1001 Dark Nights
Authors: Lorelei James
Tags: #1001 Dark Nights, #cowboy, #rodeo, #erotic romance, #Blacktop Cowboys, #Lorelei James
Roped In
A Blacktop Cowboys® Novella
By Lorelei James
1001 Dark Nights
Roped In
A Blacktop Cowboys® Novella
By Lorelei James
1001 Dark Nights
Copyright 2014 LJLA, LLC
ISBN: 978-1-940887-16-6
Forward: Copyright 2014 M. J. Rose
Published by Evil Eye Concepts, Incorporated
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or establishments is solely coincidental.
Book Description
Ambition has always been his biggest downfall...until he meets her
.
World champion bulldogger Sutton Grant works hard on the road, but his quiet charm has earned the nickname “The Saint” because he's never been the love 'em and leave 'em type with the ladies. When he’s sidelined by an injury, he needs help keeping his horse in competition shape, but he fears trying to sweet-talk premier horse trainer London Gradsky is a losing proposition--because the woman sorta despises him.
London is humiliated when her boyfriend dumps her for a rodeo queen. What makes the situation worse? She’s forced to see the lovebirds on the rodeo circuit every weekend. In an attempt to save face, London agrees to assist the notoriously mild, but ruggedly handsome Sutton Grant with his horse training problem on one condition: Sutton has to pretend to be her new boyfriend.
But make believe doesn't last long between the sassy cowgirl and the laid-back bulldogger. When the attraction between them ignites, London learns that sexy Sutton is no Saint when that bedroom door closes; he's the red-hot lover she's always dreamed of.
The more time they spend together, the more Sutton realizes he wouldn’t mind being roped and tied to the rough and tumble cowgirl for real…
Sign up
for the 1001 Dark Nights Newsletter
and be entered to win a Tiffany Key necklace.
There's a contest every month!
Click
here
to subscribe.
As a bonus, all subscribers will receive a free
1001 Dark Nights story on 1/1/15.
The First Night
by Shayla Black, Lexi Blake & M.J. Rose
Table of Contents
An excerpt from Long Hard Ride by Lorelei James
One Thousand and One Dark Nights
Once upon a time, in the future…
I was a student fascinated with stories and learning.
I studied philosophy, poetry, history, the occult, and
the art and science of love and magic. I had a vast
library at my father’s home and collected thousands
of volumes of fantastic tales.
I learned all about ancient races and bygone
times. About myths and legends and dreams of all
people through the millennium. And the more I read
the stronger my imagination grew until I discovered
that I was able to travel into the stories... to actually
become part of them.
I wish I could say that I listened to my teacher
and respected my gift, as I ought to have. If I had, I
would not be telling you this tale now.
But I was foolhardy and confused, showing off
with bravery.
One afternoon, curious about the myth of the
Arabian Nights, I traveled back to ancient Persia to
see for myself if it was true that every day Shahryar
(Persian:
شهریار,
“king”) married a new virgin, and then
sent yesterday's wife to be beheaded. It was written
and I had read, that by the time he met Scheherazade,
the vizier's daughter, he’d killed one thousand
women.
Something went wrong with my efforts. I arrived
in the midst of the story and somehow exchanged
places with Scheherazade – a phenomena that had
never occurred before and that still to this day, I
cannot explain.
Now I am trapped in that ancient past. I have
taken on Scheherazade’s life and the only way I can
protect myself and stay alive is to do what she did to
protect herself and stay alive.
Every night the King calls for me and listens as I spin tales.
And when the evening ends and dawn breaks, I stop at a
point that leaves him breathless and yearning for more.
And so the King spares my life for one more day, so that
he might hear the rest of my dark tale.
As soon as I finish a story... I begin a new
one... like the one that you, dear reader, have before
you now.
Steer wrestler Sutton Grant knew the instant he threw himself off his horse he was in for a world of hurt.
He’d miscalculated the distance and his rate of rotation. The last thing he remembered before he hit the steer was he could kiss this year’s world championship title good-bye.
He woke up in the ambulance, his head pounding, unable to move any part of his body but his eyes.
Fuck.
Try and move.
I can’t.
Was he paralyzed?
He couldn’t be.
What if he was? He’d never hurt like this. Never.
But the fact he could feel pain had to be good, right?
Maybe the intense pain is your body shutting down.
If he was paralyzed, who would shoulder the burden of caring for him for the rest of his life? He didn’t have a wife or a girlfriend. Would responsibility fall to his family?
Oh, hell no. He’d put them through enough with his last rodeo mishap.
Mishap? Don’t you mean accident that kept you out of commission for a year? Do you remember living at home and seeing the worry on your parent’s faces?
That’d been worse than the months of physical and mental recovery. Then he’d had the added burden of seeing their happiness vanish after he’d healed and had informed them he planned to return to the sport.
His mother’s voice drifted into his memory.
You’re still going to do this even if it hurts, maims, or kills you?
He’d responded,
Even then
.
He still saw the tear tracks on her face, the subtle shake of her head. And he’d still gone off anyway, chasing the gold buckle, putting his body through hell.
I take it back! I didn’t mean it!
Right then and there, Sutton made a bargain with God:
Please Lord, if I survive this with my body intact, I swear I’ll give up bulldoggin’ forever. No lie. I’ll be done for good.
White lights blinded him and for a brief instant, he thought he’d died. A voice he’d never heard before whispered to him,
promise accepted
.
Then darkness descended again. The last thing Sutton remembered was wiggling his fingers and toes and whispering a prayer of thanks.
Eight months later...
“You ain’t supposed to be out there doin’ that,” Wynton shouted.
Sutton looked across the paddock at his older brother and scowled. He tugged on the reins but his horse Dial wouldn’t budge. Damn stubborn horse; he had to be part mule.
“I’ve got a ridin’ crop you can borrow,” his younger brother Creston yelled from atop the corral fence.
“I’m surrounded by smartasses,” Sutton informed Dial. “And apparently I’m a dumbass because I never learn with you, do I?”
Dial tossed his mane.
After he climbed off his horse, Sutton switched out the bit and bridle for a lead rope. Then he opened the gate between the paddock and the pasture, playfully patting Dial’s flank as the gray dun tore off.
Dial actually kicked up his hooves in glee as he galloped away.
“Yeah, I’ll miss our special time together too, asshole.”
Asshole. Man, he was punchier than he realized if he was calling his horse an asshole.
Sutton sauntered over to where his brothers waited for him, surprised that they’d both shown up in the middle of a Friday afternoon—with a six-pack. Wyn and Cres both ranched with their dad, although as the oldest, Wyn had inherited the bulk of the ranch work decisions. It appeared he’d changed the rule about working a full day—every day, rain, shine, snow, come hell, high water, or wild fire.
“What’s the occasion? You here to borrow money?” he asked.
“Good one. Glad to see they didn’t remove all of your funny bone after surgery,” Wyn said dryly.
“Hilarious.” Sutton quirked an eyebrow at Cres. “Got something smart to say?”
“Yeah. You know you ain’t supposed to be doin’ anything that’ll further injure you. When we hadn’t heard from you all week, we figured you were up to no good. And I see we were right.”
“It wasn’t like I was bulldoggin’.”
“This’d be a different conversation if we’d seen you doin’ that.” Wyn handed him a beer. “We ain’t trying to bust your balls, but goddammit, Sutton. You almost fucking died.”
“
Again
,” Cres added.
“Well, I ain’t dead. But don’t feel like I’m alive, either.” He sipped the cold brew. Nothing tasted better on a hot summer day.