The citizens of historic Rustler Mountain, Oregon, have a history as colorful as the Wild West itself. Most can trace their lineage back to the original settlers, and many remain divided into two camps: outlaws, or lawmen. But none more legendary than the Wilders and the Talbots . . .
Every year, thousands of people come through Rustler for the rodeo, historic home tours, old-fashioned candy making demonstrations, sharpshooter shows—and to see the site of the 1800s shootout in which notorious outlaw Austin Wilder was killed by Sheriff Lee Talbot. Now Millie Talbot, the sheriff’s descendant, wants to bring back the town’s Gold Rush Days. But she needs the current Austin Wilder’s support to make her dream a reality. . .
The Wilders are rumored to be as true to their last name as their ancestors. Nonetheless, Austin is agreeable to helping Millie. But he wants something in return. Austin is working to clear his family name by writing the true history of his outlaw ancestors and Millie might just hold the key.
When Millie wrangles Austin into helping plan Gold Rush Days, he figures it’s a chance to get to the truth of the past. . . . But when sparks start to fly between this bad boy and good girl, will either of them come out of it unscathed?
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Elise’s Thoughts
Rustler Mountain by Maisey Yates is two stories in one novel. There is the modern western and it also takes readers back to the Wild West days.
The Wild West was known for its bank robbers, stage robbers and the shootouts as well as the Gold Rush. In the town today they still believe what was told to them about outlaws’ vs lawmen. The journal entries made by the ancestors of a fictional town show how it was the site of an 1800s shootout in which notorious outlaw Austin Wilder was killed by Sheriff Lee Talbot. Now Millie Talbot, the librarian, and the sheriff’s descendant, wants to bring back the town’s Gold Rush Days. Facing resistance, she approaches Austin Wilder who grew up being shunned because his family ancestors were the bank and stagecoach robbers of legend. When Millie asks for his help reviving the history events, he agrees but with the condition that she help him clear some of the false information regarding his family. He plans on doing this by writing a book about his family’s past and what really happened. He needs Millie to help him go through her family’s papers while he gives her access to his family’s belongings. As the two get to know each other, while working to get the facts straight about each other’s ancestors, they cannot ignore the explosive energy they have toward each other.
As usual, this book has the traditional Yates witty banter. The good girl/bad boy dynamic made for a wonderful story. The unraveling of the truth about the Talbot-Wilder feud adds to the story with an enticing mystery.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: Was there really a Rustler Mountain?
Maisey Yates: I made it up, but it is very much rooted in the history of the area. I have a good idea where in the mountains it would be if it existed. I place it deliberately in a certain spot, a couple of miles from the real town, Copper Oregon.
EC: What was the role of the ancestor of Austin’s journal?
MY: I am a history nerd. It is important to understand that people in the past are not functionally different than we are now. Historical romance makes those people real. I was involved in the historical society, especially the gold rush town, which is like Rustler Mountain. The journal shows how the past echoes into the present day.
EC: How would you describe Millie?
MY: She is trapped by her own reputation. It is a good reputation, but in a toxic way. It is keeping her from responding back to those people who were awful to her. A lot of the story is how Millie found out how to express herself. I based her on my own thoughts of living in a small town and the way people get ideas about you based on what they heard, and the way they know you. She is timid, homely, passionate, a goody to shoes, vulnerable, and a people pleaser. Over the course of the book, she steps out of the people pleaser role, leading with her passion. Her nickname was Millie Mouse because that is the way other people saw her.
EC: How would you describe Austin?
MY: Like the Tim McGraw song, he was a bad boy but is now a good man. He has a strong sense of family. He has a lot of integrity. He is more grounded than Millie. I think Austin is a deep thinker, a book worm, and deeply misunderstood. I think he can be defiant and stubborn. He is less cocky than some of my other heroes.
EC: What about the relationship?
MY: They were both trapped by their reputations, good and bad. Neither one was necessarily the whole story of who they were. On the surface they appear to be opposites but are not. They both love books, have deep connections to the past, and are trying to figure out what that means in the present. I also think they both want to find someone who loves them for who they are. At first, she is jealous of him, he does not want a commitment which makes her feel rejected and humiliated. There is physical intimacy and now she makes him feel calm while he makes her feel passionate. At the deep core they offer each other what the other does not have.
EC: What about their family legacy?
MY: People are more complicated than what is perceived. Things are not as cut and dry as they appear. They are both people who did good and bad things. It challenged the truth of the past. Neither ancestor was a great guy. Yet, past Austin loved his wife and children and had a morality. Millie’s ancestor got an outlaw off the streets at any cost. Both are anti-heroes with their own moral compass. Their legacy was based on the person who told their story. They were both heroes in their own minds but villains to the other. Millie and Austin are living out more than just their reputations influenced by their past ancestors. She is not just a mousy librarian, and he is not just an outlaw.
EC: Next book?
MY: The end of this month there is a novella anthology coming out with Lori Foster titled The Two of Us with a focus on rescue dogs and how they brought together two “meant to be couples.” Out in April is The Outsider and in July The Rogue, both part of my “Four Corner Series.” There will be a woman’s fiction coming out in June. There is another anthology with Linda Lael Miller, a cowboy novella, titled Small Town Hero, out in July. Outlaw Lake, the sequel to this book, is out in September.
