Log In
Or create an account ->
Imperial Library
Home
About
News
Upload
Forum
Help
Login/SignUp
Index
Prologue T he son Dare Westmoreland didn’t know he had, needed him. Shelly Brockman knew that admission was long overdue as she stood in the living room of the house that had been her childhood home. The last box had been carried in and now the task of unpacking awaited her. Even with everything she faced, she felt good about being back in a place that filled her with many fond memories. Her thoughts were cut short with the slamming of the front door. She turned and met her son’s angry expression. “I’m going to hate it here!” He all but screamed at the top of his lungs. “I want to go back to Los Angeles! No matter what you say, this will never be my home!” Shelly winced at his words and watched as he threw down the last bag filled with his belongings before racing up the stairs. Instead of calling after him, she closed her eyes, remembering why she had made the move from California to Georgia, and knew that no matter how AJ felt, the move was the best thing for him. For the past year h
Prologue
One Two weeks later—early September S heriff Dare Westmoreland leaned forward in the chair behind his desk. From the defiant look on the face of the boy standing in front of him he could tell it would be one of those days. “Look, kid, I’m only going to ask you one more time. What is your name?” The boy crossed his arms over his chest and had the nerve to glare at him and say, “And I’ve told you that I don’t like cops and have no intention of giving you my name or anything else. And if you don’t like it, arrest me.” Dare stood to his full height of six-feet-four, feeling every bit of his thirty-six years as he came from behind his desk to stare at the boy. He estimated the kid, who he’d caught throwing rocks at passing cars on the highway, to be around twelve or thirteen. It had been a long time since any kid living in his jurisdiction had outright sassed him. None of them would have dared, so it stood to reason that the kid was probably new in town. “You will get your wish. Since you w
Two A ir suddenly washed from Dare’s lung as if someone had cut off the oxygen supply in the room and he couldn’t breathe. Everything started spinning around him and he held on to his desk with a tight grip. However, that didn’t work since his hands were shaking worse than a volcano about to explode. In fact his entire body shook with the force of the one question that immediately torpedoed through his brain. Why would she name her son after him? Unless .. He met her gaze and saw the look of guilt in her eyes and knew. Yet he had to have it confirmed. He stood on non-steady legs and crossed the room to stand in front of Shelly. He grasped her elbow and brought her closer to him, so close he could see the dark irises of her eyes. “When is his birth date?” he growled, quickly finding his equilibrium. Shelly swallowed so deeply she knew for certain Dare could see her throat tighten, but she refused to let his reaction unsettle her any more than it had. She lifted her chin. “November twent
Three D are reached across his desk and hit the buzzer. “Yes, sheriff?” “McKade, please bring in John Doe.” Shelly frowned when she glanced over at Dare. “John Doe?” Dare shrugged. “That’s the usual name for any unidentified person we get in here, and since he refused to give us his name, we had no choice.” She nodded. “Oh.” Before Dare could say anything else, McKade walked in with AJ. The boy frowned when he saw his mother. “I wondered if you were ever going to come, Mom.” Shelly smiled wryly. “Of course I was going to come. Had you given them your name they would have called me sooner. You have a lot of explaining to do as to why you weren’t in school today. It’s a good thing Sheriff Westmoreland stopped you before you could cause harm to anyone.” AJ turned and glared at Dare. “Yeah, but I still don’t like cops.” Dare crossed his arms on his chest. “And I don’t like boys with bad attitudes. To be frank, it doesn’t matter whether or not you like cops, but you’d sure better learn to r
Four D are glanced at the clock again and sighed deeply. Where was AJ? School had let out over an hour ago and he still hadn’t arrived. According to what Shelly had told him that morning at breakfast, AJ had ridden his bike to school and been told to report to the sheriff’s office as soon as school was out. Dare wondered if AJ had blatantly disobeyed his mother. Although Shelly had given him her cell-phone number—as a home healthcare nurse she would be making various house calls today—he didn’t want to call and get her worried or upset. If he had to, he would go looking for their son himself and when he found him, he intended to—” The sound of the buzzer interrupted his thoughts. “Yes, McKade, what is it?” “That Brockman kid is here.” Dare nodded and sighed with relief. Then he recalled what McKade had said—that Brockman kid. He frowned. The first thing he planned to do when everything settled was to give his son his last name. That Westmoreland kid sounded more to his liking. “Okay, I
