How to Marry a Cowboy (Cowboys & Brides) (27 page)

Callie could feel the heat coming up the back of her neck, but she couldn’t stop it. Soldiers didn’t blush. They were mean and tough and could take out snakes, spiders, and even enemy combatants. But a visual of her hanging over Finn’s back with her butt so close to his lips that he could kiss it—well, hell’s bells, that would make the devil himself blush.

“I don’t imagine she weighs as much as this bag,” Finn said. “What’d you pack in here, Martin? Rocks?”

The boy picked up one of the smaller zippered bags and managed to hoist it up on his shoulder like Finn, but it came close to bowing his legs. “No, sir, but Callie put books in that one. This one is heavy, too.”

“I bet it is, son. Just keep a tight hold on it and follow me. I’ll show you where to unload it,” Finn said.

The cold wind whipped around and came at them from the north, cooling Callie’s scarlet cheeks considerably. “That wind feels like it’s comin’ off snow or ice. Martin and I can share a room. Couldn’t afford a two-bedroom place. Mostly I just slept on the sofa and let him have the bedroom anyway.”

The dog shot into the house before the door shut behind her and flopped down on the rug in front of the cold fireplace, put a paw over his nose, and promptly went to sleep.

“No need for that. This is a big house. This wing has three bedrooms and a huge bathroom. Y’all can have your choice of rooms, but I bet Martin is going to like this one.” He slid the bags off his shoulders at the doorway of one of the bedrooms.

“Which one is yours?” Callie dropped a bulging suitcase in the hallway.

He turned her shoulders toward the living room and pointed. “There’s another wing off the living room. I chose a bedroom in that area because it has a fireplace. It shares a flue with the one in the living room. Actually Shotgun chose it when we first got here. We had a fireplace in my bedroom at the ranch in Comfort and he recognized it as a place to warm his bones after working all day out in the cold,” Finn answered.

The deep Southern drawl in his voice still affected her the same way it had back when she first met him. She didn’t know the story, but Lala was a complete idiot not to be living on the ranch with him.

Martin let go of the bag on his shoulder, and it fell to the hardwood floor with a loud thump. “Are you serious? Is this really my room? I’m afraid to shut my eyes because it might not be here when I open them again.”

Callie peeked around Finn’s shoulder to see Martin jump over all three bags and spin around in the bedroom, trying to see everything at once. “If I don’t get nothin’ else for Christmas, this will be the best one I ever had in my whole life. Can I invite friends over? There’s two bunk beds, so I can have three friends, right?”

Callie heard him talking but her mind was on Finn’s hand on her shoulder. She felt safe for the first time since the murder, but it went much deeper than that. Finn had always sent a wave of heat through her body. She’d just managed it better in Afghanistan.

“Callie!” Martin said loudly.

“Sorry, kiddo, I was gathering wool,” she said.

“I asked if I can unpack my bag right now.”

“Yes, you may,” Callie said.

Finn leaned over and whispered, sending shivers up her spine. “I figured he’d like this room. We need to talk.”

“He’s begged for bunk beds since he was big enough to know what they were,” she said softly.

Martin kicked off his shoes, climbed up to a top bunk, and sat cross-legged. “It’s my dream room. Can I read them books? I bet there’s some good stories in them. Can Shotgun come in here with me and sleep on one of the beds? Can I have friends spend the night?”

Before he could ask another million questions, Callie laid a hand on his shoulder. “Give Finn time to think and give yourself time to breathe. Yes, I’m sure you can read the books if you are careful with them. We’ll talk about the dog and friends later on, but right now you get settled in while Finn and I have an adult conversation. Okay?”

Martin smiled. “Yes, ma’am.”

Finn led the way into the living room and sat down on the sofa, patting the cushion beside him and motioning for her. “Callie, I mean it, I’m really glad to see you. Not just to have a hand or a cook. I missed you. I tried to get in touch, but the phone number you gave me was disconnected.”

“I tried to call you for a whole month after I got things straightened out with Martin. I figured you were married to Lala by then, but I wanted to know you’d made it home safe,” she said. “How did you wind up here? And how long have you been here? The neat freak Finn I knew wouldn’t still have unpacked boxes after even a week.”

He reached over and ran the back of his hand down her cheek, sending another round of flutters to her heart. “I’ve been here two days, Callie. I know that’s you sitting there, but I keep thinking you’ll vanish if I don’t keep touching you. We’ve got two years of catching up to do. Am I right in thinking there is no boyfriend, since you came here?”

“You are very right.” She held his hand to her cheek a few seconds longer before letting go. “Now tell me how you ended up in this little place.”

“The lady who owned this property, Verdie, sold it to me, lock, stock, and barrel. She wanted out of town before any more cold weather set in. I’m not sure what I bought in the house. I’ve spent two days in the barn and on the property counting cows,” he said.

“But it’s miles from Austin.”

“Comfort. I lived in Comfort, Texas, not too far from Austin. I looked for a place there, but nothing fit. Crazy to think of a ranch fitting like a pair of cowboy boots, but this place did. When Verdie said she wanted to sell it as it stood, it seemed like a dream come true. And now you are here for a few weeks and it seems like old times, sitting here, almost like we were back in the tents after a mission.”

“I missed that most of all,” she said.

“Hey, Callie, when is supper? Do I have time to read a little while?” Martin yelled from his room.

