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Cowboy Up
A Contemporary Western Romance Box Set
By: Allison Merritt, Vickie Taylor, Leslie Garcia, Melissa Keir,
Autumn Piper, Sara Walter Ellwood, & D’Ann Lindun
Seven men as tough as the west…
Seven women who know how to...
Cowboy Up
A boxed set of seven romantic novellas by seven award-winning authors experienced with writing about the men of the West.
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Always, Cowboy by Allison Merritt
The past is better left behind, unless it offers a brighter future.
Brody Longtree's first love was bull riding, but he loved beauty queen Libby Dempsey equally as hard. When she turned down his marriage proposal, everything from his rodeo career to his love life went to hell. His love ran too deep for blame, so he made the best of what life threw at him. Things finally get back on track...and then she almost runs over his dog.
When her pageant dreams died in an embarrassing display of nerves, Libby made a new, cowboy-free life for herself. One where she could train other girls who want to be pageant princesses. One that doesn't give her any reason to dwell on what might have been with Brody until his dog bounds into her heart. And she bounds into Brody's bed.
Despite the differences in their lives, they mesh together, the way Brody always knew they would. No matter what, he's waiting until he's certain Libby is ready to get married before he asks again, but their relationship comes under fire when one of her friends reveals a secret about a little girl Libby is awfully attached to—a girl who's the right age to be Brody's daughter.
Excerpt:
Under
that snap front western shirt, did he still sport six-pack abs? She
couldn't count the number of times she'd helped him out of a similar
shirt and put ice on his bruises after a ride. Or how often they'd
parked at the lake and explored one another under the stars.
“Hot?”
Brody asked.
“What?”
“You're
flushed. We could go sit in the stands, maybe catch a breeze.”
“Yeah,
I guess.”
“Can
I ask you something, Lib?” Brody rose. His dark eyes were serious
and a few lines bracketed his mouth. “Why'd you come tonight?”
Libby
swallowed hard. “You asked me.”
“Really?”
“I
only live an hour away and I didn't have anything else to do
tonight.” Tell him you miss him.
“You
used to be more honest.” He slipped his hand around her wrist. “You
missed me.”
“I—”
Electricity buzzed through her from his touch. “Maybe a little.”
“Maybe
a lot.” He pulled her into his arms. “You wouldn't be here
otherwise.”
Allison Merritt
Cowboys Don’t Cry by Vickie Taylor
Dash Connaway is hell-bent down a highway to nowhere. But he can’t outrun fate. Just a few months ago, he’d had a new album shooting up the country music charts, a luxury tour bus prepped for gigs in 39 cities, and a live-in girl friend he’d been thinking of asking to marry him. Now he’s just another drifter with an old guitar, a beat-up pickup, and a dog named Bill for a bed mate…until he meets Maggie McCain.
Maggie isn’t your ordinary Oregon rancher. She’s more into organic gardening and hand-spinning yarn from the fleece of her prized alpacas than breeding stinky old cattle. She’s a nurturer, a giver, so when Dash steps into her life from nowhere, she’s ready to trade in her solitary existence on the farm in favor of a husband to grow old with and a passel of children to care for.
But when she learns the real reason for Dash’s commitment to life on the road, she’s faced with a difficult choice and a lesson in the fallacy behind the old saying “Cowboys don’t cry.” Only time will tell just how potent the healing power of love can really be.
Excerpt:
“It’s
a girl,” he pronounced cradling the newborn alpaca in his arms.
The
woman wiped her grimy chin with the back of her grimier hand. Tears
tracked through the dirt on her cheeks. “You did it.” She pushed
to her feet, but her legs looked none too steady. She picked up the
rifle and leaned on it like a crutch.
Dash
went to her, ready to catch her if she fell. “We did it,” he
corrected.
“Yes,
we did.”
He
smiled and reached out to her free arm. It was meant to be a
celebratory brush, a comfort…but it lingered a moment too long. The
air changed.
Without
warning, she swung her rifle up and rested the barrel against his
chest. “Now who the hell are you, and what are you doing on my
land?”
Vickie Taylor
A Cowboy’s Heart by Leslie Garcia
Teenage lovers torn apart by betrayal. Have seventeen years changed everything—or nothing?
Star-crossed lovers in their south Texas hill country high school, torn apart by a best friend’s lie, a mother’s cold hatred, and a father’s lack of trust…
High school junior Illy Kingston turns to varsity football star and cowboy in training Gil Salas when her father, a Border Patrol agent, is killed under suspicious circumstances.
