Sun Kissed Read online

  Praise for the romances of New York Times bestselling

  author Catherine Anderson

  “Anderson comes up with another winner by deftly blending sweetness and sensuality in a poignantly written story.”

  —Booklist

  “One of the finest writers in the genre.”

  —Debbie Macomber

  “Catherine Anderson has a gift for imbuing her characters with dignity, compassion, courage, and strength that inspire readers.”

  —Romantic Times

  “A major voice in the romance genre.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “Another winner from Anderson’s compassionate pen.”

  —Library Journal

  “Not only does author Catherine Anderson push the envelope, she seals, stamps, and sends it to the reader with love.”

  —Affaire de Coeur

  Bright Eyes

  “Offbeat family members and genuine familial love give a special lift to this marvelous story. An Anderson book is a guaranteed great read!”

  —Romantic Times (4½ Stars, Top Pick)

  “Anderson understands the inner workings of the human soul so deeply that she’s able to put intense emotion within a stunning romance in such a way that you’ll believe in miracles. Add to this her beautiful writing style, memorable characters, and a timeless story, and you have an unmatched reading adventure.”

  —Romantic Times (4½ Stars)

  “Anderson’s newest venture will please all her fans as this talented storyteller not only pulls it all together but opens up the door for many more connecting stories…. In typical Anderson fashion, what develops between this broken woman and the confirmed bachelor will melt readers’ hearts. You’ll find at times that you’ll be unable to continue to read as the tears flow freely from your eyes.”

  —A Romance Review

  “I must issue a warning: Summer Breeze is the kind of book that will snare you so completely, you’ll not want to put it down. It engages the intellect and emotions; it’ll make you care. It will also make you smile…a lot. And that’s a guarantee. What a great beginning to the new year’s reading list!”

  —Romance Reviews Today

  “Summer Breeze is a wonderfully engrossing story that definitely grabs the reader’s attention from the beginning and keeps it to its conclusion.”

  —Rendezvous

  My Sunshine

  “A heartwarming romance that also does a skillful job of treating serious issues in a hopeful but not sugarcoated way…another winner from Anderson’s compassionate pen.”

  —Library Journal

  “Bestseller Anderson combines romance with a touch of suspense…. Sweet and sensual.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “With the author’s signature nurturing warmth and emotional depth, this beautifully written romance is a richly rewarding experience for any reader.”

  —Booklist

  Blue Skies

  “Readers may need to wipe away tears…since few will be able to resist the power of this beautifully emotional, wonderfully romantic love story.”

  —Booklist

  “A keeper and a very strong contender for Best Contemporary Romance of the Year.”

  —Romance Reviews Today

  Only by Your Touch

  “Ben Longtree is a marvelous hero whose extraordinary gifts bring a unique and special magic to this warmhearted novel. No one can tug your heartstrings better than Catherine Anderson.”

  —Romantic Times (4½ Stars, Top Pick)

  Always in My Heart

  “Emotionally involving, family-centered, and relationship oriented, this story is a rewarding read.”

  —Library Journal

  “[A] superbly written contemporary romance, which features just the kind of emotionally nourishing, comfortably compassionate type of love story this author is known for creating.”

  —Booklist

  Sweet Nothings

  “Pure reading magic.”

  —Booklist

  Phantom Waltz

  “Anderson departs from traditional romantic stereotypes in this poignant, contemporary tale of a love that transcends all boundaries…romantic through and through.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “Coulter Family” books by Catherine Anderson

  Phantom Waltz

  Sweet Nothings

  Blue Skies

  Bright Eyes

  My Sunshine

  Summer Breeze

  Other Signet Books by Catherine Anderson

  Always in My Heart

  Only by Your Touch

  Catherine Anderson

  Sun Kissed

  A SIGNET BOOK

  SIGNET

  Published by New American Library, a division of

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

  Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

  Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.)

  Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.)

  Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India

  Penguin Group (NZ), cnr Airborne and Rosedale Roads, Albany, Auckland 1310, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.)

  Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

  Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices:

  80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  First published by Signet, an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  Copyright © Adeline Catherine Anderson, 2007

  All rights reserved

  ISBN: 978-1-1012-1069-7

  REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA

  Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  PUBLISHER’S NOTE

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  This book is dedicated to my beloved niece, Robyn Antonucci, CVT, in deep appreciation for all her help with the technical aspects of equine care and treatment. Without her enthusiastic input and willingness to be on call whenever I needed information, this story might never have been written. Thank you so much for all your support, Robyn, and also the countless times you went to Dr. Heidi for her expert advice.

  Acknowledgments

  I also want to acknowledge all the wonderful horses that have crossed my path over my lifetime and remain in my memory. It is my hope that this book will increase public awareness of the abuse and neglect these magnif
icent animals must so often endure. If you see a skeleton horse, call your local humane society and the police. If you witness equine abuse, contact the authorities immediately. Too often when an animal is being abused, people look the other way. Please, don’t! You may be that helpless creature’s only hope.

  CONTENTS

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Epilogue

  Chapter One

  For as long as Samantha Harrigan could remember, she had loved going to the rodeo. Now that she’d found the courage to come again, she could scarcely believe that she had deprived herself for so long of something she enjoyed so much. Thus far, she hadn’t even glimpsed her ex-husband, a dyed-in-the-wool rodeo cowboy who had been her reason for staying away. He was probably too busy flirting with blond buckle bunnies to mingle with the masses. Early on in the marriage, his infidelities had broken Samantha’s heart. Now she felt only relief that the divorce was final and Steve Fisher was out of her life.

  As she worked her way through the crowd to reach the concession stand, the hot August sun beat down on the fairgrounds, creating a gigantic potpourri of scents within the circle of buildings. The sawdust underfoot sent up a woodsy musk that blended pleasantly with the pungent odors of livestock, a motley assortment of perfume and aftershave, and the mouthwatering aroma of junk food trailing on the breeze.

  With each breath, Samantha was transported back to her childhood. Some of her earliest memories were of going to the rodeo with her dad and older brothers. Pictures flashed through her mind—of her father swinging her up to ride on his hip, of herself all decked out in brand-new rodeo finery, and of her brothers holding her up to see over the crowd while their dad competed in an event. To this day, she could remember the stickiness on her fingers from eating cotton candy, and how she’d hated having her face washed afterward with a spit-dampened handkerchief.

  The memory made Samantha grin. Oh, how she had adored cotton candy—and still did, truth told. Being the ripe old age of twenty-nine didn’t mean she no longer appreciated life’s simple pleasures. Before she left the com pound today, she would buy herself an extra-large cloud of cotton candy, and she would eat it just as she had years ago, pulling off big chunks and letting them melt in her mouth.

  For now, though, she had a tall iced tea in mind, some thing cold and wet to soothe her throat, which was raw from yelling at the top of her lungs for her brothers, who had performed in some of the morning rounds. She mustn’t be too hoarse to cheer when her stallion, Blue Blazes, and eldest brother, Clint, took first place in the cutting horse competition. Heck, no. She’d be in the front row, screaming for all she was worth. Her only regret would be that she wasn’t in the arena herself. Next year, she thought determinedly. With another twelve months to distance her self from the painful memories of her marriage, she would be ready to compete again, without any fear that a glimpse of Steve’s face in the crowd might make her freeze or hesitate, thus causing Blue to lose points.

  It was in the cutting horse competition that the Harrigan line of quarter horses truly shone, for in that event, the quality, training, skill, and intelligence of an animal were put to the ultimate test. If her beloved Blue Blazes won—and there was no question in Samantha’s mind that he would—her reputation as a breeder and trainer would get a huge boost, enabling her to name her price for Blue’s stud fees. In her present financial situation, a good year would go a long way toward getting her ranch out of the red.

  Samantha had nearly reached the concession stand when she heard a horse scream. The sound of terror and pain tugged at her heart, and she whirled to locate its source. What she saw made her blood run hot. A stout, middle-aged man in flashy, Western-style clothing was trying to load a sorrel gelding into a transport trailer. The animal was balking, and its owner was beating it with the long handle of a lunge whip.

  Samantha couldn’t bear to see an animal mistreated. With purposeful strides, she advanced on the horse trailer, the heels of her riding boots digging deep into the sawdust. As she drew close, she realized the man was intoxicated. Each time he swung his arm, he staggered and almost fell from the loading ramp.

