Rock Star Kisses (Romance on the Ranch Book 6) (12 page)

Preston walked from his veterinary clinic to the
home in town he had purchased not long after his marriage to Freckles. It was a
large Victorian that they had fallen in love with and were slowly restoring.
One of the first things they'd done is build a dog run and small kennel in the
backyard. Freckles had told Preston in no uncertain terms that there was no way
she was going to give up her dog and cat sitter business. He'd just grinned,
handed her a notepad and pencil, and asked her to draw the plans for the
kennel. The joyous smile she'd given him had made him want to give her the
moon. Where Freckles was concerned, he'd do anything for her.

As he rounded the corner of his street, he was
met by a sight that made him take a mental snapshot to be remembered over the
years. Freckles was walking—he counted—seven dogs. The smallest was Biscuit and
the largest was Grover, a Siberian husky, and she had them in order by size. The
dogs saw him and strained against their leashes. Freckles picked up the pace.
When she reached him, she said something that made him stick an audio with that
mental snapshot. She said, "I know how my babies feel. I couldn't wait to
get to you, too." She grinned and stood on tiptoe to smash a passionate
kiss on his mouth.

He sighed and said, "Victoria Amelia
Genevieve Martinique Tanner, I love you."

Introduction to Toby Tanner's Story

Toby did some fancy footwork before twirling and
dipping the cowgirl in his arms. The live band at Boot Bustin' Barn this week
was really good. He'd always loved good music, good food, and good women, with
women being first on his list.

The cowgirl named Patti who was visiting friends
in town, snuggled up to him when the band ended the Garth Brooks hit,
Friends
in Low Places,
and leaned to whisper in his ear, "I'm here for two
more days. It's too bad we didn't meet sooner. Maybe we can spend some time getting
better acquainted before I leave?"

If ever Toby had heard a pick-up line that was
it. The woman was beautiful, curvy, sexy-as-hell, but he wasn't interested. For
the past six months, his love life had gone steadily downhill. The fact that
his twin brother Preston was now married and always had a grin on his face,
when he'd had the reputation of being somewhat of a stick-in-the-mud, and his
good friend Tessa had also married and wore the same shit-eating-grin, had Toby
reevaluating his life. And damn but he was tired of superficial relationships
with women.

He inwardly sighed and said, "Darlin',
you're gorgeous, but I'm in no frame of mind to be any fun." He pointed
across the room. "Now, that cowboy over there at the billiards table, the
one wearing the red shirt, his name is Grady Granger, and he's one hell of a
good time. He's probably more of what–"

The cowgirl jerked backwards, squinted at him,
looked over at Grady, looked back at him, and said, "You are one big
A-hole, mister," before stomping on his instep and walking away in a huff.

Toby grimaced, shook his head, and thought,
Grady,
I gave it my best shot.

Dovie watched the interaction between the tall,
handsome cowboy and the equally tall and pretty cowgirl. She was surprised when
the cowgirl leaned back with a look of surprise and then stomped down on the
guy's foot. He must have said something pretty awful to garner that response,
since the girl had been all over him before.

Reaching for her journal, Dovie jotted some
notes by the light of the candle burning on her table and sighed. She was a
people watcher and writer of a popular blog. For the past two weeks she'd been
traveling Colorado doing research on the cowboy lifestyle and blogging about it
with humor and insight. She had interviewed a couple of cattle ranchers, a
former rodeo queen, a western two-step dancers' club, and a female wanna-be
country and western singer, but it had been while she was stopped at a rest
stop with her window rolled down, that she'd heard a conversation that changed
her itinerary and pointed her back in the direction she'd come. The
conversation had been between two cowgirls.

"Julie Sue, I think we should visit Dora
and her sister Jolene, in Paxtonville."

"Why? What's in Paxtonville?"

"Don't tell me you don't know."

"I don't feel like playing word games. You
need to spell it out, girlfriend."

"Some pretty famous people live
there."

"Yeah, how do you know?"

"I read the blogs and rag mags, and
besides, Dora told me. Are you ready for the list?"

