By: Victoria Vane
Releasing
March 15, 2016
Lyrical Shine
Lyrical Shine
Blurb:
When
Beauty Wants A Baby
Championship
bull breeder and former Texas beauty queen Delaney McCall was having a heck of
a time finding a daddy for the baby she craved. A failed marriage left her with
no desire for another husband, but finding the right stud to satisfy her needs
presents a bigger problem that she could have imagined.
And
The Bullrider Wants Beauty
After
hanging up his spurs, bull rider Zac McDaniel wants nothing more than to
fulfill Delaney's dream of having a family. After all, his best friend's ex has
been his fantasy for years. Zac, however, has no desire to be seen as just a
means to an end. And when Zac insists on doing things the "old
fashioned" way, their passion explodes like a bull out of the chute…
Some
Bucking Is Bound To Happen
While
insisting it's all just a passing fancy, the more Delaney sees the softer side
of the rough and tumble cowboy, the harder it is to keep her emotions
corralled. Zac, meanwhile, is more determined than ever to prove he's what she
really needs, and will do whatever it takes to tear down the mile high fence
around her heart…
*********************
Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25769918-beauty-and-the-bull-rider
Goodreads Series Link: https://www.goodreads.com/series/152536-hotel-rodeo
Buy Links:
*********************
Excerpt:
The
announcer introduced the first rider and bull, a cowboy named Grayson Dunwoody
on a bull named X-Treme Vortex. Zac looked on from the next chute as the rider
gave his nod and the gate swung free. The bull’s superiority was clear from the
start. He exploded from the gate kicking and bucking, his every movement
whipping the rider’s body. Barely three seconds into it, Dunwoody began to
falter. In anticipation, the team of bullfighters moved in. The next buck
tossed him to the ground like a sack of shit.
Zac’s
younger brother, Kade, had interposed himself between the animal and the fallen
rider, while two others flanked the bull on either side. Waving and yelling,
the three men distracted the manically bucking animal while the rider scrambled
out of the danger zone. The bull spun and charged. Kade narrowly evaded getting
a horn in the ass. The bull stared down the arena and snorted a stream of snot,
then trotted back into the holding pens.
“No ride
for that cowboy,” the announcer said. “Let’s see if Zac McDaniel’s gonna cover
his bull tonight.” He elaborated on Zac’s injury from the night before but by
now Zac had tuned out everything but the bull beneath him.
Stepping
onto his bull, he lowered himself gingerly onto its back. Cursing his
clumsiness, he fumbled to make his wrap. With only sixty seconds, he didn’t
have time to fuck around, but swapping hands was awkward as hell, and Super
Spin Cycle was a twitchy son of a bitch in the chute. The bull snorted and
shifted his impatience. Seconds later, Zac looked up, raised his left hand, and
gave his nod to the chute boss.
The gate
flew open to the chorus of Chris LeDoux’s, “Hooked on an 8 Second Ride.” True
to his name, the bull busted out of the gate twisting and turning like a
cyclone, but Zac sat his bull tight as a tick, foiling the animal’s every
frantic attempt to unseat him.
Zac knew
all the lyrics by heart, but the only sounds his brain registered were the
crash of the gate, the snorting bull, the jangling of the bell on his rope, and
his own pulse pounding in his eardrums as he mentally counted down the seconds.
As the
whistle sounded, Zac glanced up in triumph. Even with the wrong hand, he’d made
his time. Maybe his champion days were over, but at least he wouldn’t be going
home with empty pockets. He moved to dismount, but his taped wrist made it
difficult to free his riding hand. As he fumbled with the rope tail, the bull
feinted and then threw him into the well of another spin—that became the
perfect storm. Zac’s moment of victory instantly transformed into a cataclysm
of chaos.
