Wine and Her New Year Cowboy (Citizen Soldier Series Book 4)
Page 1
“You are a good man, Lucas Harper. And a good brother.”
His gaze shot to hers, and her heart squeezed at the shock and uncertainty clouding his blue eyes. “That’s a sweet thing to say, Evie, but I haven’t got a clue what I’m doing. And just when I think I’ve gotten us to some common ground, she gives me this cold shoulder out of nowhere.”
She nodded. “I noticed.”
“Good. At least I’m not going crazy.”
“No.” She smiled and squeezed his hand. “You’re perfectly normal, and doing a great job. Just be patient. She’s an emotional teenager thrust into a strange situation.”
He nodded, bringing her fingers to his lips. “I know. And thank you.”
The man seriously had some great lip action. She swallowed past her suddenly dry throat. “For what?”
“Your kind words, and seeing what others don’t see.”
“Others see it plenty, Lucas,” she insisted. “Trust me, my brother wouldn’t have let you anywhere near me if he didn’t.” She tugged her hand free to cup his face. “You’re just going to have to face it, cowboy. You’re a good guy. And I like you.”
She hadn’t meant to voice that last bit, but it was out, so she might as well own it since it was the truth.
“Yeah?” His mouth quirked, and he took her cup and set it next to his on a rock, before cupping her face with both hands. “I like you, too, Evie, and I’d very much like to kiss you. So, if you’re not on board with that, let me know now.”
Her heart was hammering the heck out of her ribs. “I’m so much on board, I am the board,” she replied, unable to hold her tongue.
She was such a dweeb.
“Trust me, darlin’, the last thing you resemble is a board.”
What they’re saying…
About Wyne and Dine:
“It was a steamy, sexy, and fun read that also had its serious moments and also had its sweet and tender moments as well. They were an absolute delightful hoot and were truly enjoyable. So if you get a chance, pick up a copy.”
—Reviewer- Cassandra Graham, BTS eMagazine
—Finalist BTS eMag Book Awards/Best Contemporary
About Her Uniform Cowboy:
“Ms. Michaels pens a tale with pure heart and true grit! This story will hit so many readers close to home there is not one part of the plot that will feel foreign. No super models here, just true, down to earth servicemen and woman getting back to their place in the world. The characters and plot have a wonderful arc and the laughter, tears and emotional ride readers get to take on this journey will not disappoint.”
—InD’tale Magazine, Crowned Heart of Excellence 4.5 Stars
--Voted BEST COWBOY in a Book/Reader’s Choice-LRC
--1st Place BTS eMag Book Award/Reader’s Choice-Best Romance
--2nd Place BTS eMag Book Awards for Best Book
About Locke and Load:
“The second book in the Dangerous Curves series, is guaranteed to keep you turning pages, and wondering what will happen next. The characters in this book seem so real and down to earth and I could not help but feel that I was right there with them, as their story unfolds. I am a huge fan of Donna Micheals, Harland County cowboys and now she has me addicted to the men and women who work for the Knight Agency. If you love a romance with twists and turns, hot alpha men and strong willed women, a book that will pull you in from the very first page then I strongly recommend this series, a five star read all the way!!”
—Reviewer-Debbie Collins
A note from Donna
Thank you for purchasing Wine and Her New Year Cowboy. This is the fourth book in my Citizen Soldier Series, and it’s a crossover novella from my Harland County Series.
This book is about Harland County cowboy Lucas Harper. He relocates to the Poconos when he’s named guardian of a teenager in the will of a father he didn’t know existed. New job, new Guard unit, new house, and a new sister fills his ‘new’ limit…until he meets his sister’s new boss.
A Mr. Wrong magnet, pizza shop owner Evie Martelli decides to go ‘no male’ for the New Year, but the sexy, southern, older brother of her employee tests her resolution.
This is another hot, heartfelt, sexy read in this series involving some series regulars, and introducing a few new ones.
