That Burke Man

Dear Reader,

I really can’t express how flattered I am and also how grateful I am to Harlequin Books for releasing this collection of my published works. It came as a great surprise. I never think of myself as writing books that are collectible. In fact, there are days when I forget that writing is work at all. What I do for a living is so much fun that it never seems like a job. And since I reside in a small community, and my daily life is confined to such mundane things as feeding the wild birds and looking after my herb patch in the backyard, I feel rather unconnected from what many would think of as a glamorous profession.

But when I read my email, or when I get letters from readers, or when I go on signing trips to bookstores to meet all of you, I feel truly blessed. Over the past thirty years I have made lasting friendships with many of you. And quite frankly, most of you are like part of my family. You can’t imagine how much you enrich my life. Thank you so much.

I also need to extend thanks to my family (my husband, James, son, Blayne, daughter-in-law, Christina, and granddaughter, Selena Marie), to my best friend, Ann, to my readers, booksellers and the wonderful people at Harlequin Books—from my editor of many years, Tara, to all the other fine and talented people who make up our publishing house. Thanks to all of you for making this job and my private life so worth living.

Thank you for this tribute, Harlequin, and for putting up with me for thirty long years! Love to all of you.

Diana Palmer

DIANA PALMER

The prolific author of more than a hundred books, Diana Palmer got her start as a newspaper reporter. A multi–New York Times bestselling author and one of the top ten romance writers in America, she has a gift for telling the most sensual tales with charm and humor. Diana lives with her family in Cornelia, Georgia.

Visit her website at www.DianaPalmer.com.

That Burke Man

Diana Palmer

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter One

Todd Burke sank lower in the rickety chair at the steel rail of the rodeo arena, glowering around him from under the brim of his Stetson. He crossed one powerful blue-jeaned leg over the other and surveyed his dusty, cream-colored boots. He’d worn his dress ones for the occasion, but he’d forgotten how messy things got around livestock. It had been a long time since he’d worked on his father’s ranch, and several months since Cherry’s last rodeo.

The girl had a good seat for riding, but she had no self-confidence. His ex-wife didn’t approve of Cherry’s sudden passion for barrel racing. But he did. Cherry was all he had to show for eight years of marriage that had ended six years ago in a messy divorce. He had custody of Cherry because Marie and her new husband were too occupied with business to raise a child. Cherry was fourteen now, and a handful at times. Todd had his own worries, with a huge computer company to run and no free time. He should make more time for Cherry, but he couldn’t turn over the reins of his company to subordinates. He was president and it was his job to run things.

But he was bored. The challenges were all behind him. He’d made his millions and now he was stagnating for lack of something to occupy his quick, analytical mind. He was taking a few weeks off, reluctantly, to get a new perspective on life and business during Cherry’s school holidays. But he was tired of it already.

He hated sitting here while he waited for Cherry’s turn to race. He and Cherry had moved to Victoria, Texas, just recently, where his new head offices were located. Jacobsville, the little town they were now in, attending the rodeo, was a nice, short drive from Victoria, and Cherry had pleaded to come, because a barrel-racing rodeo champion she idolized was supposed to accept an award of some sort here tonight. Cherry’s entry in the competition had been perfunctory and resigned, because she didn’t ride well before an audience and she knew it.

Her name was called and he sat up, watching his daughter lean over her horse’s neck as she raced out into the arena, her pigtail flying from under her wide-brimmed hat. She looked like him, with gray eyes and fair hair. She was going to be tall, too, and she was a good rider. But when she took the first turn she hesitated and the horse slowed almost to a crawl. The announcer made a sympathetic sound, and then she did it again on the next turn.

Todd watched her ride out of the arena as her part in the competition was finished. He had a heavy heart. She’d been so hopeful, but as always, she was going to finish last.

“What a shame,” came a quiet, feminine voice from down the aisle. “She just freezes on the turns, did you see? She’ll never be any good as a competitor, I’m afraid. No nerve.”

A male voice made a commiserating comment.

Todd, infuriated by the superiority in that female voice, waited for its owner to come into view with anger building inside him. When she did, it was a surprise.

