The Perfect Country and Western Story

Alexandra has the Stetson hat, now all she needs is the cowboy.  But with three days and over 50,000 faces to search, will she be able to find the man who stole her heart? 

Ben still can’t believe he was foolish enough to let the beautiful thief walk away with his autographed cowboy hat.  If the heart breaker dares to show up at Country Time again this year, he’ll not only be looking to get his hat back,but aiming for a little payback as well.

(232pages) Sensual

How The Perfect Country and Western Story came to be…

I was at WE Fest in 2007 sitting around the campfire with my daughter, sister-in-law and nieces when I told them an editor, Rhonda Penders from The Wild Rose Press suggested writing a story surrounding a cowboy hat.  I like the idea of a backwards Cinderella story where the woman had a hat and was looking for the cowboy that could wear it.  So,sitting around the campfire we began to plot.  I left the concert filled with ideas. When I started the story all I knew was I had a woman with a Toby Keith autographed hat and she needed to find her cowboy at an outdoor concert. 

I also wanted to tie the story to …“You Don’t Have To Call me Darlin’,Darlinnnnnn…” by David Allan Cole, otherwise known as the perfect country &western song.  The song is perfect because it has trucks, momma, gettin’ drunk, prison, and trains. 

So tongue in cheek, I decided that The Perfect Country and Western Story has romance, country music, and Alexandra trying find the cowboy whose head fit an autographed Toby Keith hat. 

Excerpt

She stepped closer, filling the gap between them. “Ben, I want—” Her voice pleaded.

He was drowning in the pools of her eyes and clenched his jaw shut as the hairs on the back of his neck stood up with the remembered comments from Julia. Yeah, you want me, but only because you hadn’t found anything better, right? Anger flared and he narrowed his eyes, adding aloud, “Your parents should have named you Jezebel.”

“What?” Her eyebrows rose as confusion clouded her eyes. She blinked. “I know this looks bad, but I can explain.”

He ignored the plea in her voice,put the hat on his head and swallowed. He took a step backward as she came forward.

“Ben, please listen.” Her voice trembled. “I can explain. I want you—”

He put his hands on her shoulders to prevent her from coming any closer, but as soon as his palms touched her skin, his hands started shaking. Something was wrong, different, he could see it in her eyes. And the way she looked? This couldn’t be the same angel his heart had longed for—had everyone else really seen what he couldn’t?

“I don’t want to hear it. I already know,” he snapped, delving into his self-loathing and fortifying his resolve. “You stole my hat—a hat I was going to give my little brother.”

“No, that’s not how it was.” Alex pressed against his hands and tried to move in closer, her eyes rimmed in tears.

                                   *  *  *  * *

She tried to force the corners of her mouth up into a partial smile but failed. The best she could do was keep her lips pressed tightly together. But a moment later, her upper lip curled and her eyebrows dropped dangerously low.

Ben descended down the trailer steps. His stone-cold brown eyes were clouded in anger and focused directly on her.

The hairs on her arms bristled,her lip drew up into a snarl. What right did he have to be mad? He got his damn hat.

His gaze traveled slowly over her body. Alex’s heart beat faster. Her body might be weak, but her mind was strong. Her lazy gaze moved from the frown in his brow, down to the tips of his toes and back to a spot beside his right eye. The words he said last night played in her head. It doesn’t matter. I have the hat now. It’s all over.

Anger narrowed her eyes, flared her nostrils and burned the back of her throat. With valiant effort, she shook her head and rolled her eyes, dismissing him like yesterday’s news.

“Thanks for the shampoo, Laurie.”His voice was too cheery and exuberant.

From under her lashes Alex watched him hand a bottle to the curly-haired woman.

Her heart pounded harder and her mind screamed louder. If he was any type of man, he’d at least say, ‘Thanks for returning the hat.’ Or apologize for his obnoxious behavior the night before.

She hadn’t meant to glance up into his brown eyes. He blinked, and for half-a-second, she wondered if he could read her mind. Her heart paused along with her breath. Maybe...

Then his eyelids narrowed and his lip curled up. “What? Stealing my hat wasn’t enough? Now, you have to stalk me?