Howdy! In honor of the launch of Cheryl
Brooks’ new erotic western series here’s a little intro to a few of the sexy
cowboys – and one cowgirl – that appear in the first book in the series, COWBOY
HEAVEN.
Angela
McClure
Born and raised on a Wyoming cattle
ranch, Angela Kincaid McClure had to grow up fast following the death of her
mother at a young age. An only child, she has been the lone woman on the Circle
Bar K for most of her life, and her father has always discouraged fraternization
with the cowboys employed on the ranch. Angela married her high school
sweetheart, Cody McClure, and enjoyed a very happy marriage, raising two sons
who have no interest in ranching. With her father aging rapidly, Angela and
Cody took over the running of the ranch until Cody was killed in a fall from
his horse. Recovering from his loss has taken some time, but after two years,
Angela’s interest is once again focused on male companionship. Unfortunately,
no one seems the slightest bit interested in taking on her forty-two-year-old
self or the ranch. Her father believes she should marry the ranch foreman,
Rufus Bentley, but though Angela had a crush on him in her youth and the
sixty-year-old foreman is still attractive, his total lack of personality and
stern attitude leaves her cold. She’s had her eye on Dusty Jackson, a handsome
cowboy employed on the ranch, but she has never received the slightest hint
that he might see her as a love interest. Love-starved and lonely, Angela
finally finds solace when she picks up stranded rodeo cowboy Troy Whitmore and
makes him an offer he can’t refuse.
Dusty
Jackson
Born Dustin David Jackson on a ranch in
eastern Wyoming, Dusty has never been anything but a cowboy. Something of a loner, after graduating high
school, he drifted from ranch to ranch, eventually ending up on the Circle Bar
K. He likes the people he works with but there are other reasons for staying
on, and just as many reasons to leave. Blessed with good looks and a ready wit,
he’s more than a match for the men he works alongside, but when he’s around
Angela McClure, words fail him. He knows exactly what he wants, but he also
knows that once he takes that first step, there will be no turning back.
Troy
Whitmore
Troy Whitmore was born and raised on a
ranch in western Oklahoma. He could ride almost before he could walk and was
winning prizes at the junior rodeos by the age of six. Too handsome for his own
good, women have always been plentiful, but with a tendency to hop from woman
to woman and live just a teensy bit beyond his means, by the age of thirty, he
needs a woman with enough money to sponsor his rodeo career. When his last
“sponsor” dumps him on the side of the highway while en route to the rodeo in
Jackson Hole, he’s picked up by Angela McClure, a forty-something widow with an
eye for a handsome cowboy and an imagination that fills in where reality leaves
off. He’s more than willing to add the perk of sex with the boss to his new job
on Angela’s ranch, but soon discovers that the rodeo circuit isn’t the only
place where he faces some stiff competition.
How
old were you when you had your first kiss? Tell us about it!
Angela: I was seventeen. Cody kissed me after the last performance of our
senior play. He was tall and handsome, and I melted in his arms!
Dusty: I was fourteen. She sneaked up behind me and stole the kiss before
I had time to react.
Troy: I was ten. She was twelve, and neither of us knew what we were
doing. It was a bit messy, actually.
Cowboy Heaven
By Cheryl Brooks
Sourcebooks Casablanca
Erotic Western Romance
March 3, 2015
ISBN: 9781492607458
Trade Paperback $13.99
When
you find yourself in cowboy heaven...
When lonely widow Angela McClure hires a
gorgeous hitchhiking cowboy with an affair in mind, she knows they’ll have to
be discreet: her old-fashioned father and the stern ranch foreman adamantly
discourage any interaction between her and the ranch hands.
Things
can get hot as hell...
Despite their attempts at secrecy, the
heat between them is undeniable. To divert suspicion, Angela forms a new plan:
she’ll flirt with all of the ranch hands. Suddenly Angela has a whole stable
full of sexy-as-sin cowboys to play with, but only one can win her heart.
Cheryl
Brooks is a former critical care nurse turned
romance writer. Her Cat Star Chronicles series includes Slave, Warrior, Rogue, Outcast, Fugitive, Hero, Virgin, Stud, Wildcat,
and the newest release, Rebel. She is
a member of the RWA and IRWA and lives with her husband and sons near
Bloomfield, Indiana.