Their hormone-fueled, all or nothing affair ends when betrayal tears them apart.
Years, later, Illy returns home, at loose ends after her disastrous marriage to a reality show rock star ends with an embarrassing photo gone viral and a divorce.
When Gil and his mounted Border Patrol make an unannounced civic call at a local elementary school, Gil is shocked to see Illy lurking in the shadows, threatening to upend his existence once again.
The old passion still burns—but neither can go back to the innocence of their high school affair. Illy swore never to love a man wearing a uniform that didn’t involve jeans, a western hat, and boots. Gil has a price on his head.
And star-crossed love doesn’t usually work for cowboys, either.
Excerpt:
He
stopped abruptly. Illy had told him to stop, and he hadn’t thought
she meant it. The memory of her reacting to him, caressing him,
wanting him, stormed back. And then, when Emma called, she’d turned
off and fled in a fury.
Did
she think he’d seen the picture? He’d seen it online, like the
entire world had, according to all the social media. What if she
thought he was just acting out what he’d seen? No matter how much
the photo enraged and sickened him, he could only imagine her horror
that her marriage was over, but that episode never would be.
Did
she feel strange at all, being in his arms after that very public
display with her ex-husband? His heart thudded dully. She must know
he’d seen the picture, but what would it do to her if she knew the
truth?
He
closed his eyes. She was out of his life, and that was best for him.
Because truth be told, he didn’t know if he could take her again
and not remember the second most painful night of his life. The night
he’d happened on Illy making love to her rock-star husband in
public.
Leslie Garcia
The Heartsong Cowboy by Melissa Keir
Angela French blames herself for her daughter’s lack of voice. Determined to do anything to correct the situation, she seeks out Jake Kyncade, the owner of The Heartsong Ranch.
Jake Kyncade hides his own sorrows behind his no-nonsense demeanor. Helping children becomes one way to correct his past. Using equine therapy, he sets out to make a difference.
Can Jake help Angela’s dreams come true or will Jake’s past bring more heartache? Will love save them all?
Excerpt:
With
Taylor asleep on the couch, Angela snuck the magazine out of her
daughter’s sleeping hands before carrying her to her bed. After
making sure her baby was tucked in, she turned out the lights and
went to the kitchen. She sat down at the table to study the article
about the horse whisperer. The photos gave off a peaceful feeling—so
much so, she longed to jump into the images. Along with the horses,
there were shots of children laughing and petting the animals. The
article mentioned a little boy with Down’s Syndrome whose language
increased after a week of animal therapy. The
Heartsong Ranch. Even the name sounds encouraging. Dare I get my
hopes up?
One
photo in particular captured her attention. The owner, Jake Kyncade,
wore jeans and a cowboy hat as he stood next to the ranch sign. She
took a deep breath as butterflies circled in her abdomen. He’s
sexy. Very different from Mike. Mr. Kyncade has this wounded look in
his eyes. I wonder what his trauma was. I’ve gotten better at
noticing it in others. Still, he’s good looking. Probably married
with his own children.
Melissa Keir
Cowboy Trouble by Autumn Piper
She’s decided to make some bad choices this weekend.
Susie Howell has always done what her family expects of her, but they don’t know about the divorce papers she’s just signed, or the secret torch she carries for sexy ranch hand Cash. When keeping the secret gets to her, she flees her brother’s wedding reception. Determined to live a little, she swipes the nearest truck from the ranch and heads to Sin City.
Cash Acosta has worked hard for everything he has, and nobody is taking off with his truck. When he sees it driving away, he jumps in—and becomes the unwilling passenger of a ready and willing woman he’s forbidden to touch. Hell-bent for trouble, the boss’s sister has already earmarked him as one of her “bad choices”.
And Susie intends to get what she wants.
Excerpt:
“So
that’s why you’re runnin’.” Under the parking lot lights, his
eyes were pitch black. He thumbed a tear from her cheek.
She
tried for a more ladylike sniffle, blinked away her tears. Nodded,
for lack of a better reply.
“When
I hear a beautiful woman wants to make some mistakes, my gut instinct
is to help her out with that.” His thumb brushed her lower lip.
“Hearin’ she’s single…that’s another checkmark in the pros
column.” Hypnotized, she barely breathed as he cupped her jaw in
his fingers and that gaze riveted on hers. “Seein’ her cry? What
choice do I have?” He bent to her, his lips hot and strong, skilled
as they teased hers apart, his tongue waking feelings she’d
forgotten. And Lord, it may be too soon, it may be wrong, but she
wanted.