THANK YOU!!
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BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
Since taking over the veterinary clinic in Libby, Montana last year, Janey Richards has been burning the candle at both ends. She’s grateful she is busy, but there has barely been any time to build a life outside of work. To help pay down her debt faster, she agrees to take on responsibility for the livestock at Libby’s annual rodeo, but perhaps she should’ve thought twice about the added stress.
Although, her personal life is definitely looking up.
JD Watike never thought he’d end up following in his father’s footsteps, but he’s found his stride these past six years as a member of the High Mountain Trackers team. He enjoys the simplicity of small-town living, which has only gotten more interesting since Doc Richards appeared on the scene.
Spending most of the past year patiently observing from a distance, the time feels right for him to make his move.
Or at least to clear up some misunderstandings.
The opportunity presents itself sooner than expected, when the pretty veterinarian stumbles onto some serious criminal activity at the Libby Roundup, and a young woman disappears from the grounds, he has plenty of cause to stay glued to her side.
HIGH DENSITY (High Mountain Trackers 2nd Gen) by Freya Barker is the third action-packed romantic suspense in the 2nd Generation quartet of books in the High Mountain Trackers world. This can be read as a standalone story, but there are carryover characters from other books in the series since the Trackers all work together. I have read and loved them all and recommend reading the series in order.
JD Watike has been interested in the new veterinarian for a while now, ever since she arrived in Libby to take over the clinic for the retiring doctor. He finally gets his chance when Doc Janey gets called to High Meadow ranch to help a horse with a partial breech birth. He is determined to take it slow until the Doc gets hired to take care of the livestock for auction and the rodeo livestock for the annual Libby Roundup and she stumbles onto criminal activity. He is determined to stay by her side.
Dr. Janey Richards has been aware of the handsome High Meadow Tracker, JD Watike, but considers him a player until they begin to see each other. When she discovers criminal activity involving the cattle up for auction, she and JD alert local law enforcement and the FBI. The danger they are in escalates as quickly as the chemistry between them.
Besides the danger at the roundup, young women have gone missing and later found assaulted and dead. JD and Janey get pulled into this investigation, too. Danger is all around them. Are the cases connected or is it a strange coincidence?
I love this series and was very happy to see JD finally step up and start a relationship with Janey. Janey is a strong heroine who stands up for herself and while she appreciates JD caring for her, she does not tolerate him making decisions for her or her life. She wants a partner, not a boss. There are a few intimate sex scenes which I felt were appropriate to their growing adult relationship, but I never felt they were gratuitous. The intertwining crime/mystery plotlines were fast-paced, intriguing, and kept me guessing and quickly turning the pages to see what happened next. I am looking forward to the next book in this quartet which will finally give me Jackson’s story.
I highly recommend this exciting addition to the High Mountain Trackers 2nd Gen series!
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About the Author
USA Today bestselling author Freya Barker loves writing about ordinary people with extraordinary stories.
Driven to make her books about ‘real’ people; she creates characters who are perhaps less than perfect, each struggling to find their own slice of happy, but just as deserving of romance, thrills, and chills in their lives.
Recipient of the ReadFREE.ly 2019 Best Book We’ve Read All Year Award for “Covering Ollie, the 2015 RomCon “Reader’s Choice” Award for Best First Book, “Slim To None”, and Finalist for the 2017 Kindle Book Award with “From Dust”, Freya continues to add to her rapidly growing collection of published novels as she spins story after story with an endless supply of bruised and dented characters, vying for attention!
For the latest news and updates on books and upcoming releases, you can subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.subscribepage.com/Freya_Newsletter
Hostage Security is a suspenseful romance that involves a child being kidnapped. Five years ago, Josh Stafford ended his engagement to Natalie Croft after he pleaded guilty to a crime he did not commit to protect his loved ones. As he was leaving for prison, he told Natalie that he did not love her, which devasted Natalie. She does not want anything to do with Josh, so she never tells him she was pregnant with his child, Henry. Fast forward to the present where Josh is out of prison and working as a security specialist for the Payne Protection Agency as a guard at Natalie’s’ family jewelry store. Now the son he never met is kidnapped. Natalie, Josh, and the rest of those at the Agency must find Henry before it is too late.
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Bachelor Cowboys – Book #8
Elise’s Description and Thoughts
A Match for the Sheriff has single mom Sarah Reynolds raising her 6-year-old son, Mikey, and taking care of the elderly ranch owner, the father of the Cassidy family. She is worried that her son may have started the fire at the ranch they were living in, but he refuses to talk to her. Marsh, the sheriff of the town, wants to get to the bottom of who started the fire or whether it was an accident. After he starts to suspect that his dad’s nurse or her son knew something about the fire, he begins to spend time with them to get answers. But the longer he is with them the more he starts to care for them. Readers will enjoy finding out what will happen between Marsh and Sarah as well as how the fire mystery will be solved.
