This city
girl's about to get a dose of cowboy charm
Emily Baker
doesn't rough it -- anymore. Born and raised on a farm, she's worked hard to
distance herself from that life, thank you very much. But when the seniors at
the nursing home where she works beg for a ranch retreat, she caves and heads
up to the Longhorn Canyon spread. With one glance at the sexy cowboy who opens
the door, she's suddenly thinking a week with him might not be so bad after
all.
Justin Maguire
doesn't quite know what to do with the gorgeous woman who shows up on his
doorstep. She's all curves and confidence-even after stepping in a cow pile.
Too bad she's determined not to fall for a cowboy. But with the help of five
nosy, matchmaking seniors, he might just convince her he's worth the risk.
Here's an excerpt:
After a forty-minute drive, Emily
found the ranch with no problem. She parked and checked her reflection in the
rear view mirror. She fluffed up her dark brown shoulder-length hair, and
reapplied her bright red lipstick.
She took a deep breath and wished
that she’d figured out a better plan than just flying by the seat of her pants.
Trying to figure out what to say first, she wasn’t watching where she was going
and her heel sunk into a gopher hole. She regained her footing just in time to
avoid falling face first, but in doing so, she stepped in pile of fresh cow
manure.
“Shit!” she muttered.
Amen, her grandmother’s
voice popped into her head.
And if that wasn’t embarrassing
enough, just then a tall cowboy with steel blue eyes opened the door and
stepped out on the porch. Lord, have mercy.
“Can I help you?” he asked.
She opened the gate into the yard
and said, “I’m Emily Baker. We visited on the phone last evening.” She looked
up into steely blue eyes.
“My brother, Cade, is the one that
you talked to. He forgot that he had another meeting this morning in Wichita
Falls. I’m Justin Maguire. Please come right in.” He stood to one side and
motioned her inside.
She couldn’t track cow crap inside
the house so she kicked off her shoes, leaving them on the porch. She glanced
down at her chipped toe nail polish and wished that she’d taken time to redo
them. But not even ugly toe nails would keep her from her mission—not after
that send-off at the center.
“Should’ve been a little more
careful about where I was steppin’,” she said.
Justin grinned. “That’s part of
ranch life, darlin’. Evidently you haven’t lived on one.”
Oh, honey, you are so wrong
about that, she thought.
She studied him from the corner of
her eye as they crossed the foyer and entered a huge living room. Scruff
covered his square jaw, but she could see a very slight cleft in his chin. He
walked with the cowboy swagger and confidence that would have women falling all
over him. And he’d called her darlin’—did he flirt with everyone?
“We can talk in here, Emily. Have a
seat anywhere. Sorry about the mess.”
“Thanks. I work at the Oakview Retirement
Center in Bowie. Cade and I were going to talk about renting your bunkhouses
for a week. Did he let you know if y’all have made a decision?” She spit it all
out at once without taking a breath as she sat on the edge of the sofa, legs
crossed at the ankle and back straight.
“He only told me that someone from
the retirement center was coming by to visit about something as he was walking
out the door fifteen minutes ago, but this is the first I’m hearing about it.”
His forearms bulged beneath the rolled up sleeves of his black, pearl snap
shirt and his hands were huge.
She had to look at him to talk to
him, but when she did she noticed that the top two snaps of his shirt were
undone, giving her a peek at light brown chest hair. She couldn’t get her
thoughts together looking right at him. She’d expected the Maguire brothers to
be her dad’s age. “There are five elderly folks at the center. They have some
problems but basically they’re pretty spry to be in their seventies.” She
glanced down at the coffee table where papers were strewn about. “You’re
building a house? Are you an architect? I thought the Maguires were ranchers.”
“We are but I’m trying my hand at
drawing up the plans for our foreman and his new wife,” he answered.
Emily leaned forward. “Doesn’t look
like it’s going to be very big.”
“Not here at first but the design
will make it easy to add on later.” He chose a chair close to the coffee table
where the plans were laid out. “So tell me, Miz Barker, more about this idea
you’ve got.”
“Baker, not Barker,” she corrected
him.
“Sorry about that. I’m better with
faces than names. Might not be real good with names, but I never forget a
pretty face.” He raked his fingers through light brown hair that had definitely
had a cowboy hat settled on it not long ago.
Don’t flirt with me, cowboy,
she thought.
