Book 3: A Cowboy Christmas Carol
The Cowboy Academy Series
On this page, you’ll find the story blurb, an excerpt, the story behind the story, and bonus content.
Christmas will come…to even the most reluctant cowboy!
Rodeo roper Ryan Oakley may hate Christmas, but he still needs a miracle. Unfortunately, the only person who sells top-notch competition horses is Jo Pierce, his former high school nemesis. Now Ryan’s making the single mom a bargain: he’ll set her up with his twin brother, her longtime crush. It’s the perfect holiday plan…until the no-nonsense working cowgirl ends up lassoing his heart instead.
Readers love A Cowboy Christmas Carol:
Reviews coming soon!
Excerpt:
“No pressure. No pressure. No pressure.”
“Steady now, Tate,” Ryan Oakley told his muttering twin while guiding his fidgety mount, Suzie, into the heeling side of the team roping box.
How Ryan heard Tate amid the noise of the rodeo was a mystery only explained by the twin bond.
“Next up in the team roping competition are the Oakley brothers.” The announcer’s voice boomed in the covered arena.
Tate muttered about pressure again.
Ryan reminded him to be steady again.
And the announcer carried on. “Riding the header side is Tate, leaving the heeling to Ryan. These two are each in the running for third place in the Prairie Circuit and have an opportunity to beat out the Cole brothers. It all comes down to this last run.”
Yep. It did. Ryan and Tate had never gotten this far before. They were hungry for a place in the top three. Third place in the Prairie Circuit meant there’d be a national postseason, big purses and high-paying endorsement opportunities.
“No pressure. No pressure.”
“Steady now,” Ryan repeated in a soothing voice. He eased back on the reins with his left hand, flexing his grip on the throwing rope in his right.
“You boys ready?” Chet, the chute worker, asked Ryan, his white handlebar mustache twitching.
At Ryan’s nod, Chet released the steer with a clank of the gate.
Out bolted several hundred pounds of compact Corrientes bovine intent upon hightailing it to the other side of the arena without being roped by horns or heels.
“Yaw!” Ryan kicked his horse into action. And even though Suzie leaped forward, the world slowed for Ryan.
In a few strides, Ryan and Suzie were almost ahead of Tate, which wasn’t good. Tate needed to be leading. And the steer was veering to the right, into Ryan’s path. Not good either.
Add half a second. Maybe more.
Neither one of them could afford more than that. Ryan couldn’t throw his rope around the steer’s heels until Tate landed his around its horns. They may call the competition team roping but they each were timed separately.
Ryan reined in his mount slightly, adjusting his speed to Tate’s pace.
The steer adopted a drunken weave.
Ryan and Tate closed ranks around him, straightening his path.
Throw the rope, Tate.
Too many seconds were ticking past. They were thundering toward the arena’s midline.
Throw the rope, Tate.
Finally, his brother gave it a toss. The lasso fell perfectly around both of the steer’s horns.
Ryan was aware of Tate tying off, backing off, slowing the steer. But his body was switching to instinctive mode, feeling not thinking—the twirl of his rope, the rhythm of the steer’s heels, his lungs filling with air, his muscles bunching, gathering strength.
Ryan let the rope fly.
It was a good throw. A perfect throw.
And yet, he knew…
He knew like he knew the sun was going to rise tomorrow.
They’d taken too long. They’d both come in fourth. Again.
The Story Behind the Story
This is the third book in my Cowboy Academy series and features a cowboy who is grumpy, glass half-empty and doesn’t like Christmas. His identical twin, on the other hand, is known as the nice twin. Poor Ryan is just trying to keep his brother out of trouble and advance them in the team roping race.
I like Ryan a lot, partly because I’m a worst-case scenario thinker, which should tell you that I sometimes am glass half-empty, just like Ryan. That bit of Eeyore-ness comes from Ryan’s big heart (and mine - lol). His heart has been broken before by his parents and he guards it fiercely now.
I wrote Jo as someone who didn’t quite fit in with the crowd. She’s a tomboy-cowgirl. She wears a wide-brimmed cowboy hat to protect her face from the sun’s rays and she tucks her jeans into her cowboy boots to protect from being snagged by barbed wire. Everything about her is practical…except for her crush on Ryan’s twin.
Get Your Copy Here
Harlequin (on sale November 1, 2023)
Available everywhere else November 28, 2023!
