“Like you said, we don’t know a lot about each other.”
Charlie fingered one of Cassie’s flyaway curls. “But we know some important facts. I know how you look all sleepy and pretty in the morning. I know you like to eat peanut butter from the jar but you don’t drink milk from the carton. I know you’re a good friend and folks really like you.”
“Um, you remembered that?”
“Yeah, and lots more. Like those little sounds you make when I—”
She jumped up from the couch and put some space between them. “Okay, I get the picture. We’re…compatible in many ways.”
He wasn’t about to let her get away, though, and walked toward her. He put his hands on her upper arms, like she might run away, and looked into her eyes. “Cassie, darlin’, are you sure it wouldn’t be best to get married now?”
Dear Reader,
When Wyatt McCall came to Brody’s Crossing in December 2009, he brought shy, smart, well-educated Cassie McMann with him. She immediately loved all things Texan, including her retro-themed Western room at the Sweet Dreams Motel. Cassie had found her home. Of course I had to tell her story!
Cassie had a makeover in body and spirit. She learned to dance, ride and even flirt with the cowboys at Dewey’s Steakhouse and Saloon. When she attends the wedding reception of her friend Amanda, Cassie meets the cowboy of her dreams.
Charlie Yates competed for a role on “The Next Cowboy Star,” but was voted off. He’s a former calf-roping champion forced into early retirement by a shoulder injury. When Charlie returns to Brody’s Crossing for his friend Leo’s wedding, he meets one of the cutest bridesmaids he’s ever seen. Cassie is an aspiring cowgirl with a zest for living he finds downright intoxicating. Soon they’re getting to know each other really well—with an unexpected complication.
I hope you enjoy Cassie and Charlie’s story as they find love and compromise in Texas. For more information on my releases, writing tips, etc., visit me on Facebook.
Victoria Chancellor
The Texan and the Cowgirl
VICTORIA CHANCELLOR
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Victoria Chancellor married a visiting Texan in her home state of Kentucky forty years ago, and has lived in the Lone Star State for thirty-seven years, after a brief stay in Colorado. Her household includes her husband, three cats, a very spoiled miniature pinscher, an atrium full of tortoises, turtles and toads, and lots of visiting wild critters. She divides her time between a suburb of Dallas, Texas, and a lake house in the small town of Mineola, Texas. Her former careers include fine jewelry sales, military security and financial systems analysis. Victoria blogs on the 4th and the 21st of each month at www.harauthors.blogspot.com. She would love to hear from you via Twitter @VictoriaChance, on Facebook at Victoria Chancellor, Author, her website, www.victoriachancellor.com or P.O. Box 852125, Richardson, TX 75085-2125.
Books by Victoria Chancellor
HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE
844—THE BACHELOR PROJECT
884—THE BEST BLIND DATE IN TEXAS
955—THE PRINCE’S COWBOY DOUBLE
959—THE PRINCE’S TEXAS BRIDE
992—THE C.E.O. & THE COOKIE QUEEN
1035—COMING HOME TO TEXAS
1098—DADDY LESSONS
1172—TEMPORARILY TEXAN*
1190—TEXAN FOR THE HOLIDAYS*
1215—AN HONORABLE TEXAN*
1239—A TEXAN RETURNS*
1355—SUDDENLY TEXAN*
To my sister, Peggy Garrett, a true survivor. I’m proud of you, big sister.
Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Epilogue
Prologue
“Let’s hear a big round of applause for our two competitors.”
The roar of the crowd drowned out the pounding of Charlie Yates’s heart as he listened to the overly dramatic host on the stage of the Las Vegas arena.
“But one of these fine cowboys will be going home tonight.”
Charlie sure hoped it wasn’t him. He’d worked his tail off to get on The Next Cowboy Star and he knew that if he kept going just two more weeks, he’d have the break of a lifetime. A contract to perform in a remake of Silverado with some big name Hollywood stars, plus personal appearances at the best rodeos in the country.
