Tangled Up With a Cowboy
Hearts of Wyoming Book 5
by Anne Carrole
Genre: Contemporary Western Romance
Publisher: Galley Press
Publication Date: November 24, 2019
A healthy-living yoga instructor and a gutsy bull rider? When opposites attract, sparks fly, but will love ignite?
Cowboy Lonnie Kasin is close to making the rodeo finals in bull riding. If he’s lucky enough to make the cut, he’s bent on doing everything he can to prove he belongs there. That is, until he meets a spunky yoga instructor who thinks he’s two bricks short of a load for riding bulls. How can he convince her that a bull rider is the man for her while proving to the world he belongs on that Finals roster?
No one would mistake Livvy Dennis for the responsible one in her family. And only she thinks moving to Wyoming to open up her own yoga studio is a good idea. Of course, she never expected a daredevil bull rider from Cheyenne to pull the mat out from under her. There are risk takers and then there is just plain crazy. She’ll have to figure out which one she is before it’s too late to save her heart.
Excerpt
1
Bull riders might be crazy, but when
chasing a slot for the Finals, they were also crazed—as in irrational, wired,
scared. Not of the bull but of losing the slot that would bring them more money
in ten days than they’d earned all year.
Lonnie Kasin knew that because those words
described exactly how he felt as he sat on the metal railings overlooking the
chutes, one of which would hold the beast he’d be riding in a few minutes.
He breathed in the familiar scent of warm
hides and acrid manure, dusty horses and dustier hay as he scanned bleachers
crammed with locals in cowboy hats and boots who had come out on a warm
Saturday evening in August for a little fun and entertainment. No doubt some of
those who ran this rodeo to benefit the local schools looked forward to this
night all year. For those who competed, it was just one more stop in a long
list of summer rodeos.
The purse wasn’t huge, a little over a
thousand if he won, but it all added up. At least that was what he told himself
as he bounced from town to town, crisscrossing the West in search of a win. And
he had to keep winning. Even at smaller rodeos like this one. Even though
tonight his mind kept drifting to something else…or rather someone else.
Metal slammed against metal as the first
bull was loaded. Bull rider Paulo Santos had drawn him, and though Paulo was in
the top three so far this year and a shoo-in to make the Finals, the bull
wasn’t. In fact, the bull Lonnie would be riding was the best of this rodeo’s
lot, giving him a good chance at first place—if he stayed on.
The gate opened. Paulo hung on as the
timer counted down, and Lonnie’s pulse sped up. Paulo made the buzzer and
waited for the score. An eighty-two. A good but, thankfully, beatable score.
This was what he loved, what he lived for.
If he could just win enough this season to make it to the Finals, all his
problems would be solved. Except one. And nothing and no one could solve that.
Not even the pretty little blonde he was
bound to see tomorrow at his friend’s wedding. Since he’d found out that Trace
Martin and Haylee Dennis would be tying the knot, thoughts of Livvy Dennis,
Haylee’s sister, had been screwing up his concentration. He’d met her once, but
with someone like Livvy, once was all it took, because no one, at least no
red-blooded male, would ever forget her.
From her tourist-crazy turquoise boots and
sexy short-shorts to her golden hair and mischievous blue eyes, she’d been
zooming around his mind like a fly he couldn’t catch.
He wasn’t looking for much, just a little
respite from the drumbeat of wins and losses that pounded his mind with
buck-off percentages and bull stats. Anyone who knew him knew he wasn’t
relationship material. Didn’t do well with commitment. Never stayed long in one
place. Hell, he didn’t even have a place he called home, living out of a
suitcase and mooching off of friends to keep the loneliness at bay.
“Your bull’s in the chute.” Chance
Cochran’s sharp elbow struck Lonnie’s side. “You okay?”
“Course I’m okay.” He would be if he
stopped thinking about what he couldn’t have and concentrated on what he could
have—a shot at the Finals and maybe one night with a cute and sassy blonde.
Lonnie scrambled over the top of the
railings to the pen containing his bull, leaving Chance to follow. Cochran had
already competed in saddle bronc, placing third. Lonnie needed to place first
because, unlike Chance, who was solidly in the top five in saddle bronc, Lonnie
was sixteenth. Meaning he’d need to take first place as many times as he could
to get on and stay on the fifteen-man Finals roster for the ten-day rodeo event
in December.
“You’ve got little Shane’s picture
loaded?” Lonnie asked as he settled on the railing above his bull.
Chance heaved a sigh from behind. “Stupid superstition.”
“Not stupid. Each time I’ve looked at your
little son’s face, it has brought me luck. I’m not about to change things up
now. Besides, I’m his godfather and proud of him.”
Chance held up his phone and angled the
screen. “I feel like a goddamn fool doing this every time you get on a bull.
Everyone probably thinks I’m one of those jackass fathers who can’t stop
talking about his kid.”
Lonnie gazed at the cherub face of a boy
almost a year old whose broad smile and bright-blue eyes anchored Lonnie in a
way nothing else did. Chance’s son would likely be the closet he’d ever get to
having a family. Gazing at little Shane’s picture in the moment before he got
on the bull, he could at least pretend someone cared.
“You were one of those jackass fathers
when you first showed me this picture at the start of the season, and that
began my winning streak. May not win every time, but I also haven’t sustained a
season-ending injury. So now you’ve got to keep doing it until the season is
over, which is only another month or so. Besides, what are friends for if not
to make you look stupid?”
Lonnie shifted his gaze to the bull with a
murderous look in its eye.
“You can get rid of me after eight
seconds,” he told the bull. “Just give me a good ride.”
