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Texas Fandango by Cynthia D’Alba
Texas Montgomery Mavericks Book Three

Two weeks on a beach can deepen more than just their tans.

KC Montgomery was eleven when she met the love of her life. Of course, seventeen-year-old Drake Gentry didn’t know she existed, but that didn’t stop her girlish fantasies from growing and changing over the years.

Now, after enjoying a front-row seat to his breakup with his latest girlfriend, she’s been handed an all-grown-up fantasy come true—two weeks at the Sand Castle Resort. With him.

Drake most definitely noticed KC a long time ago, but the timing’s never been right. Now that he’s facing a lonely vacation that was supposed to be for two, it seems only natural to accept KC’s offer to fill in. And as far as her terms go… No strings. No expectations. No holds barred. Drake is no fool—he’s all over it.

But once they’re back in Texas there are invisible strings still hanging between them. Strings labeled attraction, affection…even love. And the more they try to untangle the knots, the tighter they’re bound together.

Warning: Beware of sunburns, whirlpool sex and sand in delicate places.

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Content/Theme(s): Lawyer, Caribbean Vacation
Release Date: February 4, 2014
Publisher: Samhain Publishing

Excerpts, Books 0.5-2 & More

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Texas Fandango Excerpt:
She shrugged at his comment. “Let’s go to the living room and you can tell me really why you’re here.”

He followed her through the adjacent dining room and then down three steps to a sunken living room. The room had a back circular wall comprised completely of glass, providing the view of the golf course he’d admired from the kitchen. He realized that the sunken room kept the incredible view available to anyone in the kitchen or the dining room.

She dropped into a plush off-white leather recliner. Killer—that just couldn’t be this dog’s name—followed them, her nails clicking faintly on the hardwood. As soon as KC sat, the puppy stood on her hind legs to be picked up, which KC did. She stroked the dog’s head, sat back and waited.

A large, butter-yellow overstuffed leather sofa beckoned to him. He sat and took a large gulp of water. First to dilute the beer floating around in his gut. Second, to put some moisture in his mouth and down his throat, both of which had turned to dust the minute he saw KC standing on her walk. And third, to buy him some time as he tried to find the words he wanted to say.

KC waved her hand in a get-on-with-it gesture. He nodded.

“Leo said—”

“Oh God. Leo sent you here?” she snarled. “I’m going to kill him.”

“Don’t kill him yet. He sort of knocked me upside the head and rattled my brain enough that what you said this afternoon finally sank through my thick skull. You really want to go with me to the Sand Castle?”

She dropped her head against the headrest. “Great. Just freaking great. You have rattled brains, and because of that you’ve come to see me.”

He laughed. “Not exactly.” He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. His movement caught the attention of the puppy, who jumped down and ran over to him. The ball of furry energy danced around his feet and Drake picked her up. If she weighed a pound, he’d be shocked. The puppy wiggled and climbed up to his face, again smearing it with her puppy tongue.

“Traitor,” KC said.

“Me or Killer? And what is her name? It isn’t Killer.” He nuzzled his nose on the puppy’s head. “This baby isn’t a killer of anything.”

“Ha! You haven’t seen the heel of my leather boot.”

He grinned.

“Her name is Jasmine. I call her Jazz.”

At the mention of her name, the puppy’s head snapped toward her owner and she immediately began struggling to get down. Drake set Jazz on the floor and she scurried to KC, who shook her head and picked her up.

“She’s rotten,” she said, but there was no fire behind her words.

Drake leaned back on the sofa and crossed an ankle over a knee. “Okay, as I was saying, do you want to go with me on vacation? You sort of caught me off-guard this afternoon, and I’m sorry for being so slow on the uptake. I’d love for you to come with me.” He drained the remaining water and set the empty bottle on the side table. “But you need to know that I reserved a one-bedroom suite. I’ll sleep on the couch, you don’t have to worry. You can have the bed.”

KC set the puppy down and leaned forward. “You’re asking me to go with you on vacation?”

“Yep. My treat.”

“And you’re not going to make me sleep with you?”

