Because you ladies are so fabulous, the Garahan brothers are coming in from the South Pasture to fill you in on what’s been happening since Jesse and Danielle tied the knot!
Jesse: Hey, CH! I’m starving, what did you bring to eat?
CH: You know me too well, Jesse…Blue-Raspberry Pandowdy, fresh out of the oven. All we need is for the coffee to finish brewing and me to grab some plates and serve it up.
Tyler: I hope we have heavy cream.
CH: I came prepared, but I’m sure between the three lovely ladies living at the Circle G and feeding you lucky guys, there’s already some in the fridge.
Jesse: We’re all out—
Dylan: Check behind the jar of pickles, bottom shelf, right-hand side…
Tyler: You hiding the heavy cream, bro?
Dylan grins at his older brother: Yep..didn’t feel like sharing.
Tyler: You’ve been real contrary lately.
Jesse: He can’t help it; Ronnie’s morning sickness is driving him crazy.
Dylan grabs Jesse by his t-shirt, but Jesse wiggles out of his grasp: I can’t hit you if you won’t stand still.
Jesse laughs out loud: You know it Dylan. Besides—
CH: Don’t forget the ladies’ rules…no fighting in the kitchen.
The brothers are laughing good-naturedly as CH serves up the coffee and home-baked treat
CH: I hope you like it; I didn’t have enough blueberries or raspberries to make two cups by themselves, so I mixed them together.
Jesse added milk and sugar to his coffee and passed the pitcher and the bowl to Tyler and then Dylan.
CH: You know guys; you don’t seem to fight as much when your mouths are full.
Tyler: Not our fault, CH, it’s yours!
CH: Mine?
Dylan: Yeah, you created us!
CH: But not one of you followed along with my synopsis once I started writing your stories.
Jesse smiles as CH: I guess we took all of those character traits…flaws and all…and ran with them.
CH sighs loudly: I guess you guys did. Well, how are things at the Circle G?
Tyler: Great. I think Em and I are going to get married the week before Thanksgiving…either that or for Christmas…we’re thinking of inviting the whole family…just not sure where we’ll put everybody.
Dylan: Sounds great…Ronnie should be feeling OK by then, and we’re hoping her grandmother can fly out and stay for a couple of weeks.
Jesse: Danielle are hoping you two will decide to get married for Christmas…it’ll be our first one as a family…we want it to be extra special for little Lacy.
CH: Soooo, do you think your firefighting cousins from New York City will show up?
Tyler: As long as they put in for the time in advance, they have guys to cover…besides, they’re at different fire houses.
CH: OK, got it. What about the Justiss side of the family from Colorado?
Dylan: The lawmen? They owe us…they’ll be here.
CH: I’m glad; you all sound so happy, maybe now’s a good time to tell you three that I’ve got this idea for another book set in Pleasure, Texas…
The Garahans smile as CH serves up seconds for everyone. When every last crumb is gone, she shoos them out of the kitchen.
CH: Well, I’ve got to get back to my deadline, guys. I’ll straighten up here, so your ladies don’t have to. Thanks for taking a break and chatting today!
Tyler, Dylan & Jesse: See you in a few months, CH!

Jesse Garahan no longer believes in love. Until he meets Danielle Brockway and her tiny daughter, Lacy, on their way to their new home in Pleasure, TX. Danielle’s worthless ex-husband left her high and dry, and now she’s looking for a simple small-town to start over in — and then she meets Jesse. She just can’t seem to help herself where long-limbed, swaggering Texas men are concerned. Suddenly, life is anything but simple
Excerpt:
He’d left the ranch in two pairs of very capable hands—his brothers’. Tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, he wondered if he could find a wild woman like the one Garth Brooks was singing about on the radio. Hell—he didn’t have time for romance right now, too much to do and not enough time to get it done in. Setting that thought aside, he concentrated on the road ahead of him and coaxing as much speed as possible out of his truck.
Flooring it, tearing ass along the road to town, he grinned. He loved driving and figured he missed his calling, having to work at the ranch with his brothers—but Garahans stuck together no matter what, and as long as the ranch still had life left in it, a Garahan would be running it. With enough work for ten men, most days he and his brothers were worn to the bone, but not ready to roll over and give up.
A speck of color off in the distance at the side of the road had him cutting back on the accelerator. Could be one of the Dawson sisters; Miss Pam had told him she’d been having a bit of trouble with her old pickup. Slowing it down, ready to lend a hand, he sucked in a breath and held it. Steam poured out from under the hood of a car that a very curvy, compact, jean-clad blonde was opening the hood to. When he noticed the rag in her hand, he knew what she was going to do.
“Damn fool woman!” He feathered the gas for more speed, cranked the wheel hard to the left, whipping the car in a perfect one-eighty. Gravel spit out from beneath his tires as he skidded to a halt behind her vehicle.
