Cowboy Culture

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In honor of my new release, Cowboy Heat, an anthology featuring stories from 14 other authors with fierce cowboys and the women strong enough to tame them taking the lead, we’ll walk in the boots of a cowboy for the next few Tuesdays and explore interesting facets of his life in the blog series, Cowboy Culture.

The cowboy is so much more than a herder of cattle. His roots trace back to Spain and the first European immigrants who settled the new world. Though known today for his loyalty and hard-working spirit, his early expeditions recognize the occasionally savagery of his conquests in the frontier. His persistence and ability to thrive with little but the horse between his strong legs helped make him the backbone of the America West. It’s no wonder Hollywood, literary and popular fiction have centered hundreds of thousands of works on the icon.

Today we’ll look at the animal that made the cowboy’s position in history possible. The horse.

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Scientific name Equus ferus caballus. Measured from the crest of the withers, where the back and neck meet, a horse stands 14.3 hands (hand = 4 inches) or taller of lean muscle and thick bone. Anything shorter is considered a pony. The tallest horse ever recorded was 21.2 and 1/2 hh! That’s seven feet, two and a half inches at the withers. As you can see, they come with a unique set of vocabulary terms. Also, an unbound spirt and grace, though, like the rest of us they have their clumsy moments.

Archeological discoveries show horses were first domesticated around 3500 BC. There are over two hundred unique breeds in the world that vary by gated, color, blood and body type. Historically horses have been used as the primary source of transportation, but in today’s world of motor vehicles they are used for a variety of pleasure sports, work herding  cattle, as well as therapies for people with physical and mental disabilities.

A horse’s stamina and highly trainable nature have made them a tool of war and work, but they are known by horse-lovers for their honest emotions and open hearts. Cheers to the magic of horses who have enriched our lives and made so many things possible!

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Contest Alert!!

Like me! Friend me! Follow me! Review me! And win!

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Each like, follow, friend or review will enter your name in the drawing for a $10 Amazon Gift Card in the following increments.

Facebook like = 1 entry

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Already like me, follow me and are friends with me…

Share me with your friends or followers = 2 entries per social media outlet share

Review of any of my three titles Cowboy Heat, High Octane Heroes or Wild At Heart Volume II (PG-13 rated anthology benefiting Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge) on Amazon or Goodreads = 3 entries

Contest runs from March 18 – April 18th. Winner will be chosen using random.org and notified by April 21st. Shoot me a message on Facebook, Twitter, my Blog or Website letting me know your email address (used only for notification on this contest) and how you entered, and I’ll add you the appropriate number of times to my tally sheet!!

Let’s Party!

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It’s, March 18th, release day for Cowboy Heat! In celebration, the contributing authors are giving away books and other swag all day long (8:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m central time).

Come Join

Randi Alexander
Cheyenne Blue
Michael Bracken
Layla Chase
Cynthia D’Alba
Delilah Devlin
Shoshanna Evers
Mia Hopkins
Myla Jackson
Emma Jay
Cat Johnson
Amber Lin
Robie Madison
Megan Mitcham
Sabrina York

…on Facebook for all the fun and prizes!! I’m hosting from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. central time and giving away an Amazon gift card!!

Cowboy Heat: Western Romance for Women

I interrupt our previously scheduled Zimbabwe posts (which we’ll complete in May) with some exciting news. Cowboy Heat‘s release date jumped from June to March 18! Cowboy Heat: Western Romance for Women is another Delilah Devlin Collection which gathers short stories from fifteen talented authors, many of whom are NYT & USA Today Bestselling authors.

I have tons of neat things to share with you in this next series about the iconic heroes. We’ll discuss (my favorite) the horses, the chow, the tools of the trade, The West and the men who helped shape it.

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For now, I’ll give you a sneak peak at my story.

Coming Home

 A busted-up rodeo champion finds the squirt he tormented in youth transformed into a fiery woman challenging him to become the man she deserves

Excerpt

Gravel crunched under the massive pickup’s tires as it left smooth pavement behind. Barrett’s chest constricted in response. Breathing became hard. Hell, the rebellion his insides pitched was close kin to a panic attack, but cowboys, whole or broke down, didn’t have such weak-kneed reactions. The panorama before him of vast rolling hills, green, cow-sprinkled grass and wide-open sky was home. Six years away hadn’t dimmed its beauty or his affection. Barrett rolled his shoulders and shrugged off the vibe. Nothin’ to get riled about.

