Two-Week Texas Seduction. Cat Schield
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She’s willing to bet the ranch that he can’t resist temptation...
Up-by-her-bootstraps Brandee Lawson fought hard to establish Hope Springs Ranch. But a mysterious blackmailer threatens to expose her secret to real estate developer Shane Delgado. She could lose everything, and she can’t let sexy Shane short-circuit her survival instinct!
Sure, Shane wants her land, but he can’t help wanting Brandee, as well. When she offers Royal’s most notorious bachelor a winner-takes-all wager in a bid to keep the ranch, it’s the ultimate test. Can he resist her charms—and should he even bother to try when something much deeper than sexiness surfaces between them?
“You’ll have ample opportunity to convince me to sleep with you.”
A shock blasted through him as potent as if he’d grabbed a live wire with both hands. “You call that a wager?” He had no idea where he found the strength to joke. “I call it shooting ducks in a barrel.”
“Don’t you mean fish?” Her dry smile warned him winning wasn’t going to be easy. “Getting me to sleep with you isn’t the wager. Though I’ll admit the thought of you and me has crossed my mind once or twice.”
Shane wondered why he wasn’t feeling more triumphant at the moment. “Damn, woman. You sure do know how to stroke a man’s ego.”
“Oh please,” she said. “You love playing games. I thought this would appeal to everything you stand for.”
“And what is that exactly?”
“You get me to fall for you and I sell you the ranch for ten million.”
He hadn’t prepared himself properly for the devastation of that other shoe. It was a doozy. “And what needs to happen for you to win?”
“Simple.” Her smile was pure evil. “I get you to fall for me.”
* * *
Two-Week Texas Seduction is part of the series Texas Cattleman’s Club: Blackmail— No secret—or heart—is safe in Royal, Texas...
Two-Week Texas Seduction
Cat Schield
CAT SCHIELD has been reading and writing romance since high school. Although she graduated from college with a BA in Business, her idea of a perfect career was writing books for Mills & Boon. And now, after winning the Romance Writers of America 2010 Golden Heart® Award for Best Contemporary Series Romance, that dream has come true. Cat lives in Minnesota with her daughter, Emily, and their Burmese cat. When she’s not writing sexy, romantic stories for Mills & Boon Desire, she can be found sailing with friends on the St. Croix River, or in more exotic locales, like the Caribbean and Europe. She loves to hear from readers. Find her at www.catschield.com and follow her on Twitter, @catschield.
For everyone trying to make ends meet while keeping your dreams alive.
Never give up, never surrender.
Contents
Before she’d moved to Royal, Texas, few people had ever done Brandee Lawless any favors. If this had left her with an attitude of “you’re damned right I can,” she wasn’t going to apologize. She spoke her mind and sometimes that ruffled feathers. Lately those feathers belonged to a trio of women new to the Texas Cattleman’s Club. Cecelia Morgan, Simone Parker and Naomi Price had begun making waves as soon as they’d been accepted as members and Brandee had opposed them at every turn.
Her long legs made short work of the clubhouse foyer and the hallway leading to the high-ceilinged dining room where she and her best friend, Chelsea Hunt, were having lunch. At five feet five inches, she wasn’t exactly an imposing figure, but she knew how to make an entrance.
Instead of her usual denim, boots, work shirt and cowboy hat, Brandee wore a gray fit-and-flare sweater dress with lace inset cuffs over a layered tulle slip, also in gray. She’d braided sections of her long blond hair and fastened them with rhinestone-encrusted bobby pins. She noted three pair of eyes watching her progress across the room and imagined the women assessing her outfit. To let them know she wasn’t the least bit bothered, Brandee made sure she took her time winding through the diners on her way to the table by the window.
Chelsea looked up from the menu as she neared. Her green eyes widened. “Wow, you look great.”
Delighted by her friend’s approval, Brandee smiled. “Part of the new collection.” In addition to running one of the most profitable ranches in Royal, Texas, Brandee still designed a few pieces of clothing and accessories for the fashion company she’d started twelve years earlier. “What do you