When she jumped back with a hand to her heart, he threw the truck in park and swung his door open with enough force to move the dead summer air like the early morning breeze coming across the pond at the Circle G. Stomping over to her, he grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her off to the side, out of harm’s way.
When she yanked free of his hold, he was more than ready to read her the Riot Act. Drawing in a deep breath, he was about to let loose when he heard a little voice calling.
“Mommy?”
“Lacy, honey, I told you to stay in the back seat until I fixed the car.”
Looking down, he noticed a pint-sized cowgirl staring up at him, her big blue eyes wide with wonder. Not much surprised Jesse Garahan, but the little bit of a thing, no bigger than a fairy, was wearing pink—from the top of her head to the soles of her feet—and stood out like a swirl of cotton candy at the county fair.
“Go on back now; I have to thank the man for trying to help us.” The woman’s voice was firm, but the little girl wasn’t listening. Before he could process that fact, the vision in pink was tugging on his jeans and asking, “Are you a good guy or a bad guy?”
He shook his head at the incongruity of the situation. He’d intended to put the fear of God into the woman foolish enough to open the cap of her overheated radiator while she stood in front of it, and instead here he was staring down at the tiniest, pinkest cowgirl he’d ever seen.
“I uh…” He didn’t know how to answer. If he’d done what he’d intended to do—yell at her mother—the little girl would probably be crying now, and positive he was a bad guy. “I stopped to help.”
When the little one nodded but refused to let go of his jeans, the woman came closer and soothed, “He’s a good guy, honey.”
The little girl tilted her head to one side and frowned up at him. “But he gots a black hat—Gramma says good guys wear white hats.”
Jesse chuckled. “Is your grandmother a fan of Gene Autry or Roy Rogers?”
Her little head bobbed up and down, and her cowgirl hat slipped off her head and would have hit the ground if not for the bright white cord attached to it. She was still looking up at him when she said, “Uh-huh.”
“That was a long time ago, and only on TV,” the cowgirl’s mother told her. “The good guys wear white or black hats now.”
The little one bobbled and grabbed a hold of his leg with both little hands and whispered, “Daddy wears a black hat.”
He didn’t need to know that. Concentrating, he couldn’t figure out a way to delicately loosen the little one’s grip without scaring her. Her mother surprised him by kneeling next to him. Looking down at them, he remembered the times his mother had gotten down to eye level with him when he’d been scared as a kid. It always helped ease most of his worries—except for the biggest one—why wasn’t his father coming home?
To keep from letting his mind go down that rocky path, he focused on the still-steaming engine and grumbled, “Don’t you realize how dangerous it is to open the cap on an overheated radiator?” He’d learned that particular lesson from his grandfather years ago; his pride had taken a direct hit, but he hadn’t ended up disfigured from steam burns.
The blonde’s head snapped up and their eyes met. He couldn’t help but notice the frosty blue daggers pointed directly at him.
“I was going to be careful to keep the cap facing away from me.” She cupped her hands around her daughter’s where she still held tight to his leg, and urged, “Come on Lacy, you can let go now.”
To his relief, the little one finally did as she was told. When her mother lifted the itty-bitty cowgirl up in her arms, he relaxed. The only kids he came into contact with were the handful of teenagers who came out to the ranch, working off a debt they owed to his older brother Tyler and his fiancée, Emily.
“But, Mommy,” she whispered, “I gots to ask him.”
He was standing close enough to hear. “Ask me what?”
“Are you a real cowboy?”
Before he could answer the little girl added, “I never seen one in my whole life!”
“Your daddy’s a cowboy.”
“Nuh-uh.” Lacy shook her head. “He rides bulls, not horsies, ’member, Mommy?”
Jesse couldn’t keep the chuckle inside; the rumbling sound seemed to capture little Lacy’s interest because she poked her tiny pointer finger in the middle of his chest.
“Lacy, what did I tell you?” Looking up at him, the blonde’s eyes were troubled. “I’m sorry, she’s curious about everything. We’re working on keeping our fingers to ourselves.” She smoothed a hand over the fly-away hair on the top of Lacy’s head and said, “Aren’t we, sweetie?”
“I was trying to find the sound, Mommy,” the little girl admitted. “His lips din’t move.”
Not much touched his heart since the woman he’d been planning on marrying changed her mind, but this miniature cowgirl had the walls surrounding it cracking. He smiled down at them and it felt good inside. “Name’s Garahan, ma’am,” he said, tipping his hat to the little lady. “Jesse,” he said, staring into the mother’s cool blue eyes.
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CH is going to sponsor a fantastic giveaway to one of our very lucky followers. A signed trilogy of THE SECRET LIFE OF COWBOYS is going to one commenter in a random drawing!!!! WOOHOO!!!