Both books are entertaining and will keep readers turning the pages.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: Is Hostage Security the first book in a new series?
Lisa Childs: Yes. It is a continuation of my “Bachelor Bodyguard Series,” which has been going for many years. This is the first book in the “Payne Protection Agency Series,” somewhat of a spin-off. I think there will be five books total. The two brothers heading this Agency, are connected to Penny Payne, the matriarch of the Payne family. These brothers are a bad-boy characters that were also suspects in the first couple of books. They are Polish and I am half-Polish myself.
EC: How would you describe the female lead, Natalie?
LC: She feels helpless and does not feel like she is in control. She is scared. I think she is straight-forward, honest, angry, frustrated, and bitter. She is brave because she will do whatever it takes to get her child back.
EC: How would you describe Josh?
LC: Resentful, selfless, has made sacrifices, and he is scared for his son. He knows with hostages they must act quickly to get them back.
EC: What about the relationship?
LC: When he went to jail, she was devasted. Her trust in him and herself was shaken. She is resentful and mistrustful. They both have lies and secrets that they have kept from each other.
EC: Did you do any research?
LC: I looked up police procedures and spent a lot of time on the FBI website.
EC: What is the role of Henry?
LC: Natalie did not want Henry, her and Josh’s son, to visit him in prison. As he was going to prison, he said he did not want anything to do with her, which she assumed meant nothing to do with her and her child. Henry is the something good coming from something bad.
EC: In your other book, A Match for The Sheriff does the fire plays a big role?
LC: It is an ongoing theme since no one knows how it started. Everybody was worried that Cash Cassidy, one of the brothers, started it after his lighter was found. I was an insurance agent for over twenty years and wrote how the insurance company was dragging out the payment, where the adjuster is notorious for pushing arson charges so that he could deny claims.
EC: Is this a new series?
LC: No. This is the eighth book in the “Bachelor Cowboy Series.” I am writing four more books coming out in this series.
EC: Do the cowboy hats the Cassidy brothers wear reflect their differences?
LC: Yes, they are very different. Readers can tell their different personalities by the different colors they wear with the hats. Cash wears brown, enjoying being in nature and taking care of animals. Marsh wears white, the lawman and is the peace maker. Colton wears black, he is the fireman that must handle ashes. Collin does not wear one.
EC: How would you describe the hero, Marsh?
LC: Has a sense of humor, calm, and very observant. He felt a loss when his brother Cash went away for all those years.
EC: How would you describe Sarah?
LC: Strong, resilient, vulnerable, compassionate, anxious, protective, and distrusting.
EC: What was the role of Sarah’s son Mikey?
LC: He was bullied and had a rough time in school because his dad was a criminal. Sarah is very protective of him. She is a mama-bear. He is sensitive, quiet, shy, skittish, impressionable, and loves animals.
EC: What about the relationship between Sarah and Marsh?
LC: She feels intimidated by him. They are both uneasy about their feelings. Marsh can read her. Sarah is very nervous as to why he takes a sudden interest in her. She also cares about Marsh and does not want him to lose the election because he associates with her. In a way she is protective of him.
EC: Next books?
LC: There will be books about the Lemmon brothers. The first book has one of them finding a baby on the ranch. It is titled The Cowboy’s Baby Surprise out in July.
Personal Security is the title of the next book coming out in May. It will be Ivan’s story where he is assigned to protect an art gallery. It was once a front for money laundering. The heroine is trying to open the gallery to honor her late dad, but someone is sabotaging her efforts.
Dog trainer and handler, Jillian Lederman, is moving with her pack to Libby, Montana, a place where she has made friends and hopes to find a fresh start. It’s time. For years, she’s just been keeping her wounds fresh by staying in Missoula—where there were regular reminders of all she’s lost—while the rest of the world has continued to move forward. Perhaps the new house, the beautiful mountains, and a certain pair of clear, blue eyes hold the promise of new beginnings.
Since changing careers years ago, former FBI agent Lucas Wolff has found a much better work-life balance as a member of High Mountain Trackers. Still able to serve his community, he has also been carving out a comfortable existence for himself and is not looking to make any changes to it anytime soon. Not even for a particular bold and ballsy redhead he’s been trying to avoid.
That turns out to be an impossible feat when a plane crash during a blizzard sets both of them on the trail of a young girl, all alone in the mountains. But it soon becomes evident they are not the only ones looking, and staying safe means sticking close together.
HIGH INTESITY (High Mountain Trackers 2nd Gen) by Freya Barker is an intense romantic suspense full of action and all the love and emotions I look for in a great read in this genre. This book can easily be read as a standalone story, but there are carryover characters from the other books in the series. I have read and loved them all, but this one is special.
After helping law enforcement and the HMT (High Mountain Trackers) on their last case, Jillian Lederman makes the move to Libby, Montana with her special pack of dogs to make a fresh start and hopefully leave some of her heartache behind. She hopes with her new connections and friends, she can begin to move forward with her life. When a plane goes down in the mountains, Jillian and her dogs are called in when the HMT team discovers an eleven-year-old girl is missing from the crash site and may still be alive.
