Heartstealer (Women of Character)

  § Heartstealer §

  Grace Brannigan

  Questor Books

  P.O. Box 100

  East Jewett, New York, 12424 USA

  Heartstealer

  Women of Character Contemporary Series

  Echoes From the Past

  Once and Always

  Heartstealer

  Wishing on a Rodeo Moon

  Women of Strength Time Travel Series

  Once Upon a Remembrance Book 1

  Soulmates Through Time Book 2

  Treasure So Rare Book 3

  Romantic Short Stories

  Deception (a touch of suspense)

  Two Babies, a Cowboy and Sara

  http://www.GraceBrannigan.com

  All Characters, places and events are fictitious and are not associated or inspired by any person living or dead.

  Heartstealer

  Cover Art By: Stephanie White of Steph’s Cover Design: paranormal, fantasy, horror & more

  By Grace Brannigan

  Copyright 2012 Elaine Warfield

  ISBN: 978-0-9801108-3-8

  License Notes

  All rights reserved. This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means whatsoever, mechanical, photographic, electronic or in the form of an audio recording or stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or otherwise be copied for public or private use―other than for brief quotations in articles and reviews without prior written consent from the publisher Questor Books.

  Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. Happy reading!

  About Heartstealer

  Jacie Turner, a professional stuntwoman, is afraid she's lost her edge. Following an aerial stunt gone wrong and then her fiancé running out on her, she's determined to restore her pride and her life.

  Needing time away from well-meaning family, she accepts a skydiving job at Timber Falls in the Catskill Mountains. When Jacie meets one of the resort owners Sloan Wright, sparks fly. He is a man who will tempt her, love her and possibly change her forever.

  Sloan recognizes fun loving Jacie as the type of woman who could disrupt his well ordered life, if he allowed it. As they get to know each other, he delves into Jacie's past while she begins to peel away the layers that keep him locked behind a wall of reserve. If they can trust who they really are, then the future holds unlimited possibilities.

  When accidents begin to plague the resort, they have to work quickly to solve the deepening mystery before the consequences become fatal.

  Table of 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 §

  Excerpt Wishing on a Rodeo Moon

  Excerpt Once and Always

  Echoes From the Past

  Once Upon a Remembrance:

  Soulmates Through Time:

  Treasure So Rare:

  Two Babies, a Cowboy and Sara:

  Deception

  § Chapter One §

  Jacie’s stomach churned as she stared at the ground two thousand feet below. What insanity made her put herself through this punishment―just to prove she wasn’t washed up as a stunt woman?

  "Just do it," she muttered. "You've done it thousands of times before. Get your foot out the door and jump."

  Automatically, she ran her fingers over her knee support and then the pull ring on her parachute harness. Lastly, she braced the toes of her boots against the door lip.

  She had to jump. Skydiving was her life. It had always defined who she was; a member of her family’s business, Aerial Antics. Her brother Con would pull her off this job if he thought she wasn’t ready. She couldn’t go home with her tail between her legs. Her family would try to put her back in cotton wool. Again.

  How long did she have to pay for one dumb mistake―two―if she counted the one she’d made thinking Brad loved her.

  With a low growl of impatience, she stepped out and an updraft pulled her up and away from the plane. As she plunged downward, a flashback to her parachuting accident thirteen months ago at Angel Falls came dangerously close. She could see again that mountainous ledge of rock, nothing but water and uninhabited jungle below her, the glorious release as she began her freefall, and then her parachute failure. . ..

  Her chute opened. Years of training took over and the tightness eased inside her chest. Of course she could do this, she’d been jumping far too long to stop now.

  As the ground drew closer she pulled the shroud lines of her chute, spilling air to control her landing.

  Clustered dots took on the shapes of people. A lone figure with a cowboy hat stood apart from the rest. An imp of mischief surfaced in Jacie. She’d alter her landing slightly and land near the guy with the cowboy hat.

  As her feet touched solid earth a gust of wind lifted and pulled her forward, past the camera crews, past the gathered crowd. She caught a glimpse of surprised faces and then she came to a dead stop as her body lightly impacted with another. She had a fleeting impression of a hat flying through the air and they both fell to the ground in a tangle of arms, legs and billowing parachute.

  Arms closed around her and held tight. She squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her forehead into a hard chest. Spicy cologne tantalized her nostrils.

  When the rest of her senses kicked in she was amazed to find she lay straddled atop a very male body. Hard chest and long, long legs. The cowboy.

  "I guess I came a tad too close to my mark," she managed, barely suppressing her laughter. His arms were like hard bands around her back. She stayed unmoving against a soft shirt, her nose pressed into a dusting of nose-tickling hair. Scents mingled. Horse and leather, that subtle touch of man.

  The flapping of her parachute forced her to stop thinking about the body beneath her. She opened her eyes. Her blue and purple chute swept upward, then gently settled to cover them in a cocoon.

  "Can I help you, ma'am?" drawled a deep, amused voice in her ear. The hard body beneath her had a sexy-as-all-get out voice to go with it.