He shrugged and made himself maintain eye contact when what he wanted to do was look anywhere but at her. Damn. Her voice was a little tight and high with that last question. Now what had he done wrong? He didn’t think he’d ever understand women.

“Right.” He dragged the word out. “No obligation.”

She drained her beer. The empty bottle dangled from the tips of her fingers. The side of her cheek sucked as she rolled it between her teeth.

“So no sex. That’s what you’re saying? I just want to make sure there are no misunderstandings this time.”

He nodded. “Sure.”

She echoed his nod and then set her bottle on the floor. “Well then, in that case, no.”

His head popped back. “What?”

Leaning toward him, she said, “No sex, no trip.”

This time, he swallowed hard. Crossed and uncrossed his legs. Adjusted his position on the sofa. “Explain exactly what you’re saying. Use small words and short sentences. I don’t think my mind is hearing correctly this afternoon.”

“Here’s the deal, Doc. I want a vacation with the five S’s. Sand. Surf. Sun. Spa. And sex.” She leaned back in her chair. “And not necessarily in that order.”

“So you want to sleep with me?”

“I want a two-week torrid, scorching-hot affair. No holds barred. Then, we walk away. No harm. No foul. Those are my terms.” She stared into his eyes. “Take it or leave it.”
~~~~~~
Texas Fandango Purchase links: Samhain Amazon ARe Kobo B&N

Texas Tango
by Cynthia D’Alba
Texas Montgomery Mavericks Book Two
Genre: Contemporary Western Romance
Content/Theme(s): Cowboy, Secret Marriage,
Marriage of Convenience

Their wedding might be fake, but there’s no faking the mutual attraction.

Dr. Caroline Graham is happy with her nomadic lifestyle fulfilling short-term medical contracts. No emotional commitments, no disappointments. She’s always the one to walk away, never the one left behind.

But now her great-uncle is gone and her grandmother is on her deathbed, more concerned about Caroline’s lack of a husband than her own demise. What’s the harm in a little white lie? If a wedding will give her grandmother peace, then a wedding she shall have.

Travis Montgomery has one dream left—to build the ranch he and his wife planned before he lost her to cancer. There’s just one thing standing between him and the last bit of acreage he needs—a last living heir who has one traveling foot out the door…and an unusual request that challenges his determination to never again place his heart at risk.

The land he wants in exchange for a faux marriage. Everyone wins. Until things start to snowball…and the hearts they stand to lose are their own.

Warning: This book contains a tortured widower who doesn’t want a wife and an independent doctor who doesn’t want a husband. Hot stuff between the sheets and failed efforts to avoid emotional involvements

Texas Tango Purchase links: Samhain Amazon ARe Kobo B&N
Texas Tango Excerpt:
“So, Travis,” Caroline said, wiping her mouth with her napkin. “Tell me about growing up here. Your family seems so close.”

He nodded and then washed the large bite of chicken and biscuit down with half the bottle of water. “We are. You know everybody except my brother, Cash, right? The one who’s on the PBR tour?”

“Never got a chance to meet him. Is Cash his real name?”

“No. A nickname, and Mom hates it.” He grinned. “Everybody thinks he got that name from all the rodeo winnings, but that’s not it at all. When we were growing up, there wasn’t a dare Cash wouldn’t take, as long as there was money involved.” He laughed. “He got pretty fast evading bulls, rolling unmanned tractors, you name it.”