Remember to join our blog (if you haven’t already) before leaving a question or comment for CH along with your email address to be entered.
Don’t forget to find out more about CH at the following links
Twitter - https://twitter.com/#!/CHAdmirand
Before ending this post we couldn’t resist posting a picture of CH’s pride and joy, Grandson Jack. He is such a CUTIE!!!!!
This blog is dangerous for my TBR. it grows every time I stop by! Thanks for the great post. delphinareadstoomuch at yahoo
ReplyDeleteGood Morning, Delphina! I agree, these ladies have a FAB blog...my TBP list is growing by leaps and bounds :)
Deleteoh my.. he is so cute.. look at those cheeks.
ReplyDeletethanks for the giveaway :)
smile_1773 at yahoo dot com
Thanks Sienny, he is such a charmer and the light of our lives:)
DeleteI love it. Can't wait to add them to my collection of books. Your Grandson is soo cute. You just want to pinch his cute little checks. Thank's ahead of time for the give away. muffy55981 at yahoo dot com
ReplyDeleteMuffy
Thanks, Muffy...he's definitely got kissable cheeks:)
DeleteCH first of all your grandson is so cute!
ReplyDeleteSecond, let me just say that I absolutely love a good Cowboy Romance! Seriously, even when I have a list to read if I want a cowboy romance I can't get into anything else until I've read enough to satisfy the need!
Thanks for the giveaway it is very generous!
<3Tobi
tobihelton at gmail dot com
Thanks, Tobi we think so too. :) And I agree, what's not to love about a cowboy hero? Tall, dark, handsome...broad-shouldered with working-man's hands. :)
DeleteEven though I love to read paranormal romance, I do find that I need a break every once in a while. Your books are fun, sexy, and keep me turning the pages until the end. I enjoy your work very much.
ReplyDeleteShonna
Good Morning, Shonna! Thanks so much for inviting me. It's such a pleasure to be here and offer the trilogy as a giveaway. I'm delighted that you've enjoyed reading about the Garahan Brothers! They've been hard to forget....making it hard to concentrate on the Small Town USA book I'm writing! LOL. :)
ReplyDeleteGood Morning- two things- Welcome back C.H. and OMG he is so freaking CUTE- those cheeks!!
ReplyDeleteSo you are working on something new?? Are we going to hear more about these cousins soon? Oh and babies too??? I'm ready to take another trip to Pleasure, Tx or Colorado or New York.
Good Morning, Wendy!!! Thanks so much, I think he's adorable, but hey, I'm his gramma! LOL.
ReplyDeleteThanks for having me back, and my plan is to go back to Pleasure, Texas after I finish writing book 3 in my Small Town USA series. :)
All I have to do is wow my editor with the perfect proposal! LOL. Wish me luck! :)
wow I love repeat authors.. you rock and those brothers too hot to be true.. and you best get you a bat wrapped in barbwire because the girls gonna be banging down your door with that beautiful grand baby
ReplyDeleteLOL! LT, you are tooo nice. I love visiting your blog:) You, Wendy and Shonna are THE BEST!!!
DeleteHmmm...will have to consider the barbed wire and bat thing:) I've already warned our daughter and son-in-law that they have NO idea what they're in for because Jackie-Blue-Eyes is charming everyone now! LOL.
those eyes will get you all in trouble.. Smiling with his eyes like Tara banks use to say
DeleteI love character interviews, they're always fun. The excerpt really got me hooked too, I can't wait to read this series.
ReplyDeleteBarbed1951 at aol dot com
Hey Barbara, I'm so glad you enjoyed reading the excerpt and the interview. I loved writing this series. :)
DeleteHi C.H,!
ReplyDeleteYour pride and joy is a cutie :)
I always enjoy cowboy stories. I think they make great hero because they seem so down-to-earth but their traits (loyalty, love for the land, hardworking ways) are pretty special!
Cambonified{at}yahoo{dot}com
Hey Na! Thanks :) I totally agree about cowboy stories, to me they are the American hero. So many facets that are often overlooked.
DeleteGreat interview it totally gives us a feel for the characters in your books! You have an adorable grandson! Carin
ReplyDeletemawmom(at)gmail(dot)com
Hi Carin - thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the interview. Those Garahans are really amazing characters, I'm having a hard time letting them go...
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by CH and for the giveaway. You grandson is so cute. I must say I enjoy Lacy and Jesse in the excerpt. I think Lacy will have Jesse wrapped around her fingers lol.
ReplyDeletesandracarol123@yahoo.com
Thanks, Sandra. It's true, it was love at first sight with little Lacy. :)
ReplyDeleteI loved reading the interview and the excerpt. I can't wait to read them. I can always read about a cowboy.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course your grandson is adorable. Grandchildren are great!!