Purchase Cowboy Brave at these retailers:
B&N: https://bit.ly/2qWgVr0
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2V4X5YI
iTunes: https://apple.co/2Rc9HOz
Kobo: https://bit.ly/2QZ5pde
Meet Carolyn
Carolyn Brown is a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street
Journal, and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author and a RITA
finalist. With more than 90 books on the market, she’s a recipient of the Bookseller’s
Best Award, and the prestigious Montlake Diamond Award, and also a three-time
recipient of the National Reader’s Choice Award.
Carolyn and her husband live in
the small town of Davis, Oklahoma, where everyone knows everyone else, as well
as what they’re doing and when—and they read the local newspaper on Wednesday
to see who got caught. They have three grown children and enough grandchildren
to keep them young.
When she’s not writing, Carolyn
likes to plot new stories in her backyard with her tom cat, Boots Randolph
Terminator Outlaw, and watch him protect the yard from all kinds of wicked
varmints like crickets, locusts, and spiders. Visit her at
www.carolynbrownbooks.com.
You can follow Carolyn on these social media sites:
E.E.: How often to you get lost in a
story?
Carolyn: Every single time I write a
story, I get lost in it. I always drag my feet a little when it comes time to
write the last two chapters because the characters that have been in my head
for weeks have become like family. It was especially hard with Cowboy Brave
because I loved the Fab Five, and Justin’s kindness toward them. I really loved
Emily and have often wished I was as comfortable in my own skin as she is.
E.E.: What sound or noise do you
love?
Carolyn: I absolutely love the sound of
the ocean. I don’t need to wade in it, swim in it or ever put my toes in it—all
I need to do is sit on the white sands of the beach and listen to the tide roll
in and out to be at peace with the world. Noise is different than sound—so with
that in mind, I like the noise of country
music. Not so much the new alternative country but the old stuff by George
Jones, Travis Tritt, George Strait and Conway Twitty.
E.E.: What’s your favorite movie of
all time?
Carolyn: I read “The Godfather” long
before it was a number one best seller and fell in love with the story. When
the movie came out, Mr. B had plans to take me to see it, but alas, I broke my
glasses that very day. I was heartbroken until my friend reminded me that her
eight year old daughter had the same prescription I did. She loaned me her
glasses, and I might have looked a lot strange, but I could see and that’s all
that mattered. I’d say my second favorite is Steel Magnolias. I watched
it three times in one day and cried every time. Any book or movie that can
evoke that kind of emotion time after time, is amazing.
E.E.: What’s the first thing you do
when you finish writing a book?
Carolyn: I start another book. I just
finished Christmas with a Cowboy yesterday, and I’m already working on
my next women’s fiction book. I’m happy when I’m writing—and nobody wants me to
be unhappy!
E.E.: Which of your characters would
you most/least to invite to dinner, and why?
Carolyn: I would love to sit down to
dinner with the Fab Five—that’s the five senior citizens that Emily takes to
the ranch for a little vacation in Cowboy Brave—Sarah, Patsy, Bess, Otis
and Larry. They entertained me so much with their antics in this book that I
think it would be a hoot to have dinner with them.
E.E.: What would you say is your
most interesting quirk?
Carolyn: I’m slighty superstitious. I
do not walk under ladders. I always eat black eyed peas and greens on New Years
(even though I’m not real fond of either). I will always turn around and go
another way if a black cat crosses my path. If I find a penny, it has to be
heads-up before I pick it up.
E.E.: How did you come up with the
idea for your book?
Carolyn: My sister and I used to say
that we were going to the nursing home together, and we were going to be so
ornery they’d want to kick us out. I thought it would be a hoot to put five
really sassy senior citizens on the Longhorn Ranch and see what they’d do. My
sister, Patti, is the inspiration for Patsy, and there’s a little bit of me in
Bess.
Let's have a 'COVER CONTEST!"
Here are the covers for the
first four Longhorn Canyon books. Cowboy Rebel will be out in May so keep
your reading glasses handy.
Which cover do you like best?
LEAVE YOUR ANSWER to get your
name in the drawing for a ebook copy of any one of the first three books—Cowboy
Bold, Cowboy Honor or Cowboy Brave. Don't forget to leave your email so we can contact you.
Damien Finney believes that after three years as a firefighter, two tours in
Afghanistan, and one year in PTSD therapy, he’s ready to leave hell and start the
next chapter of his life. After rigorous training, he’s earned a spot on an
elite smokejumper crew, but then a failed jump lands him right back on the
Devil’s doorstep.