  A group of onlookers had already gathered around the trailer. From the corner of her eye, Samantha saw several able-bodied men just standing there. Why? The poor horse needed help. Surely at least one of them had the gumption to intervene. But, no. The drunk swung viciously at the horse again, and no one in the crowd stepped forward. Sam’s stomach lurched at the sound of leather-wrapped wood connecting with flesh.

  “Hey!” she called out. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  The man didn’t seem to hear her. Samantha saw blood glistening darkly above the horse’s eye. There was another gash on its nose. Furious, she jerked her cell phone from her belt and started to dial 911 as she closed the remaining distance to the ramp. Before she could finish punching in the numbers, the device was swatted from her hand. Stunned, she looked up to find the drunk looming over her, his bloodshot brown eyes sparking with anger.

  “You fixin’ to call the cops, lady?” He jabbed a finger at her face. “Well, think again! This is my horse.” He raised a massive fist to display the reins clasped in his thick fingers. “I’ll beat some manners into him if I want. It’s none of your damned business.”

  The sorrel tried to back away, but stopped short when the reins pulled taut. That told Samantha that it wasn’t the animal with a behavior problem. An adult quarter horse weighed anywhere from a thousand to thirteen hundred pounds, and had enough strength in its neck alone to lift a grown man off his feet. Instead of fighting back, this poor gelding stood obediently waiting to endure more blows. Samantha had no idea why the animal refused to enter the trailer, but judging from what she’d seen, she guessed that it was mostly the man’s fault.

  In that moment, Samantha felt a kinship with the horse that others might never understand. She circled the man to stand at the bottom of the ramp between him and the gelding. It wasn’t a wise decision. Deep down, she knew that. But it was something she felt compelled to do: take a stand, face her demons, demand justice. There had been a time when she’d waited too long to do any of those things, and she’d learned the hard way that sometimes it was better to act rashly than do nothing at all.

  The metallic taste of fear coated Samantha’s tongue as she faced the drunk. He outweighed her by well over a hundred pounds, and there was a wild look in his eyes. In the not-so-distant past, she had faced another man with brutal fists and learned that she needed more than anger as an equalizer. Even so, she held her ground.

  “The abuse of an animal is everyone’s business,” she managed to say evenly. “This horse is already cut and bleeding. He’s had enough, and so have you.”

  “Are you sayin’ I’ve had too much to drink?”

  Samantha just stood there, meeting the man’s gaze with fateful resolve, her heart pounding wildly and her body going clammy with sweat.

  That was how Tucker Coulter first saw her—standing toe-to-toe with a man twice her size. While volunteering as an on-site rodeo veterinarian these last three days, he had seen so many women in skintight jeans, fringed shirts, and Stetsons that he’d long since lost count. But this woman didn’t have the look of a weekend cowgirl. Her slender figure was showcased in snug, faded Wranglers worn thin at the knees and a simple blue plaid work shirt. Instead of a fancy Stetson, she wore a green ball cap with JOHN DEERE emblazed above the bill in bright yellow. Through the cap’s rear opening,
a cloud of ebony curls spilled down her slender back.

  Normally Tucker didn’t find fragile women all that attractive, but something about this one appealed to him in a way he couldn’t define. Maybe it was the fear in her large brown eyes, which was completely at odds with her challenging stance. Courage was a trait he admired in anyone. As a kid, he’d loved the story of David and Goliath, an undersize warrior pitted against a giant. Only this lady didn’t even have a slingshot to defend herself. She put him more in mind of Tinkerbell, sans the magical pixie dust, pitting herself against an evil Captain Hook.

  Still pushing his way through the noisy crowd, Tucker couldn’t make out the exchange between the man and woman. He’d been told by an excited, stammering young boy in the 4-H building a few minutes ago that a horse over here needed help. Tucker had taken that to mean that the animal was sick or hurt, so he’d brought his satchel. He hadn’t realized until now that the horse was being beaten.

  Not a good situation. As much as Tucker admired Tinkerbell for stepping in to defend the horse, it wasn’t a smart move. When you witnessed a crime in progress, the best course of action was to call the police.