Galloping Hearts (Texas Heat: Book 2)

Galloping Hearts

Texas Heat - Book Two

AMELIA ROSE

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Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2014 by Amelia Rose

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and events are the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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Dedication

To YOU, The reader.

Thank you for your support.

Thank you for your emails.

Thank you for your reviews.

Thank you for reading and joining me on this road.

Contents

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 – Eight Months Later

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About Amelia Rose

Chapter One

Moira had just finished up her spring term at the University of Texas. She was going to school for Architectural Engineering. She wanted to build houses and buildings that would catch the eye and make her a pretty penny.

Growing up on Circle O had been nice and all but it was in a podunk town she wanted nothing to do with. She knew early on she needed to get away from the tiny town she grew up in and the ranch that seemed to hold her whole world until the age of eighteen. It had all been too stifling for her growing up.

She had just wanted to spend the good weathered days in the fields, drawing the herds of family animals or of the scenery around her. It was a beautiful place to be certain. Unfortunately, the life was harsh. She’d been a brilliant artist but never was fully trained. She took art classes in middle and high school but most of what she learned was from books and trial and error. Her parents were too busy trying to support eight kids and a ranch to ever pay for legitimate lessons. By the time she was in high school, she’d learned that the moments with her pencil would be few and far between. More than that, she knew that as a part of the O’Connor clan, she would be expected to break her back on the ranch with the rest of the family, who never left.

She had watched as her older sister, Marlene, had broken free of the mold by becoming a nurse. She’d moved to the city and hadn’t come back for over three years. Then, she’d returned and fallen in love with a ranch hand. Of course, it meant that everything she’d worked for had been put on hold as she returned to their small town and started working in the local hospital. Moira couldn’t get over what a waste that was. She liked her brother in law and all, and she had to admit that Curtis was cool. Still, it was a wasted opportunity for Marlene. She was not going to go that route. She would go as far away from the Circle O as she could and remain there, which was what she’d done. She worked hard through school, making sure to get all A’s and taking the hardest AP classes she could. She graduated as the class valedictorian. She had worked hard to save all the money she could and applied to the furthest away in state schools she could. That would save the fees of out of state attendance but allow her to get away. When she’d been told she had a full ride to the University of Texas, she jumped at it. It wasn’t as far as she’d wanted, but it had been far enough. Her parents were happy for her but said she needed to come back to help on the ranch for the summer as soon as her spring term was over. The only exception was the summer she was required by the school to take summer courses. Because she’d used that to stay away the previous summer, she was doomed to going home this year.

She’d already packed her things but she had one more night. She’d told her parents it only made sense to stay that last night because she could leave early in the morning and would become road weary at night when driving alone. Her parents had conceded that to keep her safe. She still didn’t know how much of that concern was for her own personal safety or Red, her dad, wanting the free work she would provide. He’d have to feed and house her anyway and he always needed to get his money’s worth – whether that was with hired hands or his kids.

She sighed as she settled in her bed. She’d kept her sleeping bag to sleep in for the night so she could pack her bedding. As she settled in, she had her last latte of the summer sitting next to her on the windowsill. She had her drawing tools out – a drawing pad, pencil set, and gummy eraser. Everything she would need to get through some solid hours of drawing. This would be her first – and last – unplanned night of the summer. She wanted to use it to draw the skyline she could see from her window. More than that, she wanted to draw the boy who had been haunting her mind for the last eight months.

When she had finally started the classes for her major, she’d seen him sitting in many of the same classes. That meant he was in the same year as her and just started his program of study. Of course, she didn’t know this for sure as she’d never actually talked to him. How could she? He was beautiful. Plus, he always seemed so self-assured and aloof. She didn’t know how to approach him. She didn’t even know his name; she only knew his hair was as yellow and silky looking as the strands of silk at the end of the corn she would be husking this summer. His eyes were as blue as the sky on a good day for riding and checking the herds of cattle, making repairs and then spending the evening under the oak tree, watching the sun set with a glass of Grannie Elaine’s homemade sweet tea.

She drew until her hand began cramping. When she looked back through the few pictures she had drawn, there was only one of the Austin skyline, the others were all of Corn Silk Boy, as she’d taken to calling him. She sighed, shaking her head, grateful he didn’t know her so he couldn’t see how obsessed she was with him.

Climbing into her sleeping bag, she closed her eyes, knowing she was heading back to the family ranch the next morning. Maybe she’d be able to clear her head of all the clutter of school enough to relax. More than that, she thought as she clenched her eyes closed, maybe she could have a few peaceful months of her brain being free of childlike crushes and being smitten with someone who didn’t know she even existed – because she was scared.

******

Late the next evening, she pulled up the gravel drive into the family yard. She saw the kitchen was still lit brightly, despite being almost ten thirty. She wondered who in the house would still be up that time of night. There was no way it was Daddy. He’d be up at the butt crack of dawn to do the work that needed to be done. This was also the same of her older brothers. They wouldn’t be ones to burn the midnight oil without good reason. That was why she’d purposefully held off calling once night had fallen. She knew her family homestead would’ve gone to bed with the sun because they rose before it in the morning.

Just as she turned her headlights off and climbed out of the car, she saw Grannie Elaine peek out the window and wave toward her car. She smiled. Of course, Grannie would’ve waited for her to get home. She was probably the official sentry for the family. She didn’t work the fields any more, spending most her time making the meals for the family as they all worked. Moira had never remembered her grannie as anything other than earth worn wrinkles and a grey bun. The woman was sturdy, though, and the only one who seemed strong enough to keep the family