A Real Cowboy Rides a Motorcycle

by Stephanie Rowe

  Taylor pulled her hand out of Zane’s and slipped into the stall. Neither Harley nor Luke noticed her approach, and she slid a carrot into Luke’s hand before ducking back out. Zane grinned and put his arm around her as they watched Luke glance down at the carrot. He looked back at Zane, who gave him a nod, and then he held the carrot in front of Harley’s nose.

  She sniffed it, then turned her head away.

  Luke resumed whispering in her ear, still holding the carrot out. Harley cautiously sniffed the carrot again, and then she carefully took it from Luke’s hand and crunched it. Luke looked back at Zane and Taylor, a huge smile etched on his face, his light brown eyes dancing with delight.

  Zane’s heart tightened, and he pulled Taylor closer against him as they both gave him a thumbs up. This was it. This was what being a parent was. This was what being a family was. Sharing moments like this, with the people he loved.

  He looked down at Taylor, and he saw her eyes glistening with happiness. “I love you, darlin’,” he whispered.

  She smiled. “I love you, too.”

  He kissed her, and then laughed when he heard Luke’s groan. “You guys are kissing again? That’s so gross.”

  But when Zane looked over at him, the kid was grinning, watching them as if seeing them together was the best thing he’d ever seen. “If you’re done with Harley,” Zane said, “the house is here.”

  Luke’s face lit up. “The house? Our house? Really?”

  “It’s coming up the driveway right now,” Taylor said. “I saw it myself.”

  “I can’t believe they moved that old farmhouse,” Luke said. “Is it on rollers? A truck? How are they doing it?”

  “You’ll have to see.” Zane had decided the boys couldn’t wait a year for a house to be built. Plus, who needed a brand new house, anyway? Together, they’d found a fantastic old farmhouse in the next town, and he’d bought it and paid to have it moved. The foundation was already laid, and it would take only a few days to get the house settled sufficiently for them to move into it. Four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and he was planning to build a serious game room on the back, the kind of game room that would keep the boys at home and not out on the town where they could get into trouble.

  He knew what boys did, he knew what it took to keep them out of trouble, and he was going to give them everything he had to keep them safe. He was already figuring out the dad thing, learning how to balance love with rules. Who knew he had it in him? He smiled. Taylor had known. Without her, he’d never be where he was, living the life that he was meant to lead.

  “Awesome!” Luke hurried out of the stall, taking time to make sure Harley’s door was locked, before taking off in a sprint down the aisle.

  Taylor started to go after him, but Zane grabbed her wrist and pulled her back, pinning her against the stall door. “I need one second with you,” he whispered, tunneling his hands through her hair. “Sharing that bunkhouse with the boys has seriously cramped my naked time with you.”

  She melted against him, their bodies fitting together perfectly, as they always did. She wrapped her hands around his neck. “It’s been perfect,” she said.

  He grinned, thinking of how they’d woken up this morning with Toby in bed with them, snuggled up beside Taylor. “Yeah, it has.” They’d had to start sleeping with clothes on, but he learned that it was so worth it. “My wife,” he said softly. “I’ll never get tired of saying that. Ever.”

  She beamed at him. “Good,” she said. “I’m glad to hear it.” She grinned. “I’m glad we didn’t wait for Mira and Erin’s double wedding. Our ceremony was perfect with just us and the boys.”

  “I couldn’t wait, and I didn’t want to share.” He kissed her forehead, then her cheek. “If you’d said you wanted to wait for the big wedding, I think I would have had to kidnap you.”

  Her smile faded. “I had the big wedding, Zane. I didn’t want another one. I just wanted you and the boys.”

  “I love you.” He kissed her again, a kiss that seemed to melt away every last bit of tension in his body. Holding her in his arms was a gift he’d never dreamed of…until he’d met her. “I love everything about you, just the way you are.”

