Encontre o seu próximo book favorito
Torne'se membro hoje e leia gratuitamente por 30 dias.Comece seus 30 dias gratuitosDados do livro
Hero in Disguise
Ações de livro
Comece a ler- Editora:
- Beyond the Page Publishing
- Lançado em:
- Jan 16, 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781946069139
- Formato:
- Livro
Descrição
Billionaire Jake Jericho has it all, except for the one thing he wants—something real. Twice in his life he’s found that. Once as a delinquent teenager when he was sent to work on a ranch, then later in the arms of Harper Haley, the only girl he ever loved. One helped shape him. The other he had to leave behind.
Harper learned the hard way that trusting Jake only leads to heartbreak, and twelve years later she’s structured her life with a singular focus—to keep running the coffee shop started by her late mother. But now a giant development firm run by Jake’s father wants to level the waterfront neighborhood she calls home, and her shop is on the chopping block.
Forced to turn to Jake for help after all these years, Harper will have to risk everything to save the one dream she has left, and Jake will have to prove he can be the man he never was to save the only woman he’s ever loved.
This novella first appeared as part of the Heartbreakers and Heroes boxed set.
About the Author:
Sharla Lovelace is the bestselling, award-winning author of sexy small-town love stories. Being a Texas girl through and through, she’s proud to say she lives in Southeast Texas with her retired husband, a tricked-out golf cart, and two crazy dogs. She is the author of five stand-alone novels, the exciting Heart of the Storm series, and the upcoming Charmed in Texas series.
Ações de livro
Comece a lerDados do livro
Hero in Disguise
Descrição
Billionaire Jake Jericho has it all, except for the one thing he wants—something real. Twice in his life he’s found that. Once as a delinquent teenager when he was sent to work on a ranch, then later in the arms of Harper Haley, the only girl he ever loved. One helped shape him. The other he had to leave behind.
Harper learned the hard way that trusting Jake only leads to heartbreak, and twelve years later she’s structured her life with a singular focus—to keep running the coffee shop started by her late mother. But now a giant development firm run by Jake’s father wants to level the waterfront neighborhood she calls home, and her shop is on the chopping block.
Forced to turn to Jake for help after all these years, Harper will have to risk everything to save the one dream she has left, and Jake will have to prove he can be the man he never was to save the only woman he’s ever loved.
This novella first appeared as part of the Heartbreakers and Heroes boxed set.
About the Author:
Sharla Lovelace is the bestselling, award-winning author of sexy small-town love stories. Being a Texas girl through and through, she’s proud to say she lives in Southeast Texas with her retired husband, a tricked-out golf cart, and two crazy dogs. She is the author of five stand-alone novels, the exciting Heart of the Storm series, and the upcoming Charmed in Texas series.
- Editora:
- Beyond the Page Publishing
- Lançado em:
- Jan 16, 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781946069139
- Formato:
- Livro
Sobre o autor
Relacionado a Hero in Disguise
Amostra do livro
Hero in Disguise - Sharla Lovelace
Cover
Hero in Disguise
Billionaire Jake Jericho has it all, except for the one thing he wants—something real. Twice in his life he’s found that. Once as a delinquent teenager when he was sent to work on a ranch, then later in the arms of Harper Haley, the only girl he ever loved. One helped shape him. The other he had to leave behind.
Harper learned the hard way that trusting Jake only leads to heartbreak, and twelve years later she’s structured her life with a singular focus—to keep running the coffee shop started by her late mother. But now a giant development firm run by Jake’s father wants to level the waterfront neighborhood she calls home, and her shop is on the chopping block.
Forced to turn to Jake for help after all these years, Harper will have to risk everything to save the one dream she has left, and Jake will have to prove he can be the man he never was to save the only woman he’s ever loved.
Title Page
Copyright
Hero in Disguise
Sharla Lovelace
This is a revised edition of a novella that first appeared as part of the Heartbreakers and Heroes boxed set in June 2016, copyright © 2016 by Sharla Lovelace.
Material excerpted from A Charmed Little Lie copyright © 2017 by Sharla Lovelace.
Cover design and illustration by Dar Albert, Wicked Smart Designs
Published by Beyond the Page at Smashwords
Beyond the Page Books
are published by
Beyond the Page Publishing
www.beyondthepagepub.com
ISBN: 978-1-946069-13-9
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this book. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented without the express written permission of both the copyright holder and the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Author’s Note
Excerpt from A Charmed Little Lie
Booka by Sharla Lovelace
About the Author
Dedication
To Troy, who inspires me when all the good words fall out of my head, and lives with way too many dinners from Sonic while I do this. Love you, baby.
Chapter One
Just get on the damn plane.
Jake Jericho sat in the back of the limo, letting the dark absorb him as an Ozzy Osbourne song filled his head through his earbuds. If anything could have given him the gonads to go, it was that, but he found himself unable to get on. He stared at the idling jet steaming up the wet tarmac, safety lights blinking in the dark. The letters JE glowed from near the tail in the signature gold lettering. He wore his favorite worn-soft jeans and a faded black button-down shirt, and had chosen not to shave so he’d look a bit rougher around the edges, but the private jet stuck out like a dog’s dick. And why did he care? There was nothing embarrassing about success.