Julie Sue sighed and said with disinterest.
"Yeah, shoot."

"Okay. There's that famous rodeo star, Dirk
Branigan."

"Really? Who else?"

"That gorgeous model who's old now, but
still handsome; Sage something-or-other. His wife is also kinda well known as
the writer, Mims Murphy."

Julie Sue was looking more interested.

Her friend continued, "There's also that
other writer Maxwell Henry who writes all those suspense novels and some
romances, too. I think his wife is a poet. And then there's that artist who
paints all that mystical stuff. The one that's really reclusive. And, are you
ready for this?"

Julie Sue cocked her head and waited.

"Sean Barfield lives there with his
wife."

Julie Sue squealed. "Sean Barfield! I love
his music! His latest song,
Heaven for Me,
is a crossover into country
and western."
She grabbed her friend's arm. "Are you sure all
those people live there?"

"I'm only telling you what Dora told me.
We've got a week to kill, so why not stop in and visit Dora and Jolene?"

"Okay. I'm convinced. Let's go."

At the time, Dovie had thought,
I'm
convinced, too.

Dovie was brought back to the present when the
waitress who'd introduced herself earlier as Sally, stopped by her table again.
"Can I get you a refill on that coke?"

"Ah, no ma'am, but thank you."

Sally smiled and moved on to the next table and
Dovie slipped her journal into her purse using her good arm and looped the
strap around her prosthetic one. Next, she pushed her chair back and reached
for her cane to balance herself as she stood. As she turned around, a man
stumbled backwards a little and then righted himself.

"I'm so sorry!" she gasped and looked
up into the eyes of the gorgeous cowboy who'd pissed off the sexy cowgirl.

His slow smile did things to Dovie's stomach and
she quickly glanced away. A long time ago she'd learned to quell any attraction
to men. They simply weren't interested in a woman who was missing her left arm
below the elbow and right leg above the knee, thanks to genetic Meromelia. She
felt so flustered she didn't know whether to turn back around to her table or
try to go around him.

He laughed and said, "My brother says I'm
the biggest klutz ever born and I'm beginning to think he's right. I'm sure
sorry about almost squashing you."

Dovie exclaimed, "Oh, no. It was my fault.
I wasn't paying attention. I'm the one who should be apologizing."

The cowboy's grin turned lopsided. "It's
sweet of you to take the blame, but I'm not buying it. How about you let me buy
you a refill of whatever you're drinking to make up for my klutziness?"

Dovie's throat closed up and she couldn't
breathe. Men
never
asked to buy her a drink, especially hot looking ones
like him. "Umm, I was just on my way out. Thank you, though."

"Then let me see you safely to your
car."

Her eyes widened and he lifted his hands.
"I swear I'm a pillar of the community. I'll even get Sally the waitress
and Justin the owner of the bar to vouch for me. Hell, everyone in town knows
me. They'll all tell you I'm the local vet."

Dovie sucked a breath. "You know
everyone
in town?"

"I do."

"Do you think you could get me an interview
with a man named Sage Tanner and his wife Sarah. I think he's a famous model
and his wife is a writer. You see, I have a blog site and I'm researching the
cowboy way-of-life. I heard some ladies talking about him and I did a little
internet research and found out that the Tanners own a ranch outside of
Paxtonville. I'm only asking for a half hour of their time. I was going to call
their ranch tomorrow, but if you could pave the way for me, it would be much
appreciated." She was blabbering like an idiot and shut her mouth.

The cowboy ran a hand through his mahogany hair.
He seemed to think about her request for a second and then gave her another
lopsided grin. "I might be able to help you out."

"Really!"

The girl with the cane gave Toby such a
brilliant smile he almost took a step backward. Her eyes had slanted upward and
were the color of espresso. In contrast to her white teeth, the effect was
stunning. A pretty rosy hue colored her cheeks and her hopeful expression was
more than he could stand. Hell, she could ask him to get her an interview with
the governor and he'd do his damndest to do it; an interview with his
parents—no sweat.

He tried to affect a serious expression.
"Give me your phone number and I'll call and let you know whether they
agree."

