"I want to touch the earth. I want to break it in my hands..." (Dixie Chicks, Cowboy Take Me Away)
Quite certain I am not alone in this, I am often inspired by music in my writing. One that I've used for inspiration (to high decibels, I admit) when I write about my country boys (Gabe-Unfinished Dreams, Sheriff Jake-Wild and Unruly, Wyatt-Rugged Hearts) is the above song, "Cowboy Take Me Away" For me, it paints a glorious picture of wide open spaces, the sun warm on my face, and the heady the scent of new earth--all of which inspires me to plant a little something 'wild and unruly!' (whether in a story or a flower pot!;)
Authors and readers, I'd love to know what songs about "country boys" inspire you--to do...whatever!!
Post your fav song and tell us why us why it reminds you of country boys! Hey, you never know--something "Wild and Unruly" just might be coming your way!! ;))
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Today, I have a couple of ladies who inspire a great deal of country boy lovin and life in their work!! Welcome to the front porch, the talented C.H. Admirand and Paige Tyler!!
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What inspired me to write this story?
This is the 3rd book in my Hot Contemporary Cowboy series: The Secret Life of Cowboys for Sourcebooks…entitled JESSE. He is the youngest of the Garahan brothers—yes, I love my Irish Westerns—and has always dreamed of racing cars, but the Circle G Ranch is in dire straits and he’s going to do whatever it takes to keep their grandfather’s dream alive. They can’t lose the ranch. But an unexpected stop to help a stranded car will change his life…for the good!
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Jesse Garahan hit the gas and breathed in the hot Texas air. He loved the feel of the wind in his face and the engine rumbling beneath him as the hot sun smiled down, trying to parboil him to the driver’s seat.
He’d left the ranch in two pairs of very capable hands—his brothers’. Tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, he wondered if he could find a wild woman like the one Garth Brooks was singing about on the radio. Hell—he didn’t have time for romance right now, too much to do and not enough time to get it done in. Setting that thought aside, he concentrated on the road ahead of him and coaxing as much speed as possible out of his truck.
Flooring it, tearing ass along the road to town, he grinned. He loved driving and figured he missed his calling, having to work at the ranch with his brothers—but Garahans stuck together no matter what, and as long as the ranch still had life left in it, a Garahan would be running it. With enough work for ten men, most days he and his brothers were worn to the bone, but not ready to roll over and give up.
A speck of color off in the distance at the side of the road had him cutting back on the accelerator. Could be one of the Dawson sisters; Miss Pam had told him she’d been having a bit of trouble with her old pickup. Slowing it down, ready to lend a hand, he sucked in a breath and held it. Steam poured out from under the hood of a car that a very curvy, compact, jean-clad blonde was opening the hood to. When he noticed the rag in her hand, he knew what she was going to do.
“Damn fool woman!” He feathered the gas for more speed, cranked the wheel hard to the left, whipping the car in a perfect one-eighty. Gravel spit out from beneath his tires as he skidded to a halt behind her vehicle.
When she jumped back with a hand to her heart, he threw the truck in park and swung his door open with enough force to move the dead summer air like the early morning breeze coming across the pond at the Circle G. Stomping over to her, he grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her off to the side, out of harm’s way.
When she yanked free of his hold, he was more than ready to read her the Riot Act. Drawing in a deep breath, he was about to let loose when he heard a little voice calling.
“Mommy?”
“Lacy, honey, I told you to stay in the back seat until I fixed the car.”
Looking down, he noticed a pint-sized cowgirl staring up at him, her big blue eyes wide with wonder. Not much surprised Jesse Garahan, but the little bit of a thing, no bigger than a fairy, was wearing pink—from the top of her head to the soles of her feet—and stood out like a swirl of cotton candy at the county fair.
“Go on back now; I have to thank the man for trying to help us.” The woman’s voice was firm, but the little girl wasn’t listening. Before he could process that fact, the vision in pink was tugging on his jeans and asking, “Are you a good guy or a bad guy?”
He shook his head at the incongruity of the situation. He’d intended to put the fear of God into the woman foolish enough to open the cap of her overheated radiator while she stood in front of it, and instead here he was staring down at the tiniest, pinkest cowgirl he’d ever seen.
“I uh…” He didn’t know how to answer. If he’d done what he’d intended to do—yell at her mother—the little girl would probably be crying now, and positive he was a bad guy. “I stopped to help.”
When the little one nodded but refused to let go of his jeans, the woman came closer and soothed, “He’s a good guy, honey.”
The little girl tilted her head to one side and frowned up at him. “But he gots a black hat—Gramma says good guys wear white hats.”
Jesse chuckled. “Is your grandmother a fan of Gene Autry or Roy Rogers?”
Her little head bobbed up and down, and her cowgirl hat slipped off her head and would have hit the ground if not for the bright white cord attached to it. She was still looking up at him when she said, “Uh-huh.”
“That was a long time ago, and only on TV,” the cowgirl’s mother told her. “The good guys wear white or black hats now.”