  She smiled. “I know you do, and I feel the same—”

  He cut her off with a kiss, the kind of kiss that still shook them both to their cores, a kiss of forever, of commitment, and of a passion that would never die. With a deep sigh, she wrapped her arms around him, kissing him back just as fiercely.

  His cock growing hard, he grabbed her legs and lifted them around his hips. There had to be an empty stall around—

  “Mommy! Daddy!”

  He swore and set Taylor down as Toby came hurtling around the corner, his little legs pumping as fast as he could go. “You have to come see the house! It’s even bigger than I remember! Come see! Come see!” He grabbed Taylor’s hand and started dragging her toward the door.

  Taylor laughed, tossing a smile back at Zane as she let Toby lead her out. He grinned, laughter bubbling up deep in his chest as he followed them.

  Yeah, this was good. Really, really good.

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  Sneak Peek: No Knight Needed

  An Ever After Novel

  Ducking her head against the raging storm, Clare hugged herself while she watched the huge black pickup truck turn its headlights onto the steep hillside. She was freezing, and her muscles wouldn’t stop shaking. She was so worried about Katie, she could barely think, and she had no idea what this stranger was going to do. Something. Anything. Please.

  The truck lurched toward the hill, and she realized suddenly that he was going to drive straight up the embankment in an attempt to go above the roots and around the fallen tree that was blocking the road. But that was crazy! The mountain was way too steep. He was going to flip his truck!

  Memories assaulted her, visions of when her husband had died, and she screamed, racing toward him and waving her arms. “No, don’t! Stop!”

  But the truck plowed up the side of the hill, its wheels spewing mud as it fought for traction in the rain-soaked earth. She stopped, horror recoiling through her as the truck turned and skidded parallel across the hill, the left side of his truck reaching far too high up the slippery slope. Her stomach retched as she saw the truck tip further and further.

  The truck was at such an extreme angle, she could see the roof now. A feathered angel was painted beneath the flood lights. An angel? What was a man like him doing with an angel on his truck?

  The truck was almost vertical now. There was no way it could stay upright. It was going to flip. Crash into the tree. Careen across the road. Catapult off the cliff. He would die right in front of her. Oh, God, he would die.

  But somehow, by a miracle that she couldn’t comprehend, the truck kept struggling forward, all four wheels still gripping the earth.

  The truck was above the roots now. Was he going to make it? Please let him make it—

  The wheels slipped, and the truck dropped several yards down toward the roots. “No!” She took a useless, powerless step as the tires caught on the roots. The tires spun out in the mud, and the roots ripped across the side of the vehicle with a furious scream.

  “Go,” she shouted, clenching her firsts. “Go!”

  He gunned the engine, and suddenly the tires caught. The truck leapt forward, careening sideways across the hill, skidding back and forth as the mud spewed. He made it past the tree, and then the truck plowed back down toward the road, sliding and rolling as he fought for control.

  Clare held her hand over her mouth, terrified that at any moment one of his tires would catch on a root and he’d flip. “Please make it, please make it, please make it,” she whispered over and over again.

  The truck bounced high over a gully, and she gasped when it flew up so high she could see the undercarriage. Then somehow, someway, he wrested the truck back to four wheels, spun out into the road and stopped, its w
ipers pounding furiously against the rain as the floodlights poured hope into the night.

  Oh, dear God. He’d made it. He hadn’t died.

  Clare gripped her chest against the tightness in her lungs. Her hands were shaking, her legs were weak. She needed to sit down. To recover.

  But there was no time. The driver’s door opened and out he stepped. Standing behind the range of his floodlights, he was silhouetted against the darkness, his shoulders so wide and dominating he looked like the dark earth itself had brought him to life.

  Something inside her leapt with hope at the sight of him, at the sheer, raw strength of his body as he came toward her. This man, this stranger, he was enough. He could help her. Sudden tears burned in her eyes as she finally realized she didn’t have to fight this battle by herself.