Former FBI agent Lucas Wolff has found a more balanced life and contentment with the HMT team. He can still serve his community, and he is close to his aging mother. The first time Lucas saw the beautiful redhead with her trained dogs, he knew he was in trouble, but there was no avoiding their interactions in little Libby.
As they work together on this case, the chemistry is inescapable, but so is the danger.
I loved this story! Jillian is so strong, intelligent, and loving with a backstory that broke my heart. Lucas is her perfect other half, and they were definitely meant to be. Their love story is just beautifully real. There are explicit sex scenes, but they are not gratuitous and fit well into a growing adult relationship and romance. Jillian’s dogs are as lovable and important to me in this story as the human characters. I enjoyed getting reacquainted once again with the other HMTs and their families. I felt the suspense plot of this book was much more complex than what you expect in a typical genre romantic suspense and yet it is in balance with the romance. This is an overall great romantic suspense!
I highly recommend this new addition to the series as well as the entire series.
***
About the Author
USA Today bestselling author Freya Barker loves writing about ordinary people with extraordinary stories.
Driven to make her books about ‘real’ people; she creates characters who are perhaps less than perfect, each struggling to find their own slice of happy, but just as deserving of romance, thrills, and chills in their lives.
Recipient of the ReadFREE.ly 2019 Best Book We’ve Read All Year Award for “Covering Ollie, the 2015 RomCon “Reader’s Choice” Award for Best First Book, “Slim To None”, and Finalist for the 2017 Kindle Book Award with “From Dust”, Freya continues to add to her rapidly growing collection of published novels as she spins story after story with an endless supply of bruised and dented characters, vying for attention!
For the latest news and updates on books and upcoming releases, you can subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.subscribepage.com/Freya_Newsletter
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for HEART LIKE A COWBOY (Cowboy Brothers in Arms Book #1) by Delores Fossen on this HTP Books Romance Blog Tour.
Below you will find a book summary, my book review, an excerpt from the book, and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Summary
He’s Emerald Creek’s hottest cowboy—and the one man she shouldn’t want
On the surface, Egan Donnelly is hometown hero material—top gun, commanding an elite fighter training squadron and ranching royalty. Inside, he feels like a fraud, convinced he’s responsible for his best friend’s death. At least he won’t let himself succumb to the heat between him and Jack’s widow, Alana. Yet. Now that she’s making regular trips to his ranch to care for his dad, that vow is getting harder to keep.
Alana Davidson isn’t just grieving her husband’s loss, she’s feeling betrayed over his secret infidelity. Wanting Egan makes things even more complicated. As a nutritionist, she can help Egan’s dad recover from his health scare, but it’s not so easy to get her own heart back on track. Because despite shared guilt and family pressure, she’s falling fast, and Egan is right there with her…
HEART LIKE A COWBOY (Cowboy Brothers in Arms Book #1) by Delores Fossen is an emotional start to the new Cowboy Brothers in Arms series set in smalltown Emerald Creek, Texas. The Donnelly’s live on a generational ranch with all four siblings serving in the military on active duty. This story introduces the entire family and features the romance of the eldest brother, Lt. Col. Egan Donnelly.
Air Force Lt. Col. Egan Donnelly is both a hometown Top Gun hero and commander of an elite fighter training squadron and the eldest sibling in a ranching family. When his father has a massive heart attack, Egan takes a month’s leave to run the ranch and try to figure out how he will go forward. When his father returns home to recuperate, Egan comes face to face with the nutritionist working on his case. It is the sister of his ex-wife and the widow of his best friend, Jack, who he hoped to avoid. Egan has carried the guilt for Jack’s death from an IED when he was visiting him for three years.
Alana Davidson is the nutritionist helping Egan’s dad and while everyone still considers her Jack’s grieving widow, she is ready to move on from her grief. She had an argument with her husband right before he died overseas when she discovered he had cheated on their marriage. She is determined to tell Egan she feels just as responsible. Despite smalltown gossip and family interference Alan and Egan begin to discover they are ready to move on and stand together.
There are a lot of obstacles, twists, and surprises on the road to romance for Egan and Alana. I loved both fully developed characters because they communicated and did not play games. They also stood together when faced with smalltown gossip and the emotional adversity that Jack’s mother put them through. All the secondary characters added to the realism of the story and believable life situations. There are sexually explicit scenes in this romance, but they were not gratuitous. The introduction of the other siblings was entertaining, and I am looking forward to their stories in the future.
I recommend this first heartfelt book in the Cowboy Brothers in Arms series. Dolores Fossen is one of my favorite go-to cowboy romance authors and she never disappoints.
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Excerpt
CHAPTER ONE
That whole deal about bad news coming in threes? Well, it was a crock. Lieutenant Colonel Egan Don- nelly now had proof of it.
First, there’d been the unexpected visitor, AKA the messenger, who’d started the whole bad-news ball rolling. That’d teach him to open his frickin’ door before he’d even finished his frickin’ coffee.
Then, there was the so-called celebration that would stir up the worst of his past and serve it up to him on a silver platter. Or rather on a disposable paper plate, anyway.
