Cowboy 12 Pack
Twelve Smokin’ Hot Cowboy Books
Cynthia D’Alba | Paige Tyler | Elle James | Donna Michaels | Shoshanna Evers | Randi Alexander | Cora Seton | Beth Williamson | Sabrina York | Sable Hunter | Lexi Post | Becky McGraw
Cowboy 12 Pack
EPUB Edition
A Cowboy’s Seduction
Copyright © 2014 Cynthia D’Alba
Sadie and Her Cowboy
Copyright © 2012 Paige Tyler
The Billionaire’s Husband Test
Copyright © 2012 Elle James
Her Uniform Cowboy
Copyright © 2013 Donna Michaels
I am Not Your Melody
Copyright © 2015 Shoshanna Evers
Chase and Seduction
Copyright © 2011 Randi Alexander
The Cowboy Wins a Bride
Copyright © 2013 Cora Seton
The Harder They Fall
Copyright © 2014 Beth Williamson
The Real McCoy
Copyright © 2015 Sabrina York
Badass
Copyright © 2012 Sable Hunter
Cowboys Never Fold
Copyright © 2014 Lexi Post
Cupid’s Cowboy
Copyright © 2015 Becky McGraw
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Box Set Contents
A Cowboy’s Seduction by Cynthia D’Alba
Sadie and Her Cowboy by Paige Tyler
The Billionaire’s Husband Test by Elle James
Her Uniform Cowboy by Donna Michaels
I am Not Your Melody by Shoshanna Evers
Chase and Seduction by Randi Alexander
The Cowboy Wins a Bride by Cora Seton
The Harder They Fall by Beth Williamson
The Real McCoy by Sabrina York
Badass by Sable Hunter
Cowboys Never Fold by Lexi Post
Cupid’s Cowboy by Becky McGraw
A Cowboy’s Seduction
Cynthia D’Alba
‡
Brock Wade has raised his brothers and sister since their parents’ deaths fourteen years ago. All work and no vacation can make a cowboy a tad grumpy, or at least that’s what his family and crew believe. Brock wants to spend the two weeks before Christmas working as usual. Instead he’s forced by his siblings to take a vacation to the Sand Castle Resort…a vacation he doesn’t want to a Caribbean resort he’s never heard of. He’s sure he’ll be miserable the whole time.
Natalie Diamond is dreaming of getting out of icy Memphis and down to her parents’ oceanfront condo for a couple of weeks of rest and warmth. When her parents accept an out-of-town invitation, she’s sure she’ll be stuck at home watching it sleet and snow. But instead of leaving Natalie shivering, her parents send her on an all-expense paid trip to the Sand Castle Resort.
A casual friendship over drinks rapidly evolves into a hot seduction, which is great until feelings get involved. When vacation is over, Brock and Natalie are forced to make the difficult decision to walk away or see where life might lead them.
But falling in love in two weeks isn’t possible. Right?
Copyright © 2014 Cynthia D’Alba and Riante, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without written permission from the author—except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine, newspaper, or on the web. For information, please contact the author via email at [email protected]
This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues in this book are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. eBooks are not transferable. They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Cover Artist: Valerie Tibbs
Editor: Alicia Dean
Dedication
For Tina Reiter and Jessica Sheehan of the D’Alba Diamonds. A thousand thank yous for your beta reads and excellent suggestions and edits. And a special thank you to Tina for all your ass kicking and pushing me while I wrote this.
There are no better critique partners in the world than Sandi Jones and Angela Campbell. Thank you for helping keep my deadline.
Chapter One
‡
NATALIE DIAMOND’S EARDRUMS throbbed in rhythm to the slap of her windshield wipers struggling to keep the falling sleet from coating the car’s glass. She flipped the radio off; she couldn’t hear it over the ice pings and cuffing wiper blades anyway. Plus, with all the crazy Memphis drivers whipping in and out of traffic as though it were a beautiful spring day instead of a dreary, icy December evening, she needed the quiet to concentrate. When she and Tim had divorced, he’d kept the house in Southern California and she’d moved back home to Memphis. She’d been mentally prepared for the sweltering summer heat, but this unusual ice storm so close to Christmas hadn’t been on her radar.
Through the fogged-up windshield, the red taillights of the car in front of her comprised the vast majority of her total visibility. Shoving her left hand into the pocket on the driver’s door, she blindly searched for something to wipe off the windshield haze. Her fingers snagged a used napkin from her last drive-through meal. Leaning forward, she wiped at the glass over the steering wheel. Bright red opaque smears replaced the hazy fog.
Great. Now the windshield looked like the set for Texas Chainsaw Massacre three—or were they up to four or five by now?
Natalie dropped the used napkin with the open ketchup packet to the floor between her feet and began trying to remove the crimson blotches with her gloved hand. All that accomplished was spreading the smudges further on the glass while staining her best pair of gloves.