Except that it wasn’t success. It was being born a Jericho. Normally Jake was okay with that, but today he felt like a fraud.
The limo’s divider lowered, and Jake pulled his earbuds out.
Mr. Jericho? Is there a problem?
the driver asked.
No.
Jake busied himself with his phone like a kid caught not doing his homework. I’m finishing a text.
No problem, sir.
The partition moved back up, and Jake dropped his head along with his phone.
Damn it.
Why couldn’t he just get on the plane?
Because he’d spent the entire day going down paths he hadn’t thought of in years.
Suck it up, boy. Real men make the hard choices.
Yeah. Like that one.
A John Stone classic. He always managed to drop those little gems at the perfect time, like he’d crafted the situation in order to use them.
John Stone. Probably the only man besides his grandfather who never took his shit. Not even the first day Jake had arrived in Montana, on a dusty bus at Saddle Creek Ranch. He hadn’t wanted to get off, pissed that his grandfather had sent him to the fucking middle of nowhere and that his father hadn’t intervened.
Then John had strode onto that bus like God himself and asked him what his problem was.
"I don’t belong here," Jake had said, all the arrogance of his privileged seventeen years oozing out of his pores.
"Really? John pulled a piece of paper from his jeans pocket, unfolded it and squinted at whatever was on it, all the lines around his eyes deepening.
You Jake Jericho?"
"Yeah."
John looked up sharply. That’ll be yes, sir, from now on. There’s your first lesson. Respect your elders.
It was the first time anyone besides his grandfather had backed Jake down, and it was a little unsettling. And intriguing.
"Grand. Theft. Auto, John read.
Plus damages."
"That was a trumped-up charge, Jake said.
I didn’t steal it. It was the company limo."
"Your company?"
"My dad’s," Jake said.
"Then you stole it, John said, continuing.
Driving under the influence. Underage drinking. And robbing a liquor store? He shook his head.
My God, boy, if you were anyone else, you’d be behind bars till you’re thirty. Be damn grateful you just have to sweat a little."
Jake scrubbed at his face. Jesus.
"If you call on him, I’d better hear you praying, because we don’t take the Lord’s name in vain here."
"Any other rules?"
John threw back his head and laughed. A hearty belly laugh. It was the first time a smile had cracked the rough exterior. And it was a little scary.
"You have no idea," he said.
"I don’t suppose arranging some cash to come your way would turn this bus around and bring me back to the airport?" Jake asked.
The smile left, and that was scarier.
"Son, that’s the last time you’ll speak of money to me, he said.
Your money is worthless here. He took a step forward.
You think you’re a man, Jake? Because you may look like one, but a real man is made of more than years. He knows that character and integrity are never to be sacrificed. That respect has to be earned. The last word was shoved through clenched teeth.
Are we clear?"
That day changed Jake’s life. For a while. For a time after he returned home, even, but real life—Jericho life—made it hard to stay disciplined. He stayed away from that as much as he could, doing volunteer work at a soup kitchen in Brooklyn. Anything to stay grounded. He tried to prove to his skeptical father he’d changed. He tried to keep his grandfather proud. John and his grandfather rode the same fence in his mind. Real men, whose words had weight. But then the old man died, and his dad was more and more gone, and any moral compass Jake had gained slipped away.
John Stone and Saddle Creek Ranch became a distant memory of another time. A time when things were simple and made freakishly perfect sense. In the absolute hidden and twisted recesses of his mind, Jake liked knowing he was so far removed from it. That way, he couldn’t disappoint John.
Until now.
John had had a stroke.
Rayne McCoy, the only girl on the ranch back then, still lived there in Saddle Creek and had texted everyone she could find to let them know. He was in a coma. Prognosis uncertain.
Jake should get on the damn plane waiting for him and see his mentor. Do the right thing. Make the hard choice. Whatever other damn rule he could pull out of the archives that made him a respectable man.
But that was the problem.
No amount of rule spouting made Jake that man. The one that could stand before John with a clear conscience, look him in the eye, and say he’d become who John taught him to be.
Right now, he wasn’t too far removed from that stupid boy who didn’t want to get off the bus. The bus was just a limo now, and one he didn’t have to steal.
Jake jabbed at a button on the door, blowing out an irritated breath as the partition lowered.
There’s been a change of plans.
He rubbed his eyes. Let the pilot know we won’t be leaving tonight.
No problem,
the driver said. Is there another date you want to give him?
Probably.
Yes, but I don’t have it right now,
Jake said, hearing how unprofessional that sounded. The pilot would have jumped through hoops to file that last-minute flight plan, get the jet fueled and ready, cancel any personal plans—and then the rich guy in the limo changes his mind.
If he were the pilot, he’d want to kick his ass.
Where to, sir?
the driver asked after a quick phone
Avaliações
Análises
O que as pessoas acham de Hero in Disguise
00 avaliações / 0 análises