In Victoria Vane’s second Hot Cowboy Nights book, ROUGH RIDER, readers’ hearts may in fact soften to the rough and bitter Dirk Knowlton they met in Hot Cowboy Nights #1, Slow Hand.
A big thanks to Reading Between the Wines Book Club for sharing an excerpt with their readers so y’all can get to know a little bit more about the rough and tough hero of ROUGH RIDER. Be sure to enter the Rafflecopter for a chance to win one of three copies of Slow Hand by Victoria Vane!
Enjoy!
DIRK KNOWLTON ON TOUR
From ROUGH RIDER by Victoria Vane
Although Grady had invited her, Janice still felt like an interloper at the party. She was neither family nor friend to the Carsons, but just a lowly stock hand. Entering the Plaza ballroom, she felt completely outclassed. She wasn’t the only girl wearing jeans, but hers weren’t accessorized with eighteen-hundred-dollar, hand-tooled, Swarovski-crystal-covered boots. Her hair wasn’t impeccably coiffed and crowned by a rhinestone tiara over a Resistol beaver hat.
But it wasn’t just their pricey designer clothes. The snide sidelong looks from the counterfeit cowgirls told her she didn’t belong. Janice felt the same way. With her self-confidence in shreds, she made an excuse to Grady and a quick detour to the ladies’ room from which she planned to make a quick and painless exit.
All of that went out the window, however, when she came face-to-face with a teary-eyed, mascara-stained Rachel the rodeo queen, surrounded by her buckskin-fringed court. Greeted with dagger looks, Janice froze in her boots. Feeling like an intruder into a private melodrama, she was half tempted to back her way out the door but then they all turned back to Rachel. It was if Janice had become suddenly invisible. More likely, they’d just decided she was beneath their notice.
“That bastard!” a brunette indignantly declared. “I can’t believe he’d string you along like that! It’s past time you kicked that cowboy to the curb, Rae.”
“Yeah,” a strawberry blonde chimed in. “You’ve wasted enough time on him. There’s plenty of hot guys just dying to go out with you—ones who would show you the kind of respect you deserve.”
Respect? What was up with that? They couldn’t be talking about Dirk. Janice had never seen Dirk disrespectful to anyone who didn’t deserve it—especially not to a woman.
“I hate him,” Rachel sobbed. “No,” she amended through gritted teeth, “I positively loathe him.”
Janice closed the stall door, latching it shut behind her.
“Assholes like him always treat a woman like shit once they’ve gotten what they want.”
“I guess you’d know best, Mary Jane,” Janice heard the brunette mumble.
“But I didn’t…we haven’t…” Rachel protested.
“What?” exclaimed the cowgirl choir.
Janice felt her own jaw drop. Although her conscience told her to tune them out, she found herself holding her breath while she emptied her bladder.
“Let me get this straight,” said Strawberry. “In almost five years, you still haven’t done the dirty?”
“No…” Rachel replied. “Not technically speaking…”
“How technical are we talking, sugar?” the voice belonging to Mary Jane eagerly inquired.
“It’s vulgar to kiss and tell, Mary Jane,” Strawberry chided. “Didn’t your momma teach you anything?”
“Yeah, how not to get knocked up.” Mary Jane giggled. “I just can’t believe Rae took that ninth-grade purity vow for real. I think mine barely lasted through my sophomore year.”
“We know,” said the brunette. “The whole school knew. It’s probably why you never wore a Miss Teen Rodeo crown.”
“Fuck off, Miss Holier-Than-Thou.”
Rough Rider (Hot Cowboy Nights #2)
by Victoria Vane
Mass Market Paperback, 224 pages
Expected publication: February 3rd 2015 by Sourcebooks Casablanca
ISBN 1492601152
Two loves ...
Janice Combes has two loves, bucking bulls and Dirk Knowlton. But Dirk only has eyes for a dazzling rodeo queen. How can Janice ever compete while mired ankle-deep in manure? Exchanging playful banter with Dirk is all Janice can expect-until the stormy night he knocks on her door dripping wet and needing a place to crash.
Different Dreams...
Dirk Knowlton is living the cowboy dream. Life should be good-roping, branding, backing broncs, riding bulls, but there's a void he can't seem to fill. After getting hung up by a bull, he wonders if this is really the life he wants. Restless and rebellious, he bolts...but there's a certain cowgirl he can't forget.
When a battle-scarred Dirk returns to his Montana ranch he's determined to hang on at any cost. Janice has come back home to lick her own wounds. When old dreams turn to dust, can two wary hearts take another chance on love?
Do you have the first Hot Cowboy Nights novel?
About the Author:
Victoria Vane is a multiple award-winning romance novelist and history junkie whose collective works of fiction range from wildly comedic romps to emotionally compelling erotic romance. Victoria also writes historical fiction as Emery Lee and is the founder of Goodreads Romantic Historical Fiction Lovers and the Romantic Historical Lovers book review blog. http://www.victoriavane.com/
Tour-Wide Giveaway:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
I love this giveaway chance and I love cowboys. :) Thanks for the blurbs and the post.
ReplyDeleteCarol L
Lucky4750 (at) aol (dot) com