Then, a letter from his ex, which he figured was never a good sign. Who the heck actually wanted to hear from their cheating ex? Not him, that was for sure.
Those were the three things—count them: one, two, three—that was supposed to have been the final tally of bad crap even if for only a day, but apparently the creator of that old saying had no credibility what- soever. Then again, Egan had known firsthand that bad news didn’t have limited quantities.
Or expiration dates.
Now he was faced with ironclad confirmation that
those other three things were piddly-ass drops in the proverbial bucket compared to bad-news number four.
And now, everything in his world was crashing and burning.
Again.
Thirty Minutes Earlier
In the dream, Lieutenant Colonel Egan Donnelly saved his best friend’s life. In the dream, the explosion didn’t happen. It didn’t blast through the scorched, airless night. Didn’t tear apart the transport vehicle.
Didn’t leave blood on the bleached sand.
Didn’t kill.
In the dream, Egan was the hero that so many people proclaimed he was. He made just the right decisions to save everyone, including Jack. Especially Jack.
Egan didn’t fight tooth and nail to come out of this dream—unlike the ones that were basically a blow-by-blow account of what had actually happened that god-awful night nearly three years ago. Those dreams were pits of the darkest level of hell where everything spun and bashed, stomping him down deeper and deeper into the real nightmare. Those dreams he fought.
Had to.
Because Egan had learned the hard way if he let those dreams play out, then it was a damn hard struggle to come back from them. Heck, he was still trying to come back from them.
Despite wanting to linger in this particular dream
where he got to play hero, it didn’t happen, thanks to his phone dinging with a text. He frowned, noticing that it was barely six in the morning. Texts at this hour usually were not good. Considering that all three of his siblings were on active duty, not good could be really bad.
He saw his father’s name on the screen, and the worry instantly tightened Egan’s gut. His dad had just turned sixty so while he wasn’t in the “one foot in the grave” stage, he wasn’t the proverbial spring chicken, either. Added to that, his dad still ran the day-to-day operation of Saddlebrook, the family’s ranch in Emerald Creek, Texas. The ranch that’d been in the Donnelly family for over a hundred years and had grown and grown and grown with each succeeding generation. All that growth required hours of upkeep and work.
Found this when I was going through some old photo albums, his dad had texted.
What the heck? That gut tightness eased up, some, when Egan saw it was a slightly off-center image taken in front of the main barn on the ranch. His dad had obviously used his phone to take a picture of the old photo. Emphasis on old.
It was a shot that his grandmother, Effie, had snapped thirty years ago on Egan’s eighth birthday. His brother, Cal, would have been six. His sister, Remi, a two-year-old toddler, and his other brother, Blue, was just four. Stairsteps, people called them, since they’d all been born just two years apart.
In the photo, his dad, looking lean, fit and young,
was in the center, flanked by Egan and Remi on the right, and Cal and Blue on the left. Remi and Blue were both grinning big toothy grins. Cal and Egan weren’t. Probably because they’d been old enough to understand that life as they’d known it was over.
Their lives hadn’t exactly gone to hell in a handbasket, but this particular shot had been taken only a couple of weeks after their mother had died from cancer. A long agonizing death that had left their dad the widower of four young kids. Still, his dad was eking out a smile in the picture, and he’d managed to gather all four of them in his outstretched arms.
Bittersweet times.
That’s when their mom’s mom, Grammy Effie, had come to Saddlebrook for what was supposed to have been a couple of months, until his dad got his footing. Effie was still living on the ranch thirty years later and had obviously put down roots as deep as his father’s.
Egan was wondering what had prompted his dad to go digging through old family albums when his phone dinged again. It was another text from his dad, another photo. It was an image that Egan also knew well, and he mentally referred to it as the start of phase two of his life.
The first phase had been with a loving mother that sadly he now couldn’t even remember. That had ended with her death. Phase two had begun when his dad had gotten remarried four years later to a young fresh-faced Captain Audrey Granger, who’d then been stationed at the very base in San Antonio
where Egan was now. It was an hour’s commute to the ranch that Audrey had diligently made.
For a while, anyway.
In this shot, his dad and new bride dressed in blue were in the center, and both were flashing giddy smiles. Ditto for Remi and Blue. Again, no smiles for Cal and Egan since they’d been ten and twelve respectively and were no doubt holding back on the glee to see how life with their stepmom would all play out.
It hadn’t played out especially well.
But then, it also hadn’t hit anywhere near the “hell in a handbasket” mark, either.
If there’d been a family photo taken just two years later, though, Audrey probably wouldn’t have been in it. By then, she’d been in Germany. Or maybe England. Instead of an hour commute, she’d come “home” to the ranch a couple of times a year. Then, as her career had blossomed, the visits had gotten further and further apart. These days, Brigadier General Audrey Donnelly only came home on Christmas. If that.
Egan sent his dad a thumbs-up emoji to let him know he’d seen the pictures, and he was considering an actual reply to ask if all was well, but his alarm went off. He got up, mentally going through his schedule for the day. As the commander of the Fighter Training Squadron at Randolph AFB, Texas, there’d be the usual paperwork, going over some stats for the pilots in training, and then in the afternoon, he’d get to do one of the things he loved most.
