Malloy Family 6
Brett Malloy never thought he quite fit in with his brothers and sister. A quiet man who thought much more than he spoke, Brett spent most of his life in his siblings’ shadows. After getting an unexpected new ranch, he spends his days with only ex-gunslinger and a runaway boy for company. When an unexpected injury lays him out, Doctor Alexandra Brighton arrives to treat him. Too bad she was his long lost love he’d long since given up on or he might be tempted to fall for her again.
Alex struggles with her feelings for Brett, a taciturn man who has always made her crazy. With her love for him reignited, she decides it’s up to her to teach him how to live, and find love and passion.
Brett wants to grab hold of Alex and hang on, but he can’t seem to step into the light and accept her love. When another man steps up to claim the woman who owns his heart, Brett must decide if life is only worth living with Alexandra by his side.
Excerpt
Alex Brighton was sorting the supplies that had been delivered that morning when she heard the clinic door open. They didn’t have a terribly busy physician’s practice, but they did get their fair share of patients.
After retiring a year earlier, her father didn’t spend much time in the clinic. Since their nurse only worked three mornings a week, Alex was alone and had to see to whomever came by. She set the counted bandages to one side and scribbled the amount on a scrap of paper before she went to see who had arrived. When she came around the corner, she was glad the doorjamb was in reach.
Brett Malloy.
Those eyes. Those blue, blue eyes hadn’t changed at all since he was a little boy. He had to be the most beautiful man God had put on the Earth. Unfortunately, God had also made him the most taciturn, stubborn and quiet man ever created. Not to mention the biggest idiot.
Something about Brett had always rested on her heart. Alex couldn’t even begin to explain it other than to say she felt connected to him at the deepest level. Some kind of invisible bond and every time she saw him, her mouth always went cotton dry.
His appearance resonated through her like a stone in a bucket, ripples fanning everywhere. For a moment, Alex couldn’t respond. He’d broken her heart once, and she had never forgiven him for what he’d thrown away. Their future, their children, their chance. She could be polite, but that didn’t mean she had to be friendly.
“Surprised to see you here, Brett.”
He took off his hat and fiddled with it. It was one thing the Malloy boys all had—beautiful hands. Alex had spent a good deal of time remembering those hands, how they felt on her skin, how the calluses made her nipples pebble.
Dammit, woman, get your thoughts in order.
“Good afternoon, Alex.”
The clean scent of soap and his damp hair told her Brett had just bathed. More than likely down at Joe’s place. That was unusual—why hadn’t he bathed at home?
“What can I do for you?”
“Oh, yeah, I need supplies. Bandages, some betadine. Um, you know, whatever, um…”
Alex was at a total loss. The few words that came out of Brett Malloy’s mouth were usually very thought out and as precise as the edge of a knife. This stumbling, bumbling Brett was completely unexpected. She didn’t know what to make of it.