Hanging
from the bull’s side, he scrambled for purchase as the animal continued to
plunge and kick. Once more, the bullfighters moved in, but no one could get
close enough to free him from his bull rope. The next few minutes were a blur
of pain and agony as he fought like hell to keep from getting dragged under the
bull, all the while feeling like his shoulder was getting ripped from the
socket. He was vaguely aware that it took several men to shut the bull down.
The
instant he came free, Zac’s legs gave out. The bull whipped his hind end around
and lowered his head to have another go at him, but one of the fighters
intervened, shouting and waving his hat. Zac realized it was Ty. Holy shit!
What the hell is Ty doing in the arena?
The bull
hesitated, staring Ty down, and then charged, but Ty slipped in the dirt. Man
and beast collided as the bull plowed straight into Ty’s chest. Zac couldn’t
see anything beyond the bull and Ty’s long legs stretched out motionless in the
dirt.
Fuck! He’s
not moving!
Zac
struggled to his feet as the pick-up man cast his lasso, roping the animal’s
horns. The bull snorted and shook its head, still fighting as horse and rider
dragged it back toward the chutes. The audience watched in silence until the
gate slammed shut with a resonating rattle of metal. With the bull out of the
way, everyone turned their attention back to Ty.
A medic
appeared with a stretcher just as Ty stirred back to life and spat a mouthful
of dirt. He was still struggling for breath as the medic began poking his ribs.
“What the hell happened? Did I black out?”
“Don’t
talk,” the medic ordered, pressing a stethoscope to Ty’s chest.
“Lung
sounds are clear. No gurgling,” he said. “Can you move? How’s the pain?”
“How ‘my
s’posed to answer when you told me not to talk?” Ty took a wincing breath and
then struggled to sit up. “Ain’t nothing I can’t handle.”
“You
really dodged a bullet this time, cowboy,” the medic said.
“Maybe the
bullet but not the bull.” Ty grimaced and waved the stretcher away. “Give me a
hand, will you, Zac?”
Zac
reached down to help Ty to his feet. “I owe you, Ty.”
“You don’t
owe me nothin’,” Ty replied. “We may have fallen out for a while, but I’ll
always have your back.”
Ty’s
remark brought home how much he’d missed his best friend. Zac swallowed hard to
dislodge the lump from his throat. Holding his ribs with one hand, Ty reached
down with the other to retrieve his hat. The moment Ty set it back on his head,
the crowd went wild. Ty turned toward the chutes with a wide grin stretching
his mouth. With a tip of his hat, he limped off to rejoin Monica in the stands.
Zac turned
to find his brother, Kade, standing beside him, brushing off the arena dirt
that covered him head to foot. “What the hell happened to you?” Zac asked.
“Catapulted
by your damned bull.”
“You
okay?” Kade was one of the best bullfighters on the pro tour, but Zac still
couldn’t suppress his protective instincts toward his little brother.
“I’m fine.
If I’ve learned one thing since I’ve been doing this, it’s how to take a fall,”
Kade laughed. “Eighty-eight, in case you’re wondering.”
“’Scuse
me?”
“Your
ride. Thought you might not have caught the score with all the commotion. Damn
good for a left-hand ride, let alone for a right.”
“Eighty-eight?”
Zac repeated in amazement. It was his highest score in months. He might not be
bowing out of the game with a championship title, but at least he was ending
his career respectably.
Author Info:
Victoria Vane is an award
winning author of smart and sexy romance. Her collective works of fiction range
from historical to contemporary settings and include everything from wild
comedic romps to emotionally compelling erotic romance. Victoria is the founder
of the Goodreads Romantic Historical Fiction Lovers and the Romantic Historical
Lovers book review blogs.
Author Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | GoodReads
Author Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | GoodReads
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Link to Follow Tour: http://www.tastybooktours.com/2016/01/beauty-and-bull-rider-hotel-rodeo-3-by.html
Thank you for hosting BEAUTY AND THE BULL RIDER today!
ReplyDeleteCrystal, Tasty Book Tours
Thank you so much for the book spotlight! XO Victoria
ReplyDelete