Fly.
Of course, it would be under the guise of a training mission in the T-38C Talon jet, not the F-16 that Egan used to pilot, but it would still give him that hit of adrenaline. Still give him the reminder of why he’d first joined the Navy and then had transferred to the Air Force so he could continue to stay in the cockpit.
Egan showered, put on his flight suit, read through his emails on his phone and was about halfway through his first cup of coffee when his doorbell rang. He had the same reaction to it as he had the earlier text. A punch of dread that something was wrong. It wasn’t even seven o’clock yet and hardly the time for visitors. Especially since he lived in base housing and therefore wasn’t on the traditional beaten path for friends or family to just drop by.
Frowning, he went to the door. And Egan frowned some more when he looked through the peephole at the visitor on his porch. A woman with pulled back dark blond hair and vivid green eyes. At first glance, he thought it was his ex-wife, Colleen, someone he definitely didn’t want to see, but this was a slightly younger, taller version of the woman who’d left him for another man.
Alana Davidson, Colleen’s sister.
“Yes, I know it’s early,” Alana sighed and said loud enough for him to hear while she looked directly at the peephole. “Sorry about that.”
Wondering what the heck this was all about, he opened the door and got an immediate blast of heat. Texas in June started out hot as hell and got even hotter. Today was apparently no exception. He also
got another immediate blast of concern because there was nothing about Alana’s expression that indicated this was a social visit.
Then again, Alana and he never had social visits.
Never.
Just too much old baggage, old wounds and old everything else between them. Ironic, since she’d been married to his best friend. Now, she was his dead best friend’s widow and bore that strong resemblance to his cheating ex-wife who’d left him just days before Jack’s death.
Egan was no doubt an unwelcome sight for her, too. He was the man who’d not only failed to keep her husband alive, but he was also the reason Jack had been in that transport vehicle in the first place.
So, yeah, old baggage galore.
“Sorry,” Alana repeated, looking up at him. Not looking at him for long, though. Like their avoidance of social visits, they didn’t do a lot of eye contact, either. “But I have an appointment at the base hospital in an hour, and I wanted to catch you before you went into work.”
“The hospital?” he automatically questioned.
She waved it off, clearly picking up on his concern that something might be medically wrong with her. “I’m consulting with a colleague on a chief master sergeant who’s being medically retired and moving to Emerald Creek. I’ll be working with the chief to come up with some lifestyle changes.”
Alana made that seem like her norm, and maybe it was. She was a dietitian, and because as Jack’s widow
she still had a military ID card so she wouldn’t have had any trouble getting onto the base. Added to that, Emerald Creek was a haven for retirees and veterans since it was so close to three large military installations. There were almost as many combat boots as cowboy boots in Emerald Creek.
“How’d you know where I live?” he asked.
“I got your address from your grandmother.” She glanced over her shoulder at the street of houses. “I occasionally have consults here, but it’s the first time I’ve been to this part of the base.”
Yeah, his particular house wasn’t near the hospital, commissary or base exchange store where Alana would be more apt to go. Added to that, Jack had never been stationed here, which meant Alana had never lived here, either.
“Full disclosure,” she said the moment he shut the door. “You aren’t going to like any of what I have to say.”
Now it was Egan who sighed and braced himself for Alana to finally do something he’d expected her to do for three years. Scream and yell at him for allowing Jack to die. But there was no raised voice or obvious surge of anger. Instead, she took out a piece of paper from her sizeable handbag and thrust it at him.
“It’s a mock-up of a flyer that Jack’s mom intends to have printed up and sent to everyone in her known universe,” Alana explained.
At first glance, he saw that the edges of the flyer had little pictures of barbecue grills, fireworks, the
American flag and military insignia. Egan intended to just scan it to get the gist of what it was about, but the scanning came to a stumbling slow crawl as he tried to take in what he was reading.
“Join us for a Life Celebration for Major Jack Connor Davidson, July Fourth, at the Emerald Creek City Park. It’ll be an afternoon of food, festivities and remembrance as a celebratory memorial painting for Jack will be unveiled by our own Top Gun hometown hero, Lieutenant Colonel Egan Donnelly.”
Well, hell. Both sentences were full-on gut punches and thick gobs of emotional baggage. Memorial. Life celebration. Remembrances. The icing on that gob was the last part.
Top Gun hometown hero.
Egan was, indeed, a former Top Gun. He’d won the competition a dozen years ago when he’d been a navy lieutenant flying F-16s. The hometown part was accurate, too, since he’d been born and raised in Emerald Creek, but that hero was the biggest of big-assed lies.
“I can’t go,” Egan heard himself say once he’d managed to clear the lump in his throat.
She nodded as if that were the exact answer she’d expected. “I’m guessing you’ll be on duty?”
He’d make damn sure he was, but wasn’t it ironic that the memorial celebration would fall on the one weekend of the month he usually went home to help his dad on the family ranch? Maybe Jack’s mom knew that, or maybe the woman just believed that such an event would be a good fit for the Fourth of July.
It wasn’t.