The little one bobbled and grabbed a hold of his leg with both little hands and whispered, “Daddy wears a black hat.”
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Buy links Amazon / Barnes and Noble / Books A Million / Indie Bound /
Follow C.H.: WEBSITE / BLOG /
FB AUTHOR PAGE / TWITTER /FACEBK
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LEAVE A COMMENT OR QUESTION TO BE ENTERED TO WIN A SIGNED COPY OF BOOK I, IN C.H.'S FABULOUS NEW SMALL TOWN SERIES--A WEDDING IN APPLE GROVE
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Next, let's welcome Paige Tyler to the front porch!
BIO: Paige Tyler is a full-time, multi-published, award-winning writer of erotic romance. She and her research assistant (otherwise known as her husband!) live on the beautiful Florida coast with their easy going dog and their lazy, I-refuse-to-get-off-the-couch-for-anything-but-food cat. When not working on her latest book, Paige enjoys reading, jogging, doing Pilates, going to the beach, watching Pro football, and vacationing with her husband at Disney. She loves writing about strong, sexy, alpha males and the feisty, independent women who fall for them From verbal foreplay to sexual heat, her wickedly hot stories of romance, adventure, passion and true love will bring a blush to your cheeks and leave you breathlessly panting for more.
I have a confession to make. I never used to read westerns. I never cared much for western movies either—well, except for Clint Eastwood movies, and Viggo Mortensen’s—so I figured I wouldn’t like western romances, either. I was wrong. I read Shelley Thacker’s Into the Sunset—one of my all-time favorite books, by the way—and I was hooked! That was around the time when I sold my very first book. After finishing that one, I immediately started on another, and that one was—you guessed it—a western romance. And not just any western romance, but a western spanking romance to boot. It’s called KAYLA AND THE RANCHER and it’s about a big-city Eastern girl from the mid 1800′s who decides to defy her father (who intends to marry her off to a jerk) and go to San Francisco to pursue her dream of becoming a dress designer. On the stagecoach, Kayla meets a shy girl heading to the Wyoming Territory to be a rancher’s mail-order bride. Before they reach Copper Creek, the girl changes her mind and begs Kayla to tell her groom to be. Kayla has every intention of doing so, but when she sees how gorgeous the rancher is, she finds herself pretending to be his mail-order bride instead. As you can imagine, that gets her into all sorts of trouble! That book was (and still is!) so popular that you’d think I would have devoted myself solely to writing westerns, but I didn’t. Not until a few years later when I came up with THE CUTLER BROTHERS SERIES. It’s about two hot and hunky Texas brothers named Cade and Madoc who are U.S. Marshals. One falls for a girl in the Witness Protection Program, while the other falls for a beautiful fugitive wanted for murder. Like my first western, it was immediately a bestseller for me (and still is!). Did I run right out and write another western on the heels of that three-book series? Nope. In fact, I didn’t write one until I talked to another writer at a conference who told me that westerns are huge. And that if I wrote a story with a ménage and BDSM, even better. I immediately wrote KARLEIGH’S COWBOYS. That book made it to Number Eight on the Amazon Top Ten in Western Romance, so I wrote a sequel called AND THE RANCH HAND MAKES THREE. That book made it to Number Ten. Both books are now available in a two-book set (ebook or print) called MORE THAN A COWBOY, as well as individually in ebook format. To give you a little taste of my bestselling hot BDSM cowboy ménages, here are a couple excerpts. The buy links are on my website, along with some additional super sexy excerpts!
Happy Reading!
WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO WRITE THIS STORY?
I have a confession to make. I never used to read westerns. I never cared much for western movies either—well, except for Clint Eastwood movies, and Viggo Mortensen’s—so I figured I wouldn’t like western romances, either. I was wrong. I read Shelley Thacker’s Into the Sunset—one of my all-time favorite books, by the way—and I was hooked! That was around the time when I sold my very first book. After finishing that one, I immediately started on another, and that one was—you guessed it—a western romance. And not just any western romance, but a western spanking romance to boot. It’s called KAYLA AND THE RANCHER and it’s about a big-city Eastern girl from the mid 1800′s who decides to defy her father (who intends to marry her off to a jerk) and go to San Francisco to pursue her dream of becoming a dress designer. On the stagecoach, Kayla meets a shy girl heading to the Wyoming Territory to be a rancher’s mail-order bride. Before they reach Copper Creek, the girl changes her mind and begs Kayla to tell her groom to be. Kayla has every intention of doing so, but when she sees how gorgeous the rancher is, she finds herself pretending to be his mail-order bride instead. As you can imagine, that gets her into all sorts of trouble! That book was (and still is!) so popular that you’d think I would have devoted myself solely to writing westerns, but I didn’t. Not until a few years later when I came up with THE CUTLER BROTHERS SERIES. It’s about two hot and hunky Texas brothers named Cade and Madoc who are U.S. Marshals. One falls for a girl in the Witness Protection Program, while the other falls for a beautiful fugitive wanted for murder. Like my first western, it was immediately a bestseller for me (and still is!). Did I run right out and write another western on the heels of that three-book series? Nope. In fact, I didn’t write one until I talked to another writer at a conference who told me that westerns are huge. And that if I wrote a story with a ménage and BDSM, even better. I immediately wrote KARLEIGH’S COWBOYS. That book made it to Number Eight on the Amazon Top Ten in Western Romance, so I wrote a sequel called AND THE RANCH HAND MAKES THREE. That book made it to Number Ten. Both books are now available in a two-book set (ebook or print) called MORE THAN A COWBOY, as well as individually in ebook format. To give you a little taste of my bestselling hot BDSM cowboy ménages, here are a couple excerpts. The buy links are on my website, along with some additional super sexy excerpts!