  He held up his hand to tell her to stay, then he slogged over to the front of his truck. He hooked something to the winch, then headed over to the tree. The trunk came almost to his chest, but he locked his grip around a wet branch for leverage, and then vaulted over with effortless grace, landing in the mud with a splash. “Come here,” he shouted over the wind.

  Clare ran across the muck toward him, stumbling in the slippery footing. “You’re crazy!” she shouted, shielding her eyes against the bright floodlights from his truck. But God, she’d never been so happy to see crazy in her life.

  “Probably,” he yelled back, flashing her a cheeky grin. His perfect white teeth seemed to light up his face, a cheerful confident smile that felt so incongruous in the raging storm and daunting circumstances.

  But his cockiness eased her panic, and that was such a gift. It made her able to at least think rationally. She would take all the positive vibes she could get right now.

  He held up a nylon harness that was hooked to the steel cord attached to his truck. “If the tree goes over, this will keep you from going over.”

  She wiped the rain out of her eyes. “What are you talking about?”

  “We still have to get you over the tree, and I don’t want you climbing it unprotected. Never thought I’d actually be using this stuff. I had it just out of habit.” He dropped the harness over her head and began strapping her in with efficient, confident movements. His hands brushed her breasts as he buckled her in, but he didn’t seem to notice.

  She sure did.

  It was the first time a man’s hands had touched her breasts in about fifteen years, and it was an unexpected jolt. Something tightened in her belly. Desire? Attraction? An awareness of the fact she was a woman? Dear God, what was wrong with her? She didn’t have time for that. Not tonight, and not in her life. But she couldn’t take her gaze off his strong jaw and dark eyes as he focused intently on the harness he was strapping around her.

  “I’m taking you across to my truck,” he said, “and then we’re going to get your daughter and the others.”

  “We are?” She couldn’t stop the sudden flood of tears. “You’re going to help me get them?”

  He nodded as he snapped the final buckle. “Yeah. I gotta get into heaven somehow, and this might do it.”

  “Thank you!” She threw herself at him and wrapped her arms around him, clinging to her savior. She had no idea who he was, but he’d just successfully navigated a sheer mud cliff for her and her daughter, and she would so take that gift right now.

  For an instant, he froze, and she felt his hard body start to pull away. Then suddenly, in a shift so subtle she didn’t even see it happen, his body relaxed and his arms went around her, locking her down in an embrace so powerful she felt like the world had just stopped. She felt like the rain had ceased and the wind had quieted, buffeted aside by the strength and power of his body.

  “It’s going to be okay.” His voice was low and reassuring in her ear, his lips brushing against her as he spoke. “She’s going to be fine.”

  Crushed against this stranger’s body, protected by his arms, soothed by the utter confidence in his voice, the terror that had been stalking her finally eased away. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “You’re welcome.”

  There was a hint of emotion in his voice, and she pulled back far enough to look at him. His eyes were dark, so dark she couldn’t tell if they were brown or black, but she could see the torment in his expression. His jaw was angular, and his face was shadowed by the floodlights. He was a man with weight in his heart. She felt it right away. Instinctively, she laid a hand on his cheek. “You’re a gift.”

  He flashed another smile, and for a split second, he put his hand over hers, holding it to his whiskered cheek as if she were some angel of mercy come to give him relief. Her throat thickened, and for a moment, everything else vanished. It was just them, drenched and cold on a windy mountain road, the only warmth was their hands, clasped together against his cheek.

  His eyes darkened, then he cleared his throat suddenly and released her hand, jerking her back to the present. “Wait until you see whether I can pull it off,” he said, his voice low and rough, sending chills of awareness rippling down her spine. “Then you can reevaluate that compliment.” He tugged on the harness. “Ready?”

  She gripped the cold nylon, suddenly nervous. Was she edgy because she was about to climb over a tree that could careen into the gully while she was on it, or was it due to intensity of the sudden heat between them? God, she hoped it was the first one. Being a wimp was so much less dangerous than noticing a man like him. “Aren’t you wearing one?”