Five “S heriff Westmoreland!” AJ shouted as he jumped out of his seat. He stood in front of his mother and lifted his chin angrily, defiantly. “It can’t be him. No way.” Shelly smiled slightly. “Trust me, it is him. I of all people should know.” “But—but, I don’t want him to be my father,” he huffed loudly. Shelly looked directly at AJ, at how badly he was taking the news, which really wasn’t unexpected, considering the way he and Dare had clashed. “I’m sorry you feel that way because he is and there’s nothing you can do about it. Alisdare Julian Westmoreland is your father.” When she saw the look that crossed his face, she added. “And I didn’t make up that part either. You really were named after him, AJ. He merely shortens the Alisdare to Dare.” She felt AJ’s need to deny what she’d just told him, but there was no way she could let him do that. “The question is, now that you know he’s your father, what are we going to do about it?” She watched his forehead scrunch into a frown, then
Six H er mouth still knew him. A multitude of emotions tightened Dare’s chest as he sat at his desk and thought about the kiss he and Shelly had shared. Very slowly and very deliberately, he took his finger and rubbed it across his lips, lips that less than an hour ago had tasted sweetness of the most gut-wrenching kind. It was the kind of sweetness that made you crave something so delightful and pleasurable that it could become habit forming. But what got to him more than anything was the fact that even after ten years, her mouth still knew him. That much was evident in the way her lips had molded to his, the familiarity of the way she had parted her mouth and the ease in which his tongue had slid inside, staking a claim he hadn’t known he had a right to make until he had felt her response. He leaned back in the chair. When it came to responding to him, that was something Shelly could never hold back from doing. He’d always gotten the greatest pleasure and enjoyment from hearing the s
Seven “D ad, Mom, I’d like you to meet, AJ. He’s Shelly’s boy.” Dare knew his father wouldn’t give anything away, but he wasn’t so convinced about his mother as he saw the play of emotions that crossed her features. She was looking into the face of a grandson she hadn’t known she’d had; a grandson she was very eager to claim. Luckily for Dare, his father understood the strategy that he and Shelly were using with AJ and spoke up before his wife had a chance to react to the emotions she was trying to hold inside. “You’re a fine-looking young man, but I would expect no less coming from Shelly.” He reached out and touched AJ’s shoulder and smiled. “I’m glad you’re joining us for dinner. How’s your mother?” “She’s fine,” AJ said quietly, bowing his head and studying his shoes. Dare wondered what kind of docile act the kid was performing, but then another part of him wondered if when taken out of his comfort zone, AJ had a tendency to feel uneasy around people he didn’t know. Dare recalled a
Eight “M om? Mom? Are you okay?” Shelly heard the sound of AJ’s voice as he tried gently to shake her awake. “Mom, wake up. Please say something.” She quickly opened her eyes when her mind registered the panic in his tone. She blinked, feeling dazed and disoriented, and tried to focus on him, but at the moment she felt completely wrung out. “AJ? What are you doing out of bed?” Confusion appeared in his face. “Mom, I’m supposed to be out of bed. It’s morning and I have to go to school today. You forgot to wake me up. And why did you sleep on the sofa all night in the same clothes you had on yesterday?” Somehow, Shelly found the strength to sit up. She yawned, feeling bone-tired. “It’s morning already?” The last thing she remembered was having her fourth orgasm in Dare’s arms and slumping against him without any strength left even to hold up her head. He must have brought her into the house and placed her on the sofa, thinking she would eventually come around and go up the stairs. Instea
Nine D are walked into Coleman’s Florist knowing that within ten minutes of the time he walked out, everyone in College Park would know he had sent flowers to Shelly. Luanne Coleman was one of the town’s biggest gossips, but then he couldn’t worry about that, especially since for once her penchant to gab would work in his favor. Before nightfall he wanted everyone to know that he was in hot pursuit of Shelly Brockman. Due to the escape of a convict in another county, he had spent the last day and a half helping the sheriff of Stone Mountain track down the man. Now, thirty-six hours after the man had been recaptured, Dare was bone tired and regretted he had missed the opportunity to see Shelly two nights ago as he’d planned. The best he could do was go home and get some sleep to be ready for the martial arts training he had promised the boys in the morning. He also regretted that he had not been there when AJ had arrived after school yesterday. It had officially been the last time he wa
