Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 76759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Beautiful Brianna Steel has her life planned out. Graduate college early. Check. Work with her father in the Steel family orchard. Check. Marry Jesse Pike.
No check there. Jesse has never given her a look.
Finagling her way onto a rock and roll tour with Jesse and his band, Dragonlock, should help move her final goal along. At least Brianna hopes it will. She’s been in love with Jesse since she was fourteen years old, and though she’s had several relationships, no one compares to the darkly handsome rocker.
Jesse Pike and his band just got their big break. Opening for Emerald Phoenix on their Europe tour could lead to fame and fortune, and his family desperately needs the money after a fire destroyed their livelihood. He can’t let them down, and he’s determined not to let anything distract him—certainly not vivacious cowgirl Brianna Steel, even if she is the most gorgeous woman he’s ever laid eyes on.
In the end, though, it’s not just his attraction to Brianna that puts the tour in jeopardy.
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Prologue
Sixty years ago…
“It’s priceless,” my mother says. “But I’m giving it to you. I don’t have any daughters, and one day you’ll find a woman you’ll want to marry.”
“Not anytime soon, Mum.” I shake my head.
Not that it’s something a guy talks to his mother about, but I’ve got a lot of wild oats to sow before I even think of settling down.
“I never liked the color,” Mum continues, “but it comes from somewhere in Australia. Your grandmother came from there.”
She hands me the burgundy velvet box that houses her treasure. The ring she never wears.
The ring that—if it’s indeed priceless—should probably be locked in a safe somewhere.
Which is exactly where it’s going now.
I won’t be using it for at least ten years.
Chapter One
Brianna
Every time I see Jesse Pike perform, my heart nearly explodes.
He’s on stage now at the Snow Creek Cinema singing with his band, Dragonlock, which now includes my future cousin-in-law Rory as a co-lead singer. The two of them are pure magic together.
But the real magic on the stage is Jesse himself—tall and handsome with long dark hair curtaining his shoulders and those amazing dark eyes. I’ve been pining for him since I saw him perform with his band when I was a mere fourteen years old. He was twenty-four at the time, and anyone else would have told me it was a simple girlhood crush. Puppy love.
Even then, I knew it wasn’t. I’ve compared every guy I’ve dated to Jesse Pike, and they’ve all fallen short.
The song ends, and once the applause dies down, Jesse takes the mic. I gaze at him, stars in my eyes, the perspiration on his forehead making him even more attractive to me. I can almost smell his musk from my front-row seat.
“Thank you all so much,” he says in his deep voice. “You all know the band, but I’ll introduce them anyway. We’ve got Jake Michaels on guitar. My cousin Cage Ramsey on keyboard and bass. Dragon Locke, our band’s namesake, on drums. And the beautiful Rory Pike, my little sis, on lead vocals. I’m Jesse Pike, the other lead vocalist.”
More thundering applause. The band members are all handsome, and my cousins all have a thing for Dragon. He’s hot in that dark way of his, but he doesn’t compare to Jesse.
No man does. Not in my eyes.
He doesn’t know this yet—and neither do my parents—but I’m going on that international tour with them in January. I’ve finished my college degree early, though I’ll walk at graduation in the spring with the rest of the awesome foursome—my cousins Gina Steel and Angie and Sage Simpson.
Mom and Dad think I’m going to begin working with Dad come the first of the year. Of the four of us—my brothers, Dale and Donny, and my sister, Diana—I’m the only one who shares our father’s interest in our orchard of Palisade peaches and apples. I’ve been following my dad, Talon Steel, around the grounds since I could walk, asking questions, learning about the trees and the fruit, and assuring him I’d never leave his side.
That’s still my plan—with a slight detour along the way.
Getting Jesse Pike to fall head over heels in love with me.
The applause dies down again, and Jesse continues, “We’ve got a major treat for you tonight. As you all know by now, Dragonlock has the honor of going on tour as the opener for the amazing Emerald Phoenix.”
Clapping and shouting. I know what’s coming. My brother Donny is engaged to Jesse’s sister Callie, so they let our family in on the secret. Emerald Phoenix is here. Jett Draconis and Zane Michaels and the rest of the band. Rockers galore, all gorgeous, though Jett is happily married to his wife, Heather, who’s also here.