Series: Coldiron Cowboys #3
Publication date: March 29th, 2021
Synopsis:
Rescuing love is never easy...
Veterinarian Dr. Louisa Coldiron comes from a long line of hardworking, rough riding, straight-shooting cowboys. Her father and brothers are cowboys and nearly every male in the small town of Santa Camino, Texas, is, was, or will be a cowboy. And experience has taught her that when a cowboy gets thrown into the mix, something gets broken.
Falling in love with the horses she helps to rescue is easy. Pretending she isn't falling for the sexy cowboy who teaches them to trust again...?
Not so much.
After years of roaming, Brody Vance feels he's finally found a home at the Promise Point Horse Rescue Ranch and a woman he could easily love. But he knows a wounded heart when he sees one. Louisa has more in common with her patients than she's willing to admit.
Coaxing Louisa's skittish heart into letting him take the reins of passion will take Brody's tender expertise.
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Excerpt
Shirtless and barefoot with his fly unzipped and his jeans riding low around his waist, Brody strode past Louisa, dropped his boots next to the fire, and began rummaged through his bags. The ridged muscles of his back flexed bronze in the glow of the firelight as he stretched his arms through a clean t-shirt and whipped it over his head.
Her suspicions had been right. He had air-dried. There wasn't a single drop of water on his naked torso.
She swallowed, struggling to get the marshmallow down her throat before she choked. With a pair of clean jeans in his hands, he moved behind the rock to change. His silence added to the tense moment of her knowing that his sexy ass was bare and just a few feet from where she was sitting.
When his jeans were up, he walked back to the rock where their supplies were, untied his sleeping bag, and rolled it out beside the fire.
So, he's going to go to bed without saying a word? This is the way it's going to be between us? Long workdays of silence, taciturn brooding, and decrypting facial expressions?
Brody positioned his saddle at one end of the sleeping bag and sat down, relaxing against it with a tired sigh. Minutes passed; the silence felt like a towering wall between them.
Finally, she'd had enough. Holding the bag with the last marshmallow in it, she stood, walked over to where he was sitting, and held it out to him. "There's one left."
He shook his head no.
"You haven't eaten all day, Brody." She snagged her food bag from the rock and started digging. "If you don't want the marshmallow, I have jerky, protein bars and--"
"I'm not mad at you," he said, looking up at her. "But I am furious with myself."
Caught up in the softness of his eyes and the gentle tone of his confession, Louisa crossed her legs and eased to the ground in front of him. "For what? I punched you."
"I told you too." He drew one leg up and rested his elbow on his knee. Curling his knuckles against his lips, he nervously brushed his thumb over his bearded jaw. "I pushed you to do something you didn't want to do. I'm sorry."
Brody was a rough and tough cowboy. She'd seen him get bucked off a horse, tossed into the air, bounce several times when he landed, and come up smiling. But there was another side to this cowboy that made guilt slam into her. The side that held her while she cried and spoke softly to babies. "I'm the one who should apologize. What I did was inexcusable. I punched you and I did it in front of all those people. You must have been mortified."
His bashful grin was unexpected and so sexy. "I might have blushed for a second or two, but I'm hardly scarred for life."
Above his beard line, his cheekbones darkened with a ruddy color. She'd never seen him blush before. It would be interesting to find out how far that shade of red covered his body when he was embarrassed.
Mina is the author of the Coldiron Cowboys series and the Rough Creek series (2020 IMADJINN AWARDS FINALISTS).
She and her husband live on a farm in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains. Along with reading and writing, she enjoys painting, photography, baking, and spending time with her rescue dogs, miniature horses, and donkeys.
Life in her corner of the world consists of long winter nights curled up by the fire, cheering on her favorite football teams in the fall, enduring March Madness in the spring and walking barefoot through her garden with a cold jar of tea in the summer -- fireflies at sunset accompanied by a serenade of crickets and frogs, and lazy nights in the porch swing.
Find out more about her books and sign up for her newsletter on her website.