She chewed the corner of her lip and Toby
enjoyed watching the sight. He saw Sally walking past and said, "Hey,
Sally, am I the local vet?"

Sally glanced from him to the woman, and back to
him. She said dryly, "You were still the doc last time I took Rambler
there. Has anything changed?"

Toby laughed. "Nope. I hope you've cut back
on the table scraps."

Sally quickly averted her eyes and walked away.

Toby said, "And by the way, my name is
Toby."

The woman kept gnawing on her full bottom lip
and Toby kept enjoying the sight. She reached into her pocket and retrieved a
business card. "My name is Dovie Juniper. Like I said, I write a
blog." She handed him the card. "My phone number is on there. I'll be
in town for three or four days. I'm available anytime for an interview. If you can
get one, I'll be sure to put in a plug for your vet business. Now I've really
got to head out. Thank you, Toby."

Toby inclined his head. "Ma'am, like I
said, I'll see you safely to your car." He waited for her to move past
him.

In the parking lot he followed her to a
nondescript van. She turned and said, "Thank you, again."

"Ma'am, I'll stay until you're safely
driving down the road."

She pushed the fob on her key ring to unlock her
door and he opened it. She said, "I need to lay my cane in the passenger
seat."

"Yes, ma'am. I'll do it for you." He
placed one hand on her back to steady her and held his other hand out for her
cane. She seemed to hesitate before handing it over. When she lifted her left
hand against the door frame, her sleeve slipped backward, and that's when he
noticed her hand and arm were prosthetic.
Damn!

She saw the direction of his gaze and must have noted
his surprise, because she stiffened and said, "My right leg is also
prosthetic. But I assure you, I'm perfectly capable of getting into my own car."

"I didn't think otherwise," he replied.
He waited for her to climb into her seat, but she suddenly appeared flustered
and when she lifted her good leg into the van, the prosthetic one seemed to
give, and she started to topple.

In an instant, Toby grabbed her up and held her
in his arms. "Whoa," he said.

His face was so close to hers his eyes were
drawn to the tiny mole at the corner of her right lip. His gaze moved upward to
eyes that looked like they were about to overflow with tears.

"Please put me down," she whispered.

For a second, he couldn't move. He just wanted
to kiss that mole and then move his mouth to those full lips. He mentally shook
himself and gently set her in the driver's seat. She reached to close her door,
but he said, "I've got it, Dovie."

She started her van and backed out of the
parking space as soon as he shut her door. He watched until the vehicle was out
of sight and then headed for his truck. Although it was Saturday night, he'd
lost all interest in having a good time.

I think I wrote this story in record time
because every day I couldn't wait to get started on it. In the middle of the
night I'd wake up with an idea and have to follow it through so as not to
forget.

I had no intention of making the story a double
romance, but when Freckles entered the picture, I knew she was perfect for
"stuffy" Preston. And I'm so happy that Tessa finally woke up and
realized that she and Sean would be very happy together.

I guess the next hero whose story should be
revealed is "life-of-the-party" Toby. Since Toby is such a free
spirit, maybe he needs someone with a more serious nature; someone who hasn't
led such a storybook life. After all, he has grown up on a fabulous ranch;
always done well in school, both academically and in sports; gone to college to
become a veterinarian, and is now co-owner of a practice with his brother; and
always
has women chasing him. Maybe Toby needs a wakeup call. Maybe he needs to see
another side of life, one that's not so perfect. Maybe he needs to meet a lady
who hasn't had the advantages he has, a lady who's physically challenged and
shies away from him. Maybe he needs to experience a lot of frustration in
getting this gal's attention. I love "maybes."

For those of you who haven't read
Dream
Kisses,
the first book in this series which is the story of Sage and Sarah
Tanner, the parents of Toby and Preston, I have included an excerpt. Another
contemporary romance series that I loved writing is called
Oasis,
and I
have also included an excerpt from book one,
Stranded in Oasis.

Happy reading and don't be shy. Visit my website
and drop me an email:
www.vernaclay.com