  Her body did a head to toe shiver. "I think you’ve already helped me land." She levered her body upward. "It seems a shame to move," she added, but peeled herself from that broad chest partially covered by blue cotton. The impact must have torn his buttons loose, because the shirt gaped open. She stared at his flat stomach and then down to his hair dusted navel. They weren't buttons on his shirt, they were snaps.

  Jacie studied the wide shoulders, square chin and slightly curved mouth. Lazily she moved on to lean, tanned features. His expression showed tolerance, amusement, interest . . . then a guarded look dropped as hard blue eyes stared at her. Well, it had been interesting until he got that guarded look on his face.

  His arms were now straight out on the ground. A soft sound escaped her lips, but no words. Oh dear. She tried again. "S-sorry . . . " she managed faintly, trying not to laugh again. "What an embarrassing first impression this is turning out to be!" He didn’t look amused now, but kind of stiff and probably too much of a gentleman to tell her to get off him. "I hope I didn’t hurt you when I caught you," she said apologetically. "Actually, I guess you caught me." Literally. She suddenly realized her knee was in a rather delicate area.

  "It's not every day I
can lay claim to stopping a runaway female," the man professed, blue eyes framed by the blackest of lashes.

  "Not exactly a runaway," she admitted, tilting her head and grinning widely. "Though it looks like I've made a slight miscalculation in my landing."

  He swept his arm up to catch the folds of the parachute and began to pull it off them.

  Jacie let her glance linger on his mouth and a barely noticeable dimple. A jolt of sexual awareness hit her. She immediately stifled it, gulping back a groan. The man shifted his legs and sensation rocked her. He was all hard muscles and long limbs. After Brad, she’d vowed no men. . .no way. But for a moment as her glance lingered on a rock hard jaw and wide shoulders, that vow felt about as substantial as fairy dust. The hell with Brad.

  She rolled sideways and off him as he fully released them from the parachute's silky folds.

  "Aren’t you supposed to take wind shifts into consideration when doing a jump?" he asked. He sat up and dusted off his pants. His legs were encased in snug-fitting denims as faded as his shirt and he had well worn cowboy boots on his feet. He stood over her as he pulled off his gloves and stuffed them in a back pocket. Jacie measured his height against hers. Six three, maybe four to her five feet seven inches.

  "Of course I take the wind into consideration." She told herself to focus, but it became impossible when his gaping shirt offered tantalizing glimpses of a man in superb physical shape. She tried to ignore the attraction nipping at her but for the moment gave it up as a losing battle.

  His look turned questioning as he proceeded to snap his shirt. "Then you changed your target?" he asked with a hint of impatience.

  "Guilty." She lifted her shoulders, thinking he looked like a man who had no time for nonsense. "Seemed like a good idea at the time." She didn’t tell him he’d presented a challenge, standing off by himself like that, as if he wasn’t impressed with her skydiving into the resort.

  He did look pretty unimpressed. In fact, she guessed that right about now he was wondering who the fool was that had hired her to skydive into Timber Falls. Natural curiosity prompted her to ask, "Are you a guest at the ranch?"

  "No." He looked past her toward the small crowd who had gathered for the jump. "Here come the others." With concern he quickly glanced up and down her scarlet jumpsuit. "You landed pretty hard, are you okay?"

  Jacie saw him zero in on the knee support and then felt his sharp glance move up to her neck.

  "You’ve hurt yourself," he added, reaching out a hand toward her.

  She didn’t wait to see if he would actually touch her neck but jerked her head back. "I'm fine," she said briskly. "The mark on my neck is old." She reached over to pick up a black cowboy hat on the ground. The shaped brim felt smooth under her fingertips. "Yours?"

  "Yeah." He took it and held out his other hand to her. She let him pull her up and they stared at each other, each taking the other’s measure. Jacie admitted she liked what she saw.

  She stepped back. He put his hat on, tipping the brim forward the slightest bit, virtually hiding his eyes from her.

  "Sloan." He shook her hand. "Welcome to the Catskills and Timber Falls."

  "Thanks. Jacie Turner." She felt a measure of disgust when her voice came out breathless. She pulled at her sleeves and adjusted them. Men didn’t usually make her nervous.

  "Yeah, I know," he said.

  That made her pause in buttoning her sleeve. "And do I know you?"

  "Nope. My brother hired you." He began to roll her chute, his movements swift and efficient. "Come on, we might as well see if that jump will satisfy the experts."

  Jacie’s leg muscles tensed. Back to business. She chewed her lip thoughtfully, knowing the jump hadn’t been one of her better ones. "Your brother is James Wright? He was my contact for this job. Who are the experts?" she asked curiously. "Sounds like you’re not lumping yourself in that category."

  "James is my brother. He and his advertising agency are the experts." He threw her a serious look from under dark brows. "I didn’t order a skydiving act. I think word of mouth is enough to put this place on the map."

  She opened her eyes wide. "Whoa, okay, I get the picture that this wasn’t your idea." She unclipped her harness and released the snap on her tight-fitting cap. "But since your brother owns Timber Falls, he’s the one I answer to."

