Divine Creek Ranch 14
Tangled in Divine
Robbed of her family’s legacy, Gwen Henderson blindly sets out to win it back. In Divine she finds employment until she rejoins the rodeo circuit for one more winning year. What she doesn’t foresee is getting tangled up with two cowboys who have her yearning for life in Divine when her dreams are in Colorado.
Rolling like a tumbleweed through life, Julián Alvarez takes the chance to be with Gwen, knowing she can’t stay permanently and his heart may be in ruins when she leaves.
Resigned to loneliness, Chris Potter believes his faults and lack of finesse may mean he’ll spend life looking out for others but never knowing love—until the day he sets eyes on a feisty cowgirl named Gwen.
Can she trade her dreams of life in Colorado for love in Divine, Texas—and is she even capable of leaving the two cowboys who have stolen her heart?
Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Western/Cowboys
Length: 126,102 words
TANGLED IN DIVINE
Divine Creek Ranch 14
Heather Rainier
MENAGE EVERLASTING
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting
TANGLED IN DIVINE
Copyright © 2013 by Heather Rainier
E-book ISBN: 978-1-62242-930-1
First E-book Publication: April 2013
Cover design by Les Byerley
All art and logo copyright © 2013 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
Dear Readers,
If you have purchased this copy of Tangled in Divine by Heather Rainier from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.
Regarding E-book Piracy
This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book.
The author and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying readers high-quality reading entertainment.
This is Heather Rainier’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. Rainier’s right to earn a living from her work.
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DEDICATION
For the hands that hold mine and the heart that owns mine. You’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly, and you love all of me anyway. This book is dedicated, like all the others, to the man I adore. My husband.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many thanks to the loyal ladies who help me to stay on track… my CP, Corinne Davies, who holds my feet to the flames when I’d rather play. My friend and IT consultant, Bella Juarez, who keeps my website looking sharp and inviting. Stormy, who beta-reads and helps me keep my facts straight—a daunting task in a series with fourteen books in it. And my dear, sweet friend Morgan, who has been such a joy to collaborate with.
Thank you to my street team, the Divine Divas, and their admin, Rana. These enthusiastic ladies, and two gentlemen, keep me laughing and inspired.
Thank you to the beautiful, curvy women of all sizes who interact with me online via e-mail, Facebook, and my blog. Your camaraderie and your love for Divine are a tremendous source of inspiration and encouragement to me.
Thank you to my publisher, Diana, my editor, Katie, and the editorial, artistic, and administrative staff at Siren Publishing and BookStrand. Your guidance and professional efforts help to make Divine a wonderful place to continue creating happily ever afters.
CAST OF MAIN CHARACTERS IN BOOK READING ORDER
Divine Grace
Grace (Stuart) Warner is co-owner of Harper Embroidery. She’s also invested in and works at Discretion, a ladies’ adults-only boutique located in Morehead.
Jack Warner, Ethan Grant, and Adam Davis. These three distant cousins are owners of the Divine Creek Ranch, a horse ranch specializing in the breeding of Andalusian horses. Jack is also a building contractor. Adam is an HVAC and electrical contractor. Ethan co-owns The Dancing Pony nightclub, located in Divine.
They have one daughter, Rose Marie.
Her Gentle Giant (Part One & Two)
Rachel (Lopez) Wolf was employed at Thorne Home Theater as a bookkeeper. She now does the books for Discretion and is a stay-at-home mom.
Eli Wolf was one of the bouncers at The Dancing Pony and is now licensed as an EMT.
They have one son, Levi.
Heavenly Angel
Teresa (Palacios) Martinez worked at Stigall’s with Grace and is now invested in Discretion and works there part-time when not caring for her children.
Angel and Joaquin Martinez are brothers and horse breeding specialists who handle the breeding operation on the Divine Creek Ranch.
They have two sons, Michael and Eleazar.
Rosemary’s Double Delight
Rosemary (Piper) Garner splits her time between the family business, Cheaver’s Western Store, and her husbands’ business, Garner Custom Furniture.
Wes and Evan Garner are brothers and self-employed custom furniture craftsmen who have known Rosemary since kindergarten. Rosemary is expecting their first child.
Spurs and Heels
Juliana (Meyer) Peterson, an admitted perfectionist, was the manager of Stigall’s Department Store and is now a buyer for Discretion Boutique.
Ash Peterson, a former bareback bronc riding champion, is the foreman of the Divine Creek Ranch and runs all of the day-to-day operations.