Super. Between the crappy weather and her demanding boss, this really had been the day from hell. The only thing keeping her from jumping from the Memphis Bridge into the Mississippi was the upcoming two weeks of vacation with her parents in Florida, ideally every day a sun-filled roast at the beach.
By the time she turned on Cherry Lane, tension tied stone-hard knots in her shoulders and neck. She slid to a stop at the mailbox and lowered her window just enough to shove her arm out. Tiny shards of ice jumped down her sleeve. She hurriedly pulled out green and red envelopes stuffed, she was sure, with jolly holiday greetings.
After parking, she dragged plastic market bags from the passenger seat floorboard onto the front seat, dropped the mail and her purse into one of the sacks, and then slipped the sacks over her wrist like a collection of bracelets. She made a mad dash for the door. Jumping icy puddles and an accumulation of muck on the sidewalk, she leapt up the stairs to get under the porch roof.
She shook her head. Water slung off the tip of her blonde ponytail. The grocery bags slithered off her arms onto the wooden porch as she dug the keys from her front pants pocket. After unlocking the door she propped it open, pushed the groceries through with her foot, and kicked it back shut.
<
br /> Leaving her wet shoes and ruined gloves on the entrance rug, she ambled through the living room toward the kitchen for a much needed two-fingers of bourbon, scanning the return addresses on the envelopes as she walked. Lots of Christmas cards. A few bills. Nothing that couldn’t wait.
She poured two fingers of Maker’s Mark, studied the level and then poured a little more. She toasted having survived the day and lifted the thin rim of the glass to her lips.
Her house phone rang just as the first delicious dram of whiskey slid down her throat. She leaned over and snatched up the receiver.
“Hello?”
“Hi, honey. It’s Mom.”
Natalie pulled out a chair at her kitchen table, sat, and settled in for a long chat, which was typical for talks with Sissy Diamond. Phone calls from her mother were never short. “Hi, Mom. How’s the weather down there?”
“Beautiful. Close to eighty today. I don’t know why your father and I waited so long to move.” She sighed. “Should have done this ten years before.”
Natalie chuckled. “Yes, I know. You tell me that every time you call. I’m looking forward to soaking up some of your sun next week.”
“Oh, honey. That’s why I called. You remember the Duncans, right? Lee and Joey? Well, they were scheduled to go on a holiday Mediterranean cruise with the Freemans next door. Well, poor Lee had a heart attack last night and now they can’t go and the Freemans asked if we wanted to go in Joey and Lee’s place. Isn’t that marvelous? Not Lee’s heart attack, of course, but you know I’ve always wanted to see Greece, which is one of the stops, so your father and I just had to say yes. I told your father that you would understand.”
“So, you’re going to be gone Christmas and New Year’s?” Natalie’s heart sank. No Florida. No sun. No heat to melt her frozen toes.
“Yes. Isn’t it thrilling! I know you were coming down, but with all the friends you have in Memphis, I told your father you’d never miss us.”
Her mother’s voice was giddy with excitement. What could Natalie say? She wouldn’t throw a wet blanket on her mother’s joy. She glanced outside. Maybe an ice blanket would be a better analogy.
“You definitely have to go, Mom. You can’t miss this chance. What’s Dad saying about going?”
“Oh, you know your father. He’d sit in his recliner and watch sports all day if I let him.”
Natalie chuckled. “Yeah, I know Dad. So when do you leave?”
“Three days! I’ve got so much to do before then. I don’t have any clothes that’ll work for a cruise.”
Her mother’s closet rods groaned from the weight of all the clothes. Natalie suspected her mother had an appropriate wardrobe for any occasion, but then shopping was one of her mother’s favorite activities.
“Sounds like fun, Mom. Wish I could be there to shop with you.”
“Me, too. I’d better run. I dropped your Christmas present in the mail to you this morning. You should have it tomorrow. I think you’ll enjoy it.”
“Oh. Thanks.” Natalie glanced toward the wrapped presents for her parents. “Your gifts are here. I was bringing them with me. I could mail them to you, I guess.”
“Don’t bother. We’ll come up next month and take you out to dinner. You’ll need the break from taxes, I’m sure.”
“Sure, sure. Well, have fun. Tell Dad hi for me.”
Natalie hung up the phone and blew out a long, frustrated breath. Damn. She was stuck in Memphis for Christmas. Even if her mother had offered Natalie their Florida condo while they were gone, she wouldn’t have accepted. She knew no one down there, other than her parents and a few of their friends.
When she and Tim had been married and living in California, Christmas had been an ongoing series of parties, moving from one couple’s house to another. They hadn’t had a slow evening starting a couple of weeks before Christmas and running through New Year’s Eve. When he’d left her for another woman, he’d kept all their friends too. It had hurt her. No doubt. But now she had a wonderful set of friends here in Memphis who would be happy to have her over for the holidays. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was Natalie craved sun and warmth, not cold and dreary.