Travis continued on with his stories as Caroline set her empty plate off the blanket on the grass and lay on her side, her head propped in her hand. She watched his luscious lips move as he talked. Watched his Adam’s apple slide up and down with each pull on his water. Enjoyed ogling the muscles in his arms as they bunched and flexed and showcased their beauty with each movement. As she watched him talk and gesture and laugh, her insides tumbled like clothes in a dryer…jumbled and hot. He was pure raw male, and the female inside her roared her approval.

Above, birds sang and flew from tree to tree. The sun painted muted stripes on the blanket and across Travis’s lap. With each breath, she drew in both the earthy scent of the grass beneath them mixed with Travis’s masculine aroma. The combination hit her like a powerful aphrodisiac. She licked her lips and tried to slow her runaway heart.

This wasn’t real life, she cautioned. This was a temporary arrangement known only to her and him. He was being a class act, a real friend today. Don’t do anything that could put a roadblock on that friendship.

Satisfied she’d talked herself down off the I-am-going-to-jump-him ledge, she drew in a deep breath and sighed in total contentment.

Travis set his plate inside the basket and then lowered himself onto his side, lying face-to-face with Caroline. The end of his lips lifted into a smile as he brushed a few wayward strands of hair off her face. The roughness of his fingers ignited the nerve endings in her skin, reviving all those emotions she’d just squashed. She pressed against his hand and allowed her eyes to drift shut. She wanted to experience his touch without any visual distractions. Wanted to lock this feeling into her memories.

His scent grew stronger seconds before his full lips touched hers. She angled her head, wanting to get as much lip-to-lip flesh touching as possible. He wrapped his hand around her head and held her as he plunged his tongue through her open lips. She gave him full access to her mouth, welcoming his tongue’s touch in every nook and cranny. Powerful electrical surges flashed through her body. The area between her thighs grew hot and damp.

He pulled away and she opened her eyes. His steel-blue eyes were dark with desire. His breaths came in jagged pants. Reaching out, she put her hand behind his head and pulled him back to her for another kiss. This time she took control, probing and tasting, licking his tongue, his teeth…allowed her tongue to convey her message. She wanted him.

Apparently message received, Travis scooted across the blanket and lowered Caroline onto her back. He moved his hand to her waist and squeezed. The heat from his palm burned through her shirt as he slid it from her waist to the curve of her breast. He fondled her flesh as a shudder wracked her body. Caroline slid her tongue in and out of his mouth, trying to say without words what she wanted…needed.

She draped her leg over his hard-as-a-tree-trunk thigh and tried to press her aching center to his body…anywhere. But he took control, moving between her legs, pressing the hard erection behind his zipper against her center. She moved to press back, moaned deep in her throat.

He found the tail of her shirt, slipped his hand under and touched her skin, igniting flash fires with each stroke of his fingers. Surely she would burst into flames.

Then he was gone. Rolled away and onto his back.

Stunned and embarrassed at her own guttural reactions to his attentions, she stared up into the sky.

“Caroline…”

“Don’t,” she snapped. “Don’t you dare apologize.”

“Okay. I won’t. But that wasn’t what I was going to say.”

She rolled onto her side and propped up her head. “What then?”

He turned his head to look at her and then turned away. “I was going to say I was too old for sex on hard ground.” He looked at her and grinned. “I was going to suggest a soft bed instead.”
~~~~~~
Texas Tango Purchase links: Samhain Amazon ARe Kobo B&N