A man couldn’t compete in calf roping his entire life. He had to plan for the future. Besides, hadn’t he been told often enough that with a face like his, he should be in the movies? He wasn’t so vain that he believed everything a buckle bunny or a drinking buddy said, but he figured he was just about as good-looking as half those guys who made the big bucks. And most of them couldn’t ride, rope or show a girl a good time on the dance floor.
“Charlie and Bill,” the host continued, “you’ve competed in last night’s events, you’ve worked with our esteemed acting coach, and now it’s time to see what America says about you.”
A damp arm fell like a vise across Charlie’s shoulder—the injured one that had halted his rodeo career—as the three of them stood way too close for a man’s comfort. He didn’t have anything against the other cowboy, Bill, but Charlie figured Bill was too young for a movie career. Hell, he was barely shaving.
“Bill and Charlie, Charlie and Bill. Our vote was so close, but tonight…” The drumroll from the speakers pounded in Charlie’s ears as he waited, and waited, and waited, for the end of the sentence. “Tonight, I’m sorry to say, Charlie, you’re going home to Texas!”
The pounding increased as he pasted on a smile and shook hands with the beaming and slightly dazed-looking young cowboy from Wyoming. And then he got a hug and weak handshake from the host and a round of applause from the audience.
Great. Just danged great. Now what was he going to do?
Well, one thing was for sure: he wasn’t going to give up his chance for a Hollywood career just because one decision didn’t go his way. He’d find the next best route to success or his name wasn’t Goodtime Charlie Yates.
Chapter One
May 7, 2011
Cassie McMann loved a good party, and she couldn’t have asked for a better one than the wedding reception for Leo Casale and Amanda Allen Crawford at Dewey’s Saloon and Steakhouse. The crowd filled up the whole restaurant and bar, with a DJ playing country-western music on the small stage near the dance floor. Rascal Flatts sang “Life is a Highway” and Cassie tapped her foot in time to the beat, itching to get out on the floor with a guy—preferably a cowboy—so she could practice her two-step.
The lights were turned down, but not so low that she couldn’t see her friends and associates. As the project manager for Casale Remodeling, she knew almost everyone in town and quite a few in nearby Graham. Her boss was Leo’s sister, Toni, and Toni was married to Cassie’s former boss, Wyatt McCall. Even for a small town, people were really woven into a tight-knit circle in Brody’s Crossing.
There should have been plenty of single guys around, but she didn’t see any at the moment. Many of the people her age were already married.
The two weddings Cassie had been to lately—Toni’s and now Amanda’s—had both been beautiful and moving, but she wasn’t ready for that type of commitment just yet. She’d gotten a late start on the “girls just want to have fun” scene and had a lot of living to do before she t
ied the knot.
“Something to drink?” a waiter asked.
She looked at the tray of tall, thin flutes. “Do you have a light beer?”
“I’ll be glad to get you one, but we have champagne to toast the bride and groom.”
“I usually just drink light beer.” The lightest she could find. “But I guess I should have some champagne for the toast.”
“Absolutely,” the young man said with a flirtatious grin that Cassie found charming. She was a lightweight when it came to drinking, which was why she’d been sipping low-alcohol beer for the past forty minutes. She exchanged her empty bottle for a glass of the bubbly.
She’d never gone through the phase of slipping away to drink at a friend’s house or in a college dorm. She’d always been terrified that the two people who had raised her since age seven, Aunt Helen and Uncle Jim, would have been disappointed in her.
They’d given her a home when her parents had died in a van accident on a church missionary trip. The vehicle had gone off a narrow highway in the mountains of Mexico and Cassie had been left alone with her mother’s much older sister, who’d never had children of her own.
Aunt Helen wasn’t the warmest, most fuzzy person in the world, but she’d gladly taken in a devastated little girl who needed safety and security. She and her husband had done their best, raising Cassie in the church and among the other older couples in their California neighborhood.