The tall beautiful blonde who’d said those things about Cherry Burke was just complimenting herself on her steady progress. For the first time in months, Jane Parker was managing without her wheelchair or her cane. Moreover, her usual betraying limp hadn’t made an appearance. Of course, she was fresh because she’d rested all day, and she hadn’t strained her back. She’d been very careful not to, so that she could get through the opening ceremonies of the annual Jacobsville Rodeo and wait until its end when she was going to accept a plaque on behalf of her father. Tim had raged at her for agreeing to ride today, but it hadn’t done any good. After all, she was her father’s daughter. Her pride wouldn’t let her ride out into the arena in a buckboard.

She stopped along the way to watch the youth competition in barrel racing. That had been her event, and she’d won trophies for it in this and other rodeos around Texas since grammar school. One particular girl caught her eye, and she commented critically on the ride—a poor one—to one of the seasoned riders leaning on the iron arena rail beside her. It was a pity that the girl hadn’t finished in the money, but not surprising.

The girl was afraid of the turns and it showed in the way she choked up on the reins and hindered the horse. Jane commented on it to the cowboy. The girl must be new to rodeo, Jane thought, because her name wasn’t one she knew. Here in south Texas, where she’d lived all her life, Jane knew everyone on the rodeo circuit.

She smiled at the cowboy and moved on, shaking her head. She wasn’t really watching where she was going. She was trying to straighten the fringe on her rhinestone-studded white fringe jacket—which matched her long riding skirt and boots—when a big, booted foot shot across the narrow space between the trailers and slammed into the bottom metal rail of the rodeo arena, effectively freezing the elegant glittery blonde in her tracks.

Shocked, she looked down into steely gray eyes in a lean face framed by thick, fair hair.

The cowboy sitting on the trailer hitch was braiding several pieces of rawhide in his strong fingers. They didn’t still, even when he spoke.

“I heard what you just said to that cowboy about Cherry Burke’s ride,” he said coldly. “Who the hell do you think you are to criticize a cowgirl in Cherry’s class?”

She lifted both eyebrows. He wasn’t a regular on the Texas circuit, either. She and her father had circled it for years. “I beg your pardon?”

“What are you, anyway, a model?” he chided. “You look like one of those blonde dress-up fashion dolls in that outfit,” he added as his eyes punctuated the contempt of his voice. “Are you shacking up with one of the riders or are you part of the entertainment?”

She hadn’t expected a verbal attack from a total stranger. She stared at him, too surprised to react.

“Are questions of more than one syllable too hard for you?” he persisted.

That got through the surprise. Her blue eyes glittered at him. “Funny, I’d have said they’re the only kind you’re capable of asking,” she said in her soft, cultured voice. She looked at his leg, still blocking her path. “Move it or I’ll break it, cowboy.”

“A cream puff like you?” he scoffed.

“That’s where you’re wrong. I’m no cream puff.” In his position on the hitch, he was precariously balanced. She reached over, grimacing because the movement hurt her back, caught his ankle and jerked it up. He went over backward with a harsh curse.

She dusted off her hands and kept walking, aware of a wide grin from two cowboys she passed on her way to the gate.

Tim Harley, her middle-aged ranch foreman, was waiting for her by the gate with Bracket, her palomino gelding. He held the horse for her, grimacing as he watched her slow, painful ascension into the saddle.

“You shouldn’t try this,” he said. “It’s too soon!”

“Dad would have done it,” she countered. “Jacobsville was his hometown, and it’s mine. I couldn’t refuse the invitation to accept the plaque for Dad. Today’s rodeo is dedicated to him.”

“You could have accepted the plaque on foot or in a buckboard,” he muttered.

She glared down at him. “Listen, I wasn’t always a cripple…!”

“Oh, for God’s sake!”

The sound of the band tuning up got her attention. She soothed her nervous horse, aware of angry footsteps coming along the aisle between the trailers and the arena. Fortunately, before the fair-haired cowboy got close, the other riders joined her at the gate and arranged themselves in a flanking pattern.