He lowered himself onto the bull, and as
he felt the brawn of the animal under his butt, adrenaline pumped into his
veins in a rush worthy of an addict’s needle. The bull shifted. Lonnie tugged
on his rope, wrapped it tighter around his hand, and nodded. The gate opened.
Excerpt
2
“Yoga is great for flexibility, balance,
strengthening. I’m focused on healthy living. I’m really into taking care of
the body.” And she would definitely like to take care of his.
His eyebrows rose. “I could probably use a
little instruction.”
No more pretending she was someone she
wasn’t. No more trying to fit into someone else’s world. She was done faking it
in the hopes that someone would pick her. Wyoming was a new beginning, and she
would be as honest as she could be about everything.
Better to find out now than get involved
and be disappointed later. He either was relationship material, or she’d be
forced to move on.
She thought about the regret she’d heard
in his voice earlier and hoped she was right about the cause. “And I could use
a boyfriend.”
His smile drooped, his body stiffened, and
his jaw tightened.
Heat suffused her cheeks like someone had
poured scalding water through her veins as she waited for him to say something,
anything.
He rubbed a hand across his chin. “You’d
realize pretty quick I’m not boyfriend material.”
She’d asked for it. She’d told herself it
would be better to find out sooner rather than later.
But it wasn’t any better.
“Good to know,” she lied, when she really
wanted to ask him why he wasn’t boyfriend material. A woman at every rodeo?
Couldn’t keep it in his pants? Likely cowboys weren’t a breed apart from other
men. She’d just allowed romantic notions to get in the way of reality…again.
“I’ve a chance to go to the Finals this
year,” he continued, talking so fast the words folded into each other. “That’s
taking all my time and attention.”
What had she expected, blurting out such a
thing to a man she barely knew?
As typical, she’d imbued him with
characteristics and feelings she had wanted him to have, not ones he did have,
because she’d imagined him saying wonderful things to her when they finally met
again. Like I’ve been in love with you
from the first time I saw you… You
are the one for me too… I’d love to
be your boyfriend.
Well, he’d been honest, at least. That was
an improvement over the others.
The music stopped, and he boggled a step
in order to halt.
“If you are interested in just tonight…”
A year ago she might have agreed. She
would have never mentioned the boyfriend thing. And she would have expended a
lot of time and effort trying to fit into his world so he would want to be her
boyfriend.
But that was a year ago. This was now. And
she’d learned a thing or two since then. About herself. About men. About life.
She stepped out of his embrace, shook her
head, turned on her heel, and left him standing on the dance floor as the band
played another slow tune.
Been there. Done
that. Not doing it again.
Excerpt 3
The band switched to a slow song.
Lonnie wrapped his strong arms around her
as he pressed against her. She felt every edge and plane of his body, and heat
filled her like a steam furnace on high. In her black spiked heels, her eyes
were level with his mouth, and the thought of kissing those firm lips was
making her dizzy. She placed her arms around his neck, her hands brushing the
soft shirt fabric covering his solid back. She glanced up at him. He was
looking over her head, staring out into the dark dance floor, a frown on his
face.
She wondered if he was thinking about
Paulo, or maybe his next ride. While she was lusting after him. Her palms were
sweaty, her temples were pounding, and all she wanted to do was touch him, all
over. What did that say about her?
“I think you should stay in Wyoming and
open up that studio. Cheyenne could use another yoga place.”
The movement of his lips sent a
pleasurable shudder through her. “You do?”
“Absolutely.” He shifted his gaze to stare
into her eyes. “Just don’t take on any rodeo cowboys for private lessons.”
His leg brushed hers.
“You don’t want me to teach cowboys?”
She’d thought it would be an interesting customer segment to target.
He bent down and nuzzled his stubbled
cheek against hers. She thought of other places he could nuzzle.
“You can teach them, just not private
lessons.” His breath whispered across her face, and she caught a whiff of
whiskey. “Can’t trust a cowboy.”
“I thought cowboys were gentlemen.” Though
she could think of some situations where she’d like him not to be a gentleman.
“That’s a myth. They’re just like any
other man.”
“Meaning…”
“They can’t resist a pretty woman.”
Warm lips caressed her cheek, sending a
sizzle clear to her toes. She turned her face, and in that split second his
lips captured hers, tantalizingly firm and warm.
His big hands slowly swirled across her
back, as if he was giving her some sort of sexual massage. She plunged into the
pool of hot lust she’d been resisting since she’d walked off the dance floor at
the wedding. When he licked her lips, she opened her mouth, and he slid his
tongue inside, warm and wet. He tasted like steamed whiskey and just as
dangerous.
All the while the music played, all the
while other couples danced by them. But she didn’t care about the other
couples. She only cared about Lonnie ravaging her mouth with a savage hunger
that made her insides soft, her pulse race, and her desire turn to need.
The song ended…and so did the kiss.
Breathless, she stared up at him, afraid
to move, not sure what it all meant.
“Kissing you is like kissing sunshine,
honey,” he said, his voice a low growl. “All warm and happy.”
Anne Carrole was raised on a farm with horses, dogs, cats, chickens, rabbits and whatever other animals she could convince her parents to shelter. She is married to her own sweet-talking hero and is the proud mother of a college teen. They share their home with a sleek black cat with way too much attitude. Anne writes contemporary romances in which alpha male heroes meet their match as well as gilded age and western historical romances where spunky heroines finally find a worthy hero. You can learn more about Anne and her books at http://www.annecarrole.com, friend her on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/annecarrole or connect with her on twitter at https://twitter.com/AnneCarrole She is also co-founder of the fan site https://www.facebook.com/lovewesternromances.
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I like the cover
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