Thanks for reading,
~Donna
www.donnamichaelsauthor.com
Also by Donna Michaels
~Citizen Soldier Series~
(Harland County Spinoff Series)
Wyne and Dine (#1)
Wyne and Chocolate (#2)
Wyne and Song (#3)
Wine and Her New Year Cowboy (#4) (Harland County Crossover Novella)
~Harland County Series~
Harland County Christmas (Prequel)
Her Fated Cowboy (#1)
Her Unbridled Cowboy (#2)
Her Uniform Cowboy (#3) (Award Winning)
Her Forever Cowboy (#4) (Award Winning)
Her Healing Cowboy (#5)
Her Volunteer Cowboy (#6)
Her Indulgent Cowboy (#7) (Rel. 6/16)
~Dangerous Curves Series~
Knight’s SEAL –KW (#1) (Hot SEALs Kindle Worlds)
Locke and Load (#2)
A DAYE with a SEAL—KW (#3) (Hot SEALs Kindle Worlds)
Cowboy LAWE (#4)(Cowboy Justice Boxed Set Rel. 4/5/16)
A SEAL for Paige (#5) (Hot SEALs Kindle Worlds) tba
~Time-shift Heroes Series~
Captive Hero (#1)
Future Cowboy Hero (#2) (tba)
~Related~
Cowboy-Fiancé (formerly Cowboy-Sexy)(being hand drawn into a MANGA, avail. 10/16)
Cowboy Payback (sequel)
~Do-Over Series~
Valentine’s Day Do-Over (#1)
Valentine’s Day Do-Over Part II: The Siblings (#2)
~Novels~
She Does Know Jack
Royally Unleashed
The Spy Who Fanged Me
~Novellas~
Thanks for Giving
Ten Things I’d Do for a Cowboy
Vampire Kristmas
DonnaMichaelsAuthor.com
Wine and
Her New Year Cowboy
A Citizen Soldier/Harland County Crossover Novella
Book 4: Lucas Harper
By
Donna Michaels
NY Times & USA Today Bestselling Author
WINE AND HER NEW YEAR COWBOY
A Citizen Soldier /Harland County Series Crossover Novella//Book 4: Lucas Harper
(Originally part of Ring In A Cowboy Boxed Set)
Copyright © 2015 Donna Michaels
Cover Art by Donna Michaels © 2015
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this 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 Donna_Michaels@msn.com
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
Dedication
To Citizen Soldier and Harland County Series fans. I appreciate your unending support! I hope you enjoy this fun crossover novella! To my family, the HOODS, my great street team, and wonderful editors.
♥
Table of Contents
What they’re saying…
; A note from Donna
Also by Donna Michaels
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
About the Author
Chapter One
Going no male.
Evie Martelli was done. She was through being a good-enough-for-now girlfriend, the one who paid the tab, smiled, and claimed she was fine when the guy decided to just be friends. Tired of getting stood up, and passed over in favor of sporting events and drinking with buddies.
She was through with men.
Done feeling inadequate.
Tired of questioning her femininity.
For a while, anyway.
Now, if she could just convince her matchmaking mother.
“Evangeline, you’ll like Brantly.” The smiling matriarch of the Martelli family beamed, cutting into the dish of seven-layer lasagna that was their Thanksgiving Day tradition, because every Martelli knew a meal wasn’t a meal without pasta and wine, especially on a holiday. “And his father is a doctor. Isn’t that wonderful?”
She held back a sigh. The profession of her prospective boyfriend meant nothing to her. In fact, it made Brantly more unappealing than his name.
Just once, it would be great to sit down at a gathering where her love life wasn’t the topic of discussion.
Evie glanced apologetically at her cousin, Jill, and fiancé, Mason. Poor couple were subjected to this conversation every time they dropped in for a family meal. Judging by their matching sympathetic smiles, they agreed the topic was old.
“That’s nice, Mamma, but I’m not interested.” She sipped her Zinfandel, resisting the urge to gulp down a dose of liquid encouragement—or in her case, liquid patience—and glanced at her father for support.
Although his gaze held a measure of compassion, he shrugged and handed his plate to her mother.
No help there.
She shifted her attention to her brother, but the teasing gleam in Nico’s eyes and smirk on the idiot’s face warned he was about to make things worse. She narrowed her gaze and cocked her head, willing the jerk to keep his grinning mouth shut.
“Isn’t his father a baby doctor, Mom? Maybe if Evie was his daughter-in-law, he’d give her a discount.”
Nico’s curved lips were ripe for a bruising, and if he uttered one more word, she was going to knock him upside the head with her breadstick. Except, the parmesan crusted layers, all warm in her clenched palm, were too good to waste on her brother’s thick noggin.
But, she wasn’t above lobbing the basket at him.
“Yes. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?” Her mother directed a wistful stare in her direction after she finished loading her father’s plate with lasagna, manicotti, eggplant, and a helping of the turkey breast paired with balsamic vinegar, bell pepper sauce, and pistachios Evie had brought over. “According to Mrs. Lombardi, he’s quite a good one, too. He delivered all three of her grandchildren.”
“Ah, bambinos,” Nona spoke up, seated on the other side of her son-in-law. “It’s been years since these walls heard the wailing of a hungry little tummy, or harbored the stench of a loaded diaper.”
Per carita. Her idiot brother just opened the grandchildren debate. Now their grandmother was getting in on it. But it still didn’t matter.
She lifted her chin and held her mother’s melancholy stare. The short, dark, wavy hair framing the sad face concealed her age. And it wasn’t from a bottle. No. The lack of gray was from fear. The silver strands were, no doubt, too damn afraid to invade the tiny yet formidable sixty-one-year old’s head.
“Well, it’s going to be a lot longer,” Evie finally said. “Unless Nico decides to quit playing the field and settle down to produce an heir to carry on the Martelli name.”
Nona nodded. “Your sister’s right, Nicodemo. You’ve sowed enough oats to put all the feed stores in the northeast out of business. Time you married a nice Italian girl and settled down to fill the house with bambinos.”