  Sloan’s blue eyes were intense as they settled on her, yet a slight hint of amusement lurked there. "Sorry to disappoint you, but we both own Timber Falls."

  "Oh." A course of goose bumps raced along her arms under the jumpsuit. She gave him a full smile. That meant he’d be here her entire stay. There was something about him that rattled her just a bit. "Then you’re my employer too. You know I'm staying here the month of August?"

  "I know."

  Two words with a wealth of meaning. He knew and was happy she wondered, or he knew and didn't like it? From everything he’d not said, it might be the latter. He watched the slowly dispersing crowd with a slight frown, as if he wished himself elsewhere. Jacie figured he probably had better things to do than pick her up and make sure she was okay. Well, that was okay with her. She was here to do a job, not make friends with a guy who looked like he’d walked out of an old western. Sexy as hell, but an old western nevertheless.

  Sighing, Jacie had to wonder why her hands shook as she slid the cap from her head.

  Ω

  Sloan knew he’d better not linger if he wanted to finish his workload by dusk, but his feet didn’t move. He hadn’t planned on staying this long, but curiosity had gotten the better of him when he’d seen Jacie arrive earlier with her brother. At the time he’d wondered if anyone that looked that good would risk ruining her perfect hair styling by jumping out of a plane. Sure enough she’d jumped and to his untrained eyes, she’d done it with flair.

  Now as he watched her rich, reddish brown hair slide down her shoulders he could imagine a man burying his face there and getting lost. Fascinated, he stared as her slim fingers tangled in the strands. Her mouth was saucy, her big brown eyes lively. Her skin glowed and a touch of pink accented her high cheekbones. There was something exotic about her face with the slightly up-tilted eyes, yet he had a fleeting impression of shadows. Despite that, he guessed she was all sparks and fun.

  He clenched the silky material of the parachute, discomfited by his thoughts. He didn’t indulge in flights of imagination, but right now his brain was having a hell of a field day recalling her slim soft body on top of his. There was an undeniable charisma about this woman in the form-fitting jumpsuit. She exuded life and radiance with a smile that embraced the world. When she had veered from her landing mark, he’d feared she was in trouble and stepped into her path. They weren’t close to the cliffs, but there existed a possibility she could have been flung that way; a fall no man or woman could survive.

  "Sloan, I see you've met Jacie," his brother James said behind them.

  Glad of the diversion, Sloan turned to his brother. "Yes." He let his glance move back to Jacie and he couldn’t help but smile. "A quick introduction."

  She tipped her head back, the lightly tanned skin of her throat exposed as her husky laugh rang out. His body tightened down to his toes.

  "I guess the best thing is to make light of my less-than-perfect entrance," she admitted without apology, thrusting a hand toward James. "You must be James Wright. Luckily Sloan acted as a barrier, otherwise you'd still be chasing me across the field. What a series of camera shots that would be."

  "I’m afraid that’s typical of my sister," said a male voice dryly. "She likes to be the center of attention."

  Sloan looked at the dark-haired man who came up behind James. His brown hair was cropped short and he was of husky build. The family resemblance between him and Jacie was unmistakable, especially around the eyes.

  "Sloan, this is Con Turner," his brother said. "Con heads up Aerial Antics."

  Jacie’s glance at her brother was a mix of affection and exasperation. "Con’s here to make sure the jump
goes off without a hitch."

  Sloan wondered about the hint of defensiveness in the angle of her body. Her glance at her brother seemed almost challenging.

  Con shook hands with him. "Nice to meet you Sloan. As Jacie said, I wanted to make sure everything’s in order."

  Sloan met the other man’s flint gray eyes. "I was under the impression you were the one handling this job."

  "As I explained to your brother when we set this up, I have a commitment out of the country. Jacie is very capable of fulfilling the obligation."

  "That’s right," she said, stepping closer to James. "I was trained by my brother. I’m confident you’ll be happy with my work."

  James ran a hand through his already tousled red hair and smiled at Jacie. "The camera crew got several shots and they tell me they're looking good," he said. "I talked to the pilot and we won't need to do another jump today."

  "Are you sure?" she asked. "That wasn't the best landing I've ever done. We can try a couple more."

  "Actually, for the publicity pictures we're only using the shot from the plane and part of the freefall."

  Sloan didn’t miss Jacie’s relief. She hadn't removed the knee brace and she seemed to be limping a bit. Was she worried they would release her from the job if she admitted she’d hurt herself? He frowned. Why take a chance on a jump if you’re not up to it? He clenched his teeth, not happy with the picture he was getting. This skydiving gig might not be his thing, but he certainly didn’t want to open the resort to any lawsuits.

  "I have a good feeling about this publicity campaign," James said.

  Jacie smiled. "I still think I'm getting the better bargain. A month-long stay at your ranch resort."

  "One which I hope you’ll enjoy. Here comes a member of the local news bureau," James said. "They asked me if you’d do a short interview."

  Jacie looked toward the approaching reporter. "Of course," she said. "That’s why we’re here, right? The more publicity the better."