Out of Exile

Lilly wanted to tell him she’d never seen anyone who needed as much as he did, but she knew this wasn’t the time. His features were stony and grim, giving no hint of the softer, gentler man who’d just made love to her.

The scent of him still clinging to her skin, the taste of him still in her mouth, she mounted. “I’m sorry your father was a mean, hateful bastard, Matthew,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean you have to become one.”

She rode away, but she’d gone only a short distance before she turned in the saddle and looked back.

Matthew stood in the shadows, staring after her. Never had she seen a man who looked so achingly alone.

Dear Reader,

Once again we invite you to enjoy six of the most exciting romances around, starting with Ruth Langan’s His Father’s Son. This is the last of THE LASSITER LAW, her miniseries about a family with a tradition of law enforcement, and it’s a finale that will leave you looking forward to this bestselling author’s next novel. Meanwhile, enjoy Cameron Lassiter’s headlong tumble into love.

ROMANCING THE CROWN continues with Virgin Seduction, by award winner Kathleen Creighton. The missing prince is home at last—and just in time for the shotgun wedding between Cade Gallagher and Tamiri princess Leila Kamal. Carla Cassidy continues THE DELANEY HEIRS with Matthew’s story, in Out of Exile, while Pamela Dalton spins a tale of a couple who are Strategically Wed. Sharon Mignerey returns with an emotional tale of a hero who is Friend, Lover, Protector, and Leann Harris wraps up the month with a match between The Detective and the D.A.

You won’t want to miss a single one. And, of course, be sure to come back next month for more of the most exciting romances around—right here in Silhouette Intimate Moments.

Enjoy!

Leslie J. Wainger

Executive Senior Editor

Out of Exile

Carla Cassidy

www.millsandboon.co.uk

CARLA CASSIDY

is an award-winning author who has written over thirty-five books for Silhouette. In 1995, she won Best Silhouette Romance from Romantic Times for Anything for Danny. In 1998, she also won a Career Achievement Award for Best Innovative Series from Romantic Times.

Carla believes the only thing better than curling up with a good book to read is sitting down at the computer with a good story to write. She’s looking forward to writing many more and bringing hours of pleasure to readers.

Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Epilogue

Prologue

He stood in the shadows near the barn, staring at the big white house. At the moment only one light shone from the windows of the huge two-story home. He knew Matthew Delaney, the eldest of the Delaney heirs and the manager of this ranch, would be sitting in his study, where he’d sat every night for the past week.

But tomorrow the house would be ablaze with lights because she would be here. Euphoria cascaded through him and his heart raced so fast he feared it might beat right out of his chest.

Lilliana Marie Winstead. Lilly. Tomorrow she would arrive here. After all the time that had passed, after all the heartaches in his life, tomorrow he would be reunited with the woman who was his soul mate, his love…his very life.

He leaned back against the wooden side of the barn and closed his eyes, a vision of Lilliana materializing inside his mind. The first vision his brain produced was one of her as a young woman. She’d been sixteen years old when he’d first seen her, when he had first recognized that she was his destiny.

At that time her hair had been a curtain of darkness that he’d wanted to climb into and hide in forever. Her eyes had been the deep blue of ocean depths and he’d wanted to dive in and die there.

But before he had been able to make her understand that she belonged to him, that they belonged together, she was gone. He’d been devastated, ripped apart.

And in the years following her disappearance, he’d searched for her, had even tried to take up with other women who looked like her. But in the end they had been terrible disappointments…pale imitations of the woman who was meant to be his.

A swell of rage rose inside him as he thought of those two women. He’d had such hopes for each of them, but they’d been nothing but stupid whores who had refused to understand their fate.

Now they understood. As they rotted in their shallow graves, he was certain they now understood. Just as Lilliana would eventually understand.

She belonged to him.

It had been sheer accident that he’d found her once again. He’d gone into a supermarket he never frequented for a pound of hamburger, and there she had been…pushing a basket just ahead of him.

He’d been so shocked, so utterly overwhelmed, he’d left the store without the meat, but had sat in his truck and watched as, moments later, she’d left the store.

It had been fate, giving him a second chance. And now that he’d found her again he wasn’t about to let her go. She would be here tomorrow and he would be here waiting for her.

He opened his eyes once again and stared at the big house. Matthew Delaney was hiring new help for the ranch and he intended to get hired on. He intended to be here to watch her…to wait…and eventually to claim her as his own for eternity.

He just hoped she didn’t disappoint him like the others before her.

Chapter 1

Seventeen years.

It had been seventeen years since she’d been to this ranch. But as she drove beneath the wooden entry that proclaimed the area to be the Delaney Dude Ranch, it felt as if the years had fallen away and she was once again a teenager eagerly looking forward to visiting members of her new family and spending time on a real ranch.

“Maybe I should have called or written to let them know we were coming.”