Praise for Cheryl Brooks:
“Really
sexy. Sizzling kind of sexy. Honestly, only Cheryl Brooks can deliver a line
like, ‘I can give you joy unlike any you have ever known’ and make you want to
melt.”
—Bitten
by Books
“Ms.
Brooks delivers plenty of sexual tension, suspense, and pleasure in simply
being alive.”
—Romance Junkies
“Incredibly
sexy and wonderful to read all around.”
—Night Owl Romance
“Fun…unique…and
wicked sexy! Cheryl Brooks knows how to keep the heat on and the
reader
turning pages!” —Sydney Croft
Rafflecopter
Giveaway – 3 copies of COWBOY HEAVEN by Cheryl Brooks
(Rafflecopter
will run from February 21-April 6)
Excerpt
from Cowboy Heaven by Cheryl Brooks – Chapter 1
There he was again. That same cowboy I’d
seen on the drive into town, still walking, still carrying a big green duffel
bag on one shoulder and a saddle slung over the other. He’d been traveling in
the opposite direction and hadn’t bothered to look up as I’d passed him
earlier. I’d barely glimpsed his face then, but I saw it quite clearly now. A
glance over his shoulder revealed his bleak, exhausted expression. He might
have been near the point of collapse, but he obviously wasn’t prepared to admit
defeat.
Not yet, anyway.
I couldn’t believe no one had picked him up
in the three hours since I’d last seen him. He hadn’t looked very fresh even
then. I had no idea where he was headed, but in the middle of Wyoming, there
wasn’t much within walking distance, no matter where you were going.
He turned toward me, sticking out a
halfhearted thumb as I came closer, his face streaked with dirt and sweat and
what might have been tears. A black Stetson shadowed his eyes, and his boots
and jeans were dusty and worn. His sweat-soaked denim shirt clung to his chest,
unbuttoned halfway to his waist, the sleeves ripped out. He probably wasn’t
trying to look cool, even though he did. No, he was likely trying to get cool, in
any way he possibly could. My truck was air-conditioned and comfortable, and
there was plenty of room for him and his meager belongings. I could no more
have left him there than I could have ignored a starving child.
As I pulled over to stop, his eyes closed
and his lips moved as though uttering a prayer of thanks. His knees buckled
slightly, and for a moment, I thought he truly would collapse. Instead, he took
a deep breath and stood up straight. Lifting his chin, he aimed luminous blue
eyes at me and flashed a dazzling smile. His silver belt buckle suggested this
man was no ordinary ranch hand but a down-on-his-luck rodeo cowboy who, unless
I missed my guess, was heading for Jackson Hole.
A real heartbreaker of a rodeo cowboy, too.
Up close, he was even more handsome than he’d been from a distance. Long and
lean with tanned, muscular arms, dimples creased his cheeks and black hair
curled enticingly from the open edges of his shirt. Several days’ growth of
dark beard surrounded full, sensuous lips, darkening a jaw that my fingertips
ached to caress. More ebony curls peeked from beneath his hat, making me long
to yank off that Stetson to discover what else it was hiding. Oh yes, there was
enough gorgeous cowboy to sway a much stronger woman than I ever claimed to be.
Tears stung my eyes as something in his expression reminded me of Cody.
My dear, sweet Cody… He’d been gone for two
years now, but I hadn’t forgotten that look, and I doubted I ever would.
Determined to mask my roiling emotions, I
searched for something amusing to say as I rolled down my window. “Lost your
horse?”
My clever tongue was rewarded with another
heart-stopping smile. Cody used to say funny things just to make me
giggle—which wasn’t difficult since I tend to find humor in nearly any situation—but
brushing up on my own repertoire of one-liners to keep this guy smiling seemed
like an excellent idea.
His grin was sheepish as he tipped up the
brim of his hat. “He sort of drove off without me.”
“Drove off?” I scoffed. “Somehow I doubt
that. Seems like he would’ve needed help.”
My handsome cowboy gave me a grim nod. “Oh,
he had help all right. My girlfriend dumped me on the highway and took off with
the truck, the trailer, and the horse—all of which were actually hers, by the
way. She was kind enough to leave me my saddle and my clothes, although a cell
phone would’ve been nice.”
I shook my head. “Nice, yes. Helpful, no.