Texas Two Step
by Cynthia D’Alba
Texas Montgomery Mavericks Book One
Genre: Contemporary Western Romance
Content/Theme(s): Cowboys

Their love never died, but her secrets could break his trust beyond repair.

After six years and too much self-recrimination, rancher Mitch Landry is ready to admit he was wrong. He'd loved Olivia Montgomery but commitment wasn't high on his list back then. That was his first mistake. He's just divorced his second, and he's set to do whatever it takes to convince Olivia to give him another try.

Through hard work, determination and more than a few tears, Olivia survived the break-up with Mitch. She's rebuilt her life around her business and the son she loves more than life itself. She's not proud of the mistakes she's made--particularly the secrets she's kept--but when life hands you manure, you use it to make something better of yourself...lest you get stuck in it.

At a hot, muggy Dallas wedding, they reconnect. Olivia's first instinct is to play it cool, but after one devastating kiss things flare out of control,real fast. Maybe a quick roll in the hay will get him out of her system once and for all. Funny thing about hay though, once it's tangled in your hair, getting it out risks revealing things that were never meant to see the light of day.

Warning: Contains hot sex, a vindictive ex-wife, and hot chocolate chip cookies.

Texas Two Step Purchase links: Samhain Amazon ARe Kobo B&N
Texas Two Step Excerpt:
A blast of cold from the airport’s air conditioning had smacked Olivia’s sweat-dampened neck when she’d blown into the baggage claim area. Chills snaked down her spine and she shivered, unsure if the shiver was due to the shot of cold air or the anticipation of seeing Mitch again.

Arching up on her tiptoes, she scanned the crowd. Years had passed since she’d seen him, but she remembered every inch of his six-foot-four-inch body.

Sometimes at night, if she closed her eyes and concentrated, she could still feel his naked body spooned around hers. Hot chest flesh and chiseled abdominal muscles pressing against her back. Strong thighs cupping her legs. A muscular arm wrapped tightly around her waist, making her feel secure.

She forced her shoulders down and locked her jaw. She didn’t—couldn’t—allow her thoughts to wander into those memories. They were too painful, like having a tooth filled without Novocain.

Her gaze met his blue-eyed stare and her gut tightened in response. Her lungs seized, making breathing almost impossible. She gritted her teeth, angry at herself for being unable to calm her racing heart.

Sometimes life wasn’t fair. This was one of those times.

Mitch sported a natural tan, not the sprayed-on kind many Dallas wanna-be cowboys boasted. Sexy stubble dotted his cheeks, one that made her ache to run the palm of her hand along his chin. His long dark hair, tied at the nape of his neck, begged to be freed. Her fingers twitched, ready to slide through his silky strands as they’d done many times before. Of course, she’d have to remove his ever-present Stetson before she ruffled his hair. Olivia doubted there was a woman in the world who wouldn’t enjoy taking the hat off this cowboy’s head. Hell, even the wrinkles in his shirt and jeans looked sexy. In short, Mitch looked as though he had been ripped off the cover of a western romance.

She, on the other hand, looked like someone who’d been yanked from a Sweating with the Oldies video. Self-consciously, she touched her hair, tucking a stray piece behind her ear. Not only wasn’t life fair, sometimes it outright sucked.

The smile on his face slipped as their gazes met. For a moment they just stared at each other, then his lips pulled into a toe-curling grin and she sighed. He lifted his chin in acknowledgement and strolled toward her, a carry-on in one hand and a garment bag in the other. Olivia’s stomach flipped and her heart dove into a roller-coaster freefall.

Thick thigh muscles bulged through his jeans as he walked. A white oxford shirt stretched taut across broad shoulders. Brown cowboy boots clacked on the tile with each step.

A number of female heads turned as Mitch walked past. She wasn’t the only one who noticed this Texas cowboy.

“Livie.” Mitch dropped both pieces of luggage and grasped her hands. His weren’t the soft, manicured hands of a counterfeit cowboy. His were the callused, weathered hands of a working rancher.

The roughness of his skin against her palm produced erotic images of what those thick, rough fingers felt like on other places of her body. The region between her thighs tightened to a throb.

He pulled her close and kissed her cheek. Stubby bristle on his jaw scraped her skin. Pressing her nose against his face during the kiss, she savored the unique mixture of woodsy cologne and Mitch’s raw masculine scent, a scent she’d long ago stored in her memory. Behind her navel, her gut tugged. The kiss was chaste, but that meant nothing to her heart, which ramped up to a dangerous gallop, or to her insides quivering in anticipation.

“You look…amazing.” He stepped back, his gaze lazily moving down, then back up her body.

Still the flirt. He hadn’t changed a bit, except to become more handsome, if that were even possible.

“You’re a liar, Mitch Landry, but thank you anyway.” Her fingers twitched to tighten the grasp. Instead, she dropped his hands. His touch was more than she could bear and yet still everything she wanted. She nodded at the pieces of luggage riding around on the conveyer belt. “What are we looking for?” she asked in an attempt to get control of both the situation and herself.

“Stay here. I’ll grab it.” In a moment, he returned with a rolling suitcase.

“I had to park a mile off.” She snagged his carry-on and whipped toward the exit. “Wait here. I’ll get the car and pick you up.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. How far out are you?”

With a roll of her eyes and a shake of her head, she said, “Last row, last spot.”

He chuckled. “I don’t miss the big city and all its headaches.”