The youth competition marked the end of the evening’s entertainment. The money for top prizes had been announced and awarded. The band began to play “The Yellow Rose of Texas.” The gate opened. Jane coaxed Bracket into his elegant trot and bit down on her lower lip to contain the agony of the horse’s motion. He was smooth and gaited, but even so, the jarring was painful.

She didn’t know if she’d make it around that arena, but she was going to try. With a wan smile, she forced herself to look happy, to take off her white Stetson and wave to the cheering crowd. Most of these people had known her father, and a good many of them knew her. She’d been a legend in barrel racing before her forced retirement at the age of twenty-four. Her father often said that she was heaven on a horse. She tried not to think about her last sight of him. She wanted to remember him as he had been, in the time before…

“Isn’t she as pretty as a picture?” Bob Harris was saying from the press booth. “Miss Jane Parker, ladies and gentlemen, two-time world’s champion barrel-racer and best all around in last year’s women’s division. As you know, she’s retired from the ring now, but she’s still one magnificent sight on a horse!”

She drank in the cheers and managed not to fall off or cry out in pain when she got to the reviewing stand. It had been touch and go.

Bob Harris came out into the arena with a plaque and handed it up to her. “Don’t try to get down,” he said flatly, holding a hand over the microphone.

“Folks,” he continued loudly, “as you know, Oren Parker was killed earlier this year in a car crash. He was best all-around four years running in this rodeo, and world’s champion roper twice. I know you’ll all join with me in our condolences as I dedicate this rodeo to his memory and present Jane with this plaque in honor of her father’s matchless career as a top hand and a great rodeo cowboy. Miss Jane Parker, ladies and gentlemen!”

There were cheers and more applause. Jane waved the plaque and as Bob held the microphone up, she quickly thanked everyone for their kindness and for the plaque honoring her father. Then before she fell off the horse, she thanked Bob again and rode out of the arena.

She couldn’t get down. That was the first real surprise of the evening. The second was to find that same angry, fair-haired cowboy standing there waiting for her to come out of the ring.

He caught her bridle and held her horse in place while he glared up at her. “Well, you sure as hell don’t look the part,” he said mockingly. “You ride like a raw beginner, as stiff as a board in the saddle. How did a rider as bad as you ever even get to the finals? Did you do it on Daddy’s name?”

If she’d been hurting a little less, she was certain that she’d have put her boot right in his mouth. Sadly she was in too much pain to react.

“No spirit either, huh?” he persisted.

“Hold on, Jane, I’m coming!” came a gruff voice from behind her. “Damned fool stunt,” Tim growled as he came up beside her, his gray hair and unruly beard making him look even more wizened than normal. “Can’t get off, can you? Okay, Tim’s here. You just come down at your own pace.” He took the plaque from her.

“Does she always have to be lifted off a horse?” the stranger drawled. “I thought rodeo stars could mount and dismount all by themselves.”

He didn’t have a Texas accent. In fact, he didn’t have much of an accent at all. She wondered where he was from.

Tim glared at him. “You won’t last long on this circuit with that mouth,” he told the man. “And especially not using it on Jane.”

He turned back to her, holding his arms up. “Come on, pumpkin,” he coaxed, in the same tone he’d used when she was only six, instead of twenty-five as she was now. “Come on. It’s all right, I won’t let you fall.”

The new cowboy was watching with a scowl. It had suddenly occurred to him that her face was a pasty white and she was gritting her teeth as she tried to ease down. The wizened little cowboy was already straining. He was tiny, and she wasn’t big, but she was tall and certainly no lightweight.

He moved forward. “Let me,” he said, moving in front of Tim.

“Don’t let her fall,” Tim said quickly. “That back brace won’t save her if you do.”

“Back brace…” It certainly explained a lot. He felt it when he took her gently by the waist, the ribbing hard under his fingers. She was sweating now with the effort, and tears escaped her eyes. She closed them, shivering.

“I can’t,” she whispered, in agony.

“Put your arms around my neck,” he said with authority. “I’ll take your weight. You can slide along and I’ll catch you when you’ve got the other foot out of the stirrup. Take it easy. Whenever you’re ready.”