They don’t work very well around here. Which kinda makes me mad—I mean, where
would you need a phone more than if you were stranded out in the middle of
nowhere?”
He glanced around at the vast expanse of
sunbaked rangeland. “Is that the name of this place? Nowhere?”
“Sure is.” I couldn’t help giggling. “Want
to get out of nowhere?”
“Yes, please,” he replied. “And as quickly
as possible.”
“Throw your stuff in the back and hop in,”
I said. “We’ll leave nowhere and go…somewhere.”
He did as I suggested, and suddenly the
interior of my truck was filled with the pungent aroma of hot, sweaty,
dusty—but cologned—cowboy. He’d most likely showered that morning, but it had
been one helluva day. The forecast called for the upper nineties—quite a heat
wave even for mid-August—and though the humidity was low, some temperatures are
best avoided no matter how dry the air.
“You’re a lifesaver,” he said. “I thought
that sun was gonna roast me alive.”
“As hot as it gets in these parts, I never
go anywhere without water, enough food for a couple of meals, and an umbrella
in case I’m ever forced to hike. Want a sandwich?”
“You bet.”
I tossed a nod over my shoulder. “The
cooler’s on the backseat. Help yourself. There’s plenty of water.” Although, at
that point, a cold beer probably would have been his first choice.
He pulled out two bottles of water and a
sandwich, downing the first bottle in three swallows.
“Better now?”
“Much.”
“Let’s see now…” I said as he unwrapped the
sandwich. “A cowboy dumped in the middle of nowhere with a saddle and no horse.
There’s got to be a country song in that.”
“If you mean a song about a guy bein’
picked up by a girl in a flatbed Ford, I think the Eagles already did that
one.”
“I love that song,” I said wistfully.
“Guess I always wanted to be that girl.”
“Well, now you are.” He took a bite of the
sandwich, chewing it quickly. “How does it feel?”
“Not much different.” This wasn’t entirely
true. I wasn’t in the habit of picking up gorgeous cowboys—and this particular
cowboy’s presence had me feeling strangely excited. Oh yes, I was very aware of
him, and if my brain hadn’t noticed him, my erogenous zones were there to remind
me. “For one thing, this isn’t a flatbed Ford, and I’m not what anyone would
call a girl anymore.”
He paused in mid-bite. “Why? Have you had a
sex-change operation?”
“Nope,” I replied with another giggle. “You
can’t call a forty-two-year-old a girl. Well, maybe you could if you happened
to be eighty-two yourself, but I’m pretty sure I outgrew the girl category a
long time ago—about the time that song was popular.”
Despite the fact that I never once took my
eyes off the road, I was aware of his prolonged scrutiny—an assessing gaze that
left delightful tingles in its wake.
“Some things improve with age.” He turned
toward the window. “You don’t seem like the type to dump a guy in the middle of
nowhere.”
Having heard the catch in his voice, I did
my best to keep my tone light. Bursting into tears in front of a perfect
stranger probably wasn’t on his bucket list. “True—unless he was really
obnoxious.”
This particular cowboy would have to have
been homicidal or, at the very least, abusive for me to throw him out. He was
the most adorable cowboy I’d ever laid eyes on, including the one I’d married.
“I wasn’t being obnoxious.” He fairly
bristled with indignation, which seemed to have won out over heartbreak. “I was
asleep. I thought she was stopping for gas when I felt the truck slow down. She
asked me to take a look at the tires on the trailer, said she thought one had
gone flat. While I was checking the tires, she dumped my saddle and duffel bag
on the side of the road and drove off. I found this tucked into the saddle.”
Reaching into his shirt pocket, he handed me a torn, sweat-soaked scrap of
paper.
It’s not working out. Sorry.
“Ouch,” I said with a sympathetic wince.
“That’s pretty hard.”
“Yeah.” With an absent nod, he stuffed the
note back into his pocket. “I don’t even know what I did wrong. Don’t guess I
ever will.”
He seemed nice enough, and he certainly
wasn’t ugly. Maybe his girl had breakup issues. As irresistible as he was, I
couldn’t imagine breaking his heart while gazing into those eyes of his, and I
didn’t even know his name.