Lilliana Winstead shot a glance at the elderly woman in the passenger seat. “You didn’t tell anyone that you were coming?”

Lilliana’s adopted aunt, Clara, straightened in the seat. “I was going to, but it simply slipped my mind.” The frown that momentarily danced across her forehead disappeared. “But we’re family, Lilly. I’m sure we’ll be welcome here.”

Lilly hoped so. They had come a long way from Dallas to this ranch in Inferno, Arizona, and had been in the car for the better part of two days.

Lilly directed her attention back out the window. Years before when she had visited, the place hadn’t been a dude ranch but merely a working ranch.

In the distance the huge two-story white house came into view, along with a plethora of outbuildings that hadn’t been there before. Still, a small rush of happiness swept through her. Some of the best memories of her youth came from this place.

As they pulled closer, she spied two men standing near the weathered wooden corral and instantly she recognized one of them as Matthew Delaney.

Even though it had been seventeen years and his back was to them, she recognized his tall lanky length, the impossibly broad shoulders and the downward tilt of the black cowboy hat on his head.

Again a swell of pleasure filled her chest. Some of the best memories of her youth came from this man.

As the car drew closer, the two men turned, and Lilly felt a sense of satisfaction as she saw that indeed, the tall cowboy was Matthew. He said something to the cowhand next to him and the man nodded, then took off toward the barn.

Lilly parked the car as Matthew approached them.

“Lilly. Clara. What a surprise,” he said as the two women got out of the car. He made no move to hug Lilly or kiss his aunt hello. Instead he stuck his hands in his pockets, his dark-gray eyes expressionless beneath the brim of his hat.

“We’ve come for a visit,” Aunt Clara announced. “I meant to call, but it just slipped my mind.” She frowned. “Lately it seems like lots of things keep slipping my mind.”

“I hope we haven’t come at a bad time,” Lilly said, once again looking at the handsome man before her.

“Of course not,” he replied after only a moment’s hesitation. “It’s been a long time.” His gaze flickered over her, traveling from her face downward, then back up again.

Lilly fought the impulse to smooth a hand down the light-blue cotton dress that was wrinkled from the hours in the car. Instead she tucked a strand of her long, dark hair behind her ear. “Yes, it has been a long time.”

There was a moment of awkward silence, one that Lilly remembered from years ago. The first time she and Clara had arrived here when Lilly had been sixteen years old, Adam Delaney, Matthew’s father, had greeted them with the same lack of enthusiasm.

At that time Lilly had stood next to Aunt Clara, eyeing the four silent Delaney children with trepidation at the same time they had stared at her suspiciously.

“I was just about to head inside and get some dinner.” He pulled his hands from his pockets. “Why don’t I get your bags inside and get you settled in.”

Lilly nodded and as Aunt Clara started for the house, she popped open the car trunk to reveal two overnight bags. She handed one to Matthew and carried the other herself.

“Things are sure quiet around here,” she observed as they walked from the car to the front porch. Although it was just a little before six, the sun was already starting its descent, riding low and transforming the blue sky with glorious warm colors.

She’d expected crowds of people. She’d expected children running amok as parents attempted to corral them, newlyweds oblivious to their surroundings and high-spirited vacationers.

“The ranch went dark a week ago,” he explained. “We won’t have any guests here for another three weeks.” He opened the front door and gestured for his aunt and Lilly to precede him inside.

“Oh my, I can see I’ve come in the nick of time,” Aunt Clara exclaimed as she ran a finger across the hall tree in the foyer. A light layer of dust filmed the golden oak beneath.

Matthew swept off his hat and hung it on one of the hooks near the door. “The housekeeper is on vacation for a couple of weeks.”

“Then I can make myself useful here,” Aunt Clara said, a satisfied smile moving her plump cheeks upward.

Matthew opened his mouth as if to protest, then apparently thought better of it. “Why don’t I show you both to your rooms and you can freshen up while I rustle up some dinner.”

It took only minutes for Matthew to show them the rooms they’d used in the past when visiting, then he went back down the stairs.

Lilly was pleased to see that the room where she’d spent several weeks for three summers as a young woman had been left untouched in the passing of time. The wallpaper was perhaps a little less bright than it had been years ago and the bedspread appeared a bit frayed.

The bed was big and soft, and many a night she’d lain in it and dreamed girlish dreams about Matthew Delaney. She smiled now and moved to the window.

The view was magnificent. From this vantage point she could see the stables and, farther out, the pastureland that it must cost a fortune to maintain in this arid, desertlike climate.

She could hear her aunt in the next room, bustling about to unpack her suitcase. Lilly frowned. It disturbed her that Aunt Clara hadn’t called to let Matthew know they were visiting; that meant she hadn’t mentioned to him Clara’s plans of moving in here permanently. It would be up to Lilly to relay this information to Matthew.