Happy Reading!
The barn was just as impressive on the inside as it was on the outside. Lined with spacious stalls on either side, it was home to fifteen of the most beautiful horses Karleigh had ever seen. But as much as she adored horses, it was the two hunky guys pitching hay sans shirts halfway down the center aisle who immediately caught her eye. Both tall with broad shoulders and killer pecs, not to mention some seriously lickable
abs, one had dark hair and a sexy trace of scruff, while the other was blond and more clean-cut. When Heather said Colorado Springs was full of hot guys, she’d neglected to
mention two of them worked for her.
Karleigh leaned in closer to her friend. “Who are they?”
“Two of our best ranch hands.” Heather’s lips curved in a knowing smile. “Come on. I’ll introduce you.”
Karleigh was hoping she’d say that.
The two men stopped what they were doing to look up at their approach. As their eyes—one pair of baby blues, one dark and soulful—met hers, Karleigh’s pulse skipped a beat.
“Boys, I’d like you to meet my friend Karleigh Blake. Karleigh’s here on vacation from New York for a couple weeks.” Heather glanced at her. “Karleigh, meet Holden Donnelly and Mav Ryan.”
Heather gestured to each of the men as she said their names. Holden was the blue-eyed blond. Mav was the one with the smoldering, dark eyes.
Both men took off their leather work gloves and held out their hands. Their hands were big and strong around hers. They were rough and slightly calloused, too, she noticed. Nothing like the men back in New York City. Damn, it was sexy.
“Pleasure to meet you, ma’am,” they drawled as they shook her hand, each of them flashing her their own version of a heart-stopping grin.
“Me, too. I mean, you, too. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Her face colored. Darn it.
She was normally poise and well-spoken, but concentrating on anything other than
those two glorious bare chests in front of her was almost impossible. “Oh, and it’s Karleigh.”
“I’m going to take Karleigh out riding and show her around the ranch,” Heather said. “Beauty hasn’t been out today yet, has she?”
“No, she hasn’t,” Mav said. “It might take some doing to pry her away from Highwayman. They seem to have taken a fancy to each other.”
Heather sighed. “I thought that might happen if we put them next to each other.
Just don’t tell Loverboy.”
Holden must have seen the look of confusion on Karleigh’s face because he
explained, “We’ve been trying to figure out which male to breed Beauty with and were
pretty sure she’d taken a liking to Loverboy, but then Highwayman went and wooed
her, and now all bets are off.”
“Ah,” Karleigh said. “I see. So, it’s a love triangle.”
Mav rested both hands on the handle of the hay rake, flexing his big biceps and
making them look even bigger. Karleigh bit her lip to stifle a moan.
“My money’s on Highwayman,” Mav said.
“Fifty says she picks Loverboy,” Holden insisted.
Mav grinned. “You’re on.”
Heather shook her head, but Karleigh saw a smile playing around the corners of her mouth. “Well, right now, she’s going to have to settle for a couple hours of girl talk with Honeysuckle because Karleigh and I are going for a ride. If anyone needs me, we’ll be out by the east pastures. See you guys later.”
Karleigh would much rather have stayed and watched Holden and Mav flex their muscles some more, but she obediently fell into step beside Heather as the redhead led the way to where the mares were stabled. She threw a covert glance over her shoulder to get another glimpse of the two men working, and found both of them standing there admiring her instead. Or more precisely, admiring her jean-clad ass. The lust in their eyes made heat pool between her thighs and she squeezed them together to ease the sudden ache there. An hour ago she’d been flirting with the idea of hooking up with a guy if she happened to meet one. Now, she had two gorgeous guys to pick from. Choosing wasn’t going to be easy.
FOLLOW PAIGE: WEBSITE / BLOG / FACEBOOK / TWITTER
WHOA! YOU MUST LEAVE A QUESTION OR COMMENT TO BE ENTERED TO WIN A DOWNLOAD OF MORE THAN A COWBOY !!!
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TOMORROW IS THE START OF THE WEEKEND, BUT I HOPE YOU'LL STOP BY THE VERANDA TO CATCH UP ON THE FABULOUS MARIN THOMAS AND HER SEXY RODEO REBELS AND A PEEK FROM THE FIRST IN MY KINNISON LEGACY SERIES--RUGGED HEARTS!
SEE Y'ALL TOMORROW!
~Amanda
