The Bull Rider’s Plan

I have a new release this month–my last Harlequin Western Romance, which makes me a little sad. I love writing these light romances and I particularly loved writing this one. It involves a twin. The responsible twin. I thought I’d have more fun writing the wild child twin–Tyler in A Bull Rider to Depend On–but Jess turned out to be just as much fun. The trick was to give him a spunky little heroine. A little sister type who’d tried to tag along back in the day, and who once again wants to tag along to his rodeos to escape a tense situation at home. Emma turns Jess’s well-ordered life upside down, and creates some mayhem in her own at the same time.

Jess agrees to let Emma come along as a driver, but he fully expects to regret that decision. Here’s an excerpt:

Emma swerved the truck to miss a pothole, then glanced over to see if she’d disturbed Jess. He was out, dark eyelashes fanned over the tanned skin above his cheekbones. Her heart bumped a little. He really was good-looking. Maybe it was because she hadn’t been around him in well over a year that he seemed different. Or maybe she was looking at him differently. Whatever. She could kind of see what her friends saw—now that he was asleep and not telling her what she couldn’t do.

The road straightened out in front of her and traffic was light, so she chanced another glance, curious about why he seemed different. Maybe it was the fact that he’d matured and the angles of his face had become more chiseled, the hollows under his cheekbones more pronounced.

She eased her way around the only car in front of them for miles and then glanced back at Jess. His mouth, which she had to admit was a very fine mouth, was slightly open—and, a split second later, so were his eyes.

Em gave a start as her gaze slammed into his electric one.

“The road.” The words were clipped. Not very friendly.

She jerked her attention to the pavement—where’d it’d been one short second before she’d given in to temptation and went for that third look.

“I was just checking on you,” she said in a huffy voice.

“To see if I was breathing?”

“To see why you looked different.”

He frowned at her. “Different how?”

She kept both hands on the wheel, squeezing it more tightly than she needed to. “I don’t know. That was why I was looking.”

He sat up straighter.

“You can sleep, you know. It wasn’t as if I was staring dreamily at you rather than minding the road. You just happened to catch me midglance.”

“Ah.”

“And they were fast glances.” She demonstrated, exaggerating the speed of her head turns. “Like that.”

“Stop.”

She smiled a little and relaxed now that they were safely back in their roles, although she couldn’t say why the word safe had popped into her brain. “I think it’s because you’ve lost weight.”

She sensed that he’d gone still and risked his wrath by glancing over at him yet again. He wore a perplexed expression. “I don’t recall ever being particularly heavy.”

“In your face. You’ve lost the baby fat.”

He muttered something that sounded like a plea to a higher power, then slumped back into his seat. “I don’t know if I can sleep if you’re looking at me.”

“I won’t look. Promise.”

He let out a breath. Em fought with herself then glanced over. His eyes were still open.

“That was a trap,” she said as she focused on the road.

“That was a test.”

“I guess you’re going to have to get used to me staring at you when you sleep if you’re going to take advantage of having another driver along.”

He let out a long breath and closed his eyes once again—Em knew because she looked. “Just…keep it between the lines, okay?”

“I will,” she said in a resigned voice. “And maybe, for once, you can have some faith in me.”

Have a great day, everyone!

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Jeannie Watt raises cattle in Montana and loves all things western. When she's not writing, Jeannie enjoys sewing, making mosaic mirrors, riding her horses and buying hay. Lots and lots of hay.

21 thoughts on “The Bull Rider’s Plan”

  1. Sounds awesome! I’ve never read one of your books! Have a Happy Thanksgiving and I’m always looking for a new author to add to my go to authors list. I’m on my 92nd book since October 2016 after not reading for decades!!

  2. I loved the excerpt–thank you– and am looking forward to reading the book.
    I too am sad about Harlequin’s book decisions. 🙁
    Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

  3. Loved the excerpt. Always fun when the Hero is matched up with a feisty zheroine. Happy Thanksgiving.
    Carol Luciano

  4. This does sound like it will be a light, enjoyable book. It is really sad the Harlequin Western line is shutting down.
    I hope you have a good Thanksgiving and a wonderful Holiday Season.

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