by Emerson Rose
The Cowboy’s City Girl
Emerson Rose
Prism Heart Press
Contents
Copyright
Description
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Bonus!
Unbroken
Copyright
Description
Part I
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Part II
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Part III
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 110
Epilogue
About the Author
Connect!
More Great Books By Emerson Rose
Copyright
COPYRIGHT 2017 PRISM HEART PRESS
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
COVER DESIGN © 2017 Louisa Maggio
EDITING: Booktique Editing
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, including electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or, if an actual place, are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control and does not assume and responsibility for author or third-party websites or their contents.
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This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.
This book is for all of those who were devastated in hurricane Harvey and Irma.
May your recovery be as swift as the winds and rain that tried to break you down.
Description
Ridge
After being falsely accused of a serious crime by an egocentric and vain city girl, I swore never to be involved with another one again. The high profile lawsuit of the world’s favorite pop star princess vs. her monstrous body guard ruined me financially and publicly. Nobody wants to hire an accused criminal to be their bodyguard, even if he was found not guilty of all charges.
I have not wavered from that decision for five years while living in Montana working as a personal assistant and head of security for billionaire rancher Ash Pride.
The past few years have been the best of my life. Secluding myself from the public and the media on Ash’s ranch was my saving grace… until a beautiful, sassy photojournalist showed up on Ash’s doorstep.
Allison Green’s curves, her sass, and her smile are making me rethink my “no city girl” rule for the first time in five years.
Can I risk being thrust back into the public eye?
Can I trust someone whose profession once ruined me?
Can this cowboy fall for a city girl?
Prologue
It’s been a year since my boss Ash Pride met and married his beautiful wife, Stella. One year of blissful quiet interrupted by only the occasional outburst from Ash’s wild four-year-old son Cannon. Cannon used to be an uncontrollable force of nature. He had a million nannies, and when each of them quit, because they always did, I was usually next in line to take care of him until another unsuspecting victim was hired. Those were the only times I wondered why I took a job as the personal assistant and head of security for billionaire rancher Ash Pride. But Stella changed all of that, she has a way with Cannon like no one else does, not even his father, and no one could be happier about that than I
am.
I am well suited for my job when it doesn’t include babysitting. I’m a 39-year-old man with no family other than my mother, I am a former Marine, and I value my privacy above all things.
I came to work and live here five years ago after being dragged through a miserable high profile lawsuit by the world’s favorite pop princess Livi Fox. I had been her bodyguard for three years when she accused me of sexual assault.
I couldn’t believe it. I saved that woman from herself more times than I could count. With two years left on my contract, she threw me to the wolves for a more lenient bodyguard, one who would let her self-medicate herself into a stupor every day and sleep with strangers every night. To the world, I was still the big bad wolf, and Livi was the impressionable, innocent pop star that I took advantage of.
One
Ridge
She’s Going To Ruin My Day
My mom always taught me to listen to my gut. Today my gut said don’t open the front door, but I didn’t listen. I wish I had.
When I swing the large wrought iron door open, a beautiful woman stands before me, mocha skin, tailored pink pantsuit, manicured nails, expensive handbag, stilettos, and a broad Crest white smile.
A city girl first thing in the morning, this is guaranteed to be a bad day. And even though she’s beautiful, I still fight the urge to roll my eyes and slam the door in her face when I greet her.
“Can I help you?” I ask through gritted teeth.
“Yes, please, good morning, I’m Allison Green, and I’m here to see Mr. Ash Pride. I have a nine o’clock meeting,” she says looking at me with curious eyes. I scan my mental schedule for Ash today. Nope, I don’t know anything about an appointment with Allison Green.
“I’m sorry, I’m Mr. Pride’s assistant, and I don’t have you on the schedule for today.”
Her smile falters and recovers right away when she sees someone walking up behind me. “Stella, it’s so good to see you again. I think I may have gotten the dates mixed up. Weren’t we supposed to do the photo shoot today?” she asks Stella, Ash’s very pregnant wife. She’s hurrying to the door trying to wiggle her foot into her shoe while she waddles. Stella’s been frazzled lately trying to study, getting ready for a new baby, and taking care of her five-year-old stepson, Cannon.
“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry I’m late,” she says, her nervous eyes flicking back and forth between Ms. Green and me. “I got caught up with Cannon, and well you know, kids!” She throws up her hands and opens her eyes wide to drive home the point. “Come in, come in. Ash is waiting for you downstairs by the pool. Do you remember the way?”
