This Kiss (Made In Montana Book 12) Read Free Page A

not.” Ethan laughed and glanced back at the bar. “Is she local?”
    Matt studied her for a moment. “I don’t think so.”
    “Well, I’ll be damned if it isn’t the twins,” a voice boomed from the back room.
    Ethan and Matt exchanged glances. They both knew it was Tex, a bronc rider from Dallas. Though he wasn’t the only one who called them
the twins
. They’d joined the pro tour within months of each other, and in the beginning they’d often been mistaken for brothers. Ethan figured it wasn’t so much because they shared similar builds, or even because they both had light brown hair and blue eyes. It was their height. Six feet was tall for a bull rider.
    “What are you boys doing standing there talking like two old women?” Tex yelled, a pool stick in one hand, an empty mug in the other. “Grab yourselves a pitcher and get on back here.”
    “Guess he’s had a few,” Ethan said. Tex was quiet by nature. But after a couple of beers...
    “He’d better be able to ride tomorrow,” Matt muttered, then turned when someone else shouted his name.
    More people had poured into the bar. Ethan was willing to bet the place had reached capacity before the last ten customers had squeezed inside. And now that big-mouthed Tex had called attention to them, fans were approaching him and Matt for autographs.
    They each accepted a pen and began scrawling their names. “You check in at The Boarding House yet?” Matt asked under his breath.
    “An hour ago.”
    “It’s not too late. You can stay out at the Lone Wolf. We’ve got a big house, trailer hookups. The inn’s overbooked, so the owner won’t have any trouble renting out your room. And my wife’s dying to meet you.”
    “Hey, that’s right. You’re a married man now. Sorry I missed your wedding.”
    “No problem. I warned Rachel there’d be conflicts no matter which weekend she chose.”
    Ethan smiled as he passed the Safe Haven flyer he’d just signed to a middle-aged woman wearing a promotional Professional Bull Riders T-shirt from the 2010 finals, the year he wanted wiped from his memory forever. To be kept from the finals because of an injury was one thing, but to make it that far and then get hurt in the third round? Talk about fate landing a sucker punch.
    This year nothing was going to keep him from the finals. Or from winning another gold buckle.
    Nothing. Period.

2
    S OPHIE SURE WISHED she’d known he was here in Blackfoot Falls for a rodeo before she’d left Wyoming. The event was a fund-raiser, so of course it wasn’t listed on the PBR tour. The whole town, which wasn’t saying much, since it was so small they had no traffic lights, was busting at the seams with rodeo fans. There was only one inn, a dude ranch twenty minutes away and a number of impromptu bed-and-breakfasts scattered around the area, all of which were booked. So was the large trailer park over thirty minutes away, not that a vacancy there would do her any good.
    Somehow she had to get him alone. No clue how she was going to do it with so many fans clamoring for his attention. Those crazy people would string her up if they knew she planned to drag their favorite bull rider back to Wyoming.
    The buckle bunnies worried her the most. Turning completely around so that her back was against the bar, she sipped her tonic water and watched the women practically line up, just waiting their turns to hit on Ethan.
    She didn’t care one bit. If he had enough stamina to screw every last one of them, then God bless him. She was twenty-six, not a silly teenager anymore, and he no longer haunted her dreams. Though if he took one of those eager young ladies back to his room for the night, Sophie could have a problem.
    It might mean she’d have to wait till morning to bag him. That left her a very narrow window before the rodeo started at noon.
    Maybe she’d have to seduce him herself.
    The thought sent a bolt of heat zinging through her body. A hurried sip of tonic water barely made it