Cowboy Six Pack

by Kari Lynn Dell

  The thrill of Tuneful’s win in the third round was her favorite part. She ran her finger along the edge of the beautiful new buckle on her belt. A close second was signing autographs for fans and participating in the Exceptional Rodeo, an event pairing NFR contestants with local special needs kids.

  Her horse had handled the stress of competing at the world’s biggest rodeo better than Mavis had hoped. Tuneful had helped her find a better life than she’d ever dreamed. If her mare hadn’t run tough enough to be a rodeo horse, she wouldn’t have come home. If she hadn’t come home, she wouldn’t have Dex. Without this mare, she wouldn’t be here today.

  “Planning your strategy for tonight?” Davie wandered up beside her and stood, resting his forearms on top of the fence.

  This man was so like Dex in appearance, but so different in every other way.

  “The strategy for tonight is to enjoy the hell out of every minute.” Getting to the NFR was a dream only a select few attained. If she never made it here again, she’d always have this one experience. “I’m glad you’re staying at the ranch. Dex has missed you.”

  “I figured Dex has taken most of the responsibility for Nana Lucy and Dad, and now it’s my turn.”

  Mavis stared at him, her eyes wide. “That—that . . . Wait! You almost sounded like a grown-up.” She poked his arm. “Is Davie Dunbar in there?”

  “Bout time, don’t you think?” Davie pulled her into a quick hug then stepped away. “Here comes your husband. I think I’ll leave before I have to watch you two gush happiness all over the place.” With a sharp salute, he disappeared down the alleyway.

  As Mavis watched her brother-in-law walk away, warm hands closed on her shoulders, massaging her neck. She leaned into Dex’s touch and sighed. It had been a thrill when they’d both qualified for the National Finals Rodeo. “Did Nana Lucy, Mom and Randi find their seats?”

  “Oh, yeah. And Nana bought a noise maker at the concession stand so you can hear her cheering as you run.” Dex pulled her close. “She’s your second biggest fan.”

  “I’m going to have to up my game for next year if we’re going to become the first husband and wife to win concurrent world championships.” Dex was sitting in second place in the Saddle Bronc riding with one performance to go.

  “Yeah, you’d better. I can’t believe I married such a slouch. Making it to the NFR on a six-year-old, sitting fourth in the world standings your first year, and winning a round against the best of the best.” Dex turned her to face him, his smile wide. “You’ve really been dragging in my stirrup.”

  She threw her arms around his neck and burrowed close. With a good man who loved her and a way of life she treasured, she had it all. She pulled back and looked up at Dex. “I love you even when you’re smug.”

  His brow crinkled. “Smug? Not me. You’ve told me more than once that I’m the perfect man.”

  She turned in his arms and gave him a quick kiss. “I’m pretty sure you’re not perfect, but you’re the perfect man for me.”

  Romance Beneath A Rodeo Moon

  If you enjoyed reading Changing a Cowboy’s Tune, you can find more cowboys falling in love in my Sugar Coated Cowboys series.

  Gimme Some Sugar, Book #1-Pastry chef, Cary Crockett, is on the run. Pursued by a loan shark bent on retrieving gambling debts owed him by her deadbeat ex-boyfriend, she finds the perfect hiding place at the remote Circle W Ranch. More at home with city life, cupcakes and croissants than beef, beans and bacon, she has to convince ranch owner Micah West she’s up to the job of feeding his hired hands. The overwhelming attraction she feels toward him was nowhere in the job description.

  Micah West has a big problem. The camp-cook on his central Oregon ranch has up and quit without notice, and his crew of hungry cowboys is about to mutiny. He agrees to hire Cary on a temporary basis, just until he finds the right man to fill the job. Maintaining a hands-off policy toward his sexy new cook becomes tougher than managing a herd of disgruntled wranglers.

  http://amzn.to/1UDCemK

  Sweet Cowboy Kisses, Book #2- To attain his dream of a bull riding championship, Kade Vaughn must ride the bull they call Swamp Fox. But in two rides, the big bull's given Kade a severe concussion and two disqualified rides. Now the cowboy's on a forced time out on his friends' ranch, near the little town of East Hope, Oregon. It's all fine and dandy till the day he walks into the diner and comes face to face with a temptress in a Cleopatra wig. One who looks a lot like the girl he left behind, and who he'd give nearly anything to have back in his arms.

  To get through each day, Pansy Lark pretends to be other women, through cosplay. Famous, strong women who took what they wanted from life, instead of the other way around. Once she was a champion barrel racer with a bright future, and a cowboy she loved. She lost it all, leaving her with only a driving need to prove she's not that weak girl anymore. But when Kade walks back into her life, she must decide if real strength is in forgiveness. Can sweet cowboy kisses heal her wounded heart?

  http://amzn.to/2qAH4NM

  Cowboy’s Sweetheart, Book #3-Byron Garrett has found peace as a cowboy on the Circle W ranch. He's far from his controlling father and the man’s demands for Byron to make him proud as a pro football player. Born a city boy, he’s discovered a passion for the land, his horses and the cowboy way of life. He's created the lifestyle he always wanted, and it doesn't include a woman or the complications that come with love. At least, not until a bubbly artist shows up and does her best to tear down the corral he's built around his heart.

  Vivi Beckett is searching for a place that feels like home. After traveling the country, she's finally found it in the beautiful wilds of Oregon. With the inheritance left her when she was orphaned, she can buy a place to live and create her art. But after meeting Byron, Vivi suspects her dream alone won't be enough to bring her happiness … not unless he's at her side. All of Vivi’s dreams are at risk when she discovers her inheritance is in jeopardy. She needs help, but will Byron be willing to join her on a different, and perhaps even better path, and make her a Cowboy's Sweetheart?

  http://amzn.to/2p5sBt9

  More books by Stephanie Berget featuring rodeo cowboys, ranchers and the women who love them:

  Radio Rose-Cowboys and aliens … on a dark, deserted highway, it can be hard to tell the difference.

  Especially when Rose Wajnowski makes her living as a night DJ chatting about alien encounters with folks in tinfoil helmets. Her listeners are eccentric, to say the least. But she’s happy—sort of—with her solitary life. Until a midnight car crash and a blow to the head has her seeing tall, handsome extra-terrestrials instead of stars.

  Adam Cameron, raised by his narcissistic grandfather, got out of Tullyville, Colorado the day he turned eighteen. He’s back ten years later for the reading of his grandfather’s will, but he’s not happy to be home. Except for meeting the pretty little brunette who nearly ran him down with her car on that dark highway.

  Adam is about to be pulled into a contest for a vast fortune and the future of a town he’d just as soon forget. But the quirky inhabitants of Tullyville desperately need his help if their town is to survive. Luckily for him, this cowboy has feisty Rose at his side, and in his arms.

  As they work together to save their town, Rose and Adam learn important lessons about trust and the real meaning of family.

  http://amzn.to/267wmd6

  Sugarwater Ranch-Sean O’Connell’s life is perfect, or it was until his partying lifestyle affected his bull riding. Now he’s ended the season too broke to leave the Northwest for the warm southern rodeos. When a wild night with his buddies gets out of hand, he wakes up naked, staring into the angry eyes of a strange woman. His infallible O’Connell charm gets him nowhere with the dark-haired beauty. It’s obvious she’s not his usual good-time girl, so why can’t he forget her?

  Bar-manager Catherine Silvera finds a waterlogged, unconscious cowboy freezing to death in front of the Sugarwater Bar. She saves his life--then runs faster than a
jackrabbit with a coyote on its tail. Any man who makes his living rodeoing is bad news, especially if he thinks partying is part of the competition. He’s everything she doesn’t want in a man, so why can’t she shake her attraction to the rugged cowboy?

  http://amzn.to/29lydml

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Stephanie Berget was born loving horses and found her way to rodeo when she married her own, hot cowboy. She and her husband traveled throughout the Northwest while she ran barrels and her cowboy rode bucking horses. She started writing to put a realistic view of rodeo and ranching into western romance. Stephanie and her husband live on a farm, located along the Oregon/Idaho border. They raise hay, horses and cattle, with the help of Dizzy Dottie, the Border Collie and Cisco, team roping horse extraordinaire.

  Stephanie is delighted to hear from readers. Reach her at http://www.stephanieberget.com

  Facebook: http://bit.ly/2pP5G2y

  Twitter: https://twitter.com/StephanieBerget

  Amazon http://amzn.to/2qAWTnr

  Catch the Rain

  Paty Jager

  OTHER BOOKS BY PATY JAGER

  Perfectly Good Nanny

  Bridled Heart

  Secrets of a Mayan Moon

  Secrets of an Aztec Temple

  Secrets of a Hopi Blue Star

  Shandra Higheagle Mystery Series

  Catch the Rain

  Copyright © 2017 Paty Jager

  All rights reserved.

  CATCH THE RAIN

  Running from her past, Kitty Baxter catches a glimpse of her future—if she’s brave enough to believe in herself and the kind-hearted stranger who claims she deserves love.

  Focused on setting up his new veterinarian practice, Zach MacDonald becomes sidetracked by a karaoke singing beauty with a secret. He sees what others don’t, and becomes determined to make Kitty see that anyone can learn to catch the rain.

  DEDICATION

  This is dedicated to my granddaughter, Hailie. Even though I came up with the idea long before you came into the family, your struggles have taught me life lessons.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Zach MacDonald stepped through the door of the Sidewinder Bar behind his sister and brother-in-law and immediately wished he’d ignored his sister’s phone call an hour earlier. The bar was dark, grungy, and smelled of stale beer and cigarettes even though it had been years since a cigarette was smoked in the building. It took him back to the nights he’d ridden his bike to the local bar and dragged his dad home so he’d be fit to work the next day.

  Julie had promised him it wasn’t like the dive bars where they’d grown up, but all small towns had one. He’d been willing to give this bar the benefit of the doubt, even though only half the sign lit up at night and the building could use a good coat of paint. And it was the only place to get a burger this time of night on a Thursday.

  He’d missed lunch working on a cow having a breach birth and would have settled for a peanut butter sandwich if Julie hadn’t shown up and insisted he needed to come with them to the Sidewinder for a burger.

  “Come on.” Julie grabbed his arm, tugging him toward one of the taller uninhabited tables.

  “Sing it, Kitty!” called a man at the bar, staring toward the far end of the room.

  A woman with hair the color and thickness of a palomino’s tail, stood on a raised platform. She held a microphone.

  “Sit,” his brother-in-law, Barry, said, holding a chair for Julie.

  “What’s going on?” Zach stood by the tall table, watching the stage.

  Music started playing and the woman’s large eyes narrowed. “That’s not my song,” she said into the microphone, accusing the man at the karaoke machine.

  “I can’t help it they changed songs around.” The man at the machine had a dingy shirt, long stringy gray hair, and an unlit cigar hanging out of his mouth. “Sit down and figure out what you want. Next!”

  Fear flashed in the woman’s eyes. “I-I want Sunshine on my Shoulders.” She shoved her mane of golden locks behind her shoulder and stared at the older man.

  Zach would have had to be blind not to notice the woman’s curves and toned arms. She wore tight jeans and a skimpy hot pink tank top.

  “Go find what number you want. I can’t find it by the title.” The man waved her off the platform.

  “Here Kitty, Kitty,” called a large, scruffy man at the bar.

  The woman dropped the microphone on the table by the platform and hurried to a table in the corner. She appeared to be here alone.

  The waitress arrived at their table. She leaned into Zach. “What’ll you have?”

  His attention was on the woman all alone and looking miserable.

  “Hey, good looking, forget about that loser.” The waitress stepped between him and the corner table. “What can I get you?”

  He didn’t like anyone called names. “A beer.” He stepped around the woman to walk to the corner table.

  Julie grabbed his arm. “Zach. What are you doing?”

  He glanced at his sister. “I want to see if I can find out why that woman looks so upset.”

  “Sit down.” Julie patted the chair next to her. “She isn’t a stray dog or cat you can bring home.”

  He studied the woman. She had the notebook of songs on her table. Her intense gaze on the book and wrinkled forehead gave her an air of frustration.

  “Who is she?” He sat and nodded to the woman.

  “Kitty Baxter. She helps with the horses at Marcella Dunn’s stables.” Julie nodded to someone at the bar.

  “She’s on the slow side,” Barry added.

  Zach turned his attention to his brother-in-law. “What do you mean?”

  “Cleaning stalls for Marcella is about the only thing besides singing that she seems capable of doing.”

  He didn’t like the insinuation Barry was making about the woman.

  The waitress returned with their drinks. Zach took a sip of his and watched the woman get more flustered as she flipped through the pages in the notebook.

  The man on the stage didn’t seem to know anything about singing on key. “She a good singer?” He tipped his head toward Kitty.

  “Yeah. Most of the people come here on Thursdays just to hear her sing.” Julie sipped her drink.

  His mind made up, he walked over to the woman. “Mind if I share the notebook with you?”

  Her head jerked up. The sight of her big violet eyes struck him like a jolt of electricity.

  “I can’t find the song I want to sing,” she said, shoving the book across the table toward him.

  “What song did you want? I’ll look for it while I look for the one I want to sing.” He sat down and studied the book to keep from staring at her pretty face.

  “Sunshine on my Shoulders.” She sighed after saying the tune.

  “That’s one of my favorites.” He ran his finger down the page. “Here it is. Number fifty-seven.”

  She picked up the glass of beer on the table and downed it. “Thank you.”

  He smiled at the relief lighting her eyes. “If you can sing better than this guy, I’m glad to help.”

  Her laughter was soft and husky. “Floyd thinks of himself as a rock star.” She watched as the tall stocky man tipped his head back and belted out an off-key long note.

  “Since I was looking for the same song, do you mind if I sing it with you? It would spare the bar having to hear the song twice.” He scanned her heart-shaped face and noted a sprinkling of light freckles across her nose and the apples of her cheeks.

  “Can you carry a tune?” she asked, tilting her head slightly and narrowing her eyes.

  “I was in my college’s glee club.”

  At the word college, he saw her physically shift away from him.

  “How about it? May I join you?” He stood and waved her to the stage.

  She stood, watching him with a trace of fear.

  “I promise I won’t upstage you.”

  A soft laugh filtered to him through the din o
f voices, shuffling chairs, and clinking glasses.

  “Come on, Professor. Let’s sing.” She stood and walked over to the stage. Her hips swayed just enough to catch his gaze. She picked up both microphones sitting on the table by the man running the karaoke machine. “Number fifty-seven,” she said to the man and handed Zach one of the microphones.

  Their fingers touched, and he could of swore he saw her jump as his blood pressure spiked.

  “Woo, Zach!” Julie shouted.

  He raised the microphone in a toast toward his sister and took a spot where he could see the monitor. It had been years since he’d heard or sang this song. As he positioned himself, Kitty stepped to the far side of the stage and waited.

  The distance between them felt like an ocean.

  The music started. He glanced over at Kitty. Her eyes closed and her mouth opened. A beautiful alto voice soared with the music. She sang with such feeling, he enjoyed watching her. He joined her at the chorus.

  Her eyes popped open at the sound of his voice. Zach slowly walked over to where she stood. He gazed into her eyes and saw a confident woman as her voice melded with his and she took each note to a deeper nuance.

  Kitty’s heart soared as she blended her voice with the man’s. He had a beautiful baritone. She stared into his eyes. The warmth and acceptance she saw in their depths started her belly quivering. She’d avoided men, except for two disastrous dates, ever since school and the bullies that had harassed her for being unable to read and having ratty clothes. She’d been an easy target. But she’d shown everyone. She’d run off at fourteen and found a place to live, and she enjoyed the work she did.