The Cowboy Meets His Match
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Melinda Curtis
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HarlequinPROLOGUE
ALL OLIVIA MONROE had ever wanted to do was sail, and sail fast, faster than anyone else.
And for a long time, she’d done just that, to the delight of her family, her sponsors and her fans.
But any athlete will tell you that success is fleeting.
One minute, Olivia had been on top of the world and ahead of the race with her fortunes on the rise. The next minute, she’d been thrown into the ocean and trapped beneath the surface with her life flashing before her eyes.
She’d come back to the living in a racing official’s boat. She’d come back, but she’d left her sponsors, her racing yacht and her nerve at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. For weeks after the accident, Olivia had hidden away from the world, the press and, some might say, from herself. She needed an intervention.
One came in the form of an old sports psychologist named Sonny. His goal was to help her rebuild her life and reclaim everything she’d lost. She’d come to the remote Idaho mountains and the tiny town of Second Chance with Sonny in tow.
Why would a sailor come to a landlocked place like Second Chance?
Because Olivia, her siblings and cousins had inherited the small town—a little known fact—and no one in the racing world would look for her there. Heck, for the most part, the Monroe branch of the family left her alone in the capable care of Sonny.
She spent nearly two months trying to stow away her fear of the water and get back on a boat, even if it was only a dinghy and only on a small mountain lake. Two months of listening to Sonny encourage her to be honest with herself (she’d never been good at that). Two months of him guiding her into a solid meditation routine (she’d never be good at that). And two months of facing the broken internal parts of herself (she wanted to be done with that).
Admittedly, Olivia wasn’t the best client, but she and Sonny had formed a bond. She trusted the old man, even as she dragged her feet through his recommended treatment. And just when it seemed there was hope for her, slim though it might be, Sonny suffered a heart attack and her family closed ranks around Olivia, determined to send her back home to Philadelphia.
Olivia wasn’t leaving Sonny alone in Idaho or caving in on her determination that he continue to help her rediscover her backbone. But Olivia wasn’t the headstrong, independent woman she used to be. The more her family argued, the more Olivia felt her resolve crumbling. Cornered and desperate, she’d known she only had one chance to stay the course.
And so, she’d reached for the easiest defense at her disposal—a handsome cowboy—and the flimsiest of excuses—they were in love—and tried to sell the illusion—by kissing him.