Did his statement mean he didn’t miss her either? Was she one of the headaches he associated with Dallas? Was the memory of their love a something he wanted to forget?

Apparently—or at least it seemed to her—Mitch had moved on with his life and left their love in the past. She hated to admit a small part of her wanted him to still want her, to regret the way they’d left things. Part of her wanted him to fall at her feet, begging for forgiveness.

That wasn’t going to happen. She slammed the door to her heart. Time for her to relegate Mitch to her past and move on, much as it seemed he had.

“This way then,” Olivia said with a toss of her head toward the exit.

Outside, the Texas heat sucked the cold airport air from her lungs. The strong odor of hot asphalt scented the air. People tugging rolling bags and crying children hurried past them, eager to get out of the broiling sun.

She forced herself to project a relaxed composure, one she didn’t feel in his presence. “How have you been, Mitch?”

Good. Her voice sounded calm, cool and collected, nothing like the tempest swirling inside.

He dipped his head and arched one eyebrow. “So, we’re going to pretend that nothing happened six years ago? Just two old friends meeting up after a long absence?”

She gave a shrug she prayed he’d interpret as nonchalance, when in reality her reaction to seeing him again was anything but. They stood on the curb and waited as a line of cars passed, then stepped down into a crosswalk and made their way to the parking area. Her walk was brisk, but with his long legs, Mitch had no trouble keeping up.

“Livie. Stop for a minute.”
~~~~~~
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Texas Two Step: The Prequel
by Cynthia D’Alba
Texas Montgomery Mavericks Prequel (Book 0.5)
Genre: Contemporary Western Romance

Go back to where it all began…

When Olivia Montgomery Met Mitch Landray and their lives were changed forever.

This is a short story. It serves as an introduction to Olivia Montgomery and Mitch Landry, the primary characters in the novel Texas Two Step. The Prequel covers their college dating years up to their break-up. Texas Two Step, the novel, continues the story six years later.

Texas Two Step: The Prequel Purchase links: Amazon B&N
Texas Two Step: The Prequel Excerpt:
“Today is your birthday?” Mitch asked.

Olivia nodded. “Yep. Mine and Emily’s. Oh, I don’t think you know Emily.” She turned to her friend. “Emily. This is Mitch Landry. He’s a friend of Travis and Jason.” She turned back to Mitch. “Mitch. This is Emily Miller. My best friend in the whole world.”

Emily leaned forward and held out her hand. “Nice to meet you, Mitch.”

Mitch shook her hand. “You too, Emily. Happy birthday.”

“Thanks.”

“If you three are through with your meet and greet, I do have other customers. Do you want a drink or not?”

“Ladies, this lovely grump is Joey. Joey, I’m buying this round. Give me another beer. Ladies?”

Olivia straightened her back. “I’ll have a shot of bourbon.”

“I will too,” said Emily.

Mitch laughed. “The Montgomery tradition lives. Give me a shot too, Joey. I can’t let these ladies drink alone. How about three shots of Crown Royal?”

“You got it.” Joey lined up three shot glasses and poured the Crown Royal. He put a fourth glass on the bar and filled it. “I always buy the first round for birthday girls.” He tapped his shot glass against the ones Olivia and Emily had picked up. “Salute.” He tossed back the liquor. “I’ll check back in a minute,” he said and headed down the bar to another customer.

Mitch picked up his glass, tapped each girl’s shot, and tossed his drink down his throat. When he returned the glass to the counter, he noticed both girls still had full glasses. Olivia lifted the glass to her lips and sipped. Her eyes opened wide.

He chuckled. “No, no. Toss it back. It’s the Montgomery way.”

Olivia closed her eyes, put her luscious full lips on the rim, tilted her head back, and tossed the full shot down. Her tongue darted out to lick her top lip. He almost groaned aloud.

The Montgomery brothers were going to have to kick his ass because Olivia Montgomery was the sexiest, most interesting woman he’d met in a long time. He’d be damned if he was leaving until he got to know her a little better.
~~~~~~
Texas Two Step: The Prequel Purchase links: Amazon B&N

Anthologies with stories by Cynthia D’Alba: