Mark: Secret Cowboy & Rancher and Protector (Harlequin The Cowboy Collection) - Softcover

Britton, Pamela

Softcover

ISBN 10: 037360145X ISBN 13: 9780373601455

Verlag: Harlequin Themes, 2015

Inhaltsangabe

ONLY ONE THING IS MORE IMPORTANT TO THESE COWBOYS—THE WOMEN THEY LOVE! 

MARK: SECRET COWBOY 

Rodeo rider Mark Hansen has hated the Cody clan his entire life. And he's loved Nicki Sable just as long. But not only is Nicki tight with the Codys—she's also his boss's daughter. And now Mark has a secret that could tear two families apart and put Nicki out of his reach forever. Mark has never chosen the easy road, but this time the wrong decision could cost him everything. 

RANCHER AND PROTECTOR 

Amber Brooks took the job at Camp Cowboy to find a way to reach her special-needs nephew—not to go gaga over the best-looking guy she's ever laid eyes on. True, Colt Sheridan can teach her a thing or two about horses…and other things. But Amber knows better than to trust anyone with her secret. And yet…just what is it about cowboys?

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

With over a million books in print, Pamela Britton likes to call herself the best known author nobody’s ever heard of. Of course, that’s begun to change thanks to a certain licensing agreement with that little racing organization known as NASCAR.  But before the glitz and glamour of NASCAR, Pamela wrote books that were frequently voted the best of the best by The Detroit Free Press, Barnes & Noble (two years in a row) and RT BOOKclub Magazine.

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She was the one woman he could never have, and it drove Mark Hansen nuts.

Nicki Sable stood in the shadow of the announcer's booth, laughing at something Jesse Cody said, their words drowned out by the blaring voice coming from the loudspeakers. She didn't see Mark there, spying on her. He had to crouch to peer between the white metal pipes. He stood in a twenty-by-twenty pen, one that served as a corral when it wasn't being used by rough stock riders to store their gear, and seeing her there, watching her talk to Jesse, made Mark's stomach clench.

Damn that Jesse Cody, he thought, going back to rubbing rosin on his bull rope. The no-good son of a gun had it all—the best equipment, a supportive family and, most of all, Nicki Sable.

"You ready to ride?"

Mark glanced up, shocked to see Nicki on the other side of the fence, a half smile on her gorgeous face as she looked him in the eyes.

"Think so," he said slowly, glancing around him for a moment to ensure one of the other Cody brothers wasn't standing behind him and that maybe she was talking to him. Then again, they didn't all ride bulls. Only Jesse did. Mark's nemesis in more ways than one.

"You ever ridden Bandito before?" she asked.

Mark kept his gaze on his rope, trying hard not to let her see how difficult it was to remain unaffected by her presence.

Pure and simple, he wanted Nicki Sable.

Since the first moment he'd spotted her mutton busting when she was nine years old he'd been fascinated by her. Not that he'd wanted her back then, but the spark of interest had been there from the very beginning. As she'd gotten older, and grown into a true beauty with her honey-colored skin and stunning green eyes, his fascination had turned to something more. Trouble was, he worked for her father. And her dad hated his guts.

"I rode him at your dad's practice pen," Mark said. "I think he was hoping he'd toss me on my keister."

"Who?" she asked. "My dad?"

Mark smirked, which was about as close to a smile as he could get, what with his face all frozen like it was. "Yup."

She frowned. "Just what is it with you and my dad?" Mark almost laughed. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me," she said, seeming to be genuinely curious.

Mark glanced toward the arena. They were still tie-down roping in there, the crowd suddenly cheering as someone—Mark didn't know who—jumped off his horse at the exact same moment a black angus calf fell to the ground, the rope that'd put him there stretched taut between the steer and the horse.

"How much time do you have?" Mark asked, once the sound of the crowd faded.

"All day," she said, tipping her head sideways, her long blond hair—Barbie hair, he used to call it when they were kids—falling over one shoulder. "I have to help my dad load stock once we're all done."