She knew that she couldn’t stay on the animal forever, but it was tempting. She managed a wan smile at Tim’s worried figure. “Don’t natter, Tim,” she whispered hoarsely. “I’ve got this far. I’ll get the rest of the way.” She took a deep breath, set her teeth together and pulled.

The pain was excruciating. She felt it in every cell of her body before the cowboy had her carefully in his arms, clear of the ground, but she didn’t whimper. Not once. She lay there against his broad chest, shuddering with pain.

“Where do you want her?” he asked the older man.

Tim hesitated, but he knew the girl couldn’t walk and he sure as hell couldn’t carry her. “This way,” he said after a minute, and led the tall man to a motor home several hundred yards down the line.

It was a nice little trailer, with a large sitting area. There was a sofa along one side and next to it, a wheelchair. When the cowboy saw the wheelchair, his face contorted.

“I told you,” Tim was raging at her. “I told you not to do it! God knows how much you’ve set yourself back!”

“No…not there!” Jane protested sharply when he started to put her down in the wheelchair. “For God’s sake, not there!”

“It’s the best place for you, you silly woman!” Tim snapped.

“On the sofa, please,” she whispered, fighting back a sharp moan as he lowered her gently to the cushions.

“I’ll get your pain capsules and something to drink,” Tim said, moving into the small kitchen.

“Thank you,” Jane told the tall cowboy. It was a grudging thank-you, because he’d said some harsh things and she was angry.

“No need,” he replied quietly. “You might have stopped me before I made a complete fool of myself. I suppose you’ve forgotten more about racing than Cherry will ever learn. Cherry’s my daughter,” he added.

That explained a lot. She grimaced as she shifted. “I’m sorry you took the criticism the wrong way, but I won’t apologize for it,” she said stiffly. “She’s got the talent, but she’s afraid of the turns. Someone needs to help her…get better control of her fears and her horse.”

“I can ride, but that’s about it. I don’t know enough about rodeo to do her any good,” he said flatly, “even though we’re as crazy about rodeo in Wyoming as you Texans are.”

“You’re from Wyoming?” she asked, curious.

“Yes. We moved to Texas a few weeks ago, so that…” He stopped, strangely reluctant to tell her it was because he’d moved his company headquarters there to deal with an expanded market in Texas. “So that we could be closer to Cherry’s mother,” he amended. In fact, that hadn’t influenced his decision to move to Victoria. Marie was no one’s idea of a mother, and she’d been overly critical of Cherry for some time. It was a coincidence that Marie and her husband moved to Victoria from Houston about the same time Todd had moved his company headquarters there. Or so Marie said. “She and her second husband live in Victoria.”

She let her eyes slide over his lean, hard face. “Does her mother ride? Couldn’t she help her?”

His eyes seemed to darken. “Her mother hates horses. She didn’t want Cherry in rodeo at all, but I put my foot down. Rodeo is the most important thing in Cherry’s life.”

“Then she should be allowed to do it,” she agreed, and she was thinking how sad it was that he and his wife were divorced. His poor little girl. She knew what it was like to grow up without a mother. Her mother had died of pneumonia when she was barely in school.

She glanced back at the man. He’d said they were from Wyoming. That explained the lack of a Texas accent. She lay back, and the pain bit into her slender body like teeth. Hot tears wet her eyes as she struggled with the anguish it caused her just to move.

Tim came back and handed her two capsules and a cola. She swallowed the medicine and sipped the cold liquid, savoring the nip of it against her tongue. If only the pain would stop.

“That’s sweet,” she said with a sigh.

The tall man stood looking down at her with a frown. “Are you all right?”

“Sure,” she said. “I’m just dandy. Thanks for your help.”

She wasn’t forthcoming, and he had no right to expect it. He nodded and moved out of the trailer.

Tim came after him. “Thanks for your help, stranger,” he said. “I’d never have got her here by myself.”

They shook hands. “My pleasure.” He paused. “What happened to her?” he added abruptly.

“Her daddy wrecked the car,” he said simply. “He was killed instantly, but Jane was pinned in there with him for three hours or more. They thought she’d broken her back,” he concluded.

