Book 4: A Cowboy For the Twins
The Cowboy Academy Series
On this page, you’ll find the story blurb, an excerpt, the story behind the story, and bonus content.
Double the trouble for the bachelor cowboy!
Rodeo star Tate Oakley has loved Ellie Rowland since high school, even after she married his best friend. Now the newly single cowgirl is back in Clementine, Oklahoma. Ellie is focused on opening her own restaurant, helping her sick father with his ranch and raising her adorable twin girls. But could she also be ready to give the gun-shy Tate the second chance that he’s been looking for?
Excerpt:
“Hey, mister!” The cowgirl in the pink dress planted herself in front of Tate. “You aren’t married, are you?”
“He don’t look single.” The cowgirl with a frilly pink shirt and blue jeans plunked her hands onto her hips. “Do you need a present for your valentine?”
The traffic in the merchant aisle flowed around Tate as he digested the disparate pitches of the two little salesgirls.
He was used to attracting female attention, but not from cowgirls this young. They couldn’t be more than eight or nine. “Howdy, ladies.”
“Bring him over here, gals.” An old woman with long wild white hair beneath a straw cowboy hat sat behind a table with a blue-and-purple paisley tablecloth. She wore a flowing bright orange dress belted with leather and silver. A display of individually wrapped heart-shaped cookies sat before her. She gestured for Tate to come closer, metal bangles jingling on her wrists. “Good work, girls. He looks like a lovelorn cowboy, for sure, for sure.”
Clearly she doesn’t know me.
Tate was a much sought-after bachelor, but a confirmed bachelor, having lost his heart years ago. “What are you selling today, ma’am?”
“Ma’am?” The old woman scoffed, reaching for his hands, while the little sales prodigies watched intently. “You may call me Gigi.” She worked her fingers over his palms and fingertips. She wore big rings on every finger, and every ring had a different color stone.
Smiling, Tate carefully extricated his hands. “Okay, Gigi, what are you selling?” He was willing to humor her for five bucks. Maybe ten if it included a cookie.
Gigi laughed, making the dangly earrings swing over her shoulders before settling back against all that long white hair. “I’m going to do you a favor and tell you the truth. You, my friend, are pining after a woman you think you can’t have.”
“Do tell,” Tate murmured, his smile feeling strained.
“Your hands say you’re a hardworking man,” Gigi continued, pushing a cookie across the table toward him. “And that smile of yours… You smile far too much at far too many women.”
Well, you did say I was pining after an unattainable woman, so why not smile at the rest of them?
“How much for the cookie?” Tate asked, holding on to his smile by a thin thread.
“Five dollars.” Gigi peered past him as the girls trapped another cowboy. “I can tell you how to win her over for another five. That’s a bargain, all things considered. How long have you been pining over her?”
“I’ll just take the cookie.” Tate handed her a five.
“Gigi! Girls!” A commanding female voice rang out behind Tate just as the little cowgirls delivered Gigi another cowboy. “I asked you not to hard sell this time.”
“We’re making friends is all.” Gigi was already in possession of the next cowboy’s hands. It was Cord Malone, a young, struggling bull rider who was also popular with the ladies. “You let the wrong girl get away, son. For sure, for sure.”
At least Cord isn’t pining after the woman he couldn’t have.
“Good luck, buddy,” Tate told Cord. He unwrapped his cookie and turned to go, unexpectedly crashing into a cowgirl wearing an apron and smelling like smoked barbeque. Dropping his cookie, he reached out to take her arms, steadying her. “Sorry. My fault.” But shoot. He’d stepped on his cookie.
“Tate? Tate Oakley?” The cowgirl’s features came into focus. Deep green eyes, pert little nose and a smile that had always made him long for something more, much to the detriment of his friendship with her and his relationship with Buck back in the day. “It’s me! Ellie Rowland.”
Tate didn’t know whether to whoop or vomit.
Before he settled on a reaction, Ellie threw her arms around Tate’s neck and hugged him so enthusiastically that her cowboy hat fell to the ground.
The Story Behind the Story
This is a reader favorite. My working title for this book was Be My Cowboy Valentine. I don’t write a lot of Valentine’s Day romances but I had a lot of fun with this one. Tate spent time in foster care, where he wasn’t allowed to date a girl after one of his foster brothers. But he loved Ellie. And now that she’s available, he wonders if she’s off-limits.
As the “nice twin,” Tate has been taken advantage of over the years. It was fun to write about him learning to stick up for himself and go for what he wants. Make sure you read his brother Ryan’s book - A Cowboy Christmas Carol. Both are fun, feel good romances.
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