She’d probably gone about it the best way
possible—a quick, clean break before losing her nerve completely. One glance,
one smile, and she’d have forgotten why their relationship wasn’t working. I
wasn’t looking forward to dropping him off at the crossroad to the ranch,
myself. I had a sudden, overwhelming urge to take him home and wash him, feed
him, and tuck him into bed—my bed, to be precise.
I had my doubts about that part. He
couldn’t have been more than thirty, and young men generally didn’t seek solace
from older women—not that kind of solace, anyway. Consoling him seemed
impossible, so I changed the subject.
“Where were you headed?”
“The rodeo in Jackson Hole,” he replied.
“I’m a rodeo cowboy.”
“No shit,” I drawled. “I’d never have
guessed that. I don’t suppose your girl left you with any money, did she? I
mean, I’m not going to charge you for the ride or the lunch, but I’m not going
all the way to Jackson Hole, either.”
“I didn’t figure you were.” His downcast
expression suggested his hope that he’d been wrong about that. “But at the
time, I didn’t really care.”
“Neither did I. I wouldn’t have left you
there no matter where you were going. It was…well, let’s just say it was
something I couldn’t bring myself to do.”
“Pick up lots of strays, do you?” Turning
sideways, he leaned back against the door, a move that not only drew my eye,
but also gave me a full-frontal view that made my breath catch in my throat. Oh
yes, I’d taken in lots of strays, but none that were anywhere near as attractive.
I shook my head. “Actually picking them up
usually isn’t necessary. They all seem to know where I live.”
“If you don’t mind my asking, where do you
live? I mean, are we close?”
Obviously, he hoped I lived somewhere near
Jackson Hole. I hated to disappoint him. “It’s about another twenty miles—most
of which are not on the main highway. I’ll let you out at the turnoff, if
that’s okay with you.”
His face fell, but he nodded, apparently
resigned to the fact that this ride wasn’t going to be more than a brief
respite. “Not much choice, is there?” He gave a fatalistic shrug. “I don’t have
enough money on me to pay you to take me to Jackson Hole. I really should pay
you for what you’ve already done.”
I caught myself wishing that he did have
enough money—or that he would ask me to run off with him and follow the rodeo
circuit, never going home at all. I would have loved to throw caution to the
wind and do just that, but I had too many responsibilities. Not only did I have
a ranch to run, but I also had my father and my kids to look after.
No, scratch that. Chris and Will were both
in college. I had a hard time remembering that except when confronted with the
sight of their empty rooms as I passed by them every day. Out on the highway I
could pretend they were both there at home waiting for me—and Cody, too.
No, regardless of how much money this man
might offer to pay me, I couldn’t shirk my duties and simply up and disappear.
Nor would I accept his money. He obviously needed to hold on to what little he
had stashed in those jeans.
“I couldn’t possibly take money from you,”
I protested. “I wouldn’t be much of a Good Samaritan if I did, would I?”
“I suppose not.”
He shrugged again and we drove on in
silence. Remaining slouched against the door, he draped his left arm across the
headrest and bent up one knee, stretching his legs apart enough that my eyes
were continually landing on that section of blue jeans due south of that big,
silver belt buckle. From time to time he shifted his hips as though my glances made
him uncomfortable, and while I did try to keep my eyes on the road, every once
in a while they would stray back to him—and that enticing bulge in his jeans…
“What would it take to get you to drive me
all the way to Jackson Hole?” The hint of suggestion in his voice startled me
almost as much as the abrupt nature of his query.
Suddenly, my mouth was as dry as a gulch.
Reaching for my bottle of water, I took a sip and stole another peek at him.
Those luminous eyes peered at me from beneath lids that were heavy with
sensuous intent.
His lips curled into a provocative smile.
“I’d be willing to bet there’s something I could do for you that would pay you
back—or at least make it worth your while.”
COWBOY
DELIGHT
By Cheryl Brooks
Erotic Western Romance e-novella
“Out-of-this-world sexy... Brooks’
writing brings the eroticism to life.” —Long and Short Reviews
Getting stranded has never felt so good…
Lauren Allen is on her way to meet her
future in-laws when her car breaks down on a scorching, dusty Texas highway.
There’s no shortage of handsome cowboys turning up to save the day, but she
puts her trust in local rancher Steve Williams. From the moment she shakes his
hand, his warm, calloused grip makes her hotter than she knows what to do with…
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