SLEET CLICKED ON her bedroom window glass like long fingernails. Natalie snuggled deeper into her flannel sheets and tucked the heavy blanket under her chin. As she was dropping back into the dream about the stacks of tax returns on her desk that were overdue, her eyes flew open and searched for the clock. Good lord. Eight-thirty. She was late for work.
But even as the thought passed through her brain, she remembered she was on vacation until after the first of the year. With a smile, she settled back into the warm covers and closed her eyes. She had a whole month away from the office before all hell broke loose in January with tax returns. She enjoyed being an accountant, even if she didn’t particularly like where she worked or her boss. She loved the numbers. They made sense and always added up.
Unlike, say, her love life.
But damn. Even she realized that being an accountant was boring. What was that old joke? What does an accountant use for birth control? Her personality. Yep. That was her. Smart but dull. Predictable and staid.
She was drifting off, dreaming of some mysterious man who would sweep her away from her crazy boss and spice up her predictable life when her doorbell rang. Rolling over, she decided to ignore it.
Bing Bong! Then, knock, knock, knock.
She pulled the pillow over her head.
Bing Bong! Pound, pound, pound.
“Fine,” she muttered, tossing the covers back. “I’m up.”
After a fast stop for a heavy robe and fluffy slippers, she shuffled to the door.
“Good morning,” a young man dressed in a FedEx uniform said. “I have a delivery that requires a signature.”
Frigid air rushed in to replace the warmth, and she shivered. After she signed the electronic signature pad, he handed her a priority envelope. “Have a good day.”
She locked the door and looked at the return address. Her parents. Right. Her mother said she was sending a Christmas present. Whatever it was could wait until she got her coffee going. Knowing her mother, it was undoubtedly a sizable gift card to some department store. Sissy Diamond was always trying to spruce up Natalie’s wardrobe.
Her house shoes slapped against the wood flooring as she scuffed into the kitchen. She pulled the coffee beans from the cabinet, ground them, and got the coffee dripping. She sat down at the kitchen table and ripped open the FedEx envelope. A letter in her mother’s handwriting slipped out.
Dear Natalie– Your father and I know how much you were looking forward to getting out of Memphis and down to Florida for some beach time. Even though our plans have changed for this year, we didn’t want you to miss out on the sun. I know how you love your tans.
Not exactly. It was her mother who loved to tan. Natalie loved to stay under the umbrella with a book.
So surprise! We are sending you on an all-expense-paid vacation to the Sand Castle Resort in the Caribbean. You fly out of Memphis on December fourteenth and return on December twenty-fourth. That gives you two days to go buy some island appropriate clothes. I’ve enclosed a VISA gift card with six hundred dollars on it.
Well, she’d been partially right. There was a gift card and shopping involved.
Your airline and hotel confirmations are in the envelope with this letter, in case you haven’t found them yet.
Natalie shook two pages of confirmations out of the FedEx envelope along with a VISA gift card in a presentation folder.
Have fun. We’ll miss you, and we’ll see you in January, and you can tell us all about it.
Love you
Mom and Dad
p.s. You’ll need your passport so make sure it’s up to date.
Natalie fell heavily against the back of her chair in shock. Her gut whirled from the surprise. Her heart pounded loudly in her ears. This was an incredible gift. It was as if her parents had heard her whining last night about her n
eed to get out of Memphis for the holidays and sprang into action. They had always been generous with her but this, well, this was more than generous. A completely paid for vacation. But man, she hated shopping like some people hated taxes, but—she worked the VISA card between her fingers like a baton—her mother had been correct. She had nothing in her closet for a Caribbean vacation.
She sucked down her coffee then headed to her room to dress. Crummy weather or no, she was going shopping. Heaven help her.
Chapter Two
‡
BROCK WADE ZIPPED his fly then headed for the kitchen to slug down his usual cup of coffee and toast before heading out to the barn. The aroma of fresh-baked biscuits and bacon met him at the top of the stairs. The fact there was a breakfast awaiting him was as surprising as finding his three siblings around the kitchen table. He eyed them with suspicion as he pulled down a mug and filled it with strong coffee.
“Not that I’m not happy to see all of you this morning. However, the last time the three of you got up at the crack of dawn to gang up on me, it was to convince me to let Lauren stay out until 2 a.m. for the homecoming dance.”
A flush crept up Lauren’s neck, as well it should. Brock had had to pick her up from a post-homecoming party after her date became too drunk to drive.
“And that turned out so well,” Brock said with a hike of his eyebrow.
George snorted, then tried to cover it by bringing his cup to his mouth. At twenty-two, George still found a lot of humor in drunks. Brock had been too busy and overwhelmed at twenty-two to find humor in much of anything.
“So, does someone want to tell me why we are having a family meeting at—” Brock looked at the clock on the stove, “—five-thirty-five?”
Cowboy 12 Pack Page 1