Not exactly the kind of background that produced a happy-go-lucky, confident party girl, Cassie thought. She’d worked hard in high school and in college to make her aunt and uncle proud. Now, with an MBA from UC Berkeley, she’d given up her corporate job as an assistant to a brilliant billionaire to live and work in Brody’s Crossing, Texas.
To someone who had always loved the West, this place felt like home. She loved the wide-open spaces, beautiful sunsets, grazing cattle, Quarter Horses, and, yes, the cowboys who rode them, and couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.
“Why aren’t you out there dancing?” Toni asked, sliding up beside Cassie. Toni was not only her boss and mayor of the town, but a friend and a great businesswoman who had taught Cassie a lot about the construction industry. She’d picked up tips about decorating, too, and looked forward to learning more from Toni, and her partners Leo Casale and Christie Crawford.
Both Cassie and Toni wore plum-colored bridesmaid dresses, which, thanks to Amanda’s sensibilities, were simple and elegant. The wide neckline made the dress almost off-the-shoulder and Cassie had bought a strapless bra—her first—to wear with it. The tea-length skirt was full and she’d felt more like a prom queen than a maid of honor when she’d first put it on.
Cassie wiggled her toes inside the low-heeled, matching plum, peep-toe pumps. “Oh, I’m dancing tonight, as soon as I find a good partner.”
“Just make sure none of these cowboys stomp on your foot like your horse did last month.”
Rooster, the chestnut gelding she’d bought at the end of the year, had gotten spooked while she was saddling him. He’d come down on her booted toes, thankfully not breaking anything but bruising her foot and making it swell so much she’d worn sandals to work for a week. Rooster was her first horse and she was still learning, not only how to ride, but how to keep herself from getting trampled by the big animal.
Cassie laughed. “More likely that I’ll trip over them. I’m still not the best dancer in the room.”
Starting last year she’d taken weeks of dance lessons to learn the two-step, the Cotton-Eyed Joe, and line dances, but she hadn’t had a lot of practice. She was looking to meet cute, single cowboys who just wanted to have a good time.
“There’s a couple of promising dance partners here,” Toni said. “You know our cousin on our mother’s side, Hamund, right? He’s a pretty good dancer. And Colby Yates’s brother Charlie is back from Las Vegas, where he was on that show kind of like American Idol for cowboys. I’ll bet he can dance.”
“Oh, right. The Next Cowboy Star.” Charlie Yates. She’d watched him every week and voted for him. He was a real charmer. Too bad the horse they’d given him to ride for that last event was as stubborn as a mule. “No offense to Ham, but where is Charlie Yates? I’d love to meet him.” She could see Ham anytime he was working at the Casale Grocery or hanging around town, but Charlie was in another league.
“He’s holding court over there by the groom’s table, telling stories about his time in the spotlight, I’m sure.”
“Hmm.” Cassie knew she’d be heading that way soon.
Toni grinned. “Well, I can see where your attention is.”
“Oh, no, I didn’t mean—”
“Hey, you see me Monday through Friday. It’s not every day you get to meet a star.”
“Too bad he didn’t win.”
“Oh, I’ll bet Charlie is going to be just fine. He’s a born competitor, and anyone that handsome should end up in the movies.”
Cassie nodded. Toni had that right.
“Have fun,” Toni said, then leaned closer and added, “but be careful. Don’t let any of these good ol’ boys take advantage of you.”
“Oh, I won’t. I’ll be careful.”
Toni left and Cassie gathered her courage, placed the empty flute on a tray against the wall and headed across the room. Charlie Yates might not know it yet, but they were going to dance.
“AND WHO’S THAT COMING my way?” Charlie asked the group of friends he was standing with near the groom’s table.
“Cassie McMann—she’s new to town,” Colby answered.
“And she’s real sweet and works for Toni, so don’t get any ideas,” Troy Crawford added.