There was a harsh intake of breath.

“Oh, it was a herniated disk instead. It’s painful and slow to heal, and she’ll most always have some pain with it. But they can work miracles these days. She couldn’t walk right away, though, and we weren’t sure if she’d be paralyzed. But she got up out of that bed and started working on herself. Stayed in physical therapy until even the doctors grinned. Never knew a girl like her,” he mused. “This thing has taken some of the fight out of her, of course, but she’s no quitter. Her dad would have been proud. Sad about her career, though. She’ll never ride in competition again.”

“What in hell was she doing on that horse this morning?”

“Showing everybody that nothing short of death will ever keep her down,” Tim said simply. “Never did catch your name, stranger.”

“Burke. Todd Burke.”

“I’m Tim Harley. I’m proud to meet you.”

“Same here.” He hesitated for just a minute before he turned and went back along the aisles. He felt odd. He’d never felt so odd in his life before. Perhaps, he thought, it was that he wasn’t used to proud women. She’d surprised him with the extent of her grit and stubbornness. She wasn’t a quitter, in spite of impossible circumstances. He didn’t doubt that she’d ride again, either, even if she didn’t get back into competition. God, she was game! He was sorry he’d managed to get off on the wrong foot with her. He’d been irritated by the remarks she’d made about his daughter. Now he realized that she was trying to help, and he’d taken it the wrong way.

He was sensitive about Cherry. His daughter had taken more vicious criticism from her own mother than she was ever likely to get from a stranger. He’d over-reacted. Now he was left with a case of badly bruised pride and a wounded ego. He smiled a little bitterly at his own embarrassment. He deserved it, being so cruel to a woman in that condition. It had been a long time since he’d made a mistake of such magnitude.

He wandered back down the lane to join his daughter, who was excitedly talking to one of the rodeo clowns.

“Dad, did you see her, that blonde lady who accepted the plaque?” she asked when he was within earshot. “That was Jane Parker herself!”

“I saw her.” He glanced at the young cowboy, who flushed and grinned at Cherry, and then quickly made himself scarce.

“I wish you wouldn’t do that,” Cherry said on a sigh. “Honestly, Dad, I’m fourteen!”

“And I’m an old bear. I know.” He threw an affectionate arm around her. “You did fine, partner. I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks! Where did you disappear to?”

“I helped your idol into her motor home,” he said.

“My idol…Miss Parker?”

“The very same. She’s got a bad back, that’s why she doesn’t ride anymore. She’s game, though.”

“She’s the best barrel racer I ever saw,” Cherry said. “I have a video of last year’s rodeo and she’s on it. The reason I begged to come to this rodeo was so that I could meet her, but she isn’t riding this time. Gosh, I was disappointed when they said she’d retired. I didn’t know she had a bad back.”

“Neither did I,” he murmured. He put an arm around her and hugged her close. She was precious to him, but he tended to busy himself too deeply in his work, especially in the years since her mother had walked out on them. “We haven’t had much time together, have we? I’ll make it up to you while we’re on vacation.”

“How about right now?” She grinned at him. “You could introduce me to Miss Parker.”

He cleared his throat. How was he going to tell her that her idol thought he was about as low as a snake?

“She’s so pretty,” Cherry added without waiting for his answer. “Mother’s pretty, too, but not like that.” She grimaced. “Mother doesn’t want me to come up next week, did she tell you?”

“Yes.” He didn’t add that they’d argued about it. Marie didn’t spend any more time with Cherry than she had to. She’d walked out on the two of them for another man six years ago, declaring that Cherry was just too much for her to handle. It had devastated the young girl and left Todd Burke in the odd position of having to forego board meetings of his corporation to take care of his daughter. He hadn’t minded, though. He was proud of the girl, and he’d encouraged her in everything she wanted to do, including rodeo. Marie had a fit over that. She didn’t approve of her daughter riding rodeo, but Todd had put his foot down.

“What does she see in him?” Cherry asked, her gray eyes flashing and her blond pigtail swinging as she threw her hands up in a temper. “He’s so picky about everything, especially his clothes. He doesn’t like pets and he doesn’t like children.”