Matthew. He had been a young girl’s dream. Because he’d been the same age as Lilly, he’d been assigned to entertain her those three summers she had visited.

She’d found him intensely handsome, heroically strong, and mysterious in a dark, poetic way. She had instantly developed an intense crush on him. And there had been times she’d thought her feelings for him might be reciprocated, but nothing had ever come from it.

She cracked open the window and drew a deep breath of air that smelled like warm earth, live animals and fresh sunshine.

It would be good to stay here, see Aunt Clara settled in and enjoy the ranch life for a week or two. She’d needed a break from her tiny apartment in Dallas and hopefully, during the time she was here, she wouldn’t think about the tragedy that had prompted her to take a year off from her work.

She left her room and went down the stairs to the kitchen, where she could hear Matthew rattling pots and pans.

She paused in the doorway, aware that he hadn’t noticed her presence.

For just a moment she took the opportunity to study the man he had become. The last time she’d seen him he’d been almost nineteen years old. She knew he was now the same age as her—thirty-five.

As a young man of eighteen, he’d been handsome. As a mature man of thirty-five, he was devastating. Life had etched lines into his face, but the fine lines that radiated out from the corners of his eyes and creased his forehead only added character and strength.

No gray accented his thick, black hair, and his lean, lanky body looked as if not a single year had passed since last time she’d seen him.

“You come down to help or to stand there and stare?”

She grinned. “Aw, busted. I was just looking to see what damage the years had done to you.” She stepped into the kitchen.

He lowered the flame beneath a pot of beans and turned to stare at her. His eyes were just as she remembered them, smoky gray and long-lashed. Heat welled up inside her as his gaze slowly drifted down the length of her, a visual onslaught that felt vaguely invasive.

“Looks like the years have been fairly kind to you,” he observed, as his gaze once again locked with hers.

She smiled and consciously ignored the heat that still flooded through her veins. She found it crazy and amazing that after all these years a flicker of those bedroom eyes of his could affect her. “Now that we have that out of the way, what can I do to help with dinner?”

“You can set the table. I’m afraid dinner isn’t going to be anything elaborate. Hot dogs and beans. I didn’t realize I was going to have company this evening.” There was a touch of censure in his voice.

“And I apologize for that,” Lilly said as she grabbed three plates from the cabinet and placed them on the table. “I should have made sure Aunt Clara contacted you. I just assumed she had until we pulled into the entry and she mentioned she hadn’t.”

Lilly grabbed silverware from the appropriate drawer, wondering if now was a good time to mention the fact that Aunt Clara’s intentions were not just for a visit, but rather for something more permanent.

But she got no opportunity as Aunt Clara joined them in the kitchen at that moment. She filled the air with cheerful prattle, making any meaningful conversation between Matthew and Lilly impossible.

Although it had been years since Lilly had been here, she knew her aunt had come to the ranch seven months ago when her brother and Matthew’s father, Adam, had passed away. She also knew her aunt had stayed in touch through sporadic letters from Matthew’s sister, Johnna.

Dinner was an awkward affair, and Lilly got the distinct impression that Matthew wasn’t exactly thrilled by their impromptu appearance here.

Although he was courteous, it seemed a courtesy offered with a touch of reluctance. The shadows in his eyes that she’d once found fascinating now seemed even more deep and forbidding. She wondered what had happened in his life in the years since she’d last visited that had so deepened those shadows?

Not my problem, she reminded herself. But what made her slightly uncomfortable was that she had seen those same kinds of shadows in another’s eyes not so long ago. And those shadows had led to a tragedy of mammoth proportions.

In that particular instance, Lilly had allowed herself to get too close, had allowed her natural defenses to drop, and the end result had been devastating.

She didn’t intend to allow anyone that close again. All she wanted from Matthew Delaney was the assurance that Aunt Clara, the woman Lilly loved more than anyone in the world, could have a home here. Then Lilly would return to her life and cherish the memories of a boy who’d been kind to her when she’d desperately needed kindness.

Lilliana. Lilly.

Matthew took a pitchfork and arranged a bed of fresh hay in one of the horse stalls. The last person he’d expected to see here was Lilliana Winstead. He hadn’t thought about her for years, but there had been a time when he’d hardly been able to think of anything else.

Although he’d never had much use for his aunt Clara, the summer of his sixteenth year she’d brought her newly adopted daughter, Lilliana, here for a visit.

Those trips they’d made annually for three summers had been both eagerly anticipated and equally dreaded by Matthew, who would always be assigned the task of entertaining Lilly.

Spending endless hours with the beautiful Lilly had been a pleasure the likes of which Matthew had never known. Not only had her prettiness attracted him, but she’d had an infectious laugh, a sparkle in her eyes and an insatiable curiosity that had absolutely bewitched him.