“Why would you be thinkin’ I had ideas?” Charlie grinned as possibilities started exploding in his head like the popcorn kernels in those Jiffy Pop aluminum pans his mom liked.
“Because you’re looking at her like she’s a tasty bite of candy,” Troy said. “Just be warned that she’s not exactly what you might expect from someone who looks that good. She’s kind of shy and…inexperienced.”
“She’s a virgin?” Not at her age. No way.
“Damn, Charlie, how would I know? I’ve been married for five years and I live in New Hampshire!” Troy sounded exasperated.
“I live right here and I have no idea,” Ham said.
“What they’re saying is that she’s a nice girl,” Colby clarified. “Not a buckle bunny and not a Hollywood groupie.” He gave Charlie one of his “big brother” looks. “Just because you’ve always been told you could charm the varnish off the furniture doesn’t mean you have to try it with every woman you see.”
“I’m hurt,” Charlie stated, clutching his chest.
Colby rolled his eyes. All their lives, Colby had been the serious, dedicated big brother. He’d gone the route of hard work while Charlie had lived up to his family’s prediction that he’d be the most entertaining Yates in three generations.
“She’s got an MBA from UC Berkeley,” Ham added.
“Okay, got it.” She might be a smart, educated lady, but she had a petite body he’d like to tuck under his arm and fluffy curls he’d like to run his fingers through. The guys could be right, though. He’d have to see what she said when she got here, which would be just about…now.
“Hi,” cute little brainy Cassie said, her voice sounding as soft as those curls on top of her head looked.
“Hi, Cassie.” Nearly all the guys returned the greeting at once.
Charlie nudged his brother.
“Er, Cassie McMann, this is my brother Charlie. Charlie Yates, formerly of the Lazy Y, lately of Las Vegas and Hollywood.”
“I’m so sorry you got voted off The Next Cowboy Star,” Cassie said, sympathy in her eyes. Her voice held a breathless quality Charlie usually identified as potential lust at first sight, but he could be wrong. He didn’t date a lot of brainy businesswomen.
Maybe she was simply expressing genuine regret. “Why, thank you, Cassie. I’m sorry I didn’t win, but hey, this way
I got to come back for Leo’s weddin’.”
“I’m really glad,” Cassie said, smiling slightly, “I mean for Leo and Amanda. Glad they had such a beautiful ceremony. And I’m glad you got to attend.”
“I’m getting happier by the minute,” Charlie said, grinning wide enough to show off the teeth bleaching and cosmetic dental work that had fixed the chip in his front tooth. Who knew that being a cowboy required so many procedures? He’d been buffed and polished like a used car, then they’d insisted he needed a few “highlights” in his hair. All so he’d look natural and appealing, according to his agent. The only way he could get real highlights was working cattle without a hat, which would be dumb in the Texas heat.
However, all this seemed to be having an effect on Cassie. She swallowed and drew in a deep breath, which stretched the wide neckline of her bridesmaid dress across her breasts. “Do you like to dance, Charlie Yates?”
“Why, I sure do,” he said with a smile, holding out his arm. “Would you like to dance, darlin’?”
“I’d love to,” she said, flushing a little as she grinned back at him.
Yep, the night was definitely looking up. He guided his dance partner onto the floor just as Lady Antebellum’s “Need You Now” started up. Good. He’d have to hold Cassie tight as they glided around. Just his kind of music. Just his kind of woman—if he ignored her “inexperienced” and “brainy” qualities.
CHARLIE YATES WAS NOT the kind of guy she dated. He was too tall, too smooth, too charming…just too much of everything. And yet, Cassie couldn’t seem to say a word or keep her feet from following his as he led her in the dance. The wedding reception blossomed into a spectacular night of sensations, sounds and smells that weren’t part of her regular life. Everything was new, from drinking champagne to wearing a beautiful dress to dancing with a man she’d only seen on television.
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