By:
T.J. Kline
Released
February 9, 2016
Avon Impulse
Avon Impulse
Blurb
Sometimes
the place you’re trying to run from is exactly where your
heart needs to be…
Bailey
Hart has never felt like she measures up to her cousins at Heart
Fire Ranch. It doesn’t help that her rocker attitude has made her a
black sheep in her small town. So when her band gets their
big break in Los Angeles, “Wild Hart” can’t run fast
enough…If only there weren’t so many reasons to stay.
After
a harrowing stint in the Oakland Police Department, sheriff’s
deputy Chase McKee has returned home a hero, and yet he feels
anything but. And when he finds out Bailey might be leaving for
good, the feelings he’s always harbored for his best friend’s
cousin just won’t stay hidden. He knows she wants to get
the heck out of Dodge, but he’s hoping to show her where she
really belongs—with him.
Will
this Wild Hart turn her back on love, or will she realize her
heart really belongs closer to home?
Goodreads
Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26206381-wild-at-heart
Goodreads Series Link: https://www.goodreads.com/series/146550-healing-harts
Goodreads Series Link: https://www.goodreads.com/series/146550-healing-harts
Google
Play:
https://play.google.com/store/books/details/T_J_Kline_
Wild_at_Heart?id=YgpMCgAAQBAJ
Wild_at_Heart?id=YgpMCgAAQBAJ
Author Info
T.
J. Kline was
raised competing in rodeos and rodeo queen competitions since the age
of 14, She has thorough knowledge of the sport as well as the culture
involved. She has had several articles about rodeo published in the
past in small periodicals as well as a more recent how-to article for
RevWriter. She is also an avid reader and book reviewer for both
Tyndale and Multnomah.
Website:
http://tinaklinesmith.com/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/WriterTJKline
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/WriterTJKline
Excerpt
Chase picked up on the roar of the
engine long before the motorcycle actually came into view. Reaching
for the radar gun, he aimed it in the direction of the sound.
Ninety-two miles per hour. Did
this guy have a death wish?
There were far too many twists and
turns ahead on the highway to warrant that kind of speed, even for
one of the locals. He tossed the gun to the seat and dropped the car
into gear, pulling onto the two-lane highway as the bike came into
view. He’d no more tapped the gas on the cruiser when the
motorcycle blazed past him in a midnight-blue streak. He flipped on
his lights and siren and the bike immediately slowed as the rider
glanced backward before pulling onto the shoulder.
At least he has some
respect for the law, he
thought acerbically as he stopped behind the motorcycle and ran the
plates.
The registered owner’s name came
up on his computer screen and his eyes shot back to the rider.
“Damn it,” he muttered, rolling
his shoulders back and preparing for the battle he had no doubt was
coming. Chase rolled his eyes and climbed out of the vehicle with a
sigh of resignation. Crossing his arms, he greeted the most beautiful
woman—and the biggest troublemaker—he’d ever met as she slid
her helmet off her head and brushed stray hairs back into her low
honey-colored ponytail.
“Funny seeing you here, Bailey.
When did you get this thing, and are you trying to kill yourself with
it?”
She turned her dazzling pearly
whites on him, her blue eyes flashing with mischief as she set the
helmet on the seat behind her. Chase had been dying to ask her out
ever since his return to town almost two years ago but she had no
idea and, unfortunately, he needed to keep it that way. Her cousin
Justin was one of his best friends, and if he knew Chase thought of
Bailey as anything other than Justin’s “little sister,” Chase
would probably have to arrest his friend for assaulting a police
officer. Not to mention that he’d need to check himself into the
hospital. It was better this way. He wasn’t emotionally stable
enough to offer anyone more than a few meaningless dates and, while
Bailey had a reputation of blowing through guys the way a gambler
blew through singles, it would never be enough for him. Bailey was
trouble, but she was the best kind of trouble, the kind that made you
want to return again and again.