Barbecue, hot dogs, beer and such didn’t go well with the crapload of memories something like that would stir. He didn’t need a memorial or a life celebration to remember Jack. Egan remembered him daily, hourly even, and after three years, the grief and guilt hadn’t lost any steam.
“I’ll let Tilly know you can’t be there,” Alana said, referring to Jack’s mother. “She’s mentioned contacting your stepmom to see if she could be there for the unveiling.”
“Good luck with that,” he muttered, and Alana’s sound of agreement confirmed that she understood it was a long shot.
What would likely end up happening was that his brother Cal would get roped into doing the “honors.” He’d known Jack, and Cal’s need to do the right thing would have him stepping in.
“The last time I ran into Tilly, she didn’t want to discuss anything involving Jack’s death,” Egan recalled.
Alana nodded. “That’s still true. Nothing about how he died, et cetera. She only wants to chat about the things he did when he was alive.”
“So, why do a memorial painting?” Egan wanted to know.
“I’m not sure, but it’s possible the painting will be another life celebration deal that she’ll want hung in some prominent part of town like city hall or the library. In other words, maybe the painting will have nothing to do with Jack even being in the military.
Tilly was proud of him,” she quickly added. “But she’s never fully wrapped her mind around losing him.”
That made sense. The one time he’d tried to talk to her about Jack’s death, she’d shut him down. As if not talking about his death would somehow breathe some life back into him.
“There’s one more thing,” Alana went on, and this time she took a pale yellow envelope from her purse and handed it to him. “It’s a letter from Colleen.”
Egan had already reached for it but yanked back his hand as if the envelope were a coiled rattler ready to sink its fangs into his flesh. The mention of his ex-wife tended to do that. Memories of Colleen didn’t fall into the “hell on steroids” category like Jack’s. More like the “don’t let the door hit your cheating ass” category. Colleen had obviously liked that direction just fine since she hadn’t spoken a word to him since the divorce.
He glanced at the envelope, scowled. “A letter? Is it some kind of twelve-step deal about making amends or something?” he asked.
Alana shook her head. “No, I think it’s a living will of sorts.”
That erased his scowl. “Is Colleen dying?”
“Not that I know of, but she apparently decided she wanted to make her last wishes known. She sent letters for me, our aunt and your dad. I have his if you want to give it to him.”
Egan reached out again to stop her from retrieving it, and Alana used the opportunity to put the letter for him in his hand. “I don’t want this,” he insisted.
“Totally understand. I read mine,” she admitted. “Along with spelling out her end-of-life wishes—cremation, no funeral, no headstone—she wants us to have some sister time, like a vacation or something.”
Egan had no idea how much contact Alana and Colleen had with each other these days, but it was possible when Colleen had walked out on him, she’d also walked out on Alana. He thought he detected some animosity in Alana’s tone and expression.
He went straight to the trash can in the adjoining kitchen and tossed the envelope on top of the oozing heap of the sticky chicken rice bowl that had been at least a week past its prime when he’d dumped it the night before.
“I’m not interested in wife time with her,” he muttered, knowing he sounded bitter and hating that he still was.
Unlike what he was still going through with Jack, though, his grief and anger with Colleen had trickled down to almost nothing. Almost. He now just considered her a mistake and was glad she was out of his life. Some days, he could even hope that she was happy with the Mr. Wonderful artist that she’d left him for.
When he turned back to Alana, he saw she had watched the letter trashing, and she was now combing those jeweled green eyes over his face as if trying to suss out what was going on in his head. Egan decided to diffuse that with a question that fell into
the polite small talk that would have happened had this been a normal visit.
“Uh, how are you doing?” he asked. On the surface, that didn’t seem to be a safe area of conversation since it could lead to that screaming rant over his huge part in her husband’s death. But Egan realized he would welcome the rant.
Because he deserved it.
Alana took a deep breath. “Well, despite nearly everyone in town deciding I should live out the rest of my life as a widow, I’ve started dating again.”
That got his attention. Not because he hadn’t known about the town’s feelings. And not because he believed she shouldn’t have a second chance at romance. But Egan had thought she didn’t want such a chance, that she was still as buried in the past as he was. Apparently not.
“I’m only doing virtual dating for now,” she went on, not sounding especially thrilled with that. “Last week, I had a virtual date with a guy who has six goats and eleven chickens in his one-bedroom apartment in Houston.”
Egan didn’t especially want to smile, but he did, anyway. “Sounds like a prize catch. You’d never have to buy eggs again. Or fertilizer.”
She shrugged. “He was a prize compared to the one I had the week before. Within the first minute of conversation, he wanted to know the circumference of my nipples.” Alana stopped, her eyes widening as if she hadn’t expected to share that.
Egan smiled again, but this one was forced. He
hadn’t wanted Alana to think he was shocked or offended, though he was indeed shocked. He’d never considered nipple size one way or another.
He’d especially never considered anything about Alana’s nipples.
And he hated that was now in his head. That kind of stuff could mess with things that already had a shaky status quo.
“Dating at thirty-five isn’t as much a ‘fish in the sea’ situation as it is more of a, uh, well, swamp,” Alana explained. “Think scaly critters, slithery, that sort of thing, with the potential and hope that some actual fish lingering about will eventually come out of hiding.”