“Yes, of course, no problem. I’ll go on down, but could you send the crew when they arrive? They should only be a few minutes unloading,” she asks eying me again like she’s trying to place me. This is why I don’t like people with the media. They never forget a face.
“Sure, I’ll show them the way.”
I listen to Ms. Green’s heels clicking on the marble floor of the foyer as she walks away. When she’s out of earshot, I look at Stella. “Are you going to explain to me what that’s all about?”
She nervously places her hands on her belly. “Yes, Ridge, I’m so sorry. I was supposed to be waiting for her at nine o’clock so you wouldn’t have to deal with any of this.”
“With any of what?” I ask arching one eyebrow. I don’t like being kept in the dark about things on Ash’s schedule, as I am the one who schedules everything, I thought.
She looks away avoiding direct eye contact, and I know I’m not going to like what I hear. “Allison is from Realm Magazine. It’s a subsidiary of People Magazine. They are doing a follow up on Ash’s Sexiest Man Alive story with a Sexiest Man Alive, One Year Later story. It must be a slow week for them,” she says with a nervous laugh.
Reporters again. Great. Ash was voted Sexiest Man Alive last year, and I hid out for a month upstairs like Quasimoto to keep from being recognized while they were in and out of the house taking pictures and interviewing him.
“That would have been good to know. Any reason I wasn’t warned?”
“Well, uh, yes, that would be my fault, too.” She picks at her fingernails the way she does when she’s in an uncomfortable situation. “I’m sorry, Ridge I’ve had so much on my plate lately, I don’t know why I agreed to handle this for Ash. I don’t think she recognized you, though, do you?”
“She was looking at me pretty hard, but I can’t be sure.”
Stella sighs. “I’ll join them and feel her out to see if she mentions you.”
“I’d appreciate that,” I say closing the door and walking away. I’m going back up to my office to wait until the vultures leave.
Eight years ago, I left the Marines to be a bodyguard for the hottest pop singer in the world. I needed a change of pace, but I had no idea the pile of shit I was about to step into.
Being a Marine taught me discipline, organization, and how to shoot a gun, but most of all it taught me about loyalty and morality. Pop princesses don’t know shit about loyalty or morality, or at least Livi Fox didn’t. Three years later, I ended up defending myself in one of the highest profile legal battles of the century with Ms. Fox.
‘Bodyguard Ridge Noble not so Noble’ was the headline splashed all over the gossip rags and newspapers including Realm Magazine when Livi accused me of sexual assault, harassment, and invasion of privacy.
After six months in court, I won the lawsuit, but the damage to my reputation was done. I never once touched that girl inappropriately. In fact, I tried hard not to touch her at all. She was high on drugs and mentally unstable, and she didn’t know what was going on most of the time, all of which was proven during the trial.
However, none of that mattered to the masses. For months, the world sided with their princess, and I was the big, bad bodyguard who abused her and got her hooked on drugs. I lived in the shadow of doubt, and with nothing left after I spent every last dime defending myself, I was forced to go home to Montana. I did the best I could to pick up the pieces of my life, but the media was relentless.
It felt like my life was over, but as it turned out, moving home was the best thing I could have done. Ash and I had been friends for years. We went to high school together, and when we bumped into each other at a sporting goods store, he mentioned he needed a personal assistant who knew a thing or two about security. He wanted someone to live and work at his ranch. It was the perfect job. I could stay in my home state, work for a man instead of an uptight city girl, use the skills I learned in the Marines, and do it all far away from the paparazzi and reporters in New York.
That plan went along smoothly for three years until People Magazine decided my boss was the sexiest man alive. He wasn’t thrilled about the title either, but how do you say no thanks to that?
The interview and photo shoot was a year ago. I stayed out of sight, and it went off without a hitch, until today.
Two
Allison
I Don’t Need A Sexy Cowboy Anyway
The day my boss called and told me I had the lead on the Sexiest Man Alive, One Year Later story I almost broke my ankle jumping up and down in my heels. I’ve been working for Realm Magazine since I graduated college five years ago, and this is my first big story. I was an assistant for the photojournalist who had the Sexiest Man Alive story last year, but she got all the credit.
Now here I am standing next to the indoor pool of billionaire rancher, Ash Pride, getting set up to do his photo shoot. But instead of thinking about angles and lighting, my mind is stuck on the massive hunk who opened the door for me.
What is wrong with me? I haven’t been guy crazy since the seventh grade, but this guy, he makes me crazy. I think the neurotransmitters misfired in my brain when he spoke to me. That sexy, low gravely voice, his chiseled bone structure, sandy blond hair, and mysterious gray eyes made me weak in the knees.
