Dangerously Irresistible. Kristin Gabriel
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open my own business,” she said, mortified to feel her lower lip quiver.
“Nobody in their right mind would ever hire a woman to bring in a fugitive, especially a woman who refuses to carry a gun.” He stood up and awkwardly thrust a tissue in her direction. Gus Griffin could face an armed felon without blinking an eye, but a woman in tears terrified him.
She grabbed the tissue and wiped her nose, aware of the office door closing behind her. She was alone. Again. Despite the tightness in her throat, her eyes were dry and hot. He wouldn’t even give her chance. After all these years, he still wouldn’t let her be part of the family.
She’d grown up trying to knock down the emotional wall that kept her separated from her father and brothers. They loved her and tried to protect her, but they didn’t understand her. And they didn’t want to let her into their world.
She reached across the desk for another tissue, her elbow bumping the magazine onto the floor. With an irritated sigh, she picked it up and scowled at the sexy cowboy who grinned up at her.
“It’s all your fault,” she muttered, though she knew her father would have used any excuse to keep her safely behind a desk instead of out in the field.
She flipped through the magazine, half tempted to place an order just to irritate her father. She knew it was immature and irrational, but so far acting mature and rational hadn’t gotten her very far.
She dropped the magazine into her lap, the pages falling open to the special insert called Grooms-to-Go. She’d never looked at this section before, having no interest in a man desperate enough to advertise himself for marriage. Then she blinked at the picture in front of her. And for one brief, terrifying moment her heart fluttered in her chest.
She held her breath as she looked up at the wanted poster in the center of the bulletin board. The one that had been there for so many months. The one with the picture of the Kissing Bandit. Then she looked back at the magazine.
It was him.
Maddie gulped, trying to breathe normally again. She’d found him. The man her father and brothers had been fruitlessly searching for was right here in black and white. His hair was a little shorter, and dark instead of blond, and he’d shaved off his mustache. But he still had the same square jaw, the same sexy dimple in his chin. She quickly scanned the brief description. Height: Six feet two inches. Hair: Brown. Eyes: Blue. Name: Tanner Blackburn.
Maddie stood up, too excited to remain still. Tanner Blackburn was one of the aliases of the Kissing Bandit. His name and hair color might change, but his m.o. was always the same. He’d dupe lonely women into falling in love with him, then he’d bleed them dry.
Now the Kissing Bandit was here, right in front of her. Or rather, in Texas. And obviously up to his old tricks. If she could bring him in….
If? When she brought him in. Then she’d finally have everything she’d always wanted. The love and respect of her father. The approval of her brothers. The satisfaction of finally proving herself as a full-fledged member of the Griffin family.
She smiled at the photo of the handsome man in the magazine. He’d soon learn that a Griffin always gets her man.
1
“BREATHE,” TANNER BLACKBURN ordered the man standing next to him. “It’s just the wedding rehearsal. You don’t need to start panicking until tomorrow.”
“I’m not panicking,” Cabe White said, his voice husky with emotion. “I just can’t get over how damn beautiful she is.”
They stood in the center of an old barn located on the outskirts of Abilene, Texas. The open doors did little to assuage the oppressive June heat. Flies buzzed around them and the air was ripe with the odors of hay and manure.
Tanner watched as the bride-to-be stood in the doorway. She wore a long pink denim skirt and a pale pink western blouse with pearl buttons. Her fine, silky blond hair was tucked beneath a straw cowboy hat adorned with a pink satin band.
Despite the heat and the flies and the way his new cowboy boots were pinching his toes, Tanner felt a twinge of envy deep inside of him. Cabe and Hannah were meant for each other, even though he’d seen her first. Hell, he’d dated her first. After reluctantly allowing his kid sister to place his picture in the Texas Mail-Order Men magazine, he’d finally met a woman who had stirred his interest. He’d thought it was fate.
Until she’d fallen in love with his cousin.
Tanner hadn’t even seen Cabe for almost five years. As teenagers, Cabe, Tanner and Tanner’s twin brother, Ronnie, had all been hell-raisers together, breaking curfew and female hearts on a regular basis. They’d all had the same dark hair, deep blue eyes, and square Blackburn jaw that the ladies seemed to love. And they had all loved the ladies.
But Tanner had given up his playboy ways after his parents divorced when he was twenty-four years old. He’d even agreed to take custody of his kid sister, Lauren, who at fourteen, had been well on her way to becoming the most notorious hell-raiser of all.
Cabe and Ronnie hadn’t grown up as much as drifted away. Except for a card at Christmas, they rarely kept in touch. They hadn’t even attended their maternal grandmother’s funeral. Tanner had been named executor of the estate and contacted each of them about their inheritance. He, Ronnie and Lauren had been given eighty acres of Iowa farmland that had been in the family for three generations. Their cousin Cabe had inherited their grandmother’s house in Hominy, Iowa. A month ago, Cabe had come to Dallas to collect the deed.
That’s when he’d met Hannah.
And that’s when fate had decided to play a trick on Tanner. Hannah had taken one look at Cabe and fallen hard and fast. It had been love at first sight for both of them. Hell, even Tanner had seen that. They’d both politely waited to act on their affection until Tanner had offered to step aside.
What else could he do? Hannah wanted someone who could sweep her off her feet. A man who would think it was romantic to marry western-style in an old dilapidated barn.
A man the exact opposite of Tanner Blackburn.
He’d realized that he’d almost made a big mistake. Hannah was a nice woman, but she wasn’t the right woman. Not for him. He wasn’t even sure such a woman existed, but he intended to keep looking. Instead of heading home for Dallas, he’d bought an airplane ticket to Jamaica. With over ten weeks in vacation time built up, Tanner thought it was time for a little rest and relaxation. And, if he was lucky, a little romance.
It had taken some juggling to arrange a week off from his job at the law firm of Collins and Cooksey, but he’d refused to put it off. This was the first vacation he’d had since… Well, he couldn’t remember when. Vacations were a luxury his parents hadn’t been able to afford, especially after their divorce.
By the time Tanner had worked his way through college and law school, he’d been too busy paying off his school loans to take any time off. Plus, he’d wanted to keep an eye on his sister.
All of which hadn’t left him much time for a love life.
But his little sister had graduated from high school this year and was leaving for college in the fall, which meant he’d be on his own. That was one of the reasons he’d agreed to let Lauren place his picture in the Texas Mail-Order Men magazine. It was just a lark, though he’d felt duty bound to go out on a date with every woman who contacted him.
All thirty-four of them.
The problem was, most of them weren’t looking for love. Not really. They wanted a knight in shining armor. Someone to rescue them from the jerks in their lives—men who preyed on a woman’s vulnerabilities.
Men like his brother, Ronnie—although Ronnie had recently turned over a new leaf. He was now a missionary in Guam, of all places. The former bronc rider, once coined the Romeo of the rodeo, now kept himself busy doing good deeds. Tanner wasn’t totally convinced by his brother’s abrupt