That didn’t sound appealing at all, but then he hadn’t had to hit any of the dating sites. He could thank the eternal string of matchmakers for that. Unlike the widowed Alana, apparently everyone thought a divorced guy in his thirties shouldn’t be solo. Especially a guy who’d had his “heart broken” when his wife had walked out on him right before his best friend had been killed.
“How about you?” she asked, clearly aiming for a change of subject and her own shot at small talk. “Have you jumped into dating waters?”
He shook his head. “Too busy.”
She broke their unwritten rule by locking her gaze with his for a second or two. “Yeah. Busy,” she repeated. And it sounded as if that were code for a whole bunch of things. For instance, wounded. Damaged. Guarded. Guilty.
All of the above applied to him.
It was hard for Egan to think about his happiness when he’d robbed Jack of his. Busy, though, was a much safer term for it.
“Well, I gotta go,” Alana said when the silence turned awkward, as it always did between them. “I’ll let Tilly know you won’t be at the life celebration so she can find someone else to do the unveiling.”
Egan frowned when a thought occurred to him. “She won’t ask you to do it, will she?” Because he couldn’t imagine that it’d be any easier for Alana than it would be for him.
“No.” Another sigh went with that. “Tilly still has me firmly in the ‘grieving widow’ category, which apparently will preclude me from lifting a veil on a painting and doing other things such as dating or appearing too happy when I’m in public.”
He wanted to ask, Aren’t you still a grieving widow? But that would go well beyond small talk. It could lead to an actual conversation that would drag feelings and emotions to the surface. No way did he want to deal with that.
Obviously, Alana wasn’t on board for such a chat, either, because she headed for the door, giving him a forced smile and a quick glance before she left and went to her car. Egan watched her, doling out his own forced smile and what had to be a stupid-looking wave.
Since he didn’t want to stand around and think about this visit, Colleen’s trashed letter—or Alana’s nipples—he grabbed his flight cap and keys so he could go to his truck. He barely made it a step, though, before his phone dinged with another text.
Great. Another photo trip down memory lane.
But it wasn’t.
It was his father’s name on the screen, but there was no picture. Only six words that sent Egan’s heart to his knees.
USA Today bestselling author, Delores Fossen, has sold over 125 novels with millions of copies of her books in print worldwide. She’s received the Booksellers’ Best Award, the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award and was a finalist for the prestigious Rita ®. In addition, she’s had nearly a hundred short stories and articles published in national magazines.
BROKEN COWBOY (The Montana Men Book #1) by Jamie Schulz is the first book in a new cowboy western contemporary romance series featuring a strong, but struggling owner of a run-down farm and the broken drifting cowboy who wants to help and protect her. This is a steamy, emotional romance that kept me curled up reading from the beginning to the end.
Addie Malory completely changed her life and bought a farm. It turned into more work than she expected and when the help she has make unwanted advances she fires them. Now on her way to town, she finds a cowboy walking down the road and when she finds out he has work experience on farms and the rodeo offers him a job on her farm.
Cade Brody is drifting after being betrayed by his brother. When his truck breaks down, he is grateful for the ride and the offer of a job. Cade is instantly attracted to his new boss, but he also has a lot of emotional baggage. His protective instincts kick in when the farm is vandalized.
Addie and Cade wrestle with their building chemistry as Addie is being squeezed financially and Cade, while wanting to protect her, also must deal with his past if he wants to move forward.
Addie and Cade are dealing with so much baggage and yet they are able to let their relationship grow. While I would have liked a little more honest communication at times, they do move from friends to lovers at a believable pace even with the instant attraction. I liked that Addie was a curvy girl who found a man who appreciated her curves and made her feel beautiful. Cade is a hero who needed Addie and her love to begin to deal with his past and forgiveness. The sex scenes are explicit and smokin’ hot, but not gratuitous. All the secondary characters are well written, and I am looking forward to seeing them in the coming books in this series. The suspense sub-plot kept me guessing and I was surprised at the resolution.
I can highly recommend this cowboy western contemporary romance for an emotional and engaging HEA read.
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Author Bio
Jamie Schulz is a contemporary Western romance and dystopian cowboy romance author. She loves to write about heroes with vulnerabilities and strong, feisty heroines who are a match for the men they love. To her, every one of her stories, no matter how dark, must have a happy ending, and she strives to make them impossible to put down until you get there.
Jamie has been writing and making up stories for most of her life and hopes to one day reach the bestsellers lists. Her book Broken Cowboy won the Global Book Awards Gold Medal for romance and was a RONE Awards finalist. Jake’s Redemption—a full-length prequel to the dark, dystopian world of the Angel Eyes series—was also an award-winner in the Global Ebook Awards.
Cowboys, ice cream, and reading almost any kind of romance are among her (not so) secret loves. She balances her free time between reading her favorite romance authors—in genres ranging from erotica and dark romance to sweet historicals and contemporary romance—and spending time with those she is closest to. She lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her family and their fur babies, and she enjoys hearing from her fans.