Wanted Cash, his hands, his mouth, his… She grabbed onto his hard
shoulders, slipped her hands up his neck, buried her fingers in that
thatch of hair. And kissed him like there was no tomorrow. Of course
there was. Sexy, brooding, womanizing Cash wanted her, and he’d be
hers, at least for this trip.
Autumn Piper
Chasing a Cowboy by Sara Walter Ellwood
He’s running from heartbreak. She’s chasing after love… Their hearts will never be the same.
Paige Morgan has lived her entire life in the glare of her fraternal twin sister’s star. Although the sisters are as different as sun is from the moon, Paige fell in love with the same man as her famous swimsuit model sister. When country superstar Chase Jordan is dumped at the altar by her twin, Paige sees an opportunity to go after the one thing of her sister’s she’s always wanted.
She finds Chase in Cabo San Lucas nursing his broken heart in the true country song fashion—with a bottle of Jose Cuervo—and reminds him of the desire he once felt for her. Will this singing cowboy change his tune as they set the tropical nights on fire? Or will Paige be the one singing the blues when her sister shows up wanting her man back?
Excerpt:
All
of his hopes and dreams shattered on what should have been the
happiest day of his life. Today, instead of settling in for their
two-week vacation and only getting out of bed to eat, he was nursing
a bottle of Jose Cuervo. Why had he come here? His brother was right;
he could have easily eaten the cost of the trip. Chase had insisted
that he had to escape for a little while, lick his wounds and come up
with a plan before he had to go back on tour in a few weeks. Jack
accused him of wanting to punish himself. Why else would he go to the
place he and Kayla were to have their honeymoon? Had he come here to
remind himself of what should have been? He shook his head, hoping to
dislodge the thoughts, and turned to gaze out the other side of the
bar.
A
woman stood on the walkway staring at him through a pair of Aviators.
Her long blonde ponytail shimmered in the sun like spun gold. He
narrowed his eyes. Was he now hallucinating?
She
entered the bar and headed toward him. Sitting on the stool beside
him, she removed her sunglasses to reveal a pair of expressive hazel
eyes. “Surprise.”
“Paige?
What the hell are you doing here?”
Sara Walter Ellwood
Cowboy Bred, Cowboy Born by D’Ann Lindun
Freedom or family? Only love can make the choice.
Photographer Alannah Murphy refuses to be tied down. She watched her parents struggle to hold onto their dairy farm until it killed them. The mere thought of the same fate makes her shudder. When she meets rancher Sterling Gentry she has to face her fears, or lose him.
Sterling Gentry longs for someone to hand his ranch down to. Like his father before him, he has sacrificed everything to hold onto the land his ancestors settled. But finding Ms. Right proves harder than he imagined. Then he meets Alannah Murphy with her big city ways. How he can ever take a chance with a woman exactly like his mother, who abandoned him when he was a child?
Despite their determination to stay the course they’ve each chosen, attraction pulls them together as steadily as a nail to a magnet. Can these two find a way to mesh Alannah’s need for freedom and Gentry’s desire to hold onto his land?
Excerpt:
Still
snapping photos, the woman approached him. When she came within
speaking distance, she waved. “Hello.”
“Who
the hell are you? And what are you doing in the middle of the road?
Don’t you know better than to stand in the way when somebody’s
herding stock?”
Her
mouth opened and closed a couple times. “I didn’t think—”
“Hell
no, you didn’t think,” Gentry shouted. “Damn it anyway.”
“I’m
sorry,” she said in a small voice. “The shot was just so good…”
The
shot?
She’d ruined hours upon hours of exhausting work because she’d
wanted a picture? Who the hell would do something so stupid?
Only
a damn greenhorn.
For
the first time he noticed her get-up. A straw hat only a city girl
would wear, floaty pink top with tiny straps that left her bare
shoulders exposed to the unforgiving Arizona sun, cut-off jean shorts
and red cowboy boots. Daisy Duke personified. He shook his head in
disgust.
Reality
crashed over him.
The
New York photographer his mother had enticed out here, hoping an
article in The
Cowboy
magazine would bring attention to the Santa Gertrudis cattle they
raised.
Damn.
The fact that even though they act tough, they actually have a really big heart
ReplyDeleteI like their blend of frontier and Victorian values that even retained vestiges of chivalry.
ReplyDeleteThank you for participating!
ReplyDelete~Gaele (for Lisa)
Thank you for sharing our book bundle! Good luck everyone!!
ReplyDeleteFavorite thing about a cowboy... their hat.
ReplyDelete