River's End (River's End Series, #1)(98)
She finally laughed as he set her back to her feet, grinning like he was Charlie on Christmas morning. He’d paid a lot of penance for his short-sighted, asshole behavior. He didn’t deny he deserved it, but he was really ready to move forward. To have a girlfriend. To have a life outside of the trailer with Erin.
She still wouldn’t see Allison Gray about reading. It’s the other subject they went around and around about. She simply refused. There was no talking her into it. He suspected the more he pressured, the less she’d go. She seemed to take his concern about it that he was embarrassed by her. There was no convincing her that he simply worried about her. Still, he hoped the more secure she became of her place in his life, his heart, his family and this ranch, she’d feel safe enough; free enough, to pursue it. He knew it was all tied up in her twisted image of herself. She thought she was stupid and useless and unwanted and nearly unlovable. It would take years to undo the negativity she’d listened to and the neglect she’d always been on the receiving end of.
The thing he knew but was still convincing Erin of was that they had the rest of their lives to figure it out. To find a way to teach her to read. And to get her sure enough of him to trust none of this was ever disappearing from her again.
“Will you move into the house now?”
She shook her head. “It’s still too soon. I’ve only been here a year. It’s just not right. So, no.”
He sighed. He knew somehow she’d say that. He grinned as he tipped his face into hers. “Then will you at least consider being a few minutes late to work?”
Her breath hitched. “I might consider that…”
Dear Reader,
As always, I would appreciate you taking a moment to leave a review of your opinion of this book.
If interested, please read on for chapter one of River’s Escape, Book #2 about Kailynn Hayes and Ian Rydell. If you are interested in receiving notification of my current and future releases, please go to my website and sign up for my email distribution list. Otherwise, thank you for reading, and I hope you try another of my novels.
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Leanne Davis
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River's Escape (River's End Series, #2)
PREORDER available: Release Date: February 16, 2015.
Kailynn Hayes doesn’t believe she’ll ever escape the small ranching community she was born and raised in called River’s End. She has nothing and nowhere else to go, with a sickly father to care for, and two brothers who would as soon do anything than work. She sees her life continuing on as the housekeeper for the Rydell River Ranch and as a waitress in River’s End. Trapped by no money and family responsibilities, she doesn’t believe she can escape it all to pursue her dreams. Until one unexpected event changes everything, and suddenly she has the ability to go after a new life, far away from River’s End. But it will come at the cost of a relationship that she never intended to start, and therefore, she believes she will never give up her dreams for.
Ian Rydell has helped Jack all these years care for the ranch, their younger brothers and Jack’s two sons. He is the brother no one ever knows what he is thinking, or next going to do, especially the woman he has quietly loved for years. But now, he’s ready to implement the plans and dreams that not a soul knows he harbors, especially the woman he intends to do them for.
Kailynn starts to realize that maybe there is more in River’s End for her, than she ever noticed or dared to dream about. But how can she turn her back on this new life she has found, and all to go back to the place she had been so desperate to escape?
Sneak Peek of River's Escape – Book #2 of River’s End Series
Chapter One
Kailynn Hayes slammed the door on the loud, obnoxious rumble of the unmuffled old Camaro her boyfriend drove. She kicked at the tire when he suddenly gunned the engine, spinning the wheels, and spitting dirt and gravel as he peeled away from her. She stared after the taillights until the dark mountains seemed to swallow it up. There were no streetlights. There was nothing really anywhere in River’s End. The mountains around were big and hulking, while the stars spread forever like glitter blown over the earth. There were less than a dozen lights of houses in the entire vista. She bit her lip and blinked rapidly to keep her tears back. She would not cry. Not now. Not over him. Not when she had to go into her house and face her father and brothers.
She shook her head. “I should just get pregnant now and save myself the time and energy. It’s all I’ll ever end up doing anyways,” she muttered out loud to the pine trees. And the empty land. As well as her hopeless future. Of course, she would end up barefoot and pregnant to some loser. Wasn’t that all that ever happened to girls from River’s End? What else was there to do or be? What exactly did her mother do?
“Probably not the best plan,” a voice, deep and quiet, spoke from behind her.
She froze. No. Who was it? Who was on the porch? Who heard her? Shane? Oh God. No. Not Shane. Not Shane Rydell. Slowly pivoting on her heel, she faced her house. It wasn’t much. God knows it was nothing like the Rydells’ beautiful, two-story, eight-room, ranch house that she saw below them. The Rydell River Ranch took up a thousand acres of prime riverfront property, a river named after their family. The same family that had occupied River’s End for far more than a century.