One

      In the small town of Verity, Texas, when the door to the Texas United Western Bank opened, Jake Calhoun’s breath whooshed out as if a fist slammed into his gut. Through the years he had imagined this moment, yet he had thought it would never take place. Now every vivid detail became etched in his memory.

      Across the street Madison Milan stepped into the September morning sunlight and glanced around. Sunshine glinted on her thick brown hair that was pulled back and tied with a red scarf. Dressed in jeans, a red shirt showing beneath her open denim jacket, with loafers on her feet, she answered a greeting of someone who passed her.

      The shock of finally seeing her rocked him. She was not a figment of his imagination. She was real, alive and only two hundred yards away. Anger surged in his bloodstream, swiftly replaced by desire, intense, hot and startling. Gone was the momentary jolt of finally facing her, replaced by scalding memories. How could he feel desire? The hurt had been so deep, and so long ago.

      The memories bombarded him, quick and relentless. She was the most fun female in the junior class, the prettiest football queen ever and had the best-looking legs of any Verity High cheerleader. But now that girl was gone. In her place stood a beautiful woman. Everyone who passed her on the street acknowledged her and she responded with a smile; some stopped to talk. He wondered if she had such a constant stream of people greeting her every time she came to town. Right now a tall, thin cowboy took his turn chatting with her and she smiled up at him.

      Jake’s emotions warred over the conflicts that rocked him. On the one hand, he wanted to take her family ranch from her and destroy her. After all, she was a Milan, as deceptive, deceitful and out for Calhoun blood as any other Milan in her family. At the same time, she was beautiful, sexy and the most desirable woman he had ever known.

      She had been only a girl when he had gotten the closest to her. They had met in high school and the attraction had been hot and instant. He’d been the quarterback of the football team and she’d been a cheerleader.

      His unwanted longing grew stronger, stirred by memories that made him weak in the knees. Memories of her soft lips and hot kisses, her silky hair that hung to her waist then, her laughter and boundless energy, her soft curves against him when they danced. The lightning flashes of memory continued to pound him: how they each fought the attraction because of the feud that raged between their families; their first kiss; the first time they made love—the first for her ever. The recollections were so vivid they seemed recent instead of thirteen years ago. She had married the year she had graduated from college and the union had lasted two months. Since that time she had remained single—he knew that much about her—and it was long enough ago to be significant now.

      She was probably as competitive in business now as she had been years ago in sports.

      He brought himself back to the problem at hand. He wanted to talk to her, but he hadn’t figured on a steady stream of locals who paused to chat with her.

      From the background information his staff had put together he knew she usually drove a white four-door pickup to town. He’d spotted it two blocks farther west down Main Street in front of the grocery, and now he wondered if he should wait at the truck for her.

      When she turned to walk in that direction, he crossed the street, lengthened his stride until he was half a block behind her. She entered the hardware store and he followed her inside. In minutes he found her in front of the paint section. As he approached her, his pulse quickened.

      * * *

      Madison Milan selected tubes of paint for her next art project, searching for the perfect shade of burnt umber. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone moving along the aisle toward her. When she saw who it was, she froze. Her heart missed a beat and then thudded. Anger swept over her, an intense, scorching fury that shocked her because she had convinced herself she had gotten over the past. This was the drawback about moving to the ranch after her parents gave it to her. She had come every fall and late spring for the past three years, being careful to avoid Verity as much as possible just to avoid running into Jake. This was the moment she had hoped would never happen. At the same time, an unwanted streak of desire heightened her fury. She didn’t want to feel desire when she encountered Jake Calhoun.

      He had grown taller. His shoulders appeared broader. He had filled out and he was even more handsome. He wasn’t the nineteen-year-old