“He’s afraid to come out here for fear he’ll wake up and this will be a dream,” Callie said and then raised her voice, “Go ahead and read.”

“Speaking of supper, we should probably go to the store and lay in staples. It’s closed tomorrow,” he said. “I make a pretty mean ham and cheese sandwich and I do know how to open a can of tomato soup to go with it, but I’m not even sure there’s enough ham for three sandwiches.”

“I’ll make supper, Finn. I think I can do better than soup and sandwiches if you’ll show me where things are located.”

He chuckled. “Your guess is good as mine. I’ve been living on frozen pizza and sandwiches for two days.”

He stood up and held out his hand. “Trust me, there’s nothing in the refrigerator. The freezer is full but everything is frozen, and the pantry isn’t too shabby but pickin’s are slim on staples.”

She put her hand in his. “Then I suppose we should go to the store.”

How to Handle a Cowboy

The first book in the

Cowboys of Decker Ranch series

by Joanne Kennedy

His rodeo days may be over…

Sidelined by a career-ending injury, rodeo cowboy Ridge Cooper feels trapped at his family’s remote Wyoming ranch. Desperate to find an outlet for the passion he used to put into competing, he takes on the challenge of teaching his roping skills to five troubled ten-year-olds in a last-chance home for foster kids, and finds it’s their feisty supervisor who takes the most energy to wrangle.

But he’ll still wrangle her heart

When social worker Sierra Dunn seeks an activity for the rebellious kids at Phoenix House, she soon learns she’s not in Denver anymore. Sierra is eager to get back home to her inner-city work, and the plan doesn’t include forming an attachment in Wyoming−especially not to a ruggedly handsome and surprisingly gentle local rodeo hero.

“Realistic and romantic… Kennedy’s forte is in making relationships genuine and heartfelt as she exposes vulnerabilities with tenderness and good humor.”—
Booklist
Starred Review

“The sex scenes are juicy…and the plot moves seamlessly.”
—
RT Book Reviews
, 4 Stars

For more Joanne Kennedy, visit:

www.sourcebooks.com

The Cowboy’s Mail Order Bride

by Carolyn Brown

New York Times
Bestselling Author

She’s got sass…

Emily Cooper promised her dying grandfather that she’d deliver a long-lost letter to a woman he once planned to wed. Little does adventurous Emily know that this simple task will propel her to places she never could have imagined…with a cowboy who’s straight out of her dreams…

He’s got mail…

When sexy rancher Greg Adams discovers his grandmother Clarice has installed Emily on their ranch as her assistant, he decides to humor the two ladies. He figures Emily will move on soon enough. In the meantime, he intends to keep a close eye on her—he doesn’t quite buy her story of his grandmother as a mail-order bride.

A lost letter meant a lost love for Clarice, but two generations later, maybe it’s not too late for that letter to work its magic.

“While the romance is hot, there is an old-world feel to it that will bring out the romantic in every reader, leaving them swooning and wishing they had their very own cowboy.”—
RT Book Reviews
, 4 Stars

“Carolyn Brown’s characters become my friends and I find myself laughing with them, crying with them, and loving with them.”
—
Bitten by Love Reviews

For more Carolyn Brown, visit:

www.sourcebooks.com

The Cowboy’s Christmas Baby

by Carolyn Brown

New York Times
Bestselling Author

’Tis the season for…

A pistol-totin’ woman who’s no angel

A tough rancher who doesn’t believe in miracles

Love that warms the coldest night

After a year in Kuwait, Lucas Allen can’t wait to get back to his ranch for Christmas and meet his gorgeous Internet pal in person.

When he pulls in, there’s Natalie Clark right in his front yard with a pink pistol in her hand and a dead coyote at her feet.

Lucas is unfazed. But wait…is that a BABY in her arms?

Praise for Carolyn Brown’s Christmas cowboy romances:

“Carolyn Brown creates some handsome, hunkified, HOT cowboys! A fun, enjoyable four-star-Christmas-to-remember novel.” —
The Romance Reviews

“Makes me believe in Christmas miracles and long, slow kisses under the mistletoe.” —
The Romance Studio

For more Carolyn Brown, visit:

www.sourcebooks.com

Carolyn Brown is a
New
York
Times
and
USA
Today
bestselling author with more than sixty books published, and credits her eclectic family for her humor and writing ideas. Her books include the Lucky trilogy
Lucky
in
Love
,
One
Lucky
Cowboy
, and
Getting
Lucky
; the Honky Tonk series,
I
Love
This
Bar
,
Hell
Yeah
,
Honky
Tonk
Christmas
, and
My
Give
a
Damn’s Busted
; and her bestselling Spikes & Spurs series with
Love
Drunk
Cowboy
,
Red’s Hot Cowboy
,
Darn
Good
Cowboy
Christmas
,
One
Hot
Cowboy
Wedding
,
Mistletoe
Cowboy
,
Just
a
Cowboy
and
His
Baby
, and
Cowboy
Seeks
Bride.
Carolyn has launched into women’s fiction with
The
Blue-Ribbon Jalapeño Society Jubilee
and
The
Red-Hot Chili Cook-Off.
She’s also having fun with her new Cowboys & Brides series, beginning with
Billion
Dollar
Cowboy
and
The
Cowboy’s Christmas Baby
. She was born in Texas but grew up in southern Oklahoma where she and her husband, Charles, a retired English teacher, make their home. They have three grown children and enough grandchildren to keep them young.