Summer's Desire

SUMMER’S DESIRE

Cowboy Seasons 1

Kathleen Ball

Mainstream Romance

Secret Cravings Publishing

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A Secret Cravings
Publishing Book

Mainstream Romance

Summer’s Desire

Copyright © 2013 Kathleen
Ball

E-book ISBN:
978-1-61885-751-4

First E-book Publication:
July 2013

Cover design by
Dawné
Dominique

Edited by Becky
Hollada

Proofread by Rene Flowers

All cover art and logo
copyright © 2013 by Secret Cravings Publishing

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All characters and events in this book are
fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly
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Dedication

I dedicate Summer’s Desire to my dad, James Tighe. I
love you, Dad.

A special dedication to my amazing cousin Molly
Garvin Doherty, a very talented author.

I want to thank
Carih
Haefs
, Jean Joachim, JP
Grider
, Amber
Dane, Stefan Ellery, My editor Rebecca
Hollada
,
Lindsay Downs, Liberty Ann Ireland, all my Marine Moms, and the whole Secret
Cravings family.

I especially I want to thank you for reading my
books.

A special thanks to Hooves and Paws Rescue of the
Heartland Inc.
Genea
Stoops-President- for helping me
in my research. They are a wonderful organization that takes in neglected
animals and tries to make them whole again www.hoovespaws.org.

And to my guys, Bruce, Steven and Colt, because I
love them.

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SUMMER’S
DESIRE

Cowboy
Seasons 1

Kathleen Ball

Copyright ©
2013

Chapter One

Summer Fitzgerald eyed each
shirtless cowboy before her. Something wasn’t right. She was supposed to be the
nanny/housekeeper for these young men? She answered the ad assuming she’d be
mothering young boys.

Hell, these boys
outgrew toys a long
time ago. The oldest appeared to be about eighteen and the rest looked only a
little younger. They were probably only
each a year apart.
“Where are the rest?”

“You’re looking at all of us,” said the second
tallest.

The oldest elbowed the one beside him. “Put your
shirts on. I heard it isn’t polite to be without a shirt in front of a lady.”

“I’m Matt—this here yahoo is Mark, Luke is next and
the little squirt is John.”

Her eyes widened. They intended to grow bigger?
“Nice to meet you, I’m Summer. But I have a feeling I’m in the wrong place. I answered
an ad to help out with boys.”

John smiled. They all looked similar, brown wavy
hair and deep brown eyes. “That’s us, Ma’am.”

“Surely you’re old enough to take care of
yourselves.”

All the boys suddenly peered over her shoulder. Summer
turned to see what they were looking at and almost gasped. Now this was a
mature cowboy, an extremely handsome one at that. He would be the oldest
brother, older than her twenty-five years.

“Ma’am, I’m Holden O’Leary. I placed the ad. I need
some help with these young whelps. I’m always working and I thought a woman might
be needed around here to help out.”

It was hard to pull her eyes away from Holden. His dark
eyes entranced her. “I’m Summer. But I don’t know about this. I was expecting
little boys, not practically grown men.”

“Can you cook?” Mark interrupted.

“Please stay. Give us a chance.” The plea in
Holden’s voice tugged at her heart.

She stared at the ground and shuffled her feet.
Would she be able to do the job? She glanced up at Holden and her heart raced.
She shook her head. “I thought the job was for a live in nanny/housekeeper.
Small children I can handle but I’m not sure about teenagers. It wouldn’t be a
good fit for me.”

Holden took a step toward her. His wide shoulders were
broader up close. “I apologize. I know I stretched the truth a bit.”

“Stretched? You totally misled me, and I don’t know
if I can work for someone who isn’t up front with me.”

His grin was a mix of guilty and sexy. “Look, I’m
really sorry. Damn. We’re not off to a good start are we? I’d be obliged if
you’d reconsider. The last two are really just babes.”

Luke, a smaller version of his eldest brother,
stepped forward with a wide scowl on his face. “Babes? I’ll show you a babe.”
He lowered his head and lurched forward, butting his head into Holden’s
abdomen.

Holden grabbed Luke by the collar of his shirt. “What
do you think…” Holden glanced her way and smiled, letting Luke go. “We don’t
usually fight.”

Laughter started to bubble up inside her and she
quickly suppressed it. Holden wasn’t telling her the truth about anything as
far as she could tell.

Taking a deep breath, she surveyed her surroundings.
The house appeared sound, and it was certainly big; a two story place with a
wide front porch. The barn seemed well kept and the horses in the corral were
prime. A flawless view of the mountains awed her. Whoever first settled this place
had picked a perfect piece of land.

Any objections faded away as she remembered how much
gas she didn’t have in her car. It was barely enough to take her back to
Carlston. But, she would come up with something. “Nice to meet y’all but I’ll
pass.” She turned and walked to her car. She just opened the car door when a
big, tan, hand grabbed it.

“I’ll pay you double.”

The offer made her hesitate and she turned around.
Holden’s dark eyes were wide, desperate. Letting go of the door she crossed her
arms in front of her. “I haven’t seen you around town. When I saw the ad, I
assumed you were a new family that moved into the area.” She stared at him.
“With children.”

“It’s a long story but we are new to the area. We
needed a new start and here we are. I’m a veterinarian and—”

“Say no more. I heard a new vet was coming to town.
You are planning to work with Colt O’Malley and his rescue horses aren’t you?”
She held her breath. She’d know what type of man he was by his answer.

“Colt invited me up here. We plan to work very
closely. I always wanted to get involved with animal rescue operations.”

Summer breathed out slowly. She assessed him one
more time, and then nodded. “If Colt knows you then I’ll stay. Just so you know
up front, no funny business.”

Holden frowned. “Funny business?”

“Y’all keep your hands to yourselves.”

Holden laughed, his dark eyes crinkled in the
corners. “You don’t have to worry about that. I can promise you that we don’t
need or want that type of thing from you.”