The truth was, he’d had a thing
for Bailey as long as he could remember. At first it had started with
helping Justin protect her from other kids at school, bullies who
picked on the littlest Hart. But he’d watched her grow up, too
fast, into a blue-eyed beauty as wild as the pastures of Heart Fire
Ranch. She’d somehow managed to keep up with her cousins, including
Justin’s football buddies, never one to be shown up just because
she was a girl. Bailey was always the first one to jump from the rope
swing into the river, the first to take off in a horse race, and last
to make an excuse for the stupid stunts they’d done growing up.
Unfortunately, as far as she was concerned, he was nothing but
Justin’s straightlaced friend who bailed her out, both literally
and figuratively, and a verbal sparring partner when she was bored.
“Just picked it up last week.”
Her fingers ran lovingly over the blue gas tank between her thighs,
and he felt his body immediately react. He stifled the response. “I
guess I’m still getting used to how much power it has.”
“Ya think?” He couldn’t help
but chuckle at her understatement as he clicked the top of his pen
and started writing out a speeding ticket. “I need your license and
registration.”
“Aw, come on, Chase. Really?”
She bit her lower lip, looking up at him from under her thick, dark
lashes, and he felt the heat of desire trickle down his chest and
center low in his belly. “I’ll slow down. I swear.”
“And you’ll never do it again,
right?” He didn’t believe her for a second. Everyone knew
Bailey’s reputation as the wild child of the Hart family. She
didn’t just march to the beat of her own drum, she conducted the
entire orchestra to a tune of her design. He held out a hand, waiting
for her to retrieve the items for him.
“Great! This is the last thing I
needed today, you know,” she grumbled as she reached for her
paperwork in the storage compartment. “I’m already late.”
“At this rate, you’ll kill
yourself before you ever get where you’re headed.” Chase bit back
a grin. “Late for what?”
“Nothing. I’ll just call and
reschedule.” She glared at him for the briefest of moments before
her eyes turned innocent. “You’re going to keep this between us,
right?”
Chase didn’t even bother to look
up from the ticket form he was filling out. “What you really want
to know is whether I’m going to tell Justin.”
He saw her shrug one shoulder in his
peripheral vision. “I mean, I don’t really care if you do, I just
don’t want to hear him bitching at me more than he already does.
You know how he gets, and that’s the last thing Julia needs to hear
in her condition.”
“How’s Julia doing?” he asked,
glancing at her. “I haven’t seen her since the trial.” He’d
been the arresting officer when Julia’s ex-boyfriend had kidnapped
her, and Chase had testified at his trial. He’d seen Dylan, several
times during various calls since he was working as a paramedic in
town now, but he hadn’t run into Julia recently.
“She’s good. At least, as good
as someone whose due date passed a few weeks ago can be,” she
clarified. “You know, you should come by for dinner tonight. I’m
fixing enchiladas for them. We’re hoping the spicy food will put
Jules into labor. There’ll be plenty if you want to stop by.”
A flirtatious smile spread over her
full lips and her eyes sparkled like sapphires. Chase felt the sizzle
of heat come to life again. If he didn’t know her better, he’d
think she was flirting. That was the last thing he needed right now.
He turned the pad toward her and handed her the pen, indicating she
should sign the line. She stared up at him expectantly, practically
batting her eyelashes.
Chase cocked his head to the side
and gave her a lopsided grin. “Plying me with dinner isn’t going
to get you out of a ticket, Bailey.”
Her eyes narrowed as he tapped the
pad again. Bailey jerked it from his hand and scribbled her name,
slapping the pen against it irritably when she finished. He ripped
her copy of the citation from the pad and handed it back to her with
the other documents. “You
do realize trying to
bribe an officer is a felony, right?”
She cocked a brow at him as she slid
her helmet back over her head and slipped her sunglasses on, starting
the engine. “Who said anything about bribing you? Maybe I was
trying to poison you.”
Chase couldn’t help but laugh as
she eased the bike back onto the road. “Murder One is a felony,
too,” he yelled after her.
Damn, that woman could turn him on
faster than she did that bike.
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