tion id="ub8d9bef8-4b1e-5740-8c32-f47a8300d909">
Donât miss this fan-favorite tale of long-lost love and second chances from New York Times bestselling author Sherryl Woods
Rugged rancher Harlan Patrick Adams has never forgotten his childhood sweetheart, Laurie Jensen. After all, she admitted she loved himâ¦and then left him with no explanation. But then he discovers a photograph of her, clutching a tiny babyâ¦a little girl who has his eyes.
Harlan Patrick is going to go to the mother of his child. Heâll knock down her door, if that's what it takes. Demand some answers. Claim what is rightly his. Even if it means getting down on one knee and begging her to marry him.
The Cowboy and His Wayward Bride
Sherryl Woods
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter One
Pure, gut-deep exhaustion had settled over country-music superstar Laurie Jensen weeks earlier, and now it seemed she was walking around in a haze from dawn to dusk. A new baby who didnât know the meaning of a full nightâs sleep, a concert tour, publicity demands and the burden of keeping a secret from the one person in the world with whom she had always been totally, brutally honestâall of it had combined to take a terrible emotional toll.
She sat in her fancy dressing room long after her concert had ended and the fans had drifted away. With the sleeping baby nestled in her arms, her own eyes drifting shut, she relished the momentary silence, welcoming it just as she had the applause earlier.
Bliss, she thought. The quiet was absolute bliss.
Of course, it didnât last.
âLaurie, you ready?â her assistant called out in a hushed tone with an accompanying rap on the door. âThe limoâs outside to take us back to the hotel.â
Even the soft tap and whispered reminder were enough noise to wake the always restless baby, who began to fuss, then settled into a full-throated yowling that gave Laurie a splitting headache.
âShh, sweetheart. Everythingâs okay. Mamaâs here,â she soothed, gathering up her purse and easing toward the door.
As the baby quieted and finally began to gurgle contentedly, Laurie did a quick survey of the room to be sure sheâd left nothing behind, thankful once again for Valâs efficiency. Her assistant handled everything from toting diaper bags to making complex travel arrangements with total aplomb. Sheâd even been known to tuck Amy Lynn into the crook of her arm and feed her while answering Laurieâs fan mail with her free hand.
Often, observing her whirlwind assistant at work, Laurie wished she were half so competent, even a quarter so adept with the multiple demands facing her. There were timesâand tonight was one of themâwhen she felt thoroughly overwhelmed, when she wanted nothing more than to run straight back to Texas and into Harlan Patrickâs waiting arms. Assuming he was still waiting for her after all this time and after sheâd made it clear that her singing career was what she wanted most in this world.
What was wrong with her? Was she completely out of her mind trying to tackle the demands of motherhood and a singing career all on her own? Especially when she knew with absolute certainty that the babyâs father would have flown to her side in a heartbeat if only sheâd told him about Amy Lynn?
But that was the trouble, of course. Harlan Patrick Adams would have taken the news that he was a daddy as reason enough to demand that she marry him at once, return to Los Piños, Texas, and be a rancherâs wife. There would have been no ifs, ands or buts about it.
Sheâd known the man since she was in kindergarten. She knew how he operated. A bulldozer did gentle nudging by comparison. Oh, she knew Harlan Patrick, all right. Theyâd exchanged birthday presents at five, their first awkward dance at thirteen, their first real kiss at fifteen.
Harlan Patrick had flirted with typical Adams abandon with every girl in town, but thereâd never been a doubt in anyoneâs mind that Laurie was the one he loved. With single-minded determination, heâd been asking her to marry him for years now. And sheâd been saying no, while practically everyone in the universe told her sheâd lost her mind.
Unlike the music business, Harlan Patrick Adams and his love were a sure thing, her mother had told her repeatedly. His family was the richest and most powerful in Los Piños, practically in all of Texas. He could give her stability, the kind of rock-solid future most women dreamed of, the kind her mother had always craved.
Unfortunately, Laurieâs dreams tended toward a world that no one, not even an Adams, could guarantee. From the time sheâd learned the words to an old Patsy Cline hit, sheâd wanted to be a country-music sensation. God had blessed her with the voice for it. Whether it was the church choir or the school chorus, Laurie had always been the star soloist. The applause had been wonderful, but she would have sung for the sheer joy of it. And maybe, at one time, she would have been content with that.
But over the years Harlan Patrick had unwittingly fed her obsession by seeing to it that she saw concerts by every country superstar who appeared anywhere in Texas. Heâd even wrangled a backstage meeting with a few. Laurie had discovered her destiny.
Somehow, though, heâd never taken seriously her desire to be up there on the stage, earning her own applause.