Ten S helly felt a moment of panic. One part of her mind tried telling her that she didn’t want this, but another part, the one ruled by her body, quickly convinced her that she did. Her mind was swamped with the belief that it didn’t matter that it hadn’t been a full week since she laid eyes on Dare again after ten years. Nor did it matter that there were issues yet unresolved between them. The only thing that mattered was that this was the man she had once loved to distraction, the man she had given her virginity to at seventeen; the man who had taught her all the pleasures a man and woman could share, and the man who had given her a son. And, she inwardly told herself, this has nothing to do with love but with gratifying our needs. Realizing that and accepting it, her body trembled as she lifted her face to meet his, and at that moment everything, including the ten years that had separated them, evaporated and was replaced by hunger, intense, sexual hunger that was waiting to explod
Eleven S helly stretched out in her bed with a sensuous sigh. Almost two weeks had passed since she and Dare had spent the night together on a blanket in her backyard. Since then, nightly meetings in the backyard on a blanket had become almost a ritual. He had become almost a fixture in her home, dropping by for dinner, and inviting her and AJ to a movie or some other function in town. AJ was beginning to let his guard down around Dare, but as yet he had not acknowledged him as his father. Shelly knew Dare’s patience was wearing thin; he was eager to claim his son, but as she had explained to Dare weeks ago, AJ had to believe in his heart that his father wanted him for a son before he could give Dare his complete love and trust. She then thought about her own feelings for Dare. She had to fight hard to keep from falling in love with Dare all over again. She had to remember they were playacting for AJ’s sake. To anyone observing them, it seemed that he was wooing her. He was giving the
Twelve S helly smiled as she looked at the young woman sitting in the chair across from her on the patio at Dare’s parents’ home. The last time she had seen Delaney Westmoreland she’d been a teenager, a few months shy of her sixteenth birthday, a rebellious, feisty opponent who’d been trying to stand up to her five overprotective and oftentimes overbearing brothers. Now she was a self-assured, confident young woman, a medical doctor, mother to a beautiful baby boy and wife to a gorgeous sheikh from a country in the Middle East called Tahran. And from the looks the prince was constantly giving his wife, there was no doubt in her mind that Delaney was also a woman well loved and desired. And, Shelly thought further, Delaney was breathtakingly stunning. Even all those years back there had never been any doubt in Shelly’s mind that Delaney would grow up to become a beauty. She was sure there hadn’t been any doubt in the brothers’ minds of that as well, which was probably the reason they ha
Thirteen D are hung up the phone and met AJ’s expectant gaze. “That was Chase. One of his waitresses called in sick. He’ll have to pitch in for the weekend and won’t be able to make it.” He saw the disappointment cloud AJ’s eyes. So far since arriving at the cabin they had received no-show calls from everyone except Thorn, and he expected Thorn to call any minute. “Does that mean we have to cancel this weekend?” AJ asked in such a disappointed voice that a part of Dare felt like a heel. “Not unless you want to. There’s still a possibility that Thorn might show.” Although he’d said the words, Dare knew they weren’t true. His brothers and Jamal had understood his need to be alone with AJ this weekend and had agreed to bow out of the picture and plan something else to do. When AJ didn’t say anything, Dare said. “You know what I think we should do?” AJ lifted a brow. “What?” “Enjoy the three days anyway. I’ve been looking forward to a few days of rest and relaxation, and I’m sure you’re gl
Fourteen T he first thing Shelly noticed as she entered the subdivision where Dare’s home was located was that all the houses were stately and huge and sat on beautiful acreages. This was a newly developed section of town that had several shopping outlets and grocery stores. She could vividly remember it being a thickly wooded area when she had left town ten years ago. She glanced at her watch. Dare had called and said that he and AJ had decided to return a day early and asked that she come over to his place and pick up AJ because Dare needed to stay at home and wait for the arrival of some important package. All of it sounded rather secretive, and the only thing she could come up with was that it pertained to some police business. After reading the number posted on the front of the mailbox, she knew the regal-looking house that sat on a hill with a long, circular driveway belonged to Dare. She and Delaney had spent the day shopping yesterday and one of the things Delaney had mentioned
Epilogue
← Prev
Back
Next →
← Prev
Back
Next →