“You show her a good time, boy, and keep her out of trouble,” Adam Delaney would say to his son on the first day of their visit. “You make me proud or I swear I’ll make you sorry.”

Matthew shoved away the memory of his old man’s words, but there was no way to push aside the anger that stirred inside him. It was a familiar anger, one that had become like a loyal friend because it was always there just under the surface.

He spread the last of the new hay, trying not to feel guilty about how quickly he’d left the table after dinner. Aunt Clara had indicated that she would do the cleanup, and Matthew had taken the opportunity to escape to the stables.

Seeing Lilly again had stirred myriad emotions and he felt as if he needed some time alone to put it all in the proper perspective.

He’d been looking forward to this time when the ranch would be dark, when there would be no guests demanding attention. No bitching, no whining, just peace and quiet, that’s what he’d been looking for.

He needed time alone to figure out where he was headed, where the Delaney Dude Ranch was headed.

But in those summers when Lilly and Aunt Clara had visited, the one thing that had been conspicuously absent was peace and quiet.

“Hi.”

He tightened his grip on the pitchfork as her low, melodic voice interrupted his thoughts. She stood just outside the stall where he’d been working.

“I’m sorry to bother you, Matthew, but I really need to talk to you.” It was obvious she’d showered and changed clothes before coming in search of him. Gone was the wrinkled blue dress she’d been wearing, and in its place was a blue T-shirt and a pair of almost shockingly short shorts.

“Talk to me about what?” He leaned the pitchfork against the wall, then left the stall. As he stepped out, he could smell her, a fresh clean floral scent that eddied in the air. It was a scent that rang the chords of distant memories. He thought she’d worn the same fragrance years ago.

“About Aunt Clara.”

Matthew frowned. “What about her?”

Lilly leaned back against the stable wall. The brevity of her shorts now gloriously displayed the legs that had been hidden beneath the long skirt earlier. Those legs looked just as silky, just as shapely as they had looked years ago.

“I’m not sure how to tell you this,” she said, hedging.

A burst of irritation swept through Matthew at the realization that even after all the years that had passed, and all the beatings he’d endured because of her, he felt a stir of desire for her. “Just spit it out,” he exclaimed. “I don’t remember you ever having a problem verbalizing in the past.”

Her eyes, eyes the color of cornflowers, widened at the sharpness of his tone. “She’s lost everything—her house, her savings…all of her assets—through a series of bad investments.”

“And so she’s come here hoping we’ll default on the terms of my father’s will and she’ll inherit the place?” he asked tersely.

“I know all about the terms of the will, that your father set it up so you all have to work here for a year before the ranch officially becomes yours. And I know if any one of you defaults on the conditions, the ranch goes to Aunt Clara.”

She took a step toward him and placed her hand on his forearm. He suddenly remembered that about her, that she’d been a toucher. “She doesn’t want the ranch, Matthew. All she wants is a home here with the rest of her family.”

What family? Matthew wanted to ask. The Delaneys had never been a family. They had been four children trapped in a life with a brutal dictator, four siblings who’d been isolated by fear and distrust. But Matthew didn’t talk about such things. He never talked about it.

“Why doesn’t she move in with you?” he asked, then realizing how cold he sounded, he hurriedly continued, “I mean, you’re certainly much closer to her than any of my brothers and sister have been over the years.”

She nodded, the gesture giving her thick, dark hair a sensual sway. “I told her I’d get a bigger apartment, that she was more than welcome to move in with me, but she insisted she wants to be here.”

He fought the sigh of resignation that rose in his throat. “Then I guess she’s going to be here.”

Lilly offered him a wide smile that lit every feature on her face. He felt the warmth of that smile burrow deep in the pit of his stomach. “Thanks, Matthew. More than anything, I want her to be happy.”

He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Did you really think I’d send her away?”

She grabbed a strand of her midnight hair and twirled it around her finger. “To be honest I didn’t know what to expect. We haven’t exactly stayed in touch, and I wasn’t sure how you might react.”

She was right. Many years had passed since they’d spoken or had any contact. She had no idea what kind of man he’d become, just as he had little idea of the woman she’d become.

“How long are you going to be here?” he asked. “Hasn’t school started in Dallas?” The last thing he’d heard was that she was a high school counselor.

“Yes, but I decided to take a year off.” Her gaze slid away from his.

“Really? Why?”

She shrugged. “I just decided I needed a little break.”

She walked over to one of the other stalls and reached out to pet the mare confined there.

Matthew watched her. He had a feeling there was more to the story, but told himself it was none of his business. She was none of his business.

Still, he had to admit to himself that she was as pretty as she’d been at sixteen…even prettier. She was still slender, but with curves in the right places. Her hair wasn’t as long as it had been years ago, but it still framed her face with glossy darkness, a perfect foil for her startling blue eyes.

“You never married.” It was a statement, not a question.

She turned to look at him once again. “Neither have you,” she countered.