, a shadow emerges,
determined to claim Kai for itself.
EXCERPT
Gil put his hands on his hips, staring at her. โIโm the
foreman.โ
Kai closed her eyes for just a moment, opened them,
feeling the air sucked out of her lungs. โY-you work
here, too?โ No! That wasnโt possible! This couldnโt be
happening! Her mind worked at the speed of light. Her
heart expanded with traitorous emotions, wanting Gil.
Again. God, she could not go there! The bastard had
walked out on her after five days of the most wonderful
loving sheโd ever experienced with a man. Gil had left
suddenly without explanation, never to return. She hadnโt
seen him for four years.
Anger flowed through Kai. Gil had used her as a
convenient sex partner to bury himself in to get rid of
his grief. His brother Rob, a Delta Force operator with
another team in Afghanistan, had been killed. Gil had
seen his brotherโs body to the morgue at Bagram and then
looked her up.
Touching her brow, Kai saw his generous mouth moving into
a resistant, thin line. She remembered that mouth. Far
too well. The pleasure heโd given her. Kai had never
known such tenderness and vulnerability in a man until
Gil had walked into her life for those five days. Sheโd
been a widow for a year. When he reappeared, he said he
needed her. Silly her. Sheโd believed him and they had
ended up in a five-day sexual feast that was the best
thing that Kai had ever encountered with a man. Yet, on
the sixth morning, when she awakened, Gil was gone. No
note. No explanation. No email. Noโฆnothing. She wished
she could have forgotten him, but she never had.
And now, he was towering over her, all six feet of him,
broad, capable shoulders beneath a white cowboy shirt, a
black leather vest stretching across his powerful chest.
His Leviโs were worn and dirty, but from Kaiโs view, his
strong, hard thighs were just as beautiful now as they
were when theyโd captured her legs and held her in place
to give her the most incredible pleasure sheโd ever had.
And then, heโd run. Kai had never felt so used by a man.
Now, the bastard was standing there, defensive,
bristling, and she could feel the energy pouring off him
toward her. She was only five feet seven inches tall. She
wasnโt short, but she wasnโt Gilโs height, either.
What would he do? Try to get her fired? Invent some lame
excuse to let her go? Would he do that to her after what
theyโd shared? She searched his eyes, which were now a
darker, stormy blue. Kai could feel how taut and upset he
was. It felt as if they were two boxers in a ring sizing
each other up, looking for weak spots, a place to get in
and punch, taking the other down.
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