Untouched

In the Silver Creek romance Unexpected, Cole Mitchell found love in the last place he ever thought to look. Now, Cole's little sister, Lark, is determined to have her turn…

Having never left the family ranch, Lark Mitchell needs a little adventure-or at least a romance that isn't confined to the internet. Her older brothers, Cole and Cade, have always been too good at protecting her innocence, but even they can′t stop her from taking a second job-where her boss just so happens to be the kind of bad boy she craves. Too bad he's also the one guy in Silver Creek she should never touch...

When Quinn Parker introduces himself, Lark tries to quit on the spot. Everyone knows Quinn was behind the accident that ended Cade's rodeo career. But when he holds her to her contract, she can't help wanting to get even closer. As she begins to see the man behind the gossip, she sees that not all of the things people say about him are true...even if there′s plenty about this bad boy she has yet to discover. Maisey Yates is a New York Times bestselling author of more than one hundred romance novels. Whether she′s writing strong, hard-working cowboys; dissolute princes; or multigenerational family stories, she loves getting lost in fictional worlds. An avid knitter with a dangerous yarn addiction and an aversion to housework, Maisey lives with her husband and three kids in rural Oregon. Chapter

One

It wasn't like she even wanted any of this for herself.

Lark Mitchell looked around the completely unconventional wedding being thrown in her yard and fought the urge to cry.

Which was dumb as rocks, because there was no reason to cry. Seriously, the bride was wearing a black wedding dress. It was ridiculous. And, okay, the bride was also marrying the man Lark had spent the better part of two years completely fixated on, but that was no reason to cry.

It wasn't like she loved Tyler. And in the year since he'd started dating Alexa, his new wife, and moved to New York, Lark had completely gotten over him.

No, this wasn't heartbreak. She was just in the throes of that left-behind kind of melancholy that she was more familiar with than she'd like to be.

She'd felt that way when most of her friends had gone off to college and she'd stayed in Silver Creek to help out on the ranch. She'd felt it all through high school when other girls had gotten dates and she'd gotten the chance to tutor cute boys in English.

Just this sort of achy feeling that other people were going somewhere while she stood in the same place.

Or, in this instance, sat in the same place. At one of the florid tables placed around the lawn. This little wedding had come to Elk Haven Stables because Tyler was once a ranch hand, and because the bride in black was best friends with Lark's sister-in-law, Kelsey.

Lark adored Kelsey, but she could honestly do without Alexa.

Which might be sour grapes. Maybe.

But damn, woman, marry a dude your own age. Tyler was in her own demographic, and he hadn't known her in high school, which helped, because as awkward as she was now . . . high school had been a biotch.

"Hey, sweetie."

Lark looked up and saw Kelsey holding baby Maddy on her hip and looking down at her with overly sympathetic blue eyes. "Hi," Lark said.

"Are you okay?"

"What? Yeah. I'm . . . so okay. Why wouldn't I be okay? I had a crush on this guy for like two seconds, a year ago. I never even kissed him."

"I remember how much you liked him."

"Thanks, Kels, but I'm a grown-up, as much as Cole doesn't like to acknowledge it. I've moved on. I have another man in my life now."

Because she was sure three rounds of cybersex six months ago with a guy she'd never met counted as having someone in her life. And if not, it at least bolstered her lie. She needed the lie. It was so much better than admitting she was pathetic. And that she spent most days in her room doing tech support for various and sundry people while eating Pop-Tarts and st