Barrett crested the first hill and knew he had every right to feel screwed up inside. Two sorrel mares, one a good hand taller and three hundred pounds stouter than the other, blocked the gravel driveway. A petite woman with long, strawberry, wind-whipped hair, wearing boots and chaps, sat astride the smaller horse. Her elegant jaw set in a familiar expression of stubborn rage.

“Holy shit!” The words left his mouth in a drawled whisper.

He halted the pickup and confronted her fierce gaze with his own. The air between them grew thick with tension like an ol’ western draw. Finally, she swirled a finger in the air, signaling him to roll down the window. Being a gentleman, he obliged.

She planted a delicate hand on her hip. “You didn’t really think you were gonna sneak back home while everybody’s gone to auction, did you?”

The air blew crisp and clean in his face as he draped one arm on the door. “Yeah, I’s countin’ on it actually.”

“Anyone you lookin’ to avoid?” she asked, straightening, her silky pink lips tightening.

That face, part angel, part nymph, never ceased to amaze him. Neither did the rest of her. His eyes dropped to her bite-sized breasts and his cock saluted, thickening in his jeans. “Naw.” His lips parted again, but the words died in an expelled breath. Too soon for all that.

Pale lids narrowed around flame-green eyes. Her nose twitched, drawing his attention to the spray of freckles that ran across its ridge and over delightful apple cheeks. Then her lips moved. “A wise man would, but since you aren’t—lookin’ to avoid anyone, that is—git your tush out of that truck before my panties melt off.”

Damn, if his chest didn’t tighten again. He pounded his fist against the sensation, adjusted his hat, and leaned closer to the fiery woman. “Excuse me?”

“That is the point of that sexy machine, to make women drop their drawers?”

The laugh came from deep inside, from a place so hidden light hadn’t touched it in years. “Sassy Britches, it’s been a while. You’ve changed, and then you haven’t.”

“Barrett Whitman, if you wanna make it home, you won’t call me that again. I don’t care if you are ‘The Bear,’ four-year-reignin’ National Rodeo Champion. Get your ass out the truck and on this horse.”

“Scarlett, you keep talkin’ like that, and I’ll be forced to tell your daddy. I’d hate for him to have to paddle your sweet bottom.”

She gave a girlie, “Huh!” and then wiggled narrow hips as she spoke. “If you’d been around, you’d know my daddy’s retired back home to Texas and your parents saw fit to put me in charge of the ranch. Now, scoot. Daylight’s wastin’, and we got some ground to cover.”

Join The Fun

1) Subscribe to the Cowboy Heat Blog. To sign up click the Cowboy Heat Blog link. Look to the right side of this screen below the carousel of books. Enter your email address where it says “Subscribe to Blog Via Email.” That way, every post describing the exciting things we have coming will be delivered right to you inbox. You won’t miss a thing!

2) Go like our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/CowboyHeat. We’re busy planning events to tempt you to play. And again, there will be prizes involved, I know you don’t want to miss those either.

– With –

Randi Alexander
Cheyenne Blue
Michael Bracken
Layla Chase
Cynthia D’Alba
Delilah Devlin
Shoshanna Evers
Mia Hopkins
Myla Jackson
Emma Jay
Cat Johnson
Amber Lin
Robie Madison
Megan Mitcham
Sabrina York

Wild Wonders of Zimbabwe

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More than a mile wide the Zambezi River careens off the side of the earth, falling more than three hundred feet, slowly carving the basalt plateau in Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe. Ancient stone artifacts dating back two million years to the time of Homo habilis have been catalogued by its shores.

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Zimbabwe is home to countless species including the ever popular elephant, rhinoceros, lion, cheetah, wildebeest and hyena. But did you know, in this country even the birds are outrageously beautiful?

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My short story in the Wild at Heart Anthology benefiting Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge in Eureka Springs, AR, Fierce Wild, takes place near Matusadona National Park. Below is an example of the eclectic mix of creatures it protects. Enjoy!

THE ART LOVER – A story made vivid by passion

It is my pleasure to share in a book blast for one of my favorite authors, Maggie Wells! When I uploaded the HAWT cover below in size medium it didn’t do the puppy justice. So, you get size large. Enjoy!

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Starving artist Kelsey Tecato takes being The Templeton Museum’s artist in residence a little too literally. By day, she puts on a show of painting for the crowds that shuffle through the galleries, but at night, her muse runs wild.