Today was the finals of the Dakota Days Roundup. In less than an hour, Mark would try to win himself some money at one of South Dakota's most popular rodeos. And so he should be focusing on the job at hand, not chatting with the biggest distraction on God's green earth.

"Let's just say he and I don't see eye to eye," he said. Specifically, Jonathan Sable would never forgive Mark for wanting to date his daughter. Years ago, back when Mark had first started working for the owner of Sable Livestock Company, he had made the colossal mistake of asking Mr. Sable's permission to date Nicki. That was the cowboy way—to ask permission before courting a woman. Mark would never forget the man's words: The day you win the NFR is the day you'll date my daughter!

"About what?" she asked, glancing toward the filled-to-capacity grandstands when the crowd let out another yell.

You, he almost answered.

"What I do for a living," he said instead, because he knew Jonathan couldn't stand the fact that Mark rode bulls and, yes, that was a total double standard. The man made his living breeding some of the finest bucking stock in the world, but he didn't want his daughter dating one of the cowboys who rode those bulls, because he felt bull riding was a deadend career.

Whatever.

But there was another, more important reason why Nicki's father didn't like him around. His name wasn't Jesse Cody. Mark risked glancing up at her. Nicki was searching his face intently, as if she were trying to pull apart invisible curtains to catch a peek of what was going on inside his head. "You don't really think that, do you?" she asked. "That my dad feels you're not good enough for me because you ride bulls?"

And there he went again, putting himself on the spot. Lie to her and keep the peace between her and her father. Don't lie and stir the pot.

"I do," he said, because when it came right down to it, he could no more lie to her than he could keep from wanting her. She smelled so damn nice standing there. Like some kind of flower. The scent was so at odds with the potent smell of livestock that he could have sat there and inhaled the unique fragrance all day. He looked up at her.

Again, that penetrating stare. "Well," she said slowly, having to pause for a moment because yet another cowboy had jumped off a horse, a sorrel gelding stopping so hard it practically sat on the ground. "What if I—"

"Nicki!" someone yelled, a male someone.

Mark shook his head; he recognized the voice. Of course he did. After nearly a lifetime of tension between them, he could ID Jesse Cody's husky baritone from fifty feet away.

"Your father wants you," the blond cowboy said, his rigging bag thrown over his shoulder.

Even in profile Mark could see Nicki's lips press together, as if she was disappointed. "My father can wait," she said.

"No, he can't," Jesse contradicted, shooting Mark a glare. "He's trying to get some steers loaded. Wants you over there ASAP."

Nicki glanced at Mark, sunlight turning her eyes the exact same color as lime rinds. "You going to be here for a while?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said. Until they were done with the bull riding.

"Good. I have something to ask you, but I'll have to do it later. I'll be right back." She dashed off, just as she always did when her father summoned her. She might be twenty-nine years old, but she was still Daddy's little girl. Mark wouldn't be surprised if Jonathan Sable hadn't spotted her talking to him, and then invented a reason for calling her to his side.

"I see you're still mooning after her," Jesse said.

Don't react. Don't let him see how badly you want to punch him in the nose. Just keep rubbing rosin on your rope.

Mark squared his shoulders. "Just being sociable, Cody."

Jesse tipped his hat back, his wide blue eyes suddenly more pronounced beneath his white Stetson. "Yeah, right," he said, turning on his heel and heading for the entrance of the livestock pen, where all the other bull riders waited to ride.

White. What kind of hat was that? No real cowboy wore white. That was only for movie stars and wannabe rough stock riders—just like Jesse.

Then why does he beat you some of the time?

Mark just shook his head, trying to fling the thought out of his head. That was all he needed. To let Jesse Cody get into his brain right before jumping on a two-thousand-pound animal. Bad enough that Nicki had...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Harlequin Themes
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2015
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 037360145X
• ISBN 13: 9780373601455
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 416
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: HarperCollins Publishers; enquiries@harpercollins.ie; ; Fullham Palace Road 77-85; London; W6 JB; Vereinigtes Königreich