They have a son named Will.
Maya’s Triple Dare
Maya (Daire) Warner is a registered nurse specializing in obstetric and pediatric care. She works with Doctor Emma Rivers.
Kendall, Boone, and Richard Warner are brothers, and fi
rst cousins of Jack Warner. They are partners in the MWTD Cattle Ranch, which backs up to Divine Creek and borders the Divine Creek Ranch.
Summer’s Indiscretion
Summer (Heston) Webster and her sister Margot are proprietors of Discretion, a ladies’ adults-only boutique in nearby Morehead, Texas.
Ace Webster and Kemp Whittier are adopted brothers who are also partners in a security and private investigation operation. Ace and Kemp have assisted a number of the heroes and heroines in Divine, Texas, including their wife, Summer.
Lydia’s Twin Temptation
Lydia (Webster) Carlisle is a professional chef. She came to the Rockin’ C Ranch as a chef and wound up falling in love with both Chance and Clayton Carlisle. Her older brother, Ace, was not pleased.
Chance and Clayton Carlisle are twin brothers who own the Rockin’ C Ranch, a very large cattle operation outside of Divine.
Their Divine Doctor
Doctor Emma (Guthrie) Rivers is a family practitioner in Divine, Texas.
Duke Rivers and Gage Randall are cousins who were raised as brothers. They are IT consultants and also work on a contract basis for Ace Webster and Kemp Whittier.
Divine Phoenix
Lily (Valentine) Cook is a Divine native, recently returned home. She is a student and works with her husband at Clay Cook Jewelry.
Clay and Del Cook are brothers who are long-lost friends of Lily’s. Clay is a jeweler and sculptor and Del is a rancher, recently returned from a long stint as a contractor for a private military company.
Sparks Fly! A Divine Creek July 4th Family Reunion
Jayne (Sheridan) Carter is head librarian at the Divine Memorial Library
Seth Carter is a tattoo artist and owner of Divine Ink Tattoo Studio, located in downtown Divine. Sparks Fly! features their introduction to each other and sexy reunions with all the previous main characters in the series, centered around a July 4th family reunion.
Margot’s Hunger
Margot Heston and her sister, Summer, are proprietors of Discretion, a ladies’ adults-only boutique located in nearby Morehead.
Jake Redman is a private investigations and security subcontractor.
Gil James is the foreman at the Rockin C Ranch.
His Tattooed Virgin
Jayne (Sheridan) Carter is the head librarian at the Divine Memorial Library.
Seth Carter is a tattoo artist and owner of Divine Ink Tattoo Studio located in downtown Divine. They have a son named Toby. Jayne and Seth were introduced to each other in Sparks Fly! Their full love story is told in His Tattooed Virgin.
Tiny Dancer
Camilla (O’Neal) Parks is the owner of The Twisted Bull night club and Chantilly’s Steakhouse, located in Morehead.
Ben Lawrence and Quinten Parks are business partners with Ethan Grant in The Dancing Pony nightclub.
They are expecting twins.
I hope you enjoy the next installment in the Divine Creek Ranch Collection…
TANGLED IN DIVINE
Divine Creek Ranch 14
HEATHER RAINIER
Copyright © 2013
Chapter One
Gwen Henderson released a tired but thankful sigh as she made the final turn—one of about a million turns in the last decade—onto the long, gravel driveway of the Bucking H Ranch. She’d driven through the night just so she could have this moment. Peace and completion crept over her as she allowed the dually pickup to slowly rumble across the steel pipe cattle guard that led to her home. Her ranch. Two hundred acres of pure heaven spread out in a wintry early-morning panorama. She paused there and rested her forearms across the steering wheel, so she could take in the beauty of the ranch that had been in her family for four generations, since the late 1800s.
She’d seen that same view in her rearview mirror so many times as she’d left each year for the rodeo and barrel racing circuit, in all seasons and at all times of day.
Her heart was thankful that any time she left from now on would be a temporary trip or just a run into Rio Blanco, thirty miles away. She’d never have to promise herself that soon she’d be home for good. That day was today.
Retired. Successful. With enough barrel racing championships, and the buckles, trophies, and prize money to prove it, and an entire life spent both in the saddle and on the ground developing an understanding for horses, to start her on the next chapter of her life. Training barrel racing horses and their riders.