As her brother’s grin turned into a scowl, the breadstick made it to Evie’s mouth and…mamma mia, the garlic/parmesan dough tasted extra delicious.
Not so smug with the boot on the other foot. The first responder might be a great fireman and National Guardsman, but there were times when he was a pain-in-the-ass as a brother. Although, he was damn good for business.
At least once a week, his fan base hung around Martelli’s Pizza Bar and Grille, filling up booths, sipping wine, ordering more and more as they drooled over her brother’s flexing muscles while he tossed pizza dough behind the counter. The restaurant was always in the black on the days her brother worked.
Even she stopped in if he worked on her days off. Not to drool; no, she left that up to the two friends she met every Wednesday afternoon for pizza and breadsticks. While Faith and Jenna gawked, Evie enjoyed her brother waiting on her for a change.
“Sorry, Nona, those bambinos will have to come from Evie.” The smug bugger motioned to her with a nod. “She’s the one who wants to settle down.”
True. After attending Brandi’s wedding last year, and Lea’s this past summer, she wanted what her two high school friends had found. A good man who supported and adored his wife.
Was that too much to ask?
Apparently.
The only men she attracted either neglected or cheated. Hence, her early New Year’s resolution to go no male for a bit. That, and the fact her mother kept throwing perspective grooms at her. She was trying her best to duck this one.
“All the more reason for her to give Brantly a try.” The woman huffed, slapping lasagna on Nona’s plate, before reaching for another dish. “He could be the one. You never know. Sometimes they show up when you least expect it, isn’t that right Jill?”
Color flooded her cousin’s pretty face as her loving gaze drifted to her fiancé. “True. The last thing I wanted after regaining my freedom was a relationship, but then Mason came along, and I fell hard.”
No one had realized how much the kind chocolate maker had suffered in her first marriage, until she finally left her abusive husband and reached out to the family for help. Within an hour, Evie had been on her way to New York City with her dad and brother to fetch Jill.
That was two years ago.
Now, her cousin had a sexy, faithful fiancé, and a successful chocolate making business, with two shops, one on Main Street, the other in the Wyne Resort that attracted year round outdoor enthusiasts.
“I fell right along with you.” Mason grasped his fiancée’s hand, his gaze as warm as his words.
That was what Evie wanted. Someone to look at her like he couldn’t survive without touching her. Like he was happiest when he was with her. The most she’d gotten was a squeeze before the guy belched in her face, or the “let’s be friends” speech.
Probably because she didn’t put out as easily as some women. Took a lot more than two dates to get her in bed. Mostly, because she wasn’t comfortable with them seeing her naked. She wasn’t exactly the skinniest chick on the block. Not even close.
Hello.
She was vertically challenged.
Italian.
And made pizza and breadsticks for a living.
She had curves. Had them early. While Faith, Jenna, Lea, and Brandi had been in training bras, she’d been sporting a C-cup. Now, she was a full DD, and although she wasn’t blind to the appraisal men gave her, she wasn’t comfortable with using the girls to get a date. That wasn’t her style.
Nor was she looking for just sex. She wanted more, so she did her best to wear clothes that covered her cleavage.
“And we’re glad you did.” Her mom swiped a tear from her face and grabbed another plate.
It took Evie a moment to realize her mother was responding to the happy couple and not h
er plight of hoping a guy would happen by and notice her eyes for a change. Or her smile. Something—anything—other than her curves.
“You two deserve to be happy.” Nona patted Jill’s other hand. “Have you set a date yet?”
“No,” her cousin replied, her gaze drifting back to Mason. “Not yet.”
Nico passed her a loaded plate. “Any tips for Evie? She’s looking for a happily-ever-after.”
“You’re right.” She waived her half-eaten breadstick at his grinning face. “I would like that, but so far, my soulmate seems to be on vacation.”
Her mother muttered something Italian under her breath. “That’s why I’m trying to help you out. Give Brantly a chance.”
“No, Mamma. I appreciate it, but I’d rather find my own husband.” She shook her breadstick at her brother again. “And thanks to you warning your guard buddies to steer clear of me, you’ve eliminated half the county.”
An exaggeration, but close enough to the truth to have her brother nodding.
“Most aren’t good enough for you.”
“Aww…” She leaned close to kiss his cheek. “Why’d you have to ruin the momentum of our conversation by being sweet?”
He grinned. “Come on. I’m a sweet guy.”
Snickers and groans went around the table.
“What?” Nico slapped a hand over his heart and winced. “I am. I’m sweet and lovable.”
“And full of the bullshit.” Nona shook her head.
“Not true. I’m so sweet I invited a guy over here for dessert who is perfect for Evie.”
She stilled, and the delicious sip of wine soured before it hit her stomach. “You what?”
Her mother’s face lit up. “Oh? Is that why you invited him and his sister? I thought it was because he was new in town.”