  He quirked a smile at her, a jaunty grin that melted one more piece of her thundering heart. “I only have one, and ladies always get first dibs. Besides, I’m a good climber. If the tree takes me over, I’ll find my way back up. Always do.” He set his foot on a lower branch and patted his knee. “A one-of-a-kind step ladder. Hop up, Ms.—?” He paused, leaving the question hovering in the storm.

  “Clare.” She set her muddy boot on his knee, and she grimaced apologetically when the mud glopped all over his jeans. “Clare Gray.” She grabbed a branch and looked at him. “And you are?”

  “Griffin Friesé.” He set his hand on her hip to steady her, his grip strong and solid. “Let’s go save some kids, shall we?”

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  Sneak Peek: Shadows of Darkness

  An Order of the Blade Novel

  Levi Hart froze, his senses shocked into hyper-awareness when he caught the unmistakable scent of a woman. It plunged past his shields, invading his being with a force so strong he had no chance to protect himself from the sheer intensity of her presence. He swore and went utterly still. His mind went into hyper-focus as he fought to regain control, his body barely swaying on the ancient meat hook he’d been chained to for over a century.

  But with each breath he took, the fragile, delicate scent of pure femininity wrapped itself tighter around him. Hot. Sensual. Tempting. And utterly dangerous to a Calydon warrior who was driven by a dark, powerful need for a woman.

  His ancient instincts rose fast and hard, a driving lust that he hadn’t succumbed to in centuries. Swearing under his breath, he closed his eyes, summoning what was left of his once formidable discipline to regain control of his body and his senses. It took precious seconds to shut down the lust burning through him. He had to engage strength he couldn’t afford to waste in order to crush the almost insurmountable need to find her right then, but he did it.

  The relief was instant, but a residue of emptiness resonated through him, as if his very being was stumbling in the absence of that sexual hunger. Without the distraction, however, a sharp-edged focus settled over him. He narrowed his eyes and called upon his preternatural senses, sending waves of psychic energy out into the surrounding tunnels, searching for the physical presence of the woman he had scented.

  He found nothing.

  A dark fury raged through him, anger that he couldn’t find her. Urgency mounted, and he sent out another wave of energy, but this time, he opened his mind, sending the tentacles of his consciousness out into the air, searching wit
h ruthless speed. Within seconds, he picked up her feminine energy again. This time, he kept his physical response contained, and he allowed his mind to hurtle toward her at a mind-numbing pace, racing through tunnels and around corners, faster and faster, gaining speed with each millisecond, her scent becoming stronger and stronger until—

  He found her.

  The moment his mind touched hers, she sucked in her breath, and her mind snapped to his, injecting warmth and passion into his cold, isolated being. His entire body clenched in response, and tension radiated through his muscles as he fought to concentrate. She smelled of spring and outdoors, of grass, of nature, and of a lazy sensuality, things he hadn’t experienced in over a hundred years. But since he’d opened his mind to her, it wasn’t simply her physical being he accessed. Her emotions assaulted him, a dizzying onslaught of fear, courage, and desperation, all of it ruthlessly contained by her single-minded focus and determination. His name reverberated through her mind, and it was layered through her entire being.

  All her attention was centered on him.

  His body responded to the knowledge, a tightening of his cock that he couldn’t control no matter how hard he fought it. To have his name and his existence so intricately woven into the fabric of her being was so visceral that he could almost feel her presence, as if she was right in front of him. He couldn’t keep his physical response contained, and his lust spilled over their connection into her. Instantly, desire flooded her, and he felt her body respond to his.

  The connection between them was electric and intense, igniting his cells like fire licking its way through his body. He was a cold-blooded assassin who’d spent a lifetime honing his utter lack of emotion and eradicating his need for physical connection with a woman, and yet, in mere seconds, she’d stripped away every last defense and created a need in him so powerful he knew he’d be sprinting through the tunnels in search of her if he weren’t locked down.