Mitch Jameson is a guy’s guy. A cop moonlighting as a security guard, he has little use for the artsy-fartsy stuff, but the mysterious Ms. Tecato’s sexy portraits call to him.

So does an interior alarm.

When Officer Jameson goes to investigate, he finds a paint-splattered goddess working on a self-portrait–in the nude.

A couple tubes of paint and a roll in the drop cloths later, free-spirited Kelsey helps Officer Jameson discover his passion for art.

Where can you find it? Amazon

Retail Price: $0.99     Promotional Price: FREE    March 3-7, 2014

Maggie Wells

What a beauty! She’s funny and nice too. A real treat.

Author Info

Multi-published author, Maggie Wells, is a deep-down dirty girl with a weakness for hot heroes and happy endings. By day she is buried in spreadsheets, but at night she pens tales of people tangling up the sheets. The product of a charming rogue and a shameless flirt, this mild-mannered married lady has a naughty streak a mile wide.

Fueled by supertankers of Diet Coke, Maggie juggles fictional romance and the real deal by keeping her slow-talking Southern gentleman constantly amused and their two children mildly embarrassed. They are the food purveyors to three dogs, a passel of fish, and one impertinent house rabbit she claims is the love of her life. Shh. Don’t tell her husband.

You can find her online at http://www.maggie-wells.com, on Twitter @maggiewells1, or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AuthorMaggieWells

Author Links

Web: http://maggie-wells.com/

Personal Blog: http://maggie-wells.com/maggies-musings/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorMaggieWells?ref=hl

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/MaggieWells1

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1482834.Maggie_Wells

Excerpt

His gaze traveled over the discreet placard affixed to the wall, but he’d already memorized the pertinent facts. The paintings were created by someone named Kelsey Tecato, the museum’s ‘Artist in Residence’.

Coming on shift as the museum closed for the day, he’d searched the faces of museum patrons and employees as they straggled past the security station, but he’d yet to spot the one that matched the headshot of a studious-looking brunette featured in the museum brochure. When he oh-so-casually posed the question to Bert, he learned that meant Ms. Tecato’s art was being subsidized in exchange for her participation in demonstrations and exhibitions sponsored by the museum board. The knowing twinkle in the older man’s eyes when he clarified that the ‘in residence’ part didn’t refer to the artist’s living situation was enough to make him drop the subject. Bert was too damn nosy for a guy who never managed to pass the detective’s exam.

Forcing himself to put one foot in front of the other, he left the provocative portraits behind and turned toward the west end of the building. The Templeton rambled for nearly a city block but most of the space went unused. Exhibits occupied the open center space of the two-story building joined by a pair of sweeping marble staircases. The east side had been converted to classroom space decades before, but the warren of tiny rooms on the west end were primarily administrative offices and storage.

His heart started to pound when he picked up the murmur of a deep voice. Shifting the flashlight to his left hand, Mitch reached for his sidearm and came up empty. He was a guard tonight, not a cop. His service weapon was locked up safe in his apartment. At the end of the corridor he pulled up short, pressing his back against the wall and tightening his grip on the flashlight. He wore a panic button clipped to his belt but his instincts told him he wasn’t at the panic stage yet. Breathing soft and slow, he closed his eyes and focused his energy on catching a few words. Perhaps he could figure out what the intruders were after before making his presence known.

Thirty seconds passed. His eyes popped open then rolled heavenward as the droning voice segued into a bouncy pop song. The radio. Someone had left a radio playing in one of the offices. Shaking off the rush of adrenaline, Mitch pushed away from the wall and rounded the corner, only to come to a dead stop when he saw the fan of light spilling from the office at the very end of the hall.

Two things he knew for certain: the radio hadn’t been playing when he’d made his post-closing rounds, and that door on the end of the corridor hadn’t been open. He let the barrel of the flashlight slip through his fingers until he gripped the lamp. Wielding his only weapon like a club, he crept toward the door as silently as a guy who clocked in at six-four and two-ten could. Just outside the office, he caught a flash of movement inside the room and quickly pressed his back to the wall.

“About time you showed up.”

A woman. The intruder was a woman and she’d been expecting him. Irked by the presumptuous amusement in her tone, he stepped into the open doorway, prepared to let her have it, and almost swallowed his tongue.

Screw the flashing red lights. Alarm bells clamored in his head the moment recognition clicked. Kelsey Tecato. Artist in Residence. Painter of hard-on-inducing nudes. Live and in person, standing in the Templeton Museum after hours.

And naked as the day she was born.