Tears prickled in her eyes at the pastoral beauty of the cattle grazing at hay on the rolling hills in the early-morning light. Two of their Morgan horses sidled up alongside her truck at the pipe fence line, as though welcoming her home. These were horses she planned to use as “trainers” as soon as she could get started with her first pupils. She rolled down the truck window and whistled softly, and one of the mares nickered in reply. She giggled when her beloved Zephyr, the horse that had brought her to so many championships, neighed loudly as if in greeting from the luxury horse trailer Gwen was pulling behind her pickup.
Damn, I love my life.
She took out her smartphone to capture the panoramic beauty before her. After uploading it to Facebook, she typed a quick status update. The start of a new chapter in her life needed to be marked for posterity.
“I’m home. For good. No more life on the rodeo circuit for me.”
Christmas was just four days away. The holiday season had always been difficult for her family. Maybe this fresh start would mean an end to the doldrums she’d always experienced during this time of year.
Accelerating slowly, Gwen put her phone back in her purse and hit the button to roll the window back up. She adjusted the heat in the truck as she took the first turn that would lead her on the winding path to their ranch house two miles down the road. The scent of pine now filled the truck and she breathed it in appreciatively. This was her home. White frost covered the ground and sparkled on the steel pipe fence posts as her big truck purred down the driveway, between the cross-fenced sections of pastures closer to the house and barns.
She was surprised to not see her dad and the ranch hands out working in the fields and surmised that their work kept them in other parts of the ranch. She’d told him what time she’d be arriving but didn’t mind if she had to saddle a horse and go looking for him.
A song she liked began playing on the sound system and she flicked the button on the leather-covered steering wheel to turn it up as she sang along. The lyrics to “Say Goodnight” by Eli Young Band made her smile as she remembered the first time she’d heard it.
She’d been visiting Teresa Martinez and her family in Divine, Texas, just a few months before. Julián Alvarez had gazed at her with bedroom eyes as she’d sat across from him at The Dancing Pony, and he’d reached for her hand. No words were required. Her fingertips tingled at the memory of his warm, work-roughened palm as it had brushed over her hand. Longing quivered deep inside her as she recalled the way he’d whispered to her on the dance floor. That longing gave her happiness a bittersweet edge.
I do love my life. There’s just one thing missing—someone to share it with.
She shook her head and sighed, dispelling the loneliness that was part of the reason she’d finally decided to retire at the age of thirty-four. Too many miles on the road alone. And too many good-byes. She looked around and knew exactly what she wanted. Something that would last—that would always be there. Like the ranch. A legacy that would be passed down to her that she would eventually pass on to the next generation.
Good things come to those who wait. This is one of them. The right man will come along someday too. As Eli Young sang, Julián’s face flickered in her mind again. Of all the men she’d ever spent time with, and then parted from with a wave and a smile, he was the one who came to her mind. The one man she’d wanted but had never been with, though they’d come awfully close the last time they’d seen each other. Timing and circumstances had interrupted what would’ve been an undoubtedly stellar session of sweaty, no-holds-barred sex
.
“He’s still out there, girl. Maybe it’ll happen.” The thought made her squirm on her heated leather seat as she took the last turn that would bring the ranch house into view.
A cold chill raced up her spine as she took in the chaos reigning before her. Several unfamiliar trucks and SUVs were parked helter-skelter in front of the house at the end of the driveway. Strangers roamed between the house and barns, like busy little ants hard at work, but what they were doing, she couldn’t understand.
Her father must’ve seen her, because he came trotting out to the truck as she rolled up and put it in park. He jerked open the door and whispered, “Listen to me. I’ll answer your questions in a minute. For now, gather any personal property up front here, while I grab what I can from the living quarters in the horse trailer, and come with me into the house. Gary will see to Zephyr.”
She sat paralyzed for a moment, watching him, watching the strangers. A cold draft of air startled her into action. Her dad grabbed her heavy duffle and garment bag from the backseat of the truck as she disconnected her MP3 player from the truck’s USB port located in the leather-covered console. She pulled her emergency cash fund and her .38, carefully zipped up in its case, from the glove box, and slid those items and three CDs into her tooled-leather handbag. Grabbing the large paper tote containing Christmas gifts, she climbed from the driver’s seat, nodding to Gary as he hustled by. Gary was one of her dad’s most trusted ranch hands, and she knew her horse would be in good hands until she could figure out what was going on.
Tangled in Divine [Divine Creek Ranch 14] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 1
